As of: February 24, 2024, 8:00 a.m
By: Magdalena Höcherl
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Visit from home: (from right) Sofija Veremeienko with her cousin Valeria Hershkovych, her mother Kateryna, her partner Wolfgang Kring and her grandmother Halyna Sutiagina.
Cousin and grandma were in Freising for Easter last year.
© Private
Exactly two years ago, Kateryna and Sofija Veremeienko had to leave their homeland.
Mother and daughter have built a new life for themselves in Freising.
Freising
– Why did it have to hit Ukraine?
Why did we have to flee?
Questions like these still circle around in Sofija's head every day.
Today, two years after the start of the Russian war of aggression, the 17-year-old and her mother Kateryna Veremeienko have found a new home in Freising.
But their thoughts are still in their hometown of Irpin in the Ukraine every day - and with their loved ones who are still there.
Sofija was able to leave on the last train
February 24, 2022 changed the Veremeienkos' lives completely.
Kateryna is currently on vacation in Sri Lanka, Sofija is in Irpin with her grandparents because she doesn't feel like sun and beach.
That's when the first bombs hit.
Kateryna still wants to go home, but flights to Kyiv are no longer possible.
When the Russian military moves dangerously close to Irpin, the family decides that Sofija must leave the country.
The then 15-year-old was very lucky: she was allowed to get on the first train.
It is the last train running.
Then bombs destroy the tracks.
In Poland, mother and daughter can finally hug again.
From there it goes via Prague to Munich.
Sofija has been dreaming of the Bavarian capital for a long time: she wants to study journalism after school at the Ludwig Maximilians University.
She has been learning German intensively for years - which is now turning out to be an advantage.
Through Caritas, Sofija and her mother finally come to the Maeding family in Attenkirchen.
In the summer of 2022, they will move into an apartment in Freising, which the father of one of Sofija's schoolmates gave them.
Involvement in the Zollinger helper group
Since Sofija has been here, she has been attending the Camerloher-Gymnasium - no longer as a guest but as a regular student due to her good knowledge of German and achievements.
“I am now in the eleventh grade and have chosen my advanced courses for my Abitur,” says the petite teenager with brown hair.
She chose politics and society.
“These topics are very important.” Her career choice is still clear: Sofija wants to become a journalist.
She gained her first practical experience not only at the Freisinger Tagblatt (we reported).
For some time now she has also been writing articles for the homepage of the Zollinger Helpers Group for Refugees, in which she is involved.
Sofija feels like she has arrived in the district and in the cathedral city.
“Freising is definitely my new home.
I feel comfortable here and have lots of new friends.”
Much-awaited documents: Kateryna Veremeienko signs her employment contract with a Munich company.
Her dream job came true.
© Private
Get your dream job with a language certificate
Sofija's mother Kateryna has also settled in well in Freising - for several reasons.
“Last summer I passed my language course.
“I now have B2 level,” reports the 41-year-old, who didn’t speak a word of German two years ago.
The language certificate opened professional doors for her: She now works as a project assistant at the GKM Society for Therapy Research in Munich.
“I really wanted to stay in medical research, the same industry I worked in in Ukraine.
I am very happy that I have achieved this goal.” And Kateryna Veremeienko is also happy about something else: “Now I am finally completely independent of the job center.” But even before she started her new job in January, she was not idle: she organized one Language club with almost 20 participants, every Friday for two hours.
“Ukrainians could meet there to practice German.”
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The wedding bells will soon ring
Native language support came from Wolfgang Kring – the man who arranged the apartment in Freising.
In him, Kateryna found not only a good friend, but also a partner.
He proposed to her in November.
Once all the bureaucratic hurdles have been overcome, the wedding bells should ring in June.
“A lot of nice things have happened in the last few months.
I am very grateful for that,” says Kateryna Veremeienko.
But the happy events only distract during the day from the terrible events that mother and daughter experience every evening on television.
“We always watch the news, even when it is difficult for us,” says Kateryna in a thick voice.
“Sometimes I cry.”
A moment later she sounds combative.
“The only positive thing that this war has brought with it is that the Ukrainian sense of unity has become much stronger.” This knowledge nourishes hope for a good outcome to the war.
The 41-year-old can no longer imagine that this end is approaching.
“Unfortunately, this will be a lengthy process.”
Living with the “new normal”
Until then, Kateryna and Sofija will keep in touch with their loved ones in Ukraine every day via smartphone to make sure that everyone is doing reasonably well.
“My friends have found a new everyday life and have come to terms with the alarm and everything that the war brings with it,” says Sofija.
“This is the new normal for them.
People have to continue to live and develop, even under such conditions.” She is sure: “My friends are very strong.
They can do it.” The same applies to their grandparents, who still live in Irpin.
“The whole situation makes her very, very tired sometimes.
But they live on.” Sofija emphasizes: “Before the war, I wasn’t aware of how good and beautiful my life was.
Today I’m more aware of it.”
Good to know
A
commemorative demonstration
on the topic of “Two years of war in Ukraine” will take place this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Marienplatz in Freising.
Those affected who have found a new home in the district want to say “thank you” for the help and will provide information.