Burned Ukrainian books displayed at Frankfurt Book Fair

10.10.2026, 20:42 rubryka.com

From October 7 to 11, while the Frankfurt Book Fair is open, visitors can see an unusual glass display case alongside stands showcasing new book releases.

A stack of 22 books with charred pages and traces of ash is neither a decoration nor an object created specifically for an art project. These are books salvaged after Russia attacked Ranok's automated logistics center in Kharkiv on August 1, 2026.

That day, Russia's attack and the resulting fire destroyed around 8 million books, including more than 620,000 school textbooks. Some of the books that survived the fire have now been brought to Frankfurt as physical evidence of the destruction of Ukraine's book-publishing infrastructure.

"These books were meant to reach readers: schoolchildren, students, and everyone who opens a page to learn something new. Instead, they went through fire. Looking at this installation, I see four centuries of history contained within a single glass display case. The red scale on the glass begins in 1626, when Ukrainian books were burned for the first time. Since then, our language has been banned again and again, yet it remains alive because every generation has found people willing to print and read it," said Viktor Kruhlov, CEO of Ranok Publishing House.

In the concept behind Born/Burn Alive, artist Valentyna Veremko arranged the charred books into a vertical tower enclosed in a glass display case. A vertical red scale featuring 12 dates is marked on the glass. Exactly 400 years separate the first and last dates. The scale links a contemporary war crime to centuries of linguistic persecution and cultural genocide in Ukraine.

The installation's title is built around changing just one letter: in the word Born, the letter o is crossed out and replaced with a u above it. This transforms "born" into "burn". Born Alive means "born alive", while Burn Alive means "burned alive".

The artist sees this choice as a metaphor for Ukrainian culture and books that are being physically destroyed but remain evidence of what happened even after their destruction. That is why the installation features real books damaged by fire.

Another detail of the installation is two final red marks without dates on the glass, positioned above the 2026 marker and the stack of books. The artist deliberately left them blank to emphasize the idea:

"History that has not been stopped seeks to repeat itself. The ending of this chronology is being decided right now.

At the 78th Frankfurt Book Fair, the National Stand of Ukraine features books from 44 Ukrainian publishers. Discussions, book presentations, and meetings with international publishers and literary agents are also planned.

It is worth noting that Russian attacks this summer damaged or destroyed at least 9.6 million books. Some media outlets have reported an even higher estimate: more than 10 million books destroyed over the summer.

As previously reported, a book by Ukrainian Azov fighter Dmytro 'Rasti' Kanupier, titled Okrayets, about his 886 days in Russian captivity, is being prepared for translation into English and French. Both editions are scheduled for publication in autumn 2026.