UKRAINIAN LANGUAGE AS A SYMBOL AND INSTRUMENT OF NATIONAL IDENTITY (In memory of Professor Anka Bergmann)

The commemorative text briefly presents the academic biography of Anka Bergmann (1965-2025), professor at the Institute of Slavic Studies and Threat Studies at Humboldt University in Berlin, head of the Department of Language Teaching Methods, related to her Ukrainian studies. The article describes the most important works of Prof. Bergmann on the language situation in Ukraine, the state of teaching the Ukrainian language in Germany, and characterizes her activities in establishing German-Ukrainian academic contacts (in particular, holding master classes, seminars and conferences on teaching the Ukrainian language in Germany, organizing intensive Ukrainian language courses and internships for Ukrainian students, conducting a certification exam in Ukrainian as a foreign language, managing Ukrainian studies projects, publishing on Prof. Anka Bergmann, together with her Ukrainian colleagues, was at the origins of the new linguodidactic discipline “Ukrainian as Heritage Language,” forming primarily the theoretical and programmatic basis for the introduction of the Ukrainian language subject in German schools, which became especially relevant after the events of February 24, 2022. In particular, Prof. Bergmann’s research support was provided to projects on new methods of teaching the Ukrainian language, such as “ Flipped classroom in Teaching Ukrainian on the Base of Student’s Competence in other Slavic Language(s)” in collaboration with Dr. Natalia Tsisar and “Ukrainian in the Context of Multilingualism (UkriM): Theory and Didactics” / “Ukrainisch im Mehrsprachichigkeitskontext (UkriM): Theorie und Didaktik” in collaboration with Dr. Oksana Turkevych. The continuation of this scientific cooperation between Prof. Bergmann and Dr. Turkevych was the next project “Between the Languages: Linguistic Basics, Institutional forms and Didactic concepts of Teaching Ukrainian as a Heritage Language in Berlin and Beyond (MSCA4Ukraine)”, the practical aspect of which was cooperation with the Senate of Berlin to support the development of Ukrainian as a Heritage Language in Berlin schools. Key words: teaching Ukrainian in Germany, Ukrainian as a foreign language, Ukrainian a heritage language.