‘I was born to do this’: Ukraine’s 2016 Eurovision winner Jamala on why Putin fears her people, the Tatars
A ballad about ethnic cleansing was an unusual choice for Eurovision, a competition best known for glam, kitschy pop. But seven years ago Crimean Tatar singer Jamala swept Ukraine to their second victory in the song contest with 1944.
It told the story of the deportation of her entire people – hundreds of thousands of women, children and men – from their ancestral home to central Asia on Stalin’s orders.
The Tatars’ exile lasted decades, and when they were finally allowed to return, their centuries-long history had been all but erased. Russians had moved into their homes, and the peninsula’s geography had been rewritten, with towns and villages all given new Russian names.
Music is particularly important to Crimean Tatars because the brutality of the deportations mean an entire people have been left with very few physical heirlooms.
Families were given just 15 minutes to pack for their long journey crammed into cattle wagons, could take only what they could
