This beautiful banknote was issued in Kyiv and entered circulation on November 13, 1918. Printing was continued by the Directorate government in October 1919 at Kamyanets'-Podilsk. The last issue is unknown. My grandfather Petro carried the bill on him as he left his Ukrainian homeland for the last time, a departure caused by fear for personal safety, conflict in ideology and concern for his professional future in the new Soviet Union. He cherished this banknote, safeguarding it in a small metal box along with a tiny glass vial of Ukrainian soil. Departing Ukraine, he lived in Paris, Rotterdam and Liverpool with fellow emigres until finally being granted passage to the United States via Ellis Island in 1922. A poet and member of the artistic community that convened Eastern Europeans on the Lower East Side, his favorite haunt was Ratner's restaurant. The metal box l, along with the memory of his journey to the US, remains intact in my family home.

– Masha Turchinsky

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