Reconstruction of a fragment of the radio play “Uber alles!”

Audio excerpt from the reconstructed radio play “Uber alles!”, recorded in 2008.

Reference: The first original Ukrainian radio play “Uber alles!” (“Above All”) was broadcast on Ukrainian Radio on February 21, 1933. It was written by Oleg Dyminsky, a staff member of the radio committee. The play told the tragic story of an engineer and inventor who died before he could realize his discovery. The authorities at the time saw the new genre as an opportunity to use radio drama to raise issues that were dangerous to Soviet ideology. As a result, both the new genre itself and the Ukrainian Radio employees involved in it were subjected to repression.

The recording of “Uber alles!” has not survived; only fragments of the script have come down to us. Based on these fragments, Ukrainian Radio created a reconstruction of the first original Ukrainian radio play in the early 2000s.

Ukrainian Radio, in collaboration with Suspilne Media Library, is releasing unique archival recordings collected over 100 years in the project “Treasures of the Ukrainian Radio Sound Archive.” Within its framework, you will hear the voices of outstanding writers, singers, legendary announcers, and music from Ukrainian Radio's artistic ensembles. You can listen to the recordings on the Suspilne Media Library website and on the project's YouTube page.