Stepan Bandera
Encyclopedia
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera (1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian
politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine (Galicia), who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
(OUN). The son of a clerical family
, Bandera was an activist, a scout, and eventually the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement.
During his political career, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist (OUN) split into two factions: the OUN-M and the OUN-B. Stepan Bandera was responsible for the proclamation of an Independent Ukrainian State in Lviv
on 30 June 1941.
Soviet authorities authorised the KGB
to assassinate him which took place in Munich
, West Germany
, on 15 October 1959.
Bandera is a controversial figure in contemporary Ukraine due to his cooperation with Nazi Germany in 1939-1941. In September 1941 Bandera was imprisoned by the Nazis; in September 1944 he was released. Assessments have ranged from totally apologetic to sharply negative. On 22 January 2010, the outgoing President of Ukraine
Viktor Yushchenko
awarded to Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine
(posthumously). The award received strong international condemnation, and was declared illegal by a Ukrainian court in April 2010. In January 2011, under President Viktor Yanukovych
, the award was officially annulled.
, in the Kalush District
of Galiсia
, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in now Western Ukraine. His father, Andriy Bandera, was the Greek-Catholic
rite parish priest of Uhryniv Staryi. His mother, Myroslava, was also from an established clerical family
, the daughter of a Greek-Catholic priest in Uhryniv Staryi.
Stepan spent his childhood in Uhryniv Staryi, in the house of his parents and grandparents.
In the spring of 1922, his mother died from tuberculosis
of the throat.
, where he also participated in sporting activities with the Sokil sports Society.
In 1923, at the age of 14, Bandera joined the Ukrainian scout organization "Plast
" . Later in his association with Plast, he became a member of the group Chornomortsi (Black Sea Sailors). Bandera received an unconfirmed 4 reprimands during his time as a yunak, and is still considered an ideal Plast member.
After graduation from high school in 1927, he planned to attend the Ukrainian College of Technology and Economics in Podebrady
in Czechoslovakia
, but was not granted travel papers by the Polish authorities.
In 1928, Bandera enrolled in the agronomy program at the Lviv Polytechnical Institute. This was one of the few programs open to Ukrainians at the time.
In both high school and University, Bandera was an active member of a number political groups with a nationalist agenda. One of the most active of these groups was the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN .
.
Because of his determined personality, Stepan Bandera quickly rose through the ranks of these organizations, becoming the chief propaganda officer of the OUN in 1931, the second in command of OUN in Galicia in 1932-33, and the head of the National Executive or the OUN in 1933.
For Bandera, an inclusive policy of nation building was important - therefore, he focused on growing support amongst all classes of Ukrainians in Western parts of Ukraine. In the early 1930s, Bandera was very active in finding and developing groups of Ukrainian nationalists in both Western and Eastern Ukraine.
The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was held in Wronki Prison
; in 1938 some of his followers tried unsuccessfully to break him out of the jail.
According to various sources, Bandera was freed in September 1939, either by Ukrainian jailers after Polish jail administration left the jail, by Poles or by Germans.
Soon thereafter Eastern Poland fell under Soviet occupation.
Upon release from prison, Bandera moved to Krakow, the capital of the Germany's occupational General Government
. There, he came in contact with the leader of the OUN, Andriy Melnyk
. In 1940, the differences between the opinions of the two leaders were strained and the OUN split into two factions - the Melnyk faction led by Andriy Melnyk
, which preached a more conservative approach to nation-building, (also known as the OUN-M), and the Bandera faction led by S. Bandera, which supported a revolutionary approach, (also known as the OUN-B).
OUN(B) sought support in Germany's military circles, while the OUN(M) sought connections with its ruling clique. In November 1939 about 800 Ukrainian nationalists began training in Abwehr
's military camps. In the first days of December, Bandera, without co-ordination with Melnyk, sent a courier to Lviv with directives for preparation of an armed uprising. The courier was intercepted by the NKVD
, which had captured some of the OUN(M)'s leaders. Another such attempt was prevented in Autumn 1940.
to Western Ukraine and after German advance to Eastern Ukraine to encourage support for the OUN-B and establishing the local authorities ruled by OUN-B activists.
This included printing out pamphlets and growing membership in OUN.
In total, approximately 7,000 people participated in these mobile groups, and they found followers among a wide circle of intellectuals, such as Ivan Bahriany, Vasyl Barka
, Hryhorii Vashchenko, and many others.
Prior to Operation Barbarossa, the OUN actively cooperated with Nazi Germany. According to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and other sources, Bandera held meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "Nachtigall
" and "Roland
" Battalions. In spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities inside the USSR.
On June 30, 1941, with the arrival of Nazi troops in Ukraine, Bandera and the OUN-B declared an independent Ukrainian State. Some of the published proclamations of the formation of this state that it "will work closely with the National-Socialist Greater Germany
, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler
which is forming a new order in Europe and the world
" - as stated in the text of the "Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood".
On July 5, Bandera was arrested and transferred to Berlin. On July 12, the president of the newly-formed Ukrainian state, Yaroslav Stetsko, was also arrested and taken to Berlin. Although released from custody on July 14, both were required to stay in Berlin. In 1941 relations between Nazi Germany and the OUN-B soured to the point where a Nazi document dated 25 November 1941 stated that "... the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the Reichskommissariat which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated...". Military oppression of the population increased, and it soon became evident that military action against Nazi Germany was necessary. Meetings of the OUN leadership held February 1943 led the creation of the military wing of the OUN-B, which was the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
In January 1942, transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
's special barrack for high profile political prisoners Zellenbau.
In 1943, Bandera was asked by Nazi officers whether he would support Hitler or not. According to one unverified source, "Bandera quickly replied that it was clear that the Nazis would lose the war, and there was nothing to be gained for Ukraine by siding with them".
In September 1944 Bandera was released by [the German authorities] in the hope that he would rouse the native populace to fight the advancing Soviet Army. With German consent Bandera set up headquarters in Berlin. Germans supplied OUN-B and UIA by air with arms and equipment. Assigned German personnel and agents trained to conduct terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported by air until early 1945.
According to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and other sources, Bandera had meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "Nachtigall
" and "Roland
" Battalions. In spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities inside the USSR. 29 June 1941 Bandera was removed from Lviv and travelled to Krakow
without permission from the German authorities. On 30 June 1941, OUN(B) declared in Lviv
the formation of a Ukrainian state. Some of the published proclamations of the formation of this state that it "will work closely with the National-Socialist Greater Germany
, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler
which is forming a new order in Europe and the world
" - as stated in the text of the "Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood".
Gestapo
and Abwehr
officials protected Bandera followers, as both organizations intended to use them for their own purposes.
On July 5, Bandera was placed under honorary arrest in Krakow, and transported to Berlin the next day. 14 July he was released, but required to stay in Berlin. 12 July 1941 he was joined in Berlin by his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko
, whom the Germans had moved from Lviv after an unsuccessful attempt by unknown persons to assassinate him. During July–August both of them submitted dozens of proposals for cooperation to different Nazi institutions (OKW, RSHA
etc.)
Although German officials demanded that he stop his armed activities against Melnyks
OUN and recall the "Act of June the 30th, 1941", he refused.
After the German troops crossed the Dnieper River
in September 1941, Hitler decided there was no need to establish a Ukrainian state.
After the assassination of two key members of OUN-M, said to have been committed by members of OUN-B, Bandera and Stetsko on 15 September 1941 were held in the central Berlin prison at Spandau and, in January 1942, transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
's special barrack for high profile political prisoners Zellenbau.
In 1943, Bandera was asked by Nazi officers whether he would support Hitler or not. According to one unverified source, "Bandera quickly replied that it was clear that the Nazis would lose the war, and there was nothing to be gained for Ukraine by siding with them".
In 1941 relations between Nazi Germany and the OUN-B deteriorated to the point where a Nazi document dated 25 November 1941 stated that "... the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the Reichskommissariat which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated...". Military oppression of the population increased, and it soon became evident that military action against Nazi Germany was necessary. Meetings of the OUN leadership held February 1943 led the creation of the military wing of the OUN-B, which was the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
In April 1944 Bandera and his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko
were approached by an RSHA
official to discuss plans for diversions and sabotage against Soviet Army.
In September 1944 Bandera was released by [the German Authorities] in the hope that he would rouse the populace to fight the advancing Soviet Army. With German consent Bandera set up headquarters in Berlin. Germans supplied OUN-B and UIA by air with arms and equipment. Assigned German personnel trained to conduct terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported by air until early 1945.
the leadership of Bandera's OUN faction adopted the program "Struggle and action for OUN during the war" which outlined the plans for activities at the onset of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the western territories of the Ukrainian SSR. Section G of that document –"Directives for first days of the organization of the living state" outline activity of the Bandera followers during summer 1941 In the subsection of "Minority Policy" the OUN-B ordered:
"Moskali (a derogatory term for Russians), Poles, Jews are hostile to us must be exterminated in this struggle, especially those who would resist our regime: deport them to their own lands, importantly: destroy their intelligentsia"... ... "so-called Polish peasants must be assimilated"... "Destroy their leaders."
In late 1942, some Ukrainian nationalist groups were involved in a campaign of ethnic cleansing
of Volhynia
, and in early 1944, these campaigns began to include Eastern Galicia. It is estimated that over 40,000 Poles killed during spring and summer of 1943 campaign in Volhynia. by certain Ukrainian groups including the OUN-Bandera which bears primary responsibility for the massacres.
Despite the central role played by Bandera's followers in the massacre of Poles in western Ukraine, Bandera himself was interned in a German concentration camp when the concrete decision to massacre the Poles was made and when the Poles were killed. During his internment, from the summer of 1941, he was not completely aware of events in Ukraine and moreover had serious differences of opinion with Mykola Lebed
, the OUN-B leader who remained in Ukraine and who was one of the chief architects of the massacres of Poles. Bandera was thus not directly involved in those massacres, although it cannot be ruled out that they would have occurred had he been present.
, imperial Russia
, interwar Poland
and Romania, Ukrainian nationalism
did not include antisemitism as a core aspect of its program and saw Russians as well as Poles as the chief enemy with Jews playing a secondary role. Nevertheless, Ukrainian nationalism was not immune to the influence of the antisemitic climate in the Eastern and Central Europe, had already become highly racialized in the late 19th century, and had developed an elaborate anti-Jewish discourse.
The predominance of the Russians, rather than the Jewish minority, as the principal perceived enemy of Ukrainian nationalists was highlighted at the OUN-B's Conference in Krakow in 1941 when it declared that "The Jews in the USSR constitute the most faithful support of the ruling Bolshevik regime, and the vanguard of Muscovite imperialism in Ukraine. The Muscovite-Bolshevik government exploits the anti-Jewish sentiments of the Ukrainian masses to divert their attention from the true cause of their misfortune and to channel them in a time of frustration into pogroms on Jews. The OUN combats the Jews as the prop of the Muscovite-Bolshevik regime and simultaneously it renders the masses conscious of the fact that the principal foe is Moscow." In May 1941 at a meeting in Krakow
the leadership of Bandera's OUN faction adopted the program "Struggle and action of OUN during the war" which outlined the plans for activities at the onset of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the western territories of the Ukrainian SSR. Section G of that document –"Directives for first days of the organization of the living state" outline activity of the Bandera followers during summer 1941 In the subsection of "Minority Policy" the OUN-B ordered:
"Moskali (a derogatory terms for Russians), Poles, Jews are hostile to us must be exterminated in this struggle, especially those who would resist our regime: deport them to their own lands, importantly: destroy their intelligentsia that may be in the positions of power ... Jews must be isolated, removed from governmental positions in order to prevent sabotage, those who are deemed necessary may only work with an overseer... Jewish assimilation is not possible."
Later in June Yaroslav Stetsko sent to Bandera a report in which he indicated - "We are creating a militia which would help to get remove the Jews and protect the population."
Leaflets spread in the name of Bandera in the same year called for the "destruction" of ""Moscow", Poles, Hungarians and Jewry. In 1941-1942 while Bandera was cooperating with the Germans, OUN members did take part in anti-Jewish actions.
In 1942 German intelligence concluded that Ukrainian nationalists were indifferent to the plight of the Jews and were willing to either kill them or help them, depending on what better served their cause. Several Jews took part in Bandera's underground movement, including one of Bandera's close associates Richard Yary
who was also married to a Jewish woman. Another notable Jewish UPA member was Leyba-Itzik "Valeriy" Dombrovsky. According to a report to the Chief of the Security Police in Berlin dated March 30, 1942, "...it has been clearly established that the Bandera movement provided forged passports not only for its own members, but also for Jews.". The false papers were most likely supplied to Jewish doctors or skilled workers who could be useful for the movement.
When Bandera was in conflict with the Germans, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army under his authority sheltered many Jews. and included Jewish fighters and medical personnel. In the official organ of the OUN-B's leadership, instructions to OUN groups urged those groups to "liquidate the manifestations of harmful foreign influence, particularly the German racist concepts and practices." In summary, Bandera's movement sometimes harmed and sometimes helped Jews depending on particular circumstances and on Bandera's relationship with Germany.
and died shortly thereafter. A medical examination established that the cause of his death was poison (cyanide
gas). On October 20, 1959 Stepan Bandera was buried in the Waldfriedhof Cemetery in Munich.
Two years later, on 17 November 1961, the German judicial bodies announced that Bandera's murderer had been a KGB defector Bohdan Stashynsky
who acted on the orders of Soviet KGB
head Alexander Shelepin
and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
. After a detailed investigation against Stashynsky, a trial took place from 8 October to 15 October 1962. The sentence was handed down on 19 October in which Stashynsky was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. The Federal Court of Justice of Germany
confirmed at Karlsruhe
that in the Bandera murder, the Soviet secret service was the main guilty party.
) and brother Vasyl (a graduate in Philosophy, Lviv University) were arrested and interned in Auschwitz, where they were allegedly killed by Polish inmates in 1942.
Andriy Bandera, Stepan's father was arrested in late May 1941 for harbouring an OUN member and transferred to Kiev
. In 8 July he was sentenced to death and executed on the 10th. His sisters Oksana and Marta-Maria were arrested by the NKVD
in 1941 and sent to a GULAG
in Siberia. Both were released in 1960 without the right to return to Ukraine. Marta-Maria died in Siberia
in 1982, and Oksana returned to Ukraine in 1989 where she died in 2004. Another sister, Volodymyra - was sentenced to a term in Soviet labour camps from 1946-1956. She returned to Ukraine in 1956.
Stepan's brother Bohdan's fate remains unknown, as accounts vary: some sources say he was killed by the Gestapo in Mykolayiv in 1943, other sources say he was killed by the NKVD operatives in 1944, but to date even the family members have no definite information.
actively campaigned to discredit Bandera and all other Ukrainian nationalist partisans of World War II.
In an interview with Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda
in 2005 former KGB Chief Vladimir Kryuchkov
claimed that "the murder of Stepan Bandera was one of the last cases when the KGB disposed of undesired people by means of violence."
In late 2006 the Lviv
city administration announced the future transference of the tombs of Stepan Bandera, Andriy Melnyk
, Yevhen Konovalets
and other key leaders of OUN
/UPA to a new area of Lychakivskiy Cemetery
specifically dedicated to Ukrainian national liberation struggle.
In October 2007, the city of Lviv
erected a statue dedicated to the OUN and UPA leader Stepan Bandera. The appearance of the statue has engendered a far-reaching debate about the role of Stepan Bandera and UPA in Ukrainian History. The two previously erected statues were blown up by unknown perpetrators, the current is guarded by a militia detachment 24/7. On October 18, 2007, the Lviv City Council adopted a resolution establishing the "Award of Stepan Bandera."
On January 1, 2009 his 100th birthday was celebrated in several Ukrainian centres and an postal stamp with his portrait was issued the same day.
's residents consider themselves to be followers of Bandera, in surveys of Ukraine as a whole he, along with Joseph Stalin
and Mikhail Gorbachev
, is considered among the three historical figures who produce the most negative attitudes. A national survey conducted in Ukraine in 2009 inquired about attitudes by region toward's Bandera's faction of the OUN. It produced the following results: In Galicia (provinces of Lviv
, Ternopil
, and Ivano-Frankivsk
) 37% had a "very positive" opinion of Bandera, 26% a "mostly positive" opinion, 20% were neutral, "mostly negative", 6% very negative, and 6% unsure. In Volhynia
, 5% had a very positive opinion, 20% a mostly positive opinion, 57% were neutral, 7% were mostly negative, 5% very negative and 7% were unsure. In Transcarpathia
4% of the respondents had a very positive opinion, 32% a mostly positive opinion, 50% were neutral, none had a mosly negative opinion, 7% had a very negative opinion and 7% were unsure. In contrast, in central Ukraine (comprising the capital Kiev
, as well as the provinces of Zhytomyr
, Cherkasy
, Chernihiv
, Poltava
, Sumy
, Vinnytsia
, and Kirovohrad
) attitudes towards Bandera's faction of the OUN were 3% very positive, 10% mostly positive, 24% neutral, 17% mostly negative, 21% very negative and 25% unsure. In Eastern Ukraine (the provinces of Donetsk
, Luhansk
, Kharkiv
, Dnipropetrovsk
and Zaporizhia
) 1% each had very positive or mostly positive attitudes towards Bandera's OUN, 19% were neutral, 13% mostly negative, 26% very negative and 20% unsure. In Ukraine's south (the Odessa
, Mykolaiv
and Kherson
regions plus Crimea
) 1% each were very or mostly positive, 13% were neutral, 31% mostly negative, 48% very negative and 25% were unsure. In Ukraine as a whole, 6% of Ukrainians had a very positvie opinion, 8% a mostly positive opinion, 23% were neutral, 15% had a mostly negative opinion, 30% had a very negative opinion, and 18% were unsure.
Viktor Yushchenko
awarded to Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine
(posthumously) "for "defending national ideas and battling for an independent Ukrainian state." A grandson of Bandera, also named Stepan, accepted the award that day from the Ukrainian President during the state ceremony to commemorate the Day of Unity of Ukraine at the National Opera House of Ukraine.
Reactions to Bandera's award vary. This award has been condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
and the Student Union of French Jews. On the very same day numerous Ukrainian media, such as the pro-Russian Segonia, published dishonoring articles in that regard mentioning cases of some former Soviet spies wishing to dump their Hero of Ukraine title. The representatives from several antifascist organizations in neighboring Slovakia
condemned the award to Bandera, calling Yushchenko's decision a provocation was reported by the RosBisnessConsulting referring to the Radio Praha. On February 25, 2010 the European Parliament
criticized the decision by then ex-president of Ukraine Yushchenko to award Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine and expressed hope it would be reconsidered. On May 14, 2010 in the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry was said about the award: "that the event is so odious that it could no doubt cause a negative reaction in the first place in Ukraine. Already it is known a position on this issue of a number of Ukrainian politicians, who believe that solutions this kind do not contribute to the consolidation of Ukrainian public opinion".
On the other hand the decree was applauded by Ukrainian nationalists, in western Ukraine and by a small portion of the Ukrainian-Americans. On January 25, 2010 the head of the Czech Confederation political prisoners Nadia Kavalirova expressed support for the decision of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
to award the title of Hero of Ukraine to Stepan Bandera, stating "It is good that he (Yushchenko) made this step, many Czech politicians can draw lessons from it..."
On February 9, 2010 the Poland's Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz
said at a meeting with the head of Russia's Federation Council
Sergei Mironov, that adaptation of the Hero title of Ukraine to Bandera is an internal matter of the Ukrainian government.
On March 3, 2010 the Ivano-Frankivsk
regional council called on the European Parliament to review this resolution.
Taras Kuzio
, a senior fellow in the chair of Ukrainian studies
at the University of Toronto
has suggested Yushchenko awarded Bandera the award in order to frustrate Yulia Tymoshenko
's chances to get elected President during the Ukrainian Presidential elections 2010
.
President Viktor Yanukovych
stated on March 5, 2010 he would make a decision to repeal the decrees to honour the tittle as Heroes of Ukraine to Bandera and fellow nationalist Roman Shukhevych
before the next Victory Day. Although the Hero of Ukraine decrees do not stipulate the possibility that a decree on awarding this title can be annulled. On April 2, 2010, an administrative Donetsk
region court ruled the Presidential decree awarding the title to be illegal. According to the court's decision, Bandera wasn't a citizen of the Ukrainian SSR (vis-à-vis Ukraine).
On April 5, 2010 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine
refused to start constitutional proceedings on the constitutionality of the President Yushchenko decree the award was based on. A ruling by the court was submissioned by the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on January 20, 2010.
According to the grandson, Stepan Bandera, although the Bandera family has been officially informed of the Donetsk's court ruling it still is not asked by President Yanukovych to return the award. In January 2011, the presidential press service informed that the award was officially annulled. This was done after a cassation appeals filed against the ruling by Donetsk District Administrative Court was rejected by the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine on January 12, 2011. Former President Yushchenko called the annulation "a gross error".
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine (Galicia), who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
(OUN). The son of a clerical family
Western Ukrainian Clergy
The Western Ukrainian clergy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church were a hereditary tight-knit social caste that dominated western Ukrainian society from the late eighteenth until the mid twentieth centuries, following the reforms instituted by Joseph II, Emperor of Austria...
, Bandera was an activist, a scout, and eventually the leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement.
During his political career, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist (OUN) split into two factions: the OUN-M and the OUN-B. Stepan Bandera was responsible for the proclamation of an Independent Ukrainian State in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
on 30 June 1941.
Soviet authorities authorised the KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
to assassinate him which took place in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, on 15 October 1959.
Bandera is a controversial figure in contemporary Ukraine due to his cooperation with Nazi Germany in 1939-1941. In September 1941 Bandera was imprisoned by the Nazis; in September 1944 he was released. Assessments have ranged from totally apologetic to sharply negative. On 22 January 2010, the outgoing President of Ukraine
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
awarded to Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine is the highest state decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the Government of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as of August 25 2011 the total number of awards is 265. The award is divided into two classes of distinction:...
(posthumously). The award received strong international condemnation, and was declared illegal by a Ukrainian court in April 2010. In January 2011, under President Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
, the award was officially annulled.
Early life
Born in the village of Uhryniv StaryiUhryniv Staryi
Staryi Uhryniv is a village in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. Staryi Uhryniv is the birthplace of the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera.-History:The first mention of Staryi Uhryniv is in 1447...
, in the Kalush District
Kaluskyi Raion
The Kalush Raion is a raion of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast . Kalush is the administrative center of the raion. City of Kalush itself is designated into a separate city raion within the oblast....
of Galiсia
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in now Western Ukraine. His father, Andriy Bandera, was the Greek-Catholic
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , Ukrainska Hreko-Katolytska Tserkva), is the largest Eastern Rite Catholic sui juris particular church in full communion with the Holy See, and is directly subject to the Pope...
rite parish priest of Uhryniv Staryi. His mother, Myroslava, was also from an established clerical family
Western Ukrainian Clergy
The Western Ukrainian clergy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church were a hereditary tight-knit social caste that dominated western Ukrainian society from the late eighteenth until the mid twentieth centuries, following the reforms instituted by Joseph II, Emperor of Austria...
, the daughter of a Greek-Catholic priest in Uhryniv Staryi.
Stepan spent his childhood in Uhryniv Staryi, in the house of his parents and grandparents.
In the spring of 1922, his mother died from tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
of the throat.
Education
Bandera attended the Fourth Form Grammar School in StryiStryi
Stryi is a city located on the left bank of the river Stryi in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine . Serving as the administrative center of the Stryi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. Thus, the city has two administrations - the city and the raion...
, where he also participated in sporting activities with the Sokil sports Society.
In 1923, at the age of 14, Bandera joined the Ukrainian scout organization "Plast
Plast
The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply Plast is the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine.-First Phase: 1911-1920:...
" . Later in his association with Plast, he became a member of the group Chornomortsi (Black Sea Sailors). Bandera received an unconfirmed 4 reprimands during his time as a yunak, and is still considered an ideal Plast member.
After graduation from high school in 1927, he planned to attend the Ukrainian College of Technology and Economics in Podebrady
Podebrady
Poděbrady is a historical spa town in the Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic. It lies on the river Labe 50 km east of Prague on the D11 highway. A historic milestone in the life of the town was the year 1905, when it was visited by the German estate owner Prince von Bülow...
in Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, but was not granted travel papers by the Polish authorities.
In 1928, Bandera enrolled in the agronomy program at the Lviv Polytechnical Institute. This was one of the few programs open to Ukrainians at the time.
In both high school and University, Bandera was an active member of a number political groups with a nationalist agenda. One of the most active of these groups was the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN .
Early Activities
Stepan Bandera had met and associated himself with members of a variety of Ukrainian nationalist organizations throughout his schooling - from Plast, to the Union for the Liberation of Ukraine and also the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN . The most active of these organizations was the OUN, and the leader of the OUN was Andriy MelnykAndriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk , Ukrainian military and political leader.-Life:Born near Drohobych, Galicia into a peasant family. Between 1912 and 1914 he studied at the Higher School of Agriculture in Vienna...
.
Because of his determined personality, Stepan Bandera quickly rose through the ranks of these organizations, becoming the chief propaganda officer of the OUN in 1931, the second in command of OUN in Galicia in 1932-33, and the head of the National Executive or the OUN in 1933.
For Bandera, an inclusive policy of nation building was important - therefore, he focused on growing support amongst all classes of Ukrainians in Western parts of Ukraine. In the early 1930s, Bandera was very active in finding and developing groups of Ukrainian nationalists in both Western and Eastern Ukraine.
OUN
Stefan Bandera became head of the OUN national executive in Galicia in June 1933. He expanded the OUN's network in Western Ukraine, directing it against both Poland and the Soviet Union. To stop expropriations, Bandera turned OUN against the Polish officials who were directly responsible for anti-Ukrainian policies. Activities included mass campaigns against Polish tobacco and alcohol monopolies and against the denationalization of Ukrainian youth. He was arrested in Lviv in 1934, and tried twice: first, concerning involvement in a plot to assassinate the minister of internal affairs, Bronisław Pieracki, and second at a general trial of OUN executives. He was sentenced to death.The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. He was held in Wronki Prison
Wronki Prison
Wronki Prison is the largest prison in Poland, holding over 1400 prisoners. It was founded in 1889 in the town of Wronki in Greater Poland .-History:...
; in 1938 some of his followers tried unsuccessfully to break him out of the jail.
According to various sources, Bandera was freed in September 1939, either by Ukrainian jailers after Polish jail administration left the jail, by Poles or by Germans.
Soon thereafter Eastern Poland fell under Soviet occupation.
Upon release from prison, Bandera moved to Krakow, the capital of the Germany's occupational General Government
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
. There, he came in contact with the leader of the OUN, Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk , Ukrainian military and political leader.-Life:Born near Drohobych, Galicia into a peasant family. Between 1912 and 1914 he studied at the Higher School of Agriculture in Vienna...
. In 1940, the differences between the opinions of the two leaders were strained and the OUN split into two factions - the Melnyk faction led by Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk , Ukrainian military and political leader.-Life:Born near Drohobych, Galicia into a peasant family. Between 1912 and 1914 he studied at the Higher School of Agriculture in Vienna...
, which preached a more conservative approach to nation-building, (also known as the OUN-M), and the Bandera faction led by S. Bandera, which supported a revolutionary approach, (also known as the OUN-B).
OUN(B) sought support in Germany's military circles, while the OUN(M) sought connections with its ruling clique. In November 1939 about 800 Ukrainian nationalists began training in Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
's military camps. In the first days of December, Bandera, without co-ordination with Melnyk, sent a courier to Lviv with directives for preparation of an armed uprising. The courier was intercepted by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
, which had captured some of the OUN(M)'s leaders. Another such attempt was prevented in Autumn 1940.
Formation of Mobile Groups
Before the independence proclamation of 30 June 1941, Bandera oversaw the formation of so-called "Mobile Groups" which were small (5-15 members) groups of OUN-B members who would travel from General GovernmentGeneral Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
to Western Ukraine and after German advance to Eastern Ukraine to encourage support for the OUN-B and establishing the local authorities ruled by OUN-B activists.
This included printing out pamphlets and growing membership in OUN.
In total, approximately 7,000 people participated in these mobile groups, and they found followers among a wide circle of intellectuals, such as Ivan Bahriany, Vasyl Barka
Vasyl Barka
Vasyl Barka was a poet, writer, literary critic, and translator. An emigre from 1943, he lived in Germany, where he was active in the MUR literary association, before settling in the United States in 1949...
, Hryhorii Vashchenko, and many others.
Relationship with Nazi Germany
The intermittently close relationship between Bandera, the OUN and Nazi Germany have been described by historians such as David Marples as "ambivalent", tactical and opportunistic, with both sides trying to exploit the other unsuccessfully.Prior to Operation Barbarossa, the OUN actively cooperated with Nazi Germany. According to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and other sources, Bandera held meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "Nachtigall
Nachtigall Battalion
The Nachtigall Battalion , officially known as Special Group Nachtigall, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
" and "Roland
Roland Battalion
The Roland Battalion , officially known as Special Group Roland, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
" Battalions. In spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities inside the USSR.
On June 30, 1941, with the arrival of Nazi troops in Ukraine, Bandera and the OUN-B declared an independent Ukrainian State. Some of the published proclamations of the formation of this state that it "will work closely with the National-Socialist Greater Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
which is forming a new order in Europe and the world
New Order (political system)
The New Order or the New Order of Europe was the political order which the Nazis wanted to impose on Europe, and eventually the rest of the world, during their reign over Germany from 1933 to 1945...
" - as stated in the text of the "Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood".
On July 5, Bandera was arrested and transferred to Berlin. On July 12, the president of the newly-formed Ukrainian state, Yaroslav Stetsko, was also arrested and taken to Berlin. Although released from custody on July 14, both were required to stay in Berlin. In 1941 relations between Nazi Germany and the OUN-B soured to the point where a Nazi document dated 25 November 1941 stated that "... the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the Reichskommissariat which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated...". Military oppression of the population increased, and it soon became evident that military action against Nazi Germany was necessary. Meetings of the OUN leadership held February 1943 led the creation of the military wing of the OUN-B, which was the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
In January 1942, transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
's special barrack for high profile political prisoners Zellenbau.
In 1943, Bandera was asked by Nazi officers whether he would support Hitler or not. According to one unverified source, "Bandera quickly replied that it was clear that the Nazis would lose the war, and there was nothing to be gained for Ukraine by siding with them".
In September 1944 Bandera was released by [the German authorities] in the hope that he would rouse the native populace to fight the advancing Soviet Army. With German consent Bandera set up headquarters in Berlin. Germans supplied OUN-B and UIA by air with arms and equipment. Assigned German personnel and agents trained to conduct terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported by air until early 1945.
According to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and other sources, Bandera had meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "Nachtigall
Nachtigall Battalion
The Nachtigall Battalion , officially known as Special Group Nachtigall, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
" and "Roland
Roland Battalion
The Roland Battalion , officially known as Special Group Roland, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
" Battalions. In spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities inside the USSR. 29 June 1941 Bandera was removed from Lviv and travelled to Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
without permission from the German authorities. On 30 June 1941, OUN(B) declared in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
the formation of a Ukrainian state. Some of the published proclamations of the formation of this state that it "will work closely with the National-Socialist Greater Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
which is forming a new order in Europe and the world
New Order (political system)
The New Order or the New Order of Europe was the political order which the Nazis wanted to impose on Europe, and eventually the rest of the world, during their reign over Germany from 1933 to 1945...
" - as stated in the text of the "Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood".
Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
and Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
officials protected Bandera followers, as both organizations intended to use them for their own purposes.
On July 5, Bandera was placed under honorary arrest in Krakow, and transported to Berlin the next day. 14 July he was released, but required to stay in Berlin. 12 July 1941 he was joined in Berlin by his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko
Yaroslav Stetsko
Yaroslav Stetsko was the leader of the Bandera's Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists , from 1968 until death. In 1941, during Nazi Germany invasion into the Soviet Union he was self-proclaimed temporary head of the self-proclaimed Ukrainian statehood...
, whom the Germans had moved from Lviv after an unsuccessful attempt by unknown persons to assassinate him. During July–August both of them submitted dozens of proposals for cooperation to different Nazi institutions (OKW, RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
etc.)
Although German officials demanded that he stop his armed activities against Melnyks
Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk , Ukrainian military and political leader.-Life:Born near Drohobych, Galicia into a peasant family. Between 1912 and 1914 he studied at the Higher School of Agriculture in Vienna...
OUN and recall the "Act of June the 30th, 1941", he refused.
After the German troops crossed the Dnieper River
Dnieper River
The Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.The total length is and has a drainage basin of .The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations...
in September 1941, Hitler decided there was no need to establish a Ukrainian state.
After the assassination of two key members of OUN-M, said to have been committed by members of OUN-B, Bandera and Stetsko on 15 September 1941 were held in the central Berlin prison at Spandau and, in January 1942, transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
's special barrack for high profile political prisoners Zellenbau.
In 1943, Bandera was asked by Nazi officers whether he would support Hitler or not. According to one unverified source, "Bandera quickly replied that it was clear that the Nazis would lose the war, and there was nothing to be gained for Ukraine by siding with them".
In 1941 relations between Nazi Germany and the OUN-B deteriorated to the point where a Nazi document dated 25 November 1941 stated that "... the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the Reichskommissariat which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated...". Military oppression of the population increased, and it soon became evident that military action against Nazi Germany was necessary. Meetings of the OUN leadership held February 1943 led the creation of the military wing of the OUN-B, which was the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
In April 1944 Bandera and his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko
Yaroslav Stetsko
Yaroslav Stetsko was the leader of the Bandera's Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists , from 1968 until death. In 1941, during Nazi Germany invasion into the Soviet Union he was self-proclaimed temporary head of the self-proclaimed Ukrainian statehood...
were approached by an RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
official to discuss plans for diversions and sabotage against Soviet Army.
In September 1944 Bandera was released by [the German Authorities] in the hope that he would rouse the populace to fight the advancing Soviet Army. With German consent Bandera set up headquarters in Berlin. Germans supplied OUN-B and UIA by air with arms and equipment. Assigned German personnel trained to conduct terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported by air until early 1945.
Bandera and the Poles
In May 1941 at a meeting in KrakowKraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
the leadership of Bandera's OUN faction adopted the program "Struggle and action for OUN during the war" which outlined the plans for activities at the onset of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the western territories of the Ukrainian SSR. Section G of that document –"Directives for first days of the organization of the living state" outline activity of the Bandera followers during summer 1941 In the subsection of "Minority Policy" the OUN-B ordered:
"Moskali (a derogatory term for Russians), Poles, Jews are hostile to us must be exterminated in this struggle, especially those who would resist our regime: deport them to their own lands, importantly: destroy their intelligentsia"... ... "so-called Polish peasants must be assimilated"... "Destroy their leaders."
In late 1942, some Ukrainian nationalist groups were involved in a campaign of ethnic cleansing
Massacres of Poles in Volhynia
The Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia were part of an ethnic cleansing operation carried out by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army West in the Nazi occupied regions of the Eastern Galicia , and UPA North in Volhynia , beginning in March 1943 and lasting until the end of...
of Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
, and in early 1944, these campaigns began to include Eastern Galicia. It is estimated that over 40,000 Poles killed during spring and summer of 1943 campaign in Volhynia. by certain Ukrainian groups including the OUN-Bandera which bears primary responsibility for the massacres.
Despite the central role played by Bandera's followers in the massacre of Poles in western Ukraine, Bandera himself was interned in a German concentration camp when the concrete decision to massacre the Poles was made and when the Poles were killed. During his internment, from the summer of 1941, he was not completely aware of events in Ukraine and moreover had serious differences of opinion with Mykola Lebed
Mykola Lebed
Mykola Lebed , also known as Maksym Ruban, Marko or Yevhen Skyrba, was a Ukrainian political activist, Ukrainian nationalist and guerrilla fighter. He was among those tried, convicted, and imprisoned for the murder, in 1936, of Polish Interior Minister Bronislaw Pieracki. The court sentenced him to...
, the OUN-B leader who remained in Ukraine and who was one of the chief architects of the massacres of Poles. Bandera was thus not directly involved in those massacres, although it cannot be ruled out that they would have occurred had he been present.
Bandera and antisemitism
Unlike competing Polish, Russian, Hungarian or Romanian nationalisms in late imperial AustriaAustrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
, imperial Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
, interwar Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
and Romania, Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism refers to the Ukrainian version of nationalism.Although the current Ukrainian state emerged fairly recently, some historians, such as Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Orest Subtelny and Paul Magosci have cited the medieval state of Kievan Rus' as an early precedents of specifically...
did not include antisemitism as a core aspect of its program and saw Russians as well as Poles as the chief enemy with Jews playing a secondary role. Nevertheless, Ukrainian nationalism was not immune to the influence of the antisemitic climate in the Eastern and Central Europe, had already become highly racialized in the late 19th century, and had developed an elaborate anti-Jewish discourse.
The predominance of the Russians, rather than the Jewish minority, as the principal perceived enemy of Ukrainian nationalists was highlighted at the OUN-B's Conference in Krakow in 1941 when it declared that "The Jews in the USSR constitute the most faithful support of the ruling Bolshevik regime, and the vanguard of Muscovite imperialism in Ukraine. The Muscovite-Bolshevik government exploits the anti-Jewish sentiments of the Ukrainian masses to divert their attention from the true cause of their misfortune and to channel them in a time of frustration into pogroms on Jews. The OUN combats the Jews as the prop of the Muscovite-Bolshevik regime and simultaneously it renders the masses conscious of the fact that the principal foe is Moscow." In May 1941 at a meeting in Krakow
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
the leadership of Bandera's OUN faction adopted the program "Struggle and action of OUN during the war" which outlined the plans for activities at the onset of the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union and the western territories of the Ukrainian SSR. Section G of that document –"Directives for first days of the organization of the living state" outline activity of the Bandera followers during summer 1941 In the subsection of "Minority Policy" the OUN-B ordered:
"Moskali (a derogatory terms for Russians), Poles, Jews are hostile to us must be exterminated in this struggle, especially those who would resist our regime: deport them to their own lands, importantly: destroy their intelligentsia that may be in the positions of power ... Jews must be isolated, removed from governmental positions in order to prevent sabotage, those who are deemed necessary may only work with an overseer... Jewish assimilation is not possible."
Later in June Yaroslav Stetsko sent to Bandera a report in which he indicated - "We are creating a militia which would help to get remove the Jews and protect the population."
Leaflets spread in the name of Bandera in the same year called for the "destruction" of ""Moscow", Poles, Hungarians and Jewry. In 1941-1942 while Bandera was cooperating with the Germans, OUN members did take part in anti-Jewish actions.
In 1942 German intelligence concluded that Ukrainian nationalists were indifferent to the plight of the Jews and were willing to either kill them or help them, depending on what better served their cause. Several Jews took part in Bandera's underground movement, including one of Bandera's close associates Richard Yary
Richard Yary
Richard Franz Marian Yary was a Ukrainian nationalist journalist, politician and military figure....
who was also married to a Jewish woman. Another notable Jewish UPA member was Leyba-Itzik "Valeriy" Dombrovsky. According to a report to the Chief of the Security Police in Berlin dated March 30, 1942, "...it has been clearly established that the Bandera movement provided forged passports not only for its own members, but also for Jews.". The false papers were most likely supplied to Jewish doctors or skilled workers who could be useful for the movement.
When Bandera was in conflict with the Germans, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army under his authority sheltered many Jews. and included Jewish fighters and medical personnel. In the official organ of the OUN-B's leadership, instructions to OUN groups urged those groups to "liquidate the manifestations of harmful foreign influence, particularly the German racist concepts and practices." In summary, Bandera's movement sometimes harmed and sometimes helped Jews depending on particular circumstances and on Bandera's relationship with Germany.
Death
On 15 October 1959, Stepan Bandera collapsed outside of Kreittmayrstrasse 7 in MunichMunich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and died shortly thereafter. A medical examination established that the cause of his death was poison (cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
gas). On October 20, 1959 Stepan Bandera was buried in the Waldfriedhof Cemetery in Munich.
Two years later, on 17 November 1961, the German judicial bodies announced that Bandera's murderer had been a KGB defector Bohdan Stashynsky
Bohdan Stashynsky
Bohdan Stashynsky is the KGB assassin of Ukrainian nationalist leaders Lev Rebet and Stepan Bandera who were killed in the late 1950s.-Early biography :...
who acted on the orders of Soviet KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
head Alexander Shelepin
Alexander Shelepin
Alexander Nikolayevich Shelepin was a Soviet state security officer and party statesman. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its Politburo and was the head of the KGB from 25 December 1958 to 13 November 1961.Shelepin was born in Voronezh...
and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
. After a detailed investigation against Stashynsky, a trial took place from 8 October to 15 October 1962. The sentence was handed down on 19 October in which Stashynsky was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. The Federal Court of Justice of Germany
Federal Court of Justice of Germany
The Federal Court of Justice of Germany in Karlsruhe is the highest court in the system of ordinary jurisdiction in Germany. It is the supreme court in all matters of criminal and private law...
confirmed at Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe
The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...
that in the Bandera murder, the Soviet secret service was the main guilty party.
Family
His brother Oleksandr (who had a PhD in Political Economy from the University of RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
) and brother Vasyl (a graduate in Philosophy, Lviv University) were arrested and interned in Auschwitz, where they were allegedly killed by Polish inmates in 1942.
Andriy Bandera, Stepan's father was arrested in late May 1941 for harbouring an OUN member and transferred to Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. In 8 July he was sentenced to death and executed on the 10th. His sisters Oksana and Marta-Maria were arrested by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in 1941 and sent to a GULAG
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
in Siberia. Both were released in 1960 without the right to return to Ukraine. Marta-Maria died in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
in 1982, and Oksana returned to Ukraine in 1989 where she died in 2004. Another sister, Volodymyra - was sentenced to a term in Soviet labour camps from 1946-1956. She returned to Ukraine in 1956.
Stepan's brother Bohdan's fate remains unknown, as accounts vary: some sources say he was killed by the Gestapo in Mykolayiv in 1943, other sources say he was killed by the NKVD operatives in 1944, but to date even the family members have no definite information.
Legacy
The Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
actively campaigned to discredit Bandera and all other Ukrainian nationalist partisans of World War II.
In an interview with Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda
Komsomolskaya Pravda is a daily Russian tabloid newspaper, founded on March 13th, 1925. It is published by "Izdatelsky Dom Komsomolskaya Pravda" .- History :...
in 2005 former KGB Chief Vladimir Kryuchkov
Vladimir Kryuchkov
Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov was a former Soviet politician and Communist Party member, having been in the organization from 1944 until he was dismissed in 1991...
claimed that "the murder of Stepan Bandera was one of the last cases when the KGB disposed of undesired people by means of violence."
In late 2006 the Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
city administration announced the future transference of the tombs of Stepan Bandera, Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk , Ukrainian military and political leader.-Life:Born near Drohobych, Galicia into a peasant family. Between 1912 and 1914 he studied at the Higher School of Agriculture in Vienna...
, Yevhen Konovalets
Yevhen Konovalets
Yevhen Konovalets was a military commander of the UNR army and political leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement...
and other key leaders of OUN
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
/UPA to a new area of Lychakivskiy Cemetery
Lychakivskiy Cemetery
-History:Since its creation in 1787 as Łyczakowski Cemetery, it has been the main necropolis of the city's inteligentsia, middle and upper classes. Initially the cemetery was located on several hills in the borough of Lychakiv, following the imperial Austro-Hungarian edict ordering that all...
specifically dedicated to Ukrainian national liberation struggle.
In October 2007, the city of Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
erected a statue dedicated to the OUN and UPA leader Stepan Bandera. The appearance of the statue has engendered a far-reaching debate about the role of Stepan Bandera and UPA in Ukrainian History. The two previously erected statues were blown up by unknown perpetrators, the current is guarded by a militia detachment 24/7. On October 18, 2007, the Lviv City Council adopted a resolution establishing the "Award of Stepan Bandera."
On January 1, 2009 his 100th birthday was celebrated in several Ukrainian centres and an postal stamp with his portrait was issued the same day.
Attitudes in Ukraine Towards Bandera
Bandera continues to be a divisive figure in Ukraine. Although Bandera is venerated in certain parts of western Ukraine, and 33% of LvivLviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
's residents consider themselves to be followers of Bandera, in surveys of Ukraine as a whole he, along with Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
and Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the USSR, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991...
, is considered among the three historical figures who produce the most negative attitudes. A national survey conducted in Ukraine in 2009 inquired about attitudes by region toward's Bandera's faction of the OUN. It produced the following results: In Galicia (provinces of Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
, and Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
) 37% had a "very positive" opinion of Bandera, 26% a "mostly positive" opinion, 20% were neutral, "mostly negative", 6% very negative, and 6% unsure. In Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
, 5% had a very positive opinion, 20% a mostly positive opinion, 57% were neutral, 7% were mostly negative, 5% very negative and 7% were unsure. In Transcarpathia
Zakarpattia Oblast
The Zakarpattia Oblast is an administrative oblast located in southwestern Ukraine. Its administrative center is the city of Uzhhorod...
4% of the respondents had a very positive opinion, 32% a mostly positive opinion, 50% were neutral, none had a mosly negative opinion, 7% had a very negative opinion and 7% were unsure. In contrast, in central Ukraine (comprising the capital Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
, as well as the provinces of Zhytomyr
Zhytomyr
Zhytomyr is a city in the North of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zhytomyr Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Zhytomyr Raion...
, Cherkasy
Cherkasy
Cherkasy or Cherkassy , is a city in central Ukraine. It is the capital of the Cherkasy Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Cherkasky Raion within the oblast...
, Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
, Poltava
Poltava
Poltava is a city in located on the Vorskla River in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Poltava Oblast , as well as the surrounding Poltava Raion of the oblast. Poltava's estimated population is 298,652 ....
, Sumy
Sumy
* 1897 - 70.53% Ukrainians, 24.1% Russians, 2.6% Jewish, 2.67% others* 1926 - 80.7% Ukrainians, 11.8% Russians, 5.5% Jewish, 2% others* 1959 - 79% Ukrainians, 20% Russians, 1% others...
, Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia is a city located on the banks of the Southern Bug, in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast.-Names:...
, and Kirovohrad
Kirovohrad
Kirovohrad , formerly Yelisavetgrad, is a city in central Ukraine. It is located on the Inhul River. It is a motorway junction. Pop. 239,400 ....
) attitudes towards Bandera's faction of the OUN were 3% very positive, 10% mostly positive, 24% neutral, 17% mostly negative, 21% very negative and 25% unsure. In Eastern Ukraine (the provinces of Donetsk
Donetsk
Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...
, Luhansk
Luhansk
Luhansk also known as Lugansk is a city in southeastern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Luhansk Oblast . The city itself is also designated as its own separate municipality within the oblast...
, Kharkiv
Kharkiv
Kharkiv or Kharkov is the second-largest city in Ukraine.The city was founded in 1654 and was a major centre of Ukrainian culture in the Russian Empire. Kharkiv became the first city in Ukraine where the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed in December 1917 and Soviet government was...
, Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk
Dnipropetrovsk or Dnepropetrovsk formerly Yekaterinoslav is Ukraine's third largest city with one million inhabitants. It is located southeast of Ukraine's capital Kiev on the Dnieper River, in the south-central region of the country...
and Zaporizhia
Zaporizhia
Zaporizhia or Zaporozhye [formerly Alexandrovsk ] is a city in southeastern Ukraine, situated on the banks of the Dnieper River. It is the administrative center of the Zaporizhia Oblast...
) 1% each had very positive or mostly positive attitudes towards Bandera's OUN, 19% were neutral, 13% mostly negative, 26% very negative and 20% unsure. In Ukraine's south (the Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...
and Kherson
Kherson
Kherson is a city in southern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kherson Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast. Kherson is an important port on the Black Sea and Dnieper River, and the home of a major ship-building industry...
regions plus Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
) 1% each were very or mostly positive, 13% were neutral, 31% mostly negative, 48% very negative and 25% were unsure. In Ukraine as a whole, 6% of Ukrainians had a very positvie opinion, 8% a mostly positive opinion, 23% were neutral, 15% had a mostly negative opinion, 30% had a very negative opinion, and 18% were unsure.
Hero of Ukraine Award (Annuled)
On January 22, 2010, on the Day of Unity of Ukraine, the then-President of UkrainePresident of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
awarded to Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine is the highest state decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the Government of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as of August 25 2011 the total number of awards is 265. The award is divided into two classes of distinction:...
(posthumously) "for "defending national ideas and battling for an independent Ukrainian state." A grandson of Bandera, also named Stepan, accepted the award that day from the Ukrainian President during the state ceremony to commemorate the Day of Unity of Ukraine at the National Opera House of Ukraine.
Reactions to Bandera's award vary. This award has been condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center
Simon Wiesenthal Center
The Simon Wiesenthal Center , with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, was established in 1977 and named for Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi hunter. According to its mission statement, it is "an international Jewish human rights organization dedicated to repairing the world one step at a time...
and the Student Union of French Jews. On the very same day numerous Ukrainian media, such as the pro-Russian Segonia, published dishonoring articles in that regard mentioning cases of some former Soviet spies wishing to dump their Hero of Ukraine title. The representatives from several antifascist organizations in neighboring Slovakia
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
condemned the award to Bandera, calling Yushchenko's decision a provocation was reported by the RosBisnessConsulting referring to the Radio Praha. On February 25, 2010 the European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...
criticized the decision by then ex-president of Ukraine Yushchenko to award Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine and expressed hope it would be reconsidered. On May 14, 2010 in the statement of the Russian Foreign Ministry was said about the award: "that the event is so odious that it could no doubt cause a negative reaction in the first place in Ukraine. Already it is known a position on this issue of a number of Ukrainian politicians, who believe that solutions this kind do not contribute to the consolidation of Ukrainian public opinion".
On the other hand the decree was applauded by Ukrainian nationalists, in western Ukraine and by a small portion of the Ukrainian-Americans. On January 25, 2010 the head of the Czech Confederation political prisoners Nadia Kavalirova expressed support for the decision of the Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
to award the title of Hero of Ukraine to Stepan Bandera, stating "It is good that he (Yushchenko) made this step, many Czech politicians can draw lessons from it..."
On February 9, 2010 the Poland's Senate Marshal Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Borusewicz
Bogdan Michał Borusewicz, is the Speaker in the Polish Senate since 20 October 2005. Borusewicz was a democratic opposition activist under the Communist regime, a member of the Polish parliament for three terms and first Senate Speaker to serve two terms in this office.Borusewicz briefly served...
said at a meeting with the head of Russia's Federation Council
Federation Council of Russia
Federation Council of Russia ) is the upper house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , according to the 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation...
Sergei Mironov, that adaptation of the Hero title of Ukraine to Bandera is an internal matter of the Ukrainian government.
On March 3, 2010 the Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
regional council called on the European Parliament to review this resolution.
Taras Kuzio
Taras Kuzio
Dr. Taras Kuzio is an academic and expert in Ukrainian political, economic and security affairs. He has written influential articles on contemporary Ukrainian issues.-Education and qualifications:...
, a senior fellow in the chair of Ukrainian studies
Ukrainian studies
Ukrainian studies - interdisciplinary field of research dedicated to Ukrainian language, literature, history and culture in a broad sense.- Ukrainian studies outside Ukraine :A number of research institutes outside of Ukraine focus on Ukrainian studies...
at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
has suggested Yushchenko awarded Bandera the award in order to frustrate Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Tymoshenko
Yulia Volodymyrivna Tymoshenko , née Grigyan , born 27 November 1960, is a Ukrainian politician. She was the Prime Minister of Ukraine from 24 January to 8 September 2005, and again from 18 December 2007 to 4 March 2010. She placed third in Forbes Magazine's List of The World's 100 Most Powerful...
's chances to get elected President during the Ukrainian Presidential elections 2010
Ukrainian presidential election, 2010
The Ukrainian presidential election of 2010 is Ukraine's fifth presidential election since declaring independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. The first round was held on January 17, 2010...
.
President Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
stated on March 5, 2010 he would make a decision to repeal the decrees to honour the tittle as Heroes of Ukraine to Bandera and fellow nationalist Roman Shukhevych
Roman Shukhevych
Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was a Ukrainian politician and military leader, the general of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.-Childhood:Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was born in the city of Krakovets, Jaworow powiat, in Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria which is located today between Lviv and...
before the next Victory Day. Although the Hero of Ukraine decrees do not stipulate the possibility that a decree on awarding this title can be annulled. On April 2, 2010, an administrative Donetsk
Donetsk
Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...
region court ruled the Presidential decree awarding the title to be illegal. According to the court's decision, Bandera wasn't a citizen of the Ukrainian SSR (vis-à-vis Ukraine).
On April 5, 2010 the Constitutional Court of Ukraine
Constitutional Court of Ukraine
The Constitutional Court of Ukraine is the sole body of constitutional jurisdiction in Ukraine. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine interprets the Constitution of Ukraine and decides whether laws and other legal acts are constitutional....
refused to start constitutional proceedings on the constitutionality of the President Yushchenko decree the award was based on. A ruling by the court was submissioned by the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea on January 20, 2010.
According to the grandson, Stepan Bandera, although the Bandera family has been officially informed of the Donetsk's court ruling it still is not asked by President Yanukovych to return the award. In January 2011, the presidential press service informed that the award was officially annulled. This was done after a cassation appeals filed against the ruling by Donetsk District Administrative Court was rejected by the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine on January 12, 2011. Former President Yushchenko called the annulation "a gross error".
Honorary citizen titles
- Honorary citizen of NadvirnaNadvirnaNadvirna is a city located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of Nadvirna Raion.Until World War I, Nadvirna was integrated into the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in the province of Galicia. In the inter-war years, the borders changed and it was annexed...
- Honorary citizen of KhustKhustKhust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...
(March 10, 2010)http://rus.newsru.ua/ukraine/15mar2010/hust.html - Honorary citizen of TernopilTernopilTernopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
(April 30, 2010)http://novynar.com.ua/politics/113912 - Honorary citizen of Ivano-FrankivskIvano-FrankivskIvano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
(May 6, 2010)http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/news/2034277.html - Honorary citizen of LvivLvivLviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
(May 7, 2010)http://www.zaxid.net/newsua/2010/5/7/142456/ - Honorary citizen of ZhovkvaZhovkvaZhovkva is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine, north of Lviv. It is the administrative center of the Zhovkivskyi Raion . The current estimated population is 13,500.-History:...
(January 2011) - Honorary citizen of DublianyDublianyDubliany is a town in Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 8,469 . In the early 20th century, it was famous as the seat of the Agricultural Academy.- External links : in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland...
(January 2011) - Honorary citizen of Rava-RuskaRava-RuskaRava-Ruska is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine.It is located near the border with Poland, opposite the town of Hrebenne. It is located in the Zhovkva Raion at around . The current estimated population is 8,100 ....
(January 2011)
Monuments
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Staryi UhrynivUhryniv StaryiStaryi Uhryniv is a village in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. Staryi Uhryniv is the birthplace of the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera.-History:The first mention of Staryi Uhryniv is in 1447...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in LvivLvivLviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in TernopilTernopilTernopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Ivano-FrankivskIvano-FrankivskIvano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in KolomyiaKolomyiaKolomyia or Kolomyya, formerly known as Kolomea , is a city located on the Prut River in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , in western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative centre of the Kolomyia Raion , the city is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Kozivka
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in DrohobychDrohobychDrohobych is a city located at the confluence of the Tysmenytsia River and Seret, a tributary of the former, in the Lviv Oblast , in western Ukraine...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in DublianyDublianyDubliany is a town in Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 8,469 . In the early 20th century, it was famous as the seat of the Agricultural Academy.- External links : in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Terebovlya
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in BerezhanyBerezhanyBerezhany is a city located in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Berezhanskyi Raion , and rests about 100 km from Lviv and 50 km from the oblast capital, Ternopil. The city has a population of about 20,000, and is about 400 m above sea level...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in BoryslavBoryslavBoryslav is a city located on the Tysmenytsia River , in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. The city is designated as a separate raion within the oblast....
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in BuchachBuchachBuchach is a small city located on the Strypa River in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Mykytyntsi
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in MostyskaMostyskaMostyska is a city in Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. It is administrative center of the Mostyska Raion. Population is 9,150 . There is a break of gauge where the railway systems of the two countries meet...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in SambirSambirSambir is a city in the Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Sambir Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. It is located at around , close to the border with Poland.-History:...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in StryiStryiStryi is a city located on the left bank of the river Stryi in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine . Serving as the administrative center of the Stryi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. Thus, the city has two administrations - the city and the raion...
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Zalishchyky
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in ChervonohradChervonohradChervonohrad is a city located in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. The city is designated as a separate raion within the oblast. It about 62 km north of Lviv and 7 km from Sokal. The population numbers 68,300 inhabitants....
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Verbiv
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Horodenka
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Hrabivka
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Seredniy Bereziv
- Monument of Stepan Bandera in Strusiv
Museums
- Museum of Stepan Bandera in DublianyDublianyDubliany is a town in Lviv Oblast of Ukraine. Population is 8,469 . In the early 20th century, it was famous as the seat of the Agricultural Academy.- External links : in the Geographical Dictionary of the Kingdom of Poland...
- Museum of Stepan Bandera in Volya-Zaderevatska
- Museum of Stepan Bandera in Staryi UhrynivUhryniv StaryiStaryi Uhryniv is a village in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast in western Ukraine. Staryi Uhryniv is the birthplace of the Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera.-History:The first mention of Staryi Uhryniv is in 1447...
- Museum of Stepan Bandera in Yahilnytsya
- Museum of liberation struggle named after Stepan Bandera in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Streets
- Stepan Bandera street in Lviv
- Stepan Bandera street in LutskLutskLutsk is a city located by the Styr River in northwestern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Volyn Oblast and the administrative center of the surrounding Lutskyi Raion within the oblast...
(former Suvorovska street) - Stepan Bandera street in RivneRivneRivne or Rovno is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rivne Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Rivne Raion within the oblast...
(former Moskovska street) - Stepan Bandera street in KolomyiaKolomyiaKolomyia or Kolomyya, formerly known as Kolomea , is a city located on the Prut River in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , in western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative centre of the Kolomyia Raion , the city is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...
- Stepan Bandera prospect in TernopilTernopilTernopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
- Stepan Bandera street in Ivano-FrankivskIvano-FrankivskIvano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
- Stepan Bandera street in ChervonohradChervonohradChervonohrad is a city located in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. The city is designated as a separate raion within the oblast. It about 62 km north of Lviv and 7 km from Sokal. The population numbers 68,300 inhabitants....
- Stepan Bandera street in BerezhanyBerezhanyBerezhany is a city located in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Berezhanskyi Raion , and rests about 100 km from Lviv and 50 km from the oblast capital, Ternopil. The city has a population of about 20,000, and is about 400 m above sea level...
(former Chernyakhovskoho street) - Stepan Bandera street in DrohobychDrohobychDrohobych is a city located at the confluence of the Tysmenytsia River and Seret, a tributary of the former, in the Lviv Oblast , in western Ukraine...
(former Slyusarska street) - Stepan Bandera street in StryiStryiStryi is a city located on the left bank of the river Stryi in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine . Serving as the administrative center of the Stryi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. Thus, the city has two administrations - the city and the raion...
- Stepan Bandera street in KalushKalush, Ukraine-Notable residents:*Stepan Bandera*August Aleksander Czartoryski*Jakub Sobieski*Jan "Sobiepan" Zamoyski*Tomasz Zamoyski*Fedir Danylak-Twin towns — sister cities:Kalush, Ukraine is twinned with:- Location :Local orientationRegional orientation...
- Stepan Bandera street in KovelKovelKovel is a city located in the Volyn Oblast , in northwestern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Kovelskyi Raion , the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast. The current estimated population is around 65,777.Kovel gives its name to one of the...
- Stepan Bandera street in Volodymyr-VolynskyiVolodymyr-VolynskyiVolodymyr-Volynsky is a city located in Volyn Oblast, in north-western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative centre of the Volodymyr-Volynsky District, the city itself is also designated as a separate raion within the oblast...
- Stepan Bandera street in HorodenkaHorodenkaHorodenka is a city located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Horodenka Raion .The current estimated population is around 9,800 .-History:...
External links
- Stepan Bandera, His Life and Struggle
- Bandera's supporters ready for new battle (editorial) - Kyiv PostKyiv PostThe Kyiv Post is Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper.-History:The Kyiv Post was founded in September 1995 by an American, Jed Sunden. The paper covers politics, business and entertainment. The staff is a team of Western and Ukrainian journalists. Historically, the editorial policy has...
(March 11, 2010) - Recorded speech by Stepan Bandera, Munich 1956