"UPA commander, liable for Volyn massacre, will have his monument in Lviv. The Russian invasion has only strengthened the cult of nationalist criminals over the Dnieprem," writes Dr. Maciej Pieczyński, weekly “To Things”.
The publicist recalls that in late October, the work group for commemoration in the Lviv City Council unanimously decided to fund the monument of Roman Szuchewych. “The initiator of honoring UPA commander is Anton Petrykiwski. He called for the construction of the monument in mid-May, publishing an extended Facebook entry. His thought was motivated by the fact that on 1 January 2024 the Russians bombed the building in which Shuchewycz died in a skirmish with the NKWD, and in which his museum was now located," he reports.
In the opinion of the Russianist, this initiative did not meet any loud criticism over Dnieprem. "In the first months of the Russian invasion, 1 could hope that the war would bring fresh heroes, free from controversy, who – brutally speaking – if they had war crimes on their consciences, they would not be victims of war. And then old heroes – banders – will go to the lame. After all, UPA is simply a communicative that nobody remembers, through which Ukrainians argue with Poles, and sometimes (although little often) with themselves. In the meantime, nothing more wrong. As can be seen from the example of the Lviv monument initiative, Bander and Szuchewycz are frequently heroes besides for the contemporary heroes of Ukraine”, we read.
Pieczyński points out that over Dnieprem there is simply a increasing number of people “who worship and glory to bandiers” all day. Interestingly, many of them are representatives of alleged elites.
"Ukrainian independency elites, from left to right, from liberals to nationalists, just love UPA, treating this formation, just as the AK is treated in Poland. Well, what about soldiers on the front who request heroic patterns... (...) On 1 January 2023, on the anniversary of Stepan Bandera's birth, then Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Walery Deserved was photographed from jubilate. (...) Szuchewych, the hero, taken prisoner by the Russians, was called the mayor of Chersonia Volodymyr Nikolayenko, and this in conversation with a Russian journalist, in front of the cameras. erstwhile president of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko gave the armed forces a demonstration banderomobile – i.e. terrain cars, covered with nationalistic symbolism and embellished a image of the CNS leader”, points out the publicist.
According to Pieczyński, the worship and even the sacralization of Bandera and Shuchewycz will only strengthen. " late UIPN has published a short movie on the occasion of the Orthodox Festival of Cows (Our Lady's Care), which in Ukraine is besides a celebration of UPA. The authors emphasize that it is simply a vacation traditionally associated with the Ukrainian army for centuries. In this context, heroes appear in 1 of the pictures next to Our Lady. Not only poets Taras Shevchenko or Ivan Franko, but besides Bandera and Shuchewycz. The association comes with only 1 thing – the icon of Our woman of the Power written in Russia, on which Stalin and the Marshals of the Red Army are portrayed...”, concludes the journalist.
Source: weekly “To Things”
TG
