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Reordering of Meaningful Worlds
Memory of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in Post-Soviet Ukraine

by Yuliya Yurchuk (Stockholm University 2014)
Södertörn Doctoral Dissertations 101
ISSN: 1652-7399
ISBN: 978-91-87843-12-9
Stockholm Studies in History 103
ISSN: 0491-0842
ISBN 978-91-7649-021-1

[ Yurchuk2014OUN-UPA.pdf ]

[W.Z. The reader is urged to read the full text in the pdf link above. Below, I have reproduced short excerpts in "quotation marks" and inserted personal comments within [square brackets] in the colour fuchsia.]

Contents
Abbreviations .......................................................................................................... xiii
A Note on Language and Transliteration ................................................................. xvi
Preface ................................................................................................................... xvii

Chapter I. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1
    Dealing with a Difficult Past ....................................................................................................... 7
    Defining Language .................................................................................................................... 17
        Cultural Memory ................................................................................................................. 17
        Memory and History ........................................................................................................... 20
        Myth .................................................................................................................................... 22
        Knowledge .......................................................................................................................... 24
    Monuments as Symptoms and Catalysts for Memory Work ..................................................... 27
    Soviet War Monuments and the OUN and UPA Monuments ................................................... 30
    Approach and Method ............................................................................................................... 33
    Collecting Data and Positioning “Me” into the Research .......................................................... 37

Chapter II. The Past to Remember ............................................................................ 41
    The OUN and UPA: Difficult Aspects of the Past .................................................................... 41
        The OUN’s Ideology and its Relationship with Nazi Germany .......................................... 44
        The OUN and UPA and the Jewish Population ................................................................... 49
        The OUN and UPA and the Polish Population .................................................................... 51
    Concluding Remarks ................................................................................................................. 54

Chapter III. Searching for the Past Perfect................................................................ 55
    Równe - Rovno – Rivne: Putting Rivne on Map ....................................................................... 57
        The World Wars and the City ............................................................................................. 59
        The War Remembered 1945-1985 ...................................................................................... 60
        The Region of the Partisan Glory ........................................................................................ 60
    Dynamics of Memory 1985-2014 ............................................................................................. 64
        Disordering the meaningful world: 1985-1995 ................................................................... 65
        Many Vectors and No Direction? ...................................................................................... 103
        Political Crisis and the Formation of New Opposition (1998-2003) ................................. 107
        In Search of New Symbols ................................................................................................ 107
        Orange Blues (2003-2005) ................................................................................................ 112
        The Orange Revolution ..................................................................................................... 124
        Rise and Decline of “Nationalization” (2005-2010) .......................................................... 127
        Whose Right to Define the “National” in Memory? Institutionalization of Memory ........ 127
    The Road to the Turbulent 2014 ............................................................................................. 140
        Yanukovych’s Revanchist Memory Politics ..................................................................... 141
        Euromaidan ....................................................................................................................... 143
    Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................... 153

Chapter IV. Making the Past Perfect. ..................................................................... 156
    The Battle of Hurby Commemoration - Pantheon of the Heroes under Construction ............. 157
        Dead Bodies from the Past ................................................................................................ 158
        Insurgent Graves ............................................................................................................... 162
        Pray, Learn, Play, Pray Again: Memory Actors and Memory Activities .......................... 166
    Klym Savur –Memorialization Ruled by Amnesia.................................................................. 172
        Duty to Remember ............................................................................................................ 174
        Appearances Matter .......................................................................................................... 178
        Topographical Matrix of Klym Savur monument ............................................................. 179
        Parallels that Never Meet? Remembering the Polish victims ............................................ 182
    Taras Bul’ba-Borovets’: Founding Myth of the UPA ............................................................. 186
        The Never Ending Building Process ................................................................................. 188
        Regional Hero ................................................................................................................... 192
    Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................... 197

Chapter V. Grammars of Remembering – Mechanisms of Mythologization ......... 200
    Martyrology as a Grammar of Remembering .......................................................................... 201
    Hagiography as a Grammar of Remembering ......................................................................... 204
    Grammar of Heroic Epos ........................................................................................................ 209
    Grammar of Prophecy/Oracular Pronouncement .................................................................... 212
    Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................... 214

Chapter VI. Encountering the Past (Im)Perfect ...................................................... 216
    Reception of Monuments ........................................................................................................ 216
        Troubled Knowing: Students’ Essays on War and Memory.............................................. 217
        “We Must Remember Their Sacrifice” ............................................................................. 226
    Visitors’ Perspective on the OUN and UPA’s Past ........................................................... 226
    Concluding Remarks ............................................................................................................... 234

Final Discussion ...................................................................................................... 235
Postscript................................................................................................................. 245
Sammanfattning på svenska .................................................................................... 246
Annex 1. Decalogue of the Ukrainian Nationalists ................................................. 253
Sources and Literature ............................................................................................ 254

Acknowledgements
- "I thank Piotr Wawrzeniuk, Andrej Kotljarchuk, and Per Anders Rudling who shared their knowledge about the wartime period in the Eastern Europe and especially in Ukraine and generously provided relevant literature on it."
- "I thank my husband’s parents, Halyna and Vasyl’ Yurchuk."  "Many thanks go to my own parents, Vira and Mykola Barmak, for being the best parents one can ever dream of."

Preface
- (Rivne, October 2011) Ms. Yurchuk describes man in mid-fifties, who lays flowers at monument of Klym Savur (alias of Dmytro Kliachkivs’kyi (1911-1945), the commander of UPA-North) and who intends to also lay flowers at Taras Schevchenko monumnet and Red Army monument at Dubens'ke cemetery.
- "What I found in Rivne, though, dramatically changed my plan and my thoughts on the intricate interplay of history and memory."

Chapter I. Introduction ................................................................................................ 1
- By the end of Chapter I, we learn that Ms. Yurchuk was born in the Rivne area and that in her childhood both of her grandmothers related stories about UPA -- one was pro-UPA and the other was anti-UPA.
- Ref. 8: "Or, as Swedish historian Per-Anders Rudling puts it, why do the democratic Ukrainians have to take up the legacy of the OUN?"
- In this chapter, Ms. Yurchuk provides an extensive bibliographical background  on "Production, Contextualization, and Reception of Memory". "To illustrate this exchange, I decided to concentrate on monuments which I see as catalysts and symptoms of remembering." "Hence, I pay a great deal of attention to memory actors, memory entrepreneurs, who reinforce the memory work." "In addition, I want to question the widely accepted view that monuments are crystalized statements of top-down memory politics."
- Ref. 53 Rudling: "In the literature on the UPA remembrance, the main argument is that the past of the OUN and UPA is used by nationalists to propagate their ideology and to legitimize themselves."
- Ref. 60: "For instance, when writing on the memory of Stepan Bandera, the leader of the OUN, in the community of the Ukrainian diaspora in Canada, the historian Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe argues that this memory refers more to a myth than to a history as such."
- Ref: 61: "The historian John-Paul Himka, while writing on historical politics in Ukraine, also refers to a myth which he understands as the “unexamined components of the ideologized version of history, articles of faith more than of reason.” "
- Ref. 153: "Marples. Heroes and Villains; Rodgers, “Regionalism and the politics of identity”; Richardson. “Disciplining the past.” "

[W.Z. From the references indicated above, it is obvious that Ms. Yurchuk has been working in an academic environment antagonistic to the Ukrainian Independence Movement that has been striving to establish and maintain an independent Ukraine from WWI to the present day. I have labelled some of these people as a "nest of Ukrainophobic vipers at the University of Alberta" for signing a full page advertisement in the 23Apr2011 National Post demonizing the Ukrainian Canadian Congress for insisting that the Holodomor be appropriately displayed in the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Some of these same people on 20Apr2015 signed another open letter decrying the decommunization laws passed by the Verkhovna Rada on 09Apr2015.]

Chapter II. The Past to Remember ............................................................................ 41
- This chapter presents a concise history of the development of UVO (Ukraiins'ka Viiskova Organizatsiia) after WWI, its evolution into OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) in 1929 and the split into the Melnyk OUN(m) and Bandera OUN(b) factions in April 1941. The mnemonic UPA was initially created by Volyn warlord Taras Bulba-Borovets in 1941, but the name was taken over by OUN(b) in 1943.
- Thereafter, Ms. Yurchuk quotes very liberally from the works of her academic peers to present a rather negative picture of OUN-UPA, although she also refers to more sympathetic commentators, such as Zenon Kohut, Volodymyr Viatrovych, Marko Levytsky and the grandson of Stepan Bandera. Surprisingly, she does not quote from the work of her contemporary peer Ivan Patrylyak .
- Nor does she refer to the books of famous dissident Danylo Shumuk, who was a member of UPA in Volyn and who spent 42 years of his life in jails, gulags and exile. Since both he and she are from Volyn, had she not heard of him? Has she not read his book "Perezhyte i Peredumane (Detroit 1983)" or the English-language translation "Life Sentence" by Ivan Jaworsky (Ottawa 1984), which acknowledges the assistance of John-Paul Himka and David Marples?
- Has Ms.Yurchuk read any of the books by Mychailo Tomaschuk, such as "SPALAKH: UPA resistance in the Bereziv region",  "Zapalala Vohnem", "Berezovy"?
- [Ref. 669 on page 205 refers to the three books by Mykhailo Andrusiak: "Braty Hromu" (2001), "Braty Vohnu" (2004) and "Braty Prostoriv" (2007). Has she read them?]

- "The OUN ideology of integral nationalism, its links to Nazi Germany, the participation of some of the OUN and UPA members in the Holocaust, the murder of Polish residents which was organized and supported by the OUN and UPA are those aspects of the past which do not allow them to be remembered in a heroic way."
- "Yet, they are celebrated exactly as that - heroes. ... not only by nationalist parties but by parties who represent pro-democratic and pro-European values."

Chapter III. Searching for the Past Perfect................................................................ 55
- "The following chapter aims at shedding light on the dynamics of memory work and the intricate relationship between different communities both at local, regional and national levels that mold the remembrance. The frameworks of remembrance are seen in this study as an integral part of memory. Unless these frameworks are analyzed, an understanding of why exactly the past of the OUN and the UPA became so important in post-Soviet Ukraine is impeded."
- [W.Z. Unfortunately, even though Ms. Yurchuk limits her study to the city of Rivne, synthesizing the material in this chapter is difficult and tedious, such that only specific issues will be highlighted.]
- Of particular significance was "the formation of the mass anti-Communist civic movement under the aegis of “Narodnyi Rukh za Perebudovu” (People’s Movement for Perebudova - Rukh) at the end of 1989."
- "In order to commemorate the unification of the ZUNR and UNR, on 21 January 1990, a “living chain” united thousands of people on the roads from Kyiv-Zhytomyr-Rivne-Ternopil’-L’viv-Ivano-Frankivs’k."
- "In 1989 Rukh together with other patriotic organizations established the first song festival “Chervona Ruta” (literally “Red Rose”) in Chernivtsi which brought together nationally-minded youth."
- Reclaiming words: banderivtsi, mazepyntsi, petliurivtsi -- which the Soviet/Russian authorities always demonized.
- "During “Euromaidan” in 2013-2014 the image of the enemy was again “banderivtsi” while the post-Maidan government was presented by the Russian media as a “fascist junta.” "
- "De-Sovietization, De-communization, De-colonization, and Europeanization."
- "At the beginning of September 1990, Rukh organized the second mass commemorative event in Zaporizhzhia entitled “Days of Cossack Glory,” dedicated to the 500th anniversary of the Zaporizhzhia Sich."
- "Anti-UPA Discourse in the Struggles of Churches and Parties" -- "Dialog" was mouthpiece of Communists/Socialists versus "Volyn" was mouthpiece of Rukh.
- "Anniversaries as Arenas for Memory Battles: Holodomor and OUN and UPA Entanglement"
- [W.Z. It is interesting that Putin's anti-Ukrainian propaganda being spouted in 2015 is virtually identical to that spouted in "Dialog" in 1992.]
- "Holocaust as a Memory Appropriated by the Communists" -- "These and many other anti-Semitic statements published in “Volyn’” were grist to the mill for communists’ criticism of their opponents."

- "Ukraine at the Crossroads in 1994-2004" -- Leonid Kuchma (pro-Russian) versus Viacheslav Chornovil of Rukh
- "Whereas at the national level the questions of the OUN and UPA were approached rather cautiously, in Rivne, where power was concentrated in the hands of the national democrats (mainly represented by the UPP and Rukh), the history of the OUN and UPA became the central theme."
- "Consequently, this phase in the formation of memory culture (1998-2003) is influenced to a large extent by the “Kuchmagate” which came about through the “Ukraine without Kuchma” campaign."
- "Among those articles were some by Volodymyr Viatrovych who specialized in the Polish-Ukrainian conflict and was a director of the institute studying the liberation movement. In this regard, he is one of the most devoted memory actors who continues to promote the heroic picture of the OUN and UPA in many articles and books."
- "Commemorating Volhynia 1943 in Volhynia 2003" -- politicians pussyfooting around the issue; open letter apology by "public intellectuals".
- "The Role of Russia in Ukrainian Memory Battles"
- "The Orange Revolution" -- Yanukovych v. Yushchenko was a choice between Russian v. European orientations.
- "Rise and Decline of “Nationalization” (2005-2010)" -- Nationally, the reconciliation between Red Army and UPA veterans failed; locally, it succeeded in many places.
- "The OUN and the UPA Become Popular" -- in 2008 and 2009.
- "In 2010, the epic novel about the UPA “Museum of Abandoned Secrets” by renowned Ukrainian author Oksana Zabuzhko was published with the financial assistance of Yushchenko’s foundation."
- "On 22 January 2010, at the very end of his presidency, Yushchenko granted the Order of the Hero of Ukraine to Stepan Bandera." -- backfired as Yanukovych wins presidential election.
- "Holmshchyna: Looking for Counterbalance in Remembrance of the Volhynian Conflict."

- "The Road to the Turbulent 2014" -- an addendum to Yuliya Yurchuk's original plans to concentrate on 1991-2010 era.
- "Yanukovych’s Revanchist Memory Politics" -- Valeriy Soldatenko replaced Viatrovych; Holodomor downplayed; Kolisnichenko exhibit devoted to “to Polish and Jewish victims of UPA.”

- "Euromaidan" -- 21Nov2013 to 22Feb2014 -- from the day that Mustafa Nayem urged his Internet friends to protest on the Maidan to the day when Yanukovych fled.
- Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava!  -- became catch phrases for millions of demonstrators.
- "In the following chapters we will see how the memory is actually mythologized and why it finds resonance in public."

Chapter IV. Making the Past Perfect. ..................................................................... 156
- "This chapter consists of three case-studies that trace the process of the building of three memorial objects: the memorial complex “Pantheon of Heroes” in the village of Hurby near Rivne, the monuments to the UPA commander Klym Savur and to Taras Bul’ba-Borovets’, a war time partisan who is seen as the founder of the UPA."
- [W.Z. In my opinion, this chapter is particularly enlightening.]

Hurby: “Pantheon of Heroes”
- "..., the “Pantheon of Heroes” is a unique project of its kind as it elevates the memory of the OUN and UPA from one small remote locality to the national level and extends this site of memory to several functional purposes: educational, entertainment, and liturgical (e.g. serving as a site for public worship)."
- "On 20-24 April 1944 the largest battle between the UPA and NKVD took place in Hurby, a village some 30 km away from Rivne on the border with Ternopil oblast’. Five thousand soldiers of the UPA-North unit “Bohun” under the command of Petro Oliinyk “Enei” and the UPA-South under the command of Vasyl’ Kuk “Lemish” opposed thirty thousand soldiers of the NKVD under the command of Major Gerneral Mykhailo Marchenkov. As a result of the battle, the village was devastated and erased to the ground, so there is no longer a trace of the village there."

- "From the very beginning of the 1990s the commemorational practices in Hurby had an overtly religious underpinning. A tall wooden cross marked the death of people who were killed here and were never properly buried. Later on, a symbolic grave to unknown UPA soldiers was arranged. The grave consists of two tombstones and two crosses – one made of iron (which was erected first to mark the place of death) and one made of granite (being a part of the granite composition built in 2007-10). The plate on the iron cross has the tryzub (trident, Ukraine’s national symbol and coat of arms) an inscription “They Lost Their Lives for Ukraine’s Freedom. Glory to Heroes!” The granite stone to the left also depicts the tryzub and a woman sitting down whose appearance suggests that she is deeply in grief. The inscription near the woman reads: “To the fighters for freedom and the independence of Ukraine.” The stone to the right shows a kneeling male soldier holding a rifle in one hand and stretching out the other hand."
- "An annual celebration on the third day of Easter was established."
- "Another day when people gather here annually is the Day of the UPA, the 14 October, which is also the religious feast day of Pokrova (God’s Mother Protectress), which again charges the commemorations at Hurby with special religious atmosphere."
- "Being near the large monastery building surrounded by the chapel and crosses of the memorial complex, it is unclear whether the memorial complex at Hurby is a part of monastery or whether the monastery is a part of the memorial complex?"
- "In this way, the memory of the UPA is sacralized, the fight for independence turns the UPA soldiers into martyrs, or even almost into saints, and the duty of remembering is constructed as a moral duty of each Christian. Interestingly, in the OUN ideology the nation was associated with Christ and the OUN leaders with his disciplines."

Klym Savur (Dmytro Kliachkivs’kyi): Commander of UPA-North
- "In 1941 he was arrested by the Soviets and sentenced to death. Later the sentence was commuted to 10 years’ imprisonment. In July 1941, he escaped. The same year he was promoted to the leadership of the OUN-B. In 1943 he became a leader of the UPA in Volhynia. On 12 February 1945, he was killed while fighting the NKVD."
- Marples: "In spring and summer 1943 groups of the OUN-B, on the orders of Savur, killed between 30,000 and 60,000 Poles."
- "On 16 February 1992, just three months after the referendum for independence took place, the first commemoration of Klym Savur took place near the village of Sus’k, where he had been killed."
- "The first monument to Klym Savur was opened in July 1995 in the small town of Zbarazh, the town where Klym Savur was born."
- "..., the monument to Klym Savur was built in Rivne in 2002, ..."
- "The need to build the monument to Klym Savur in Rivne, in the region that became the epicenter of the UPA’s killings of Poles, seems rather dubious. ... It was opened in October 2002, just a few months before the commemoration of the Volhynian conflict started."

- "On 6 November 2003, only a year after the monument to Klym Savur was opened, the wife of the then Polish President, Iolanta Kwaśniewska, visited the region. She came to visit one specific commemorative ceremony, the unveiling of the monument in the village of Borshchivka, some 30 kilometers from Rivne."
- "At the end of 1942 the partisans destroyed the Antopil’ spirit factory which resulted in the massive punitive actions and redemptive murders of villagers by the Germans. The whole village of Borshchivka was burnt to the ground on 3 March 1943. Among the victims there were some relatives of the Polish President’s wife." ... "There were 16 Ukrainians and almost 250 Poles."

Taras Bulba-Borovets (originated UPA mnemonic)
- "Taras Borovets was born in Bystrychi (now Kostopil’ rayon in Rivne oblast’) on 9 March 1908. ... supported the views of Symon Petliura ... imprisoned at “Bereza Kartuzka” camp "
- [W.Z. Why does not Ms. Yurchuk explain that Polish authorities incarcerated thousands of Ukrainian patriots and OUN supporters in Bereza Kartuzka during the 1930s?]
- "In 1941 Bul’ba formed the first of such military units in Volhynia, which was by then occupied by the Soviets. He called these units Polis’ka Sich: the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA)."
- "The “Olevs’k Republic” existed for several months, from August to November 1941. German administration allowed Bul’ba to organize the “republic” as he had forced out the Soviet partisans from the territory. Germany, however, soon realized that Bul’ba was not loyal and the “Republic” was abolished.
- "In spring 1943, Borovets’ and the OUN-B negotiated the possibility to unite their structures. These negotiations were without success. By spring 1943 the OUN-B seized control over the majority of the insurgency by force. As a result Borovets’ had to flee to Warsaw. Later he migrated to Canada where he died in 1981.
- "At the same time, the OUN-M military structures were also integrated within the OUN-B. United military formations appropriated the name of the UPA, and Roman Shukhevych was appointed to lead the Army."

- "The decision to erect a monument to Taras Bul’ba-Borovets’ was taken by Rivne city council on 17 April 2003."
- "The monument though was not completed by the 100th jubilee in 2008, as planned. And only in 2011 a specific site was allocated for the building of the monument - on the Prospekt Myru. The engraved stone marks the place for the future monument."

Chapter V. Grammars of Remembering – Mechanisms of Mythologization ......... 200
- [W.Z. In this chapter, Ms. Yurchuk reverts to establishing her theoretical superstructure within which she squeezes her analysis. She intoduces 4 concepts: martyrology, hagiography, heroic epos and prophecy.]

Martyrology as a Grammar of Remembering
- "The grammar of martyrology surrounds the UPA soldiers with an aura of sacrifice and holy devotion to the idea of the nation."
- Book of Martyrs "catalogue people who lost their lives (or suffered the fate of deportation, imprisonment, camp detention, repressions) under the communist regime during the famine 1932-33, or people killed during the Second World War (both in the battlefield and the civil population, mainly the Jewish victims of the Holocaust),661 in the hands of Nazi Germany or, in case of UPA, in the hands of the NKVD."
- "It is important to stress here that such lists were published by both sides in the memory battle, thus, the listings in “Volyn’” included the victims of the communist regime, and the texts in a pro-communist paper “Dialog” listed the victims of the UPA."

Hagiography as a Grammar of Remembering
- ".. hagiography catalogues saints and tells the stories of saints’ lives."
- "The UPA members are described as super-human creatures, almost unearthly beings. So, the writer Mykhailo Andrusiak in his interview about his trilogy on the UPA emphasizes that “[t]hey [UPA] were pure in their souls and strong in their spirit that is why they were able to endure these horrible tortures.” "

Grammar of Heroic Epos
- "The grammar of heroic epos produces narratives which underline the heroic deeds of the UPA."
- Ms. Yurchuk refers to the books and articles of Yevhen Sverstiuk, Volodymyr Viatrovych, Volodymyr Kulyk

Grammar of Prophecy/Oracular Pronouncement
- "The grammar of prophecy underlines a close link between the past and the future in a narrative of the past. ... It projects possible future scenarios that depend upon the actions and decisions today."

[W.Z. Of particular personal interest is the following excerpt:]
- In a similar vein, Roman Serbyn in his pro-OUN and UPA response to the critical article of John-Paul Himka stressed:
At present, pro-Ukrainian myths are being attacked from many quarters, and the efforts to discredit them seem to be gaining strength. In Ukraine itself, not to speak of Russia, state and church structures seem overly favorable to some form of the “Russian world” myth. With the weakening of Ukrainocentric myths, citizens of Ukraine will be drawn into the orbit of the myth-rich “Russian World.”

Ref. 697: Serbyn, Roman. “Erroneous methods in J.-P. Himka’s “Challenge to Ukrainian Myths.” Current Politics in Ukraine, Opinion and Analysis on Current events in Ukraine, 7 August 2011, http://ukraineanalysis.wordpress.com/2011/08/07/erroneous-methods-in-j-p-himka%E2%80%99s-challenge-to-%E2%80%9Cukrainian-myths%E2%80%9D/ (accessed 10 May 2014).

Chapter VI. Encountering the Past (Im)Perfect ...................................................... 216
- To assess the attitude of youth in Rivne towards the monuments in Rivne, Ms. Yurchuk asked fifteen 17/18 year old female students to write essays on the subject at home. Since few of the responses talked about OUN-UPA, she followed up with 13 more modified questionnaires to 21/22 year old female students to write essays on OUN-UPA within one hour in class. The essays revealed that the students had little direct knowledge, but had an overall positive attitude towards OUN-UPA.
- "While speaking about fascists the students often use emotionally charged language referring to Nazis as “monsters” (neludy) and “cruel people.” Significantly, the Ukrainian-Polish conflict in Volhynia was not mentioned directly by any of the students."

- On 15/16Oct2011, Ms. Yurchuk conducted 52 semi-structured interviews (14 female, 38 male) at the monument to Klym Savur with passers-by.
- Only 4 people knew Klym Savur was the subject of the monumnet even though most had walked by it many times. When told that it was a monument to Klym Savur, most said that they heard this name for the first time; but then guessed that the name was linked to the UPA (26 repondents) or the UNR (14 respondents).

- "Although most of people had troubles with giving some details on the UPA, they all agreed that the UPA were fighting for independence (42 respondents), they were a liberation army (2 respondents), Ukrainian patriots (2 respondents), fighters against Soviet and fascist occupiers (2 respondents), and the opposition to the Soviet regime (4 respondents). Interestingly, in three cases out of four, where the UPA was described as “opposition,” the respondents expressed a kind of sorrow when they were speaking about the UPA, the sorrow that there is not some version of the UPA at present: 'They were a kind of opposition, active opposition which we do not have now. They were for independence and against Soviets and fascists.' "
- "They were fighting for independence, we must commemorate them."
- "It was during the war. But I think that if there were no war, there still would have been the UPA. We always wanted independence... Patriotism and heroism have to be remembered and commemorated. They were fighting to the death, they knew they would be killed, but they were still fighting. We must remember their sacrifice."

- "My grandfather was in the Red Army. My grandmother told me horrific stories about how the Soviets killed hundreds of the UPA soldiers in the village nearby. It was terrible. Now, it is good that there are such monuments, because these UPA people were also killed… for somebody it is very important to honor them. But it is important for all of us to know our history."

- "My mother told me a lot about banderivtsi [Bandera’s men]. They were for independence, but they killed a lot of Ukrainians. She told they were afraid of them. When Soviets killed some banderivets’ in their village the villagers were afraid to bury them. Even the relatives of the killed… Either they were afraid or thought it was a disgrace to have such relatives who killed their own folk."

- "To sum up, through the analysis of the interviews I came to the conclusion that the UPA is narrated from the perspective of independence and liberation. The UPA is positioned in the space of victimhood closely connected to such an unquestionable symbol of victimhood for many Ukrainians as the Holodomor. Difficult knowledge presented in the interviews relates mainly to the killings of our “own folk” by the UPA, the relationship to other nationalities is not reflected. The same tendency was observed in the analysis of the students’ essays. Their reflections on history refer to the Soviet and the UPA’s glorious pasts wherein both traditions of remembering reinforce each other."

- "One clear feature which can be distinguished for the time being is that the memory of victory in the Second World War and the history of the war in general becomes more and more “Ukrainianized,” as we saw throughout the narratives of both producers and consumers of memory politics."

Final Discussion ...................................................................................................... 235
- [W.Z. In the 10-page final discussion, Ms. Yurchenko once again reverts to her tendency to try to fit her dissertation on OUN-UPA "memory politics" into an overall universal context. She does not seem to be able to shake off the influence of her "Ukrainophobic" mentors and repeatedly refers to "nationalists" and the "far right". She even suggests that patriotic Ukrainians refrain from referring to the OUN-UPA struggle for independence for fear that they "involuntarily open a Pandora Box of entangled pasts".]

- "As the present study showed, in memory pursued by the national democrats, the OUN and UPA are used more as the metaphors of the anti-Soviet and anti-communist struggle for independence than as historical entities. This memory is largely mythologized. Functioning as a myth it obliterates difficult knowledge that the historical research reveals on the questionable activities and beliefs of those organizations."

- "The far-right parties, in contrast, often do not repudiate such difficult knowledge and accept the legacy of the OUN and UPA to the full extent. In this regard, the memory of the OUN and UPA in far-right use is closest to the historical evidence. Nationalist parties refer to the OUN’s integral nationalism as their own ideological platform."

- "Only mythologized memory devoid of factual historical evidence could enable the use of the OUN and UPA memory in the pro-European democratic protests." [???]
- "The memory of the OUN and UPA also remained vital during the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the east of Ukraine in 2014."

- Ref. 759: "The list of scholars may be really long but I will limit myself to only several previously mentioned works where scholars preserve a high level of sensitivity to the political usages of the OUN and UPA history at present: Rudling, Snyder, Himka."

- "Indeed, does not the reclaimed history stigmatize all Ukrainians as “nationalists” in the face of a world in which Ukraine strives to find its place?"  [???]

- "As Himka pointed out, “there was no reason that all Ukrainians and everything Ukrainian had to be burdened with crimes committed by a particular political tendency, namely the OUN.” "  [???]
- "Since this memory provokes many troubles across the regions, it could be perhaps better to leave the memory to its local and regional usages. Indeed, it may be more constructive to strive for a nation without any common historical memory but rather with a clear consciousness as idealistically put by Andriy Portnov."
- "On the other hand, when claiming a special nationwide status for the memory of the OUN and UPA, memory actors call for a national and international response. They involuntarily open a Pandora Box of entangled pasts drawn from different corners of the world, from the academia, from witnesses, victims, survivors and their families. Thus, conflicting narratives become hard to be ignored. They provoke discussions, destabilize meanings, and pose more and more questions."

- "In this respect, the cult of the OUN and UPA becomes a “Soviet anachronism,” as argued by Rudling, because any cult of personality is inspired by Soviet tradition."  [???]

- "The Ukrainian writer and politician Volodymyr Vynnychenko in the 1920s, while analyzing the causes of defeat of the Ukrainian revolution in 1917-21, wrote that it is not possible to read Ukrainian history without a sedative."
[W.Z. On the contrary, many historians argue that it was the "enlightened" politics of Vynnychenko himself (who took a pacifist position and disbanded Ukrainian military formations), who contributed to the defeat of the Ukrainian revolution in 1917-21.]

Annex 1. Decalogue of the Ukrainian Nationalists ................................................. 253
The “Decalogue of the Ukrainian Nationalists” was written by Stepan Lenkavs’kyi, a member of the OUN who, after the death of Bandera, became the leader of the OUN. The “Decalogue” was first published in 1929.
1. Gain the Ukrainian State or die in the fight for it.
2. You shall not allow anyone to taint the glory and honor of your nation.
3. Remember the great days of liberation struggles.
4. Be proud to inherit the fights for Volodymyr’s Trident.
5. Take revenge for the death of the great knights.
6. Talk about the cause not with whom you can but with whom you should.
7. Do not hesitate to do the most dangerous thing for the most important cause.
8. With hate and reckless fight shall you take on the enemies of your nation.
9. No orders, no threats, no torture, no death shall force you to reveal a secret.
10. You shall fight for glory, wealth, and the territory of the Ukrainian State.

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[W.Z. 2015.06.15:
Himka, Rudling and Marples repeatedly refer to the Volyn massacres of Polish villagers as if it were some secret and hidden from world knowledge. The books of Danylo Shumuk  "Perezhyte i Peredumane (Detroit 1983)" or the English-language translation "Life Sentence" by Ivan Jaworsky (Ottawa 1984), which acknowledges the assistance of John-Paul Himka and David Marples, specifically refer to the liquidation of the Polish village Dominopol in August 1943. The relations between Poles and Ukrainians is best explained in the comments I made to the "open letter" intiated by David Marples on the "de-communization laws" passed by the Vekhovna Rada on 09Apr2015:

Historically, the area that is now Eastern Poland and Western Ukraine was very ethnically mixed until the massive "ethnic cleansing" imposed by Stalin during and after WWII. The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire following WWI resulted in the re-establishment of Poland as an independent state incorporating Ukrainian lands. During the inter-war period there was a de facto civil war raging between Poles and Ukrainians on this territory. During WWII each side tried (rather stupidly) to ensure that their village and surrounding area would be incorporated into an independent Poland (if you were Polish) or an independent Ukraine (if you were Ukrainian). Thus, the Polish Home Army and the Ukrainian UPA were deadly enemies, which often resulted in civilian atrocities and deaths.]