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Stepan Bandera monument in Lviv

Coordinates: 49°50′9.5″N 24°0′20.5″E / 49.835972°N 24.005694°E / 49.835972; 24.005694
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Stepan Bandera monument
Пам'ятник Степанові Бандері
Stepan Bandera monument
Map
49°50′9.5″N 24°0′20.5″E / 49.835972°N 24.005694°E / 49.835972; 24.005694
LocationKropyvnytskyi square, Lviv, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine
BuilderUkrainian Government
MaterialGranite
Beginning date2003
Completion date13 October 2007

The Stepan Bandera monument in Lviv, which stands in front of the Stele of Ukraine Monument, is a statue dedicated to Stepan Bandera, a controversial twentieth century Ukrainian symbol of Nationalism,[1] in the city of Lviv, one of the main cities of Western Ukraine.

The figure stands in front of the Stele of Ukrainian Statehood. The monument was unveiled in 2007,[2][3][4] for the eve of the holiday of the Intercession of the Theotokos. The full monument was finished in 2011.[5]

Background

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Main articles: Commemoration of Stepan Bandera and History of Lviv

The Statue in Lviv was part of increased Ukrainian Nationalism in Western Ukraine that led to recognition of Stepan Bandera as a National hero.[6]

Bandera was a Ukrainian nationalist leader born in 1909, imprisoned in Poland in his twenties for terrorism, freed by the Nazis in 1939 following the invasion of Poland, and arrested again by the Gestapo in 1941, spending most of the rest of the war in a concentration camp. After the war, he settled in exile in West Germany, where he was assassinated in 1959 by KGB agents.

Stepan Bandera has also been cast as a Nazi collaborator.[7][8][9][10] However, many Ukrainians hail him as a national hero[7][11] or as a martyred liberation fighter.[12]

The history of Stepan Bandera is hard to separate from fact or fiction.[13] It was illegal to discuss or research Bandera and the OUN-B in the Russia, Poland, and Ukraine until the fall of Soviet Union.[14] A constant tension defining Bandera as a hero and villain has existed since 1944[15] but has increased with lead up to war in Ukraine.[16]

The monument

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The monument stands 7 meters tall. Behind it is the Stele of Ukrainian Statehood—a 30 meter tall triumphal arch with 4 columns, each column symbolizing a different period of the Ukrainian statehood. The first one—Kievan Rus', the second—the Cossack Hetmanate, the third—the Ukrainian People's Republic, and the fourth—the modern, independent Ukraine.[2]

External image
image icon The monument in 2010

Planning for the project began in 1993.[17] Funding of the statue was provided by Lviv Oblast[18] and veterans of the UPA.[19] Due to a shortage of funds only the statue was revealed for the 65th Anniversary.[20]

A design competition was held in 2002 and sculptor Mykola Posikira and architect Mykhailo Fedyk won from a total of seven entries.[21] Construction began in 2003.[22]

Controversy

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Stepan Bandera is seen as a hero to some and a Nazi collaborator to others.[23][24][25][26] Much of this controversy emerged after the fall of the Soviet Union and increased Ukrainian Nationalism as part of Independence and growing tension before the Russia's invasion of Ukraine.[27] Stepan Bandera as National symbol became prominent in Western Ukraine[28] while Russian media drew connections to historical ties the UPA and OUN-B had with Nazi Germany.[29]

Critics of Bandera as a national symbol point to the role of the UPA in the massacre of 100,000 Polish people Volhynia and Eastern Galicia during World War Two.[30] Stepan Bandera the faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-B).[24][25] On 30 June 1941, shortly after Lviv came under the control of Nazi Germany in the early stages of the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, the OUN-B declared an independent Ukrainian state in the city.[31] OUN members subsequently took part in the Lviv pogroms.[32] Russian media uses this historical connection to Ukrainian-led genocide to cast Ukrainian nationalists as nazis. The Simon Wiesenthal Center considers Bandera to be a Nazi Collaborator and harshly criticized the decision by Ukrainian Parliament to designate the birthday of Nazi Collaborator Bandera as a national holiday. Officials in Israel regard Bandera as a Nazi collaborator and in Poland, Bandera is also considered a collaborator to the Nazi atrocities during WWii, responsible for the pogroms carried out by OUN-B and UPA in polish teritorries, which are now parts of Western Ukraine. The need for denazification was given as a Russian pretense for the escalation and full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Hero or Villain? Historical Ukrainian Figure Symbolizes Today's Feud". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 2022-06-04. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
  2. ^ a b "Національна "бронза" - ZAXID.NET". 2009-11-01. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  3. ^ "Тарик Сиріл Амар. ІНАКША, АЛЕ ПОДІБНА, ЧИ ПОДІБНА, АЛЕ ІНАКША? ПУБЛІЧНА ПАМ'ЯТЬ ПРО ДРУГУ СВІТОВУ ВІЙНУ У ПОСТРАДЯНСЬКОМУ ЛЬВОВІ". www.historians.in.ua. Archived from the original on 2016-06-04. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  4. ^ "ЛЬВІВСЬКА ГАЗЕТА | Монумент легенді". 2007-10-14. Archived from the original on 2007-10-14. Retrieved 2022-02-25.
  5. ^ "17 Banderea Monuments Have Been Installed". Ukraine Weekly. July 21, 2011. Archived from the original on 2023-08-03. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  6. ^ Liebich, Andre; Myshlovska, Oksana (September 2014). "Bandera: memorialization and commemoration". Nationalities Papers. 42 (5): 750–770. doi:10.1080/00905992.2014.916666. ISSN 0090-5992. S2CID 128407114. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  7. ^ a b Goncharenko, Roman (22 May 2022). "Stepan Bandera: Ukrainian hero or Nazi collaborator?". Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 11 October 2022.
  8. ^ Henryk Komański and Szczepan Siekierka, Ludobójstwo dokonane przez nacjonalistów ukraińskich na Polakach w województwie tarnopolskim w latach 1939–1946 (2006), p. 203 (in Polish)
  9. ^ Rossolinski, Grzegorz (2014). The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist : Fascism, Genocide, and Cult. Columbia University Press. ISBN 9783838206844. Archived from the original on 2023-03-27. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  10. ^ Arad, Yitzhak (2009). The Holocaust in the Soviet Union. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p. 89. ISBN 9780803222700. OCLC 466441935.
  11. ^ "Russia uses Israeli tweet against neo-Nazi march". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 2023-01-02. Retrieved 2023-01-02.
  12. ^ Goda, Norman J. W. (2010-01-22). "Who Was Stepan Bandera?". History News Network. Archived from the original on 2022-09-22. Retrieved 2022-09-24.
  13. ^ Sauliuc, Adriana (March 2021). "Russia's Disinformation Campaign in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic". Romanian Military Thinking. 2021 (1): 22–33. doi:10.55535/rmt.2021.1.02. ISSN 1841-4451.
  14. ^ Palko, Olena (January 2017). "The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine. By Serhii Plokhy. Basic Books. 2015. xxiv + 395pp. £25.00". History. 102 (349): 112–114. doi:10.1111/1468-229x.12367. ISSN 0018-2648. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  15. ^ Romerstein, Herbert (2001-06-03). "Disinformation as a KGB Weapon in the Cold War". Journal of Intelligence History. 1 (1): 54–67. doi:10.1080/16161262.2001.10555046. ISSN 1616-1262. S2CID 157194049. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  16. ^ Lanoszka, Alexander (2016-01-09). "Russian hybrid warfare and extended deterrence in eastern Europe". International Affairs. 92 (1): 175–195. doi:10.1111/1468-2346.12509. ISSN 0020-5850. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  17. ^ Marchuk, Larysa (2007-10-11). "Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera" (PDF). Ukraine Weekly. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-09-06. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  18. ^ Gessen, Keith (2010-02-21). "After the Orange Revolution, a Politics of Disenchantment". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  19. ^ Marchuk, Larysa (2007-10-11). "Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera" (PDF). Ukraine Weekly. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-09-06. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  20. ^ Marchuk, Larysa (2007-10-11). "Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera" (PDF). Ukraine Weekly. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-09-06. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  21. ^ Marchuk, Larysa (2007-10-11). "Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera" (PDF). Ukraine Weekly. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-09-06. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  22. ^ Bechtel, D (2015). "8 Religion, State, Society, and Identity in Transition". 'Ukrainian Identity in L'viv (Lemberg/Lwów/Lvov): From the Habsburg Myth to Banderstadt?'.
  23. ^ "Ukrainians march in honour of controversial nationalist hero Stepan Bandera". euronews. 2 January 2016. Archived from the original on 15 March 2022. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  24. ^ a b Filtenborg, Emil (2021-03-19). "In Ukraine, Stepan Bandera's legacy is a political football... again". Euronews. Archived from the original on 2022-03-03. Retrieved 2022-10-29. There are few figures in Ukrainian history as controversial as Stepan Bandera, and fewer still are able to influence so profoundly modern politics more than six decades after their death. Bandera, who died in 1959 after being poisoned by Soviet agents, is seen as a national hero who fought for Ukrainian independence during the 1930s and 1940s. To others, he is a war criminal whose nationalist forces carried out atrocities against Jews and Poles during WW2.
  25. ^ a b Winstone, Martin (2014-10-30). The Dark Heart of Hitler's Europe: Nazi Rule in Poland Under the General Government. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-85772-519-6. Archived from the original on 2023-03-13. Retrieved 2023-03-13. .. who followed the terrorist Stepan Bandera (page 104) .. These hopes were almost immediately dashed and many leaders (including Bandera in Krakow) were arrested by the Germans. Nonetheless, both wings of the OUN largely continued to work with the Nazis (page 104) .. Stepan Bandera, the leader and ideological mentor of the nationalist murderers of Poles and Jews (page 249)
  26. ^ Faiola, Anthony (March 25, 2014). "A ghost of World War II history haunts Ukraine's standoff with Russia". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 14 February 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
  27. ^ Khaldarova, Irina (2019-05-29). "Brother or 'Other'? Transformation of strategic narratives in Russian television news during the Ukrainian crisis". Media, War & Conflict. 14 (1): 3–20. doi:10.1177/1750635219846016. ISSN 1750-6352. S2CID 189985874. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  28. ^ Marples, David R. (June 2006). "Stepan Bandera: The resurrection of a Ukrainian national hero". Europe-Asia Studies. 58 (4): 555–566. doi:10.1080/09668130600652118. ISSN 0966-8136. S2CID 144243956. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  29. ^ Khaldarova, Irina; Pantti, Mervi (2016-04-12). "Fake News". Journalism Practice. 10 (7): 891–901. doi:10.1080/17512786.2016.1163237. hdl:10138/233374. ISSN 1751-2786. S2CID 147693486. Archived from the original on 2023-09-23. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  30. ^ Filtenborg, Emil (2021-04-08). "Controversy as Ukraine mulls giving hero status to alleged war criminals". Euro News. Archived from the original on 2022-04-12. Retrieved 2023-08-13.
  31. ^ Rudling, Per Anders (2013). "The Return of the Ukrainian Far Right: The Case of VO Svoboda" (PDF). In Wodak and Richardson (ed.). Analysing Fascist Discourse: European Fascism in Talk and Text. New York: Routledge. pp. 229–235. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2023-01-27. Retrieved 2023-03-13.
  32. ^ "Державний архів Львівської області". Archived from the original on 5 January 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
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