Stepan Bandera monument in Lviv explained

Stepan Bandera monument
Native Name:Пам'ятник Степанові Бандері
Begin:2003
Complete:13 October 2007
Builder:Ukrainian Government
Location:Kropyvnytskyi square, Lviv, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine
Material:Granite

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

See main article: 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[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

The monument is a larger than life statue of Stepan Bandera standing 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.

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

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). 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

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Hero or Villain? Historical Ukrainian Figure Symbolizes Today's Feud . NPR.org . 2022-08-06 . 2022-06-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220604033630/https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2014/05/20/312719066/hero-or-villain-historical-ukrainian-figure-symbolizes-todays-feud . live .
  2. Web site: 2009-11-01 . Національна "бронза" - ZAXID.NET . 2022-02-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091101011650/http://zaxid.net/article/51384 . 1 November 2009 . dead.
  3. Web site: Тарик Сиріл Амар. ІНАКША, АЛЕ ПОДІБНА, ЧИ ПОДІБНА, АЛЕ ІНАКША? ПУБЛІЧНА ПАМ'ЯТЬ ПРО ДРУГУ СВІТОВУ ВІЙНУ У ПОСТРАДЯНСЬКОМУ ЛЬВОВІ.. 2022-02-25. www.historians.in.ua. 2016-06-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20160604175531/http://www.historians.in.ua/index.php/en/istoriya-i-pamyat-vazhki-pitannya/183-taryk-syril-amar-inaksha-ale-podibna-chy-podibna-ale-inaksha-publichna-pamyat-pro-druhu-svitovu-viynu-u-postradyanskomu-lvovi. live.
  4. Web site: 2007-10-14. ЛЬВІВСЬКА ГАЗЕТА Монумент легенді. 2022-02-25. https://web.archive.org/web/20071014013926/http://www.gazeta.lviv.ua/articles/2007/10/12/26897/ . 2007-10-14 .
  5. News: July 21, 2011 . 17 Banderea Monuments Have Been Installed . Ukraine Weekly . 2023-08-13 . 2023-08-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230803190853/https://tyzhden.ua/v-ukraini-vstanovleno-17-monumentiv-banderi/ . live .
  6. Liebich . Andre . Myshlovska . Oksana . September 2014 . Bandera: memorialization and commemoration . Nationalities Papers . 42 . 5 . 750–770 . 10.1080/00905992.2014.916666 . 128407114 . 0090-5992 . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230923095200/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/nationalities-papers/article/abs/bandera-memorialization-and-commemoration/2B1DB379F6783EC869F960C783412F12 . live .
  7. News: Goncharenko . Roman . 22 May 2022 . Stepan Bandera: Ukrainian hero or Nazi collaborator? . Deutsche Welle . 11 October 2022 . 15 June 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220615142223/https://www.dw.com/en/stepan-bandera-ukrainian-hero-or-nazi-collaborator/a-61842720 . live .
  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. Book: Rossolinski, Grzegorz . The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist : Fascism, Genocide, and Cult . Columbia University Press . 2014 . 9783838206844 . 2023-03-22 . 2023-03-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230327015442/https://books.google.com/books?id=6OXJCQAAQBAJ . live .
  10. Book: Arad, Yitzhak . The Holocaust in the Soviet Union . 2009 . University of Nebraska Press . 9780803222700 . Lincoln, Nebraska . 89 . 466441935.
  11. Web site: Russia uses Israeli tweet against neo-Nazi march . 2023-01-02 . The Jerusalem Post . en-US . 2023-01-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230102033816/https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-691351 . live .
  12. Web site: Goda . Norman J. W. . Norman J. W. Goda . 2010-01-22 . Who Was Stepan Bandera? . 2022-09-24 . History News Network . 2022-09-22 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220922055716/https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/122778 . live .
  13. Sauliuc . Adriana . March 2021 . Russia's Disinformation Campaign in the Time of COVID-19 Pandemic . Romanian Military Thinking . 2021 . 1 . 22–33 . 10.55535/rmt.2021.1.02 . 1841-4451 . free .
  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 . 10.1111/1468-229x.12367 . 0018-2648 . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230923095151/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1468-229X.12367 . live .
  15. Romerstein . Herbert . 2001-06-03 . Disinformation as a KGB Weapon in the Cold War . Journal of Intelligence History . 1 . 1 . 54–67 . 10.1080/16161262.2001.10555046 . 157194049 . 1616-1262 . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230923095151/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/16161262.2001.10555046 . live .
  16. Lanoszka . Alexander . 2016-01-09 . Russian hybrid warfare and extended deterrence in eastern Europe . International Affairs . 92 . 1 . 175–195 . 10.1111/1468-2346.12509 . 0020-5850 . 2023-08-13 .
  17. News: Marchuk . Larysa . 2007-10-11 . Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera . 3 . Ukraine Weekly . live . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230906185645/http://www.ukrweekly.com/archive/2007/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_2007-42.pdf .
  18. Gessen . Keith . 2010-02-21 . After the Orange Revolution, a Politics of Disenchantment . en-US . The New Yorker . 2023-08-13 . 0028-792X . 2023-08-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230813182816/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/01/the-orange-and-the-blue . live .
  19. News: Marchuk . Larysa . 2007-10-11 . Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera . 3 . Ukraine Weekly . live . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230906185645/http://www.ukrweekly.com/archive/2007/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_2007-42.pdf .
  20. News: Marchuk . Larysa . 2007-10-11 . Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera . 3 . Ukraine Weekly . live . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230906185645/http://www.ukrweekly.com/archive/2007/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_2007-42.pdf .
  21. News: Marchuk . Larysa . 2007-10-11 . Lviv unveils statue to Stepan Bandera . 3 . Ukraine Weekly . live . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230906185645/http://www.ukrweekly.com/archive/2007/The_Ukrainian_Weekly_2007-42.pdf .
  22. Book: Bechtel, D . 2015 . 'Ukrainian Identity in L'viv (Lemberg/Lwów/Lvov): From the Habsburg Myth to Banderstadt?' . 8 Religion, State, Society, and Identity in Transition .
  23. News: 2 January 2016 . Ukrainians march in honour of controversial nationalist hero Stepan Bandera . en . euronews . 27 November 2018 . 15 March 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220315141448/https://www.euronews.com/2016/01/02/ukrainians-march-in-honour-of-controversial-nationalist-hero-stepan-bandera . live .
  24. Web site: Filtenborg . Emil . 2021-03-19 . In Ukraine, Stepan Bandera's legacy is a political football... again . 2022-10-29 . . en . 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. . 2022-03-03 . https://archive.today/20220303013659/https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/03/19/in-ukraine-stepan-bandera-s-legacy-becomes-a-political-football-again . live .
  25. Book: Winstone, Martin . The Dark Heart of Hitler's Europe: Nazi Rule in Poland Under the General Government . 2014-10-30 . Bloomsbury Publishing . 978-0-85772-519-6 . 104 . en . .. 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) . 2023-03-13 . 2023-03-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230313181744/https://books.google.com/books?id=-GGJDwAAQBAJ . live .
  26. News: Faiola, Anthony . March 25, 2014 . A ghost of World War II history haunts Ukraine's standoff with Russia . The Washington Post . 9 October 2022 . 14 February 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160214105248/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-ghost-of-world-war-ii-history-haunts-ukraines-standoff-with-russia/2014/03/25/18d4b1e0-a503-4f73-aaa7-5dd5d6a1c665_story.html . live .
  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 . 10.1177/1750635219846016 . 189985874 . 1750-6352 . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230923100152/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1750635219846016 . live .
  28. Marples . David R. . June 2006 . Stepan Bandera: The resurrection of a Ukrainian national hero . Europe-Asia Studies . 58 . 4 . 555–566 . 10.1080/09668130600652118 . 144243956 . 0966-8136 . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230923100153/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09668130600652118 . live .
  29. Khaldarova . Irina . Pantti . Mervi . 2016-04-12 . Fake News . Journalism Practice . 10 . 7 . 891–901 . 10.1080/17512786.2016.1163237 . 1751-2786 . 10138/233374 . 147693486 . free . 2023-08-13 . 2023-09-23 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230923100153/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17512786.2016.1163237 . live .
  30. News: Filtenborg . Emil . 2021-04-08 . Controversy as Ukraine mulls giving hero status to alleged war criminals . Euro News . 2023-08-13 . 2022-04-12 . https://archive.today/20220412220450/https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2021/08/04/controversy-as-ukraine-mulls-giving-hero-status-to-alleged-war-criminals . live .
  31. Book: Rudling, Per Anders . Analysing Fascist Discourse: European Fascism in Talk and Text . Routledge . 2013 . Wodak and Richardson . New York . 229–235 . The Return of the Ukrainian Far Right: The Case of VO Svoboda . Per Anders Rudling . http://defendinghistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PA-Rudling-on-Return-of-Ukrainian-Far-Right-2013.pdf . 2023-03-13 . 2023-01-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230127074519/https://defendinghistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/PA-Rudling-on-Return-of-Ukrainian-Far-Right-2013.pdf . live .
  32. Web site: Державний архів Львівської області . https://web.archive.org/web/20170105084537/http://www.archivelviv.gov.ua/materials/exhibitions/do-21-richchja-vidnovlennja-nezalezhnosti-ukrajini/1146/ . 5 January 2017 . 19 December 2016.

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