The last time Ukraine was invaded, in 1941, Ukrainian nationalists believed that the Nazis would help them create their own Ukrainian state.
Stepan Bandera, who led the underground movement, had previously fought against both Polish and Soviet supremacy. From the German-occupied Lviv, he declared independence for Ukraine on June 30, 1941, but this fell into bad soil.
– IRRITATED HITLES: Stepan Bandera spent most of World War II in a German concentration camp and did not even take part in the hostilities. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
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– This made Hitler furious. So they arrested him and put him in a concentration camp, history professor Jaroslav Hrytsak at the Catholic University of Ukraine tells TV 2.
Voldemort in Russian
While their leader was imprisoned, Bandera’s soldiers, OUN, continued to fight for independence and occasionally collaborated with the Nazis. The main opponents were and remained the Russians, who had occupied their country since 1918.
Under Bandera’s leadership, the guerrilla war in Ukraine continued, even after Germany capitulated.
This was perceived by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin as an unimaginable threat.
flagas they were called, was produced by the Soviet propaganda machine as some of the worst that existed. Nazis, only worse.
Everyone who fought against the Soviet Union or did not like the Soviet Union was called a gangster. This was the worst thing you could call someone. That was the very definition of evil, history professor Hrytsak tells TV 2.
– HISTORY: Jaroslav Hrytsak is an expert on the Ukrainian nationalist movement and Ukraine’s post-war history. Photo: Aage Aune / TV 2
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Just mentioning the name of Stepan Bandera was forbidden.
– He was like Voldemort in the Harry Potter books. His name was not to be mentioned. He was the evil himself, says Hrytsak.
– – BRAINWASHING: Throughout his upbringing, Vladimir Putin was convinced that Ukrainian independence fighters were the worst on this earth. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
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– Meaningless claim
Several generations of Russian schoolchildren imprinted the myth of the evil Ukrainian independence activists, and are used extensively to this day. Not least by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
For him, it is to crack banner the goal of the war in Ukraine, although Bandera himself is long dead and his movement disbanded several decades ago.
“Do not let neo-Nazis and bandits use their children, wives and elders as living shields,” Putin said in a televised speech on February 25.
In the same breath, addressed to the Ukrainian people, he called the government in Kyiv “… a gang of neo-Nazis and drug addicts.”
The absurdity of the statement made several Ukrainians smile.
After all, the Ukrainian head of state, Volodymyr Zelensky, is of Jewish descent.
– This is a totally meaningless statement. But Putin does not care about reason. He still sells the good old propaganda. Bandera was allegedly a Nazi and thus Zelensky is a Nazi. And the Russians buy it, says Professor Hrytsak stated.
Want a new world map
None of Putin’s predecessors in the Kremlin were able to completely stifle Ukraine’s desire for independence. Therefore, this has now become an obsession for Putin, the history professor believes.
He believes Putin’s goal is not just to subjugate Ukraine.
– This is not just about Ukraine, but the Baltic countries as well. And Moldova. But above all, Western Ukraine. He wants the borders to be as they were during the Russian Empire, says Hrytsak.
However, nothing so far suggests that he should manage this.
– HEROIC HERO: Stepan Bandera is the great hero of Western Ukraine and the arch-villain of Russia. In Lviv, they have erected a huge monument in memory of the man. Photo: Aage Aune / TV 2
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In Lviv, Stepan Bandera stands on a pedestal in the square – despite being both anti-Semitic and violent.
But it was he who sowed the idea that Ukraine should not conform to Russia – something the Ukrainian people are now willing to die for.
– Bandera was not worse than others. So when asked if he was a villain or a hero, I would say that in this part of the world the distance between hero and villain is very small. But here he is the very symbol of opposition to the Russians, says the history professor.
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