Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Years of Soviet education deprived Ukrainians of objective information about the men and women who sacrificed their lives for an independent, democratic Ukraine

d in 1942 with the improbable goal of attaining Ukrainian independence.

Years of Soviet education deprived Ukrainians of objective, scholarly information of the men and women who sacrificed their lives so that their descendants could live in an independent, democratic Ukraine.

Communists and pro-Russian radicals continue spreading misinformation about the UPA because they benefit from the ignorance. Their most well-known accusation is that the UPA collaborated with the Nazi German occupiers of Ukraine and contributed to the genocide.

The opposite is true.

The UPA’s founding charter, drafted in August 1943, clearly stated its goal of attaining a free, prosperous and independent Ukrainian state without an “official imposition on society of any doctrines or dogmas with regard to world view.” Furthermore, UPA supported the “freedom to profess and practice any religion that does not run counter to the morals of society,” the charter stated.

Prior to taking over as the UPA’s commander in chief, Roman Shukhevych commanded the Nachtigall battalion, which was jointly formed between Nazi and Ukrainian leaders in the spring of 1941 to fight the Soviet Red Army.

Nachtigall troops were never part of the Nazi army, swore an oath to Ukraine, and Shukhevych disbanded the unit once the Germans suppressed and imprisoned Ukrainian nationalists who declared independence on June 30, 1941.

Shukhevych’s subsequent leadership of the UPA demonstrated that he was committed to a democratic, multiethnic Ukraine. Ethnic Poles, Germans and Slovaks all served in the UPA, and Jews comprised a significant portion of its medical corps.

“To me, my brother Arieh, and some other Jews, the UPA freedom fighters were savior-angels sent by Heaven,” stated Dr. Abraham Sterzer, who was given protection by UPA soldiers after he escaped Lviv’s Jewish ghetto in 1943.

“The UPA was a legitimate national-liberation resistance movement, which had to operate under complicated and very difficult conditions of a three-cornered fight,” Dr. Sterzer stated.

The three-cornered fight consisted of the Nazis, the Soviet Communists and Polish occupiers, and the UPA’s fight for freedom and democracy in the face of overwhelming odds, which some considered a suicide mission, is nothing short of heroic. Afterward, the Nuremberg tribunal rejected Soviet arguments that the UPA was a Nazi-collaborating army.

The call for government recognition of UPA veterans and their supporters is long overdue. Ukraine’s parliament should recognize the UPA as a military force that fought for Ukrainian independence, and grant veterans benefits enjoyed by their Red Army counterparts.

More importantly, the Ukrainian government should step up its efforts to educate the younger generations regarding the truth about the UPA – that its vision for Ukraine was far ahead of its time.

Such efforts will ensure that Oct. 14 won’t became an annual day of conflict for Ukrainians, but a day of understanding that some wars are worth fighting for, particularly those to promote freedom and democracy.