ABCD
Kijew - On Jan. 22, the
'Unity Day of Ukraine', Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko posthumously awarded the highest decoration of the land,
'Hero of Ukraine', to the WWII leader of Ukrainian nationalists Stepan
Bandera (photo). Bandera was awarded for his unbreakable spirit in defending the national interests of Ukraine, heroism and self-sacrifice in the struggle for the independence of
Ukraine. Yushchenko said the decision to bestow 'Hero of Ukraine' status on Bandera
had been awaited by millions of Ukrainian patriots for many years.
ABCD
Yushchenko will be succeeded as president by prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko or opposition leader Viktor Yanukovich after a February 7th election
run-off. The decision is expected to provoke strong criticism from the Communists and
others who, sharing the Soviet propaganda myths, continue to castigate Stepan Bander as their
enemy. Bandera headed the 'Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)' in 1941-1959, fighting for Ukrainian independence.
He mounted attacks against Soviet forces after they took over towards the end of
WWII. He was assassinated by a KGB agent in Munich in 1959.
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A legal action demanding the recognition of Stepan Bandera as a
'Nazi criminal', guilty of the genocide of Poles, is being prepared in
Poland. A representative of the 'Russian Union of Former Prisoners of Nazi
Concentration Camps' said that Bandera and his fighters murdered hundreds of thousands of
Jews, Poles, Russians and Ukrainians. They burned alive peaceful civilians in the village of
Khatyn. 'Chief Rabbi of Russia' Berel Lazar said that Yushchenko glorified
participants in the HOLOCAUST.
Lazar called for uncompromising combat against any attempts to rewrite history.
