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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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Derechos | Equipo Nizkor
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22Mar10
Ukrainian Jews outraged over the honoring of Stephan Bandera
The Ukrainian Jewish community has voiced its outrage over their outgoing president Viktor Yuschenko's decision to honor Stephan Bandera with the Hero of Ukraine award.
Stephan Bandera was the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalist (OUN), a leading Ukrainian national movement in 1930s and 1940s. The OUN supported and fought for Ukrainian independence, but had an unfavorable view of minorities, especially Jews and Poles.
During the Second World War, Bandera and his organization collaborated with Nazi Germany, which they saw as an opportunity to fight the Soviet Union. Bandera had a shaky relationship with the Nazis, who imprisoned him for a part of the war. However, at no point during the war did Bandera disagree with Nazi Germany on its Jewish policy.
The OUN used the German policy of racial extermination to achieve its own ethnic cleansing. The OUN carried out numerous pogroms and murdered thousands of Jews, as well as other minorities, such as the Poles.
One such pogrom took place in the city of Lvov. In just a few days, over 4,000 Jews were ruthlessly murdered by Bandera's forces. Pamphlets handed out by Bandera's group to the local Jewish population read "We will lay your heads at Hitler's feet."
Today, Stephan Bandera is considered a controversial figure in Ukraine. He is sometimes portrayed as a hero who fought both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union for Ukrainian independence. However, he is regarded by others as a racist and xenophobic war criminal.
The commemoration of Bandera has been condemned by Jewish communities in Ukraine, Russia and all over the world. Leading Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia and the Student Union of French Jews, have issued their outrage over the award.
Ukraine's chief rabbi, Moshe Reuven Asman, has asked his attorneys to find a way he can return his Ukrainian Order of Merit award in order express his protest over the honoring.
Up to 1.6 million Ukrainian Jews were killed by Nazis and their collaborators during World War 2.
[Source: Jabotinsky International Center, Tel Aviv, 22Mar10]
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