Ukraine reburies OUN leader Melnyk as Poland and Israel condemn honoring of wartime nationalist figures

Last week, the remains of Nazi collaborator Andriy Melnyk were transferred from Luxembourg to Ukraine and reburied in the presence of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Melnyk led OUN(M), the Melnyk faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, whose members collaborated with Nazi Germany and many of whom later joined the Waffen-SS Galicia Division.

Zelenskyy also awarded the title “Heroes of the UPA” to a Ukrainian special forces unit. During World War II, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was responsible for the killing of approximately 100,000 Poles and numerous Jews.

The moves triggered protests from Poland and Israel, while the German government chose to remain silent.

Kyiv is now planning to establish a “Pantheon of Distinguished Ukrainians” and intends to rebury additional Nazi collaborators as part of the initiative.

Discussions are reportedly underway regarding the transfer of the remains of two individuals buried in Munich. German authorities would be required to approve such transfers.

Nazi collaborator “heroes” of Ukrainian nationalism

The state-sponsored honoring of Nazi collaborators is not a new phenomenon in Ukraine. The process began during the presidency of the pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko between 2005 and 2010.

In 2007, Yushchenko awarded Roman Shukhevych the title of “Hero of Ukraine,” followed by Stepan Bandera in 2010.

Shukhevych was one of the leaders of the UPA and continued the underground struggle against the Soviet Union even after 1945.

Bandera led OUN(B), a rival faction to Melnyk’s OUN(M), and was assassinated by the Soviet Union in Munich in 1959.

Following the pro-Western change of power in Kyiv in February 2014, the glorification of these Nazi collaborators intensified.

In April 2015, the Ukrainian parliament classified members of the OUN and UPA as “fighters for Ukraine’s independence.” Since then, under parliamentary legislation, questioning the “legitimacy” of their struggle for Ukrainian independence has been prohibited.

Since 2015, October 14, the anniversary of the UPA’s founding, has also been celebrated as a national holiday.

The role of Ukrainian nationalists in the Waffen-SS Galicia Division

The rehabilitation of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators is currently gaining new momentum.

Melnyk’s remains were exhumed in Luxembourg on May 19, transported to Kyiv, and subsequently reburied during a state ceremony at the National Military Memorial Cemetery near the Ukrainian capital.

The ceremony was attended by Zelenskyy and Kyrylo Budanov, who has served as head of the Presidential Office since earlier this year and is reported to have been a driving force behind the initiative.

Melnyk and OUN(M) closely cooperated with the Nazi Reich in pursuit of separating Ukraine from the Soviet Union and transforming it into an authoritarian state modeled on fascism.

However, when they attempted to establish a Ukrainian state following the invasion of the Soviet Union, Nazi authorities opposed the effort and arrested Melnyk.

Members of OUN(M) played a key role in the formation of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician), commonly known as the Waffen-SS Galicia Division.

The division was involved in massacres of the Polish population in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.

Crimes against Poles and Jews

The UPA was responsible for the majority of the deaths in the massacres carried out in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia from February 1943 until the end of the war, during which nearly 100,000 Polish civilians were killed.

Unlike the Waffen-SS Galicia Division, the UPA primarily recruited its members from OUN(B).

Among them were individuals who had previously participated in pogroms and massacres against Jewish populations in the occupied Soviet Union, including in Lemberg, now Lviv, in late June 1941. There, OUN militias, acting alongside German occupiers, killed approximately 4,000 Jews.

Beginning in 1943, the UPA’s massacres of Polish civilians in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia were aimed at creating an exclusively Ukrainian territory in which a postwar Ukrainian state could be established.

Numerous Jews also became victims of UPA massacres, bringing Ukrainian militias into participation in the genocide.

Last Tuesday, a decree entered into force granting a unit of Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces the honorary title “Heroes of the UPA.”

According to Zelenskyy, the decision was intended to “revive the historical traditions of the national armed forces.”

Protests from Israel and Poland

The reburial of Melnyk and the awarding of the “Heroes of the UPA” title to a special forces unit sparked international protests.

In a statement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it viewed “with regret” the decision to hold an official state funeral for Melnyk, whom it described as an “OUN leader who collaborated with the Nazis.” The ministry added that there should be “no room for ignoring historical truth and the memory of victims murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators.”

The Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial described Melnyk’s reburial as “a source of deep concern” and argued that honoring “the leader of a movement that supported Nazi Germany during the period when millions of Jews were persecuted and murdered” would undermine the “moral integrity” essential to Holocaust remembrance.

The renewed honoring of the UPA has provoked particular anger in Poland. On May 28, the Foreign Ministry informed Ukraine’s ambassador that it viewed the measure with “deep dissatisfaction.”

On May 29, Poland’s chargé d’affaires in Kyiv reiterated that position during a meeting at Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry.

Also on May 29, Polish President Karol Nawrocki announced that he would seek to strip Zelenskyy of the Order of the White Eagle.

Zelenskyy received the decoration, Poland’s highest state honor, in April 2023. Then-President Andrzej Duda said Zelenskyy had earned the award as an “exceptional figure” who “did not abandon his country during the most difficult period in Ukraine’s history.”

A decision regarding the withdrawal of the award is expected in Warsaw next Monday.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk is currently attempting to defuse tensions. In doing so, critics argue that he is downplaying the mass crimes committed by the OUN and UPA.

Speaking last weekend, Tusk said Poland and Ukraine shared a common enemy, referring to Russia.

According to Tusk, if a dispute over “historical emotions” were allowed to escalate, “Moscow would have reason to rejoice,” and such an outcome should be avoided.

Germany silent over honoring of Nazi collaborators

While protests have come from countries where relatives and descendants of victims of Ukrainian Nazi collaborators reside, no reaction has emerged from the German government, which frequently presents itself as one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters.

Among those expressing disappointment is Ukrainian Holocaust researcher Marta Havryshko. She described Melnyk’s reburial as “an insult to everyone who once believed that the slogan ‘Never Again’ still had meaning in today’s Ukraine.”

It is becoming increasingly clear that German authorities may soon be involved in similar initiatives. According to reports, the Kyiv government plans to establish a “Pantheon of Distinguished Ukrainians” intended to serve as a “special place for strengthening the values of the Ukrainian people.”

Preparations are currently underway for the exhumation and transfer of the remains of other Ukrainian nationalists. The transfer of the remains of OUN founder Yevhen Konovalets, who is buried in Rotterdam, has already been approved.

The reburial of Yaroslav Stetsko, who continued to lead the OUN from exile in West Germany after the end of World War II, as well as OUN(B) leader Stepan Bandera, is also being considered.

Stetsko and Bandera are buried at Munich’s Waldfriedhof cemetery. The transfer of their remains would require approval from German government authorities.