1909–1959
Stepan Bandera
Leader of the OUN-B
In the USSR his surname became a slur; for many Ukrainians it is a symbol of resistance. Stepan Bandera led the OUN-B, whose followers proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State in 1941. One of the most contested figures in history.
Key accomplishments
- Head of the OUN’s regional executive in western Ukraine (1933–1934)
- Led the OUN-B, which proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State on 30 June 1941
- For refusing to revoke the Act, held by the Nazis in Berlin and then in the Zellenbau block of Sachsenhausen concentration camp (1941–1944)
One name, two meanings
Why does the word “Banderite” sound like an insult to some and a badge of pride to others? In the post-war Soviet Union it was used to brand Ukrainian nationalists, and Russia still uses it that way. Yet for many Ukrainians Stepan Bandera is a symbol of resistance to both the Nazi and the Soviet regimes. To make sense of it, you have to look at the history itself.
The road to the underground
Stepan Bandera was born in 1909 in the village of Staryi Uhryniv in Prykarpattia, the Carpathian foothills, into the family of a Greek Catholic priest. In 1927 he joined the Ukrainian Military Organization, and in 1929, as a student at the Lviv Polytechnic, the OUN. In 1933 he became head of the OUN’s regional executive in western Ukraine. In 1936 a Polish court sentenced him to death for organizing the assassination of Interior Minister Bronisław Pieracki; the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
The 1941 Act and a Nazi camp
In 1940 the OUN split, and Bandera became leader of its revolutionary wing, the OUN-B. On 30 June 1941 in Lviv his followers proclaimed the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State. Berlin reacted sharply, but Bandera refused to revoke the Act. He was imprisoned first in Berlin and then, from 1942 until the autumn of 1944, in the Zellenbau, a special block for political prisoners at Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Two of his brothers, Oleksandr and Vasyl, died in Auschwitz in 1942.
After the war Bandera lived in exile in Munich and headed the OUN’s Foreign Units. On 15 October 1959 he was killed by KGB agent Bohdan Stashynskyi.
Debates and assessments
Bandera is one of the most controversial figures in Ukrainian history. Historians take a critical view of the OUN-B’s radical ideology, including its antisemitism and xenophobia. In 1939–1941 the OUN cooperated with German military intelligence, including in creating the Nachtigall and Roland battalions, and the text of the Act of 30 June 1941 declared cooperation with Nazi Germany. The proclamation was accompanied by pogroms in Lviv. Historians find no evidence that Bandera personally supported them, but note that he knew of the violence and did nothing to protect minorities. Historians also debate the responsibility of the movement’s leadership for the mass killings of the Polish population of Volhynia in 1943; Bandera himself was in German imprisonment at the time.
The courts ruled the 2010 decree awarding Bandera the title Hero of Ukraine unlawful (2010–2011). For decades Soviet propaganda used his name to discredit any Ukrainian independence movement.
Why it matters today
The figure of Bandera shows how complex the struggle for independence was in the 20th century. It teaches us to distinguish between historical facts, historians’ assessments and propaganda.
