By Roman Zakaluzny
Post Staff Writer
Parliament Deputy Andry Shkil wants to see the bodies of three pioneer nationalist leaders disinterred from their graves abroad and returned to Ukraine.
Shkil, a Batkivschyna Party member from Lviv, said that he would introduce a bill in parliament authorizing the government to seek repatriation of the bodies of Stepan Bandera, Yevhen Konovalets and Symon Petliura for reburial in Ukraine.
Konovalets and Bandera were leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists � Ukrainian Partisan Army, and Petliura was briefly president and general of the Ukrainian National Republic, a transitional government from 1918 until 1920.
Repatriating the bodies would require an international effort: Bandera is buried in Munich, Konovalets in Rotterdam and Petliura in Paris.
The nationalist lawmaker, who has suggested returning the bodies before, renewed his interest in the project after learning that Petliura�s grave in Paris� Montparnasse Cemetery was desecrated on Dec. 3. Vandals painted swastikas on the grave and damaged the monument. Ukraine�s embassy in Paris sent a note to the French Foreign Ministry asking for answers. French police are investigating.
Shkil said that Ukraine was in a better position to protect the graves.
�Petliura�s grave would be better taken care of in Ukraine. No question,� he said on Dec. 9. �As long as the state provides the protection.�
Shkil said that the government would fund the project, but provided no estimate of what it would cost the country to relocate and protect the graves.
Though many Ukrainians consider the three heroes, they are not uncontroversial.
All three men fought the Red Army at various times and were vilified by the Soviet Union. Bandera also fought the Nazis and Poles in World War II, but is considered to have been a traitor by some Ukrainians.
Soviet agents assassinated Konovalets in 1938 and Bandera in 1959.
Petliura was killed in 1926 by a man who claimed to be related to victims of anti-Jewish pogroms that occurred while Petliura was president of the Ukrainian National Republic.
While Bandera�s relatives support returning their ancestor�s body to Ukraine, they aren�t certain that the time is right.
Stephen Bandera, reached in New York, said that any decision to move his grandfather�s grave must include consultation with his family.
�As it stands now, the family is supportive� of the idea, he told the Post on Dec. 6. He said that Bandera�s only living sibling, Oksana, who lives in Striy (Lviv oblast), supports the notion, but feels it is too soon.
�She feels that some crazies may commit acts of violence or vandalism against her brother�s remains,� Stephen Bandera said. �She feels the time has yet to come.�
The younger Bandera added that if the decision to return his grandfather�s body is made, it must be a decision taken by the entire government, rather than just one member of parliament.
Shkil agreed.
�This won�t be decided in one day or one year or even a few years,� said Shkil. �It will take a very long time.�
�I�m just initiating the discussions,� he said.
Shkil floated a similar proposal 18 months ago through a Lviv City Council committee. The committee proposed that the three be reinterred in Lviv�s Lychakiv cemetery. They also sought an official government statement rehabilitating the OUN, which Bandera headed. Soviet historians took a dim view of the nationalist group, a view still shared by Ukrainian and Russian communists, among others.
Russia�s Foreign Affairs Ministry commented on the Lviv plan, saying that it would be disappointed if Ukraine rehabilitated the OUN. The comment earned a curt rebuke by Ukraine�s then-foreign affairs minister, Anatoly Zlenko, who told the Russians that the matter was an internal Ukrainian affair.
Ukraine has yet to issue a statement rehabilitating Bandera, Konovalets or the OUN.
Shkil said that his new proposal will draw protests, and that he is prepared to discuss the issue with critics.
�Some anti-nationalists or communists may have something to say against the plan,� said Shkil. �There are even opponents within the nationalist groups. I am prepared to meet with them to discuss their objections.�
Volodymyr Malinkovych, director of the Ukrainian wing of the International Institute of Humanitarian and Political Studies in Kyiv, said that he supports the repatriation of the three leaders in principle. They each made, he said, both good and bad decisions.
�I�m not a supporter of Ukrainian nationalists, but I think they have the right to lobby to bring the bodies of these leaders back to Ukraine. The government should support this, as it is part of history,� he said.
Malinkovych, who is of Ukrainian, Russian and Jewish descent, was a Soviet dissident who lived in exile in Munich after he was expelled from the Soviet Union during the 1980s. He published articles on the three leaders while living in Germany.
Petliura�s controversial past, said Malinkovych, shouldn�t play a role in whether the bodies are returned.
Petliura �issued an order to put a stop to the killings [of Jews,] but he couldn�t control his own army,� said Malin-kovych, adding that Petliura �wasn�t anti-Semitic.�
Stephan Bandera said that Soviet-inspired beliefs about his grandfather and the other nationalist leaders are still used to divide Ukrainians. Before there is any attempt to move his grandfather�s remains to Ukraine, an educational campaign is necessary, he said.
�Even now, 44 years after his assassination, the name �Bandera� is used to frighten people, particularly in Eastern Ukraine,� he said. �There needs to be a public education campaign conducted throughout the country that will give people the full story of the OUN-UPA, not just the myths.�
� Roman Olearchyk contributed to this report.