Dear CCI Friends and Colleagues,
From posters and banners and videos of commemorative events emanating from Ukraine in the last three years we have all become familiar with the face of Stepan Bandera. He is portrayed by some as a passionate nationalist and heroic martyr for the cause of Ukrainian independence from the oppressive Soviet system.
Others suggest that if we look behind today’s stirring patriotic posters we will find a calculating Nazi collaborator, a cold blooded murderer who was complicit in the deaths of 1.5 million Ukrainian Jews, plus a few hundred thousand Poles and other ‘untermenschen.’
On close inspection it appears the man was both – hero to some, brutal butcher to many more – but we have to ask, how have so many been persuaded to turn their eyes away from the blood drenched killer and to focus instead on the fervid patriot?
It’s simple, apparently; just describe him as, “…a bandit type if you like, with a burning patriotism which provides an ethical background and a justification for his banditry,” and there you have it, a mass murderer transformed into a romantic “ethical bandit” in one short line of propagandistic whitewash.
The next question is, who would do such a thing … and why??
Kit Klarenberg tackles the ‘who and why’ with a deep investigation into the relationship between Bandera and the UK and US intelligence agencies. It is a fascinating historical tale.
https://www.kitklarenberg.com/p/stepan-banderas-sinister-mi6-alliance?
If you are wondering why this history matters, we suggest it is because the story has a clincher: it is being played out in technicolor in Ukraine as you read this.
“Despite their mutual wish Bandera not be “martyred” by Soviet intelligence, it is likely the CIA and MI6 breathed a collective sigh of relief upon news of his death. The OUN-B and UPA founder’s destabilising, disruptive influence within the Ukrainian anti-Communist underground was a significant impediment to Anglo-American spying agencies implementing a far grander plan than any they had hitherto tried. Namely, fomenting all-out war against the Soviet Union, using Ukrainians as footsoldiers.”
Please let us know your thoughts.
Sincerely,
The Directors
Center for Citizen Initiatives
A few more easily accessible sources on Bandera:
https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/who-was-stepan-bandera