THE 125TH ANNIVERSARY SINCE BIRTH OF YEVGENY KONOVALETS

Today we celebrate the 125th anniversary since the birthday of Yevhen Konovalets, a prominent leader of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, whose iron will had united the Ukrainian nationalists and improved the methods of struggle.

Yevhen Konovalets biography is perhaps the most striking example a nationalists leader's life. Being officer he had passed through the crucible of First World War and even being in the Russian captivity Konovalets hadn't obeyed to the destiny. Being in the captivity Ukrainians rallied around him and formed a group, that later became a core of the most capable military formation of the Ukrainian army - a kurin (battalion) of the Sich Riflemen, that later became a regiment, then a division, and a corps. Under the command of Colonel Konovalets the SIch Riflemen had fought in the fronts of the First Nation-Liberation War. Later, after the internment in Poland the Colonel and his fellows had continued their struggle in other form. In the summer of 1920, the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO) was created under the command Yevhen Konovalets. Nine years later this organisation will unites broader groups of nationalists and will become a core for the legendary Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). !!! The OUN members had commonly called him a Chieftain because of undisputed authority he had among both the Sich Riflemen veterans and the nationalist youth. The OUN leader was a well-known and respectable person among the European nationalist organisations as well as one of the greatest threats for Moscow. Since the establishing of the OUN its leader became a first target for the Soviet secret services.

On May 23, 1938, Yevhen Konovalets was assassinated in Rotterdam in result of treacherous betrayal by his friend Pavel Sudoplatov, who was in fact an NKVD agent who had infiltrated into the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. When Konovalets was sitting in a cafe Sudoplatov approached to him and presented a box of chocolates with a bomb hidden inside. The colonel's death was a terrible blow to whole the Ukrainian nationalist movement. After a while the OUN had been divided to Melnik and Bandera supporters. It is not customary to talk conditionally about historical events, but the history of Europe would be cardinally different if he could avoid death those day. 

The OUN gave us many outstanding nationalist thinkers, activists and military leaders, who undoubtedly could be considered as a representatives of the Ukrainian elite of XX century. 

Now, like a hundred years ago, the Ukrainian nation is passing through the period when war awakens the noble side of our souls, and now we have a great chance to create its new elite, military elite, first of all.

Related: 

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AN ESTETISM OF VENTURE: YEVHEN KONOVALETS

Source: AzovPress