View source for Stepan Bandera

{{Short description|Ukrainian nationalist leader (1909–1959)}}
{{Family name hatnote|Andriyovych|Bandera|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{protection padlock|reason=Persistent addition of [[WP:INTREF|unsourced or poorly sourced content]]. Long history of increasing semi-protection.|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Stepan Bandera
| native_name         = {{nobold|Степан Бандера}}
| native_name_lang    = uk
| image               = Stepan Bandera photo.jpg
| caption             = Bandera, {{circa}} 1934
| office              = Leader of the [[Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists]] (Banderite)
| term_start          = 10 February 1940
| term_end            = 15 October 1959
| predecessor         = ''Position established''<br/>([[Andriy Melnyk (officer)|Andriy Melnyk]] as leader of the OUN)
| successor           = [[Stepan Lenkavskyi]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|df=yes|1909|1|1}}
| birth_place         = [[Staryi Uhryniv]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Galicia]], Austria-Hungary
| death_date          = {{death date and age|df=yes|1959|10|15|1909|1|1}}
| death_place         = [[Munich]], [[Bavaria]], West Germany
| death_cause         = [[#Death|Assassination]] by [[cyanide gas]]
| citizenship         = {{ubl|[[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria|Austria-Hungary]] (1909–1918)|[[Second Polish Republic|Poland]]}}
| nationality         = Ukrainian
| spouse              = {{interlanguage link|Yaroslava Bandera|uk|Бандера Ярослава Василівна|WD=}}
| relations           = {{ubl|{{Interlanguage link|Ołeksandr Bandera|uk|Бандера Олександр Андрійович|WD=}} (brother)|{{Interlanguage link|Vasyl Bandera|uk|Бандера Василь Андрійович|WD=}} (brother)}}
| children            = 3
| father              = [[Andriy Bandera]]
| mother              = {{Interlanguage link|Myroslava Głodzińska|uk|Бандера Мирослава Володимирівна|WD=}}
| alma_mater          = [[Lviv Polytechnic]]
| occupation          = Politician
| allegiance          = {{ubl|{{flagicon image|OUN-M-03.svg}} [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|OUN]] (1929–1940)|{{flagicon image|Flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.svg}} [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|OUN-B]] (1940–1959)}}
| battles             = [[World War II]]
| awards              = [[Hero of Ukraine]] (annulled)
| signature           = Stepan Bandera sign.svg
| resting_place       = [[Munich Waldfriedhof]]
}}
{{Ukrainian nationalism}}
'''Stepan Andriyovych Bandera''' ({{langx|uk|Степа́н Андрі́йович Банде́ра}}, {{IPA|uk|steˈpɑn ɐnˈd⁽ʲ⁾r⁽ʲ⁾ijowɪtʃ bɐnˈdɛrɐ|IPA}}; {{langx|pl|Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera}};{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=97}} 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian [[far-right]] leader of the radical militant [[Banderite|faction]] of the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]], the OUN-B.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=238}}{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=560}}

Bandera was born in [[Austria-Hungary]], in [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]], into the family of a priest of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]], and grew up in Poland.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=49}} Involved in nationalist organisations from a young age, he joined the [[Ukrainian Military Organisation]] in 1924. In 1931, he became head of propaganda of the [[Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists]] (OUN), and later became head of the OUN for Poland in 1932. In 1934, he organised [[Assassination of Bronisław Pieracki|the assassination]] of the Polish interior minister, [[Bronisław Pieracki]], and was sentenced to death after being convicted of terrorism, subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.

Bandera was freed from prison in 1939 following the [[invasion of Poland]], and moved to [[Kraków]]. In 1940, he became head of the radical faction of the OUN, the OUN-B. On 22 June 1941, the same day as [[Operation Barbarossa]], the German invasion of the Soviet Union, he formed the Ukrainian National Committee. The head of the Committee, [[Yaroslav Stetsko]], [[Act of restoration of the Ukrainian state|announced the creation of a Ukrainian state]] on 30 June 1941, in German-captured [[Lviv]]. The proclamation pledged to work with [[Nazi Germany]].{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=89}} The Germans disapproved of the proclamation, and for his refusal to rescind the decree, Bandera was arrested by the [[Gestapo]] and sent to a concentration camp. He was released in September 1944 by the Germans in the hope that he could fight the Soviet advance. Bandera negotiated with the Nazis to create the [[Ukrainian National Army]] and the [[Ukrainian National Committee]] in March 1945.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01611194.2011.583709 |title=Operation Stonka. An Ultimate Deception Spy Game |last=Bury |first=Jan |journal=Cryptologia |date=2011 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=297–327 |doi=10.1080/01611194.2011.583709 |s2cid=27883739 |quote=At the turn of 1944/1945, Bandera took part in negotiations with the Nazis, which led to the formation of the Ukrainian National Committee (UNK) in March 1945.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> After the war, Bandera settled with his family in [[West Germany]]. In 1959, Bandera was assassinated by a [[KGB]] agent in [[Munich]].<ref>[[Christopher Andrew (historian)|Christopher Andrew]] and [[Vasili Mitrokhin]], ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'', [[Basic Books]], 1999. {{ISBN|0-465-00312-5}}, p. 362.</ref><ref>Kondratyuk, Kostyantin. ''Новітня історія України 1914–1945'' [''New History of Ukraine'']. — Lviv: Видавничий центр ЛНУ імені Івана Франка, 2007. (in Ukrainian)</ref>

Bandera remains a highly controversial figure in Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/04/27/dear-ukraine-please-dont-shoot-yourself-in-the-foot-nationalists-russia-bandera-rada/|title=Dear Ukraine: Please Don't Shoot Yourself in the Foot|last=Cohen|first=Josh|website=Foreign Policy|date=27 April 2015 |language=en|access-date=27 November 2018}}</ref> Many Ukrainians hail him as an example,<ref name="DW.COM" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Russia uses Israeli tweet against neo-Nazi march |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-691351 |access-date=2 January 2023 |website=[[The Jerusalem Post]] |date=3 January 2022 |language=en-US |issn=0792-822X}}</ref> or as a martyred liberation fighter,<ref name="goda_hnn">{{Cite web |last=Goda |first=Norman J. W. |author-link4=Norman J. W. Goda |date=22 January 2010 |title=Who Was Stepan Bandera? |url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/122778 |access-date= |website=[[History News Network]]}}</ref> while other Ukrainians, particularly in the south and east, condemn him as a [[fascist]],<ref name="faiola_2014" /> or [[Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany|Nazi collaborator]],<ref name="DW.COM" /> whose followers, called [[Banderites]], were responsible for [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia|massacres of Polish]] and [[The Holocaust in Ukraine|Jewish]] civilians during [[World War II]].{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=}}<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Holocaust in the Soviet Union|last=Arad|first=Yitzhak|date=2009|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=9780803222700|location=Lincoln, Nebraska|page=89|oclc=466441935}}</ref> On 22 January 2010, [[Viktor Yushchenko]], the [[president of Ukraine]], awarded Bandera the posthumous title of [[Hero of Ukraine]], which was widely condemned. The award was annulled in 2011 given that Stepan Bandera was never a Ukrainian citizen.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |title=Ukrainian court rejects 'hero' status for nationalist leaders |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/4e4a2926c.html |date=2011-08-03 |website=Refworld |language=en |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230915180106/https://www.refworld.org/docid/4e4a2926c.html |archivedate=2023-09-15}}</ref> The controversy regarding Bandera's legacy gained further prominence following the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]] in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Goncharenko |first=Roman |date=2022-05-22 |title=Stepan Bandera: Hero or Nazi collaborator? |url=https://www.dw.com/en/stepan-bandera-ukrainian-hero-or-nazi-collaborator/a-61842720 |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=dw.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Tsymbalyuk |first=Mariana |date=2022-06-27 |title=Who was Stepan Bandera, Ukraine's controversial nationalist figure? - Geneva Solutions |url=https://genevasolutions.news/ukraine-stories/who-was-stepan-bandera-ukraine-s-controversial-nationalist-figure |access-date=2023-12-10 |website=genevasolutions.news |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=d’Istria |first=Thomas |date=2023-01-12 |title=Stepan Bandera, the Ukrainian anti-hero glorified following the Russian invasion |language=en |work=Le Monde.fr |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/01/12/stepan-bandera-the-ukrainian-anti-hero-glorified-following-the-russian-invasion_6011401_4.html |access-date=2023-12-10}}</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Early life and education ===
[[File:Bandera plast 1923.jpg|thumb|Young Bandera in the [[Plast]] uniform, 1923]]
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was born on 1 January 1909 in [[Staryi Uhryniv]], in the region of [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] in [[Austria-Hungary]], to [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]] priest [[Andriy Bandera]] (1882–1941) and Myroslava Głodzińska (1890–1921). Bandera had seven siblings: three sisters and four brothers.{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=557}} Bandera's younger brothers included Oleksandr, who earned a doctorate in political economy at the University of Rome, and Vasyl, who finished a degree in philosophy at the [[University of Lviv]].

Bandera grew up in a patriotic and religious household.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=91}} He did not attend primary school due to [[World War I]] and was taught at home by his parents.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=91}} At a young age, Bandera was undersized and slim.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=97}} He sang in a choir, played guitar and mandolin, enjoyed hiking, jogging, swimming, ice skating, basketball and chess.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=93}}

[[File:Home of Bandera.gif|thumb|The house of Bandera's family in [[Staryi Uhryniv]], Ukraine]]
After the [[dissolution of Austria-Hungary]] in the wake of [[World War I]], [[Eastern Galicia]] briefly became part of the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]]. Bandera's father, who joined the [[Ukrainian Galician Army]] as a chaplain, was active in the nationalist movement preceding the [[Polish–Ukrainian War]], which was fought between November 1918 to July 1919 and ended with Ukrainian defeat and incorporation of [[Eastern Galicia]] into [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]].

[[Mykola Mikhnovsky]]'s 1900 publication, ''[[Independent Ukraine]]'', influenced Bandera greatly.{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=558}} After graduating from a Ukrainian high school in [[Stryi]] in 1927, where he was engaged in a number of youth organizations, Bandera planned to attend the Husbandry Academy in [[Czechoslovakia]], but he either did not get a passport or the Academy notified him that it was closed.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=93}} In 1928, Bandera enrolled in the [[agronomy]] program at the [[Lviv Polytechnic|Politechnika Lwowska]] in its branch in [[Dubliany, Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast|Dubliany]], but never completed his studies due to his political activities and arrests.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=93–94}}

=== Early activities ===
[[File:Stepan Bandera in cossack uniform.jpg|thumb|Bandera in folkloristic [[Cossacks|Cossack]] costume]]
Bandera associated himself with a variety of Ukrainian organisations during his time in high school, particularly [[Plast]], [[Ukrainian Sokil movement|Sokil]], and Organisation of the Upper Grades of the Ukrainian High Schools (OVKUH).{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=92}} In 1927 Bandera joined [[Ukrainian Military Organization]] (UVO).{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=92}} In February 1929 he joined [[Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists]] (OUN).{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=94}} Bandera was drawn into national activity by {{Ill|Stepan Okhrymovych|uk|Охримович Степан Богданович}}, one of the leaders of the Ukrainian youth movement.{{Sfn|Marples|2006|p=558}}

During his studies, he devoted his efforts to underground and nationalist activities, for which he was arrested several times. The first time was on 14 November 1928, for illegally celebrating the 10th anniversary of the [[ZUNR]];{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=94}} in 1930 with his brother Andrii;{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=94}} and in 1932-33 as many as six times. Between March and June 1932, he spent three months in prison in connection with the investigation of the assassination of {{Ill|Emilian Czechowski|pl}} by {{Ill|Iurii Berezynskyi|uk|Березинський Юрій-Мирослав}}.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=94}}

In the early 1930s, in response to attacks perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists, Polish authorities carried out the [[pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia]] against the [[Ukrainian minority in Poland|Ukrainian minority]]. This resulted in destroyed property and mass detentions, and took place in southeastern [[voivodeship]]s of the [[Second Polish Republic]].<ref name="snyder_2007">{{cite book |last1=Snyder |first1=Timothy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PKrjew-H0JMC&pg=PA75 |title=Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist's Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine |date=2007 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0300125993 |pages=75–76, 157}}</ref>

===Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists===
Bandera joined OUN in 1929 and quickly climbed through the ranks, thanks to the support of Okhrymovych, becoming in 1930 the head of a section distributing OUN propaganda in Eastern Galicia.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=99}} A year later, he became director of propaganda for the whole OUN.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=99}} After Okhrymovych's death and the flight from Poland of his successor Ivan Habrusevych in 1931, he became the leading candidate to become head of the homeland executive.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=99}} But due to the fact that he was in detention at the time, he was unable to assume this function, and upon his release, he became deputy to [[Bohdan Kordiuk]], who assumed this function.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=99}} After the failure of the {{Ill|Attack on the post office in Gródek Jagielloński|lt=attack on the post office in Gródek Jagielloński|pl|Napad na pocztę w Gródku Jagiellońskim}}, Kordiuk had to step down and Bandera took over de facto his function, which was sanctioned at a conference in Berlin on 3–6 June 1933.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=99}}

On 29 August 1931, Polish politician [[Tadeusz Hołówko]] was assassinated by two members of the OUN [[Vasyl Bilas]] and [[Dmytro Danylyshyn]].{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=89}} Both were sentenced to death. Bandera-led OUN propaganda made them martyrs and ordered Ukrainian priests in Lviv and elsewhere to ring bells on the day of their execution.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=89}}

Since 1932, Bandera was assistant chief of OUN and around that time controlled several "warrior units" in Poland in places such as the [[Free City of Danzig]] (Wolne Miasto Gdańsk), [[Drohobych|Drohobycz]], [[Lviv|Lwów]], [[Ivano-Frankivsk|Stanisławów]], [[Berezhany|Brzezany]], and [[Truskavets|Truskawiec]]. Bandera collaborated closely with [[Richard Yary]], who would later side with Bandera and help him form OUN-B.{{citation needed|date=September 2023}}

On Bandera's orders OUN began a campaign of terrorist acts, such as attacks on post-offices, bomb-throwing at Polish exhibitions and murders of policemen<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shephard |first=Ben |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ozOKDWS6KUAC |title=The Long Road Home |date=22 February 2011 |publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-307-59548-5 |language=en |quote=Stepan Bandera, who had led a gang carrying out terrorist attacks in Polish-ruled western Ukraine in the 1930s. Both factions were funded by the Germans.. |author-link=Ben Shephard (historian)}}</ref> to mass campaigns against Polish tobacco and alcohol monopolies and against the denationalization of Ukrainian youth.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} In 1934, Bandera was arrested in [[Lviv|Lwów]] and tried twice: first, concerning involvement in a plot to assassinate the minister of internal affairs, [[Bronisław Pieracki]], and second at a general trial of OUN executives. He was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to death. The death sentence was commuted to [[life imprisonment]].{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=147}}

[[File:Proces gazeta Pieracki.jpg|thumb|Press report from the trial of Bandera and his associates for the murder of Polish minister [[Bronisław Pieracki]], 20 November 1935]]
After the trials, Bandera became renowned and admired among Ukrainians in Poland {{Citation needed span|text=and abroad|date=October 2022|reason=Likely in existing source and just needs page number}} as a symbol of a revolutionary who fought for Ukrainian independence.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=535}} While in prison, Bandera was "to some extent detached from OUN discourses" but not completely isolated from the global political debates of the late 1930s thanks to Ukrainian and other newspaper subscriptions delivered to his cell.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=112}}

=== World War II ===
Before [[World War II]] the territory of today's [[Ukraine]] was split between [[Second Polish Republic|Poland]], the [[Soviet Union]], [[Greater Romania|Romania]] and [[Czechoslovakia]]. Prior to the 1939 [[invasion of Poland]], German military intelligence recruited [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|OUN]] members into the [[Bergbauernhilfe]] unit and smuggled Ukrainian nationalists into Poland in order to erode Polish defences by conducting a terror campaign directed at Polish farmers and [[History of the Jews in Poland|Jews]]. OUN leaders [[Andriy Atanasovych Melnyk|Andriy Melnyk]] (code name Consul I) and Bandera (code name Consul II) both served as agents of the [[Nazi Germany]] military intelligence [[Abwehr]] Second Department.{{sfn|Littman|2003|p=20}}<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |last=Reid |first=Anna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqGFEAAAQBAJ |title=Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine |date=29 September 2022 |publisher=Orion |isbn=978-1-3996-0918-0 |language=en |quote=Stepan Bandera, leader of the Nazi-sponsored terrorist group OUN. |author-link=}}</ref>{{sfn|Littman|2003|p=20}} Their goal was to run diversion activities after Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. This information is part of the testimony that Abwehr Colonel Erwin Stolze gave on 25 December 1945 and submitted to the Nuremberg trials, with a request to be admitted as evidence.{{sfn|Littman|2003|p=20}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Nuremberg – The Trial of German Major War Criminals |url=http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06/tgmwc-06-56-12.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324213957/http://nizkor.org/hweb/imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-06/tgmwc-06-56-12.html |archive-date=24 March 2010 |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Nizkor.org |volume=VI}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CIA examples of Soviet Propaganda |url=https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/BANDERA%2C%20STEFAN_0018.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123182552/https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/BANDERA%2C%20STEFAN_0018.pdf |archive-date=23 January 2017 |access-date=25 May 2020 |publisher=CIA}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mueller |first=Michael |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9WGAexVXyHwC&pg=PA322 |title=Canaris: The Life and Death of Hitler's Spymaster |date=18 August 2018 |publisher=Naval Institute Press |isbn=9781591141013 |access-date=18 August 2018 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

Bandera was freed from [[Brest, Belarus|Brest]] (Brześć) Prison in Eastern Poland in early September 1939, as a result of the [[invasion of Poland]]. There are differing accounts of the circumstances of his release.{{#tag:ref|According to some accounts and sources, Bandera was released,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Fatic |first1=Aleksandar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f-TaDwAAQBAJ&dq=Bandera+released++from+prison&pg=PA192 |title=Transitional Justice in Troubled Societies |last2=Bachmann |first2=Klaus |last3=Lyubashenko |first3=Igor |date=26 November 2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-78660-590-0 |pages=192 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=559}} or walked out of prison.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ijXCwAAQBAJ&dq=had+walked+out+of+the+prison+in+1939+following+the+German+invasion+of+Poland,+slipping+through+Soviet+hands.&pg=PT15 |title=The Man with the Poison Gun: A Cold War Spy Story |date=6 December 2016 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-09660-2 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 1: Stalin's Call |quote=had walked out of the prison in 1939 following the German invasion of Poland, slipping through Soviet hands}}</ref> According to others, he escaped.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=167}}{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=559}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |first1=Richard |last1=Breitman |first2=Norman J. W. |last2=Goda |title=Hitler's Shadow |url=https://www.archives.gov/files/iwg/reports/hitlers-shadow.pdf |website=National Archives |year=2010}}</ref>{{Rp|page=73}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ijXCwAAQBAJ&dq=Bandera+escaped+from+prison&pg=PT75 |title=The Man with the Poison Gun: A Cold War Spy Story |date=6 December 2016 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-09660-2 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 17: Man At The Top |quote=Khrushchev's major regret was that in September 1939, when the Red Army had crossed the Polish border under the terms of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and taken over Western Ukraine and Belarus, Bandera had been able to escape his Polish prison}}</ref> According to Snyder, he was released due to Poland freeing its political prisoners to spare them German captivity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |date=2003 |title=The Causes of Ukrainian-Polish Ethnic Cleansing 1943 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3600827 |journal=Past & Present |issue=179 |pages=197–234 |doi=10.1093/past/179.1.197 |jstor=3600827 |issn=0031-2746|url-access=subscription }}</ref> According to Bandera's own account, he escaped on 13 September 1939, with the help of Ukrainian prisoners in the turmoil of World War II.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=166}} In her book ''Borderland'', author [[Anna Reid]] states that Germans freed him, but her sources for that are unclear.|group=nb}} Soon thereafter Eastern Poland was [[Soviet invasion of Poland|occupied by the Soviet Union]]. Upon release from prison, Bandera moved first to [[Lviv]], but after realising it would be occupied by the Soviets, Bandera together with other OUN members, moved to [[Kraków]], the capital of Germany's occupational [[General Government]].{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=167-168}} where, according to [[Tadeusz Piotrowski (sociologist)|Tadeusz Piotrowski]], he established close connections with the German [[Abwehr]] and [[Wehrmacht]].{{sfn|Littman|2003|p=20-21}}{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=189-190}} There, he also came in contact with the leader of the OUN, [[Andriy Atanasovych Melnyk]]. In 1940, the political differences and expectations between the two leaders caused the OUN to split into two factions, OUN-B and OUN-M ([[Banderite]]s and [[Melnykites]]), each one claiming legitimacy.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal| author=Carynnyk, M.| year=2011| title=Foes of our rebirth: Ukrainian nationalist discussions about Jews, 1929-1947| journal=Nationalities Papers| volume=39| issue=3| pages=315–352| doi=10.1080/00905992.2011.570327| s2cid=159894460}}</ref>

The factions differed in ideology, strategy and tactics:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/612921/Ukraine/30082/World-War-II-and-its-aftermath#ref=ref404610 |title=Ukraine :: World War II and its aftermath – Britannica Online Encyclopedia |website=Britannica.com |access-date=17 March 2010}}</ref> the [[OUN-M]] faction led by Melnyk preached a more conservative approach to nation-building, while the [[OUN-B]] faction, led by Bandera, supported a revolutionary approach; however, both factions exhibited similar levels of [[radical nationalism]], [[fascism]], [[antisemitism]], xenophobia and violence.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=}}<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Brown |first=Kate |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rUD2HppXjOIC&pg=PA214 |title=A Biography of No Place |date=30 June 2009 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-02893-7 |pages=214 |language=en |quote=The OUN had many factions and was rife with ideological disputes, but on the whole it harmonized with the fascist, integral-nationalist, anticommunist, and antisemitic profile of German National Socialists.}}</ref> The vast majority of young OUN members joined Bandera's faction. OUN-B was devoted to the independence of Ukraine, as a single-party fascist totalitarian state free of national minorities.<ref name="snyder_2010">{{cite web |author=Timothy Snyder |title=A Fascist Hero in Democratic Kiev |url=http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2010/02/24/a-fascist-hero-in-democratic-kiev/ |work=The New York Review of Books| date=24 February 2010 |publisher=NYR Daily}}</ref>{{#tag:ref|Bandera aimed to make of Ukraine a one-party fascist dictatorship without national minorities. UPA partisans murdered tens of thousands of Poles, most of them women and children; some Jews who had taken shelter with Polish families were also killed.<ref name=snyder_2010/><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Radeljić |first=Branislav |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fesUEAAAQBAJ&dq=Slava+Ukraini+OUN&pg=PT107 |title=The Unwanted Europeanness?: Understanding Division and Inclusion in Contemporary Europe |date=18 January 2021 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-068425-4 |language=en |quote=For instance, the chant, 'Glory to Ukraine!' (Slava Ukraini!), followed by 'Glory to the Heroes!' (Heroiam slava!), had its origins in Ukraine's national revolution of 1917–1920, but it became widespread as a slogan under the wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) under the leadership of Stepan Bandera. By 1941, the Bandera wing of the OUN had embraced the ideals of fascism and Nazism, emphasising militarism, one-party rule, and the cult of the leader.}}</ref> He was also later responsible for [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia|the ethnic cleansing of Poles]],<ref name=":52">{{Cite book |last=Delphine |first=Bechtel |url=https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/20130500-holocaust-in-ukraine.pdf |title=The Holocaust in Ukraine - New Sources and Perspectives - The 1941 pogroms as represented in Western Ukrainian historiography and memorial culture |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. |year=2013 |pages=3, 6 |quote=Some Ukrainian immigrant circles in Canada, the United States, and Germany had been active for decades in trying to suppress the topic and reacted to any testimony about Ukrainian anti-Jewish violence with virulent diatribes against what they dismissed as 'Jewish propaganda' ... the Ukrainian Insurrectional Army (UPA), which was responsible for ethnic 'cleansing' actions against Poles and Jews in Volhynia and Galicia.}}</ref><ref name=":10">{{Cite book |last=Winstone |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CVS5zQEACAAJ |title=The Dark Heart of Hitler's Europe: Nazi Rule in Poland Under the General Government |date=2015 |publisher=I.B. Tauris & Company Limited |isbn=978-0-7556-2395-2 |pages=104, 205 |language=en |quote=Both factions of the OUN hoped that the Germans would permit the establishment of an independent Ukrainian state, at least in Galicia... OUN-B who used it as a vehicle to perpetrate ethnic cleansing — indeed genocide — across Wolyn. As German forces abandoned the countryside, UPA units murdered the entire populations of Polish villages (and many Ukrainians as well) in an attempt to frighten the remainder into fleeing.}}</ref> [[Lviv pogroms (1941)|pogroms against Jews]],{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rossoliński-Liebe |first=Grzegorz |author-link=Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe |title=Holocaust Amnesia: The Ukrainian Diaspora and the Genocide of the Jews |url=https://www.academia.edu/28177433 |journal=German Yearbook of Contemporary History 1 (2016) |quote=On 22 June 1941, the first phase of the Holocaust in these territories began when at least 140 pogroms broke out, resulting in the murder of thirteen to thirty-five thousand Jews. In the largest pogrom, in Lviv, which began around ten o’clock at night, just a few hours before the proclamation of the Ukrainian state, four thousand Jews were killed. The perpetrators of this pogrom consisted of the militia of the OUN-B, which worked together with the Germans, groups of local civilians, as well as various German units, including some from the Wehrmacht.}}</ref> and implicated in [[Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi Germany|collaboration with Nazi Germany]].{{rp|15}}|group=nb}}<ref name=":42">{{Cite book |last1=Friedman |first1=Philip |url=http://archive.org/details/roadstoextinctio00frie |title=Roads to extinction : essays on the Holocaust |last2=Friedman |first2=Ada June |date=1980 |publisher=New York : Conference on Jewish Social Studies : Jewish Publication Society of America |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-8276-0170-3 |page=179 |quote=After the outbreak of World War II, the Germans constantly favored the OUN, at the expense of more moderate Ukrainian groups. The extremist Ukrainian nationalist groups then launched a campaign of vilification against moderate leaders, accusing them of various misdeeds...As early as the spring of 1940, a central Ukrainian committee was organised in Cracow under the chairmanship of Volodimir Kubiovitch...Shortly before the outbreak of Russo-German hostilities, the Germans, through Colonel Erwin Stolze, of the Abwehr, conducted negotiations with both OUN leaders, Melnyk and Bandera, requesting that they engage in underground activities in the rear of the Soviet armies in the Ukraine.}}</ref> It was later implicated in [[the Holocaust]].<ref name="goda_hnn"/>{{#tag:ref|"It is a sad comment on Ukrainian memory that the man declared a Hero of Ukraine in January headed a movement that was deeply involved in the Holocaust."<ref name="goda_hnn" />|group=nb}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Efraim |first=Zuroff |author-link=Efraim Zuroff |title=Wiesenthal Center Harshly Criticizes Kiev March to Mark Birthday of Ukrainian Nazi Collaborator Stefan Bandera |url=https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/wiesenthal-center-harshly-6.html |access-date=20 September 2022 |website=www.wiesenthal.com |quote=Holocaust historian Dr. Efraim Zuroff, the Center noted Bandera's role in Holocaust crimes and the tens of thousands of Jewish victims murdered in Ukraine...}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=International |first1=Radio Canada |author-link=John-Paul Himka |last2=Himka |first2=John-Paul American-Canadian historian and retired professor of history of the University of Alberta |date=13 August 2018 |title=Canadian monument to controversial Ukrainian national hero ignites debate |url=https://www.rcinet.ca/en/2018/08/13/shukhevych-monument-canada-oun-upa/ |access-date=20 September 2022 |website=RCI {{!}} English |language=en-US |quote=Himka says attempts to whitewash UPA's wartime record harm Ukraine's fledgling democracy by encouraging the far right in Ukraine and negatively impact democratic practices within the Ukrainian community in Canada. I think personally that you can't be making heroes out of Holocaust perpetrators and ethnic cleansers, says Himka.}}</ref>{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=}}{{sfn|Rudling|2011|p=11–12}}<ref name="Cooke">{{cite book |last1=Cooke |first1=Philip |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HDpgBgAAQBAJ&q=OUN+fascist |title=Hitler's Europe Ablaze: Occupation, Resistance, and Rebellion during World War II |last2=Shepherd |first2=Ben |publisher=Skyhorse Publishing |year=2014 |isbn=978-1632201591 |page=336}}</ref>{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=}}

Before the independence proclamation of 30 June 1941, Bandera oversaw the formation of so-called "Mobile Groups" ({{langx|uk|мобільні групи}}), which were small (5–15 members) groups of OUN-B members who would travel from [[General Government]] to Western Ukraine and, after a German advance to Eastern Ukraine, encourage support for the OUN-B and establish local authorities run by OUN-B activists.<ref name="ReferenceA">ОУН в 1941 році: документи: В 2-х ч Ін-т історії України НАН України К. 2006 {{ISBN|966-02-2535-0}}</ref> In total, approximately 7,000 people participated in these mobile groups, and they found followers among a wide circle of intellectuals, such as [[Ivan Bahriany]], [[Vasyl Barka]], [[Hryhorii Vashchenko]] and many others.{{Citation needed|date=June 2022}}

[[File:Акт проголошення Української держави.jpg|thumb|[[Act of restoration of the Ukrainian state|Declaration of the Ukrainian state]], 30 June 1941]]

In spring 1941, Bandera held meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "[[Nachtigall Battalion|Nachtigall]]" and "[[Roland Battalion|Roland]]" Battalions. In the spring of that year, the OUN received 2.5&nbsp;million marks for subversive activities inside the Soviet Union.<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="autogenerated1940">I. K. Patrylyak (2004). ''Військова діяльність ОУН(Б) у 1940—1942 роках'' [''Military activity of the OUN-B in 1940–1942'']. Kyiv: Institute of Ukrainian History, Shevchenko University<!--(No ISBN)--></ref> [[Gestapo]] and [[Abwehr]] officials protected Bandera's followers, as both organisations intended to use them for their own purposes.<ref>p.15 ''ОУН в 1941 році: документи'' [''The OUN in 1941: documents'']. Kyiv: Institute of Ukrainian History, Shevchenko University, 2006. {{ISBN|966-02-2535-0}}. "У владних структурах рейху знайшлися сили яки з прагматичних міркувань стали на захист бандерівців. Керівники гестапо сподівалися використовувати їх у власних цілях а керівники абверу а радянському тилу." [In the power structures of the Reich, there were forces that, for pragmatic reasons, came to the defence of Bandera's people. The leaders of the Gestapo hoped to use them for their own purposes, and the leaders of the Abwehr for the Soviet rear.]</ref>

On 30 June 1941, with the arrival of Nazi troops in Ukraine, the OUN-B unilaterally declared an independent Ukrainian state ("Act of Renewal of Ukrainian Statehood").{{sfn|Rudling|2011|p=9}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Тaranenko |first1=M. |last2=Taranenko |first2=M. |date=21 December 2021 |title=Questions of legal assessment of the entry and situation of Ukrainian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania |journal=National Technical University of Ukraine Journal. Political Science. Sociology. Law |volume=4 |issue=52 |pages=74–82 |doi=10.20535/2308-5053.2021.4(52).248146 |issn=2308-5053|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[Act of restoration of the Ukrainian state|The proclamation]] pledged a cooperation of the new Ukrainian state with Nazi Germany under the leadership of Hitler.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=89}} The declaration was accompanied by violent [[pogrom]]s.{{sfn|Rudling|2011|p=9}}<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Himka |first=John-Paul |author-link=John-Paul Himka |date=2010 |title=The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army: Unwelcome Elements of an Identity Project |url=https://www.academia.edu/499198 |journal=Ab Imperio |volume=2010 |issue=4 |pages=83–101 |doi=10.1353/imp.2010.0101 |s2cid=130590374 |issn=2164-9731 |quote=It is an undeniable fact, though, that OUN organized pogroms and mass violence against Jews and others throughout Western Ukraine in July 1941. German documentation and Jewish testimony are unanimous that Ukrainians were the pogromists. The pattern of the violence exhibits many features of coordination over the whole territory .... Both were anti-democratic, anti-Semitic, xenophobic, and admirers of the Italian fascists and German national socialists. Both were involved in atrocities, though the Bandera wing was much more deeply involved .... after Stalingrad and after Kursk, OUN began to distance itself from fascism, particularly at its Third Extraordinary Grand Assembly in August 1943. Bandera himself, however, remained true to the old ideology to the end.}}</ref> There is no evidence that Bandera actively supported or participated in the Lviv pogroms or acts of violence against Jewish and Polish civilians, but he was well informed about the violence and was "unable or unwilling to instruct Ukrainian nationalist military troops (as Nachtigall, Roland and UPA) to protect vulnerable minorities under their control". As German historian Olaf Glöckner writes, Bandera "failed to manage this problem (ethnic and anti-Semitic hatred) inside his forces, just like [[Symon Petliura|Symon Petljura]] failed 25 years before him."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bitunjac |first1=Martina |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EJc9EAAAQBAJ&dq=manage+this+problem+(ethnic+and+anti-Semitic+hatred)+inside+his+forces,+just+like&pg=PA97 |title=Complicated Complicity: European Collaboration with Nazi Germany during World War II |last2=Schoeps |first2=Julius H. |date=2021-06-21 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-067118-6 |pages=97 |language=en}}</ref>

OUN(b) leaders' expectation that the Nazi regime would post-factum recognize an independent fascist Ukraine as an [[Axis powers|Axis]] ally proved to be wrong.{{sfn|Rudling|2011|p=9}} German authorities requested that the declaration be withdrawn, but Stetsko and Bandera refused.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kondor |first1=Katherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UMnOEAAAQBAJ&dq=Yaroslav+Stets%E2%80%99ko+to+withdraw+the+declaration&pg=PA2018-IA3 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Far-Right Extremism in Europe |last2=Littler |first2=Mark |date=2023-09-12 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-000-89703-6 |pages=23 |language=en}}</ref> The Germans barred Bandera from moving to newly conquered [[Lviv]], limiting his residency to [[General Government|occupied Kraków]].{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=246}} On 5 July, Bandera was brought to Berlin, where he was placed in [[Sonder- und Ehrenhaft|honourable captivity]].{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=247}}<ref>[[Taras Hunczak]] (1994). "OUN-German Relations 1941–1945". In Hans-Joachim Torke, John-Paul Himka, eds. ''German-Ukrainian relations in historical perspective.'' Edmonton, Alberta: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, University of Alberta. p. 178</ref> On 12 July, the prime minister of the newly formed [[Ukrainian national government (1941)|Ukrainian National Government]], [[Yaroslav Stetsko]], was arrested and taken to Berlin. Although released from custody on 14 July, both were required to stay in Berlin. Bandera was free to move around the city, but could not leave it.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=247}} The Germans closed OUN-B offices in Berlin and Vienna,{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=249}} and on 15 September 1941 Bandera and leading OUN members were arrested by the [[Gestapo]].{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=248}}

By the end of 1941, relations between Nazi Germany and the OUN-B had soured to the point where a Nazi document dated 25 November 1941 stated that "the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the {{lang|de|Reichskommissariat}} which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated".<ref name="InfoUkes">{{cite web|url=http://www.infoukes.com/history/ww2/page-08.html |title=Ukrainian History – World War II in Ukraine |publisher=InfoUkes |access-date=17 March 2010}}</ref>

In January 1942, Bandera was transferred to [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]]'s special prison cell building ({{lang|de|Zellenbau}}) for high-profile political prisoners such as [[Horia Sima]], the chancellor of Austria, [[Kurt Schuschnigg]] or [[Stefan Rowecki|Stefan Grot-Rowecki]]<ref>{{cite journal| url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41036794| first1=Karel C.| last1=Berkhoff| first2=M.| last2=Carynnyk| year=1999| title=The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Its Attitude toward Germans and Jews: Iaroslav Stets'ko's 1941 Zhyttiepys| journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies| volume=23| issue=3| pages=149–184| jstor=41036794}}</ref>{{Rp|page=212}} and high-risk escapees.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gagan |first=Vitalii |date=17 July 2020 |title=To the Biography of a Ukrainian Activist of the Rebellion Movement During the Second World War Taras Bulba-Borovets (1908–1981) (on the Documents of Central State Archives of Foreign Archival Ucrainica) |journal=Archivi Ukraïni |volume=2020 |issue=1 |pages=132–148 |doi=10.47315/archives2020.322.132 |issn=0320-9466|doi-access=free }}</ref> Bandera was not completely cut off from the outside world; his wife visited him regularly and was able to help him keep in touch with his followers.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=286}} In April 1944, Bandera and his deputy [[Yaroslav Stetsko]] were approached by a [[Reich Security Main Office]] official to discuss plans for diversions and sabotage against the Soviet Army.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Завдання підривної діяльності проти Червоної армії обговорювалося на нараді під Берліном у квітні того ж року (1944) між керівником таємних операцій вермахту О.Скорцені й лідерами українських націоналістів С.бандерою та Я.Стецьком |trans-title=The task of subversive activity against the Red Army was discussed at a meeting near Berlin in April of the same year (1944) between the head of secret operations of the Wehrmacht O. Skortseni and the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists S. Bandera and Y. Stetska |first1=D. |last1=Vyedeneyev |first2=O. |last2=Lysenko |display-authors=et al|journal=Ukrainian Historical Magazine|volume=3|date=2009|page=137|url=http://www.history.org.ua/JournALL/journal/2009/3/11.pdf}}</ref>

Bandera's release was preceded by lengthy talks between the Germans and the UPA in Galicia and Volhynia. Local talks and agreements took place as early as the end of 1943, talks at the central level of the OUN-B began in March 1944 and ended with the conclusion of an informal agreement in August or September 1944.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=234}} The talks from the OUN-B Provid side were led mainly by Ivan Hrynokh.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=232-234}} Meanwhile, in July 1944, the formation of the [[Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council]] (UHVR) took place, which was intended as a supra-party organisation that constituted the civilian body overseeing the UPA and was intended as the supreme authority in Ukraine. In reality, only members or sympathizers of the OUN-B took part in its formation.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=130-135}} {{Ill|Kyrylo Osmak|uk|Осьмак Кирило Іванович}} became president of the UHVR, but real power rested in the hands of the General Secretariat, headed by [[Roman Shukhevych]].{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=135}} At the congress, decisions were made to stop any open collaboration with the Germans, creating a government alongside them was excluded, only taking supplies from them was considered. It was planned to carry out partisan fighting in the rear of the approaching Soviet army. A decision was also taken to move away from radically nationalist rhetoric towards greater democratisation.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=130-135}} A UHVR foreign mission led by [[Mykola Lebed]] was sent to establish contact with Western governments.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=136}}

On 28 September 1944,{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=286}} Bandera was released by the German authorities and moved to house arrest. Shortly after, the Germans released some 300 OUN members, including Stetsko and Melnyk.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=286}} The release of OUN members was one of the few successes of Lebed's mission on behalf of the UHVR, which failed to establish contacts with the Western Allies.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=623}} Bandera reacted negatively to the changes taking place within the OUN-B in Ukraine. His opposition was provoked by the 'democratisation' of the OUN-B and, above all, the relegation of the former leadership of the organisation to purely symbolic roles.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=623}} On 5 October 1944, SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger met with Bandera and offered him the opportunity to join [[Andrey Vlasov]] and his [[Russian Liberation Army]], which Bandera rejected.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=286-287}} In December 1944, the Abwehr moved Bandera and Stetsko to Kraków in order to prepare the Ukrainian unit to be parachuted to the rear of the Soviet army.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=287}} From there, they sent Yurii Lopatynskyi as a courier to [[Roman Shukhevych|Shukhevych]].{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=287}}{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=235}} Bandera informed him that he was ready to return to Ukraine, while Stetsko informed him that he still considered himself the Ukrainian prime minister.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=287}}{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=429}}

Lopatynskyi arrived to Shukhevych in early January 1945. At a meeting of the Provid on 5 and 6 February 1945, it was decided that Bandera's return to Ukraine was pointless, and that it might be more beneficial for him to remain in the West, where, as a former Nazi prisoner, he could organize support of international opinion.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=429-430}} Bandera was re-elected as leader of the whole OUN. [[Roman Shukhevych]] resigned as the leader of the OUN and became the leader of OUN in Ukraine and Bandera's deputy.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=288}}{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=430}} The leaders of the OUN in Ukraine also came to the conclusion that the German-Soviet war would soon end in a Soviet victory, and a decision was made to continue the fight against the Soviets with smaller units, in order to maintain the will to fight among the population. It was also decided to hold talks with the Polish underground to conclude an anti-Soviet alliance.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=430}}  At that point, the cooperation with Germans basically ceased with the loss of direct contact and the front moving further west.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=236}}

In January, Bandera was in [[Lehnin]], west of Berlin. Later he went to Weimar, where he took part in the formation of the [[Ukrainian National Committee]] (UNK) as one of the leaders alongside [[Pavlo Shandruk]], [[Volodymyr Kubijovyč]], [[Andriy Melnyk (officer)|Andriy Melnyk]], Oleksandr Semenko and [[Pavlo Skoropadskyi|Pavlo Skoropadsky]].{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=287-288}} In March, the UNK appointed Shandrukh as commander of the newly formed [[Ukrainian National Army]] (UNA), which was to fight the Soviets alongside the Germans; the [[Waffen-SS Galizien]] division was incorporated.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=287-288}}{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=623}} Bandera later denied in conversations with the CIA that he had been involved in the formation of these organisations or any collaboration with Germany after his release.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=288}} In February 1945, at a conference of the OUN-B in Vienna, Bandera was made the leader of the Foreign Units of the OUN (ZCh OUN).{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=288}} It was there that he openly criticised for the first time the changes that had taken place in the OUN-B in Ukraine.{{Sfn|Motyka|2006|p=623}} With the Red Army approaching, Bandera left Vienna and travelled to Innsbruck via Prague.{{Sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=288}}

=== Postwar activity ===
[[File:Dom w którym mieszkał Stepan Bandera. Kreittmayrstraße 7 Monachium.jpg|thumb|right|Kreittmayrstraße 7 in [[Munich]], where Bandera lived at the time of his assassination]]
After the war, Bandera and his family moved several times around [[West Germany]], staying close to and in [[Munich]], where Bandera organised the ZCh OUN centre. He used false identification documents that helped him to conceal his past relationship with the Nazis.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=318–319}} On 16 April 1946, the [[Yaroslav Stetsko]]-led [[Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations]] was founded, with which Bandera also collaborated.{{sfn|Motyka|2006|p=624}} The ZCh OUN quickly became the largest organisation in the approximately 110,000-strong Ukrainian diaspora in Germany, with 5,000 members.{{sfn|Motyka|2006|p=623-624}} Part of the organisation was the SB security service, headed by Myron Matviyenko.{{sfn|Motyka|2006|p=624}} The OUN-M was three times smaller. The foreign representation of the UHVR (ZP UHVR), led by [[Mykola Lebed]], operated separately from the ZCh OUN, but many of its members belonged to both organisations.{{sfn|Motyka|2006|p=624}}

As early as 1945, ZCh had established contacts with Western intelligence; from 1948 onwards, it had permanent cooperation with [[British intelligence agencies|British intelligence]], which helped to transfer couriers to Ukraine in return for receiving intelligence data.<ref>{{Cite book|script-title=ru:Степан Бандера: мифы, легенды, действительность |trans-title=Stepan Bandera: myths, legends, reality|first=Ruslan Viktorovych<!--This is the patronymic, not the surname-->|last=Chastiy|language=ru|date=2007|publisher=Folio|isbn=978-9660336568|location=Kharkiv|pages=382|oclc=83597856}}</ref>{{sfn|Motyka|2006|p=625}} ZP UHVR, collaborated with the US intelligence.{{sfn|Motyka|2006|p=624}} A September 1945 report by the US [[Office of Strategic Services]] said that Bandera had "earned a fierce reputation for conducting a 'reign of terror' during World War II".<ref>{{cite book |author=Kevin C. Ruffner |title=Fifty Years of the CIA |publisher=[[CIA]] declassified records |year=1998 |chapter=Cold War Allies: CIA's Relations w Ukrainian Nationalists |chapter-url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/STUDIES%20IN%20INTELLIGENCE%20NAZI%20-%20RELATED%20ARTICLES_0015.pdf}}</ref>{{rp|27}} Bandera was protected by the US-backed [[Gehlen Organization]] but he also received help from underground organizations of former Nazis who helped Bandera to cross borders between [[Allied-occupied Germany|Allied occupation zones]].{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=322}}

In 1946, agents of the US Army intelligence agency [[Counterintelligence Corps]] (CIC) and NKVD entered into extradition negotiations based on the wartime intra-Allied cooperation agreement made at the [[Yalta Conference]]. The CIC wanted [[Frederick Wilhelm Kaltenbach]], who would turn out to be deceased, and in return, the Soviet Union proposed Bandera. Bandera and many Ukrainian nationalists had ended up in the American zone after the war. The Soviet Union regarded all Ukrainians as Soviet citizens and demanded their repatriation under the intra-Allied agreement. The US thought Bandera was too valuable to give up due to his knowledge of the Soviet Union, so the US started blocking his extradition under an operation called "Anyface". From the perspective of the US, the Soviet Union and Poland were issuing extradition attempts of these Ukrainians to prevent the US from getting sources of intelligence, so this became one of the factors in the breakdown of the cooperation agreement.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Boghardt |first=Thomas |title=Covert Legions: U.S. Army Intelligence in Germany, 1944-1949 |publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History |year=2022 |location=Washington D.C | url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/045/45-5/index.html| archive-url=https://archive.today/20240223205840/https://history.army.mil/html/books/045/45-5/index.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=23 February 2024| pages=229–234}}</ref> However, the CIC still considered Bandera untrustworthy and were concerned about the effect of his activities on Soviet-American relations, and in mid-1947 conducted an extensive and aggressive search to locate him.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=80}} It failed, having described their quarry as "extremely dangerous" and "constantly en route, frequently in disguise".<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=79}} Some American intelligence reported that he even was guarded by former SS men.{{sfn|Rudling|2006|p=173}}

The Bavarian state government initiated a crackdown on Bandera's organisation for crimes such as counterfeiting and kidnapping. [[Gerhard von Mende]], a West German government official, provided protection to Bandera, who in turn provided him with political reports, which were relayed to the West German Foreign Office. Bandera reached an agreement with the [[Bundesnachrichtendienst|BND]], offering them his service, despite the CIA warning the West Germans against cooperating with him.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=83–84}}

Following the war, Bandera also visited Ukrainian communities in Canada, Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the UK, and Holland.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=336}} Bandera remained in contact with [[Dmytro Dontsov]] throughout the 1950s, visiting him in Canada and offering him the role of editor in his organization's newspaper which Dontsov declined.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Erlacher |first=Trevor |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2d8qwsn |title=Ukrainian Nationalism in the Age of Extremes: An Intellectual Biography of Dmytro Dontsov |date=2021 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-25093-2 |pages=418–419}}</ref>

== Death ==
[[File:Grabstein nach dem Farbanschlag und Reinigung (2022).jpg|thumb|Bandera's grave in Munich, July 2022]]
The [[MGB (USSR)|MGB]], and from 1954, the [[KGB|Soviet KGB]], had attempted to kidnap or assassinate Bandera multiple times.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=347}} On 15 October 1959, Bandera was returning to his apartment at Kreittmayrstrasse 7 in [[Munich]], where he collapsed and died shortly thereafter. A medical examination established that the cause of his death was poisoning by [[cyanide]] gas.<ref name=TIME>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892820,00.html |title=The Partisan |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=2 November 1959 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080612223221/https://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,892820,00.html |archive-date=12 June 2008| volume=74| issue=18}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Roszkowski |first1=Wojciech |last2=Kofman |first2=Jan |title=Biographical Dictionary of Central and Eastern Europe in the Twentieth Century |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-1-317-47594-1 |page=57 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HGlDAAAQBAJ |language=en}}</ref> On 20 October 1959, Bandera was buried in the [[Munich Waldfriedhof|Waldfriedhof]] ({{lit.|woodland cemetery}}) in Munich.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=407–408}} His wife and three children moved to [[Toronto]], Canada.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=339}}

Two years after his death, on 17 November 1961, the German judicial bodies announced that Bandera's murderer had been a KGB agent named [[Bohdan Stashynsky]] who used a cyanide dust spraying gun to murder Bandera acting on the orders of Soviet [[KGB]] head [[Alexander Shelepin]] and Soviet premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]].<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938806,00.html| title=The Poison Pistol| date=1 December 1961 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080606005426/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938806,00.html|archive-date=6 June 2008| volume=78| issue=22}}</ref> After a detailed investigation against Stashynsky, who by then had defected from the KGB and confessed the killing, a trial took place from 8 to 15 October 1962. Stashynsky was convicted, and on 19 October, he was sentenced to eight years in prison; he was released after four years.

Stashynsky had earlier assassinated Bandera's associate [[Lev Rebet]] by similar means.<ref>Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin. ''The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB'' Basic Books, 1999. {{ISBN|978-0-465-00312-9}} p. 362</ref>

==Family==
Bandera's brothers, Oleksandr and Vasyl, were arrested by the Germans and sent to [[Auschwitz]] concentration camp, where they were allegedly killed by Polish inmates in 1942.<ref>{{cite book| author=Devin O. Pendas| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BUKGSlqKUkMC&pg=PA190| title= The Frankfurt Auschwitz trial, 1963–1965: genocide, history, and the limits of the law| publisher=Cambridge University Press| year=2006| page=190| isbn=9780521844062 }}</ref>{{Verify source|date=October 2022|reason=Page 190 appears to implicate only a single polish inmate, cannot access previous page}}

His father Andriy was arrested by the Soviets in late May 1941 for harbouring an OUN member and transferred to [[Kyiv]]. On 8 July, he was sentenced to death and executed on the 10th. His sisters, Oksana and Marta–Maria, were arrested by the [[NKVD]] in 1941 and sent to a [[gulag]] in Siberia. Both were released in 1960 without the right to return to Ukraine. Marta–Maria died in [[Siberia]] in 1982, and Oksana returned to Ukraine in 1989, where she died in 2004. Another sister, Volodymyra, was sentenced to a term in Soviet labour camps from 1946 to 1956. She returned to Ukraine in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gk-press.if.ua/node/512|script-title=uk:Бандерштадт: місто Бандер|trans-title=Banderstadt: the city of Bander|date=22 January 2009|website=Gk-press.if.ua|access-date=18 August 2018|archive-date=5 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111105165638/http://www.gk-press.if.ua/node/512|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Views==
{{Fascism sidebar|expanded=politicians}}
[[File:Націоналізм (Книга).jpg|thumb|[[Dmytro Dontsov]]'s book ''Nationalism'' (Ukrainian: ''Націоналізм'') was published in 1926.]] 
According to historian [[Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe]], "Bandera's worldview was shaped by numerous far-right values and concepts including [[ultranationalism]], [[fascism]], [[racism]], and [[antisemitism]]; by fascination with violence; by the belief that only war could establish a Ukrainian state; and by hostility to [[democracy]], [[communism]], and [[socialism]]. Like other young Ukrainian nationalists, he combined extremism with religion and used religion to sacralize politics and violence."{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=115}} Historian [[Timothy Snyder]] described Bandera as a fascist who "aimed to make of Ukraine a one-party fascist dictatorship without national minorities".<ref name="snyder_2010" />{{#tag:ref|"The incoming Ukrainian president will have to turn some attention to history, because the outgoing one has just made a hero of a long-dead Ukrainian fascist. By conferring the highest state honour of 'Hero of Ukraine' upon Stepan Bandera&nbsp;... Bandera aimed to make of Ukraine a one-party fascist dictatorship without national minorities. During World War II, his followers killed many Poles and Jews."<ref name="snyder_2010" />|group=nb}} Historian [[John-Paul Himka]] writes that Bandera remained true to the fascist ideology to the end.<ref name=":5" /> Ukrainian historian [[Andrii Portnov]] writes that Bandera remained a proponent of authoritarian and violent politics until his death.<ref name="Portnov">{{Cite journal |last=Portnov |first=Andrii |author-link=Andrii Portnov |date=2016 |title=Bandera mythologies and their traps for Ukraine |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/odr/bandera-mythologies-and-their-traps-for-ukraine/ |journal=[[openDemocracy]] |quote=Until his death in 1959, Bandera remained a supporter of authoritarian and violent politics.}}</ref>

Historian [[Per Anders Rudling]] said that Bandera and his followers "advocated the selective breeding to create a 'pure' Ukrainian race",<ref name="faiola_2014" /> and that "the OUN shared the fascist attributes of [[anti-liberalism]], anti-conservatism, and [[anti-communism]], an armed party, [[totalitarianism]], antisemitism, {{lang|de|[[Führerprinzip]]}}, and adoption of fascist greetings. Its leaders eagerly emphasized to Hitler and [[Ribbentrop]] that they shared the Nazi {{lang|de|[[Worldview|Weltanschauung]]}} and a commitment to a fascist New Europe."{{sfn|Rudling|2011|p=3}}

Historian [[David R. Marples]] described Bandera's views as "not untypical of his generation" but as holding "an extreme political stance that rejected any form of cooperation with the rulers of Ukrainian territories: the Poles and the Soviet authorities". Marples also described Bandera as "neither an orator nor a theoretician", and wrote that he had minimal importance as a thinker.{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=565}} Marples considered Rossolinski-Liebe to place too much importance on Bandera's views, writing that Rossolinski-Liebe struggled to find anything of note written by Bandera, and had assumed he was influenced by "publicists of the time" like [[Dmytro Dontsov]] and OUN journals.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Marples |first=David R |date=19 November 2020 |title=Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist: Fascism, Genocide, and Cult Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe |url=https://academic.oup.com/hgs/article/34/2/317/5992043 |journal=Holocaust and Genocide Studies |language=en |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=317–319 |doi=10.1093/hgs/dcaa035 |issn=8756-6583|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Historian [[Taras Hunczak]] argues that Bandera's central article of faith was Ukrainian statehood, and any other goal was secondary to this view. Through an analysis of OUN documents, Hunczak demonstrates the consistently expressed goal of an independent Ukrainian state through the whole history, while the OUN's stance towards the German Nazi government was changing, shifting from initial support towards rejection, as OUN leaders became disillusioned seeing Nazi Germany's rejection of Ukrainian independence. The OUN memorandum from 23 June 1941 notes that "German troops entering Ukraine will be, of course, greeted at first as liberators, but this attitude can soon change, in case Germany comes into Ukraine without appropriate promises of [its] goal to reestablish the Ukrainian state." The OUN memorandum from 14 August declares the OUN wish "to work together with Germany not from opportunism, but from a realization of the need of such cooperation for the well-being of Ukraine". Hunczak observes OUN leaders', including Bandera, attitude change after 15 September 1942, following [[Gestapo]]'s killing of an [[:uk:Мирон-Орлик Дмитро|OUN member]], prompting the OUN to use the rhetoric of "German occupier" in reference to Nazi regime.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hunczak |first=Taras |date=2001 |title=Problems of Historiography: History and Its Sources |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41036827 |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |volume=25 |issue=1/2 |pages=129–142 |issn=0363-5570 |jstor=41036827 |quote=If the authors had examined carefully the documents available in the West, particularly in Germany, they would have discovered whether we are talking about the Andrii Mel'nyk faction of the OUN or Stepan Bandera faction, the crucial issue for both was reestablishing an inpendent Ukrainian state. Other issues were subordinated to this objective.The position of both factions of the OUN is well documented in various official papers, including those sent by the OUN leadership to the}}</ref>

[[Political science|Political scientist]] [[Andreas Umland]] described Bandera as a "Ukrainian ultranationalist", noting he was not a "Nazi" and commenting that Ukrainian nationalism was "not a copy of Nazism".<ref name="DW.COM" /> Political scientist Luboš Veselý criticises Rossoliński-Liebe's book on Bandera as intentionally painting him and all Ukrainian nationalists negatively. Per Veselý, Rossoliński-Liebe "considers nationalism in general to be closely related to fascism" and fails to put Ukrainian nationalism, as well as antisemitism and fascist movements, in the context of their rise in other European countries at the time. The book does not mention arguments of other renowned Ukrainian historians, such as [[:uk:Касьянов Георгій Володимирович|Heorhii Kasianov]]. Veselý says that "Bandera was against closer cooperation with the Nazis and he insisted that the Ukrainian national movement should not be dependent on anyone", thus opposing Rossoliński-Liebe's conclusion that Ukrainian nationalists needed the protection of Nazi Germany and therefore collaborated with them. Veselý concludes that all of this makes Rossoliński-Liebe's assessment of Bandera as a "condemnable symbol of Ukrainian fascism, antisemitism, terrorism and an inspiration for anti-Jewish pogroms and even genocide" "an abusive oversimplification, uprooting events and people from the context of the era or using harsh, unfounded and emotional judgments."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Veselý |first=Luboš |date=2016 |title=An indictment rather than a biography |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=459570 |journal=New Eastern Europe |volume=5 |language=English |issue=23 |pages=140–146 |issn=2083-7372}}</ref>

Ukrainian historian {{ill|Oleksandr Zaitsev|uk|Зайцев_Олександр_Юрійович}} notes that Rossolinski-Liebe's approach ignores "the fundamental differences between ultra-nationalist movements of nations with and without a state". Zaitsev highlights that the OUN did not identify itself with fascism, but "officially objected to this identification". Zaitsev suggests that it would be more correct to see the OUN and Bandera as the revolutionary ultranationalist movements of stateless nations, which were aiming not on "the reorganization of the existing state according to totalitarian principles, but to create a new state, using all available means, including terror, to this end." According to Zaitsev, Rossolinski-Liebe omits some facts, which do not fit into his "a priori scheme of 'fascism', 'racism' and 'genocidal nationalism'", and denies "the presence of liberatory and democratic elements" in Bandera movement. On these grounds, mainly on the goal of the OUN and Bandera to create an independent state, Zaitsev terms Bandera's movement not as fascism, but as ''ustasism'' after the Croatian far-right [[Ustashe]] movement, which he finds similar to the OUN. According to Zaitsev, ''ustasism'' is [[Proto-fascism|proto-fascist]] in its core and "becomes transformed into a 'full-fledged' fascism" when the main goal of creating a state is achieved.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Зайцев |first=Олександр |date=2016-01-01 |title=Zaitsev O. [Book review] Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe, Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist. Fascism, Genocide, and Cult/ Oleksandr Zaitsev // European History Quarterly. - 2016. - Vol. 46. - Issue 1. - P. 174-176. |url=https://www.academia.edu/33538288 |journal=European History Quarterly}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|page=125|title=Ukrainian Nationalism: Politics, Ideology, and Literature, 1929-1956|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2015|isbn=9780300210743|author1=Myroslav Shkandrij}}</ref>

Historian Dr Raul Cârstocea, too, finds Rossoliński-Liebe's association of Bandera with fascism problematic, for one of the reasons Rossoliński-Liebe's used definition of fascism being too wide.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Carstocea |first1=Raul |last2=Rossoliński-Liebe |first2=Grzegorz |title=Raul Cârstocea, Book Review: Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe, Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist. Fascism, Genocide, and Cult. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2014, in: Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe Vol 15, No 1 (2016): 117-127. |url=https://www.academia.edu/24851276 |journal=Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe}}</ref>

===Views towards Poles===
Marples says that Bandera "regarded Russia as the principal enemy of Ukraine, and showed little tolerance for the other two groups inhabiting Ukrainian ethnic territories, Poles and Jews".{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=565}} In late 1942, when Bandera was in a German concentration camp, his organisation, the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]], was involved in a [[Massacres of Poles in Volhynia|massacre of Poles in Volhynia]]. In early 1944, ethnic cleansing also spread to Eastern Galicia. It is estimated that more than 35,000 and up to 60,000 Poles, mostly women and children, along with unarmed men, were killed during the spring and summer campaign of 1943 in Volhynia, and up to 133,000 in other regions, such as Eastern Galicia, are included.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Snyder |first=Timothy |date=1999 |title='To Resolve the Ukrainian Problem Once and for All': The Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians in Poland, 1943–1947 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26925017 |journal=Journal of Cold War Studies |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=86–120 |doi=10.1162/15203979952559531 |jstor=26925017 |s2cid=57564179 |issn=1520-3972|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji "Wisła", 2011, pages 447–448</ref><ref>Grzegorz Motyka, ''Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji "Wisła'', Kraków 2011, {{ISBN|978-83-08-04576-3}}, s.447, Ewa Siemaszko estimates victims to be 133,000 in ''Stan badań nad ludobójstwem dokonanym na ludności polskiej przez Organizację Ukraińskich Nacjonalistów i Ukraińską Powstańczą Armię'', Bogusław Paź (ed.), ''Ludobójstwo na Kresach południowo-wschodniej Polski w latach 1939–1946'', Wrocław 2011, {{ISBN|978-83-229-3185-1}}, s.341.</ref>

Though not directly responsible for the 1943 and 1944 massacres since he was being held in [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp]] and not in control of the OUN-B at the time, Rossoliński-Liebe wrote that as head of OUN propaganda from 1931 to 1934 and de facto leader of the OUN-B from 1940 to 1941, Bandera had promulgated and propagandised violence towards Poles and other "ethnic and political enemies", in pursuit of an ethnically homogenous Ukrainian state, and Bandera never condemned the massacres in the post-war years.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rossoliński-Liebe |first=Grzegorz |date=2023-01-01 |title=Bandera, Genocide, and Justice: Was Stepan Bandera Responsible for Crimes Committed by the OUN and the UPA? |url=https://www.academia.edu/103568254/Bandera_Genocide_and_Justice_Was_Stepan_Bandera_Responsible_for_Crimes_Committed_by_the_OUN_and_the_UPA |journal=Yad Vashem Studies}}</ref> According to [[Yaroslav Hrytsak]], Bandera was not completely aware of events in Ukraine during his internment from the summer of 1941 and had serious differences of opinion with [[Mykola Lebed]], the OUN-B leader who remained in Ukraine and who was one of the chief architects of the massacres of Poles.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bGPjqNGPc40C&q=Mykola+Lebed+Volhynia&pg=PA24|title=Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine|first=David R.|last=Marples|date=1 January 2007|publisher=Central European University Press|access-date=18 August 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9789637326981}}</ref><ref>{{cite interview| url=http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/1,136498,15363017,Romantyczny_terrorysta.html| title=Bandera – romantyczny terrorysta| work=Gazeta Wyborcza| first=Jaroslaw| last=Hrycak| date=10 May 2008| interviewer=Marcin Wojciechowski| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407073743/http://wyborcza.pl/magazyn/1,136498,15363017,Romantyczny_terrorysta.html| archive-date=7 April 2014| access-date=1 April 2014| url-status=live}}</ref>

===Views towards Jews===
According to Rossolinski-Liebe, Bandera developed antisemitic views in the interwar years, influenced by antisemitism present among Ukrainian nationalists at that time, and Marples described Bandera as showing "little tolerance" for Jews.{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=107}}{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=565}} Speaking about Bandera and his men, political scientist [[Alexander J. Motyl|Alexander John Motyl]] told ''[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]]'' that antisemitism was not a core part of Ukrainian nationalism in the way it was for Nazism, and the Soviet Union and Poland were considered to be the primary enemies of the OUN. According to him, the attitude of the Ukrainian nationalists towards Jews depended on political circumstances, and they considered Jews to be a "problem" because they were "implicated, or believed to be implicated" in aiding the Soviets in taking Ukrainian territory, as well as not being Ukrainian.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Batya Ungar-Sargon |date=7 March 2014 |title=Who is Stepan Bandera: The Man Whose Political Legacy Looms Over Ukraine Revolution |url=https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/why-are-jews-so-afraid-of-stepan-bandera |access-date=17 September 2022 |website=[[Tablet (magazine)|Tablet]] |quote=So while Bandera and his men were responsible for killing Jews, their ideology wasn't fundamentally anti-Semitic; rather, it was pro-Ukrainian, and anti-everyone who appeared to be in the way of that, which included the pro-Soviet Jews. 'For the Nazis, anti-Semitism was an unconditional core belief, and Nazi anti-Semitism was an all-or-nothing proposition that was both immutable and immune to circumstances,' explained Alexander John Motyl, a professor of political science at Rutgers, in an email. 'For the Ukrainian nationalists, their attitude toward Jews depended on political circumstances.' The primary enemy of the OUN was Poland and then the Soviet Union—or, rather, Poles and Russians. Jews were a 'problem' because they weren't Ukrainian, and because they were implicated, or believed to be implicated, in helping the Soviets take over Ukrainian territory.}}</ref> [[Norman Goda]] wrote that "Historian [[Karel C. Berkhoff|Karel Berkhoff]], among others, has shown that Bandera, his deputies, and the Nazis shared [[Jewish Bolshevism|a key obsession]], namely the notion that the Jews in Ukraine were behind Communism and Stalinist imperialism and must be destroyed."<ref name="goda_hnn" />

On 10 August 1940, Bandera wrote a letter to [[Andriy Melnyk (Ukrainian military leader)|Andriy Melnyk]] saying that he would accept Melnyk's leadership of the OUN, provided he expelled "traitors" in the leadership. One of these was Mykola Stsibors'kyi, whom Bandera accused of an absence of "morality and ethics in family life" due to having married a Jewish woman, and especially, a "suspicious" Russian Jewish woman.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carynnyk |first=Marco |date=May 2011 |title=Foes of our rebirth: Ukrainian nationalist discussions about Jews, 1929-1947 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233467822 |journal=[[Nationalities Papers]] |language=en |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=327 |doi=10.1080/00905992.2011.570327 |issn=0090-5992 |s2cid=159894460}}</ref>

Portnov argues that "Bandera did not participate personally in the underground war conducted by the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] (UPA), which included the organised ethnic cleansing of the Polish population of Volhynia in north-western Ukraine and killings of the Jews, but he also never condemned them."<ref name="Portnov" /> Similarly, Rossolinski-Liebe and Umland both observe that Bandera personally had no part in the murders of Jews. Rossolinski-Liebe said "he had found no evidence that Bandera supported or condemned 'ethnic cleansing' or killing Jews and other minorities. It was, however, important that people from OUN and UPA 'identified with him.{{'"}}<ref name="DW.COM">{{Cite news |last=Goncharenko |first=Roman |date=22 May 2022 |title=Stepan Bandera: Ukrainian hero or Nazi collaborator? |url=https://www.dw.com/en/stepan-bandera-ukrainian-hero-or-nazi-collaborator/a-61842720 |access-date= |work=[[Deutsche Welle]]}}</ref> However, Bandera was aware of at least some of his followers' anti-Jewish violence: In June 1941, [[Yaroslav Stetsko]] sent Bandera a report in which he stated "We are creating a militia which will help to remove the Jews and protect the population."<ref>Bruder, Franziska (June 2008). "Radicalization of the Ukrainian Nationalist Policy in the context of the Holocaust". [[Yad Vashem]], No. 12, p. 37. {{ISSN|1565-8643}}</ref><ref name="Berkhoff Carynnyk 1999 pp. 149–184">{{cite journal |last1=Berkhoff |first1=Karel C. |last2=Carynnyk |first2=Marco |year=1999 |title=The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Its Attitude toward Germans and Jews: Iaroslav Stets'Ko's 1941 Zhyttiepys |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/41036794 |journal=[[Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute|Harvard Ukrainian Studies]] |publisher=[President and Fellows of Harvard College, Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute] |volume=23 |issue=3/4 |pages=149–184 |issn=0363-5570 |jstor=41036794 |access-date=5 January 2024}}, p.154</ref>

According to Rossoliński-Liebe, "After the Second World War and the Holocaust, both Bandera and his admirers were embarrassed by the vehement antisemitic component of their interwar political views and denied it systematically."{{sfn|Rossoliński-Liebe|2014|p=107}}

==Legacy==
[[File:Stamp of Ukraine Stepan Bandera 100 years.jpg|thumb|Ukrainian postal stamp commemorating the centennial of Bandera's birth]]
[[File:Смолоскипний марш у Києві (6).jpg|thumb|Ukrainian nationalists marching through Kyiv, holding a banner with Bandera's portrait, as well as the flags of the [[Right Sector]] and [[Svoboda (political party)|Svoboda]]]]
In his 2006 article discussing "the reinterpretations of [Bandera's] career", historian [[David R. Marples]], who specialises in the history of this area of Eastern Europe, stated that "the impact of Bandera lies less in his own political life and beliefs than in the events enacted in his name, or the conflicts that arose between his supporters and their enemies."{{sfn|Marples|2006|p=556}} According to ''[[The Guardian]]'', "Post-war Soviet history propagated the image of Bandera and the UPA as exclusively fascist collaborators and xenophobes."<ref name="Hyde 2015">{{cite web |last=Hyde |first=Lily |date=20 April 2015 |title=Ukraine to rewrite Soviet history with controversial 'decommunisation' laws |url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/ukraine-decommunisation-law-soviet |access-date=8 June 2022 |website=the Guardian}}</ref> On the other hand, with the rise of nationalism in Ukraine, his memory there has been elevated. The glorification and attempts to rehabilitate Bandera are growing trends in Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Vock |first=Ido |date=5 January 2023 |title=Ukraine's problematic nationalist heroes |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2023/01/ukraine-stepan-bandera-nationalist |access-date=10 January 2023 |website=New Statesman |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Commemoration===
{{main|Commemoration of Stepan Bandera}}

Neither Bandera nor OUN have been used as national symbols by the current Ukrainian government. Ukrainian president Zelensky has not presented Bandera or his associates as national heroes. Nevertheless, the memory of Bandera can be found in Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Rossoliński-Liebe |first1=Grzegorz |last2=Willems |first2=Bastiaan |date=2022-01-02 |title=Putin's Abuse of History: Ukrainian 'Nazis', 'Genocide', and a Fake Threat Scenario |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13518046.2022.2058179 |journal=The Journal of Slavic Military Studies |language=en |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–10 |doi=10.1080/13518046.2022.2058179 |issn=1351-8046}}</ref>[[File:Тернопіль - Пам'ятник Степанові Бандері - 17017439.jpg|thumb|Bandera monument in [[Ternopil]]]]
In late 2006, the [[Lviv]] city administration announced the future transference of the tombs of Stepan Bandera, [[Andriy Atanasovych Melnyk|Andriy Melnyk]], [[Yevhen Konovalets]] and other key leaders of [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|OUN]]/[[Ukrainian Insurgent Army|UPA]] to a new area of [[Lychakiv Cemetery]] specifically dedicated to victims of the repressions of the Ukrainian national liberation struggle.<ref>{{cite web |title=Information website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |url=http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1161553853 |access-date=17 March 2010 |website=Khpg.org}}</ref> In October 2007, the city of Lviv erected a statue dedicated to Bandera.<ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/4987/ Events by themes: Monument to Stepan Bandera in Lviv], [[UNIAN]] photo service (13 October 2007)</ref> The appearance of the statue has engendered a far-reaching debate about the role of Stepan Bandera and UPA in Ukrainian history. The two previously erected statues were blown up by unknown perpetrators; the current is guarded by a militia detachment 24/7.{{when|reason=Seems unlikely it's still under armed guard with the war going on|date=October 2022}} On 18 October 2007, the [[Lviv City Council]] adopted a resolution establishing the Award of Stepan Bandera in journalism.<ref>{{cite web |title=Корреспондент " Украина " События " Львов основал журналистскую премию имени Бандеры |url=http://www.korrespondent.net/main/212672/ |access-date=17 March 2010 |publisher=Korrespondent.net |language=Ukrainian}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Розпорядження №495 |url=http://www8.city-adm.lviv.ua/Pool%5CInfo%5Cdoclmr_1.NSF/(SearchForWeb)/C80E4FAD6E57B422C22573760056D927?OpenDocument |access-date=17 March 2010 |website=City-adm.lviv.ua |language=Ukrainian}}</ref>

On 1 January 2009, his 100th birthday was celebrated in several Ukrainian centres<ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/10861 "Events by themes: Celebration of 100 birth anniversary of Stepan Bandera in Zaporozhye"] ([[Zaporozhye]]), [[UNIAN]] photo service (1 January 2009)</ref><ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/10860 "Events by themes: Mass meeting, devoted to 100 birth anniversary of Stepan Bandera, in Stariy Ugriniv village"], [[UNIAN]] photo service (1 January 2009)</ref><ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/10859 "Events by themes: Monument to Stepan Bandera and memorial complex the heroes of UPA were opened in Ivano-Frankivsk"] ([[Ivano-Frankivsk]]), [[UNIAN]] photo service (1 January 2009)</ref><ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/10858 "Events by themes: Kharkiv nationalists were disallowed to arrange a torchlight procession in honor of Bandera's birthday"] ([[Kharkiv]]), [[UNIAN]] photo service (1 January 2009)</ref><ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/5981 "Events by themes: Action 'Stepan Bandera is a national hero{{'"}}] ([[Kyiv]]), [[UNIAN]] photo service (1 January 2009)</ref> and a postage stamp with his portrait was issued the same day.<ref>[http://www.ukrainian-philately.info/htmls/stmp2009/stmp0927.html "2009 Philatelic Issues – Stefan Bandera (1909–1959)"] ''The Ukrainian Electronic Stamp Album''</ref> On 1 January 2014, Bandera's 105th birthday was celebrated by a torchlight procession of 15,000 people in the centre of [[Kyiv]] and thousands more rallied near his statue in Lviv.<ref>{{cite web |title=15,000 nationalists march in Kiev |url=http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/regional_news/europe/nationalists-march-in-ukraine-s-kiev/article_c2c05de8-c3ab-5fdd-a475-d01beb7f5448.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140102201229/http://www.appeal-democrat.com/news/regional_news/europe/nationalists-march-in-ukraine-s-kiev/article_c2c05de8-c3ab-5fdd-a475-d01beb7f5448.html |archive-date=2 January 2014 |access-date=2 January 2014 |language=en}}</ref><ref>[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/184697.html "Torchlight procession to honor Bandera taking place in Kyiv"], [[Interfax-Ukraine]] (1 January 2014)</ref><ref>[http://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/184696.html "Lviv hosts rally to mark 105th anniversary of Ukrainian nationalist leader Bandera"], [[Interfax-Ukraine]] (1 January 2014)</ref> The march was supported by the far-right [[Svoboda (political party)|Svoboda]] party and some members of the center-right [[Batkivshchyna]].<ref>{{cite web |date=3 January 2014 |title=MP: Euromaidan exposed to neo-Nazi trends |url=http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/mp-euromaidan-exposed-to-neo-nazi-trends-334612.html |access-date= |website=[[Kyiv Post]]}}</ref> In 2018, the Ukrainian Parliament voted to include Bandera's 110th birthday, on 1 January 2019, in a list of memorable dates and anniversaries to be celebrated that year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Про відзначення пам'ятних дат і ювілеїв у 2019 році |url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/go/2654-19 |access-date=3 January 2023 |website=Офіційний вебпортал парламенту України |language=uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=18 December 2018 |title=Верховна Рада затвердила календар пам'ятних дат та ювілеїв в Україні у 2019 році - Новинарня |url=https://novynarnia.com/2018/12/18/verhovna-rada-zatverdila-kalendar-pam-yatnih-dat-ta-yuvileyiv-v-ukrayini-u-2019-rotsi/ |access-date=3 January 2023 |website=novynarnia.com |language=uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Liphshiz |first=Cnaan |date=27 December 2018 |title=Ukraine Designates National Holiday to Commemorate Nazi Collaborator |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2018-12-27/ty-article/ukraine-designates-national-holiday-to-commemorate-nazi-collaborator/0000017f-f310-d223-a97f-ffdd21e50000 |website=[[Haaretz]]}}</ref> The decision was criticized by the Jewish organization [[Simon Wiesenthal Center]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 December 2018 |title=Wiesenthal Center Harshly Criticizes Decision By Ukrainian Parliament To Designate Birthday Of Nazi Collaborator Bandera As National Holiday |url=https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/wiesenthal-center-harshly-4.html |website=wiesenthal.com}}</ref>

There are Stepan Bandera museums in [[Dubliany]], [[Volia-Zaderevatska]], [[Staryi Uhryniv]], and [[Yahilnytsia]]. There is a Stepan Bandera Museum of Liberation Struggle in [[London]], part of the [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists|OUN]] Archive,<ref>{{cite web |script-title=uk:Музей Визвольної боротьби ім. Степана Бандери в Лондоні |trans-title=Museum of Liberation Struggle named after Stepan Bandera in London |url=http://ounuis.info/museum.html |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Ounuis.info}}</ref> and The Bandera Family Museum ({{lang|uk|Музей родини Бандерів}}) in [[Stryi]].<ref>{{cite web |last=karpaty.info |title=Banderas' Family Museum – Stryj |url=http://www.karpaty.info/en/uk/lv/st/stryj/museums/banderiv/ |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Karpaty.info}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |script-title=uk:Відкрито музей родини Бандерів (оновлено фото)<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://www.stryi.com.ua/news/1218-vidkryto-muzei-bandery |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180811101802/http://www.stryi.com.ua/news/1218-vidkryto-muzei-bandery |archive-date=11 August 2018 |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Stryi.com.ua}}</ref> There are also Stepan Bandera streets in [[Stepan Bandera Street (Lviv)|Lviv]] (formerly vulytsia Myru, "Peace street"), [[Lutsk]] (formerly Suvorovska street), [[Rivne]] (formerly Moskovska street), [[Kolomyia]], [[Ivano-Frankivsk]], [[Chervonohrad]] (formerly Nad Buhom street),<ref>{{cite web |title=Карта М.Червонограда (Вулиці) – 14 Червня 2009 – БЛоГ Червонограда l Гумор l Відео l – Червоноград |url=http://4ervonograd.at.ua/blog/2009-06-14-9 |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=4ervonograd.at.ua}}</ref> [[Berezhany]] (formerly Cherniakhovskoho street), [[Drohobych]] (formerly Sliusarska street), [[Stryi]], [[Kalush, Ukraine|Kalush]], [[Kovel]], [[Volodymyr-Volynskyi]], [[Horodenka]], [[Dubrovytsia]], [[Kolomyia]], [[Dolyna]], [[Iziaslav, Ukraine|Iziaslav]], [[Skole]], [[Shepetivka]], [[Brovary]], and [[Boryspil]], and a Stepan Bandera Avenue in [[Ternopil]] (part of the former Lenin Avenue).<ref>{{cite web |date=12 March 2010 |title=Воздухофлотский проспект могут переименовать в честь Бандеры |trans-title=Povitroflotsky Prospekt may be renamed in honor of Bandera |url=http://kiyany.obozrevatel.com/news/2010/3/12/60492.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416003745/http://kiyany.obozrevatel.com/news/2010/3/12/60492.htm |archive-date=16 April 2016 |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Kiyany.obozrevatel.com}}</ref> On 16 January 2017, the [[Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance]] stated that of the 51,493 streets, squares and "other facilities" that had been renamed (since 2015) due to [[Decommunization in Ukraine|decommunization]] 34 streets were named after Stepan Bandera.<ref name="UINRnSBs16117">{{in lang|uk}} [http://pda.pravda.com.ua/news/id_7132563 "Декомунізували 1320 пам'ятників Леніну, Бандері поставили 4"] [1,320 Lenin monuments decommunized, 4 erected to Bandera], ''[[Ukrayinska Pravda]]'' (16 January 2017)<br />{{in lang|uk}} [http://www.memory.gov.ua/news/z-50-tisyach-pereimenovanikh-obektiv-toponimiki-lishe-34-buli-nazvani-na-chest-banderi "With 50 Thousand renamed Objets Place Names, Only 34 Are Named After Bandera"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019054457/http://www.memory.gov.ua/news/z-50-tisyach-pereimenovanikh-obektiv-toponimiki-lishe-34-buli-nazvani-na-chest-banderi|date=19 October 2017}}, [[Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance]] (16 January 2017)</ref> Due to "association with the communist totalitarian regime", the [[Kyiv City Council]] on 7 July 2016 voted 87 to 10 in favor of supporting renaming Moscow Avenue to [[Stepan Bandera Avenue]].<ref>{{cite web |date=7 July 2016 |script-title=uk:Московський проспект носитиме ім'я Степана Бандери – Київська Міська Рада |trans-title=Moscow Avenue will bear the name of Stepan Bandera – Kyiv City Council |url=http://kmr.gov.ua/uk/content/moskovskyy-prospekt-nosytyme-imya-stepana-bandery |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Kmr.gov.ua}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Kyiv's Moskovskiy Avenue renamed after Stepan Bandera |url=http://www.unian.info/kiev/1405475-kyivs-moskovskiy-avenue-renamed-after-stepan-bandera.html |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Unian.info}}</ref>

In [[Dnipro]], the local Jewish community opposed renaming a street after Bandera, but after the start of the 2022 [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]], they changed their stance and the street was renamed in September 2022;<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kuzio |first=Taras |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Fascism_and_Genocide/IpBtzwEACAAJ?hl=en |title=Fascism and Genocide: Russia's War Against Ukrainians |last2=Jajecznyk-Kelman |first2=Stefan |date=2023 |publisher=COLUMBIA University Press |isbn=978-3-8382-1791-8 |pages=226 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author= |date=21 September 2022 |title=In the center of Dnipro, the street of Stepan Bandera appeared - the mayor |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/09/21/7368431/ |access-date=18 October 2022 |website=[[Ukrayinska Pravda]] |language=Ukrainian}}</ref> this street had originally been the Gymnasium Street until it was renamed to [[Otto Schmidt]] Street by Soviet authorities in 1934.<ref>{{cite web |author=L.M. Markova |date= |title=About the renaming of streets in the city of Katerynoslava - Dnipropetrovsk in the 1920s and 1930s |url=https://gorod.dp.ua/history/article_ua.php?article=98 |access-date=16 October 2022 |website=gorod.dp.ua |language=Ukrainian}}</ref> In December 2022 after [[2022 Kharkiv counteroffensive|its recapture in a counteroffensive]], the city of [[Izium]] decided to rename [[Pushkin]] Street to Stepana Bandera Street.<ref>{{cite web |author= |date=3 December 2022 |title=Bandera Street appeared in the liberated Izium |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2022/12/3/7379110/ |access-date=3 December 2022 |website=[[Ukrayinska Pravda]] |language=Ukrainian}}</ref>

After the [[fall of the Soviet Union]], monuments dedicated to Stepan Bandera have been constructed in a number of western Ukrainian cities and villages, including [[Stepan Bandera monument in Lviv|a statue in Lviv]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Leibich |first1=Andre |last2=Myshlovska |first2=Oksana |date=2014 |title=Bandera: memorialization and commemoration |journal=Nationalities Papers |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=750–770 |doi=10.1080/00905992.2014.916666 |s2cid=128407114}}</ref> Bandera was also named an honorary citizen of a number of western Ukrainian cities.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} In late 2018, the [[Lviv Oblast Council]] decided to declare the year of 2019 to be the year of Stepan Bandera, sparking protests by [[Israel]].<ref>{{cite news |date=13 December 2018 |title=Israeli ambassador 'shocked' by Lviv region's decision to declare Year of Bandera |url=https://www.kyivpost.com/ukraine-politics/israeli-ambassador-shocked-by-lviv-regions-decision-to-declare-year-of-bandera.html |work=Kyiv Post}}</ref><ref name="AP NEWS 2018">{{cite web |date=14 December 2018 |title=Israeli ambassador bemoans glorification of Ukrainian leader |url=https://apnews.com/article/54d18b10911a46b0b9b38b129d51a5bd |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=AP NEWS}}</ref> In 2021, the [[Ukrainian Institute of National Memory]] under the authority of the [[Ukrainian Ministry of Culture]], included Bandera, among other Ukrainian nationalist figures, in Virtual Necropolis, a project intended to commemorate historical figures important for Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 January 2021 |title=Nazi collaborators included in Ukrainian memorial project |url=https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/nazi-collaborators-included-in-ukrainian-memorial-project-656253 |website=Jerusalem Post}}</ref> Two feature films have been made about Bandera, ''Assassination: An October Murder in Munich'' (1995) and ''[[The Undefeated (2000 film)|The Undefeated]]'' (2000), both directed by [[Oles Yanchuk]], along with a number of documentary films.{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}

===Hero of Ukraine award ===
[[File:2013. Ночь индустриальной культуры 051.jpg|thumb|The Hero of Ukraine award]]
On 22 January 2010, on the [[Day of Unity of Ukraine]], the then-president of Ukraine [[Viktor Yushchenko]] awarded to Bandera the title of [[Hero of Ukraine]] (posthumously) for "defending national ideas and battling for an independent Ukrainian state".<ref>{{Cite web |title=УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАИНЫ № 46/2010: О присвоении С.Бандере звания Герой Украины |trans-title=Decree of the President of Ukraine No. 46/2010: On the assignment of S. Bandera the title of Hero of Ukraine |url=http://www.president.gov.ua/ru/documents/10353.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100125175510/http://www.president.gov.ua/ru/documents/10353.html |archive-date=25 January 2010 |access-date=22 January 2010 |website=President of Ukraine |language=ru}}</ref><ref name="kyivpost.com">[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/57781/ "Stepan Bandera becomes Ukrainian hero"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (22 January 2010)</ref><ref>[http://www.nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=109625 "President Viktor Yushchenko awarded title Hero of Ukraine to OUN Head Stepan Bandera"]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206131125/http://nrcu.gov.ua/index.php?id=148&listid=109625|date=6 December 2010}}, ''[[Radio Ukraine]]'' (22 January 2010)</ref><ref>[http://photo.unian.net/eng/themes/16236 "Events by themes: {{sic|9|1th|nolink=y}} anniversary of Collegiality of Ukraine"], [[UNIAN]] (22 January 2010)</ref> Interfax-Ukraine reported that a grandson of Bandera, also named Stepan, accepted the award that day from the Ukrainian President during the state ceremony to commemorate the ''Day of Unity of Ukraine'' at the [[National Opera House of Ukraine]].<ref name="kyivpost.com" />

Ukraine's "intellectuals with nationalist leanings" supported the designation, but liberals disapproved it. For them, Bandera "was too controversial", and was not uniting people but dividing them. They were opposing Bandera's radical nationalism and OUN's leadership's xenophobia and antisemitism. The designation let the pro-Russian politicians "to claim that the [[Orange Revolution|Orange camp]] had pro-Nazi sympathies". The move [[Poland–Ukraine relations|alienated the Polish allies]], who are the main supporters of Ukraine joining the EU.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Frontline/x1vqEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=For+one,+argued+the+liberals,+Bandera+was+too+controversial&pg=PT205&printsec=frontcover |title=The Frontline: Essays on Ukraine's Past and Present |date=2023-03-21 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-29453-0 |pages=251 |language=en}}</ref>

The [[European Parliament]] condemned the award, as did Russia, Poland, and Jewish politicians and organizations, such as the [[Simon Wiesenthal Center]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Texts adopted – Thursday, 25 February 2010 – Situation in Ukraine – P7_TA(2010)0035 |url=http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P7-TA-2010-0035+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN |access-date=18 August 2018 |website=Europarl.europa.eu |quote=Deeply deplores the decision by the outgoing President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, posthumously to award Stepan Bandera, a leader of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) which collaborated with Nazi Germany, the title of ‘National Hero of Ukraine', hopes, in this regard, that the new Ukrainian leadership will reconsider such decisions and will maintain its commitment to European values.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Rosenfeld |first=Alvin H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M3ZJMYiNe0UC&q=Resurgent+antisemitism+:+global+perspectives |title=Resurgent Antisemitism: Global Perspectives |date=19 June 2013 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-00890-9 |pages=226 |language=en |quote=In January 2010, former president of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko officially 'rehabilitated' Stepan Bandera, head of one of the two factions of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the political sponsor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. This act drew condemnation from Russia, Poland, and Jewish groups.}}</ref><ref name="wiesenthal_2010">{{cite web |author=[[Simon Wiesenthal Center]] |date=28 January 2010 |title=Wiesenthal Center Blasts Ukrainian Honor For Nazi Collaborator |url=https://www.wiesenthal.com/about/news/wiesenthal-center-blasts-10.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Narvselius |first=Eleonora |year=2012 |title=The 'Bandera Debate': The Contentious Legacy of World War II and Liberalization of Collective Memory in Western Ukraine |journal=Canadian Slavonic Papers |volume=54 |issue=3–4 |pages=469–490 |doi=10.1080/00085006.2012.11092718 |issn=0008-5006 |s2cid=154360507}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Congress |first=World Jewish |title=World Jewish Congress |url=https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/world-jewish-congress-troubled-by-honoring-of-nazi-collaborator-in-ukraine-12-2-2018 |access-date=25 August 2022 |website=World Jewish Congress |language=EN |quote=World Jewish Congress troubled by honoring of Nazi collaborator in Ukraine}}</ref> On 25 February 2010, the [[European Parliament]] expressed hope the decision would be reconsidered.<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/60430/ "European parliament hopes new Ukraine's leadership will reconsider decision to award Bandera title of hero"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (25 February 2010)</ref> On 14 May 2010, the [[Russian Foreign Ministry]] said "the event is so odious that it could no doubt cause a negative reaction in the first place in Ukraine. Already it is known a position on this issue of a number of Ukrainian politicians, who believe that solutions of this kind do not contribute to the consolidation of Ukrainian public opinion."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Издательский дом Коммерсантъ |url=https://www.kommersant.ru/ |access-date=26 October 2019 |website=Kommersant}}</ref> On the other hand, the decree was applauded by [[Ukrainian nationalists]] in western Ukraine.<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/63825/ "Analysis: Ukraine leader struggles to handle Bandera legacy"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (13 April 2010)</ref><ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/66001/ "Ukrainians in New York take to streets to protest Russian fleet"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (6 May 2010)</ref>

After the [[2010 Ukrainian presidential election]], the succeeding president [[Viktor Yanukovych]] declared the award illegal, since Bandera was never a citizen of Ukraine, a stipulation necessary for getting the award. On 5 March 2010, Yanukovych stated that he would make a decision to repeal the decrees to honor the title of Heroes of Ukraine to Bandera and fellow nationalist [[Roman Shukhevych]] before the next [[Victory Day (9 May)|Victory Day]],<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/61110/ "Yanukovych to strip nationalists of hero status"], [[Kyiv Post]] (5 March 2010)</ref> although the Hero of Ukraine decrees do not stipulate the possibility that a decree on awarding this title can be annulled.<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/59788/ "Party of Regions proposes legal move to strip Bandera of Hero of Ukraine title"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (17 February 2010)</ref> On 2 April 2010, an administrative [[Donetsk]] region court ruled the presidential decree awarding the title to be illegal. According to the court's decision, Bandera was not a citizen of the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]] (vis-à-vis Ukraine).<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/64630/ "Donetsk court deprives Shukhevych of Ukrainian hero title"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (21 April 2010)</ref><ref name="HACShukhevych">[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/78249/ "High Administrative Court dismisses appeals against illegal award of Hero of Ukraine title to Soviet soldiers"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (13 August 2010)</ref><ref>[http://top.rbc.ru/society/02/04/2010/388200.shtml "Ukraine court strips Bandera of Hero of Ukraine title"], ''Top RBC'' (2 April 2010)</ref><ref>[http://www.gzt.ru/topnews/world/-sud-donetska-lishil-banderu-zvaniya-geroya-/299737.html?from=rotationnews "Ukraine court strips Bandera of Hero of Ukraine title because he wasn't citizen of Ukraine"], ''Gzt.ru'' (3 April 2010)</ref>

On 5 April 2010, the [[Constitutional Court of Ukraine]] refused to start constitutional proceedings on the constitutionality of the Yushchenko decree the award was based on. A ruling by the court was submitted by the [[Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea]] on 20 January 2010.<ref name="CCUkraineB">[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/63715/ "Constitutional Court refuses to consider case on Bandera's title of Hero of Ukraine"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (12 April 2010)</ref> In January 2011, under Yanukovych's government, the presidential press service informed that the award was officially annulled.<ref name="president.gov.ua">[http://www.president.gov.ua/news/19103.html "Рішенням суду президентський указ 'Про присвоєння С.Бандері звання Герой України' скасовано"] [Presidential Decree 'On conferring the title of Hero of Ukraine on S. Bandera' passed to the decision of the court]. {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110115074749/http://www.president.gov.ua/news/19103.html|date=15 January 2011}}. President.gov.ua. Retrieved 16 January 2011.</ref><ref>[http://korrespondent.net/ukraine/politics/1164892-press-sluzhba-yanukovicha-ukaz-o-prisvoenii-bandere-zvaniya-geroya-ukrainy-otmenen "Пресс-служба Януковича: Указ о присвоении Бандере звания Героя Украины отменен"], ''Korrespondent''. Retrieved 12 January 2011.</ref> This was done after a cassation appeal filed against the ruling by Donetsk District Administrative Court was rejected by the [[Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine]] on 12 January 2011.<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/94611/ "Court: Ruling on Bandera legal"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (12 January 2011)</ref><ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/94584/ "Update: Stepan Bandera is no longer a Hero of Ukraine"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (12 January 2011)</ref><ref>{{cite news |author1=<!--CB bypass --> |date=2 April 2010 |script-title=uk:Донецький суд скасував указ Ющенка про присвоєння Бандері звання Героя |trans-title=Donetsk court upholding Yushchenko's decree on awarding Bandera the title of Hero |url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/2001219.html |access-date=6 January 2018 |newspaper=Радіо Свобода}}</ref> Former president Yushchenko called the annulment "a gross error".<ref>[http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/94632/ "Yushchenko: No Bandera – no statehood"], ''[[Kyiv Post]]'' (12 January 2011)</ref>

In December 2018, the Ukrainian parliament considered a motion to again confer the award on Bandera; the proposal was rejected in August 2019.<ref name="award2018">{{Cite web |script-title=uk:Проект Постанови про звернення до Президента України щодо присвоєння звання Героя України Бандері Степану Андрійовичу (посмертно) |trans-title=Draft Resolution on the appeal to the President of Ukraine regarding awarding the title of Hero of Ukraine to Stepan Andriyovych Bandera (posthumously) |url=http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=65070 |access-date=5 December 2018 |publisher=Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine}}</ref>

===2014 Russian intervention in Ukraine===
[[File:Headquarters of the Euromaidan revolution.jpg|thumb|Headquarters of the [[Euromaidan]], Kyiv, January 2014. At the front entrance, there is a portrait of Bandera.]]
During the [[2014 Crimean crisis]] and [[2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine|unrest in Ukraine]], pro-Russian Ukrainians, Russians (in Russia), and some Western authors alluded to the bad influence of Bandera on [[Euromaidan]] protesters and pro-Ukrainian Unity supporters in justifying their actions.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/parallels/2014/05/20/312719066/hero-or-villain-historical-ukrainian-figure-symbolizes-todays-feud|title=Hero Or Villain? Historical Ukrainian Figure Symbolizes Today's Feud|website=NPR|access-date=18 August 2018}}</ref> According to ''The Guardian'', "The term 'Banderite' to describe his followers gained a recent new and malign life when Russian media used it to demonise Maidan protesters in Kiev, telling people in Crimea and east Ukraine that gangs of Banderites were coming to carry out ethnic cleansing of Russians."<ref name="Hyde 2015" /> Russian media used this to justify Russia's actions.<ref name="faiola_2014" /> Putin welcomed the annexation of Crimea by declaring that he "was saving them from [[First Yatsenyuk government|the new Ukrainian leaders]] who are the ideological heirs of Bandera, Hitler's accomplice during World War II."<ref name="faiola_2014" /> Pro-Russian activists claimed: "Those people in Kyiv are Bandera-following [[Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy|Nazi collaborators]]."<ref name="faiola_2014" /> [[Ukrainians in Russia]] complained of being labelled "Banderites", even if they were from parts of Ukraine where Bandera is negatively remembered.<ref name="faiola_2014">{{cite news| author=Faiola, Anthony| date=25 March 2014| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/a-ghost-of-world-war-ii-history-haunts-ukraines-standoff-with-russia/2014/03/25/18d4b1e0-a503-4f73-aaa7-5dd5d6a1c665_story.html| title=A ghost of World War II history haunts Ukraine's standoff with Russia| newspaper=The Washington Post| access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref> A minority of people supporting Bandera views was presented in the Euromaidan protests, but Russian propaganda exaggerated their presence and demonized all Maidan protestors.<ref name="faiola_2014" /><ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26415508 "Ukraine crisis: Does Russia have a case?"] ''[[BBC News]]'' (5 March 2014)</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=McGlynn |first=Jade |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gaavEAAAQBAJ&dq=the+Maidan+in+2013%E2%80%9314+but+to+say+that+the+majority+of+protestors+professed&pg=PA62 |title=Memory Makers: The Politics of the Past in Putin's Russia |date=2023-05-04 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-1-350-28078-6 |pages=61–65 |language=en}}</ref> Russian media even labeled "banderites" those 30,000 Russians who went to protest against Russian aggression in Ukraine on the Moscow March of Peace.<ref name=":1" />

=== Russian invasion of Ukraine ===
During his invasion of Ukraine, [[Vladimir Putin]] made references to "Banderites" in his speeches and spoke of an inevitable confrontation with "neo-Nazis, Banderites" in his [[Victory Day (9 May)|Victory Day]] speech.<ref name="DW.COM" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Treisman |first=Rachel |date=1 March 2022 |title=Putin's claim of fighting against Ukraine 'neo-Nazis' distorts history, scholars say |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/03/01/1083677765/putin-denazify-ukraine-russia-history |access-date=24 September 2022 |quote=And Putin has accused 'Banderites and neo-Nazis' of putting up heavy weapons and using human shields... Banderites is a term used — often pejoratively — to describe followers of controversial Ukrainian nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, and Ukrainian nationalists in general.}}</ref> Russia heavily promoted the theme of "denazification", and used rhetoric that was similar to Soviet era policy of equating the development of Ukrainian national identity with Nazism due to Bandera's collaboration, which has a particular resonance in Russia.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 April 2022 |title=Debunking "Denazification" |url=https://www.csce.gov/international-impact/debunking-denazification |access-date=15 June 2022 |website=CSCE |language=en}}</ref> ''[[The Washington Post]]'' reported on Russian soldiers rounding up villagers who were deemed to be "Nazis" or "Banderites".<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Khurshudyan |first1=Isabelle |last2=Chavez |first2=Michael Robinson |title=Ukrainian villagers describe cruel and brutal Russian occupation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/russian-soldiers-beat-torture-ukrainian-villagers/ |access-date=24 September 2022 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en}}</ref> Deutsche Welle reported that media in Ukraine included many eyewitness accounts of Russian soldiers pursuing Bandera supporters, and wrote that "whoever is deemed to be a supporter faces torture or death".<ref name="DW.COM" />

===Attitudes in Ukraine towards Bandera===
[[File:Бандера - наш герой.jpg|thumb|[[FC Lviv]] soccer fans at a game against [[FC Shakhtar Donetsk]]. The Ukrainian banner reads "Bandera – our hero".]]

A poll conducted in early May 2021 by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation together with the [[Razumkov Centre|Razumkov Centre's sociological service]] showed that 32% of citizens considered Bandera's activity as a historical figure to be positive for Ukraine, as many considered his activity negative; another 21% consider Bandera's activities as positive as they are negative. According to the poll, a positive attitude prevailed in the western region of Ukraine (70%); in the central region of the state, 27% of respondents consider his activity positive, 27% consider his activity negative and 27% consider his activity both positive and negative; negative attitude prevails in the southern and eastern regions of Ukraine (54% and 48% of respondents consider his activity negative for Ukraine, respectively).<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=uk:Опитування: діяльність Бандери позитивною для України вважають 32% українців, стільки ж – негативною |trans-title=Poll: 32% of Ukrainians consider Bandera's activities positive for Ukraine, the same number negative |url=https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-bandera-opytuvannia/31242941.html |access-date=7 May 2021 |website=Радіо Свобода |language=uk}}</ref>

[[File:Смолоскипний марш, Київ, 1.01.2015 (1).jpg|thumb|Torchlight procession in honor of the 106 anniversary of the birthday of Stepan Bandera, [[Kyiv]], 1 January 2015]]
Following the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]], Bandera's favorability appeared to shoot up rapidly, with 74% of Ukrainians viewing him favourably according to an April 2022 poll from a Ukrainian research organisation. Bandera continued to cause friction with countries such as Poland and Israel.<ref name="DW.COM" /> Historian Vyacheslav Likhachev told ''[[Haaretz]]'' that, for public consciousness in Ukraine, the only important thing about Bandera was that he fought for Ukrainian independence, and that other details are not important, especially in the context of events from 2014 onwards, where the struggle for Ukrainian independence became more prominent.<ref>{{Cite news |author=Liza Rozovsky |date=1 June 2022 |title=The Truth About Ukrainian Nationalism and Claims It's Tainted by Nazism |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/2022-06-01/ty-article-magazine/.premium/understanding-ukrainian-nationalism-and-claims-its-tainted-by-nazism/00000181-1a0c-d9b4-a199-be1e4a3c0000 |access-date=29 September 2022 |work=Haaretz |language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Far-right politics in Ukraine]]
* [[Our father is Bandera, Ukraine is our mother!]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=nb}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book |last=Littman |first=Sol |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MhUtAQAAIAAJ&q=Pure+Soldiers+or+Sinister+Legion:+The+Ukrainian+14th+Waffen-SS+Division |title=Pure Soldiers Or Sinister Legion: The Ukrainian 14th Waffen-SS Division |date=2003 |publisher=Black Rose Books |isbn=978-1-55164-219-2 |language=en}}
* {{cite journal |last=Marples |first=David R. |date=2006 |title=Stepan Bandera: The Resurrection of a Ukrainian National Hero |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20451225 |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |volume=58 |issue=4 |pages=555–566 |issn=0966-8136| doi=10.1080/09668130600652118|jstor=20451225 |s2cid=144243956 |url-access=subscription }}
* {{cite book |author=Motyka |first=Grzegorz |title=Ukraińska partyzantka 1942–1960 |publisher=RYTM |year=2006 |isbn=83-7399-163-8 |location=Warsaw |language=pl |author-link=Grzegorz Motyka}}
* {{cite book |last1=Rossoliński-Liebe |first1=Grzegorz |author-link1=Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe |title=Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist : Fascism, Genocide, and Cult |date=2014 |publisher=Ibidem-Verlag |isbn=978-3-8382-0604-2 |language=en}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Rudling |first=Per Anders |date=2006 |title=Historical representation of the wartime accounts of the activities of the OUN–UPA (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists—Ukrainian Insurgent Army) |url=https://www.academia.edu/380654 |journal=East European Jewish Affairs |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=163–189 |doi=10.1080/13501670600983008 |issn=1350-1674 |s2cid=161270139}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Rudling |first=Per A. |date=2011 |title=The OUN, the UPA and the Holocaust: A Study in the Manufacturing of Historical Myths |url=https://www.academia.edu/1122859 |journal=The Carl Beck Papers in Russian and East European Studies |issue=2107 |doi=10.5195/CBP.2011.164 |issn=2163-839X|doi-access=free }}
* {{Cite book |last=Shkandrij |first=Myroslav |title=Ukrainian Nationalism: Politics, Ideology, and Literature, 1929–1956 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-300-20628-9}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* {{wikiquote-inline}}
* Article about the assassination of Stepan Bandera [http://www.brightreview.co.uk/ARTICLE-Bandera.html The Assassination of Stepan Bandera - ARTICLE Bright Review] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031182118/http://www.brightreview.co.uk/ARTICLE-Bandera.html |date=31 October 2019 }}
* Burial of S.Bandera (20 October 1959, Munich) on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQJNVdXqtyQ]

{{Authority control}}

<!--

These are orphaned references to Rossolinski's book Stepan Bandera: The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist : Fascism, Genocide, and Cult. 
It was not possible to understand where which pages and which references were to be used.

|pages=41, 73, 79, 88, 151, 199, 200, 277, 278, 281, 292, 295, 301, 447 |quote=[p. 242] The OUN-B and UPA did not intend to kill all the Jews who were hiding in the forest immediately, but offered some of them 'protection'. The OUN-B registered these Jews, kept them in 'camps', and forced them to work for the OUN-B and UPA. The 'camps' were frequently farms or houses of murdered Poles. Most of such Jews were killed by the nationalists before the Red Army arrived in western Ukraine&nbsp;... An unknown number of Jewish doctors, dentists, and nurses agreed or were forced to treat UPA insurgents. During their period with the UPA, they were usually frightened of the partisans and OUN-B activists and tried to escape. Like the Jews 'employed' by the OUN-UPA in collective farms or camps, the majority were killed shortly before the Red Army came to western Ukraine. ... [p. 243] Ukrainian sources speak of a considerable number of Jewish physicians, dentists, and hospital attendants who served in the ranks of the UPA. The question is: Why did only a small number of them remain alive? The Bandera groups also utilized other Jewish skilled workers. According to Lew Shankowsky, practically every UPA group had a Jewish physician or pharmacist, as well as Jewish tailors, shoemakers, barbers, and the like. Again the question arises: What happened to these hundreds of thousands of Jewish professionals and skilled workers? Betty Eisenstein states that in the spring of 1943 the Bandera groups began to imitate the German tactics of 'selection'. Only the skilled workers were left alive, and they were concentrated in special camps, where they worked at their trades or on the farms&nbsp;... Eisenstein reports that at the approach of the Soviet army the Bandera groups liquidated the Jews of the camps. ... [p. 281] Bandera was protected and supported by the Gehlen Organization and also received help from members of such organizations as the former Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend), the SS, and other individuals and organizations in situations similar to that of Bandera. The CIC noted that an underground organization of former Nazis helped Bandera to cross the border between the American and French occupation zones several times.&nbsp;... [p. 199] To welcome the Germans and signalize support for the new Ukrainian state, the OUN-B instructed local Ukrainians to erect triumphal arches.&nbsp;... [p. 447] and how the OUN-B was involved in pogroms.

-->

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bandera, Stepan}}
[[Category:1909 births]]
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[[Category:Anti-Romanian sentiment]]
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