Some people of the older generation are probably familiar with the word "Bandera". But this term has recently been heard by young people, even those who are far from politics and do not know the history too well. So who are Bandera, where did this name come from?
The origin of the term "Bandera"
Bandera’s name is not only veterans of the UPA - the “Ukrainian Insurgent Army”, but also other citizens of Ukraine who adhere to radical nationalist positions, often combined with ardent Russophobia. This term is used to call supporters, ideological followers of one of the main leaders of Ukrainian nationalism - Stepan Bandera, who was born in 1909 in what is now Western Ukraine (which was then part of Galicia, part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire). After Galicia was incorporated into Poland as a result of the Polish-Soviet war of 1920, Bandera joined an underground organization of Ukrainian nationalists. He quickly advanced, demonstrating good organizational skills, agitator talent, and adamant, fanatical cruelty. It was Bandera who organized a series of terrorist acts, including the assassination of Polish Minister of Internal Affairs B. Peratsky, for which he was sentenced to be hanged. He was saved by the invasion of Nazi troops in Poland in September 1939.
Released by the Germans from prison, Bandera began to cooperate with their special services. At the beginning of 1941, a split occurred between him and another leader of Ukrainian nationalists A. Melnik, since Bandera, unlike the staunch Germanophile Melnik, was ready to accept German help only until a certain stage. Since then, Ukrainian nationalists, who sided with Bandera, began to call themselves in honor of the leader - Bandera. Until his death in Munich in 1959, at the hands of the KGB agent, Bandera remained an ardent anti-Soviet and Russophobe, inspiring his supporters to armed resistance to the Soviet regime and terror.
