Banderivtsi

"Bandе́rivtsi" (Ukrainian: Бандерівці) or "bandе́rovtsy" (Polish: banderowcy, Russian: Бандеровцы) is a multiple-meaning term derived from the name of the person Stepan Bandera (1909-1959). Initially this term meant supporters of the Revolutionary Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUNR), led by Stepan Bandera. Nowadays it usually means those Ukrainian nationalists[1] who consider themselves followers of the OUNR.[2] After the 1940s Soviet and Russian propaganda used the term "banderivtsi" to refer to the entire idea of Ukrainian nationalism - in the same way as similar terms like "mazepintsi" (from Ivan Mazepa), "vyhovtsi" (from Ivan Vyhovsky), "petliurivtsi" (from Symon Petliura), "makhnovtsi" (from Nestor Makhno) etc., according to the names of historical figures of Ukrainian history. In this meaning, the term Banderites is also used.[3]

In Polish, the term has an unequivocally pejorative connotation and refers to the members of OUN-UPA and Ukrainian peasantry in support thereof in the context of the Ukrainian-led Volhynian Genocide of Poles.

Most often, Soviet propaganda used the term with negative connotations, as a synonym for banditry (Russian: бандитизм - banditizm) and as a perceived threat to Soviet administration. Generally, the term referred to the whole Ukrainian nationalist underground movement (despite that movement's broader division into fractions, the term served as a primitive unifying tool during the World War II and after it). Another implication labelled Ukrainian nationalists (living abroad and in Ukraine) who opposed the Soviet national policy.

During the Ukrainian national liberation struggle of the 1940s and 1950s, most Ukrainian nationalists (followers of OUNR traditions) called themselves "banderivtsi". The term occurred with the same meaning in rebel songs of folk and literary origins, for example: "We are banderivtsi with arms in our hands, defending our homeland, living in the woods..." (Ukrainian: «Ми — хлопці-бандерівці зі зброєю в руках бороним рідну землю, живемо у лісах…»)

See also

References

  1. ↑ ОУН-УПА, Хто такі бандерівці і за що вони борються (Ukrainian)
  2. ↑ Сурма, Чи має Провідник ОУН послідовників у сучасній українській політиці? (Ukrainian)
  3. ↑ Rossoliński-Liebe, Grzegorz. "Stepan Bandera, Dr. Andrii Portnov, and the Holocaust: Is the Bandera Myth Detached from the Person?". The American Association for Polish-Jewish Studies. Retrieved 2016-04-23. [Portnov] informs the readers about the use of the term Banderites in Soviet propaganda, but he forgets to mention that the OUN members did call themselves such and regarded Bandera as their leader [...].

Sources

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