The slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” invented by Bandera? The genesis is different

“Every Pole shouting 'Glory to Ukraine!' should remember that Stepan Bandera was the first to use this slogan during the trial of his terrorist gang, in which the gang was tried for numerous chauvinist murders, including the murder of Ms. Pieracki. The use of this slogan should be prosecuted by the prosecutor's office as 'propagation'. – Adam Wielomski, political scientist and publicist, professor of social sciences, active in social media, wrote on October 27 in a post on the X website. This post generated over 240,000 views. views and sparked a lot of discussion.

Internet users who seemed to be against helping Ukrainians and Poland's involvement in the war in the east wrote, for example: “Exactly!”; “Anyone who shouts this should go and fight. Simple. Poland is not at war with Ukraine, so such shouting should not take place here”; “And the stupidest of these screamers is the current president of the Republic of Poland” (original spelling of the posts).

Others argued with the author of the post or directly criticized them: “And not earlier? Already during the war in 1917-1921? But who would care, because the story with the criminal Bandera sounds better”; “Your historian doesn't know history very well”; “Are you lying on purpose or out of stupidity, or is it just your poor knowledge of history?”

As for this last comment – it is difficult to answer, but the fact is that the professor did not write the truth about the origins of the famous Ukrainian greeting.

The slogan “Slava Ukraini!”, which translates into Polish as “Glory to Ukraine!” has a long history.

Stepan Bandera was a Ukrainian nationalist and leader of the OUN-B (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists), which played a key role in inspiring and carrying out the Volhynian massacre. However, the history of the “Glory to Ukraine” greeting began long before Bandera appeared. It dates back to 1839 and is related to a poem by the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (1814–1861) entitled “To Osnovyanenko”. There is a phrase in it:

The scan of the manuscript of Taras Shevchenko's poem “To Osnovyanenko” is presented on its website by the Institute of Literature. TG Shevchenko of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Below is a fragment of the scan.

A similar phrase – “glory to you, Ukraine” – appeared in poem another Ukrainian author, Mykola Kostomarov (1817–1885), entitled “Children of Glory, Children of Glory” from 1847.

This phrase entered Ukrainian political life as a patriotic cry at the end of the 19th century, explains historian Yuriy Yuzych in an analysis published in 2018 published Istorychna Pravda portal. “The slogan 'Glory to Ukraine!' and his response 'Glory to all the earth!' were first used by the Kharkiv association of Ukrainian students in the late 19th century. The same association on the foundation of which the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party (RUP) was born in 1900 – the first modern Ukrainian political party under Russian occupation is this event,” we read in the article.

Later, in the mid-1920s, the greeting “Glory to Ukraine” began to gain popularity among Ukrainian youth scouts in Galicia and Volhynia – says the historian.

“The phrase has its roots in the Ukrainian liberation movement of the early 20th century and was enthusiastically adopted by various military formations during the failed attempt at statehood, which resulted in the emergence of many short-lived Ukrainian republics in the chaotic aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution.” he wrote in turn, in 2018, Peter Dickinson from the American think-tank Atlantic Council.

It was only in the 1930s that members of the OUN-B faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, led by Stepan Bandera, began to use the greeting.

As Ukrainian historian Oleksandr Zaytsev notes in a commentary for DW.comwhen Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union, slogan “Glory to Ukraine” became banned. It survived among the Ukrainian diaspora and was revived in independent Ukraine. “During Euromaidan, this slogan basically lost its special connection with the OUN and became one of the symbols of pro-European protests,” he told the editorial office. DW.com Zaytsev. Let us remind you, Euromaidan is the term for anti-government protests that broke out on Maidan Niepodległości in Kiev at the end of 2013 after the then Ukrainian authorities resigned from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union. They ended with the overthrow of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.

According to Zaitsev, it is a mistake to connect historical slogans such as “Glory to Ukraine” with modern fascism. “I do not find any negative meaning in this greeting and I do not oppose its introduction in the army,” he said in a comment for DW.com.

At the end of 2018, the cry “Slava Ukraini!” with the response “Herojam glory!” (i.e. “glory to the heroes”) became official greeting of the Ukrainian army. It replaced the previously existing cry “Welcome, comrades” and the response “We wish you health!”. The change was initiated by the then president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.

“Today, 'Glory to Ukraine' is a completely ordinary patriotic rallying cry, used by everyone from domestic politicians and celebrities to visiting dignitaries and diplomats,” notes Peter Dickinson of the Atlantic Council. According to him, in this sense, the slogan can be compared to the French “Vive la France” or the American “God Bless America”. For example, in 1955, US President Bill Clinton had his speech delivered in Kiev ended two phrases: “God bless America” ​​and “Glory to Ukraine”.

Coming back to Adam Wielomski's post: he has been a publicist before repeatedly published introductory misleading content on social media that we verified In Konkret24.

(The genesis of the Ukrainian greeting was described, among others, by the weekly “Policy” and portals onet.pl and wyborcza.pl).