In Ukraine, a Divisive 20th-Century Hero Comes Home
The New York Times • • world
Key Points:
- Andriy Melnyk, a controversial Ukrainian nationalist leader from World War II, was reburied in Kyiv with full state honors, marking a significant political shift under President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia’s 2022 invasion.
- Melnyk’s remains were exhumed from Luxembourg, where he died in exile in 1964, and returned to Ukraine for a ceremonial laying in state, contrasting with the grief seen at contemporary war funerals.
- Melnyk led a faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which initially allied with Nazi Germany during its occupation of Ukraine, a period marked by severe violence and atrocities against Jewish and Polish civilians.
- The nationalist factions saw the Nazis as liberators from Soviet oppression but later some groups also fought against the Nazis, reflecting the complex and divisive legacy of Ukrainian nationalist movements during World War II.
- President Zelensky’s embrace of Melnyk’s reburial signals a broader acceptance of nationalist elements in Ukraine’s political narrative amid ongoing conflict with Russia.