Committee of UGCC and Union of Officers of Ukraine Call on President to Recognize UPA's Participation in War
As part of the national Day of Remembrance on May 7, 2012, in the information agency UNIAN, a roundtable “Models of Reconciliation and Attitude Toward the Past” was held. The event was initiated and organized by the Justice and Peace Committee of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church jointly with the national organization Union of Officers of Ukraine, the Committee on Christian Unity of UGCC and the Department of Patriarchal Curia of the UGCC on Matters of Pastoral Care in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
RISU was informed by representatives of the Justice and Peace Committee that the roundtable was aimed to develop a philosophy of reconciliation and revive a unified Ukrainian self-consciousness regarding the participation of the fighters of UPA [Ukrainian Insurgent Army] and of the Ukrainian Soviet Army in WWII. The discussion was attended by both influential experts on this subject and participants of the events of WWII.
The participants of the roundtable signed a joint address to the public.
The document reads in particular: “Ukraine was reconciled with the countries which participated in WWII, but inside Ukraine there is no agreement unfortunately… The burden of the past is impossible to forget, but it is possible to accept it only when there is mutual forgiveness. It is a long and complicated but possible process. A generation of Ukrainian citizens has grown up in the twenty years of independence. It is for the sake of their peaceful future, the future of our children, grandchildren, that we address Ukraine’s president, authorities, local administrative bodies, leaders of political parties, public organizations with a request to start a peaceful dialogue in the society regarding the painful question of reconciliation of Ukrainians who fought on different sides as they had no state of their own and to recognize the fighters of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army as a party in World War II.”
The address was signed by a veteran of WWII, a retired Colonel, H. Chepkyi, Head of the Rivne Regional Organization of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, V. Kyryliuk, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor at the T. Shevchsenko Kyiv National University, V. Serhiichuk, Ambassador of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor, V. Vasylenko, Head of the Union of Officers of Ukraine, Colonel in reserve, V. Bilous, Head of Committee Justice and Peace, M. Melnyk.
