27 May 2008 12:44

Head of the Board of Directors of Ukraine 3000 Foundation Takes Part in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army: the History of the Unbowed Photo Show

May 27, 2008, Head of the Board of Directors of the Ukraine 3000 International Charitable Foundation Oleksandr Maksymchuk took part in the presentation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army: the History of the Unbowed photo show, unveiled at the Security Service of Ukraine. The exhibition was organized by SSU and the Liberation Movement Research Center with the support of the Ukrainian National Memory Institute.

Among other participants of the ceremony were acting Head of the SSU Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, Advisor to the President of Ukraine Yevhen Marchuk, UIA veterans, representatives of the state and public organizations, diplomats, scholars, artists, historians, and journalists.

Speaking about the archive documents, presented at the exhibition, Mr. Nalyvaychenko called them an evidence of the anti-Soviet trend and European meaning of the Ukrainian Liberation Movement. “The ideological cliché, supported for many years, still affect the attitude toward the OUN-UPA by part of our citizens,” he said. “This is why the SSU holds as its priorities the archive research, studying, declassifying, and making public the NKVD-KGB documents regarding the Ukrainian Liberation Movement in the 1920s-1950s, preserved in our archives.” Mr. Nalyvaychenko said that all these documents became accessible to the public, adding that the SSU was planning to show the Ukrainian Insurgent Army: the History of the Unbowed photo exhibition in all Ukraine’s oblasts.

Mr. Maksymchuk thanked the Security Service for its work on recreating and presenting to the public the true history of Ukraine. “Unfortunately, there are still many blank spots left in our history,” he said. “This exhibition is just another step to revealing to the Ukrainians the truth about their own past.” Mr. Maksymchuk also described the Ukraine 3000 Foundation and SSU joint projects, in part, within the framework of the History Lessons: Manmade Famine of 1932-1933 program.

In course of the unveiling, son of the UPA Commander-in-Chief and Hero of Ukraine Roman Shukhevych, Yuri Shukhevych, along with UPA veterans Myroslav Symchych and Stepan Semeniuk, were awarded with Honorary Stars of the Security Service of Ukraine on behalf of the SSU Collegium.

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army: the History of the Unbowed photo exhibition features over 500 photos, documents from Soviet and German sources, and internal OUN-UPA documents. The exhibition is unique in being based on a grounded scientific background, using photo illustration and reference sources to create an integral and scientifically grounded picture of the Ukrainian Liberation movement in the mid-twentieth century.

The exhibition will be open to the public from June 2, 2008, at the SSU Culture and Arts Center in 6 Irynynska St., Kyiv. Round tables are scheduled to be held during its work with the participation of scholars, local historians, NGO and student organizations’ members.