the nationalist whom nobody liked

the nationalist whom nobody liked

stephen bundera of ukarain is the person. ukarain was part of the austro hungarian empire when bundera was born in 1909. after the first world war, the empire was disintegrated. ukarain (or part of it) became west ukarain peoples republic. polish ukarain war followed in 1918-19 and ukarain became part of eastern poland. .it is when bundera became a radicalist. he was denied permission to go abroad for studies. he joined lviv polytechnic where he founded ukarainian national organization.

he was an accused in the murder of polish minister of interior in 1934 and sentenced to death. later the sentence was changed to imprisonment.

in 1939, germany and russia invaded poland and occupied western and eastern parts. bundera moved to krakow in german held area. he cultivated the military officer sympathetic to the cause of ukarain. when germany invaded russian in 1941, he proclaimed the ukarain declaration independence of ukarain on 30th june 1941. when he refused to rescind the decree, he was arrested by german secret police gestapo.on 5th july 1941. he was under arrest and was sent to a concentration camp in 1942.it was alleged by the germans that organization of ukarainins nationalists harboured many jews who were part of the organization.

when germany was losing the war against russia, bundera was released in 1944. it was expected that he would organize resistance against advancing russian army. he set up the headquarters of the re-established ukrainian supreme liberation council, which worked underground.

after the end of war, and when ukarain became a part of soviet union, he settled in west germany where he worked with anti communist organizations and british intelligence agency.

in 1959, bundera was assassinated by a russian secret police member.

a note about his family may be in order. his father was arrested in 1941 and executed. his brothers were arrested and interned in auschwitz. it is claimed that they were killed by the polish inmates. his sisters were arrested and sent to siberia in 1941. they were released in 1960 but not allowed to return to ukarain. one of them dies in 1982 in siberia but the other could come back in 1989. another sister was in soviet labour camp from 1946 to 1956. the fate of another brother is uncertain. some claim that he was killed by gestapo in 1943, others that he was killed by soviet secret police in 1944.

in 2006, the city of lviv announced shifting his grave to lviv. a statue was erected in 2007 which is guarded by a militia contingent as earlier two statues were blown up. in 2009, a postal stamp was issued in his name. in 2010, he was awarded "the hero of ukarain" but this was opposed by many like french jews, the european parliament, slovakia and ultimately in 2011, the award was annulled.