Ukraine clears path to reinter OUN founder Konovalets from Rotterdam, Petliura and Skoropadskyi next
Ukraine has received permission to exhume and reinter the remains of OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) founding leader Yevhen Konovalets from Rotterdam's Crooswijk Cemetery, with procedures already cleared and the reinterment expected in the near future, Presidential Office Deputy Chief Iryna Vereshchuk said, according to hromadske’s correspondent.
The official said this after the reburial of OUN leader Andriy Melnyk and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk.
According to her, the relevant procedures have already been agreed upon and the reburial may take place in the near future. This involves the transfer of Konovalets' ashes from the Crosswijk Cemetery in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to Ukraine. Permission for the exhumation has already been received from the Rotterdam authorities.
In addition, according to her, it is not only about the return of figures of the 20th century, but also about prominent representatives of various historical periods, in particular the Princely and Cossack eras.
Vereshchuk also noted that it is now necessary to pass a law on the creation of the Pantheon of Heroes, which will determine the framework of future reburials, who and when can be buried there. Such decisions will be made for each individual figure.
The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Oleksandr Alfyorov, added that it is currently known that more than 11,000 Ukrainians are buried abroad.
Broader repatriation effort
At the end of March, the head of the Presidential Office, Kyrylo Budanov, announced the creation of the Pantheon of Prominent Ukrainians, where outstanding Ukrainians buried abroad will be reburied.
On May 19, an exhumation ceremony of the ashes of the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Colonel of the UNR (Ukrainian People’s Republic) Army Andriy Melnyk, and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk took place in Luxembourg, and on May 25, a reburial ceremony took place at the National War Memorial Cemetery near Kyiv.
The head of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Oleksandr Alfyorov, also said that negotiations are currently underway to return the remains of other famous figures to Ukraine. In particular, in addition to Colonel Yevhen Konovalets, this concerns the Secretary of Military Affairs of the UNR, Symon Petliura, and Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi.
More about Yevhen Konovalets
Yevhen Konovalets was born on June 14, 1891, in the village of Zashkiv near Lviv.
He commanded the Sich Riflemen Corps of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic, founded the Ukrainian Military Organization and served as the first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.
He was assassinated on May 23, 1938, by a Soviet agent who handed him a box of chocolates containing a concealed explosive device.