Today, one of the last UPA commanders, Yevhen Shtender, was buried in Lviv. He died two years ago, at the age of 99, in Canada, and was cremated in the United States. The UPA centurion’s ashes were buried in a family tomb at Lychakiv Cemetery, along with the ashes of his daughter Sofia.
The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, the founder and representatives of the NGO Memorial, Roman Gunda, heads of the regional administration, deputies, clergy and the city community came to pay tribute to the UPA commander. The funeral was also attended by Yevhen Shtender’s youngest daughter, Nadiya, nephew Yuriy Shtender and family from the Lviv region.
“Yevhen Shtender was born on 2 January 1924. He fought in the UPA since the spring of 1943. In 1956, he emigrated to Canada. Mr Yevhen died two years ago, but his last wish was to be laid to rest in Ukraine. Today it has come true. May he rest in peace!” said Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi.
Along with Yevhen Shtender, his daughter Sofia was buried in the family grave at Lychakiv Cemetery (field 43). She died in 2016 and was also cremated.
“Yevhen Shtendera was a member of the great generation of Banderites who devoted his entire life to the struggle for an independent Ukraine. He was a mid-level commander in the OUN-UPA. He fought tirelessly – whether in the ranks of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, as an officer in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, as a journalist, or later in exile in Canada, where he founded the multi-volume edition of the UPA Chronicles and was the executive editor until 2000.
This man is a bundle of will and energy to fight for an independent Ukraine. And in the context of today’s Russian-Ukrainian war, this is a very important figure to honour and pay him the last honour in accordance with military traditions,” said Mykola Posivnych, PhD in History, President of the UPA Chronicles Foundation.
Also, on the occasion of the reburial of Yevhen Shtender, on Sunday, 14 July, at 14:00, the Palace of Arts (17 Copernicus Street) will host a screening of the documentary film “The Frontier. The Hrubieszów Operation”. This film is about a joint Polish-Ukrainian attack on the communist-controlled Polish town of Hrubieszów, and it was based on the memoirs of Yevhen Shtender. At the time, he was one of the leaders of the joint operation with the Polish nationalist underground.
Biographical note
Yevhen Shtendera (pseudonyms: “Priora”, “Zoryanyi”, “Nerv”) was a centurion of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), librarian, publicist and researcher of UPA history.
He was born on 2 January 1924 in the village of Volytsia Barylova, Radekhiv district (formerly Radekhiv and now Chervonohrad districts in Lviv region).
He studied at the Ukrainian gymnasium in Lviv, then in Radekhiv and Sokal.
In 1940, he became a member of the OUN Youth. From the spring of 1943, he fought in the ranks of the UPA in
Volyn, where he underwent military training. He was a military advisor in the Radekhiv district, a super-district commander of the Lubachiv (Poland) super-district, and a leader of the Third (III) OUN district (Kholmshchyna and Podlasie). He was also the commander of the UPA raid to East Prussia (winter 1948).
In 1956, he emigrated from Germany to Canada. He worked as the executive editor of the UPA Chronicles publishing house and its publications for 25 years (from 1975 to 2000). He is the author of articles on the Ukrainian underground and stories about the UPA, Soviet politics, economy and society, mostly in Ukrainian, but also translated into English and Polish.
In 2010, the third president of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, awarded Yevhen Shtender the Ivan Mazepa Cross for his significant contribution to the revival of the national, cultural, artistic, spiritual, architectural, military and historical heritage, and for his services to state-building, diplomatic, humanitarian, scientific, educational and charitable activities.