Is it true that the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” was invented by the Banderaites?

Russian authorities and the media often say that the greeting, which has now become official in Ukraine, originally appeared among the associates of Stepan Bandera. We decided to check if this is true.

On May 15, 2023, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, criticized German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the greeting “Glory to Ukraine!” In her Telegram channel Zakharova wrotethat “Glory to Ukraine!” - This is a Nazi chant. She also added that this slogan was adopted in 1939 as the official greeting of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Zakharova wrote about this before, reacting to almost every appearance of this phrase in the public space: for example, in January 2023, V June and in August 2021. Zakharova claimed that “Glory to Ukraine!” became an imitation of the German Heil Hitler. “The roots of the slogan “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes!” are quite obvious - this is a copy of the famous German National Socialist greeting,” Zakharova wrote. In the same post, she denies that the greeting “Glory to Ukraine!” was common long before 1939. According to Zakharova, the theory that these are traditional Cossack cries is not supported by anything. A history of education She does not mention independent Ukraine 1917–1920 at all.

The phrase “Glory to Ukraine!” found in literature even before the twentieth century, long before the birth of Adolf Hitler and especially Stepan Bandera. For example, this particular slogan pronounces hero of the play “Hetman” (1877) by the French playwright and politician Paul Déroulède.

But in the socio-political context, the first known mention dates back to the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. Ukrainian historian Yuri Yuzich paid attention based on the memoirs of Alexander Kovalenko, one of the leaders of the Kharkov student movement, co-founder of the Revolutionary Ukrainian Party, and then a participant in the uprising on the battleship Potemkin in 1905. Friend Kovalenko, Nikolay Levitsky, met a student on the way and greeted him with the words “Glory to Ukraine!”, to which the student replied: “Glory forever” - and escorted the guest to Kovalenko. The author of the memoirs also adds that such a greeting was common among many party members.

In 1916, the words “Glory to Ukraine!”, and precisely as a slogan, were heard at a meeting of Ukrainian emigrants in Detroit. About this wrote in its report, the Svoboda newspaper, the official publication of the Ukrainian People's Union, an organization that united Ukrainians in the United States.

In 1917, the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” was common among supporters of Ukrainian independence. Newspaper "Nova Rada” described a meeting in one of the villages of the Yekaterinoslav province: “It was proclaimed: “Long live the democratic federal republic! Long live the autonomy of Ukraine!” — they answered in one voice: “Glory! Glory to Ukraine!”

The same newspaper in the May 6 issue reported about a rally in Irkutsk, at which Ukrainians living in Siberia shouted slogans: “Long live the autonomy of Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to all nations!

Another evidence is the memoirs of Vladimir Kedrovsky, a member of the Ukrainian Central Rada in 1917. In the book "1917“He describes how the creation of the Ukrainian army was welcomed in Kherson: “At first, separate shouts were heard, which immediately turned into a single roar: “Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Ukraine!” Thus, already in 1917 this slogan was common among supporters of Ukrainian independence or at least autonomy within the federation.

Greeting “Glory to Ukraine!” used and later - and in Ukrainian People's Republic (November 1917 - April 1918), and in the Ukrainian state after coup Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky. In the second case, they added “Glory to the Hetman!” to it. In 1919, at the ceremony dedicated to the signing of the act of unification of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the Western Ukrainian People's Republic, there were not only exclamations of “Glory to Ukraine!” flag with inscription “Glory to the Ukrainian heroes,” that is, much earlier than Stepan Bandera’s comrades began to use the phrase “Glory to the Heroes!”

In 1920, the phrase “Glory to Ukraine!” was officially enshrined as a greeting to the UPR army.

After the division of Ukraine between Poland and Soviet Russia, the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” continued to exist among emigrants. In 1939 at Congress of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists This phrase became the official motto. Already at the end of World War II, former members of the OUN told During interrogations, different factions had different greetings: the OUN (b), supporters of Stepan Bandera, usually responded: “Glory to the heroes!”, and the OUN (m), comrades-in-arms of Andrei Melnik, said: “Glory to the leader!” In addition, from the words “Glory to Ukraine!” OUN documents also began.

Since the fall of 2018, the Ukrainian army and police have used the message “Glory to Ukraine!” became official greeting. In Russia, after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the words “Glory to Ukraine” became chase.

Thus, Russian officials, mentioning the use of the phrase “Glory to Ukraine!” Ukrainian nationalists during the Second World War are silent about the history of this slogan, traditional for the Ukrainian liberation movement since the beginning of the twentieth century.

Cover photo: Ukrposhta»

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

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2. Is it true that Ukrainian statehood was created by Vladimir Lenin?
3. StopFake. Fake: “Glory to Ukraine!” - “Bandera slogan” and “Nazi chant”.
4. BBC News. “Glory to Ukraine!” How this greeting arose and became popular.
5. The truth is historical. Whoever saw the light “Glory to Ukraine!” went out.