The 1 st All-Ukrainian Competition of Patriotic Bards’ Songs, dedicated to Roman Shukhevych, recently took place in Hukiv, a village in Chemerivtsi raion, Khmelnytsky oblast. The songs of the bards flowed over the natural boundary where the commander in chief of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) found his eternal rest.
The mystery behind the interment of Lieutenant-General Shukhevych, who was killed on March 5, 1950, near Lviv, was finally revealed after 56 years. It turned out that the Soviet secret police burned his body, wrapped the remains in tarpaulin, and threw them into the river Zbruch near Hukiv. A participant of this “operation” revealed this information in his twilight years, apparently in an effort to atone for his mortal sin. In October 2005 a memorial cross was erected near the Hukiv woods. It is made of basalt that came from a quarry in Ivanova Dolyna, where UPA soldiers fought a bloody battle against the Nazis, in the process liberating many Red Army soldiers from a POW camp.
Last month the participants of the bards’ competition entered the Hukiv area in a ceremonial procession. The idea belongs to Bohdan Odud, a bard from Lepetivka. He is glad that the contest gathered singers from all over Ukraine. The genres of the songs performed during the contest ranged from classical composed songs to patriotic rap. The songs were accompanied by guitars and accordions, while some singers lip-synched.
It seemed to everyone that from the heavens the restless spirit of the UPA commander in chief was observing the action on the stage near the Memorial Cross and welcoming the first steps toward reconciliation. After all, the competition gathered bards from Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Kamyanets-Podilsky, and Halychyna.
