Are Ukrainian-American children brought up to be Bandera followers? If the children of all the Eastern European and Baltic emigre populations bring their children up in America this way, does it have an effect on non-emigre children in the US? With a combined population of 20 million career age emigre ultra nationalists according to their own estimates in the United States alone, you had better find out.
Was the Euromaidan which was funded heavily by the combined emigre populations about democracy? Answering this in a surprise statement at a cabinet meeting on February 10 th 2015, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko opened up about the basis of the post-coup Ukrainian state and the ideology it is built on.
" I think to the contrary that the Galicians are the foundation of the Ukrainian state ,"
This definitely throws a damper on anyone in the EU or USA calling the Euro-maidan a pro-democratic protest or revolution. The Galicians that Poroshenko is referring to formulated the ideology of Stepan Bandera that is now the foundation of post Maidan Ukraine.
According to Ukrainian-American George Masni, a former UCCA Arizona state president "The "simple nationalism" Poroshenko is talking about is love of ones nation that drives to defend it from invaders. This type of nationalism is better known as patriotism."
If ultra-nationalist ideology wasn't part of the Ukrainian political landscape pre-Maidan, where did it come from? Before 1991 this ideology was foreign in Ukraine except for a tiny minority in the Lviv region.
The Nazi/ nationalist ideology of Stepan Bandera made its home in the hearts of Eastern European emigres worldwide, particularly in the United States and Canada. Each succeeding generation has been taught to be more dedicated to it than their parents were.
According to George Masni, former State of Arizona president for the UCCA-OUNb " The type of political brainwashing you are describing never happened to me and as far as I know, in th U.S. at least, this simply does not occur. What I do remember is being thought Ukrainian language, dances, songs, and a general overview of Ukrainian literature and history."-
Below are excerpts are from a young Ukrainian-American woman that grew up in the American heartland. She is educated and has a Masters Degree. She knows America fought the 3rd Reich and Nazism/ nationalism. Her own statements are clear that Dr. Rudlings studies and the many other papers written were in fact precise in describing the Bandera kids are even more committed to Ukrainian nationalism within the countries they live in, molding their own culture and politics, as well as Ukraine.
This upbringing is reinforced with a life long cultural education and celebration of nationalist Galician values, education, job support, and even the emigre choices of religion. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic and Orthodox religions were reworked to promote Ukrainian nationalism and reinforce it to adherents at the end of the 19th century. Later Protestant beliefs followed suit within the communities and started going mainstream in the 1950's and 60's.
According to the Manitoba Historical Society"...the establishment of a separate Ukrainian Catholic episcopate was as much a statement of Ukrainian "nationalism" as was the rise of the Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church of Canada."
With this kind of regulated upbringing it is no shock that even childhood experiences like scouting play a major role in development. Consider the following carefully against what you know about Maidan. In this American girls own words, her heroes from WWIIare the genocidal Waffen SS OUNb Bandera, the mass murderers of 500,000 people.
American Ukrainian Nationalist on Maidan
" I have often thought of my ancestors and how they must have felt during WWII (and earlier liberation movements) and the partisan struggle to liberate Ukraine from totalitarian powers. I've always been fascinated by WWII and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), but never in my life did I think I would feel what they felt, get a taste of war, death, and the fight for freedom, such uncertainty, and love for Ukraine in a context similar to theirs...These sentiments which were felt by Ukrainians in WWII have been transferred to a new generation of Ukrainians who are reliving the liberation movement, re-struggling for a free, prosperous, and democratic Ukraine. Of course, EuroMaidan and Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine .... I feel that I was guided to Ukraine because the love for and attachment to Ukraine was passed down from my grandparents, and as they couldn't return...My grandparents' generation fight for freedom didn't succeed, there was no independent Ukraine after the war, and so being intelligentsia and having taken part in the liberation struggle, my relatives would have been persecuted under the Soviets.
Thus in 1944 when the Soviets were again approaching western Ukraine, my grandparents had to flee west...Eventually sotnias(defense/ military units) were formed during EuroMaidan and I couldn't help but think that the last time sotnias were formed was during the war by the UPA...The UPA slogan "Glory to Ukraine" and response "Glory to the Heroes" as well as the UPA songs sounded from maidan's across the country, and the black and red UPA flags flew next to the yellow and blue ones. There are in fact a lot more parallels between WWII and EuroMaidan/ the Russian invasion...And once we finally had a taste of victory, finally ousted the corrupt president, finally felt we had a chance to completely reboot the country, root out the Soviet mentality once and for all."- Areta Kovalsky
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