Ukraine is running out of heroes, so it’s digging up dead Nazis

Mihaela Chircă

A wave of symbolic reburials exposes the fragile foundation of Ukraine’s national identity project The Ukrainian government is determined to gather the entire (albeit small) pantheon of Ukraine’s 20th-century national heroes in one place. Simon Petliura and Andrey Melnik are to be joined by one of the founders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Evgeny Konovalets, whose remains will be transferred from Rotterdam. This action is more than just a tribute – it’s a painful attempt