Hero Or Villian? Historical Ukrainian Figure Symbolizes Today's Feud
Let's start with the basics: Stepan Bandera was born in 1909 in what is now western Ukraine. In 1959, the Soviet Union's KGB poisoned Bandera with cyanide and he died in Munich, West Germany.
Between those two dates, black and white quickly fades to gray.
In western Ukraine, many see him as a freedom fighter who battled domination by the Soviet Union and other European powers before and during World War II. They see themselves as the heirs to Bandera's struggle.
In eastern Ukraine, Bandera has entirely different connotations. Pro-Russian separatists see him as an ally of Hitler, a fascist who was responsible for killing tens of thousands.
This is no dusty, historical debate. His name has been on Ukrainian lips since political turmoil began shaking the country last winter. More than a half-century after his death, he is one of the most important and divisive characters in Ukraine's current drama.
"Everybody knows Bandera took the side of fascist Germany during World War Two," said a musician named Valery, when asked about Bandera in the eastern city of Donetsk.
So which was he: Freedom fighter or fascist? Hero or villain?
"There are few topics in contemporary European modern history which are so divisive and (contentious) as the status of Stepan Bandera," says historian Per Rudling of the University of Lund, in Sweden.
In the 1930s, Bandera fought for Ukrainian independence. Ukrainian lands were divided between huge, powerful neighbors. Germany, Poland, and the Soviet Union all saw Ukraine as a useful tool.
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