From July 19 to 26, 2004, on the territory of the Republic of Poland, an international youth camp "Memory Without Borders" took place, which aimed to restore the cemeteries of soldiers of the Ukrainian People's Army. The organizers of the event from Ukraine were: the All-Ukrainian Youth Public Organization "Young Prosvita", the Volyn organization of the Youth Nationalist Congress, the Lutsk branch of Plast of the National Scout Organization of Ukraine, with the support of the youth department of the Lutsk City Executive Committee. In Poland, the camp was facilitated by ZHP - the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. The first stage of the program took place on September 30 – October 5, 2003. At that time, a group of young people consisting of 10 individuals – members of the YNC and Plast – inspected three cemeteries near the city of Kalisz. Basic order was established at them, and at one of them, research work was conducted to establish the number and location of graves. During the autumn of 2003 – spring of 2004, preparations were made for the second stage – work in archives, reaching agreements with authorities and the church. The tasks of the second stage were: - putting in order the graves of soldiers of the UPR army, collecting and systematizing historical facts and information about their residence; - establishing cooperation with youth and public organizations of Poland, in particular with the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association. The first stage of the work was putting in order the cemetery of soldiers of the UPR army on the outskirts of the city of Kalisz (the former village of Shchyporne). The cemetery was founded by the Germans in 1914. In 1922, during the settlement of the camp for internees by UPR soldiers, 197 soldiers of the UPR army were buried in the cemetery in the village of Shchyporne. In 1922-1923, about 500 more soldiers of the UPR Army were additionally buried in that cemetery. It was precisely this fact that was the main motivation for adopting the initiative in 1923 by the interned Ukrainian soldiers in the Kalisz camp. They, having no subsidies whatsoever, took up the cemetery and the graves of their comrades-in-arms. After World War II, the cemetery was completely devastated (as it remained without care). The graves were leveled with the ground, the cemetery became a wasteland, where only fragments of gravestones with the characteristic trident symbol were visible here and there. In 1992, on the initiative of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland, the reconstruction of the forgotten cemetery began. By the end of the 1990s, a memorial monument had been installed and the cemetery fence had been restored. This year, the camp participants from Ukraine, with the help of the Polish side, led by the commandant of the Polish scout camps of the city of Zgierz – Yaroslav Guretskyi, put the cemetery in order, painted the fence, and made an approximate plan of the cemetery. The tools for the work were provided by the Polish side, and after two days of exhausting work everything fell into place. Blue-and-yellow ribbons appeared on the remains of the crosses, a memorial cross located outside the cemetery but originally its center was put in order. Upon completion of the work, the Ukrainian youth met with the president of the city of Kalisz, which is the oldest city in Poland. After the solemn honoring of the memory of the heroes of Ukraine in the village of Shchyporne, the camp participants visited two more cemeteries in the city of Kalisz: "Na rohattsi" and Maikove. It was pleasant to see the blue-and-yellow ribbons on the crosses, tied during the previous trip. At one of the cemeteries, there is a threat of the disappearance of Ukrainian burials. There is a tradition that if there is no care over a grave for 20 years, other people may be buried in its place. During the next stage of work, a general putting in order of precisely these burials is planned in order to prevent their disappearance. At the end of the trip, the Ukrainian youth met with representatives of the Embassy of Ukraine in the city of Warsaw. Together they visited the Orthodox cemetery and honored the memory of Ukrainian soldiers at the memorial obelisks installed in 2000 by the Embassy of Ukraine in Poland. The camp participants also visited scout homes in the cities of Zgierz and Lodz, and became acquainted with the daily life and customs of Polish scouts. The final meeting with Polish youth took place in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, where a camp of scouts from the cities of Zgierz and Katowice was taking place, to which the Ukrainian side was invited. The history of every country is where its graves are. Our duty is to find and put them in order. On the obelisk in Shchyporne it is written: "To those who died but did not betray their country." We remember you.
Memory without borders
Politics · 01:37 04.03.2011 What was that?...On March 3, another meeting of the executive committee of the Lutsk City Council was held. Almost all agenda items, of which there were 35, were adopted without lengthy discussion and unanimously. | |
Politics · 21:13 04.02.2011 “There are no objections, so everyone is in favor” – decisions at the meeting of the executive committee of Lutsk City Council are adopted without votingThis week at the Lutsk City Council was rich in various events - a session, executive committee meetings, conferences. At times the question even arose - when do local officials still manage to perform their regular work? | |
Politics · 12:38 28.01.2011 Two days of deputies' work are over, but the session is not yet closed: report from the 5th session of Lutsk City CouncilIt is worth noting that there have never been problems with informing the city community about the convening of city council sessions in Lutsk. As soon as the city mayor issued an order convening a session, it was immediately posted on the official website of the city council and also distributed among local media. | |
Politics · 13:04 30.09.2010 The candidate nomination campaign in Volyn began with an intra-party conflict, Bible oaths and “battles in queues”On September 27, the process of nominating candidates for deputies of local councils in multi-mandate electoral districts and candidates for the positions of city mayors began. |