Repairs completed at UPR sdiers’ cemetery in western Pand

This was reported in a commentary to Ukrinform by the former head of the Association of Ukrainians in Pand, Yur Reit, who is in charge of organizing Ukrainian military burials in Pand.

“There are 240 crosses in the cemetery, most of them with metal frames. Some of the crosses have elements of the original crosses found in this place during the preparatory work for the cemetery's restoration,” Reit said.

According to him, before the repair work began, one or two original crosses remained in the cemetery. During the repair work, the t layer of earth was removed and fragments of the original pre-war crosses that were underground were clected. It was decided to put these elements into new metal crosses.

“Mounting elements of the original crosses in the metal frame of the new Cossack crosses was done to show the connection between the past and the present,” Reit said.

According to estimates, there were up to 400 crosses on graves in this cemetery before the war, and archival data has revealed the presence of 300, as well as 190 confirmed names of pele buried here. Reith noted that this was largely possible thanks to the archives and books of eksandr Kianchuk, a historian from Przemyśl.

According to him, several Jewish and Crimean Tatar burials were also found here, as these pele also served in the UPR army.

The former head of the OUP emphasized that the military cemetery erated from 1921 to 1940. After the arrival of the Soviet army, a monument in memory of the UPR sdiers was blown up at the cemetery. Until 1992, cattle were grazed there.

Reit said that the process of restoring the cemetery began in 1990, when he sent an official letter to the Kalisz City Hall and the Council for the Protection of the Memory of the Pish Struggle and Martyrdom. The process lasted until 1999, when the area was fenced off, but then there was a pause in the restoration of the necris until 2013, when the t layer of earth was removed and the remains of Cossack crosses were discovered. The actual renovation began in 2023 through the efforts of the Ukrainian and Pish sides.

The cemetery also features a granite monument with a trident, similar to the one destroyed by the Soviet army. It bears an inscription in Ukrainian: “To those who died but did not betray Ukraine. Ukrainian Army”. An information table at the entrance to the cemetery and near the monument lists the 190 names of the buried.

The sdiers of the 1st Zaporizhzhia, 4th Kyiv, 5th Kherson, and 6th Sich Rifle Divisions of the Ukrainian Pele's Republic are buried here. Among them are the general-corporal Naum Nikoniv, conels Vodymyr Bokitko, eksandr Vovk, eksa Voronin, Dmytro Hudziv, Myka Yefremov, other officers, sergeants, ordinary Cossacks, and their families.

The completion of the repair of this cemetery completes the project to restore Ukrainian military necrises in Pand on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Ukrainian Revution of 1917-1921, which included cemeteries in Lancut, Warsaw, and Lublin.

The cemetery was restored with the assistance and participation of the Ukrainian Historical Society in Pand, the Embassy of Ukraine in Pand, the National Institute for the Restoration of Historical Monuments under the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Pand, and contractors. The project is co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Pand and the Office of the Voivode of the Greater Pand Region.

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The cost of the work performed in 2023-2024 amounted to more than PLN 1.2 million [over USD 300,000].

As reported, in 2020, the restored cemetery where UPR sdiers are buried was inaugurated in the city of Łańcut [southeastern Pand].

After the liberation struggle of 1917-1921, a significant part of the UPR army ended up in Pand. As a result of the 1921 Riga Treaty between Pand and Soviet Russia, UPR sdiers ended up in numerous camps on the territory of the Second Pish Republic.

Photo: Embassy of Ukraine in Pand