By Jasmin Soehner

A nice café in the Armenian street of Lviv – all of our volunteers are sitting around a table, sipping at their excellent coffees or hot chocolates, listening attentively to a young man from Lviv, whom we want to tell us something about new (Western) Ukrainian history. Weather is fine, atmosphere relaxed, translator and camp leader Galya ready for translating our expert’s Ukrainian words into English. Nice guy, by look the kind of alternative people you expect to be interested in history and its critical analysis. Russian against Polish-Latvian Empire, Hetman, Bohdan Chelmnizkij, Cossacks fly past our eyes.

Till that moment I am fascinated by the huge knowledge of Andreij and wait for one of the most controversial topics of Ukrainian history: beginning of 20th century, Ukrainian Resistance Army (UPA), fighting against both German fascist and Russian Red Army.
I have questions, please answer!

“Why did the UPA first cooperate with Hitler?”
-“Because they thought that Germany would allow them to have an independent Ukraine, after 1921 for the first time in history.”
-“I can understand, but if they also helped German occupants in the field of police, did they not have to help them with finding Jewish inhabitants in town?”
-“I think, it is better, if under occupation, the police is of your people; and no, there were no Jewish persons killed on purpose in Lviv when the Germans came.”

I start wondering. After several questions I quit wondering. Andreij is nice, but probable his national self-confidence is weak and therefore he over exaggerates Ukrainian influence and meaning and absorbs everything good from other cultures and forgets Ukrainian mistakes.
“Great Russian literates were not real Russians.”
“Hungary and Poland always tried to occupy Ukraine.” ( probably, but who is without sin?)
“Krakow is Ukrainian.”

This was the sentence too much. – But he still seems nice and the evening ends with a beautiful walk through Lviv´s streets.
At our day of departure, he is at the train station, saying good bye and giving presents and visit cards. Church art of Ukraine.
In the train I look at the visit card: Andreij, head of the Lviv “Youth of Ukrainian Nationalists”. I sigh.