Glory to Ukraine

Ukrainian Glory monument in Kharkiv

"Glory to Ukraine" (Ukrainian: Слава Україні! Героям слава!, Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava!; translated as: Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!) is a Ukrainian national salute. It appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in different variations, when it became wildly popular among ethnic Ukrainians during the Ukrainian War of Independence of 1917–1921.^[1]

History[]

Prehistory[]

The phrase "glory of Ukraine" has been used at least since the time of Taras Shevchenko. In his poem "To Osnovyanenko" («До Основ'яненка»; 1840, in the version of 1860) Shevchenko wrote:^[2]

Our thought, our song
Will not die, will not perish…
Oh there, people, is our glory,
Glory to Ukraine!

The first known mention of the slogan "Glory to Ukraine!" with the answer "Glory all around the earth!" is associated with the environment of the Kharkiv Ukrainian student community of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.^[3]

20th century[]

World War II-era monument in memory of UPA partisans with inscription "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes!", in place of the Janowa Dolina massacre, Bazaltove, Ukraine

The phrase “Slava Ukraini!” (Glory to Ukraine!) first appeared in different military formations during the Ukrainian War of Independence (from 1917 to 1921).^[4] It became part of the lexicon of Ukrainian nationalists in the 1920s.^{[4][nb 1]}

The modern response "Heroiam slava!" (Glory to the heroes!) appeared in the 1930s among members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) who started using this slogan^[4] to commemorate veterans of the 1918–1921 Ukrainian-Soviet War among which was leader of OUN Colonel Yevhen Konovalets. The greeting Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the heroes! became an official slogan of Stepan Bandera's OUN-B in April 1941.^[5][4] Popular before the World War II worldwide, Ukrainian nationalists often used it in addition to a roman salute.^[6]

The slogan "Geroyam Slava" (Glory to the heroes!) is not a unique one and could also be found on Soviet monuments commemorating those who perished in the World War II. Heroes of the World War I, modern Russia as its predecessor Soviet Union chooses to ignore.

“Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava!" became very popular in the 1940s and 1950s when the OUN/UPA partisan movement fighting against the Soviet occupiers swept across most of western Ukraine.^{[citation needed]} "Glory to the heroes!" was also used by the Kuban Cossacks dating back to at least 1944 with the return of the Cossack Rebel Army who fought with the UPA.^[7]

In the late 1980s and early 1990s the slogan began to be heard at rallies and demonstrations.^[4] After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, the phrase "Glory to Ukraine" became a common patriotic slogan. In 1995, President of the United States Bill Clinton used the phrase in his speech in Kyiv (together with "God bless America").^[8]

21st century[]

The phrase has undergone a resurgence in recent times, becoming a popular and prominent refrain during the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.^[9] In September 2014, after addressing a gathering of the United States Congress in Washington, D.C., Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko concluded his speech by uttering the phrase.^[10]

It is also commonly used in greeting to Ukraine from the world leaders.^[11]

On July 10, 2018, Ukrainian supporters flooded the Facebook page of football governing body FIFA with over 158,000 comments, most saying "Glory to Ukraine", after FIFA fined Croatia's assistant coach for a video in which he used the same slogan after Croatia's World Cup victory. Russia alleged that the chant has ultra-nationalist connotations, as it was popularised by World War II era groups, such as the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), who collaborated with the Nazis.^[12] The Football Federation of Ukraine said in a statement that "Glory to Ukraine is a commonly used greeting in Ukraine ... (and) should not be interpreted as an act of aggression or provocation".^[13]

On 9 August 2018 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced that Glory to Ukraine will be the official greeting of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, replacing Hello Comrades (Вітаю товариші, Vitayu tovaryshi).^[14] The greeting was used during the Kyiv Independence Day Parade on 24 August 2018.^[15] The Ukrainian parliament approved the President's bill on this (in its first reading) on 6 September and on 4 October 2018.^[16] Parliament also made Glory to Ukraine the official greeting of the National Police of Ukraine.^[17]

On 7 September 2018, the Ukrainian national football team wore the phrase on their kits, during a UEFA Nations League match with the Czech Republic.^[18] The phrase was deemed "too political and militaristic" by UEFA who ordered the Ukrainian Association of Football to remove it.^[19]

Controversies[]

In the Soviet Union the slogan “Slava Ukraini!” was forbidden and discredited via a decades-long propaganda campaign alongside the diaspora Ukrainian nationalists who used it.^[9][4] They were dubbed "Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists", "Banderites", and "Nazi henchmen" by Soviet authorities.^[9] Modern Russia followed the similar trend when the slogan was characterised as a fascist slogan, notably during the Ukrainian crisis.^[20]

Beyond the border of Europe, the song Glory to Hong Kong drew inspiration from the slogan for use in the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.^[21] This was received extremely negatively in mainland China, with the Chinese accusing Ukraine of meddling in Hong Kong affairs under the order of the United States, and was not censored by the Great Firewall of the Chinese government.^[22][23]

See also[]

• Glory to Hong Kong, which is influenced by the slogan.

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

• Європа ��аговорила