Ukraine’s president did an odd thing recently. See “Zelensky’s decision to name military unit after WWII-era Ukrainia...

Ukraine’s president did an odd thing recently. See “Zelensky’s decision to name military unit after WWII-era Ukrainian Insurgent Army sparks outrage in Poland” (The Kyiv Independent) It came up on today’s edition of the podcast Ukraine the Latest, as well. Since the hosts didn’t know a lot about it, I commented on their YouTube channel. I’m sharing that here because I’m unlikely to write anything longer on the issue: The UPA’s history during the war is more ambiguous than even the Polish president’s words assert. During the war, the UPA went in for ethnic cleansing, and they tended to associate Jews with the Soviets. This meant they fought Poles (rulers over large parts of Western Ukraine in the interwar era), Soviet Partisans, and Jews, including by outright eliminating entire villages. For a nuanced look at UPA agency, see John-Paul Himka, Ukrainian Nationalists and the Holocaust (Ibidem, 2021). Of course, tradition-building in militaries is important, and many Western armies still…