SERVUS to those who live, dream, and create

ZHYTOMYR – A young historian, journalist and writer, Sviatoslav Lypovetsky is well-known to The Day’s readers due to, in particular, his articles about the Ukrainian liberation struggle. His main research topic is the activities of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Last year he wrote and published the book Red and Black. 100 Banderite Stories. Last weekend, at a student dormitory in Zhytomyr, he presented a new collection Banderites. Fragments of their Activities and Fight, which was published by the Ukrainian Publishing Union as a part of the project SERVUS, which was launched by the author and his associates. The event, which is de­di­cated to the 70th anniversary of the OUN’s Revolutionary Leadership faction’s foundation, was organized by the local branch of the Nationalist Youth Congress. The book includes eighteen chapters that chronologically cover the period from 1917 to our days, complete with almost 100 pages of supplements. The text is always accompanied by photographs. The abundance of source material, as well as the popular and concise presentation allow the reader to get acquainted with the origins, major events and heroes of the struggle which was led by the OUN. This collection is quickly and easily read. The supplements, containing key ideological documents of this powerful organization (especially interesting because they convey the real views of their authors), are very appropriate; they include 44 rules of life, of which the 22nd rule seems particularly relevant today: “Know that he who is not broken by failures, but has the courage to rise after falls and strives hard to reach his goal, wins in the fight.” Lypovetsky himself told The Day that the book targets, first of all, young people. Senior lecturer of the History of Ukraine Department, Zhytomyr State University Hennadii Makhorin said that the new book is valuable primarily because it portrays a Ukrainian pantheon of heroes, fighters for the independent statehood of our country.

On the book’s back cover, the abovementioned project’s founders indicate that by launching it, they want to convey a kind of greeting (in the first half of the twentieth century in Eastern Europe, the word “servus” was a widespread greeting among Ukrainian university and grammar school students) to all those who lived, dreamed, created before us.