To mark Remembrance Day and the victory over Nazism in World War II, an informative historical lecture titled “The Ukrainian Nationalist Underground During World War II” was held for young people and residents of the Donetsk region, organized by the Department of Family, Youth, and Mass Events for National-Patriotic Education of the Regional State Administration in collaboration with the educational space “Charter – Hub.”
The speaker at the event was Iryna Reva, chief specialist of the Second Interregional Territorial Department for the Implementation of National Memory Policy in the Regions and Subordinate Institutions of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory. She noted that for a long time, there was a myth that the resistance movement was concentrated exclusively in western Ukraine. However, modern research proves that Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Luhansk regions became the arena of a dramatic struggle by the nationalist underground.
Lilia Zolkina, head of the Department of Family, Youth, and Mass Events for National-Patriotic Education at the regional state administration, also addressed the event with a welcoming speech, noting: “Today, as we are once again forced to take up arms to defend our sovereignty, the experience of the underground fighters of the last century becomes a source of strength for us and helps us understand the true price of freedom. So may this lecture help us better understand our roots, rethink the role of our regions in the great liberation struggle, and reaffirm once again: we are a nation of victors.”
Representatives of the newly formed Youth Council under the Regional State Administration also joined the event. For the region’s young leaders, this provided an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the continuity of Ukraine’s struggle for independence.
During the lecture, participants examined in detail the activities of underground cells operating under dual pressure—Nazi occupation and Soviet terror. For today’s youth, who are currently witnessing a new struggle for sovereignty, these pages of history were a true revelation.