Today the Heroes’ Day is celebrated in Ukraine.

This day was initiated by the Ukrainian Nationalists’ Organization (OUN) in 1941, in order to commemorate the freedom fighters who fought for the independence of Ukraine and for the right of Ukrainians to freely choose their own future.

The 23rd of May date was also chosen on purpose. In May, in the different years, many freedom fighters have lain their lives for the highest goal, including Simon Petluyra, Yevgen Konovalets and Mykola Michnovskyi.

Let us on this day remember the heroes, which have already given their lives for our freedom and those who display heroism when protecting our country right now.

“Heroism’s – in hearts of free ones. To the slaves it is not given”. Hero of Ukraine Volodymyr Zhemchugov.

The Heroes’ Day was officially initiated by the declaration of II Great OUN Gathering that took place in May 1941 in Krakow: “The obligatory holidays in our organization are: The Day of Unity, 22th of January; the Day of Heroes of Revolution, on the day of 23rd of May; and The Freedom Fighters’ Day, 31th of August”.

At first, people celebrated the Heroes’ Day in hiding but with the gain of Ukrainian independence, it became known more and more widely.

It became especially important after the beginning of russian-Ukrainian war when the new heroes are protecting our Motherland.

New times are forming new traditions. The Heroes’ Day is not only an opportunity to pay respects to those who died for freedom of Ukraine, but also to pay attention to alive heroes, which have returned from war – to those who continued to live and stand, gained victory over the enemy and even over themselves, and are now making Ukraine a blooming country. Such people are the most noble example for others.

“If even over one tiny patch of Ukrainian land there rules an evil invader – then all the generations of Ukrainians have to go to war, until that last patch is freed”.
This citation of Mykola Michnovsky will always be in our memory.

“Heroism is the free-willing choice to go on fighting in that time when the majority are ready to put the hands down and give up in order not to bring harm upon themselves”. – “cyborg”, the National Hero of Ukraine, Oleksandr Tereschenko.

“In war, hero is the one who will never betray, on whom you can depend and who will always shield you. It’s the one who shall rise up, above one’s weakness – and shall go on”. – participant of “Invictus Games” Dmytro Kotov.

“For me heroes are not only those who were fighting bravely. But also those, who managed to come back, to find themselves and with this experience reach new horizons. The biggest problem after the war is to live with the new sense of self.” – the founder of “Hospitalliers”, National Hero of Ukraine Yana Zinkevych.

Remember: worthy of one state is only the nation, which respects and keeps the memory of its sons and daughters, who have given their lives for its freedom.