TNMU Students Explore the History of the UPA
On October 14, 2024, to commemorate the 82nd anniversary of the UPA founding (Ukrainian Insurgent Army), students from the Medical Faculty (MM-109, MM-108, MM-107), along with their curators — Associate Professor of the General Chemistry Department Iryna Bekus and Associate Professors of the Ukrainian Language Department Marta Rudenko and Nadiia Oliinyk — attended an interesting and informative meeting with Volodymyr Pukach, head of the modern history department at the Ternopil Regional Museum of Local Lore. He delivered a lecture “The Uniform, Equipment, and Weapons of the UPA.”
Mr. Volodymyr shared the history of the UPA’s founding, discussing the remarkable heroes of that time, whose names are honored by Ukrainians today: Yevhen Konovalets, Yaroslav Stetsko, Roman Shukhevych, Stepan Bandera, Petro Oliinyk, and others. The audience listened with particular interest as Volodymyr Pukach familiarized them with the equipment and weapons of that era.
Students had the opportunity to immerse themselves in the time when Ukrainian independence was born. It is crucial today to know the truth about one’s history, as many facts are distorted and misrepresented through hostile propaganda.
A highlight of the event was the performance by the university choir, whose members sang the song “For Ukraine, for Its Freedom” (lyrics by Mykola Voronyi). This song inspired the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen and the Sich soldiers of Transcarpathian Ukraine, later motivating the soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, and today serves as a musical inspiration for the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The event concluded positively with a performance by MM-104 student Valentyna Tumanova, singing “Ukraine Will Win.”
Students and faculty shared memories they heard from their relatives, their impressions of what they had learned, and compared the resistance of Ukrainians then and now.
We sincerely thank the student choir members and choir director Anton Shupa, Valentyna Tumanova for participating in the event, Volodymyr Pukach and the director of the Ternopil Regional Museum of Local Lore Yarema Shatarsky for their continuous support and cooperation, as well as the staff and director of the TNMU library Olena Protsiv.