Lviv city major urged western press not to hang over the city the “Nazi” label 26.04.2012

Lviv city Major Andriy Sadovyy appealed to European journalists with an open letter where he urged not use “soviet propaganda stamps from the past and various labels” regarding Lviv.

“Lviv and Western Ukraine as a whole in the XX century became the scene of horrible crimes of the two totalitarian systems – Nazi and communist. As a consequence “red” and “brown” terror in the city and the region there had died the millions of Ukrainians, Jewish, Polish and representatives of other nationalities. The memory of these victims is alive, in the city there are still living witnesses of those crimes.

At the same time, in soviet time communist propaganda consciously and systematically worked on to stick to the Ukrainian national movement label of “Nazi collaborators”. By this, the biggest “crime” of Galician Ukrainians, on the communists thought, was desperate resistance to soviet regime. After the first communist power experience in 1939-1941 Ukrainians really were uprising against the new Soviet occupation, protecting their cities and towns from new terror of communist’s special services. Fight of Ukrainian opposition army first against Nazi and after against the soviet power lasted from 1943 and till the beginning of 50s,” is told in Lviv city major’s Andrij Sadovui letter to European mass-media.

Thus, Lviv major “asked to representatives of western media not to use soviet propaganda stamps from the past and various labels. Graffiti with swastika on the wall can appear in any city of Europe. As in any civilized city, in Lviv they are immediately eliminated, like other offensive symbols. I am sure that numerous fans and journalists, who will come to Lviv on Euro 2012, can on their own eyes assure that Lviv is a hospitable and friendly city, the last undiscovered treasure of Europe”.

It should be reminded that earlier German channel RBB published the story about Lviv as one of host cities of the Euro 2012 under the name “Football under the swastika”. In the story German journalists pictured Lviv as a place of domination of Nazi ideology and showed several frames with the swastika on the walls.