Giving the name of Sheptytsky to the city — is another reason to resume consideration at the Yad Vashem of the issue of recognizing Andrey Sheptytsky as Righteous Among the Nations
A city in Lviv region, which was part of the USSR for the least time — 40 years, will be named after Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) Andrey Sheptytsky. During the exchange of territories with Poland, Krystynopil became part of the Soviet Union only in 1951 and was renamed into Chervonohrad.
On August 1, 1990, all-Ukrainian Leninopad (Lenin-o-fall) started In the future city of Sheptytsky, a month and a half before the dismantling of the monument in Lviv and a year before the proclamation of independence of Ukraine.
Here in 1892, in St. George Basilian Monastery, 27-year-old Count Roman Alexander Maria Sheptytsky became a monk, after a while receiving the name Andrey.
I hope that giving the name of Sheptytsky to the city will serve as another reason to resume consideration at the Yad Vashem — The World Holocaust Remembrance Center of the issue of recognizing Andrey Sheptytsky as Righteous Among the Nations. The Jewish Confederation of Ukraine has been advocating for many years for his name to be included in the list of the Righteous Among the Nations.
Sheptytsky himself personally sheltered more than one Jew in his chambers during the Holocaust. Several hundred were rescued at his instruction in monasteries in Western Ukraine.
The debate over Sheptytsky has been going on at Yad Vashem since the 1960s.
The Metropolitan has been before denied the title of Righteous on the accusations of him allegedly collaborating with the Nazi regime. However, a letter found in the Vatican in 2020 completely refutes this claim. Addressing Pope Pius XII in that letter, Andrey Sheptytsky was describing Nazi atrocities on the territory of Ukraine against Jews.
“Not every European nation had such a person who, holding a high position in the church, could protest against Nazism, openly condemned the Holocaust, saved people, and moreover, positively, systematically opposed any violence,” I agree with Yaroslav Hrytsak, a professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University.
