The film “Rotterdam, May 1958”: on video – S. Bandera, S. Lenkavskyj, A. Melnyk and others

This is not the first time that film footage featuring Stepan Bandera has been shown. In 1998, director Yurii Lukanov used it in the film “Three Loves of Stepan Bandera.”

But the film itself was not made public. This film, a reportage about the commemoration of the founder of the OUN, Yevhen Konovalets, on the 20th anniversary of his death, is stored in the Stepan Bandera Museum of the Ukrainian Liberation Struggle in London. It was not described in the museum’s catalogue. It was stored in a cabinet with the personal belongings of the OUN Leader. The archivist’s attention was drawn to the inscription: “Rotterdam, May 1958. Silent.” So the film…

Thanks to the selfless help of Ulyana and Mark Suprun, the film was digitised in London in December 2025 in the highest quality (33 GB). It was reformatted into MP4 for posting on the online resources of the OUN Archive.

We are now putting it on display for public use. In addition to the individuals named in the title, the tape features many other people, including participants in the Ukrainian Liberation Movement, public figures from the Ukrainian diaspora, priests, and members of youth organisations. The OUN Archive would be grateful to anyone who can help identify these individuals (please write to our Facebook page in private).

In the title frame, from left to right: Hryhoriy Drabat (behind him, in half-face, engineer V. Oleskiv, – according to other sources – Tysyachnyj), Stepan Bandera, Daria Rebet (behind her is Bandera’s personal bodyguard – Vasyl Ninovskyj), Stepan Lenkavskyj.