The remains of Maria Fedak, the mother of the wives of OUN leaders Konovalets and Melnyk, were exhumed in Luxembourg. She will be reburied in Ukraine

On August 10, the exhumation of the ashes of Maria Fedak — the mother of the wives of OUN leaders Sofia Melnyk and Olha Konovalets — took place at the Bonavois cemetery in Luxembourg.

This was reported by the head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Bohdan Chervak.

He said that Maria Fedak was the wife of a prominent Lviv lawyer Stepan Fedak, and the mother of eight children, whom she raised "in the spirit of uncompromising nationalism".

"Fate connected Maria with the most important figures of the Ukrainian 20th century: her daughter Olha married the founder of OUN Yevhen Konovalets, and the younger Sofia linked her life with his successor Andriy Melnyk," Chervak noted.

Maria, along with her daughter Sophiaʼs family, moved to Luxembourg during World War II. She died there.

Chervak adds that her grave at the city cemetery "Bonnevois" became a sacred place for Andriy and Sofia Melnyk. He said, that the head of OUN greatly respected his mother-in-law, "considering her the embodiment of a noble Ukrainian mother who gave everything for the future of Ukraine".

When Melnyk himself died in 1964, he was buried next to Maria, and a few decades later, in 1990, Sofia Fedak was buried there as well.

"For almost sixty years, this modest family grave in the Luxembourg cemetery "Bonnevois" — where Maria Fedak, Andriy and Sofia Melnyk rested side by side — remained a place of pilgrimage for Ukrainians from all over the world. However, the idea of returning the leaders of the liberation struggle to their native land never faded," said the head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.

Now Maria Fedak will be reburied in Lviv next to her husband Stepan.

• At the end of May, the leader of OUN — Colonel of the UNR Army Andriy Melnyk — and his wife Sofia Fedak-Melnyk were reburied at the National Military Memorial Cemetery near Kyiv. And in August, another leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Yevhen Konovalets was reburied there.

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