Official delegation of Lutsk City Council has taken part in unveiling of the monument to Blessed Omelyan Kovch in Lublin, the Republic of Poland
On October 4, 2021, a monument to the Ukrainian priest, chaplain of the Ukrainian Galician Army, blessed martyr Omelyan Kovch was unveiled in the partner city of Lublin in the Republic of Poland. Also at the ceremony the victims of the Nazi concentration camp Majdanek were honored.
At the event the Lutsk community was represented by the Secretary of Lutsk City Council Yurii Bezpiatko and the Head of the International Cooperation and Project Activities Department Viktoriia Homonets. Among other guests there were Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba, the Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Sviatoslav Shevchuk, Mayor of the city of Lublin Krzysztof Żuk, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Republic of Poland Andrii Deshchytsia, representatives of Ukrainian cities Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Sumy and others.
Blessed Omelyan Kovch is a significant historical figure who has become a symbol of the unity of Ukrainians, Poles and Jews. He considered his stay in the concentration camp to be a missionary. As a clergyman he served all people, regardless of their social background and religion. "Here we are all equal: Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians, Latvians and Estonians. I am the only priest among them. I can't even imagine what it would be like here without me. Here I see God, who is one for all of us, regardless of our religious differences. Our churches may be different, but the same Great and Almighty God rules us all (…)"- an excerpt from a letter of O. Kovch from the Majdanek concentration camp to his relatives. These words are engraved on the pedestal of the monument in Ukrainian, Polish and Hebrew.
The construction of the monument became possible thanks to the initiative of the Foundation of Spiritual Culture of the Borderland. The authors are the Ukrainians Oleksandr Diachenko (sculpture) and Marta Diachenko (architectural solutions).
During the unveiling of the monument, the Honorary Award named after Blessed Omelyan Kovch was presented to Ukrainian film director, political prisoner Oleg Sentsov, Polish film director Agnieszka Holland, American politician and diplomat Daniel Fried, as well as the Polish Scout Association "Program Movement of Discoverers" and the Ukrainian Scout Organization in Poland "Plast" as co-organizers of the initiative. Award named after Blessed Omelyan Kovch is given for the development of interfaith dialogue, promotion of the unity of peoples.