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Omelian Kovch

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Since 2010, the Foundation has been institutionally supporting the Committee for the
Remembrance of the Blessed Martyr Omelian Kovch, with which it launched a large-scale
program to bring the truth about the sacrificial feat of Ukrainian priest Omelian Kovch to
Ukrainians and the world.


'Pastor of Maidanek' - Father Kovch was sent to the Maidanek concentration camp for rescuing
Jews during the Holocaust. He refused to be released from the concentration camp, which the
Nazis offered him in exchange for a written commitment not to help Jews anymore, and died on
Maidanek on March 25, 1944.


Important stages in the implementation of the Program were:

  • construction of a granite obelisk to Omelian Kovch at the Maidanek Concentration Camp Museum, Republic of Poland (2008);

  • construction of a monument to Father Omelian Kovch in the town of Peremyshliany, Ukraine, 2012;

  • production and organization of the grand opening of the memorial plaque to Andrey Sheptytsky in Kyiv (Teacher's House);

  • Solemn Ceremonies of awarding the honors of the Blessed Martyr Omelian Kovch, in 2010-2021, Kyiv (three times), Lutsk, Dnipro, Rome (twice), Lviv, Lublin (Poland).

 

The award is presented annually to outstanding individuals and organizations for significant

contribution to the cause of ecumenical dialogue, dialogue of cultures and peoples, interreligious

and interethnic understanding, socio-charitable and charitable activities, for personal life

example of sacrifice and humanism, heroic deeds. The winners of the award were Lina

Kostenko, Eugene Sverstiuk, Aaron Weiss, the community of St. Egidiy from Rome, Moisey

Fishbein, Ukrainian Catholic University, Marko and Uliana Suprun, Oksana Zabuzhko, Timothy

Snyder, Yana Zinkevych, Agnieszka Holland, Oleg Sents’ov and others.

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  • preparation and publication of the book 'The Ark of Father Kovch' in Ukrainian, English and

  • Polish (2016-2021);

  • an important stage in the activities of the Foundation was the implementation of the project of construction of a memorial to Father Kovch near the former Maidanek concentration camp in the Polish city of Lublin in 2016-2021;

 

This large international project was implemented with the help of philanthropists from around the world, including the Canadian Temerty Foundation(donated $ 70,000), dozens of Ukrainian and Polish patrons.

​

The project was joined by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Lublin City Hall. The
Ukrainian Cultural Foundation provided a grant of UAH 1 million. The solemn consecration and
unveiling of the monument to Omelian Kovch took place on October 4, 2021 with the
participation of Blessed Sviatoslav, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba and
other distinguished guests from Ukraine, Poland and Germany. Congratulatory letters from the
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej
Duda were read on the occasion of the monument unveiling.

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