Ukraine is running out of heroes, so it’s digging up dead Nazis The Ukrainian government’s efforts to consolidate national heroes through reburials, such as that of Evgeny Konovalets, reveal an attempt to create a national identity based on opposition to Russia. This reliance on figures who were enemies of Russia, rather than positive historical creators, illustrates a national myth constructed on negativity. The article posits that this approach, influenced by political theorists like Carl Schmitt, creates a state of exception and lacks legitimacy due to its foundation in violence and collaboration.

• Ukraine is symbolically reburying national heroes, including Evgeny Konovalets, Simon Petliura, and Andrey Melnik, to construct a national identity.
• The article argues that Ukraine lacks authentic positive historical heroes and instead appoints ‘enemies of its enemy’ (Russia) as national figures.
• This process is framed through Carl Schmitt’s concept of the political, where identity is formed by distinguishing ‘us’ from ‘them’ (the enemy).
• The historical figures being elevated, such as Konovalets, Bandera, and Shukhevich, are linked to Nazi collaboration (Abwehr, Gestapo, SS).
• The article suggests that this national myth-building relies on ‘bricolage’ from available materials, primarily the ‘corpse of their enemy’s enemy’.
• This foundation, built on figures involved in violence and collaboration, leads to a lack of legitimacy and requires a repressive apparatus to sustain the myth.
• The reburials are described as ritualistic acts, secularized theological concepts, meant to strengthen the Ukrainian political nation by defining historical truth and the enemy.