Welcome back to the 1940's!

If you thought that the former republics of the former Soviet Union were willing participants in the ordeal, I am about to blow your bubble. Ukraine, for one, desperately tried to gain independence in both World Wars, but was squished from all sides by the evils of the day. And when fighting in the open was not feasible, the army of volunteers went underground. The movement was most prominent in the 1940's, with the land changing hands from Nazis to the Soviets and back. The movement continued even after the war was over and the Soviets firmly established themselves in Western Ukraine.

By the time I was born, the movement became a living legend. Hush-hushed by the Soviets, as if it never happened, it lived on in the hearts of people, especially the families of those that have given their lives for independence of Ukraine.

When Ukraine became indeed independent, these forgotten heroes finally got to be honored the way they should be. Burial sites established, monuments erected. People once again began to freely talk about the heroes that have fought for our freedom.

On my last trip home, it warmed my heart to find that the underground movement of the 1940's has become quite a popular cultural phenomenon. How did this entire secret army exist with the (much larger) foreign military all around?

You can see for yourself in the most popular bar in my home city. You knock on the door. A small window in the door opens. "Password," they say. "Honor to Ukraine!" you answer. "Honor to the heros! Are there any Russians among you?" they ask. "No!" you answer. The door opens. A man in a uniform with a rifle in his hand examines you and looks you square in the eye. He opens a door that is in fact a bookcase and leads you into a small room downstairs. There you are seated at an old-timey wooden table and served food and drinks the underground military lived on: homemade vodka, pyrogy, pork.

Honey vodka is perhaps my favorite type of old-Ukrainian drinks; it is what it sounds like: liquid honey infused with alcohol - yum! Pork fat (salo) is something that was definitely in high use back than as it packed a ton of calories in a small space and could last a long time without refrigeration; Ukrainians are frequently made fun of for eating salo, even though it is more of a novelty these days. The bar also accurately represented another fact from those days: all parts of an animal would be put to use as you couldn't afford to waste anything. My American husband and I, therefore, for the first time in our lives tried fried pork ears. They tasted fried and kind of rubbery, but not as repulsive as I would have imagined (I couldn't get out of trying them after making Hubby try some ;)

That plus a couple of friends I have known since I was, um, in kindergarten, made for an excellent evening I am sure to remember for years to come.