Ukrainian Cossack leader conducted his struggle from Kristianstad

From the middle of the 17th century Ukraine was a Russian vassal state. The Ukrainian people dreamed of a land that was free. So people allied themselves with Karl XII.

But the Swedish army lost the war at Poltava in 1709. Karl XII and some of his soldiers managed to escape to Bender.

Filip Orlik, 37, goes to Bender as well. In Bender he is elected the Ukrainian head of state. Orlik takes part in drawing up Ukraine's first written constitution, probably the first European constitution based on the principle of the sharing of power (to prevent a dictatorship, power can be divided into executive power, legislative power and judicial power). Filip Orlik had a strong sense of freedom.

When Karl XII returns home Orlik has no choice. He goes into exile and accompanies him. Between 1716 1nd 1719 Orlik lived in Kristianstad, in the property where Hennes & Mauritz used to have their shop on Lilla Torg. The group of refugees comprised Orlik's family (his wife Anna and seven children), a large part of the Ukrainian government and among others a number of Ukrainian soldiers, a total of 39 persons.

During Orlik's four years in Kristianstad Allön became a centre for the Ukrainian struggle for independence against Tsar Peter, a dictator on a par with Putin.

Karl XII dies in 1718. Orlik has to leave Kristianstad. He dies in Moldavia in 1742. He never forgot what Kristianstad meant for the Ukrainian struggle for independence. Nor did he forget that one of his children lies buried in the old cemetery in Kristianstad.