Women in the Armed
Ukrainian Underground, 1942-1954
By
Orest Zakydalsky
On October 22, at the Munk Centre for Global
Affairs at the
Ms. Petrenko began her
lecture by describing the current state of historiography and popular memory of
the Ukrainian underground – the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and
women’s participation in the movement. She pointed out that both historiography
and popular memory are highly politicized – along East/West lines in
Ms. Petrenko’s analysis
began with
the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), which reached their
peak in popularity in the mid-1930s. West Ukrainian youth participated actively
in OUN, and women had an important role in this organization. Ms.
Petrenko argued that women’s participation at in the Ukrainian underground at
this stage could be explained by political goals and national motivations.
Thus, during this stage, the reasons why women engaged in the underground can
be seen to be quite compatible with contemporary popular memory. With the
outbreak of World War II, motivations for women’s participation in the
underground became much more complex.
If in the 1930s, women participated in the
underground for political, and social, reasons, during the war the motivations
were much more multifaceted. Many women participated because their husbands had
joined the underground. In the most destructive war in human history, the most
powerful motivation for women who cooperated with and participated in the
underground was a strategy of survival. The overwhelming majority of women who
participated in the underground during the war did so in the medical services.
Another important role women fulfilled was in the field of communications.
Because of the everyday errands that women were expected to run, they had a
certain ‘inconspicuousness’ that made them suited to the role of messengers.
Women in this role were therefore well-informed about lines of communication,
hiding places of leaders, commanders and other messengers. They thus became
important targets for Soviet counterinsurgency formations. “The Soviet security
apparatus was quick to factor in women’s vulnerability and in turn
instrumentalised women’s familial ties, frequently forcing women to collaborate
with the Soviet fight against the Ukrainian national movement. NKVD-KGB
officers realised that the motivation of most women had to do much less with
patriotic feeling than with family and other pragmatic ties, and not least,
with simple survival calculations.” Ms. Petrenko
pointed out that NKVD-KGB tactics against women were much the same as
against men; if psychological pressure, blackmail, or other tactics did not
deliver co-operation, women were tortured and beaten.
As the UPA security
service became aware of the tactics of Soviet forces vis--vis female
members, UPA adjusted their tactics. Ms. Petrenko said, “the rebels’
wives or partners who were not formally members of the organized underground
were subjected to thorough searches by the UPA security services. Their
reliability was tested prior to marriage. Meetings with women outside security
work was viewed with disapproval. Additionally, women who were considered
traitors were punished with particular severity. Falling into that category
does not appear to have been particularly difficult: not only collaboration
with the Soviet security apparatus, but mere suspicion of passing information
over to the enemy or simply a kind gesture to a Soviet soldier sufficed.”
It is perhaps not surprising
that the traditional narrative of heroic resistance and martyrdom about women’s
participation in the underground that has dominated public consciousness in
PHOTO
Olena Petrenko