III

During the German occupation of Ukraine in 1941-44 there was no Ukrainian government on the territory of Ukraine during the war so Ukraine was not a collaborator of Nazi Germany in World War II. For example, the Soviet Union was a Nazi collaborator in the years 1939-41 as were Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Finland. In the years 1941-44 Ukraine was entirely under very strict German administration. There were unsuccessful attempts made by patriotic Ukrainians to establish independent Ukrainian governments in Lviv (Stepan Bandera) and Kiev (Andrew Melnyk). Some Ukrainians fought underground with the Ukrainska Povstanska Armiya (UPA) and 15,000 joined the Waffen-SS Galicia Division. The Ukrainian underground insurgent army fought both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia in the hope of winning independence for Ukraine from both totalitarian regimes.

Ukraine had been thoroughly exploited by the Kremlin and because the totalitarian rule of Stalin had starved millions of Ukrainians in the 1933 Holodomor famine-genocide many Ukrainians were disillusioned with the USSR. In the Battle of Kiev September 1941 this disillusionment was one of the reasons why the biggest military surrender in all history took place. Some 650,000 Red Army soldiers were encircled and surrendered. Many thought that they would be used against Stalin but Hitler allowed millions of Red Army soldiers to be annihilated by hunger and exposure in huge concentration camps during the winter of 1941-42. There were some exceptions to the rapid Soviet retreat: Odessa survived for two and a half months under German siege and Sevastopol in Crimea survived 250 days of siege which included bombardment by two monster German cannons. By comparison, Berlin lasted only eleven days of siege until it surrendered May 2, 1945.

As the war dragged on the shortage of manpower led the Germans to force some Ukrainians to serve in the German Army. Hitler, just a few weeks before his death, was surprised to hear about the Galician Division and expressed the opinion that Ukrainians should not bear German arms. Hitler said: "It’s just insanity for me to give weapons to a Ukrainian Division which isn’t quite trustworthy." In spite of this, two battalions of Ukrainians were forcibly incorporated into the German Army and shipped west to fight the French underground in France. At the first opportunity these Ukrainian soldiers killed their German officers and joined the French underground to fight for the freedom of France.

Recent research in independent Ukraine has revealed that 6,000,000 Ukrainians served in the Red and Soviet Armies, to fight against Hitler’s Nazi Germany and its allies. Soviet historians had set this statistic at 4.5 million. There were four Ukrainian Front Armies, the 1st was 80% Ukrainian and it captured Auschwitz, Berlin and Prague. By comparison, the U.S. Army had 3.1 million soldiers in Europe in 1945.

Forty thousand Ukrainian Canadians served in Canada’s Armed Forces during World War II and tens of thousands of Ukrainian Americans also served in the war. Although Ukrainians played a small part in the Pacific War against Japan, many Ukrainian Canadians defended Hong Kong in December 1941. The hero of Corregidor, Ukrainian American Michael Kalakuka, was honored posthumously. One of the soldiers who raised the American Flag on Mount Suribachi in Iwo Jima in the famous picture was Michael Strank whose family came from Carpatho-Ukraine. Prof. George Kistiakowsky, a Ukrainian American, designed and built the detonator for the atomic bomb used at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Igor Sikorsky, the father of the helicopter, who built the only ones used in WWII, was of Ukrainian ancestry and born in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The Japanese surrendered to a Ukrainian General in the Soviet Army. Individual Ukrainians fought on D-Day in Normandy, at Monte Cassino, Tobruk and El Alamein.

Between Hitler and Stalin, it seems to me, Ukraine was the most devastated European country in World War II with the greatest losses in property and people. The Ukrainian nation took many decades to mend the wounds of war.

It is clear that today the inadequate record of the history of Ukraine and the Ukrainian experience in World War II still needs to be corrected. There is widespread misinformation and disinformation prevalent both in Ukraine and in the English speaking world. For example, two American encyclopedias of WWII do not even have an entry under the name "Ukraine."

There are two projects now in progress that may help. The Ukrainian Canadian Research & Documentation Centre is completing a documentary film with director Slavko Nowytsky of Washington, D.C. For the last five years I have served as Senior Researcher and Film Co-ordinator for this film. It will be the first uncensored documentary film which will focus on Ukraine in the war and will be based on new research.

This Royal Canadian Legion Branch has initiated a project to research and publish a history of Ukraine and the Ukrainian experience in World War II which will be the very first survey history ever in the English language. (As most of you know some books already cover specific topics of Ukraine in the war.) I am now researching this vital volume on Ukraine between Hitler and Stalin in World War II.

I would like to briefly outline the progress since the project started last October. First of all, I would like to report that we have received support for the project from the Shevchenko Foundation in Winnipeg, the Prometheus Foundation in Toronto and the Ukrainian National Federation.

The project is at an early stage of identifying subjects, archives and information vital for the history. On February 4, 2000 I attended a National Defence Seminar at the Canadian Forces College which was very useful for discussions with Brigadier-General David Jurkowski, Captain G. Vanasse, Lt.-Commander J.D. Scanlon and Major Tony White. Major White had only recently discovered his family had Ukrainian roots. I also met Capt. Mihail Murgoci of the Royal Canadian Military Institute and had a very interesting discussion with him.

I have written several letters to various people that may be able to help the project. Such as Canada’s Minister of defense, Art Eggleton, a friend from 20 years ago when I was Chairman of the Toronto Historical Board and he was Mayor of Toronto. Basic research books such as Who’s Who in World War II, the Encyclopedia of World War II in 25 volumes and various histories of World War II as well as documentary sources and speeches of Hitler and Stalin have been acquired.

I would welcome the cooperation of anyone who participated in WWII and who would like to tell their experiences in an interview. Perhaps you have books, photos, documents or other materials which could be useful for understanding the war and could contribute to the history of Ukraine in World War II.