![[LITOPYS UPA: Chronicle of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army]](/upa/images/litopys.jpg)
SERIES 1
VOLUME 9 - SUMMARIES
page 76
The author's concept of an independent Ukraine is that of an independent Ukrainian state on Ukrainian ethnographic territory. Poltava believes that only by having its own state can a people be guaranteed an all-around economic and spiritual development. to ensure the most complete, harmonious development of a nation, the state should have a democratic regime and a social system that eliminates all exploitation of one person by another. Poltava's ideas of the best social and economic system is one that combines state, co-operative and private ownership. Such a system represents a radical reform of the Soviet system, to provide for a free market and private initiative. The author elucidates and develops his theoretical positions and at the same time examines the political development of the modern world from the start of the industrial age.
Nations have been struggling for their own states from the earliest times. However, it was not until the French revolution that the people were recognized as sovereign. In industrial regime, which would give the new social classes - the bourgeoisie, workers and peasants liberated from serfdom - a part in the direction of the state. The principles proclaimed by the French Revolution also encouraged the battle of subjugated nations for their own states. In addition, workers began to struggle for social reforms and against economic exploitation. That struggle gave birth to socialism, a movement that is, in theory, international and thus directed against the concept of the nation. However, socialist parties eventually renounced internationalism to become national in character. Thus, in the confrontation between the international ideas of socialism and reality, the concept of the nation emerged victorious.
In Poltava's view, current political developments are the results of struggles between contradictory forces. The struggle waged by workers for a fair share of profits and for social reforms led to an improvement in their economic position. This improvement strengthened the concept of the nation, for there was no longer any need for social revolutions in the countries where the improvement had taken place. Social reforms led to more harmonious relations among deferent social classes. Other contradictions - for example, those among different empires - led to a weakening and even collapse of certain empires and the birth of new national states. The major contradiction at present id the one between ruling and subjugated nations. That is way in recent times there have been a lot of revolutions waged by liberation movements, as well as peaceful political struggles waged by colonies for their independence. Sooner of later, these struggles always end with victory for the subjugated nations, which gain their own independent states. The present era - says the author - is one of victory for the national concept; it is the era of emancipation of nations.
From these basic assumptions the author gives his vision of the international order of the future. As he sees it, empires will disappear. They will by replaced by independent national states which will work together as equals. Thus the Ukrainian struggle for liberation is in tune with the current political tendency in the world. It is, as the author puts it, that which is new, which is just being born. Poltava ends the article by citing Ivan Franko: "We are the prologue, not the epilogue".
If we consider that this article was written in 1947, we can term it prophetic. Since that time almost all empires have disappeared. They have been replaced by independent states of former colonial nations. Only one empire has remained intact - the one termed by the author the most reactionary and most brutal prison of nations, which should have collapsed before all others - the USSR.
Major P. Poltava's real name in not known in the West. However, we are familiar with his many publicistic works and do have some information about his role in the underground. he was killed in the winter of 1959\52 in a battle with the MVD in the Carpathian Mountains. At the time of his death he was vice-chairman of the General Secretarial of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council and a member of the OUN leadership in Ukraine. it is known that he had been a soldier in the Red Army and had fought in the Soviet-Finnish War in 1940. During the German occupation he was studying medicine in Lviv and was active as an OUN Youth leader. He also edited the journal "Iunak" under the pseudonym "Volianskyi". Because of his gifts as a journalist, he quickly rose in the ranks of the Ukrainian resistance. He served as director of the political division of the UPA Supreme Command and directed the information bureau of the UHVR. He received a First Class Golden Cross of Merit and a "Medal For Service Under Particularly Difficult Conditions". He must be considered the major theoretician of the Ukrainian resistance. The article reprinted here. "The Concept of an Independent Ukraine and Present Political Trends in the World", in one of his most important works.
page 92
At the start of this article, the author differentiated between the Ukrainian underground's attitude towards the Russian people and its attitude towards the Russian imperialists, who run the present Russian Empire, the USSR. The Ukrainian resistance, he days, is struggling for an independent Ukrainian state and independent states for all the subjugated nations of the USSR. For that reason it opposes all Russian imperialists and all the forces that maintain the Russian Empire. However, it does not advocate hatred, chauvinism of imperialist attitudes. On the contrary, it strives to build up friendly relations with all nations, including the Russians, so long as these relations are based on equality, independence and free will. The author demonstrates that the Russian Empire has brought misery not only to the nations subjugated by the Russian Empire, but to the Russians themselves, for it deprives them of political and civil rights and directs all their wealth, labor and energies towards armament, new conquests and the erection and maintenance of structures of coercion on conquered territories.
According to author, the chief representatives of Russian imperialism today are the members of the Communist part, VKP (b), in spite of the fact that there are some sincere people among them. The party has become the new ruling class, the direct successor of the former tsarist aristocracy. The party has nothing in common with communism or socialism, although it still uses ideas of these movements as a cover. It has deprived all nations of the USSR, including the Russians, of their political and civil rights and exploits them mercilessly for its own purposes and to gain new conquests. Since the Soviet imperialists have no support among the population, they are trying to gain at least one ally in the Russian people and are thus playing upon their national pride with half-baked theories about "the leading role of the Russian people", their status as "the most eminent nation" and so on. The author rejects all these theories and likens them to the theories of German Nazism, which fosters feelings of chauvinism and national exclusivity. The author points out reproachfully that this imperialistic propaganda is finding fertile ground among the Russians. It is the Russians who have given the empire its greatest number of "foot soldiers" and these members of the part, the army , the police and the administration are responsible for setting the tone of the regime.
The author goes on to demonstrate that the separation of Ukraine from Russia would not be a hostile act against the Russian people. For one thing, he says, Ukrainians, like all other nations, have the right to an independent state; this right is even "guaranteed: by the constitution of the USSR. For another, he writes, it is not true that Russia needs Ukraine for her own economic existence. Russia is a large, wealthy country, with a hard-working population that is capable of improving its economic position. of course, after the division of the USSR, Russian industry will need to be restructured; up to now it has been geared to work for the whole of the empire and has been structured primarily for the arms race. It will work for peaceful purposes only, for an improvement in the well-being of the Russian people.
The real name of the author of this article is Osyp Diakiv. Diakiv was born into a peasant family, in the village of Olesyn, in the Kozivskyi raion, Ternopil oblast. From the time of his youth he was active in the OUN. Because of his organizational and journalistic talents, he rose in the ranks to become a member of the OUN Leadership. He also worked in the educational sector of the UPA and held the rank of Captain. In 1950 he was brought into the UHVR. he served as vice-chairman of the General Secretariat of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council - (UHVR). he met his death in battle with MVD troops on November 28, 1950.
page 123
This work takes a historical look at the growth of the Russian Empire from the time of Ivan III, Tsar of Muscovy (1462-1505), to the present. The author points out the main goals of Russian expansionist policy and shows how this policy was implemented over different periods of time. In implementing this policy, the Russians used all possible means - military invasion and penetration by agents, annexation carried out at every opportune occasion, treachery and deceit and straightforward conquest. The author closely examined each new step taken to expand the empire and the methods used to gain control of newly-conquered nations. he also looks at the external policies, diplomatic maneuvers and propaganda moves and other activities that formed part of Russian imperial policy.
Northward and eastward, the empire spread rapidly, for all the Russians encountered there were vast spaces and weak Siberian Chants. Growth in other directions come less easily. it came only after bloody wars and concerted effort on the part of several generations. A given aim often took centuries to attain. it was Ivan III who declared the lands that had once formed part of Kievan Rus the "heritage" of the Moscow principality, but it was not until Stalin's time that the last territories of Kieval Rus' - Halychyna (Galicia) and Zakarpattia (Transcarpathia) - were added to the empire. It was also Ivan III who set out access to the Baltic Sea - that is , the conquest of Lithuania and the Livonian order - as a Russian objective, but not until the time of Peter I did the Russians gain a "window" on the sea, and only Catherine II - and then again, Stalin - succeeded in conquering the Baltic region.
The Russian move towards the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains began after the conquests of the Kazan' and Astrakhan' Khnates in the middle of the sixteenth century, and the push to the Balkans, after the conquest of Ukraine and the steppes of the Black Sea region on the second half of the seventeenth century. Once the Russians attained these strategic points, their new targets became the Balkans and the Near East which would give access to the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean. From the time of Peter I to that of Stalin, the Russians repeatedly attempted to reach these goals, but they always ran up against other world powers and had to content themselves with lesser gains.
In Some cases new territories were annexed through a combination of agreement, deceit and coercion. For example, Ukraine and Georgia agreed to accept the authority of the tsar, in return for a guarantee of their continued sovereignty, as a measure of protection against their enemies. But once Russian armies entered Ukrainian and Georgian territory, Russia broke the treaties she had made and gradual transformed those countries into mere provinces. Most Russian territorial gains were made by straightforward conquest and bloody dealings with local inhabitants. For example, after conquering Kazan', the Russians massacred the entire male population. It took almost half a century of war for the Russians to subjugate the Caucasian mountain dwellers; in that time they almost totally annihilated the nations of that region. it took even longer to gain control over Kazakhstan and Central Asia, and for several centuries Russian authority in Asia was maintained only by a huge Military presence. The Russian government dealt brutally with anyone who advocated independence. It dismantled all autonomous forms of government and implemented a ruthless policy of centralism and Russification.
The 1927 revolution almost brought about a collapse of the empire into individual states of the nations not yet fully swallowed up by the Russians. But the Bolsheviks came to the empire's rescue. Although they proclaimed the right of nations to self-determination, they re-conquered for Russia most of the stated that had arisen on former Russian territory. At first, whole they were still weak, the Soviets did not reveal their imperialistic plans; they worked to build up the communist party and to disseminate confusing propaganda with regard to exploitation of workers, decolonization, peace and the like. In 1930, once they gained some strength, the Soviets became more active on the diplomatic front. During the war, their aggression began - against Poland, Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Romania. The Soviets made good use of the war and the victory of the Allied powers to grab more territory in Central Europe, the Balkans and the Far East. They also tried to reach Constantinople and penetrate into Persia and Greece - that is , to attain the goals set out by tsar Nicholas II during the First World War. With the Second World War came the end of the process of evolution form revolution back to the imperial traditions of old Russia; all that was now lacking was to declare Stalin the direct successor of Nicholas II.
In his analysis of specific Russian conquests, the author refers to writings about these events by post-war Soviet historians. These scholars falsify history, depicting these conquests as voluntary unions, "progressive" and "noble" events that abetted the economic and cultural development of the subjugated nations. In fact, of course, the exact opposite was true. The author bases his analysis on works written outside of the Soviet Union, as well as those of Marx and pre-war Soviet historians, who looked at the history of tsarist conquests much more critically than post-war Soviet writers.
All we know of the author is that he produced a number of well-written underground works. We also know that he was killed in battle with MVD troops in the winter of 1951-52.
page 133
This letter is a cry of protest and despair voiced by Ukrainians living on Polish territory. These people were subjected to various acts of brutal violence by the Polish Communist government and were being deported by force from their native soil. The protest make reference to the Charter of the United nations, as well as to various international agreements and the declarations made by statesmen and other social activists about human rights. It is addressed to the governments of the democratic countries, and in particular, to President Truman of the United States, Prime Minister Attlee of Great Britain, the heads of the Christian churches, international political and social organizations and the political and social activists of the Western world. The letter asks them to speak out against the lawlessness and violence committed against Ukrainians and to come their defense. This document was written in October, 1945, at the time of forced deportations of Ukrainians from Poland. It gives information about Ukrainians living in Poland and details their persecution.
After the Yalta Conference, about one million Ukrainians found themselves living in the Polish state. These people had always lived on the territory - inhabited exclusively by Ukrainians - that stretched along the Polish-Ukrainian border, through the Carpathian Mountains, along the River Sian, in the Kholm and Pidliashia (Podlashia) regions. They should have enjoyed full citizenship rights in the Polish state. However, the Polish Communist government chose to deport them to the USSR. For understandable reasons, most of the Ukrainians did not want to leave. They had deep ties to their places of settlement, the land where their ancestors were buried. They also feared the misery of life on Soviet collective farms. Under pressure from Moscow, the Polish government began to institute brutal repression and terror to induce the Ukrainians to leave, although it declared the decision to resettle a voluntary one.
In the first stage of the deportation action, before the spring of 1945, the government terror was at least partly covered up by the actions of plundering gangs. These gangs were secretly organized by the Polish Communist administration and the police, which often took part in their activities. The gangs attached Ukrainian villages, robbed the people's homes and set them on fire and committed mass acts of violence and murder. In 1945 scores of Ukrainian villages were burnt and even more robbed in attacks of this type. In some cases, up to two hundred villagers were killed during these actions. Driven to despair, the people began to organized their own self-defense. This led to the Polish army and Soviet border NKVD troops coming to the assistance of the gangs. Soviet deportation commissions were also active at this time.
Fortunately, the more humanitarian Poles and the Polish underground began to oppose these barbaric acts. As a result, most of the gangs ceased their activities by the spring of 1945. In most places along the border, life returned to normal and the Polish and Ukrainian inhabitants began to coexist in peace. This worried the Polish Communist government and in September, 9145, it sent a large contingent of its troops against the Ukrainian population. At this time an overt campaign of government terror began, as well as a forced deportation of all Ukrainians. First, the better-educated Ukrainians and priests, among them, Bishop Kotsylovskyi of Peremyshl, were arrested and deported or thrown into prison. The Polish army itself now began to rob and plunder villages. Many people tried to avoid deportation; anyone who was caught was escorted by the Polish army to the USSR, while their goods were either confiscated or robed. At the time the letter was written, these actions were still going on.
The letter ends with the following signature: "Representatives of all strata of the Ukrainian population living behind the Curzon Line". it is not known who wrote this document. We know only that the Ukrainian underground circulated it both in Poland and abroad. The letter had seven underground editions in Ukrainian, five in Polish, two in Slovak and French and One in Czech and English.
page 360
This publication of the UHVR was intended to come out periodically, but only one issue of it actually appeared. The second issue, fully edited and ready for print, fell into the hands of the MVD. at that time it was decided to publish a smaller periodical, the Information Bureau of the UHVR. Samostiynist included in its pages UHVR documents, review articles and informational pieces, as well as materials about the Ukrainian resistance. Among the documents printed in the forest issue were the appeal issued by the UHVR in November, 1946, to mark three years of struggle with the Soviets, notices about the deaths of UHVR members Rostyslav Voloshyn and Iosyp Pozyshaniuk and two UHVR resolutions, dated February 9 and October 7, 1946, regarding fourteen decorations with Crosses of Merit and fifteen promotions of UPA officers.
This article, whose author is not given, examines Soviet national policy and the methods applied by Soviet police troops in their battle against the Ukrainian resistance. The Soviets are not satisfied with just gaining political dominion over their subjugated nations, the author writes. They are determined to destroy the people's spiritual and moral values as well. They have already destroyed their historical, literary and other creations and closed down all centers of free scholarship; meanwhile, those scholars and writers still left alive are being forced to falsify their own national history and write panegyrics to the Russian Empire and the present-day USSR. these attempts at national destruction the author terms "the shame of the twentieth century". An even greater shame, he says, are the methods used in the battle with the Ukrainian resistance movement.
The Soviet government sent a large number of well-trained and well-provisioned NKVD troops, and sometimes Red Army soldiers, into battle against the UPA. The Soviet armies were not bound by any principles of humanity. During their raids on towns and villages, innocent citizens were subjected to destruction of property, robbery, rape, beatings and mass arrests. By the end of 1946, on the territory of UPA activity, about one million people had been arrested and sentenced to long terms. Everyone was half collectively responsible for the actions of the insurgents. There were beatings arrests, deportations and executions, not only of families of insurgents, but friends, acquaintances, neighbors and even entire villages. The population was deprived of medical care and necessary drugs; in addition, typhus and other infectious diseases were deliberately spread around among the population. All cultural, educational and religious activities were suppressed. Anyone who was caught assisting insurgents was either tortured or executed on the spot. Later, their families were sent to Siberia. Unbearably heavy taxes and demands for provisions were levied; supplies were ruthlessly confiscated to prevent the people from aiding the insurgents.
Explosives bullets, biological weapons (poisons, typhus) and other forbidden means of warfare were used in battle with the insurgents. Prisoners of war (even the wounded) were subjected to torture. There were often savage public orgies, staged to break the resistance of the prisoners and force them to turn in their companions. Those who were not broken were either shot on the spot or sent to concentration camps for a term of twenty years of more. Brutal atrocities were even committed upon the bodies of the dead, which were dug up from their places of burial. In its battle with the UPA, the Soviet government was prepared to go to any lengths. In order to deprive the insurgents of their natural terrain, they burnt large areas of forest, along with all neighboring villages and settlements, They even staged a blockade of the Carpathian Mountains and the marshlands of Polissia, in order to keep food supplies for arriving.
The Soviets's chief strategy was to try to demoralized the population by infiltrating the Ukrainian resistance, as well as all settlements, institutions and even individual families, with police agents. The author describes the activities of external and internal agents. The NKVD bands posing as UPA units were committing all kind of violent acts in an attempt to compromise the UPA or expose UPA sympathisers within the population, in order to later arrest them.
The author of this article begins by generally describing NKVD methods and actions, them illustrates his descriptions with concrete facts gathered by the underground.
Right form the start the UPA recognized the right of all nations to sovereignty and of national minorities on Ukraine to full equality. The author describes the UPA program in detail and gives an outline of the UPA's attempts to turn it into reality.
Even during the time of the German occupation, the UPA had waged a campaign to organize a common front of struggle against both Nazi Germany and Bolshevik Russia. As a result, military units made up of members of various Soviet nations switched from the German side to that of the UPA. Representatives of these UPA units held their First Conference of Captive nations of Eastern Europe and Asia in November, 1943. At that time appeals were published and a committee was established to co-ordinate the activities of these units of various nationalities. After the arrival of the Red Army, the UPA waged a similar campaign among Red Army soldiers, placing particular emphasis on the need to break up the USSR into national states. This campaign had such effect on the Red Army that the Soviets did not dare use it in battle against the UPA. In order to spread the idea of a common front of struggle, the UPA carried out raids into neighboring countries - Byelorussia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania and Hungary.
The UPA attempted to establish good relations with the neighbors of Ukraine and tried to gain support among members of Ukraine's national minorities. It also tried to get the Sympathy of soldiers of the armies against which it was fighting - the Germans, Soviet and Polish army - through appeals, good treatment of prisoners of war and so on.
The article includes a lot of information and quotes the appeals issued to different nationalities, to the soldiers of the armies of occupation and to Soviet partisans. The author's real name was Osyp Diakiv. He also write two other articles included in the collection, under the pseudonym O. Hornovyi.
Although the constitution of the USSR supposedly guarantees freedom of the press, all independent publishers were silenced by the Bolsheviks in the first days of the October Revolution. Since that time, the press has been fully controlled by the propaganda arm of the VKP (b). To facilitate control of the press, all newspapers are published in a small format - four to eight pages in length - reminiscent of official bulletins. The contents of these publications consist mainly of official notices and declarations, barely distinguishable one from another. The newspapers published at the center of the USSR are bulletins of this sort issued by various bureaus and institutions. The more local papers - published on the republican, oblast and raion levels - merely reprint articles form the central presses and add a little local material.
After taking a thorough look at the structure and means of control of the Soviet press, the author shows us how these publications serve the Soviet reader. All unpleasant matters, such as agricultural crises, shortages of supplies, the forced deportation of whole nations - Crimean Tatars, Chechens and others and about one million Ukrainians from Poland - are simply ignored. The policies of the central bureau are invariably praised, whole only lower-level institutions and bureaucrats are ever subjected to criticism for abuses they have committed. Thus blame is laid on them for government policies. Such things as the Ukrainian resistance are either not mentioned at all, or are abused and slandered. Soviet "information" about other countries is presented in similar fashion, especially when it comes to those countries which the Soviets consider their opponents. the press gives falsified information, stressing the miseries, protests, demonstrations and strikes in those countries, in order to create the impression that life there is fro worse than in the USSR. The concepts of objective information and freedom of expression are totally unknown to Soviet journalists.
This chapter contains several shorter informational articles and a chronicle of military actions of UPA units and other groups of the Ukrainian resistance movement.
An article entitled "A new Famine" speaks of a mass famine deliberately instituted by the Soviet government in 1946 on collective farms in the steppe region of Ukraine. although the war had already wrought a great deal of destruction and there was drought to contend with, the Soviets took away all the grain from the collective farms, leaving almost nothing for the peasants to live on. Them NKVD troops blockaded all roads, to prevent the starving from going into areas that were better supplied, where they might get some food for themselves or their families. This account is based on descriptions given by starving peasants of the situation existing in their own villages.
"The Terror Waged by NKVD Garrisons" describes the NKVD's winter blockade of the whole territory of UPA activity. The blockade lasted form mid-January to mid-April, 1946. At that time, some of the troops withdrew. Garrisons of NKVD troops were stationed in all towns and villages and even in the forests. The whole region and individual homes were constantly searched. The author describes the activities of these garrisons and cites many specific facts. The article "Electoral Tragicomedy" speaks of the same period. It describes how the population boycotted "elections" to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, in spite of the fact that the NKVD garrisons were waging a campaign of terror.
The article "From Ukrainian Territories Behind the Curzon Line" gives an account of the forced deportation of Ukrainians form Poland into the USSR. The people were forced out of their homes in the Ukrainian regions of Lemkivshchyna, Posiannia, Kholmshchyna and Pidliashia, where their ancestors had been living for more than one thousands years, since pre-historic times. The people generally refused to leave their land. For that reason, the Polish Communist government staged mess pogroms of Ukrainian villages; these often turned into massacres, in which many people were killed. Still, particularly areas where they had support from the UPA where they were able to hide in the forests, the Ukrainian people withstood the terror and refused to abandon their ancestral lands. This account gives a good deal of information. It covers the period up to June, 1946.
The article "The Attitude of the Ukrainian masses Towards the Bolshevik Occupation" has a more optimistic tone. In spite of the brutality of the NKVD and the constant threat to the people's lives, most Ukrainians did not crumble. They supported the Ukrainian resistance and often took up arms themselves. The author provides us with a number of facts about the situation.
The chronicle "Actions of the Ukrainian insurgent Army" includes short accounts of military actions of the UPA and the armed underground, These accounts, which are of three to ten lines of print, give basic information about various battles - date, place, numbers of soldiers on each side, the final result and so on. The intention was to give members of the Ukrainian resistance and other readers at least some brief information about the character and scope of the armed struggle, as well as to preserve at least some record of the battles on case the more detailed accounts got lost. The chronicle covers the period January 1 to June 29, 1946. A separate sub-chapter, "The UPA Behind the Curzon Line" includes a similar chronicle of UPA actions on Polish territory.
page 377
An editorial note explains that the Information Bureau of the UHVR is now publishing this journal instead of the larger organ on the UHVR, Samostiynist , which was more than two hundred pages in length. The editors state that the larger volume took a great deal of time to prepare and print and that it was difficult to circulate, given the conditions of the underground. The new journal, much smaller in format, was to appear more frequently and would reach its readers more quickly. It is also stated that the second issue of Samistiynist fell into the hands of the MVD on April 7, 1948, just as it was ready to go to press. We are also given a list of its contents. The first issue of the Information Bureau comprises an official section, which was to be published in the second volume of Samostiynsit. This section includes five UHVR resolutions , a "Special Order of the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army" and a "Declaration of the Supreme Command of the Ukrainian Insurgent army". Both of the last two document are signed by General Taras Chuprynka.
Three resolutions of the UHVR, dated May 30, August 25 and December 5, 1947, gives lists of UPA soldiers and member of the armed underground who were decorated with Crosses of merit and UPA soldiers who received promotions. There were twenty-one decorations and four promotions.
Another resolution, date May 30, 1947, states that UPA awards and decorations will also be given to members of the Ukrainian armed underground and civilians who "distinguish themselves by their heroism in battle or devotion to the cause of liberation." For reasons of maintaining secrecy, the names of civilians receiving these honors were not to be published.
Another resolution form May 30, 1947 declares October 14 the feast of the UPA. The resolution states that this day, the feast of Mary the Protectress, was the Feast of the cossacks. it also speaks of the fifth anniversary of the founding of the UPA in Polissia, in 1942.
The order was Published on the occasion of the UPA's fifth anniversary and the first celebration of the feast of the UPA, the feast of Mary the Protectress, on October 14, 1947. it begins with a brief history of the UPA. The first units of the UPA were formed in the fall of 1942 in Polissia, to do battles with the Germans and the Soviet partisans. Within a few months the UPA had spread throughout Volyn, Halychyna and most of the Right Bank of the Dnieper. The UPA defended the population against the German terror, deportation of Ukrainian youth to Germany and economic exploitation; it also protected the people form the Soviet partisans who inundated the territory. After the arrival of the Soviets, the UPA saved many Ukrainian men from death on the front and protected the population as a whole from internal deportation, the theft of their property and the imposition of collective farms. The Order gives a general description of the UPA's military operations, lists its major accomplishments and gives the names of the more prominent officers.
Among the major political successes of the UPA listed in the Order in the organization of battle units composed of members of other nations subjugated by the USSR and of a conference of representatives from these nations held in 1943, the establishment of a national leadership into neighboring countries in order to organize the people for battle against the USSR.
The Order officially recognized the bravery of all UPA soldiers, their endurance and heroism in their battle for freedom , which is being waged in particularly difficult conditions. It ends with an appeal to honor those fallen in battle.
This declaration speaks of the political situation of Ukrainians living abroad and, in four points, describes the non-partisan character of the UPA, the role of the UHVR and the relation of the UPA to the OUN.
The first units of the UPA were formed from battle units of the OUN. However, in the years 1942-43, these OUN fighters were joined by Ukrainians of all kinds of political affiliations, and the UPA thus became a general, national underground army, "the broad expression of the struggle of the whole Ukrainian nation." The need became obvious to establish a general, national leadership of this struggle. Thus, at the UPA's initiative, a conference of political activists was arranged, in order to create such a central leadership. This conference, the First Grand Assembly of the UHVR, took place in July, 1944. It established the UHVR and adopted its political program (Platform) and its constitution (Provisional organization). Other political activists or parties who recognized the UHVR program were allowed to join the body.
From the time the UHVR was established, it was granted authority over the UPA. Within Ukraine, the UHVR led the UPA both politically and in terms of organization. Abroad, the UPA was to be represented by the Foreign Representation of the UHVR.
The third point of this declaration emphasizes the prestige and popularity enjoyed by the UHVR among the people of Ukraine. The wide recognition given the UHVR can be seen in the generous support given by the people to the Ukrainian resistance and their quick response to UHVR appeals. For example, in response to the UHVR's appeal to the population, on February 10, 1946 Ukrainians boycotted the Soviet "elections" to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR; on February 9, 1947, they boycotted elections to the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR. And this in spite of the brutal terror waged by the MVD to break their resistance.
The last point of the declaration speaks of the role of the OUN in organizing the UPA, filling its ranks with experienced cadres and working fir its political defense. It also stresses the non-partisan nature of the UPA and states that it is a general, national armed force of the Ukrainian resistance.
page 412
This issue of the bulletin comprises four UHVR resolutions, a brief statistical overview entitled "The Soviet Terror in Ukraine", and two important statements from the Ukrainian resistance - an interview, "With the Chairman of the General Secretariat of the UHVR, R. Lozovskyi", and an article by General T. Shuprynka, "The origins of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council".
In the introduction we are told that this interview with R. Lozovskyi (General Roman Shukhevysh) was conducted by a representative of the Information Bureau of the UHVR and that "current subjects" were discussed which are of interest to "Ukrainian citizens."
Gen. Shukhevych begins by discussing the raids carried out by UPA units into Western Europe in 1947. After the Polish government had deported all Ukrainians from the western borderlands of Ukraine in 1947m, further UPA activity in this area was pointless. Some of the UPA units and members of the armed underground in this area were directed by the UHVR and the UPA Supreme Command to carry out a propaganda raid into Western Europe. There they were to contact the Foreign Representation of the UHVR, and through its offices to a) "pretest it the world" the persecution of Ukrainians and b) bear witness to the Ukrainian struggle for liberty and to the terror waged by the Soviets.
Gen. Shukhevych also provides information about the massive deportation of Ukrainians form the area of UPA activity on October 19-21, 1947. According to incomplete reckoning, about 150,000 people were deported, most of them women, children and the elderly. Many of them died in transit, as a result of hunger, cold, beatings and the cramped conditions in the barred transport cars. Many more died later form the inhuman conditions in their places of detention. Shukhevych expressed regret at the fact that neither world opinion nor any government or international organizations came to the defense of the Ukrainians and other persecuted nations in the USSR - the Tatars, Ingush, Kalmyks, etc. On the contrary, everyone allows the cynical Soviet diplomats to play the role of champions of freedom and justice.
As far as the political regime of the future Ukrainian state, Gen. Shukhevych states that the Ukrainian resistance is fighting for a democratic system, The UHVR and all other underground bodies have a democratic program. The UHVR's final task in a liberated Ukraine will by to ensure free democratic elections to the first parliament, which will adopt the constitution and elect the governing bodies of the country.
With retard to collective farms, Gen. Shukhevych states that the Ukrainian resistance is struggling against collectivization in the western region of Ukraine. Soviet collective farms, he says, are a means for exploiting and politically controlling the peasants. Because of the UPA's counteraction, collectivization had made very little progress in this area. Shukhevych also denies the rumor that "Vlasov forces" were acting underground in Ukraine. Rumors of this type were deliberately disseminated by the MVD in order to cause confusion.
The interview ends with a look at prospects for the future. Gen. Shukhevysh states that although the resistance had known great losses, it had gained experience and had become inured in battle with the MVD. Now the Ukrainian resistance had taken on new forms of battle. it had gone deep into the underground. Its territory had not grown smaller - it had, in fact, been enlarged. The General expressed his conviction that the Ukrainian resistance would endure in its battle until victory was achieved.
In this article, the author looks at the development of political events in Ukraine that led to the establishment of the Supreme Ukrainian Liberation Council. The article ends with information about the First Grand Assembly of the UHVR, held in July, 1944, and a description of the UHVR's program and major tasks. Given the author's position, it must by considered an official statement on these important issues.
The author begins with a brief analysis of the history of the Ukrainian struggle for statehood, form the collapse of the independent state of 1917-21 to the new armed struggle of the UPA in 1942. The author looks more closely at the period of the UPA's struggle and in particular, at those matters that relate to the establishment of a national leading body of the struggle, the UHVR. although the first units of the UPA were organized by a single political party, the OUN, by 1943 the armed struggled become a broad, nation-wide battle. The ranks of the UPA were filled with people from a variety of political circles and holding different political views, as well as those who were not affiliated with any political party. Thus the UPA was declared a broad, national, nonpartisan army. In the name of the UPA was declared a broad, national, non-partisan army. In the name of the UPA an underground administration was established, which dealt with many matters, such as education, land use, national health and the like. The UPA also organized armed units made up of members of members of other nations of the USSR and held discussions with representatives of neighboring countries - Poland (representatives of the Polish underground), Romania and Hungary. In normal conditions, activities of this sort would be carried out by the government. So in the fall of 1943 the Supreme Command of the UPA initiated a plan to establish a national center of power to lead the battle. The preparatory Committee was established and began its work in 1944.
The author devotes more space to a description of the political conditions existing at the time and the work dine by the Preparatory Committee. The political authority could not be established on the basis of participation by existing political parties, for after the Soviet destruction of Ukrainian political parties and the German ban of their activities, only the two fractions of the OUN remained. The central body was to be composed of individuals who had records of political or public service. The Preparatory Committee prepared a platform, according to which candidates to the central body had to 1) recognize the idea of an independent state as "the highest ideal of the Ukrainian people", 2) recognize the revolutionary method of struggle as "the most suitable", 3) "declare their hostility to the Soviet Russian and German occupying powers in Ukraine" and 4) "recognize democracy as their organizational principle". Deliberations with the candidates were based on this platforms. The work of the Preparatory Committee was not easy, for it had to be done in the conditions of the German occupation. In addition, by that time the Soviets had already occupied most of Ukrainian territory.
The work of the Preparatory Committee ended with the First Grand Assembly of the UHVR, which was held on July 11-15, 1944, in the Carpathian Mountains. This assembly founded the UHVR, adopted its political program and provisional organization and elected its governing bodies - the Presidium, General Secretariat (provisional government), General Court and General Comptrollers. The membership of the UHVR was to be expanded by the process of co-opting new members. Upon its establishment, the UHVR took responsibility for the direction and representation of the Ukrainian resistance.Soviet Terror in Ukraine
This article gives information gathered by the Ukrainian resistance regarding the Soviet terror waged on UPA territory. The date covers the Krakovets and Iavoriv raions in the Lviv oblast and the Sudova Vyshnia, Mostyska and Krukenuchi raions in the Drohobych oblast. We are given statistics regarding murders, arrests (and imprisonment, cases of deportation to Siberia or to the Donbas for forced labor, cases of mobilization to the Red Army (including data about how many people were killed in action, how many returned sound and how many came back invalids), raids carried out on villages and on forests and destruction of homes by fire. The figures span a three-year period, form the time of the arrival of the Soviets to the last half of July, 1947. More detailed data is provided for thirteen raions in the northern part of the Lviv oblast. Here was have, for example, the number of murders classified into murders of men - 1817, old people - 120, women - 99 and small children - 68. We are also told that 2,650 homes were destroyed, as well as 40 churches and 136 libraries.
A separate listing by the raion tells us of those who perished from hunger and those who were deported to Siberia on October 19-21, 1947. The data about deaths from starvation comes from twelve raions. The figures range from eleven deaths in the Borshchivskyi raion, to 312 in the Obertynskyi raion. The information regarding deportations to Siberia comes from fourteen raions. We are told how many families were sent away and for six raions, how many individuals as well.
The first resolution concerns a new medal, "For Service in particularly Difficult Conditions", which is to honor insurgents and revolutionaries who endured extreme hardships. Two other resolutions list twelve persons awarded Crosses of Merit and one granted a promotion. The last resolution concerns the introduction of military rank for members of the underground Security Service. The ranks are analogous to the military ranks of the UPA. For reasons of secrecy, the names of those awarded these ranks are not published. All the resolutions are dated June 6, 1948.
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