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SERIES 1
VOLUME 18 - SUMMARIES
page 105
As indicated by the subtitle ("Published by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. "Hoverlia"), the newspaper "Shliakh peremohy" (Path of Victory) was published by the command of the UPA's IV Military District "Hoverlia" Group. The articles in the newspaper are on social and political themes and are written in a popular style; the style of articles criticizing the USSR is sharp and polemical. This issue is 29x15 cm. in size and consists of Twenty-one pages of close typescript. The contents include eight articles, three patriotic poems, a brief listing of a few UPA actions, a cartoon and an appeal to the readers of the underground press. Of the poems, two are by Marko Boieslav; "Shum's Company's Song" includes about company commander "Shum" and battalion commander "Blahyi". Following is a summary of the newspaper's major contents.
The newspaper's introductory article is a response to Germany's surrender. It is addressed to insurgents and Red Army soldiers. The fall of Germany and the creation of the United Nations, we are told, have not brought liberation to the captive nations of the world. The nations within the USSR, in particular, are faced with the threat of destruction. for that reason, Ukrainian insurgents must continue to fight for freedom, is spite of the great losses they are suffering. And Red Army soldiers, having defeated one perpetrator of genocide, Hitler, should now turn their weapons against the other, Stalin. The article is written in an emotional style and sharp, polemical tone.
The author of this article criticizes Soviet agrarian policy in Ukraine, pointing to the economic exploitation of Ukraine and the medacity of Soviet propaganda. For example, he mentions Khrushchev's boast that in 1944, the USSR "gave" the Ukrainian SSR 30,000 cows, 50, 000 pigs, 5,000 horses and some tractors and other machinery. He explains that this was no gift, because during its retreat from Ukraine, the Red Army took away countless herds of cattle and took or destroyed almost all agricultural machinery. In any case, the help of Khrushchev brags of was very miserable, for the Ukrainian SSR has close to 28,000 collection farms. In addition, 40% of the help was directed to state farms, which work less than 4% of the land. The author states that collective farms are being rebuilt at the cost of peasants, from whom the last cows or other farm animals have been taken away.
This article comments on the founding conference of the United Nations Organization, which opened on April 25, 1945, in San Francisco Among the founding members of the UN was the Ukrainian SSR; its delegation arrived at the conference on May 6. the author tells us a little about the preparations and course of discussions, but focuses more on polemics, arguing that the Ukrainian SSR is not an independent state and that its delegation, led by Manuyilskyi, blindly executes Moscow's orders. The author explains that nationally, politically, economically and culturally, the Ukrainian people have colonial status. He also pokes fun at Molotov, who criticized Great Britain and the USA because of the colonial status of India and the Philippines, while pretending that Ukraine is a sovereign state, Soviet propaganda about the "sovereignty" of Ukraine, says the author, is aimed at deceiving both world opinion and its own citizens.
The author examines Ukrainians' feelings of national unity and states that their sense of regional differences is too strong. This sense is the result of Ukraine's division under different occupations. The author advises his countrymen to consciously foster feelings of unity. We must rid ourselves of prejudices, he says, and help Ukrainians from other regions who find themselves among us.
Here we have brief descriptions of the battle operations of UPA units. The following operations are described:
A raid carried out by B.'s unit (probably "Bystryi's" battalion) in four districts (raiony) - Smotrych, Dunayiv, Yarmolyntsi and Sataniv - in Kamianets-Podilskyi province (oblast), on November 3-8, 1944, a raid carried out by the UPA unit "Siri Vovky" through Bukovyna on November 27-29, 1944; and a raid carried out by the UPA unit "Trykutnyk Smerty", commanded by O., through Transcarpathia on November 10-13, 1944. There are also brief descriptions of surprise attacks by UPA units on MVD garrisons in the following places: village of Pshenychyky in the Tysmenytsia district, village of Maydanyk, Lysets, district, village of Vyktoriv, Halych district, village of Posich, Lysetsk, district, and village of Lesivka, Bohorodchany district. Also described is the escape of P.'s battalion (probably "Prut's") form MVD encirclement on April 10, 1945.
The author praises intense patriotism, which is the readiness of a person to give his life in defense of his nation. There were many true patriots in the history of Ukraine, he says. Patriotism is particularly important in times of misfortune, when the people are obliged to defend their country or their right. It is essential at this time as Ukrainians fight for their country in the ranks of the UPA. the author regards as insufficient patriotism which exists only in words, or limits itself to material help for the liberation movement. And he attacks people who speak about patriotism, while at the same time glorifying Stalin.
This article gives a concise history of the union of Transcarpathia with the Ukrainian SSR. When the territory was first occupied by the Red Army, the representative of the government of the Czechoslovak Republic, Dr. Nemets, began to establish an administration and introduce a new order. At the same time, the Red Army established headquarters and set about organizing a communist party with the help of local returnees the Soviets had brought back to the area. After the occupation of Uzhorod, the communist party prepared a "petition" to Stalin form the local activists, requesting that their territory be joined to the Ukrainian SSR. With that came intensified propaganda about "renunciation". In mid-November, 1944, the founding convention of the communist party took place in Mukachiv. During that convention, a resolution was passed concerning "renunciation". Just a week later, a convention took place of 600 delegates from local people's committees; they passed a resolution about joining Ukrainian SSR. This convention, which was organized at great haste by the communists party and the Red Army - or rather, MVD - garrisons, elected a Supreme Council which took control of the territory. Dr. Nemets found himself powerless, and awaited further instruction form Prague. The first victims of the Soviets were Hungarians and Germans. Them the Soviets began to go after Ukrainian activists. Thus, leadership of the national Council was handed over to Muscophiles, while Ukrainian activists were arrested and deported. In Khust, Dr. Brashchayko, Voron and Dr. Bachynskyi were arrested.
This part of the journal consists of brief descriptions of various dreadful acts of terror committed by NKVD soldiers. Here are just a few examples: During a raid in the village of Tsinev, the NKVD burned down the farmstead of a certain Dernitskyi; the man himself was pierced with bayonets and thrown, alive, into the fore. In the village of Oliyiv, the NKVD killed two schoolboys. In the village of Vivsie, they beat a pregnant woman so badly that she had a still birth. In the village of Poberezhia, they threw a grenade into the Dinister River, where a ten-year-old boy was bathing; his arms and legs were torn off and he later died.
The author of this article looks at events taking place in the world and comments upon them. Among the subjects he discusses are the surrender of Germany, the United Nations conference in San Francisco, and the arrest by the NKVD of Okuliski and other representatives of the Polish government. The author focuses on events in which the interests of the USSR and the Western Allies have come into conflict. For example, he states that Stalin was displeased with the fact that German soldiers and political activists were surrendering to the Allies, not to the Red Army, that General Anders' 300,000-man Polish army had been transported by the British to Germany, and that the Allies were dragging their feet on holding "field trials" of alleged war criminals. The author stresses in particular disagreements around the Polish question.
page 108
In the polemic part of this article, the author declared that the Ukrainian SSR in not an independent state, because it has only four commissariats (ministries), and event they do not make any decisions themselves. Nobody has ever elected either the communist party leadership not the government. The government is anti-people, because it starved six million peasants to death in 1932-33, deported hundreds of thousands of innocent people to Siberian concentration camps, and shot or tortured to death in prisons of nations, worse even than tsarist Russia.
For that reason, Ukrainians have no choice but to fight for an independent, united Ukrainian state. Only such a sate can guarantee the security, well-being and culture of the Ukrainian people. The author demonstrates that it is the natural right of every nation to have a sate of its own. He presents a historical analysis, in which he states that Ukraine's finest sons always strove for an independent state. In the independent Ukrainian state, the Ukrainian people will be masters, but equal rights will be guaranteed to all national minorities. There will be a just social order (without landowners, capitalists or party bureaucrats) and no spending on an apparatus of coercion (Police, prisons, concentration camps).
Further, the author describes the Ukrainian solution to international relations. All nations, large and small, should have independent states on their own ethnic territories, This approach would rid the world of conflicts among nations, eliminate the need for armaments and become the basis for future international cooperation.
This article is a somewhat condensed version of an article published in No. 5, 1945. The issue itself is not available.
page 109
This double issue of the newspaper "Shiakh Peremohy" measures 29x15 cm. and consists of twenty-six pages of close typescript. It contains a manifesto, "From the OUN to the Ukrainian People", a short story by "Berest", "I'll Not be a Traitor", a humorous sketch, an appeal to readers and nine short descriptions of battle actions of UPa units of the underground. It was printed in the "Death to Stalin" printing house in Stanyslaviv. Following is a resume of the issue's major contents.
This OUN manifesto was issued in June, 1945, on he occasion of the end of the war in Europe. it consists of three parts. The first part explains what Nazi German political plans and policies for Ukraine had been; the second part analyzes authors of the manifesto fond the two empires, in spite of some differences, to both be barbaric and aimed not only at enslaving, but annihilating the Ukrainian people. For that reason, there is no alternative but to fight for freedom, whatever the losses. In the third part of the manifesto, the authors speak of the goals and methods of the liberation struggle, and state that presently Ukraine is in a better position than before, because many countries of Central Europe now find themselves under Russian rule and they will fight for freedom; thus, Ukrainians will have more allies. The manifesto ends with appeals to Ukrainians in Ukraine and abroad, to peasants, workers, intellectuals, youth, and revolutionaries and insurgents to fight bravely for freedom, or to support active struggle.
The author writes about the union of Transcarpathia with the Ukrainian SSR, analyzing the event from a Ukrainian patriotic perspective. Although the Allies made an agreement not to alter 1939 boundaries, Stalin is enlarging his empire through a policy of presenting Faits acconplis. When the Soviet army occupied Trancarpathia, Red Army commanders and the NKVD organized a communist party, an administration and "People's committees", which took control and waged propaganda favoring union with the Ukrainian SSR. On June 29, the government of the Czechoslovak Republic signed an agreement with the USSR under pressure, renouncing all claims to Transcarpathia. What Stalin wanted above all was for all having a base for liberation activity. But the author believes that the annexation of Transcarpathia will gave a positive effect on Ukraine, because it will help bring about the political integration of all Ukrainians, unite them more closely and strengthen their battle for freedom.
This article is about the destruction y the Soviet of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. The author writes that , in spite of constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion, during the 1930's, the Soviets destroyed church organizations, including the Ukrainian Autocephaluos Orthodox Church. During the war, the government allowed the surviving Russian orthodox Church to be renewed, and used it for purposes of propaganda and for russifying non-Russian nations. Ukrainians, including Ukrainian Catholics, were "converted" to the Russian Orthodox Church. When the Ukrainian Catholic hierarchy refused to become Orthodox, the communist press launched a slander campaign against the church and its hierarchs. The NKVD began to arrest Catholic bishops and influential priests, among whom they managed to find three apostates, one from each eparch - Rev. Dr. Kostelnyk, Rev. Dr. Melnyk and Rev. Pelvetskyi. These traitors "voluntarily" established an "Initiative Group of the Greek-Catholic Church for Reunification with the Orthodox Church". Khodchenko's first order to the bishops was to prepare a list of all the priests who were refusing to switch to Orthodox, in other words, to turn them in to the NKVD. The author also states that the cathedrals and Episcopal residences in Lviv and Stanyslaviv were plundered by the NKVD before being handed over to the new bishops.
In this article, the author attacks the Soviet law of June 29, 1945, concerning demobilization, and the propaganda campaign that accompanied the law. Although thirteen categories of soldiers were demobilized, the author says, the law did not specify which ones, and it appears that the main fighting force - men aged from twenty to forty - were to remain in uniform. The old, invalids and the sick were sent home. Demobilized men were given clothing and footwear, free transport with food, a place to live, and jobs within a month or help in setting up in a village. This assistance is nothing to brag about, particularly as it often exists on paper only.
The author of this article argues with P. Tychyna, O. Vyshnia and other Soviet authors writing in "Literaturna Ukrayina" and "Suchasne i maybytnie", who had attached Ukrainians in Canada, calling them fascists and agents of Hitler. The author says that Canada is home to almost 500,000 Ukrainians, who publish many books and newspapers and are united within the Ukrainian Canadian Committee (UCC), which carries out cultural and charitable work. 40,000 Ukrainians fought in the Canadian army. What angers the Soviets is the fact that the UCC propagates the dissolution of the USSR and that the Ukrainian MP Hlynka stated in the Canadian parliament that the UCC should be granted a place at international forums in order to defend the rights of the Ukrainian people.
This is a commentary on articles that were published in "Radianska Ukrayina" concerning the "discovery" of anti-Soviet organization in Plivdiv, Bulgaria. The author states ironically that in May the newspaper wrote that "fascists" had been uncovered and "immobilized", and in June wrote that the fascists had "not yet put down their arms" and were continuing their sabotage. The author states that the people in question are not "fascists", but freedom fighters, and expresses his joy that Bulgarians, too, are resisting the Soviets.
In this article, the author briefly describes the founding conference of the United nations Organization and bitterly criticizes its statute, which grants a dominant role and the right of veto to the imperial great powers. Although there was a long debate, the fifty small member-states agreed to grant a leading role to the imperial powers. The author sates that by means of concessions, the great powers reached a peace, but that the peace appears artificial, because it is not based on any sincere friendship.
This is a short story about an old Hutsul shepherd, Yura, who was murdered by the NKVD for refusing to reveal where he had hidden a wounded insurgent. The insurgent, "Sokil" was wounded in the leg was being treated in Yura's home. On morning, when the NKVD was raiding the village, Yura led the wounded man into the forest, hid him underground, concealed the spot and returned home. However, the old man was spotted entering the forest by an NKVD reconnoitering party. The NKVD seized the old man and tortured him, in order to learn the insurgent's whereabouts. However, Yura died saying nothing. The story is well written, with a good knowledge of the Hutsul dialect and lifestyle.
This brief article was written in response to one of Stalin's announced amnesties for insurgent. The author reminds his readers that in a tyrannical regime like the USSR, amnesty has no meaning. The author calls party members and the NKVD the world's greatest criminals and recounts the many crimes they have committed against defenseless people.
In this brief article, the author reveals that the NKVD and the NKGB were disguising themselves as insurgents in order to get information about the UPA, then making arrests. The article describes several such underhanded actions, which led to arrests or killings of insurgents.
This section of the issue consists of brief descriptions of the battles that took place between the UPA and NKVD troops on the territory of the UPA's "Heverlia" Military District in May, 1945, and in a few cases, in April and June. For example, on May 13, B.'s UPA unit killed twenty-nine Soviets in an ambush near Stribychi, Staryi Sambir district. Among those killed were the secretary of the rayon party committee, two public prosecutors, four NKGB men, six NKVD soldiers and other officials. They Will Never Die
This brief article consists of six descriptions of the deaths of insurgents during battle with Soviets. In most cases, they were ambushed in their secret quarters. Some shot themselves in order to avoid being taken alive by the NKVD; some others died under torture.
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