Table Of Content

Institute of European Studies Alexander R. Dyukov Th eMinor enemy OUN, UPA and the solution of the “jewish question” Riga – Vilnius – Tallinn 2010 THE MINOR ENEMY: OUN, UPA AND THE SOLUTION OF THE “JEWISH QUESTION” Copyright © Alexander R. Dyukov All right reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotation embodied in critical articles or reviews. First Russian publication in 2008 by REGNUM 2nd Yuzhnoportoviy pr-d, 20A-4, Moscow, 115088. Second Russian publication in 2009, expanded and updated, by “HISTORICAL MEMORY” FOUNDATION B.Levshinskiy per., 10/2, Moscow, 119034. First English publication in 2010 by INSTITUTE OF EUROPEAN STUDIES 52/56 Ropazhu st., Riga, Latvia, LV-1006 ISBN 978-9934-8113-0-2 Conclusion by Yuriy Shevtsov. Translated from Russian by Marina Smolya. Printed in Latvia. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 CHAPTER 1. Historiography of the problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 CHAPTER 2. “Jewish issue” in the OUN pre-war plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 CHAPTER 3. Extermination starts: the OUN anti-jewish campaigns in the summer of 1941 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 CHAPTER 4. Correction of the anti-jewish course of the OUN(B) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 CONCLUSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 APPENDIX I. List of the basic OUN documents, related to the “jewish issue” . . . . . . . 108 APPENDIX II. New archive documents on the OUN connection with the nazi secret service. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 APPENDIX III. New archive documents on the crimes of the OUN and UPA . . . . . . . . 137 ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Yuri SHEVTSOV Th e UPA cult: amorality in Ukraine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 4 Alexander Dyukov(cid:23)Minor enemy(cid:23)Introduction INTRODUCTION During three painfully long years, the territory of the Soviet Union occupied by Nazi, had been the venue of a drama, unique in the world history. From the very beginning the Nazi treated the war in the East as a war for extermination. According to Nazi ideas, the Soviet Union was populated by people of an inferior race, some of whom were to be exter- minated and the others – turned into slaves. During the closed meetings, the representatives of the Hitler government were openly announcing the need to exterminate millions of Soviet people. And these plans were not only on paper, they were actively and consistently implemented. Th e troops of the Red Army at the war theatre and Soviet guerillas in the rear guard, prevented the implementation of Nazi plans of an im- pending Holocaust, but whatever the Nazi managed to do was gruesome enough. Till now we do not know the exact number of civilians, killed with bullets, fi re and famine at the occupied territories. Th e Soviet historians spoke about 10 billion people, contemporary Russian researches mention 13,5–14 billion, 7,5 billion of whom were killed in the course of counter-insurgency operations, 2.5 billion died in the hard labour camps in Germany and over 4 billion people died of famine, brought about by the Nazi Governance.1 Part of the Nazi extermination campaign against the Soviet Union was the large-scale annihilation of Jews. Jewish people had not the most number of victims, but they were the fi rst people, against whom the Nazi started their indiscriminate slaughter. Russian, Ukrainian or Belorussian people under German occupation had a slim chance to survive, that is, as slaves. Th e average Jew didn’t even have that chance, only a handful remained of the 3 billion Jewish people at the occupied territories when the Red Army arrived to liberate the Land.2 However, not all Jews, killed during the Nazi occupation, were victims of the Nazi. Th e “Final Solution of the Jewish issue” had some contribution from the Nationalists in the Baltic Republics and Ukraine, the new members to the Soviet Union. Th e massacres arranged by them started 1 Russia and the USSR in the wars of ХХ century: Loss of armed forces: statistic research. (Rossiya i SSSR v voinah XX veka. Poteri vooruzhennih sil. Statisticheskoye issledovanie), Мoscow, 2001, p. 233, 463; Population of Russia in ХХ century: Historical essays. (Naseleniye Rossii v XX veke. Istoricheskiye ocherki), Мoscow, 2001, vol. 2, pp. 50, 58–59. 2 Altman, I. A. Victims of hatred: Holocaust in the USSR, 1941–1945. (Zhertvi nenavisti: Holokost v SSSR, 1941-1945), Мoscow, 2002, p. 454. Alexander Dyukov(cid:23)Minor enemy(cid:23)Introduction 5 right aft er the Soviet troops left . Jews were beaten to death, shot, burnt in houses and synagogues, and those who managed to fl ee were hunted down by soldiers with allegiance to anti-Soviet nationalist formations. Extermination of Jews by local nationalists was certainly favoured by the leaders of Einsatzgruppen, who took this opportunity to show their crimes as “spontaneous campaigns of natural purifi cation”. Nowadays we see the reverse process: the crimes of the nationalists in the Baltics and Ukraine are every now and again shown as committed by Nazi Einsatz- gruppen. Th is is especially visible in Ukraine, where members of the Organisa- tion of Ukrainian Nationalists (the OUN) and UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Ukrainskaya Povstantcheskaya Armiya – UPA) have been hailed as national heroes. In November 2007, during an offi cial visit to Israel, the President of Ukraine, Victor Yushenko made a statement that THE OUN and UPA had nothing to do with anti-Semitic activity, and that the memorandums of these organizations do not have a single anti-Semitic provision. “No archive today can prove that a counter-insurgency campaign took place with participation of the UPA soldiers or members of similar organizations – the Ukrainian President said. “I understand, that most of the Soviet propaganda has the power of stereotypes, but we have the right to speak about the other truth,” – he added.3 Th e reason for this statement is quite understandable. A new national identity is being formed in Ukraine, and within this ideology members of the OUN and UPA are proclaimed national heroes.4 Certainly, national heroes will never be complicit in crimes against humanity. Th e situation is more complicated by the fact that the issue of the OUN and UPA treatment of Jews has both intra-political and international signifi cance. In the autumn of 2007, the Chief of UPA, Roman Shukhevich was, posthumously awarded the title of ‘Th e Hero of Ukraine’. Whether this will aff ect the relationship between Ukraine and Israel, if Ukrainian historians fail to prove Shukhevich’s “non-participation” in massacres of Jews in Lvov on June 30th, 1941, remains to be seen. Will the image of Ukraine in the Global Forum get defaced, when the intentions of the OUN 3 IA “Rosbalt”, 14-15.11.2007. 4 For more details see: Yukhnovsky, I. On ideology and politics of Ukrainian national memory Institute (Ob ideologii i politike Ukrainskogo instituta natsionalnoi pamyati) // Weekly mirror (Zerkalo Nedeli), Kyiv, 27.10-02.11.2007; Dyukov, А. New identity for Ukraine (Novaya identichnost dlya Ukrainy) // Russian Project (Russki proekt), 15.10.2007. 6 Alexander Dyukov(cid:23)Minor enemy(cid:23)Introduction leaders to solve the “Jewish issue” and the ways they employ towards those means become public information is another question that also points to far more serious implications. Th e questions above are also far from rhetorical: in the end of De- cember 2007, the Head of Th e Simon Wiesenthal Center for Internation- al relations, Dr Shimon Samuels, expressed his protest to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Terry Davis, against honoring Roman Shukhevich with the title of ‘Th e Hero of Ukraine’. According to Dr Samu- els, by giving this title Ukraine had expressly violated its obligations as a member of the Council of Europe combating racism and the Holocaust.5 It is hard to counter-argue his statement. No matter what Ukrainian government and their supporting historians say, Ukrainian nationalists did take part in the extermination of Jews, Polish people and pro-Soviet Ukrainians. Th is is a known fact. Th e subject, however, has not undergone any signifi cant scientifi c study yet, which gives way to various specula- tions. Th is monograph is devoted to the participation of the OUN and UPA in the extermination of Jews. Th e author had two inter-related goals: fi rst, to analyze the current Ukrainian and foreign historiography on the subject, and second, based on documents from the Ukrainian and Russian archives, to study the main issues, related to participation of the OUN and UPA in the Holocaust. Th e monograph describes pre-war plans of the OUN with regard to Jews, participation of UPA soldiers in extermination of Jews in the summer of 1941, amendments of the OUN programmes on the “Jewish issue”, participation of UPA troops in anti-Jewish campaigns, and the life of Jew soldiers of the UPA. Th e appendices to this monograph contain hitherto unpublished documents from the Central Archive of Federal Security Service of Russia, disclosing the connection of the OUN with the Nazi Secret Service and the crimes of the OUN and UPA. Th e above mentioned documents are not related directly to the subject of the research, but their content gives a broader view of the activity of the OUN and UPA. Th e second edition of the book contains the information on the forma- tion of the attitudes towards the “Jewish issue” in the offi cial publications of the OUN in the late twenties and early thirties, the recently emerged 5 SWC urges Council of Europe to condemn Ukrainian for rabid anti-Semitic outburst that defamed Si- mon Wiesenthal and victims of the Shoah // Wiesenthal.com, 27.12.2007. Alexander Dyukov(cid:23)Minor enemy(cid:23)Introduction 7 information and comments of colleagues-historians are also taken into consideration in the second edition. However, the author does not con- sider this monograph comprehensive and fi nal, but fi rmly believes that, post-publication it would be impossible to negate the OUN and the UPA’s contribution in the extermination of Jews. Th e book could never be published without the support of many people, living in Russia, Canada and Ukraine. Co-chairman of the Russian Foundation “Holocaust”, Iliya Altman (Moscow) has always taken kindly my research, and two years ago sug- gested writing a few articles on the activity of the OUN and UPA for the Russian “Encyclopedia of Holocaust”. Th is monograph is the direct con- sequence of his suggestion. Modest Kolerov, the managing director of “REGNUM” information agency (Moscow) took the trouble of issuing the fi rst edition of this book, and made a number of valuable comments as well. Ivan Himka, Th e University of Alberta Professor (Edmonton, Canada) kindly provided the manuscript of his research work “Ethnicity and the Reporting of Mass Murder: Krakiwski visti, the NKVD Murders of 1941, and the Vinnytsia Exhumation”. Marko Carynnik, a historian and writer, (Toronto, Canada) provided the author with some of his publications, which were not available in Moscow. Vladimir Ischenko (Kiev) kindly provided unpublished documents on the history of the OUN and UPA, stored in the State Central Archive of the state authorities of Ukraine and the Central Archive of non-govern- mental organizations of Ukraine. His help increased the reference base of the research. Oleg Rosov, a historian from Dnepropetrovsk took the trouble of read- ing certain parts of the monograph and made a number of valuable comments. He also provided documents from Ukrainian archives and several publication of highest bibliographical value. Igor Gomzyak (Lvov), a representative of the Publishing House “Chronicles of UPA” in Ukraine, has been ever kind and prompt in pro- viding me with the documents, published by his offi ce. A special word of Th anks goes to Mr Gomzyak as his views on the OUN and UPA are very diff erent from the author’s. 8 Alexander Dyukov(cid:23)Minor enemy(cid:23)Introduction Many of my friends in Ukraine, who directly or indirectly contrib- uted, requested their names to be withheld. Th is is characteristic of today’s Ukraine. “Th ey won’t do me any harm, but might interfere with my ca- reer” – one of my friends explained. “It’s not about me, it’s about my family here in Ukraine… there are so many morons here” – said another friend. I do as requested, and remain grateful for all their help. June 2009. CHAPTER 1 Historiography of the Problem 10 Alexander Dyukov(cid:23)Minor enemy(cid:23)Chapter 1 CHAPTER 1 Historiography of the Problem Th e attitude of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army to Jewish people is one of the most controver- sial problems in the OUN and UPA historiography. Today the researches have divided into two opposite groups. One group believes that the OUN and UPA took an active part in extermination of Jews, and the other group denies this. Both parties accuse each other of political intentions and us- age of “propaganda tools”, and at times these accusations are justifi ed. Th is state of aff airs shows not only the complications of the issue, but also its political signifi cance, and at the same time, a lack of scientifi c studies on the matter. Th e reasons for the latter are clear. Up to the “archive revolution” of the 90’s, the informational resources on this subject were very limited. Any researcher, willing to study the OUN and UPA attitude to Jews, could only use reminiscences, few German reports on the situation in the occupied Ukraine, and some of the OUN and UPA documents of doubtful authenticity, published by emigrants, for their studies. Th e contradiction in the memoirs of diff erent people made it even more complicated. While Jewish and Polish people consistently reaffi rmed the participation of Ukrainian nationalists in massacres and slaughter, emigrant OUN members begged to diff er. Yaroslav Stetsko, one of the leaders of the OUN(B), stated that the OUN people did not take part in the massacres of Jews in the summer of 1941. “In every settlement along our way I personally paid attention to opposing German provocations to anti-Jewish or anti-Polish actions. Th is was done by all our people”, wrote Stetsko.6 According to the OUN member Bogdan Kazanovsky, anti-Jewish campaigns were prohibited by the OUN head of the territory Ivan Kli- mov, known under the name “Legenda” (the legend). As Kazanovsky states, once a deputy of the Ukrainian police commissioner approached Klimov with a question of what should be their attitude towards German anti-Jewish campaigns. Klimov said in response: “We are not interested in the extermination of Jews, because aft er them, the turn of Ukrainian 6 Stetsko, Y. 30th of July, 1941. Progoloshennya vidnovlennya derzhavnosti Ukraini (30 червня 1941: Проголошення вiдновлення державности Украïни), Tornoto; New-York; London, 1967, p. 178.