Ukrainian Nationalist Organizations during the Second World War: Documents: in 2 volumes-Vol. 1: 1939-1943 / Ed. by A. N. Artizov. Moscow: ROSSPEN Publ., 2012, 878 p.; Vol. 2: 1944-1945 / Ed. by A. N. Artizov. Moscow: ROSSPEN Publ., 2012, 1167 p. (in Russian)
Ukrainian Nationalist Organizations during the Second World War: documents: in 2 volumes-Vol. 1: 1939-1943 / ed. by A.M. Artizov. Moscow: ROSSPEN Publ., 2012, 878 p.; Vol. 2: 1944-1945 / Edited by A.M. Artizov. Moscow: ROSSPEN Publ., 2012, 1167 p. (in Russian)
Presentations of the fundamental two-volume scientific documentary were held on June 22, 2012 in Moscow, and then, on September 26, in Kiev. This is, in fact, the first Russian nonfiction publication of an academic nature, aimed at providing a comprehensive and comprehensive coverage of the genesis, ideology, strategy and tactics, leading areas of activity, and the place in international relations of the Ukrainian nationalist movement (primarily the OUN revolutionary or OUN(b)), and its armed formations in the language of documents of various origins first of all, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. The scientific and organizational level of the publication certifies the identity of the chairman of the editorial board of the two-volume book, - Head of the Federal Archival Agency of Russia, Doctor of Historical Sciences A. Artizov.
Actually, the idea of preparing such a collection originated in the Central State Archive of Public Associations of Ukraine (CSAGO of Ukraine) back in 2003, the archive, together with the publishing house "Chronicle of the UPA" (Toronto, Canada), published five volumes of policy and information materials of the Central Committee of the CP (b) u, regional committees of the Communist Party, NKVD-MVD, MGB-KGB of the Ukrainian SSR, which included about 700 documents for 1943-1959. Most of them for the first time and in sufficient detail reveal the role and place of the party-state and repressive-punitive bodies of the republic in suppressing the Ukrainian insurgency, highlight the forms and methods of this struggle, and also contain information about its dynamics and scope. It is clear that all fundamental decisions on countering the nationalist underground were made not in Kiev, but in Moscow. However, there is no information in the Ukrainian archives about the attitude of the union center, personally I. Stalin, to this phenomenal phenomenon in Western Ukraine, which became the center of many years of fierce and uncompromising resistance to the communist regime. In order to expand the documentary base on this issue and introduce new sources into scientific circulation, the Central State Archive of Ukraine proposed to its Russian colleagues-archivists a project on joint preparation of a collection of documents in three volumes under the conditional title " union center in the fight against the Ukrainian nationalist underground (1939-1959)". selection of documents in Russian archives from the funds of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) - Central Committee of the CPSU, GKO, SNK-RM of the USSR, NKVD-MVD, NKGB, army intelligence agencies, the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army and the political directorates of the 1st and 4th Ukrainian fronts, whose troops operated on the territory of Ukraine in 1944. In addition, it provided for the identification of captured documents of German origin concerning the attitude of Germans to Ukrainian nationalists, the characteristics of their activities in the military, political and ideological spheres.
During bilateral meetings between the heads of the State Archive of Ukraine (Boryak) and the Federal Archive of Ukraine (Rosarhiv). Kozlov) and directors of the central Ukrainian and foreign banks.
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In September 2003, an agreement was reached on the implementation of a corresponding publishing project during 2004-2006. In particular, it was assumed that the Federal Archive would organize the widest possible identification of documents in the state archives of the Russian Federation and provide copies of them to the State Archive. The Ukrainian side was supposed to carry out an archeographic study, prepare comments, organize a computer set, layout the collection and finance its publication. The main institution of the project was determined by the Central State Administration of Ukraine.
However, the cooperation started was not completed: for six years, the Central Administrative District of Ukraine received only lists of identified documents that could be included in the publication. Copies of the documents remained with the Russian colleagues. In 2009, at a meeting of the Russian part of the editorial board of the joint publication, a comment was made about the Ukrainian concept of the collection, which, according to the editorial board members, was "biased", since the Ukrainian nationalist movement was considered as "a liberation movement that waged an armed struggle against the totalitarian communist regime". Russian colleagues expressed their disagreement with this thesis, quite rightly noting that if there are different conceptual approaches, it will be almost impossible to develop a unified approach to the composition of documents and their commentary.
Actually, this is a digression from the topic of our publication, but, according to the authors, it is necessary, since it characterizes a rather difficult perception of events in the Western Ukrainian lands that took place during the Second World War and the post-war period, even among historians and archivists. As for the publication itself, the scientific community can only welcome the efforts of Russian colleagues and their quite obvious attempt to recreate a large-scale documentary picture of the past nationalist movement as one of the key military and political phenomena in the history of Ukraine of the XX century, the memory of which remains one of the counterversion factors of public consciousness in modern Ukraine.
It should be noted that the compilers broadly interpret the concept of "Ukrainian nationalist movement", so the collection includes not only documents on the OUN(b) or OUN(M), but also Ukrainian emigration national-republican (political descendants of the Ukrainian People's Republic of 1917-1920), conservative-hetman (supporters of the Ukrainian state of Hetman P. Skoropadsky), the Ukrainian national Association, and other national-patriotic associations of an anti-Soviet nature. In addition to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which is politically subordinate to the OUN (b), a lot of space is reserved for the armed formation of Taras Borovets-Bulba ("Polesskaya Sich", UPA, UNRA), the Ukrainian police formation in the service of Reich, as well as the formation of the Waffen-SS division "Galicia".
The chronological boundaries of events, which are reflected in the published documents, cover the period from September 1939 to May 1945. At the same time, for a better understanding of the genesis of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, its programmatic foundations, the evolution of strategy and tactics, and the specifics of its activities in the context of the world war drama, the two-volume book also includes documents dating beyond the specified period (the first half of 1939, 1946-1953).
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The fundamental collection contains 506 documents in four original languages from 15 archives in Russia, Ukraine, Germany, Poland and Belarus, which makes the two-volume collection an unprecedented printed source on the history of the Ukrainian nationalist movement during the Second World War (almost 50 collections and collections were used). 390 documents were published for the first time, more than half of them were published in full, the rest - with reasoned and marked text exceptions.
The used archives were distributed as follows:
- Russian Federation: State Archive of the Russian Federation, Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), Russian State Military Archive (RGVA), Departmental Archives of the President of the Russian Federation, Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense (TSAMO), Central Archive of the Federal Security Service (CA FSB), Archive of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR);
- Federal Republic of Germany: Federal Archive of Germany, Federal Military Archive, Political Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
- Ukraine: Central State Archive of Higher Authorities and Administration of Ukraine (TsGAVO of Ukraine), Central State Archive of Public Associations of Ukraine (TSGAGO of Ukraine), branch State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine (gda SBU);
- Republic of Poland: archive of new acts;
- Republic of Belarus: National Archive of the Republic of Belarus.
An independent scientific and cognitive interest is the introduction to the two-volume book, the author of which is Candidate of Historical Sciences O. Borisenok (Head of the Department of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences). In fact, her work is an overview of the main milestones in the history of the Ukrainian nationalist movement and the UPA, with an emphasis on their military and political activities, their place in the system of international relations, and the confrontation of great powers on the eve and during World War II. The Russian researcher demonstrated her professional knowledge of the works of Ukrainian researchers of the history of the OUN and UPA A. Kentiy, A. Bolyanovsky, D. Vedeneev, P. Gaynizhnik, V. Klyuvak, V. Ivanenko, I. Ilyushin, A. Lysenko, A. Marushchenko, I. Patrilyak, Ya.Primachenko, A. Romaniv, I. Fedushchak, V. Yakunin.
A rather detailed archeographic part of the preface, prepared by T. Tsarevskaya-Dyakina (Deputy Head of the Department of the Russian State Academy of Natural History). Along with basic information about the structure of the collection, submission and processing of documents, statistics are provided on the number of documents in archives and the number of previously published materials, documents published in other publications are analyzed, and so on. At the same time, it remains unclear why the compilers, having carried out an in-depth analysis of the published documents and providing a link to the place of their preliminary printing, do not mention in the preface a single word about the existence of collections of documents on this issue in Ukraine (in particular, from the multi-volume series "Chronicle of the UPA"), from which, by the way,
It is impossible not to express respect for the professionalism and scientific integrity of the team of compilers, who accompanied the documentary part of the volumes with lengthy notes that carry a lot of scientific, historical, reference and biographical information.
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It will undoubtedly be useful not only for those readers who have a general understanding of the OUN and UPA's past, but also for professional researchers. Special attention should be paid to the illustrative part of the collection, which is contained in both volumes. It is represented by color photos and copies of documents. Unfortunately, not a single document from the Ukrainian archives was found among them. Lists of published materials that do not contain the date of their creation also cause certain inconveniences when working.
The second volume is completed with carefully compiled biographical references to hundreds of leaders and functionaries of the nationalist movement, UPA commanders, party and Soviet figures and apparatchiks, Reich officials, command and operational personnel of the Soviet and German special services, and other persons involved in the published documentary artifacts. It seems that the involvement of Ukrainian researchers in the conclusion of biographical references and scientific reference apparatus would help to remove a lot of question marks put by the compilers.
Speaking about the source possibilities of the collection, first of all, we note a considerable group of documents that are generalizing information materials on the OUN and UPA movement, addressed to the top party leadership of the USSR. It is clear that the leaders of special structures and peripheral party bodies tried to submit to them the most verified (as far as possible in the current confrontation and the conspiracy that is quite strong in the nationalist movement), synthesized information. In this regard, it is advisable to recall the well-chosen documents of the Russian State Register of Natural Resources. Among them-special communication of the NKVD-NKGB bodies to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b), the Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement to the central headquarters of the partisan movement, etc.
In addition to the documents of the OUN and UPA directly, the materials of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU(b), the NKVD and the NKGB of the USSR, and so on, are of particular interest. However, unfortunately, their content is somewhat disappointing, since they mainly contain general information that was prepared on the basis of data received by the center from local sources. In our opinion, the collection would only benefit from the inclusion of documents with guidelines from the central authorities, as it was once supposed to be in a joint Ukrainian-Russian project. On the other hand, the absence of such materials in this publication can only be explained by a certain selective selection principle.
One of the features of the collection worthy of positive mention is that it contains quite widely presented documents of the special services of the USSR (until relatively recently secret), Germany, pre-war Poland, generated during their confrontation with the nationalist movement or operational tracking of the environment of the OUN and UPA, as well as "trophy" materials of the nationalist movement itself from the archives of the special services. This fact allows us to attribute the collection to a productive source from the study of the history of the special services of the USSR and Germany, the mechanism of their study of the Ukrainian nationalist movement, the confrontation with it, as well as the features of the forms and methods of operational and official activities of intelligence and counterintelligence of these states, their peculiar confrontation on the "battlefield" he became a hostage to the global confrontation of the Second World War.
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At the same time, the documents of the special services require careful comparison with materials of other origin, sources on political and socio-economic history, because these problems are objectively ignored by the special services, but cannot be ignored when reproducing the complete history of the nationalist movement. By definition, they have a confrontational spirit, because they were talking about opponents from an uncompromising confrontation and finding out the origins of certain phenomena hostile to the Kremlin or Berlin was not part of the tasks of the special services.
The collection makes extensive use of the capabilities of the State Duma of the SBU. A lot of documents from Central Asia of the FSB are contained (in recent years he has distinguished himself by active archeographic work). Here, in particular, special reports about the OUN to the highest party authorities, materials of the 3rd (counterintelligence work) and 4th (frontline intelligence and sabotage work) departments of the NKVD of the USSR, interrogation protocols of captured OUN functionaries and UPA commanders are of cognitive value.
Of particular interest to researchers are agent reports and information and analytical documents from the archive of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (the corresponding agent developments of the NKVD intelligence service still retain a certain operational significance). In our opinion, the value of this type of document for historians is primarily due to the fact that the confidential sources whose reports are based on them moved at the highest levels of the OUN and in the leading circles of the Reich.
An innovative phenomenon was the publication of documents of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Red Army from the funds of the Central Military District of the Russian Federation. A significant number of documents from the archives of the Federal Republic of Germany, generated by the activities of the military intelligence of Nazi Germany - the Abwehr, the Main Directorate of Imperial Security (RSGA), the Security Police and the SD-were published (mostly for the first time). A number of documents of the II Division (intelligence and counterintelligence) of the General Staff and the Border Guard Corps of the II Reich Connection were also placed.
As for the central state archives of Ukraine, the compilers drew on the documents of the funds of the Central State Archive of Ukraine (in particular, the materials of the fund of the Ukrainian headquarters of the partisan movement turned out to be informative). The two-volume book contains extensive documents of the OUN and UPA from the Central State Archive of the Highest Authorities and Administration of Ukraine.
Some of the materials (in translation) are taken from foreign (for Russia) documentary collections. Many of the documents included in the publication are reprinted from major publications previously prepared in Ukraine.
The team of drafters openly stated the criteria for selecting documents. They deliberately focused on " subjects that cause the most acute contradictions. [ ... ] Among such subjects are the tactics of the OUN [ ... ] on partnership with the Nazis, the participation of nationalists in armed formations and armed struggle against the Red Army, and in repression against the civilian population."
At the same time, the language of the documents can hardly be considered sufficient to explain the motives for cooperation with Germany. In addition, when submitting a lot of documents of an "incriminating" nature about the brutality of nationalists, the drafters give
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an opportunity to understand the protest motivation of the population of Western Ukraine, which prompted them to take up arms. The collection, in particular, presents reports of German special agencies on the bacchanal of terror against prisoners in the Western Ukrainian regions in the first days of the German-Soviet war ("cleaning of prisons"), documents on numerous facts of" violation of socialist legality "(outrages, criminal crimes against the Ukrainian population) after the return of the"Soviets" to Western Ukraine.
It should be noted that the creative team of the collection sufficiently "gives the floor" to the original documents of the nationalist movement-from the memoranda of the highest guides of the OUN to the reports of field commanders of the UPA and grassroots links of the underground. At the same time, while containing a lot of documentary evidence about the violence of insurgents and local "Axe - wielding" peasants against Polish civilian population during the infamous Volyn tragedy of 1943-1944, the authors did not bother to explain its motives and the centuries-old (without exaggeration) reasons for the extermination of tens of thousands of Poles (in particular, the terror of the Polish Home Army and others armed groups against local Ukrainians).
Reflecting on the problems raised in the collection, it is impossible not to mention the peculiarities of coverage of the history of the Ukrainian nationalist movement in Russian historiography and popular science publications. Thus, the attitude to Ukrainian nationalism in this country is a component of public consciousness, an ambiguous perception of Ukrainian statehood as such (which causes political actualization of the problem). According to the Ukrainian philosopher I. Losev, we can talk about "banderophobia" as a component of the myths of the Russian mass consciousness on the Ukrainian theme. It is understood as a set of mythologems, irrational schemes of thinking that developed in the Soviet era, aimed at forming hostility to Ukrainian nationalism.
It should be recognized that a significant part of publications on the history of the OUN and UPA (both in Russia and in Ukraine), for authors who are characterized by a politicized assessment of this phenomenon, are strongly influenced by the clichés of Soviet historiography, or practically calcifying its approaches. However, even in Ukraine, not all authors can boast of a lack of bias and a tendency to serve various phobias or corporate ideological guidelines.
The roots of disagreements and contradictions in the sphere of historical memory go, of course, in particular the state system, official humanitarian policy (for all its eclectic and pluralistic approaches of humanitarians with different conceptual views, political bias, etc.). Substantial instructions from modern works of Russian historians devoted to the history of Ukrainian nationalism and its armed struggle, as well as selection criteria the reasons for publishing the relevant documents can hardly be understood without taking into account the peculiarities of the ideological situation and humanitarian policy in the Russian Federation.
We believe that the general state of the Russian State (despite the relative conventionality of such a concept in modern languages) humanities has also affected the attitude to Ukrainian nationalism. In the context of the recognition of the Russian Federation as the legal successor of the USSR, its "historical and informational feeding" was constructed from a rather eclectic mosaic of selectively selected phenomena and events of the pre-revolutionary (from
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princely era before 1917), Soviet and current Russian history. One of the cementing structures of this mechanism of the state and the construction of a new Russian civil society was the identification of "historical enemies of great Russia", whose register naturally included non-Slavic state formations of 1917-1940, and the centrifugal nationalist movements of Ukraine, the Baltic States, and the North Caucasus, which waged an armed struggle against Moscow and had the strategic goal of creating their own national statehood.
Nevertheless, the team of compilers, in our opinion, belongs to the professionally conscientious part of researchers of difficult problems of Ukrainian history. In the end, it is always a positive event in scientific life that solid documentary publications are published, whose materials reflect exactly those events that are now most often the subject of opportunistic distortions and politically biased manipulations with the mass consciousness. The "information product" developed by professional historians as a result of studying the documentary heritage should remain one of the leading sources of forming the historical consciousness and national memory of citizenship, serve as one of the safeguards for derationalizing people's thinking, depriving them of the skills to analyze the phenomena of past and modern socio-political life.
We believe that the professionally prepared collection of documents "Ukrainian nationalist organizations during the Second World War" will take its proper place in the initial base of research on the history of the national nationalist movement and a number of related problems during the Second World War. We hope that reviewing and discussing this fundamental publication by historians of Russia and Ukraine will be one of the appropriate opportunities for developing a constructive view on acute historical issues and preventing the spread of confrontational spirit in relations between the peoples of the two neighboring states.
D. V. Vedeneev (Kiev), V. S. Lozitsky (Kiev)
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