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91-700: The Ukrainian resistance security police (SB) was established in 1940 by Stepan Bandera and Stepan Lenkavskyi , and performed the role of a secret service and counter-intelligence agency within Bandera's faction of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The first security police commander was Mykola Lebed . According to the plans adopted in November 1942 at the "Military conference of OUN(B)", an intelligence and counter-intelligence service (SB) and military gendarmerie were developed. The OUN(B) already had an SB which

182-839: A Reich Security Main Office official to discuss plans for diversions and sabotage against the Soviet Army. Bandera's release was preceded by lengthy talks between the Germans and the UPA in Galicia and Volhynia. Local talks and agreements took place as early as the end of 1943, talks at the central level of the OUN-B began in March 1944 and ended with the conclusion of an informal agreement in August or September 1944. The talks from

273-470: A massacre of Poles in Volhynia . In early 1944, ethnic cleansing also spread to Eastern Galicia. It is estimated that more than 35,000 and up to 60,000 Poles, mostly women and children along with unarmed men, were killed during the spring and summer campaign of 1943 in Volhynia, and up to 133,000 if other regions, such as Eastern Galicia, are included. Despite the central role played by Bandera's followers in

364-531: A "Nazi", and characterizes Bandera as a "Ukrainian ultranationalist", commenting that Ukrainian nationalism was "not a copy of Nazism". Political scientist Luboš Veselý criticises Rossoliński-Liebe's book on Bandera as intentionally painting him and all Ukrainian nationalists negatively. Per Veselý, Rossoliński-Liebe "considers nationalism in general to be closely related to fascism" and fails to put Ukrainian nationalism, as well as antisemitism and fascist movements, in context of their rise in other European countries at

455-454: A "condemnable symbol of Ukrainian fascism, antisemitism, terrorism and an inspiration for anti-Jewish pogroms and even genocide" "an abusive oversimplification, uprooting events and people from the context of the era or using harsh, unfounded and emotional judgments." Ukrainian historian Oleksandr Zaitsev notes that Rossolinski-Liebe's approach ignores "the fundamental differences between ultra-nationalist movements of nations with and without

546-515: A Jewish woman, and especially, a "suspicious" Russian Jewish woman. NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters During the Soviet struggle to establish control over Western Ukraine, NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters committed atrocities in order to demoralize the civilian population, and to turn the people against nationalist groups. Some of the NKVD units consisted of former UPA members. From

637-803: A Ukrainian high school in Stryi in 1927, where he was engaged in a number of youth organizations, Bandera planned to attend the Husbandry Academy in Czechoslovakia , but he either did not get a passport or the Academy notified him that it was closed. In 1928, Bandera enrolled in the agronomy program at the Politechnika Lwowska in its branch in Dubliany , but never completed his studies due to his political activities and arrests. Bandera associated himself with

728-689: A conference in Berlin on 3–6 June 1933. On 29 August 1931, Polish politician Tadeusz Hołówko was assassinated by two members of the OUN Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn . Both were sentenced to death. Bandera-led OUN propaganda made them martyrs and ordered Ukrainian priests in Lviv and elsewhere to ring bells on the day of their execution. Since 1932 Bandera was assistant chief of OUN and around that time controlled several "warrior units" in Poland in places such as

819-570: A doctorate in political economy at the University of Rome, and Vasyl, who finished a degree in philosophy at the University of Lviv . Bandera grew up in a patriotic and religious household. He did not attend primary school due to World War I and was taught at home by his parents. At a young age, Bandera was undersized and slim. He sang in a choir, played guitar and mandolin, enjoyed hiking, jogging, swimming, ice skating, basketball and chess. After

910-584: A key obsession , namely the notion that the Jews in Ukraine were behind Communism and Stalinist imperialism and must be destroyed." On 10 August 1940, Bandera wrote a letter to Andriy Melnyk saying that he would accept Melnyk's leadership of the OUN, provided he expelled "traitors" in the leadership. One of these was Mykola Stsibors'kyi, who Bandera accused of an absence of "morality and ethics in family life" due to having married

1001-546: A meeting of the Provid on 5 and 6 February 1945, it was decided that Bandera's return to Ukraine was pointless, and that it might be more beneficial for him to remain in the West, where, as a former Nazi prisoner, he could organize support of international opinion. Bandera was re-elected as leader of the whole OUN. Roman Shukhevych resigned as the leader of the OUN and became the leader of OUN in Ukraine and Bandera's deputy. The leaders of

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1092-525: A metre of rope around her neck. The SB squad allegedly responsible for the crime had nine members, and acted on the direct instructions of the commander of an UPA regiment based in a nearby forest. All of the executions had been perpetrated under orders. One of the SB unit members had been recruited into the unit by an old friend, Zakharyi Lychko , an officer from the Ukrainian SS Galicia Division , who

1183-498: A more conservative approach to nation-building, while the OUN-B faction, led by Bandera, supported a revolutionary approach; however, both factions exhibited similar levels of radical nationalism , fascism , antisemitism , xenophobia and violence. The vast majority of young OUN members joined Bandera's faction. OUN-B was devoted to the independence of Ukraine, as a single-party fascist totalitarian state free of national minorities. It

1274-888: A responsible authority for intelligence and counter-intelligence actions – however, numerous attempts to infiltrate agents into the Soviet partisan detachments has very limited success. They had more success in infiltrating Polish groups. For instance at one of the SB report for beginning of September 1943 mentioned "during reporting period (1-10 Sept) 17 Polish families liquidated (58 persons) … Area in generally clean. There no pure-breed Poles. Issues of mixed families under resolving"; At same time actions against "internal threat" were not halted – all absorbed non OUN(B) military formation and especially their commanders has own "SB-Angels with hanging wire in hands." Such terror also not excluded SB and UPA itself – only in one military area were liquidated several units of SB and almost 70 insurgents. Between 1943 and 1945 OUN security police took an active part in

1365-490: A result, investigations were often brief and resistance members were executed in spite of unsubstantiated charges. The Soviets took advantage of the situation by staging numerous provocations, the result of which was the death of many OUN members wrongly accused of cooperation with the communist security police. Soviet rule in western Ukraine was initially characterized by brutality and mass terror. NKVD units dressed as UPA fighters and committed atrocities in order to demoralize

1456-561: A sadistic way). An identical fate awaited the families of those who didn't want "to take an arms in hands and join the struggle", as only for one instance 26 November 1944 in village Ispas (Chernivetska region) 15 families (41 persons) were killed due to one person's refusal to join UPA. Soviet investigative files are filled with references to follow-up investigations of brutal reprisals carried out by SB units against women suspected of "pro-Soviet sympathies". "In village Diadkovichi SB unit murdered Sofia PAVLIUK, who heartily welcomed soldiers of

1547-824: A state". Zaitsev highlights that the OUN did not identify itself with fascism, but "officially objected to this identification". Zaitsev suggests that it would be more correct to see the OUN and Bandera as the revolutionary ultranationalist movements of stateless nations, which were aiming not on "the reorganization of the existing state according to totalitarian principles, but to create a new state, using all available means, including terror, to this end." According to Zaitsev, Rossolinski-Liebe omits some facts, which do not fit into his "a priori scheme of 'fascism', 'racism' and 'genocidal nationalism'", and denies "the presence of liberatory and democratic elements" in Bandera movement. Historian Dr Raul Cârstocea, too, finds Rossoliński-Liebe's association of Bandera with fascism problematic, for one of

1638-501: A symbol of a revolutionary who fought for Ukrainian independence. While in prison Bandera was "to some extent detached from OUN discourses" but not completely isolated from the global political debates of the late 1930s thanks to Ukrainian and other newspaper subscriptions delivered to his cell. Before World War II the territory of today's Ukraine was split between Poland , the Soviet Union , Romania and Czechoslovakia . Prior to

1729-475: A thinker. Marples considered Rossolinski-Liebe to place too much importance on Bandera's views, writing that Rossolinski-Liebe struggled to find anything of note written by Bandera, and had assumed he was influenced by OUN publicist Dmytro Dontsov and OUN journals. Historian Taras Hunczak argues that Bandera's central article of faith was Ukrainian statehood, and any other goal was secondary to this view. Through an analysis of OUN documents Hunczak demonstrates

1820-532: A variety of Ukrainian organizations during his time in high school, particularly Plast , Sokil , and Organization of the Upper Grades of the Ukrainian High Schools (OVKUH). In 1927 Bandera joined Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO). In February 1929 he joined Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Bandera was drawn into national activity by Stepan Okhrymovych  [ uk ] , one of

1911-594: A wide circle of intellectuals, such as Ivan Bahriany , Vasyl Barka , Hryhorii Vashchenko and many others. In spring 1941, Bandera held meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of " Nachtigall " and " Roland " Battalions. In the spring of that year, the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities inside the Soviet Union. Gestapo and Abwehr officials protected Bandera's followers, as both organizations intended to use them for their own purposes. On 30 June 1941, with

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2002-508: The Free City of Danzig (Wolne Miasto Gdańsk), Drohobycz , Lwów , Stanisławów , Brzezany , and Truskawiec . Bandera collaborated closely with Richard Yary , who would later side with Bandera and help him form OUN-B. On Bandera's orders OUN began a campaign of terrorist acts, such as attacks on post-offices, bomb-throwing at Polish exhibitions and murders of policemen to mass campaigns against Polish tobacco and alcohol monopolies and against

2093-632: The Gestapo . By the end of 1941 relations between Nazi Germany and the OUN-B had soured to the point where a Nazi document dated 25 November 1941 stated that "the Bandera Movement is preparing a revolt in the Reichskommissariat which has as its ultimate aim the establishment of an independent Ukraine. All functionaries of the Bandera Movement must be arrested at once and, after thorough interrogation, are to be liquidated". In January 1942, Bandera

2184-560: The Second Polish Republic . Bandera joined OUN in 1929, and quickly climbed through the ranks, thanks to the support of Okhrymovych, becoming in 1930 the head of a section distributing OUN propaganda in Eastern Galicia. A year later, he became director of propaganda for the whole OUN. After Okhrymovych's death and the flight from Poland of his successor Ivan Habrusevych in 1931, he became the leading candidate to become head of

2275-780: The civilian population; among these NKVD units were those composed of former UPA fighters working for the NKVD. Areas of UPA activity were depopulated; the estimates of Ukrainians deported from 1944 to 1952 range from 182,543 in official Soviet archives to 500,000 . Mass arrests of suspected UPA informants or family members were conducted; between February 1944 and May 1946 over 250,000 people were arrested in Western Ukraine. Those arrested typically experienced beatings or other violence. Those suspected of being UPA members underwent extensive torture; some prisoners were burned alive. The many arrested women believed to be affiliating with UPA were subjected to months of torture, deprivation, and rape at

2366-744: The dissolution of Austria-Hungary in the wake of World War I , Eastern Galicia briefly became part of the West Ukrainian People's Republic . Bandera's father, who joined the Ukrainian Galician Army as a chaplain, was active in the nationalist movement preceding the Polish–Ukrainian War , which was fought between November 1918 to July 1919 and ended with Ukrainian defeat and incorporation of Eastern Galicia into Poland . Mykola Mikhnovsky 's 1900 publication, Independent Ukraine , influenced Bandera greatly. After graduating from

2457-400: The "internal threat" – namely that of OUN(B) political opponents (mainly from Melnyk wing of OUN) and those "who act against party line" – for instance one of former OUN(B) military detachment commander which against general directives of Second OUN(B) Conference commenced military action against Germans in late 1942 and as a result was executed on SB order. From its establishment the SB became

2548-570: The 1939 invasion of Poland , German military intelligence recruited OUN members into the Bergbauernhilfe unit and smuggled Ukrainian nationalists into Poland in order to erode Polish defences by conducting a terror campaign directed at Polish farmers and Jews . OUN leaders Andriy Melnyk (code name Consul I) and Bandera (code name Consul II) both served as agents of the Nazi Germany military intelligence Abwehr Second Department. Their goal

2639-522: The Abwehr moved Bandera and Stetsko to Kraków in order to prepare the Ukrainian unit to be parachuted to the rear of the Soviet army. From there they sent Yurii Lopatynskyi as a courier to Shukhevych . Bandera informed him that he was ready to return to Ukraine, while Stetsko informed him that he still considered himself the Ukrainian prime minister. Lopatynskyi arrived to Shukhevych in early January 1945. At

2730-693: The CIA warning the West Germans against cooperating with him. Following the war Bandera also visited Ukrainian communities in Canada, Austria, Italy, Spain, Belgium, UK and Holland. The MGB , and from 1954, the Soviet KGB , multiple times attempted to kidnap or assassinate Bandera. On 15 October 1959, Bandera collapsed outside of Kreittmayrstrasse 7 in Munich and died shortly thereafter. A medical examination established that

2821-528: The German Abwehr and Wehrmacht . There, he also came in contact with the leader of the OUN, Andriy Atanasovych Melnyk . In 1940, the political differences and expectations between the two leaders caused the OUN to split into two factions, OUN-B and OUN-M ( Banderites and Melnykites) each one claiming legitimacy. The factions differed in ideology, strategy and tactics: the OUN-M faction led by Melnyk preached

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2912-584: The Germans and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp where they were allegedly killed by Polish inmates in 1942. His father Andriy was arrested by the Soviets in late May 1941 for harboring an OUN member and transferred to Kyiv . On 8 July he was sentenced to death and executed on the 10th. His sisters Oksana and Marta–Maria were arrested by the NKVD in 1941 and sent to a gulag in Siberia. Both were released in 1960 without

3003-559: The Nazi Weltanschauung and a commitment to a fascist New Europe." Historian David R. Marples described Bandera's views as "not untypical of his generation" but as holding "an extreme political stance that rejected any form of cooperation with the rulers of Ukrainian territories: the Poles and the Soviet authorities". Marples also described Bandera as "neither an orator nor a theoretician", and wrote that he had minimal importance as

3094-463: The Nazi regime would post-factum recognize an independent fascist Ukraine as an Axis ally proved to be wrong. German authorities requested the declaration be withdrawn, Stetsko and Bandera refused. The Germans barred Bandera from moving to newly conquered Lviv , limiting his residency to occupied Kraków . On 5 July, Bandera was brought to Berlin, where he was placed in honorable captivity . On 12 July,

3185-414: The November 1944 NKVD starting usage of so-called “special groups” composed from voluntarily surrendered OUN and UPA members and, sometimes, 1 of NKVD communication officer. Their tasks were: As of June 20, 1945 such groups were numbered 156 with 1783 of personnel. Since summer 1945 the fact of such group existence also became known for OUN/UPA, thus the NKVD stopped new groups creation and rejoin

3276-527: The OUN in Ukraine also came to the conclusion that the German-Soviet war would soon end in a Soviet victory, and a decision was made to continue the fight against the Soviets with smaller units, in order to maintain the will to fight among the population. It was also decided to hold talks with the Polish underground to conclude an anti-Soviet alliance. At that point the cooperation with Germans basically ceased with

3367-636: The OUN-B Provid side were led mainly by Ivan Hrynokh. Meanwhile, in July 1944, the formation of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR) took place, which was intended as a supra-party organization that constituted the civilian body overseeing the UPA and was intended as the supreme authority in Ukraine. In reality, only members or sympathizers of the OUN-B took part in its formation. Kyrylo Osmak  [ uk ] became president of

3458-460: The Red Army." While targets of SB violence were certainly not exclusively women and girls, a close look at patterns of rebel violence against local citizens suggests that reprisals against "collaborators" was a euphemism for violence against ethnic Poles during World War II and the first two postwar years, when three quarters of the violence against "locals" was directed against ethnic Poles. Following

3549-612: The SB was able to conduct some counterintelligence actions against Soviet agents and even to infiltrate a few former UPA members which worked in the militia in 1945 whose actions have "compromise the Movement" (even in the eyes of the OUN/UPA). On 21 June 1948 Soviet investigators uncovered eighteen corpses — seventeen female and one male that were allegedly killed since November 1947 by an OUN/UPA SB unit. The corpses were so badly decomposed that only six could be identified. One corpse had more than

3640-705: The Soviet advance. Bandera negotiated with the Nazis to create the Ukrainian National Army and the Ukrainian National Committee in March 1945. After the war, Bandera settled with his family in West Germany . In 1959, Bandera was assassinated by a KGB agent in Munich . Bandera remains a highly controversial figure in Ukraine. Many Ukrainians hail him as a role model hero, or as a martyred liberation fighter, while other Ukrainians, particularly in

3731-639: The UHVR, but real power rested in the hands of the General Secretariat, headed by Roman Shukhevych . At the congress, decisions were made to stop any open collaboration with the Germans, creating a government alongside them was excluded, only taking supplies from them was considered. It was planned to carry out partisan fighting in the rear of the approaching Soviet army. A decision was also taken to move away from radically nationalist rhetoric towards greater democratisation. A UHVR foreign mission led by Mykola Lebed

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3822-626: The UPA. Measures included the death sentence, usually by hanging. From November 1944 to May 1945, 240 persons were executed for "unwillingness to join the UPA". Due to heavy losses, and significant shortage of UPA manpower, the military gendarmerie was liquidated in April 1945. As regards to the UPA-SB, one of the OUN(M) commanders stated that "it's hard to make the distinction where the UPA ended and OUN begins under Bandera…". In 1941-42 OUN SB activities mainly targeting

3913-570: The US Army intelligence agency Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) and NKVD entered into extradition negotiations based on the intra-Allied cooperation wartime agreement made at the Yalta Conference . The CIC wanted Frederick Wilhelm Kaltenbach , who would turn out to be deceased, and in return the Soviet Union proposed Bandera. Bandera and many Ukrainian nationalists had ended up in the American zone after

4004-603: The US from getting sources of intelligence, so this became one of the factors in the breakdown of the cooperation agreement. However, the CIC still considered Bandera untrustworthy and were concerned about the impact of his activities on Soviet-American relations, and in mid-1947 conducted an extensive and aggressive search to locate him. It failed, having described their quarry as "extremely dangerous" and "constantly en route, frequently in disguise". Some American intelligence reported that he even

4095-546: The US intelligence. A September 1945 report by the US Office of Strategic Services said that Bandera had "earned a fierce reputation for conducting a 'reign of terror' during World War II". Bandera was protected by the US-backed Gehlen Organization but he also received help from underground organizations of former Nazis who helped Bandera to cross borders between Allied occupation zones . In 1946, agents of

4186-667: The Ukrainian National Committee. The head of the Committee, Yaroslav Stetsko , announced the creation of a Ukrainian state on 30 June 1941, in German-captured Lviv . The proclamation pledged to work with Nazi Germany . The Germans disapproved of the proclamation, and for his refusal to rescind the decree, Bandera was arrested by the Gestapo . He was released in September 1944 by the Germans in hope that he could fight

4277-523: The Ukrainian state." The OUN memorandum from 14 August declares the OUN wish "to work together with Germany not from opportunism, but from a realization of the need of such cooperation for the well-being of Ukraine". Hunczak observes OUN leaders', including Bandera, attitude change after 15 September 1942, following Gestapo 's killing of an OUN member , prompting the OUN to use the rhetoric of "German occupier" in reference to Nazi regime. Political scientist Andreas Umland opposes characterizing Bandera as

4368-560: The ZCh OUN center. He used false identification documents that helped him to conceal his past relationship with the Nazis. On 16 April 1946, the Yaroslav Stetsko -led Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations was founded, with which Bandera also collaborated. The ZCh OUN quickly became the largest organisation in the approximately 110,000-strong Ukrainian diaspora in Germany, with 5,000 members. Part of

4459-481: The advancing Red Army." "On the night of 19 September [1944] in the village Bolshaia-Osneshcha , Kolkovskyi raion , the STRESHA band, murdered four women, in whose apartments lived Red Army soldiers." "On the night of 23 September [1944] in village Mykhlin , Senkovych raion , a SB unit of four persons killed four women and injured one. [The women] had gotten together to write letters to their husbands and sons [serving] in

4550-450: The arrival of Nazi troops in Ukraine, the OUN-B unilaterally declared an independent Ukrainian state ("Act of Renewal of Ukrainian Statehood"). The proclamation pledged a cooperation of the new Ukrainian state with Nazi Germany under the leadership of Hitler. The declaration was accompanied by violent pogroms . Bandera did not actively support or participate in the Lviv pogroms or acts of violence against Jewish and Polish civilians, but

4641-425: The assassination of the Polish interior minister, Bronisław Pieracki , and was sentenced to death after being convicted of terrorism, subsequently commuted to life imprisonment. Bandera was freed from prison in 1939 following the invasion of Poland , and moved to Kraków . In 1940, he became head of the radical faction of the OUN, the OUN-B. On 22 June 1941, the same day Germany invaded the Soviet Union , he formed

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4732-409: The attitude of the Ukrainian nationalists towards Jews depended on political circumstances, and they considered Jews to be a "problem" because they were "implicated, or believed to be implicated" in aiding the Soviets in taking Ukrainian territory, as well as not being Ukrainian. Norman Goda wrote that "Historian Karel Berkhoff , among others, has shown that Bandera, his deputies, and the Nazis shared

4823-473: The belief that only war could establish a Ukrainian state; and by hostility to democracy , communism , and socialism . Like other young Ukrainian nationalists, he combined extremism with religion and used religion to sacralize politics and violence." Historian Timothy Snyder described Bandera as a fascist who "aimed to make of Ukraine a one-party fascist dictatorship without national minorities". Historian John-Paul Himka writes that Bandera remained true to

4914-606: The cause of his death was poisoning by cyanide gas. On 20 October 1959, Bandera was buried in the Waldfriedhof ( lit.   ' woodland cemetery ' ) in Munich. His wife and three children moved to Toronto , Canada. Two years after his death, on 17 November 1961, the German judicial bodies announced that Bandera's murderer had been a KGB agent named Bohdan Stashynsky who used a cyanide dust spraying gun to murder Bandera acting on

5005-428: The changes taking place within the OUN-B in Ukraine. His opposition was provoked by the 'democratisation' of the OUN-B and, above all, the relegation of the former leadership of the organisation to purely symbolic roles. On 5 October 1944, SS-Obergruppenführer Gottlob Berger met with Bandera and offered him the opportunity to join Andrey Vlasov and his Russian Liberation Army , which Bandera rejected. In December 1944,

5096-416: The circumstances of his release. Soon thereafter Eastern Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union . Upon release from prison, Bandera moved first to Lviv , but after realising it would be occupied by the Soviets, Bandera together with other OUN members, moved to Kraków , the capital of Germany's occupational General Government . where, according to Tadeusz Piotrowski , he established close connections with

5187-565: The consistent expressed goal of an independent Ukrainian state through the whole history, while the OUN's stance towards the German Nazi government was changing, shifting from initial support, towards rejection, as OUN leaders become disillusioned seeing Nazi Germany rejection of Ukrainian independence. The OUN memorandum from 23 June 1941 notes that "German troops entering Ukraine will be, of course, greeted at first as liberators, but this attitude can soon change, in case Germany comes into Ukraine without appropriate promises of [its] goal to reestablish

5278-469: The denationalization of Ukrainian youth. In 1934 Bandera was arrested in Lwów and tried twice: first, concerning involvement in a plot to assassinate the minister of internal affairs, Bronisław Pieracki , and second at a general trial of OUN executives. He was convicted of terrorism and sentenced to death. The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment . After the trials, Bandera became renowned and admired among Ukrainians in Poland and abroad as

5369-499: The disarming of German Shuma policemen. They were also involved in clashes with Poles and OUN(M) units. By end of 1943 there were established disciplinary companies and even a disciplinary camp named "Centaur" near the village of Velyka Stydynya in Polissya which were directly under SB command. From 1944 the military gendarmerie acted as an independent authority, although still under SB orders. Most activities in late 1944 were targeted to handle desertion from UPA and mobilization for

5460-654: The existing to larger size formation (initially they can have from 3 to 50 persons depending on task). In 1946-47 such group was formed by MGB. According to report from 15 February 1949 No. 4/001345 from Military Judge of Ukrainian area to Khrushchev, some special groups committed atrocities against the civil population in order to falsify their links with OUN/UPA and summon faked OUN/UPA detachments, sometimes even they exterminate Soviet agents from other region or authority . In many cases such “crimes against Soviet law” were hidden by local regional MGB staff, nevertheless some of such “groups” were prosecuted by Military Court. In 2008,

5551-599: The fascist ideology to the end. Ukrainian historian Andrii Portnov writes that Bandera remained a proponent of authoritarian and violent politics until his death. Historian Per Anders Rudling said that Bandera and his followers "advocated the selective breeding to create a 'pure' Ukrainian race", and that "the OUN shared the fascist attributes of anti-liberalism , anti-conservatism, and anti-communism , an armed party, totalitarianism , antisemitism, Führerprinzip , and adoption of fascist greetings. Its leaders eagerly emphasized to Hitler and Ribbentrop that they shared

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5642-1080: The forced deportation of over 800,000 ethnic Poles from Western Ukraine by the Soviets in 1945–1946, as many as four out of five victims of organized violence against suspected "collaborators" were ethnic Ukrainian women, especially young women accused of sexually fraternizing with men of the Soviet occupation. The rebel violence often mirrored or was provoked by the crimes of the Soviet authorities themselves. Typical Soviet counterinsurgency tactics in Ukraine were to arrest women suspected of belonging to UPA and imprisoning them, sometimes for months. These women were frequently beaten, raped, forced to sleep with corpses, and tortured until they were "broken" by their Soviet captors and forced to work against UPA. The large-scale use of such tactics provoked an atmosphere of mistrust and fear, leading to violent reprisals against women and others accused of being spies by UPA. For example, from January 1, 1945 until spring 1945 only in one area of OUN/UPA activity from 938 people suspected of being Soviet spies, 889 were liquidated. Despite this infiltration

5733-494: The hands of Soviet security in order to "break" them reveal UPA members' identities and locations or to turn them into Soviet double-agents. Mutilated corpses of captured rebels were frequently put on public display. The SB played a critical role for UPA by responding to Soviet terror with their own terror. After the Soviet Army approach, the main target of SB activities became "Soviet agents and collaborators" as well as their families – as such they were exterminated (in many cases in

5824-401: The homeland executive. But due to the fact that he was in detention at the time, he was unable to assume this function, and upon his release he became deputy to Bohdan Kordiuk , who assumed this function. After the failure of the attack on the post office in Gródek Jagielloński  [ pl ] , Kordiuk had to step down and Bandera took over de facto his function, which was sanctioned at

5915-438: The investigation of the assassination of Emilian Czechowski  [ pl ] by Iurii Berezynskyi  [ uk ] . In the early 1930s, in response to attacks perpetrated by Ukrainian nationalists, Polish authorities carried out the pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia against the Ukrainian minority . This resulted in destroyed property and mass detentions, and took place in southeastern voivodeships of

6006-403: The leader of the Foreign Units of the OUN (ZCh OUN). It was there that he openly criticised for the first time the changes that had taken place in the OUN-B in Ukraine. With the Red Army approaching, Bandera left Vienna and travelled to Innsbruck via Prague. After the war, Bandera and his family moved several times around West Germany , staying close to and in Munich , where Bandera organized

6097-428: The leaders of the Ukrainian youth movement. During his studies, he devoted his efforts to underground and nationalist activities, for which he was arrested several times. The first time was on 14 November 1928, for illegally celebrating the 10th anniversary of the ZUNR ; in 1930 with his brother Andrii; and in 1932-33 as many as six times. Between March and June 1932, he spent three months in prison in connection with

6188-410: The loss of direct contact and the front moving further west. In January, Bandera was in Lehnin , west of Berlin. Later he went to Weimar, where he took part in the formation of the Ukrainian National Committee (UNK) as one of the leaders alongside Pavlo Shandruk , Volodymyr Kubijovyč , Andriy Melnyk , Oleksandr Semenko and Pavlo Skoropadsky . In March, the UNK appointed Shandrukh as commander of

6279-434: The massacre of Poles in western Ukraine, Bandera himself was interned in a German concentration camp when the concrete decision to massacre the Poles was made and when the Poles were killed. According to Yaroslav Hrytsak , Bandera was not completely aware of events in Ukraine during his internment from the summer of 1941 and had serious differences of opinion with Mykola Lebed , the OUN-B leader who remained in Ukraine and who

6370-403: The newly formed Ukrainian National Army (UNA), which was to fight the Soviets alongside the Germans; the Waffen-SS Galizien division was incorporated. Bandera later denied in conversations with the CIA that he had been involved in the formation of these organisations or any collaboration with Germany after his release. In February 1945, at a conference of the OUN-B in Vienna, Bandera was made

6461-526: The orders of Soviet KGB head Alexander Shelepin and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev . After a detailed investigation against Stashynsky, who by then had defected from the KGB and confessed the killing, a trial took place from 8 to 15 October 1962. Stashynsky was convicted, and on 19 October he was sentenced to eight years in prison; he was released after four years. Stashynsky had earlier assassinated Bandera's associate Lev Rebet by similar means. Bandera's brothers, Oleksandr and Vasyl, were arrested by

6552-547: The organisation was the SB security service, headed by Myron Matviyenko. The OUN-M was three times smaller. The foreign representation of the UHVR (ZP UHVR), led by Mykola Lebed , operated separately from the ZCh OUN, but many of its members belonged to both organizations. As early as 1945, ZCh had established contacts with Western intelligence; from 1948 onwards, it was permanent cooperation with British intelligence , which helped to transfer couriers to Ukraine in return for receiving intelligence data. ZP UHVR, collaborated with

6643-403: The prime minister of the newly formed Ukrainian National Government , Yaroslav Stetsko , was arrested and taken to Berlin. Although released from custody on 14 July, both were required to stay in Berlin. Bandera was free to move around the city, but could not leave it. The Germans closed OUN-B offices in Berlin and Vienna, and on 15 September 1941 Bandera and leading OUN members were arrested by

6734-464: The reasons Rossoliński-Liebe's used definition of fascism being too wide. Marples says that Bandera "regarded Russia as the principal enemy of Ukraine, and showed little tolerance for the other two groups inhabiting Ukrainian ethnic territories, Poles and Jews". In late 1942, when Bandera was in a German concentration camp, his organization, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists , was involved in

6825-542: The right to return to Ukraine. Marta–Maria died in Siberia in 1982, and Oksana returned to Ukraine in 1989 where she died in 2004. Another sister, Volodymyra, was sentenced to a term in Soviet labor camps from 1946 to 1956. She returned to Ukraine in 1956. According to historian Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe , "Bandera's worldview was shaped by numerous far-right values and concepts including ultranationalism , fascism , racism , and antisemitism ; by fascination with violence; by

6916-407: The same time, ethnic Ukrainians suspected of collaboration with the communists were also executed. The orders to apply solely the principle of personal responsibility were not given until May 1945. However, entire families were massacred beyond that date. Local OUN security police department employees were entitled to order the execution of a person. They enjoyed practically unlimited prerogatives. As

7007-424: The slaughter of Polish people throughout Ukraine . After the war, in the years 1945–1948, Sluzhba Bezpeky conducted executions of Poles accused of collaboration with the communist government or actively opposing the Ukrainian resistance. In practice, however, executions of Poles were not limited to those two groups. OUN security police applied the principle of collective responsibility (i.e. killing entire families). At

7098-433: The south and east, condemn him as a fascist , or Nazi collaborator , whose followers, called Banderites , were responsible for massacres of Polish and Jewish civilians during World War II . On 22 January 2010, Viktor Yushchenko , the then president of Ukraine , awarded Bandera the posthumous title of Hero of Ukraine , which was widely condemned. The award was subsequently annulled in 2011 given that Stepan Bandera

7189-508: The time. The book does not mention arguments of other renowned Ukrainian historians, such as Heorhii Kasianov . Veselý says that "Bandera was against closer cooperation with the Nazis and he insisted that the Ukrainian national movement should not be dependent on anyone", thus opposing Rossoliński-Liebe's conclusion that Ukrainian nationalists needed the protection of Nazi Germany and therefore collaborated with them. Veselý concludes that all of this makes Rossoliński-Liebe's assessment of Bandera as

7280-431: The war. The Soviet Union regarded all Ukrainians as Soviet citizens and demanded their repatriation under the intra-Alied agreement. The US thought Bandera was too valuable to give up due to his knowledge of the Soviet Union, so the US started blocking his extradition under an operation called "Anyface". From the perspective of the US, the Soviet Union and Poland were issuing extradition attempts of these Ukrainians to prevent

7371-399: Was arrested in 1946. Stepan Bandera Stepan Andriyovych Bandera ( Ukrainian : Степа́н Андрі́йович Банде́ра , IPA: [steˈpɑn ɐnˈd⁽ʲ⁾r⁽ʲ⁾ijoʋɪt͡ʃ bɐnˈdɛrɐ] ; Polish : Stepan Andrijowycz Bandera ; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical militant wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists , the OUN-B. Bandera

7462-671: Was born in Austria-Hungary , in Galicia , into the family of a priest of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church , and grew up in Poland. Involved in nationalist organizations from a young age, he joined the Ukrainian Military Organization in 1924. In 1931, he became head of propaganda of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), and later became head of the OUN for Poland in 1932. In 1934, he organized

7553-544: Was guarded by former SS men. The Bavarian state government initiated a crackdown on Bandera's organization for crimes such as counterfeiting and kidnapping. Gerhard von Mende , a West German government official, provided protection to Bandera who in turn provided him with political reports, which were relayed to the West German Foreign Office. Bandera reached an agreement with the BND , offering them his service, despite

7644-608: Was later implicated in the Holocaust . Before the independence proclamation of 30 June 1941, Bandera oversaw the formation of so-called "Mobile Groups" ( Ukrainian : мобільні групи ), which were small (5–15 members) groups of OUN-B members who would travel from General Government to Western Ukraine and, after a German advance to Eastern Ukraine, encourage support for the OUN-B and establish local authorities run by OUN-B activists. In total, approximately 7,000 people participated in these mobile groups, and they found followers among

7735-566: Was never a Ukrainian citizen. The controversy regarding Bandera's legacy gained further prominence following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was born on 1 January 1909 in Staryi Uhryniv , in the region of Galicia in Austria-Hungary , to Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church priest Andriy Bandera (1882–1941) and Myroslava Głodzińska (1890–1921). Bandera had seven siblings, three sisters and four brothers. Bandera's younger brothers included Oleksandr, who earned

7826-418: Was one of the chief architects of the massacres of Poles. Bandera held the antisemitic views typical of his generation. Speaking about Bandera and his men, political scientist Alexander John Motyl told Tablet that antisemitism was not a core part of Ukrainian nationalism in the way it was for Nazism, and the Soviet Union and Poland were considered to be the primary enemies of the OUN. According to him,

7917-490: Was sent to establish contact with Western governments. On 28 September 1944, Bandera was released by the German authorities and moved to house arrest. Shortly after, the Germans released some 300 OUN members, including Stetsko and Melnyk. The release of OUN members was one of the few successes of Lebed's mission on behalf of the UHVR, which failed to establish contacts with the Western Allies. Bandera reacted negatively to

8008-500: Was set up in 1941 under the command of Mykola Arsenych . On the orders of Dmytro Klyachkivsky , the UPA established "revolutionary tribunals" and military courts, which meted out death sentences for persons over the age of 17. The Military gendarmerie of UPA was established in June 1943. Its activities from 1943 included arrests (and in some cases elimination) of suspected "Soviet agents", as well as

8099-584: Was to run diversion activities after Germany's attack on the Soviet Union. This information is part of the testimony that Abwehr Colonel Erwin Stolze gave on 25 December 1945 and submitted to the Nuremberg trials, with a request to be admitted as evidence. Bandera was freed from Brest (Brześć) Prison in Eastern Poland in early September 1939, as a result of the invasion of Poland . There are differing accounts of

8190-484: Was transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp 's special prison cell building ( Zellenbau ) for high-profile political prisoners such as Horia Sima , the chancellor of Austria, Kurt Schuschnigg or Stefan Grot-Rowecki and high risk escapees. Bandera was not completely cut off from the outside world; his wife visited him regularly and was able to help him keep in touch with his followers. In April 1944, Bandera and his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko were approached by

8281-427: Was well informed about the violence and was "unable or unwilling to instruct Ukrainian nationalist military troops (as Nachtigall, Roland and UPA) to protect vulnerable minorities under their control". As German historian Olaf Glöckner writes, Bandera "failed to manage this problem (ethnic and anti-Semitic hatred) inside his forces, just like Symon Petljura failed 25 years before him." OUN(b) leaders' expectation that

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