Foes of our rebirth: Ukrainian nationalist discussions about Jews, 1929–1947

Abstract

The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, or OUN, came into being in 1929 as an “integral nationalist” movement that set itself the goal of driving Polish landowners and officials out of eastern Galicia and Volhynia, joining hands with Ukrainians in other countries, and establishing an independent state. The OUN defined Jews, along with Russians and Poles, as aliens and enemies. There was no need, wrote an OUN ideologist in 1929, to list all the injuries that Jews caused Ukrainians. “In addition to a number of external enemies Ukraine also has an internal enemy … Jewry and its negative consequences for our liberation cause can be liquidated only by an organized collective effort”. The article examines archival documents, publications by OUN members, and recent scholarly literature to trace the evolution of OUN thinking about Jews from 1929 through the war years, when the German occupation of Ukraine gave the OUN an opportunity to stage pogroms and persecute Jews, and the prime minister of the state that the OUN proclaimed wrote that he supported “the destruction of the Jews and the expedience of bringing German methods of exterminating Jewry to Ukraine”.

Keywords:

• Ukraine
• anti-Semitism
• Ukrainian nationalism

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Tarik Cyril Amar and the Center for Urban History of East Central Europe, Karel Berkhoff, Ray Brandon, Myroslava Diadiuk, Haim Gertner and the staff of the Yad Vashem Archives, John-Paul Himka, Volodymyr Ishchenko, Myron Momryk, Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe, Per Rudling, Volodymyr V”iatrovych, and Oleksandr Zaitsev for helping me to obtain some of the documents and publications that I cite. I also owe a debt to Taras Kurylo, whose unpublished paper, “‘Jewish Question’ in the Ukrainian Nationalist Discourse of the Interwar Period,” brought to my attention a number of sources that I had not considered.

Notes

See, for example, “‘Bandy Dyrektoriï,’” Svoboda, 2 Mar. 1929: 2, which claimed that “world Jewry” had allied itself with the Russian Black Hundreds and with Russian and Ukrainian Communists to vilify Petliura.

On Kushnir and his use of “Dniprians'kyi” and “Bohush” as pseudonyms see Posivnych, Varshavs'kyi akt 168, and “Kushnir, Makar,” Encyclopedia of Ukraine.

Redlich, “Jewish-Ukrainian Relations,” also provides a substantial discussion of Dontsov's pronouncements regarding Jews.

Posivnych, “Vydannia” 8, observes that the author was probably Stepan Lenkavs'kyi or Stepan Okhrimovych.

The title page of Agraryzatsiia states that it was published by the author (“nakladom avtora”), but an advertisement in Stsibors'kyi, O.U.N. i selianstvo, lists the book as a publication of Rozbudova natsiï.

Both Mylianych and Martynets' admired Dostoevsky and called him “the great Dostoevsky.” See A.V., “Pered sudom prysiazhnykh” 171, and Mylianych, “Iaponiia” 177.

Martynets', “Zhydivs'ka probliema” 38; Zhydivs'ka probliema 15, acknowledged Mytsiuk as an expert on the Jewish question.

Also printed in Kul'chyts'kyi et al, OUN v 1941 rotsi 201–220; Kucheruk and Cherchenko, eds., Dokumenty i materialy 8–23; and, with omissions and changes, in Chervak, Derzhavnyts'kyi chyn 22–43. Also available at http://rid.org.ua/?p=379 and http://chtyvo.org.ua/authors/Stsiborskyi/Konstytutsiya.htm. See also the copy at MG 30 C167, vol. 147, file 36, LAC.

The draft constitution bears no date. Rossolinski-Liebe, “The ‘Ukrainian Revolution’” 4, says that Stsibors'kyi wrote it in 1935, but offers no evidence. Zaitsev, “Did Nazism,” argues that Stsibors'kyi composed the draft in the fall of 1939. Mel'nyk, “Pam”iati vpavshykh” 41, mentions 1940 as the date. Kucheruk and Chervak, Materialy 26, say that the OUN(M) State Planning Commission deliberated on the draft in the spring of 1940.

The mimeographed copy at LAC bears the notation, “Second edition, February 1941”; the letter itself is dated 10 August 1940. Kosyk does not mention the source of his text.

Stsibors'kyi is also named as the author in Chomu bula potribna chystka v O.U.N. 3:17, PR1985.0191/64/4, PAA. The dating comes from a communiqué dated 11 Oct. 1940 on pp. 95–96.

See also the copy of pt. 3 at MG 30-C167/vol. 147, file 35, LAC. The publication is anonymous and undated. Vynar, “Oleh Kandyba-Ol'zhych” 156, writes that the author was “probably” Iaroslav Stets'ko. Mention of a conversation that took place on 16 Feb. 1941 (3: 23) indicates that the broadside was written after that date, and the statement “before the United States has joined the war” (3: 19) suggests that it was written between June and December 1941. The Germans took Stets'ko into custody in mid-July, but he was apparently able to communicate with fellow members of the OUN(B) until he was transferred to Sachsenhausen in early 1942.

For Stets'ko's denials of hostility toward Jews see Karbovych, “Natsional'ne i internatsional'ne zhydivstvo.”

The appeal is undated, but it mentions the assassination of Senyk and Stsibors'kyi and thus was written after 30 August 1941.

“Postanovy II. Velykoho Zboru Orhanizatsiï ukraïns'kykh natsionalistiv,” 1/23/926/192–192v, TsDAHOU; MG 30 C167/vol. 30/file 38, p. 6, LAC. German text in Hunchak, UPA v svitli nimets'kykh dokumentiv 33–43. My translation is adapted from Friedman, “Ukrainian-Jewish Relations” 265, and Weiss, “Attitude” 267.

On the writing of “The Struggle and Activities” see Stets'ko, 30 chervnia 1941 50. Mimeographed copies of “The Struggle and Activities” and printed versions of individual sections are located at several archives in Ukraine and the United States. Excerpts have appeared in Orhanizatsiia ukraïns'kykh natsionalistiv, Zakordonni chastyny, OUN v svitli postanov 48–57; Mudryk-Mechnyk, OUN v Ukraïni 10–56; Patryliak, “Viis'kovi plany OUN(b)” 127–37; Patryliak, “Zavdannia ounivs'koï propahandy” 129–52; Patryliak, “Derzhavne budivnytstvo” 90–113; Lysenko and Patryliak, eds., Materialy 46–90; and Patryliak, Viis'kova diial'nist' OUN(b) 426–596. Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe's work may draw more attention to “The Struggle and Activities.” He argues in “The ‘Ukrainian National Revolution’ of 1941” and in his forthcoming doctoral thesis, “Stepan Bandera: Deconstructing the Myth of a Ukrainian Fascist” (Universität Hamburg), that without the plan OUN(B) activists would not have known what to do after 22 June 1941.

To ensure that these instructions reached OUN propagandists the section was reprinted on Bible paper: Orhanizatsiia ukraïns'kykh natsionalistiv, “Borot'ba i diial'nist' OUN pidchas viiny: Propahandyvni vkazivky na peredvoiennyi chas, na chas viiny i revoliutsiï ta na pochatkovi dni derzhavnoho budivnytstva,” 299/307-s/ and 299/543-s, LNB.

Mechnyk, U vyri 7–8, gives a fictionalized account of how Bandera instructed him to deliver “Borot'ba i diial'nist'” to Klymiv.

See also 3833/1/63/12, TsDAVOVU; Kul'chyts'kyi et al, OUN v 1941 rotsi 2: 575–77; “Ukraïns'kyi narode,” 299/449-s/1, LNB; and “Ukraïns'kyi narode!,” 299/470-s/1, LNB.

On the printing and distribution of the orders see Carynnyk, “‘Jews, Poles, and Other Scum,’” and Tsarynnyk, “‘Zhydy, poliaky ta insha svoloch.’”

See also the copy at 57/4/348/19–19v, TsDAHOU, and the Russian translation at 13/372/35/200–207, HDASBU; Serhiichuk, Stepan Bandera u dokumentakh 151–59.