Were Ukranian nationalists cleaned of all their crimes?
Michael Petukhov
> On the contrary, thjey were
> cleared of all crimes; not even the Soviets could produce any evidence
> against that specific unit, and itsmembers went on to live normal
> lives in the West.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1104560.stm
"...The Polish war crimes body is particularly interested in an
appalling massacre in the village of Huta Pieniacka, then in Poland
but now in Ukraine, where in 1944 more than 600 villagers were
murdered in reprisal for the deaths of two Ukrainians..."
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/safehaveninbritain.htm
"...In October 1947 the Polish Government registered an official
complaint to the United Nations about the Galizien. This related to an
incident in which up to 800 Polish civilians in Huta Pieniacka were
massacred in February 1944 by a sub unit of the division. Up to 120
witnesses have testified about this event, in which many were burned
alive after petrol was poured over them. In August of that same year,
Galizien troops killed 44 unarmed citizens, including children, wiping
out the whole village of Chlaniov.
Members of the hardline Ukrainian Self Defence Legion merged with the
Galizien in 1944. This group was responsible for barbaric ambushes to
contain the Warsaw ghetto uprising that same year. Some of this group
remain in Britain today, despite the fact that a number were
responsible for helping to capture downed British and American airmen,
who were then handed over to the Gestapo and invariably killed..."
http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/DangerousLiaisons.htm
Working with Hitler
In dealing with the OUN, British intelligence was in league with the
devil. Formed in 1929, the OUN campaigned for Ukrainian nationhood,
although with its homeland divided between the Soviet Union and
Poland, independence was a distant dream. In the 1930s a young
leadership emerged that was more militant and politically extreme than
its predecessors. Its main principals were Bandera, Yaroslav Stetsko
and Mykola Lebed.
Reverting to a terrorist campaign against both Poland and the Soviet
Union, the OUN suffered in the prewar years, and many of its key
figures were exiled in Western Europe. When Soviet agents assassinated
the OUN chief in 1938, on a Dutch pavement, the OUN split, with
Bandera leading one faction and Andej Melnik the other. The Bandera
wing, the OUN/B, drew ever closer to Germany.
Bandera took up residence in Nazi Germany and other OUN/B activists
began training with the German army, in units such as the Nationalist
Military Detachments, the Schuma and Werkschutz, whose jobs included
guarding Jewish labour gangs.
In April 1941, two months before the invasion of the Soviet Union, the
German army established two Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage
units, called Roland and Nachtigall, to accompany it into the Ukraine.
Politically under the control of the two OUN factions, both units were
involved in some of the worst anti-Jewish outrages on the Eastern
Front. Even the Einsatztruppen, the Germans' mobile killing squads,
were shocked at the severity of the Ukrainians' actions. On 2 July
1941 it was reported that 1,160 Jews were murdered by the Ukrainians
with the aid of one police and army platoon. Two months later the
Ukrainian militia rounded up the Jews of the town of Zhitomir, killing
3,145.
The close cooperation between the OUN/B and the Germans was not to
last. Despite their common antisemitism, the Ukrainian dream of
independence was at odds with the Nazis' plans. Though the OUN/B
leaders were placed under arrest, many of its supporters remained in
the service of the Germans. Some joined the Ukrainian police and
militia who maintained the Nazis' grip on the country and continued
the rounding up of Jews and anti-fascists.
Even after the fallout with the Germans, the OUN/B did not drop its
racist and antisemitic programme. A leaflet recovered by the Germans
read: "Long live greater independent Ukraine without Jews, Poles and
Germans. Poles behind the San, Germans to Berlin, Jews to the
gallows."
Hundreds of Ukrainians were sent to the Trawniki training camp in
Poland, where they became part of Operation Reinhard, the cover name
for the Final Solution in the East. Determined to dispose of the 2.2
million Jews, the Nazis established three concentration camps at
Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. The Ukrainian contingent at Trawnika
drew heavily from the Roland and Nachtigall units. So confident were
the Nazis in the killing ability of their Eastern European recruits,
each camp only had 35 SS officers attached to it. In 1943, almost 400
Ukrainian recruits from Trawniki were used in the final assault on the
Warsaw Ghetto in Poland.
As the war turned against Germany, the need for men to fight the
Soviets led to the formation of the 14th Galician SS Division. The
OUN/B called on its supporters to join up, giving the lie to postwar
protestations of its anti-Nazi stance. Many of its leading activists
were among those who answered the call.
The SS Division was worse than useless. In its first battle at Brody,
in 1944, all but 3,000 of its men were killed. The Division was
reformed, and this time many of its personnel were drawn from the
Ukrainian police, militia and camp guard units. The very people who
later found safety in the welcoming arms of the British were those who
had collaborated in some of the worst atrocities in Eastern Europe
during the war.
After the war, the OUN/B continued its hardline political stance.
Under the banner of anti-communism, it brought together other Eastern
European émigré groups in the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations, many of
whom had also collaborated with the Nazis during the war. The OUN/B
was a founder member of the World Anti-Communist League, an
organisation that brought together Second World War collaborators,
South American death squads, right wing US senators and right-wing
regimes around the world, including Taiwan, South Korea and Saudi
Arabia. A regular contributor to OUN/B publications was the leading
antisemite Austin App, and a leading member of the OUN/B in Britain
acted as treasurer for the British League of Rights, an antisemitic
organisation led by Don Martin and Lady Jane Birdwood.
In 1954 a US State Department report on Ukrainian émigrés gave its
view of the OUN/B. "…the form of Ukrainian nationalism which
approaches fascism is still alive and given the opportunity will
exercise itself again."
Bolshoy Murza
> bolsho...@hotmail.com (Bolshoy Murza) wrote in message
>
> > On the contrary, thjey were
> > cleared of all crimes; not even the Soviets could produce any evidence
> > against that specific unit, and itsmembers went on to live normal
> > lives in the West.
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1104560.stm
>
> "...The Polish war crimes body is particularly interested in an
> appalling massacre in the village of Huta Pieniacka, then in Poland
> but now in Ukraine, where in 1944 more than 600 villagers were
> murdered in reprisal for the deaths of two Ukrainians..."
>
> http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/safehaveninbritain.htm
>
> "...In October 1947 the Polish Government registered an official
> complaint to the United Nations about the Galizien. This related to an
> incident in which up to 800 Polish civilians in Huta Pieniacka were
> massacred in February 1944 by a sub unit of the division.
oops, there goes your credibility again Mr. Petukhov:
Huta Pienicka:
Antoni B. Szesniak: Droga do Nikad: Dziatalnosc Ukrainskich
Nacjonalistow claims the liquidation of around 500 civilians on
February 27 1944
According to a memorandum signed by Minister Bronislaw Banaczek "on
February 24 1944 the German Military Police (Geheime
Feld-Polizei-GFP), while operating in the vicinity of Brody, cam under
fire from Huta Pienicka's inhabitants, who erroneously took the force
for a Ukrainian [guerrilla] band. In the ensuing gunfire, 6-8 Germans
were killed. On February 27, the GFB conducted an expedition, totally
destroyed the town, and murdered around 500 persons"
According to Dmtriy Medvedev, a former Soviet Guerrilla leader in
"Silni Dukhom" (published in Kiev in 1963) wrote that his group
"Krutikov", composed of Ukrainian, Polish and Russian fighters,
departed from Huta Pienicka on 29 February 1944. The village was
leveled three days later. According to Medvedev "17 men, who
miraceously survived, managed to establish contact with group
Krutikov. These 17 reported that Casimir Wojchiechowski, the
self-defence commander of Huta Pienicka, was tied up, doused with
gasoline and burned". Medvedev used only the term "Hitlerites" -
soviet code for Germans and did not mention Ukrainian involvement.
Medvedev's account confirms the fact that Huta Pienicka was not an
"innocent village" but a communist guerilla stronghold. According to
UPA intelligence officer Vashchenko, "Huta Pienicka was not only well
known to UPA-West, but also to the top UPA command as a major
communist guerilla stronghold. Beside being massively fortified with
inner and outer minefields, and defensive positions, the town was also
a staging/assembling area for incoming and outgoing guerilla forces.
Our inserted personnel revealed that much arms, equipment and
ammunition was stored at Huta Pienicka."
Of course, this is corroborated by several other accounts. According
to Juchniewicz ("Poles in the Soviet Underground and Partisan
Movement, 1941-1945", published in 1973 in Warsaw) throughout the
spring of 1943 and winter of 1944 it "Fought off several strong
attacks". According to Polish author A. Korman, "Wojiechowski
personally selected each fighter. But in addition to the defence
unit, the village inhabitants also assisted Soviet guerillas with
shelter, intelligence information, clothing, guides, medical supplies
and repair services". On occasions, it was known to shelter entire
guerilla battalions of up to strengths of 600 fighters.
The deaths of civilians is indeed tragic, but that is an unfortunate
consequence of war. German civilians, who were apparently FAR less
actively involved in their war effort than these olish villagers were
in aiding the communists, suffered far more and on a much larger
scale.
> Up to 120
> witnesses have testified about this event, in which many were burned
> alive after petrol was poured over them. In August of that same year,
> Galizien troops killed 44 unarmed citizens, including children, wiping
> out the whole village of Chlaniov.
>
> Members of the hardline Ukrainian Self Defence Legion merged with the
> Galizien in 1944. This group was responsible for barbaric ambushes to
> contain the Warsaw ghetto uprising that same year.
Officially, the revolt in the ghetto uprising coomenced in the evening
hoursof
18 April 1943 when German forcesalong with Polish police personnel
commenced
to surround the Warsaw ghetto. By the morning of 19 April 1943
additional
reinforcements, composed of Lithuanian, Latvian, Volksdeutsch, Jewish,
Ukrainian and other genderme and police personnel were sent in (from
the
*Jew* Reuben Ainsztein's book The Warsaw Ghetto Revolt - N.Y.
Holocaust
Library, 1979).
Of course, some Ukrainiansparticipated in this action. However a
review of
the exact units involved shows that no "Ukrainian", "Galician", police
or
military units were identified (Ainsztein, pages 105-106).
Indeed, one of the best sources of information about the Warsaw Ghetto
revolt
of 1943 was the document used at the Nuremburg WarCrimes trials
written by
Warsaw's Police Chief SS-Brigadefuhrer and Police Generalmajor Joseph
Stroop.
The full report can be found in the Nuremburg war crimes volumes. It
was used
by allied prosecutors and is considered a useful descriptor of life in
Warsaw
during the occupation (the English translation: The Stroop Report: the
Jewish
Quarter of Warsaw is no more!, published in NY by Pantheon books,
1979). On
pp. 628-632, Stroop provides a casualty list of those killed or
wounded in
suppressing the revolt. A close examination reveals mostly German
personnel
along with some foreigners. Of those, only seven names appear to be
Ukrainian. But most importantly,Stroop identified the units that were
used:
Waffen-SS
SS-Pz. Gren.Ausb.u.Ers.Btl.3 Warschau
SS-Kav.-Ausb.u.Ers.Abt.Warschau
Ordnungpolizei
SS.Pol.-Rgt. 22.I.Btl.
Technische Nothifle
poln. Polizei (Polish Police)
Pol. Feurloschpolizei
Sicherheitspolizei
Wehrmacht
Leichte Flakalarmbatterie III/8
Pionerkommando d. Eisenb. Panzerzerzug
Res.-Pionier-Btl. 14Gora-Kalwaria
Fremdvolkische Wachmannshaften
1. Batl. Trawnikimanner
Not only were no Ukrainian units used, but few individual
Ukrainian took part. This is seen in all other documents.
Of course Jewish eyewitness accounts support these German
documents. The best is probably Emmanuel Ringelbaum's
"From the Warsaw Ghetto: The Journal of Emmanuel Ringelbaum",
published by McGraw-Hillin NY (obviously a diary of the events)
which mentions some Ukrainian individuals but no Ukrainian units
(in contrast to Polish police).
> Some of this group
> remain in Britain today, despite the fact that a number were
> responsible for helping to capture downed British and American airmen,
> who were then handed over to the Gestapo and invariably killed..."
>
> http://www.searchlightmagazine.com/stories/DangerousLiaisons.htm
Now you are mixing the OUN with the 14th SS Galizien. Perhaps you
were unware that the OUN (B) was bitterly opposed to the formation of
the 14th SS Galizien.
BTW, I find it extremely interesting that you seem unable to come up
with anything written by real researchers or historians. Only a sad
collection of journalists, amateurs, activists, etc. whom you cite as
"authorities". But keep on doing so. It only reveals just how false
your positions really are. If you go to any US university camous, you
might find all sorts of "information" researched by earnest,
pseudointellects. I remember a few years ago coming across a
newspaper written by the "Maoist International Movement". You might
want to check them out for some anti-UPA articles : )
The amateurish attempt at "scholarship" you presented below is just a
typical example. Rather than waste time dealing with all the crap,
I'll only demonstrate a little bit, a few "gems":
> Working with Hitler
>
> In dealing with the OUN, British intelligence was in league with the
> devil. Formed in 1929, the OUN campaigned for Ukrainian nationhood,
> although with its homeland divided between the Soviet Union and
> Poland, independence was a distant dream. In the 1930s a young
> leadership emerged that was more militant and politically extreme than
> its predecessors. Its main principals were Bandera, Yaroslav Stetsko
> and Mykola Lebed.
>
> Reverting to a terrorist campaign against both Poland and the Soviet
> Union,
Am I incorrect in assuming that the author is making Stalin's USSR out
to be a victim here?
>
> Hundreds of Ukrainians were sent to the Trawniki training camp in
> Poland, where they became part of Operation Reinhard, the cover name
> for the Final Solution in the East. Determined to dispose of the 2.2
> million Jews, the Nazis established three concentration camps at
> Belzec, Sobibor and Treblinka. The Ukrainian contingent at Trawnika
> drew heavily from the Roland and Nachtigall units.
Er, no...most Ukrainian concentration camp guards, such as the
infamous Ivan the Terrible, were captured Soviet soldiers. These guys
were the ones who would later floursih in the Soviet gulags, sonce
they were morally of the same "caliber" as the Soviet guards there.
> So confident were
> the Nazis in the killing ability of their Eastern European recruits,
> each camp only had 35 SS officers attached to it. In 1943, almost 400
> Ukrainian recruits from Trawniki were used in the final assault on the
> Warsaw Ghetto in Poland.
I've already posted info on the Warsaw ghetto uprising. The trawniki
battalion consisted of Russians and Byelorussian as well as
Ukrainians.
> As the war turned against Germany, the need for men to fight the
> Soviets led to the formation of the 14th Galician SS Division. The
> OUN/B called on its supporters to join up, giving the lie to postwar
> protestations of its anti-Nazi stance.
Um. Wrong. Bandera's followers from the very beginning were opposed
to the Divsion. This was best articulated in their article "Around
the SS Division Galicia".
> Many of its leading activists
> were among those who answered the call.
These statements are so laughably wrong that one need not even read
the rest of the crap.
> The SS Division was worse than useless. In its first battle at Brody,
> in 1944, all but 3,000 of its men were killed.
Wrong. As shown in one of my other posts.
> The Division was
> reformed, and this time many of its personnel were drawn from the
> Ukrainian police, militia and camp guard units.
Absolutely wrong.
> The very people who
> later found safety in the welcoming arms of the British were those who
> had collaborated in some of the worst atrocities in Eastern Europe
> during the war.
Prove it. Nodoby has so far. And nobody will : ).
Bolshoy Murza