Act of restoration of the Ukrainian state
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The act of restoration of the Ukrainian state (
The OUN intended to take advantage of the retreat of Soviet forces from
Background
Ukrainian territory between the World Wars
After World War I, Ukraine was divided into three parts: most of Central and Eastern Ukraine became the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921. The capital was Kharkiv.
The majority of current Western Ukraine became part of the
A small part of current far Western Ukraine, the
The Ukrainian nationalist movement in western Ukraine
For various reasons,[
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
In 1929, the Ukrainian Military Organization became the
In 1940, the OUN suffered a split into two groups - one group supported
Prelude to the Declaration
The OUN realized that an opportunity was available to fulfill their mandated plan: the creation of a new independent Ukraine.
On June 22, 1941, the Ukrainian National Committee (Ukrayinsky Natsionalny' Komitet; UNK) was created in Kraków, with Volodymyr Horbovy as a president. The UNK published an essay, "Memorial", which outlined the plans of the OUN to declare independence. This essay was met with severe disapproval of the Nazi authorities, and the leaders of the UNK, Horbovy and Bandera, were told to rescind the document. They refused, and made their way to Lviv.
On June 26, 1941, Soviet forces fled from Lviv, and the Ukrainian Nachtigall Battalion, led by its commander Roman Shukhevych, entered the city in triumph to cheering crowds of joyful Ukrainians. With the departure of the Soviet Red Army, the OUN set up its headquarters in Lviv, and began to prepare for the big day.
Preamble
In his memoirs Vasyl Kuk said:
On Monday June 30, at 6 p.m. on the second floor of the
Shche ne vmerla Ukraina.[1]
Text
The Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood
1. By the will of the Ukrainian people, the
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists under the direction of Stepan Banderaproclaims the formation of the Ukrainian State for which have laid down their heads whole generations of the finest sons of Ukraine.The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, which under the direction and founder and leader
Moscovite-Bolshevikenslavers in an energetic battle for freedom, calls all the Ukrainian people not to place down its weapons until all Ukrainian lands are united to form a Sovereign Ukrainian Government.The Sovereign Ukrainian Government will guarantee Ukrainian people order, unilateral development of all its energies and all its needs.
2. In the western lands of Ukraine a Ukrainian Government is formed, which is subordinate to the Ukrainian National Government that will be formed in the capital of Ukraine – Kyiv.
3. The newly formed Ukrainian state will work closely with the National-Socialist Greater Germany, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler which is forming a new order in Europe and the world and is helping the Ukrainian People to free itself from Moscovite occupation.[note 1]
The Ukrainian People's Revolutionary Army which has been formed on the Ukrainian lands, will continue to fight with the Allied German Army against Moscovite occupation for a sovereign and united State and a new order in the whole world.
Long live a Sovereign and United Ukraine!
Long live the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists! Long live the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian people, STEPAN BANDERA![2]
Government
After the proclamation of the Ukrainian state, a government was announced. This government included politicians from various parties, as well as political ideologies. They were:
- Prime Minister Yaroslav Stetsko (OUN)
- Deputy Prime Minister Markian Panchyshyn(no political affiliation)
- Deputy Prime Minister Lev Rebet (OUN)
- Minister of Interior Volodymyr Lysy (Socialist Radical Party)
- Deputy Minister of Interior Konstantyn Pankivsky (Socialist Radical Party)
- Minister of External Affairs Volodymyr Stakhiv (OUN)
- Deputy Minister of External Affairs Oleksandr Maritchak (Ukrainian National-Democratic Party)
- Minister of Defense Vsevolod Petriv (Social Revolutionary Party)
- Deputy Minister of Defense Roman Shukhevych (OUN)
- Deputy Minister of Defense Oleksandr Hasyn (OUN)
- Minister of State Security Mykola Lebed (OUN)
- Minister of Justice Yulian Fedusevych (no political affiliation)
- Deputy Minister of Justice Bohdan Dzerovych (no political affiliation)
- Secretary of the Ministry of National Economy Dmytro Yatsiv (OUN)
- Secretary of the Ministry of National Economy Roman Ilnytsky (OUN)
- Minister of Agriculture Yevhen Khraplyvy (Ukrainian National-Democratic Party)
- Deputy Minister of Agriculture Andriy Piasetsky (Front of National Unity)
- Minister of Health Markian Panchyshyn(no political affiliation)
- Deputy Minister of Health Roman Osinchuk
- Secretary of the Ministry of Health Oleksandr Barvinsky (no political affiliation)
- Minister of Education Volodymyr Radzykevych (no political affiliation)
- Minister of Communication N. Moroz (no political affiliation)
- Minister of Information Oleksandr Hai-Holovko (no political affiliation)
- Secretary of the Ministry of Information Osyp Pozychaniuk (OUN)
- Secretary of the Ministry of Information Yaroslav Starukh (OUN)
- Minister of Political Coordination Ivan Klymiv-Lehenda (OUN)
- Director of Government Administration Mykhailo Rosliak (Socialist Radical Party)
A Council of Seniors headed by Kost Levytsky as president was also formed.[3]
Reactions to the proclamation
Reaction in Ukraine
The act of proclamation was broadcast by Yaroslav Stetsko over the radio in Lviv, which made many believe it was supported by the advancing German troops. The act received immediate support from several Ukrainian church officials such as Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky and Bishop Hryhoriy Khomyshyn of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Metropolitan Bishop Polikarp Sikorsky of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church.
Apparently convinced that the group of Stetsko had the backing of the Germans, Metropolitan[who?] wrote a pastoral letter in which he exhorted the people to support the newly proclaimed government "the scarifies which the final attainment of our goals require demand above all dutiful obedience to the just orders of the government which do not conflict with God’s law." Moreover, he declared:
- We greet the victorious German Army as deliver from enemy. We render our obedient homage to the government which has been erected. We recognize Mr.Yaroslav Stetsko as Head of State Administration of Ukraine.
The pastoral letter was read over the radio by chaplain of Nachtigall Battalion Father Hryn’okh the same morning. It appeared to have removed any doubts which may have been lingering in the mind of most prominent Ukrainians in Lviv concerning the origin of the Stets’ko government.[4]
Supporters of Ukrainian independence have been divided in their assessment of the proclamation. Some considered it brilliant, others considered it reckless or even foolish.[5]
Reaction by the German government
The Declaration of Independence took the German authorities completely by surprise, and they saw it as an attempted coup.[6] When Nazi troops entered Lviv, the German authorities told the leadership of the Ukrainian government to disband. However, it did not, and in reprisal the leaders of the government were arrested and interned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. These included President Yaroslav Stetsko, and Stepan Bandera.
Within two years of the declaration, the Nazis had imprisoned or killed 80% of OUN-B leadership.[7]
By an act of June 30, 1941, the Ukrainian people demonstrated to the whole world and to history that they wished to govern their own lives and that they were ready to defend their right to live freely in their own independent state against the imperialist encroachments of every enemy and under all conditions.
— Mirchuk P., [8]
Post-war reaction to the Declaration
Some Ukrainian groups downplayed the early cooperation between the Ukrainian nationalist parties and the Nazis. They emphasized how Ukrainian nationalists fought both the Germans and the Soviets, and how the Ukrainian nation suffered enormously at the hands of both.
Notes
- ^ Section 3 of the Stanislaviv version is often omitted in Ukrainian Diaspora publications dealing with this subject.
References
- ^ (In Ukrainian: Ukrainska Povstanska Armiya - Istoriya Neskorenykh - Lviv, 2007 p.29
- ^ From the front page of the Newspaper "Samostiyna Ukraina" published in Stanislaviv, July 10, 1941
- ISBN 0-902322-35-4.
- ^ John Armstrong, Ukrainian Nationalism, 2nd edition: New York: Columbia University Press, 1963) pp.80-81
- ^ Michael Savaryn. Proclamation of Ukrainian statehood, 1941. Encyclopedia of Ukraine.
- ^ OUN-German Relations 1941-1945, Taras Hunczak. (1994). From German-Ukrainian relations in historical perspective. Hans-Joachim Torke, John-Paul Himka, eds. Edmonton, Alberta: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, University of Alberta. pg. 178
- ^ Timothy Snyder. The Causes of Ukrainian-Polish Ethnic Cleansing 1943. Past & Present, No. 179 (May, 2003), pp. 207
- ^ Act of Restoration of Ukrainian Statehood on June 30, 1941 (its genesis and political and historical significance). Second edition. - Munich, 1953. - P. 52.
Sources
- Hai-Nyzhnyk P. P. The attitude of senior management of the German Reich to the Act of the Ukrainian state in 1941 and the military-political tactics of the OUN(r) in 1941–1943.– Collection of scientific works "Gileya: scientific bulletin" , Kyiv: National Pedagogical University named after MP Drahomanov; VGO Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 2015.— Issue.98 (No. 7) .— P. 49–65.