THE RESTORATION OF UKRAINIAN STATE INDEPENDENCE (30 JUNE 1941) AND THE BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE THIRD REICH AND UKRAINIAN NATIONALIST ORGANIZATION
Abstract
The article on the basis of the primary sources (Archival data, published documents), memoirs and scholarly literature shows that from the very first days of the German-Soviet war the Ukrainian nationalists were in the conflict with the leadership of the Third Reich.
On June 30th, 1941, in Lviv the Ukrainian nationalists, headed by Stepan Bandera, adopted the Act of Restoration of the Ukrainian State. According to this document, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) declared the restoration of the Ukrainian state in Western Ukraine with the aim to expand its control, in a close co-operation with the Germans, over all Ukrainian lands in future. At first glance, this was a good opportunity for the Third Reich to get a highly-motivated ally against the Soviet Union since the Ukrainians were the second largest ethnical group in the USSR. Nevertheless, the reality was different. This act started the conflict between the German ruling circles and Ukrainian nationalists. The Germans detained Stepan Bandera and Yaroslav Stetsko and moved them to Berlin. They also arrested about 1500 other members of OUN. Since the leaders of the Ukrainian nationalists continued their activities and protested the non-recognition of the Ukrainian independence, the Germans moved Bandera and Stetsko first to Spandau prison in September, and then to Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1942. In November-December of 1941, the Germans also attacked the second part of the OUN – the group of Andriy Melnik. They dissolved the Ukrainian National Rada functioning in Kyiv (from 5 October 1941) and put Melnik under home arrest.
The Ukrainian nationalists did not leave these steps unanswered. At the end of September and beginning of October of 1941 the first conference of the OUN(b) was held near Lviv. They declared that Bandera group would operate from underground. The Melnik group followed with the same decision in December of 1941. Despite this, the Ukrainian nationalists still did not declare Nazi Germany as their enemy. They took into consideration the fact that the Ukrainian nationalists could not fight on two fronts – against the Soviets and the Germans – at the same time. Thus, they made the following calculations: first, defeat the Soviet Union and only after that start the struggle against weakened Germany to restore the independence of Ukraine. It could be stated that from that time on Germany was just a temporary, situational ally for the Ukrainian nationalists.
Keywords: Ukrainian nationalists; Stepan Bandera; Andriy Melnyk; Ukraine; OUN; Third Reich.
