Roland Battalion Choir, 1941
Photo: Courtesy of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory
Nachtigall and Roland were not part of the SS structure, their soldiers did not have SS ranks and performed auxiliary functions, and Galicia was used primarily as a combat unit. Why are they called punitive?
10 myths about the UPA. How was it really? - a joint project, the goal of which is to refute the myths that exist in the collective memory of the activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army
Previous project materials
Myth 2: The battalions Nachtigall, Roland and the Galicia division were SS punitive units
Quote myth: Israel is ready to provide documentary evidence of the atrocities of the Nachtigall SS battalion under the command of Shukhevych
Communist Party of Ukraine,
post title on the official website
The essence of the myth
During the Second World War, the Germans created the battalions of Nachtigall, Roland, and also the Galicia division from Ukrainian nationalists. These units were recruited from Nazi collaborators, were part of the SS structure, were subordinate to its leadership and had SS ranks. Nachtigall, Roland and the Galicia division were created to destroy the civilian population in the occupied territories.
Facts briefly
Nachtigall and Roland acted as part of the Wehrmacht, were never part of the SS structure, and their soldiers did not have SS ranks. At the beginning of the German-Soviet war, both battalions performed auxiliary functions, and in the fall of 1941 they were reorganized into the 201st security battalion of the police of order.
The Galicia division, created in 1943, did not belong to the general SS, but to the SS troops and was used primarily as a combat unit.
Soldiers of the Nachtigall battalion Photo: courtesy of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory
Facts more
This myth was formed in soviet time... In accordance with it, all participants in the Ukrainian liberation movement during the war were traitors to their homeland and puppets in the German service, willingly fulfilling all the whims of the "masters". The Germans entrusted them with only the dirtiest work - carrying out punitive actions against unarmed civilians.
Mostly the authors of such "sensations" do not see the difference between the military formations operating on the territory of Ukraine during the war. Therefore, the layman usually does not have any questions when he hears from the blue screen about the "SS battalion" Nachtigall "". But the facts tell a different story.
The battalions Nachtigall and Roland were never SS units. The initiator of their creation was not SS Reichsfuehrer Himmler, but the OUN, together with Wehrmacht officers, in particular from military intelligence (Abwehr).
However, each of the initiators of the creation of battalions pursued their own goal. The OUN members viewed these two battalions as a kind of basis for the future Ukrainian army. Indeed, at the beginning of 1941, the OUN leadership knew about the preparations for war between Germany and the USSR and hoped that it would be at the very moment of the start of the war that it would be possible to raise an uprising on the territory of Ukraine and create an independent state.
People with military experience and weapons were needed to prepare the uprising and hold the territory in the future. However, in the situation in which the OUN found itself after the annexation of Western Ukraine by the Soviet Union, its members could receive military training in the ranks of only one army - the German. The countries of Western Europe were not ready to perceive the OUN as an independent player and did not provide it with assistance. And negotiations with the main enemy - the USSR - were all the more unacceptable.
In negotiations with the leadership of the Abwehr, representatives of the OUN put forward a demand for the creation of special units, in which the members of the organization had to undergo combat training, and eventually become the basis for the formation of a new Ukrainian army.
The German side had slightly different plans. The Abwehr leadership regarded Nachtigall and Roland as reconnaissance and sabotage battalions, which during the war were supposed to carry out sabotage operations against Soviet military units, as well as ensure the safety of movement of German units, disarm the remnants of the Red Army, and guard trains with prisoners and ammunition.
The tasks that the leadership of the Abwehr and the OUN set before the battalions were significantly different from the tasks that the SS performed in the occupied territories.
The rank and file and some of the battalion commanders were Ukrainians. They wore military, not SS ranks, and their commanders on the German side were also from the Wehrmacht. Both Nachtigall and Roland did not obey the SS command.
Despite the OUN's expectations, the participation of both battalions in hostilities was limited. In the summer of 1941, Roland was transferred to the territory of Moldova and the Odessa region, where his personnel were waiting for an order for several weeks, and then the unit was returned to Austria again.
Battalion Nachtigall composed of german army took part in the capture of Lvov and reached Vinnitsa. Already in August 1941, he was recalled from the front, and on September 16, both battalions were reorganized.
The history of the Galicia division was completely different. Its creation began almost two years after the creation of the battalions of Nachtigall and Roland - in the spring of 1943, on the territory of Eastern Galicia, which was then part of the German General Government.
Lieutenant of the Galicia division Vladimir Kozak. Pay attention to the buttonholes: instead of SS runes, the division wore a "lion" - a stylized coat of arms of Galicia Photo: courtesy of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance
Although the abbreviation "SS" was present in the official name of the formation until April 1945, from the very beginning the division was an exclusively military formation. Therefore, she was part of the structures not of the general SS (Allgemeine SS), but of the so-called SS troops (Waffen-SS). There were more than 40 such divisions, at the heart of half of them were personnel from the citizens of the states occupied and allied by Germany (Croats, Latvians, Estonians, Hungarians, French, etc.). The Galicia division was created for joint military operations with the Wehrmacht.
The rank and file and lower command personnel were recruited from Ukrainians - mostly from Galicia. Command positions from the battalion and above until 1945 were mainly occupied by Germans, although there were also Ukrainians - for example, Nikolai Palienko was one of the division commanders.
The Ukrainians joined the ranks of the division for various reasons. Some considered their stay in Galicia as an opportunity to acquire military experience and weapons in order to move to the UPA in the future, which at that time did not have the opportunity to provide training and arm such a number of fighters. Others hoped on its basis to form Ukrainian military units to fight the USSR, even on the side of the Germans. There were also those who joined the ranks of the division in order to avoid being forced to work in Germany or not to remain in the territory that Soviet troops were soon to occupy. Some part of the soldiers in Galicia was mobilized forcibly.
Officially, the OUN (b) opposed the formation of the division and even disseminated calls for the Ukrainians not to join the ranks of Galicia. However, in fact, a certain number of OUN members turned out to be in its composition. They also wanted to receive training and weapons, as well as to serve as a "connecting" link between the fighters of the division and the UPA in order to organize their transition to the Ukrainian underground at the right time. At the same time, the OUN (m), on the contrary, called on young people to join the ranks of the division, considering this formation as an opportunity for an armed struggle against the USSR.
The Galicia division took part in the battles against the offensive of the Red Army. In the summer of 1944, the division was transferred to the city of Brody in the Lviv region, at the disposal of the 13th Army Corps as part of Army Group Northern Ukraine, where it occupied the second line of defense. During the battle, the division was surrounded and defeated. Of the 11 thousand fighters, only about 3 thousand came out of the encirclement, of which about 1.5 thousand, led by General Freitag, retreated in the direction of Transcarpathia. The rest either died, or were captured by the Soviets, or joined the UPA. In total, the division then lost up to 70% of its personnel.
After being re-equipped, the division was sent to Slovakia, where it took part in the fight against the Slovak partisans. In January 1945, she was transferred to Yugoslavia to fight against the communist partisans of Joseph Broz Tito.
There is a myth that the Galicia division allegedly participated in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in August - September 1944, but this is not true.
In April 1945, the division fought for some time at the front near the Gleichenberg castle in Austria. At the end of April, it was withdrawn from the SS troops and given a new name - the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army.
After the surrender of Germany, the division fighters were interned in the British and American occupation zones, and after 1948 they dispersed all over the world - to the USA, Canada, Australia, Argentina and other countries. In 1985, the so-called Deschenes Commission was created to investigate the facts of the possible presence of war criminals in Canada, including immigrants from Ukraine and the Baltic countries. Based on the results of the study of archival materials and the questioning of witnesses in Canada and Western Europe The Deschenes Commission prepared a report in which none of the emigrants - former members of the Galicia division - were found guilty of war crimes during the Second World War.
10 myths about the UPA. How was it really? - joint information project NV, , The Center for Liberation Movement Research and the KSD Publishing House, whose goal is to refute the myths that exist in the collective memory about the activities of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
The history of the Ukrainian battalions "Roland" and "Nachtigall" is a history of German meanness, self-confidence and shortsightedness. These battalions were supposed to become the basis of the future army of independent Ukraine, an anti-Bolshevik force allied to the German Reich, but Hitler said: “... There should be no question of allowing the creation of any military force west of the Urals. You cannot allow anyone other than the Germans to carry a weapon ... ”and all the work of the Abwehr to establish relations with the Ukrainian nationalist underground went to dust.
Unlike other Ukrainian units of the German army, all employees of “Roland” and “Nachtigal” were members of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists). Moreover, they are members of the OUN military referent. Moreover, they were selected and recommended for service by the OUN Supreme Provider. They were hardened by the underground, educated (half of the soldiers had higher education), volunteers tested over the years. Let me remind you that we are talking about the OUN of the 1930s, that is, an organization that was banned by the authorities, killed Polish ministers and Soviet consuls, whose members were imprisoned and received capital punishment; at the same time, the organization had the broadest social base - from student communities and secret circles of Ukrainian officers to children's sports and educational movements such as PLAST. German intelligence made a bet on it. Canaris (as well as Rosenberg and a number of senior Wehrmacht officers), unlike Hitler and his entourage, seriously assessed the role of oppressed nations in the anti-Bolshevik front and, in general, approved of the idea of \u200b\u200bindependent states in the vastness of the former Russian Empire.
Politically, “Roland” and “Nachtigall” were subordinate only to the OUN, and took the oath to the Ukrainian state. Their service in the German army was to be limited exclusively to the eastern front, exclusively against the USSR. The battalions were trained in the Brandenburg special mission regiment, subordinate to the Abwehr overseas department (Amt Ausland / Abwehr). They did not have a number and were listed as a separate formation (Sonderformation). Formally, they did not belong to the Wehrmacht at all, but were only assigned to it for separate tasks. In essence, their main function was agitation and propaganda. Entering Ukrainian cities in the forefront of the German army, they had to testify to the local population that it was not an occupier who had come, but a liberator.
The harmony ended when “Nachtigall” was resting after the battles for Vinnitsa. In Lviv, the nationalists, without asking for the opinion of the Germans, announced the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. The Germans, feeling dizzy with their successes and watching how easily the Soviet army rolled back to the east, decided not to play diplomacy and quickly break the headstrong Ukrainian ally. The Supreme Provid of the OUN is arrested, including Stepan Bandera. OUN members are being arrested. The prospect of a concentration camp hangs over "Roland" and "Nachtigall".
Not that Ukrainians used to have strong trust in Germans and believed in Hitler's desire to build an independent Ukraine. Already during the formation of "Roland", the second battalion of Ukrainians, the commander of "Nachtigal" Roman Shukhevych (the future cornet general of the UPA) advised the soldiers to register not under their own names, but under pseudonyms. He understood that sooner or later he would have to go underground.
Moving eastward, the Germans made a "district" out of Galicia and annexed it to one of their general governorships, while the rest of Ukraine was declared a "Reichskommissariat". The declaration of independence in Lviv was a demarche by the OUN. Either the Germans accept this idea, or it becomes finally clear that the Ukrainians are not on their way with them. The German answer was more than straightforward.
Shukhevych applied to general base with protest. In connection with the arrest of the Ukrainian government, the Nachtigall battalion can no longer remain in the German army. In fact, Shukhevych declared a riot.
The battalion was removed from the front, disarmed and sent to Krakow, closer to Auschwitz. Negotiations about his fate went on for a week. In the end, a compromise option was adopted: instead of a concentration camp, the soldiers were offered to be sent to Belarus and a one-year contract to serve in the military police - to protect from soviet partisans strategic objects. Shukhevych accepted these conditions, especially since in Belarus “Roland” and “Nachtigall” were to unite into one formation. From that moment on, a brigade of Ukrainian nationalists has existed under the name “Schutzmanschaftbatalion No. 201”. A year later, after the expiration of the contract, none of the fighters signed its continuation. They were awaited by Ukraine and the emerging Ukrainian Rebel Army.
P.S.
The main accusation against “Nachtigall” that sounds today is participation in the mass shootings of Jews in Lvov, at the very beginning of the war.
Firstly, there was neither sense nor necessity to involve Ukrainian nationalists in punitive actions at the beginning of the war. The executions were carried out by special German Einsatzgruppen, that was their profile. The main role of “Nachtigal” was demonstrative propaganda. There was no need to dirty him in the eyes of journalists and the local population, moreover, the soldiers themselves were not policemen recruited from prisoners of war, but volunteers with their own political leadership and their own principles. They could simply refuse to carry out such an order.
Secondly, there could not have been mass shootings proper at the beginning of the war. Rather, they were, but on the other hand: when the Germans entered Lviv, the prisons of the NKVD (in particular, the prison of Brigitte, the prison on Lonskoy) were filled with corpses. Retreating soviet authority decided not to leave possible enemies and shot everyone indiscriminately. The Germans set up their death machine in the occupied territories much later, and at first the killings were carried out according to lists drawn up in advance. The Gestapo arrested and killed 38 Lviv professors, and this fact is recorded in the third volume of the materials of the Nuremberg Tribunal published in the USSR. There is no mention of "Nachtigal" there.
Information about mass executions, moreover, committed by “Nachtigall”, was loudly announced much later than Nuremberg. Specifically, after the West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer appointed Theodor Oberlander “Minister for Germans - Repatriates, Exiles and War Victims”. Oberlander was an ardent anti-communist and a hater of the USSR. In addition, in June-July 1941, he was a liaison officer between the Abwehr and “Nachtigall”, in fact, a curator from the German side. This part of his biography seemed to the Soviet Union the weakest and gave a chance to fabricate an accusation of Nazi crimes. Moreover, it would have rhymed well with the anti-nationalist campaign that unfolded then in the USSR itself.
With the help of East German historian professors, as well as the communist parties, an information campaign was launched around the world, which led to the resignation of Oberlander. The tribunal, considering his case, did not find a reason for accusation.
Hitler's espionage machine. Military and political intelligence of the Third Reich. 1933-1945 Jorgensen Christer
Battalion "Nachtigall"
Battalion "Nachtigall"
In the fall of 1940, when a lull came on the Western Front due to the uncertainty with Operation Zeleve (Sea Lion), OKB / OKH began to develop a plan for the invasion of the USSR. In the winter of 1940/41 a new training camp was established in Neuhammer near Legnica. Partisan agents were recruited from the units of the OUN and UPA of Stepan Bandera, and they were led by the outstanding Ukrainian commander Skonprynka. Another source of replenishment was the Ukrainian in composition Polish units, which sided with the Germans during their invasion of Poland. The training course was particularly harsh, and Skonprynka constantly emphasized that he was preparing soldiers for the liberation of the occupied homeland. The German command of the unit was represented by Lieutenant Albrecht Herzner and Professor T. Oberländer. The Abwehr named the division, in which many sang well, "Nachtigall", that is, "Nightingale". The name is beautiful, but not the case.
In June 1941, "Nachtigall" was assigned to special forces. On June 29-30, having heard about the planned massacre of compatriots in the Lviv NKVD prison, "Nachtigall" entered the battle until the Germans approached and held out for several hours. Like Lithuanians, Ukrainians naively believed that the Germans, immediately after the expulsion of the Soviets, would grant their country independence.
The first thing they announced about the creation of an independent Ukraine was when they seized a radio station in Lvov. The Germans immediately denied this statement and reported that Western Ukraine was included in the General Governorship (what remained of Poland - Ed.) Of Hans Frank. Morale in all Ukrainian units (created by the Germans), especially in the "Nachtigal", dropped noticeably, and the Germans decided to disband them.
An angry Oberländer, an expert on Ukraine and an ardent supporter of its independence, won an audience with Hitler and expressed his displeasure with such a disdain for Germany's valuable ally in the war against Stalin. The Fuhrer was not impressed by his arguments. Demonstrating ignorance and astonishing stupidity, he said, “You don't understand what you are saying. Russia is our Africa, and the Russians are our negros. " Struck by such an answer, the professor returned to report to the commander of the Brandenburg regiment and blurted out in impatience: "This is Hitler's concept, and with this concept we will lose the war." Oberlander was not mistaken in his prediction.
Pyotr Vershigora, leader of the Soviet Ukrainian partisans and mortal enemy of both Germans and Ukrainian nationalists. He commanded thousands of partisans in Ukraine
At first, the Germans in the East were saved only by the fact that Stalin so turned the Ukrainians against himself with his actions - a ruinous economic policy, massive repression and deportations - that they were ready to serve the Germans even after the events of 1941. In the end, choosing between two evils, the Ukrainians, like the peoples of the Baltic states (some of both - Ed.), preferred the one they did not know. Surprisingly, even a year later, 200-250 thousand Ukrainians served in the ranks of the German army and the SS (defending the common homeland, the USSR, 1,377,400 Ukrainians died in the ranks of the Soviet armed forces (including those tortured in captivity and other demographic losses). ... As for the Balts, after three years of humiliation and insults they rushed in 1944 to help the SS units defending their countries from the advancing Red Army (including the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps and other formations - Ed.).
Ukrainians warmly welcome their German liberators from the "Stalinist yoke" in August 1941. Their enthusiasm soon faded due to Hitler's colonialist policies
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Stepan Bandera wrote: "At the beginning of 1941, it became possible to make a school for two Ukrainian units under the German army, with an approximate number of up to a kuren." Here Bandera noted that "military training sessions" were performed by R. Shukhevych, D. Gritsai-Perebiynis and O. Gasin-Lytsar among the OUN-Bandera. It is well known that the special battalion of the Abwehr "Nachtigall" ("Nightingale", "Night Bird") named after S. Bandera was formed in March-April 1941 from the Bandera. The formation underwent military training in Neugammer as part of the 1st battalion of the Brandenburg-800 special-purpose regiment, which was subordinate to Abwehr-2 (the Abwehr department, which was engaged in sabotage in the enemy camp). The political leader of the battalion was Theodor Oberländer (a famous German figure who dealt with the Germans of the East, SS Oberführer), the battalion commander on the part of the Germans was Ober-Lieutenant Albrecht Herzner, the battalion commander on the part of the Ukrainians was Captain Roman Shukhevych.
The Abwehr special battalion "Roland" named after E. Konovalets and S. Petliura was formed in April 1941 from Bandera, Melnikov, Petliurites and Hetmanites and underwent military training in Saubersdorf near Vienna under the leadership of the 17th Werkrayskommando of Vienna, which was also subordinate to special formation of the Abwehr "Brandenburg-800", but the battalion was intended for military operations in the southern direction of the Eastern Front. Its leaders were: Riko Yary from the German side and Major Evgen Pobigushchy ("Ren") from the Ukrainian side. In fact, Major Pobigushchy was the battalion leader, because R. Yary, as a member of the OUN-Bandera group and at the same time a resident of the Abwehr in the same OUN, constantly carried out other assignments.
Before talking about those so-called "Ukrainian" special battalions, it is necessary to give a short information about the formation of the Abwehr "Brandenburg-800", which they were part of, and about the "special" purpose of these formations (which is often hidden by nationalist authors) ... And the essence is as follows. In the book of the German general B. Müller-Hillebrand "The Land Army of Germany. 1933-1945" it is noted: "The Brandenburg-800 division was formed on September 21 in 1943 on the basis of the deployment of units of the 800th Brandenburg special-purpose construction training regiment, which was a special unit, which was at the disposal of the 2nd Directorate of the Abwehr OKW (Intelligence and Counterintelligence Service OKW). However, the deployment of the division was delayed. In October 1944 it was reorganized into the motorized division "Brandenburg".
Here, as we can see, the author goes around sharp corners and the division is presented as an ordinary military formation, moreover, "construction", "training" and at the same time a "special unit for special purposes." What did the Abwehr saboteurs of the 2nd division build, if the regiment and then the division were called "construction"? Nothing. They repaired destruction, sabotage and mass murder!
The truth is revealed by other authors. It turns out that the Brandenburg-800 special-purpose regiment and the Brandenburg special-purpose division were "construction" and "training" only for camouflage. In fact, these formations were special units of Abwehr-2 (sabotage in the enemy camp) only because they performed special missions at the front and in the immediate rear of the enemy: they organized and carried out sabotage, cleared entire enemy areas from possible and impossible preparations for sabotage against Germany. The units of this formation caused panic and chaos in the area of \u200b\u200baction. Their actions were also intended against partisan detachments and formations that carried out frequent and massive sabotage in the rear of the Nazi troops.
Abwehr historiographer Gert Buchgait testifies that during the "Eastern campaign" of the Nazis, only one front-line intelligence, subordinate to the first department (Abwehr-1) of the Abwehr directorate at the headquarters of the Wehrmacht High Command (OKW), was "neutralized", that is, liquidated, 20 thousand Soviet citizens. Buchgeit does not name such an action of the 2nd Abwehr Department, which was directly involved in sabotage and punitive actions in the state of the enemy and which, in fact, belonged to the Brandenburg-800 and Brandenburg special forces, and they, in turn, such special battalions like "Nachtigall" and "Roland".
In the same direction, another researcher sheds light - the Hungarian historian and publicist Julius Mader, who conducted a fairly voluminous analysis of many studies of the Abwehr's actions during the last war: “Abroad (the Abwehr,” he pointed out, “had a widely ramified apparatus for fighting active opponents hitler regimeinsisting on the prompt destruction of resistance groups and partisan detachments. The Abwehr and its special part "Brandenburg-800" operated in 13 European countries. In only 12 of them (not counting the USSR), the Nazi invaders killed in the course of hostilities, shot and tortured over 1,277,750 people in prisons. Most of these casualties should be attributed to the assassins from the Abwehr and their professional "guerrilla hunters". And how many were destroyed by them soviet people? Not counted yet. I think that future historians will also count these victims.
Thus, we will make certain clarifications and summarize. The formation of the special purpose "Brandenburg-800" arose even before the war of Nazi Germany against Soviet Union... At first it was a special battalion, which in 1940 became the Brandenburg-800 special-purpose regiment, and then in 1943 - the Brandenburg division. It was not an ordinary army unit, but a special association of saboteurs, punishers, bashi-bazouks, formed from condottieri of non-German nationalities, from those countries against which the Nazis were preparing aggression. So, the 1st battalion, stationed in Brandenburg (after which the entire regiment and the special purpose division are named), was formed from representatives of the peoples of Eastern Europe (mainly the territories of the USSR) and was intended for a war in the "eastern direction" (to him and was assigned battalion "Nachtigall" for training in Neugammer and attack on Lvov); The 2nd Battalion was stationed in Duren (Rhineland) and consisted of Alsatians, traitorous French, Belgians and Dutch; The 3rd battalion was stationed in Baden (near Vienna) and was intended for operations in the south, in the countries of South-Eastern Europe (the special battalion "Roland" was assigned to it). At the same time, companies, battalions, and then regiments of this formation, in their number, significantly, or even several times, exceeded the usual manning standards.
Consequently, "Nachtigall" and "Roland" were not just ordinary military formations within the Wehrmacht (nationalists are still trying to call them "Militia of Ukrainian Nationalists" (DUN), but special forces of the Abwehr - to carry out sabotage and punitive actions in the camp For this purpose, they underwent military training in special schools to ensure the fulfillment of tasks.E. Pobigushchiy, head of the Roland battalion, and then the Schutzmannschaft battalion, in his memoirs notes that the task of the detachment was "to look for the development of Soviet units and so to provide the rear. "And what is" to provide the rear "is well known, because it meant eliminating those" bookmarks "!
Both formations, as almost all nationalist authors testify, were the fulfillment of the long-standing dream of the OUN guides to form professional military units with the help of the Nazis and turn them into the basis of their future nationalist armed forces. This dream, as you know, came true, but unsuccessfully and not in the way it was intended.
Actions of "Nachtigal" "and" Roland "
This question is difficult, because the Abwehr, as you know, did not advertise his actions. It is known that on June 30, 1941, the Nachtigall special battalion entered Lvov together with the 1st battalion of the Brandenburg-800 special purpose regiment. The Gestapo and SB (Imperial Security) units have not yet arrived in the city, and therefore internal order assigned to the military commandant, General Renz and his field commandant's office. This gave rise to the Polish and Soviet publicists and historians in the 50-70s to accuse the Brandenburg and Nachtigallians of punitive actions during the first days of the occupation of Lviv. As the well-known scientist and public figure of R&D A. Norden testified at a press conference in Berlin on October 22 in 1959 about the investigation of crime by Bonn Minister T. Oberlander (the former political leader of the Nachtigall battalion and other similar sabotage formations on the Eastern Front, in particular detachments "Tamara-1" and "Tamara-2" in Chechnya), from 1 to 6 July 1941, the Abwehr from "Nakhtigal", controlled by Oberlander-Herzner-Shukhevych, together with the Brandenburgers, feldzhandarms and bohvkars of the regional executive OUN- b, 3 thousand people were killed in Lvov, mainly Soviet activists, Jews and Poles, among them over 70 famous scientists and cultural figures.
It is believed that in the near future all this will be fully investigated, regardless of the former "fog" and "smokescreen", both in Polish and Soviet literature, and in Ukrainian-nationalist literature.
However, even now there are some clarifications. A book by Polish author Alexander Korman "From the bloody days of Lvov 1941" was recently published in London. The author gives numerous facts, names, eyewitness accounts of this tragedy. The researcher asserts unequivocally: from June 3 to July 6 in 1941 (during the stay of the special battalion "Nachtigall" in Lvov) Polish scientists, Jews and communists were destroyed by the Nazis, Nakhtigalevites and militants from the OUN-Bandera.
Korman cites in the book a photocopy of Stepan Bandera's appeal, which was circulated in Lvov from June 30 to July 11 in 1941 in the form of flyers and posters: "People! Know! Moscow, Poland, Magyars, Jews - those are your enemies! Destroy them!" In another interpretation, this postcard sounded like this: "Destroy Lyakhov, Jews, communists without mercy, do not spare the enemies of the Ukrainian people's revolution!"
The author claims that the extermination action was led by SS Hauptsturmführer (captain) Hans Kruger (Krieger), who later led the Gestapo in Stanislav. The murders took place according to the list prepared by the services of E. Vreseny (SB OUN-b) and "Legenda" (I. Klymiva), the head of the regional executive of the OUN-b. The arrests were carried out by the departments of the Abwehr (Brandenburg), the field police and "Nachtigall". The executions were carried out by them. E. Vretsiona himself personally participated in the executions of Polish scientists.
A. Corman gives a lot of evidence in the book. Here are a few of them: "Nakhtigalevites" dragged out of their homes the communists and Poles, who were hung here on the balconies; " "The poultry houses were in German uniforms and with German military distinctions. They spoke Ukrainian"; "On the streets of Russkaya and Boimov, several Polish students were shot and killed, who were brought in by militants of Ukrainian nationalists"; ". 500 Jews. The Ukrainians mutilated them all," etc.
The author also cites the fact that the wife of the arrested professor of Lviv Polytechnic Kazimir Bartel (former Prime Minister of Poland) visited the Artsibiskup Sheptytsky with a request to help release her husband, but he replied that "he cannot do anything."
In general, Alexander Korman's book is a reliable, meaningful study. However, it is one-sided, because it is imbued not with universal human, but mainly with Polish passions.
Despite the lack of weighty and comprehensive documents and analytical studies, we now reliably know that the Bandera action of the first days of the occupation of Lviv is large-scale and rather desperate: from the proclamation of the June 30 Act to the bloody massacre - the extermination of Soviet activists, representatives of the Polish intelligentsia and the Jewish population ... Undoubtedly, N. Lebid, the chief of the OUN security service, led this action, and a little later - the guide of the entire OUN-Bandera in the region. His assistants were: his deputy for the security service of the OUN E. Vresena and the head of the regional executive of the OUN-b "Legenda" (I. Klymiv), lieutenant of the Gestapo Y. Moroz and the leaders of "Nachtigal" T. Oberlender, A. Herzner and R. Shukhevych ... Although the heavy hand of the Gestapo (G. Krieger) and the Abwehr (T. Oberlander) gravitated over all this.
The special battalion of the Abwehr "Nakhtgal" together with the 1st battalion of the "Brandenburg-800" regiment, detachments of the feldzhandarmerie and the OUN militants from the "Legends" resort - Klymiva took a direct part in the bloody orgies of the first days of the occupation of Lviv.
The further "fate" of the special battalions
After an unsuccessful "understanding" with the Nazis during the proclamation of the "Act of June 30, 1941", that is, the so-called proclamation of an independent Ukraine in Lvov, which was carried out by Y. Stetsko ("Karbovich", Bandera's first deputy), with the help of the "Nachtigal" named after S. Bandera, both by order of Bandera and after the arrests of the participants in this venture, both special battalions were withdrawn from the front and at the end of October united into one formation, which immediately began training for a new assignment.
In mid-March in 1942, the united (now Schutzmanschaft) battalion under the command of E. Pobiguschiy ("Rena") was sent to Belarus and operated in the Mogilev-Vitebsk-Lepel triangle as part of the 201st police ("security") division of the general Jacobi against Belarusian partisans and civilians.
In the collection "The squads of Ukrainian nationalists in 1941-1942" (published in 1953) E. Pobigushchy writes: "Artists would have wonderful motives for drawing", describing and admiring the beautiful Belarusian landscapes of the places where they were brought.
But they were sent here, of course, not for drawing on the plane, but in order to "guard the bridges", Pobigushchy notes. We know very well that the "bridge guards" did not fight the partisans, but only constantly guarded the bridges, carrying this service day after day. At the same time, we are well aware that the "army guards" of Hitlerite Germany did not guard bridges, but carried out a guard service in the rear of the Hitlerite troops, which meant that they constantly carried out punitive actions against the "bandits" (as the Red Partisans called Beating ) and local residents who helped the "bandits".
It is also known that the Schutzmannschaft battalion, four companies commanded by R. Shukhevych, M. Brigider, V. Sidor and Pavlik, became a unit of the 201st police division and brigades and separate operational battalions commanded by E. Bach-Zelewski, Obergruppenfuehrer (Colonel General) of the SS troops. This SS Obergruppenfuehrer led the fight against partisans in the occupied territories of the Soviet Union and Poland, especially in Belarus and in northern Ukraine. The units accountable to him were mostly SS men, and therefore the 201st police division was forced to act like them.
It becomes a little clearer when "Wren" writes about "combat operations" (which, of course, were not conducted by "bridge guards" in any way) and what SS Obergruppenfuehrer von Bach "said at a meeting of all commanders that this is my best department. , then he said this not for the sake of it, that the merit lies in the elders. " It is also known that those foremen, including Shukhevych and Pobigushchiy, were marked with “iron crosses” not for “guarding bridges”, but for “military valor”. At the same time, the beating one stated: "The legion fulfilled its task 100 percent." Here he boasts that the division command asked the "legion" to guard the division commander. Consequently, the former Nakhtigalevites and Rolandites deserve such an honor! Not useless, of course: such differences!
The same E. Pobiguschiy in his memoirs is more frank: "Of course, there were frequent battles against partisans, combing forests, attacks on their places of residence. Kuren did his task well, as von Bach said, stating that of all 9 kuren, which guarded the middle rear of the Eastern Front, - our kuren fulfilled the task best of all. "
It is now completely clear that they were not "guarding the bridges", but "guarding the middle rear" of the Hitlerite army group Center, which was advancing on Moscow.
Another author, M. Kalba, in the book "Nachtigall" (kuren DUN) in the light of facts and documents "(Denver, 1984) writes that" Nachtigall "has never been a sabotage formation and did not carry out any acts of sabotage, although here he defines that kuren "was attached to" Brandenburg ". And then Kalba refers to the German author Werner Brockford, who wrote about the formation of "Brandenburg" and, by the way, pointed out that "Nachtigall" "performed fantastic deeds" in the spirit of "a war film of American production." What exactly Brockford had in mind is not yet known, remains behind the scenes, but "fantastic deeds" in the spirit of "a war film of American production" intrigue not only the author's fantasy.
However, today it is already quite clear that the Schutzmanfaft battalion did not "guard bridges" in the partisan region in Belarus, but acted as part of the punitive formations of SS Obergruppenfuehrer von Dem Bach-Zelewski against Belarusian partisans and civilians, participated in the punitive operations "Bolotnaya fever "," Triangle "," Cottbus "and others. That the neighbor of the 201st security division and an enterprising partner in the hostilities against the partisans and peasants of Belarus was the notorious "Dirlivanger's brigade", well-known during the war, formed from criminals, professional sadists and murderers. Several chots of the "Ukrainian" formation as part of the 15th police regiment took part in the punitive action described in the documentary story "Eternal Cortelis" by Vladimir Yavorivsky, as a result of which animals with human names wiped out the Volyn villages of Borki, Zabolote, Borisovka along with the inhabitants and Cortelis.
Battalions of the Abwehr "Nachtigall" "" and "Roland"
The same Beating "Ren" recalls that before Christmas in 1943, "the legion was disbanded." The reasons for this have not yet been clarified. They served remarkably, received "iron crosses", were the best in the SS punitive troops von-dem Bach-Zelewski, and suddenly ... they were "dismissed"! Pobiguschiy also recalls that SS Obergruppenfuehrer von Bach told him personally that "all legionnaires" (as Pobiguschiy and other authors call punitive policemen) "will go home in small groups and there must register with the police in Lvov."
The "demobilization" took place, but under very mysterious circumstances. However, in Lvov, the Nazis kept some of the Ukrainian officers and non-commissioned officers, including Pobigushi, "under arrest," but "the change in political conditions saved us." Here we are talking, of course, about the fact that during the formation of the 14th SS Grenadier Division "Galitsien" they were called up as junior officers of the now SS formation, where Pobigushchiy-"Ren" was first the commander of the regiment, and then the battalion with the rank of Sturmbannfuehrer (Major ) SS. So, finally, the officer cadres from Abwehr police turned into SS men.
"What is the use of DUN"? - Stepan Bandera asked in one of his articles and here he answered: “The special thing that they brought with them is knowledge of the organization, strategy and tactics of partisan warfare used by the Bolsheviks in World War II, and German methods of destroying partisan detachments. very useful in creating UPA ".
As you can see, Bandera was interested in the experience of the struggle of the Nazis against the Soviet partisans. And still it should be added that the head of the UPA, became its "commander-in-chief" the recent captain of the Abwehr and the schutzmanschaft of the formation R. Shukhevych, who in the UPA immediately became a cornet general.
Consequently, the former Nakhtigalevites and Rolandans learned not the experience of "protecting bridges", but the fight against partisans and civilians of Belarus on the German methods "von dem Bach-Zelewski and Dirlivanger.
Vitaly Ivanovich Maslovsky
Translation from ukr. RM.U
Special unit "Nachtigall" (it. Nachtigall (nightingale)) - a detachment consisting mainly of members and supporters of the OUN (b), which acted together with the German Nazis during the Second World War.
Basic information
At various times the group "North" of the Druzhin of Ukrainian Nationalists, "Ukrainian Legion named after S. Bandera ", battalion" Nachtigall ".
Was formed and trained by the Abwehr to act in conjunction with the 1st battalion of the sabotage unit "Brandenburg 800" (German. Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800 ) in Operation Barbarossa on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
World War II and preparations for an attack on the USSR
Since the spring of 1939, the Abwehr has been actively training and training OUN militants with the aim of using them in the Polish campaign. The rapid advance of the German troops in September 1939 reduced their actions to isolated episodic actions. On September 12, 1939 (shortly before the fall of Warsaw), at a special meeting on Hitler's train, issues related to Poland and the ethnic Ukrainian population of Poland were discussed.
According to Hitler's plans, on the border with the USSR it was necessary to create "gasket states" between "Asia" and "West" - loyal to the Third Reich Ukraine (on the territory of Galicia and Volynia) and Lithuania. On the basis of Ribbentrop's political instructions, Keitel formulated the task for Canaris: "You, Canaris, must organize an uprising with the help of Ukrainian organizations working with you and having the same goals, namely Poles and Jews." Ribbentrop, clarifying the forms of the uprising, especially pointed out the need for the destruction of Poles and Jews. By "Ukrainian organizations" was meant the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The result of these instructions is the so-called "Canaris Memorandum of September 12, 1939," presented in the materials of the Nuremberg Tribunal as Document 3047-ps).
From the OUN (b), centurion Roman Shukhevych was appointed the commander of the Nachtigall kuren. During Operation Barbarossa, the Nachtigall battalion, where Shukhevych served as Ukrainian deputy commander with the rank of Hauptmann (captain), took part in the invasion of Ukraine together with German troops.
Events in Lviv
June 22, 1941 at 3 o'clock in the morning the 1st battalion and "Nachtigall" crossed the border to the river. Sun and began actions to overcome the border fortified area, in which the "Nachtigall" itself was not involved. After breaking through the Soviet defense line, the unit moved towards Lvov. Lviv was abandoned soviet troops June 26, 1941.
On the night of June 29-30, 1941, the battalion was the first to enter Lviv. The commander of the 1st battalion Heinz indicates the date of entry of the battle group into Lviv itself as "June 29 night" - while in various publications of the post-war OUN, the date of entry is indicated on June 30 - although even Y. Stetsko himself points out that he and S. Bandera were already in Lviv on June 29, and the radio station was already occupied. ...
In Lviv, soldiers of both units took under protection key points of the city - a power plant, a railway station, a radio station, water towers and other objects.
Discussion on documentary evidence of the crimes of "Nachtigal"
According to representatives of the Israeli memorial complex "Yad Vashem", its archives contain a collection of documents obtained from German and Soviet sources, which indicate the involvement of Ukrainian nationalists in punitive operations against the Jewish population of Lviv in the summer of 1941. According to Yad Vashem, members of the "Einsatzgruppe C", German soldiers, and generally, without specification, "Ukrainian nationalists" took part in the extermination of Jews.
“We have a whole dossier from which it follows that Shukhevych was one of those involved in the massacres. Until that time, the Ukrainian side did not ask us to hand over these documents. If such a request is received, I think we will satisfy it, "said Yosef (Tomi) Lapid, head of the Jerusalem Yad Vashem memorial complex, in an interview with Deutsche Welle radio station.
After a visit to Israel on February 27, 2008 by a delegation of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance in order to verify this information, the adviser to the head of the SBU, Candidate of Historical Sciences Vladimir Vyatrovich said that there are no documents in the archives of the memorial complex that would confirm the involvement of Roman Shukhevych in the murders of Jews in Ukraine in the years World War II . According to him, two small folders with copies of documents were handed over to the Ukrainian side.
The first of the folders contained the protocols of the interrogation in the KGB of one of the UPA officers Luka Pavlishin, which contained only common phrases, as well as more detailed testimony of Yaroslav Shpital, which was published in 1960 in the Soviet propaganda brochure "Oberlander's Bloody Crimes" and was already known to historians.
The second folder contained the testimony of Grigory Melnik, a former soldier of "Nachtigal", also previously published in this brochure. The documents found in the SBU archives allegedly indicate that Grigory Melnik was recruited by the KGB to participate in the trial. According to instructions from Moscow, he should have been "prepared for interrogation" using "articles published in the press about the crimes of Nachtigal."
It was these testimonies that were used as the main ones at the trial in the GDR, the purpose of which was to compromise one of the German commanders of the Nachtigal, Theodor Oberlander.
In an interview given by representatives of Yad Vashem in response to Vyatrovich's statement, the following was said:
“The statement of Vladimir Vyatrovich, issued the day before yesterday, sins against the truth.
Continuing the interview, Yad Vashem representatives say that the head of the Yad Vashem memorial complex in Jerusalem, Yosef (Tomi) Lapid, in his statement relied on scientific research indicating a deep and intense connection between the Nachtigal battalion led by Roman Shukhevych and the German authorities, and also linking between the battalion "Nachtigall" under the command of Shukhevych and the pogrom in Lvov in July 1941, which claimed the lives of approximately 4,000 Jews.
Lapid also relied on documents in the archives concerning the Nachtigall battalion and Roman Shukhevych. Copies of these documents were given to the Ukrainian delegation last week. " Some believe that the evidence presented in these documents is insufficient
Israeli journalist Nathan Gross has been a member of the Righteous Among the Nations Commission at the Tel Aviv branch of Yad Vashem for twenty years. Gross explains the position of Yad Vashem towards Ukrainian nationalists using the example of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, who, supporting the OUN-UPA, saved several hundred Jews in Lvov from the hands of the Nazis:
At least 20 sessions were devoted to the Sheptytsky case ... Rav Kahane wept, begging the members of the commission to confer the title of Righteous on the Metropolitan, and I fought like a lion, but that did not help. The rabbi was told that no one doubts the facts, the story touches the heart, but still the majority of the council members are against it.
I think it was a political decision. In my opinion, Yad Vashem was afraid of the reaction of the Jewish world to conferring the title of a Ukrainian nationalist. Usually, the commission is not composed of those who survived the Holocaust, but those who know it only from numerous testimonies ... ".
Some Polish historians also point out that "Ukrainian nationalists" were involved in the killings and repressions against the Jewish and Polish population, which began immediately after the entry into Lvov of the battalion "Nachtigall".
The "Encyclopedia of the Holocaust" also notes that after the withdrawal from Lviv, the "Nachtigal" battalion staged Jewish pogroms in Zolochiv and Ternopil.
Notes
- S. Lenkavskiy Friends of the Ukrainian Nationalists in 1941-42 years Munich 1953.
- IMT vol 3.p. 21 http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/03/htm/t021.htm
- Martin Broszat's Nationalsozialistische Polenpolitik 1939-1945 (Stuttgart, 1961).
- IMT vol 2.p. 478 http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/02/htm/t478.htm
- IMT vol 2.p. 448 http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/02/htm/t448.htm
- http://www.friedrich-wilhelm-heinz.de/index2.html
- OUN in 1941 rotsi: documents: In 2 hours of the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine K. 2006 ISBN 966-02-2535-0 p. 420
