A unique find in Ivano-Frankivsk: photographs of the UPA (12/05/99)

A unique find in Ivano-Frankivsk: photographs of the UPA

by Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO - A cache of 216 photographic negatives, which yielded unique photos of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) activity, was found this past June in Ukraine near the village of Yavoriv in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.

According to Dr. Oleh Romanyshyn, editor of Homin Ukrainy in Toronto, who has received over 100 prints made from these negatives, the negatives were found in a container that was exposed in the hollow of a tree once the tree fell down. There was also a second container in the hollow filled with papers, but these were in bad condition and could not be deciphered. A 12-year-old boy found the containers in the fallen tree and took them home.

Vasyl Humeniuk, who heads the All-Ukrainian Brotherhood of Former Soldiers of the UPA in Kosiv raion, provided Dr. Romanyshyn with the photos and said the photos are currently being circulated for identification and dating purposes. It is believed that most of the people in the photos were locals who volunteered or were recruited into the UPA from the areas of Kosiv and Kolomyia in the Carpathian Mountains, the scene of much UPA activity in the 1940s.

The negatives were produced from film used in two cameras; one has been identified as a Leica. This was a German camera, so it could have been taken from a captured German soldier or a German SS, although the brand Leica was also available in pre-war western Ukraine. No information is known about the second camera used. The identity of the photographer or photographers has yet not been established.

The photos show armed groups of soldiers - many of the groups with women fighters. There are portrait photos of known UPA officers (some of whom have already been identified) but there are also pictures of soldiers among the local Hutsul population that provide confirmation that the UPA was supported by the general population.

A dramatic photo of an UPA patrol group features the picturesque mountains in the background.

There are several touching photos, such as one of a young man and woman, the female soldier in an oversized man's uniform jacket. But perhaps the most poignant picture is of the soldiers having an Easter meal in the forest, probably at that moment remembering their homes and families, maybe for the last time.

Homin Ukrainy is planning to publish an album of all these newly discovered photos next year in commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the death of UPA commander Roman Shukhevych-Taras Chuprynka, who fell in battle with Soviet forces on March 5, 1950.

Dr. Romanyshyn is also making the UPA photos available to the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Center for its film "Between Hitler and Stalin - Ukraine in World War II," which also is scheduled to be released next year.

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