FACES AND PLACES: OUN from Konovalets to Plaviuk (02/06/00)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

OUN from Konovalets to Plaviuk

In 1929, a contingent of World War I western Ukrainian army veterans met in Vienna and established the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Its principal mission: Ukraine's ethno-national resurrection.

Electing the popular Col. Evhen Konovalets as their "vozhd" (leader), the clarion call to arms of OUN activists became "the nation above all else." Borrowing freely from the integral nationalist ideals of Dmytro Dontsov, and projecting a "whatever it takes" attitude, the OUN's authoritarian leadership (called the Provid) condemned moderation and mediation with Ukraine's Polish overlords as a sign of weakness. Reflecting right-wing ideologies then fashionable throughout Europe, the OUN's motto became "who is not with us is against us." Their modus operandi was selective terrorism.

The Polish government retaliated with a brutal "pacification" campaign against neutral Ukrainian cultural and economic institutions, as well as internment and execution of captured OUN operatives. The OUN's membership soared. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, few Ukrainians wept.

Although the OUN is not a major player in Ukraine today, it played a monumental role in keeping Ukraine's freedom torch burning for 70 years, both in Ukraine and North America. Willing to fight and die for Ukraine, OUN members created the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during World War II - fighting first the Nazis and then the Bolsheviks until the mid-1950s. During its zenith the UPA numbered some 100,000 armed men and women.

Col. Konovalets first visited North America in 1930. A year later, two new OUN affiliates sprang up, the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine (known by its Ukrainian-language acronym, ODVU) in the United States, and the Ukrainian National Federation (UNO) in Canada. During the 1930s, Ukrainian nationalists successfully competed with a well-organized Ukrainian Communist presence in North America as well as Ukrainian monarchists who believed Ukraine should be ruled by a benevolent hetman.

Nationalists in the United States reached their pinnacle on September 4, 1938, when some 5,000 participants and guests attending the Second Nationalist Congress jammed the Hippodrome in New York for a manifestation of solidarity. By then, the ODVU coalition included the Gold Cross, a women's organization, and MUN (Young Ukrainian Nationalists), a youth group.

Col. Konovalets was assassinated by a Soviet agent in 1938 and the following year was succeeded by Col. Andrew Melnyk, a close associate since the war years, at a special OUN Congress in Rome. Present were delegates from ODVU and UNO. In Poland, meanwhile, a younger and more militant group of OUN members came together in Krakow and established a second OUN led by Stepan Bandera. Many of the delegates were OUN activists who, like Mr. Bandera himself, were recently freed from Polish jails by the advancing Germans. Neither ODU nor UNO were invited to the Krakow conclave. Thus began the struggle between "Melnykivtsi," OUN(M) and "Banderivtsi," OUN(B) for control of the Ukrainian nationalist movement.

In North America, meanwhile, ODVU and UNO were experiencing their own difficulties. American Communists and fellow travelers (enjoying an unprecedented rebirth during the Roosevelt administration), labeled Ukrainian nationalists as "Nazis." The FBI began a three-year investigation of ODVU, diminishing its membership and moral stature in the Ukrainian American community. Quietly cleared of all charges in 1943, ODVU was never able to recapture its pre-eminent position in our community.

Similar charges were leveled against UNO by Communists in Canada, but the organization survived. By the end of the war, UNO branches owned "homes" in every city with a sizeable Ukrainian population. UNO's position in the community remained relatively stable.

When the war ended, thousands of refugees from Ukraine arrived in the United States and Canada. Many were members of either the OUN(M) or the OUN(B). Forced by circumstances to choose between the two OUNs, and hoping that reunification was possible, ODVU and UNO members elected to remain loyal to decisions reached at the 1939 nationalist conclave in Rome. It was a matter of "pravoporyiadok" (the authority of order). Unfortunately, reconciliation was not possible. The Banderites established the Organization for the Defense of Four Freedoms for Ukraine, and the bitter rivalry that had begun in Europe continued in North America.

Barely sympathetic to ODVU's "time of troubles" during the war, a militant group of OUN(M) members formed the so-called "sitka" (network), a clandestine group of insiders whose purpose was to maintain the nationalist "purity" of ODVU members.

A similar development occurred in Canada. Under the leadership of Mykola Plaviuk, venerable UNO leaders such as Wolodymyr Kossar and Paul (later senator) Yuzyk were eased out of the organization.

In the meantime, the OUN(B) prospered, establishing the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM) and a coalition called the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN). Among the more articulate ABN activists was Slava Stetsko, widow of Jaroslaw Stetsko, a longtime OUN(B) leader. Speaking passable English and German, Mrs. Stetsko traveled the world lobbying for Ukraine, often appearing in the halls of Congress and the White House.

Andrij Melnyk died in 1964 and was succeeded by Oleh Sztul as OUN(M) vozhd. Upon the death of Mr. Sztul in 1978, the OUN(M) came under the leadership of Mykola Plaviuk. Mr. Plaviuk did little lobbying outside the Ukrainian community. When he appeared at ODVU functions he regaled all with his stirring patriotic oratory.

Mrs. Stetsko and Mr. Plaviuk moved to Ukraine during the 1990s. Mrs. Stetsko was elected to the Verkhovna Rada, while Mr. Plaviuk remains a penumbra, definitely no Konovalets. In Canada, meanwhile, younger UNO members recently replaced Plaviuk loyalists and are struggling to revitalize an organization left in shambles.

While the OUN(M) is barely breathing in North America, the OUN(B) has captured the leadership of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America and the Ukrainian World Congress. Like them or not, the OUN(B) leadership has earned our respect. With their network of resorts, banquet halls and financial institutions, the Banderivtsi still are a formidable force. Though they remain on the margins of Ukraine's political scene, it would be foolhardy to count them out. As for the OUN(M), the future looks bleak.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: [email protected]

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