A Christmas Encounter (12/22/02)

A Christmas Encounter

by Ivan Harvas

In January 1945 the Hlukhyi Company, numbering 124 riflemen, approached Lviv and bivouacked in the nearby forest. At that time, the Bolsheviks were cutting down our forests and bringing the logs to central meeting points. The older Red Army soldiers guarded the lumber. Very often they were sympathetic to our battle for freedom. They informed us of upcoming attacks, misinformed the NKVD of our numbers and movements, and collected food and passed it on to us in the woods.

On Sviat Vechir (Christmas Eve) our company went to the neighboring village of Rokytno. The squads settled into the various homes for the night. Commander Hlukhyi and I stayed at the local cantor's house. After our prayer together, we all sat down for the Holy Supper. After extending Christmas greetings, the hospodar (master of the house) also wished us endurance in our continuing battles to our final victory.

Our commander thanked the hosts for their wishes and greeted them with the feast of the birth of Christ. After supper, according to our Ukrainian custom, we sang koliady (carols). The riflemen were happy and felt as if they were among their own family, celebrating Christmas.

At that time, five NKVD officers arrived at the local priest's home. [Not aware of this] our commander suggested that we go to the priest to carol for him. Ten soldiers were picked, among them Bohun, who was the fiddler, and Malynovyi, who played on the mandolin. As we stood at the window of the pastor's home we asked for permission to carol. The priest invited us inside. Commander Hlukhyi entered first, and immediately shouted, "Hands up!" He commanded the NKVD men not to touch their nearby weapons.

"Do you know who we are?" asked Hlukhyi.

"Yes, we know. You are Ukrainian partisans," was the reply.

"May we carol for you?"

"Pozhalosta [please, in Russian], do so," they replied.

We caroled "Nova Radist Stala." Afterwards, I recited the Christmas vinshuvannia (ritual greeting) to all. The Moskali (Muscovites, i.e., Russians) took out money to pay us for the koliada.

"We don't need your money. We are praising with joy the Newborn Jesus. And do you know what we are fighting for?" asked the commander.

"Yes, for your national independence."

After this, our commander inspected their identification documents and said, "Your are all members of the [Communist] Party, and your activities deserve severe punishment. But today, on the day of Christ's Birth, we grant you leave."

The NKVD officers were ordered not to bother the priest, because he had not informed us about their presence [in his home]. Finally, our commander gave them our leaflets "What UPA is Fighting For" and asked them to distribute them along the road to Lviv.

Parting with the enemy, we caroled at the windows for all the villagers and, towards morning, continued along our UPA paths.

Ivan Harvas (pseudonyns: Soia, Dub), born in 1909 in the village of Rokytno, Lviv region, served in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) from 1943 to 1947. He passed away in 1999 in Chicago, bequeathing his estate to his family, to veterans of UPA and their families in his and neighboring villages in Ukraine, and a large amount for the publication of Volume 31 of Litopys UPA. He did not live to see his memoirs in print.

The article above was translated by Orysia Paszczak Tracz with permission from "The UPA in Lviv and Yaroslav Regions: Memoirs and Documents of UPA Soldiers in Tactical Sector 'Roztochchia' 1943-1947." Toronto-Lviv: Litopys UPA, 2001. (Litopys UPA, Vol. 31)

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