FACES AND PLACES: UPA and the Ukrainian identity problem (06/19/05)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

UPA and the Ukrainian identity problem

Our identity problem just won't go away. Despite the overwhelming success of the Orange Revolution, the world still doesn't know who Ukrainians really are. Our past remains murky and incomplete. There are still many blanks, many unexplained events in Ukraine's historical journey.

For far too long we have allowed others to fill in the blanks, to define us as people, to tell the world who we are. Russians called us "Little Russians" and characterized our language as a Russian dialect. Our first immigrants to the United States were called Rusyns, not Ukrainians. Immigrants from Carpatho-Ukraine were called "Uhro-Rusyns" by the Hungarian government. Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. once questioned the "Catholicity" of our Eastern-rite priests.

At the end of the first world war, Ukraine was partitioned among Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, and Russia. To a greater or lesser degree, each foreign government tried to assimilate us. The Romanian government officially designated Ukrainians in Bukovyna as "Romanians who have lost their mother tongue." "Malopolska" became the official name of eastern Galicia.

No people suffered more during the Second World War than Ukrainians under Nazi and Soviet rule. And yet, for people like Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, Ukrainians will forever be identified as anti-Semites, a people worse than Germany's Nazis. In his book, "The Jews of Silence," Mr. Wiesel wrote: "Babi Yar is not in Kiev, no ... It is the entire Ukraine."

Ukraine's past is controversial. Modern Ukrainian history is still politically incorrect at many American universities. In certain academic circles Kyiv is still touted as the birthplace of Russia. Bohdan Khmelnytsky and Symon Petliura are still portrayed as ruthless mass murderers rather than freedom fighters. The Ukrainian Holodomor does not qualify as a genocide. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) is still perceived as a Nazi invention.

And, as we have seen more recently, the defeat of Nazi Germany is still depicted as a glorious victory of the Russian people. We hear little of the contribution of the people of Ukraine to Hitler's defeat. More often than not, Ukrainians are portrayed as part of the problem, shadowy collaborators who prolonged the heroic struggle of Stalin and his people against Hitler. In the world's view today, Hitler remains a monster. Stalin, on the other hand, is enjoying a revival as a great war-time leader of Russia.

I ask you: Why is it that Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky's successful efforts to save hundreds of Jews and his historic sermon condemning their wanton slaughter is overshadowed by his initial, short-lived welcome of the German army into Ukraine? Why is it that we hear almost nothing of the 1,755 people of Ukraine officially identified by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum as righteous Gentiles who risked and often lost their lives to save Jews?

And finally, what does the world really know about the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), that glorious group of dedicated freedom fighters who emerged during World War II to fight both the Nazis and the Soviets? Why is it that we rarely hear of their exploits outside of our own community?

As of now, there is no definitive, scholarly English-language publication that has adequately described and defined the unique underground phenomenon known as the Ukrainska Povstanska Armia. How is it possible that an armed force, larger and more effective than the celebrated French underground, or the Chetniks of "Draza" Mikhailovic, or Tito's partisans, or Kovpak's Soviet guerrillas, or any other anti-Nazi resistance group has been almost totally ignored by Western academics?

The UPA story is one of unequaled heroism. These were men and women who were willing to put their lives and sacred honor on the line against brutal and merciless enemies. Unlike the French, or Tito, or Mikhailovic, or Kovpak, no outside foreign power provided any substantial assistance for UPA. CIA efforts to assist UPA came to a brutal end when Kim Philby, a Soviet spy in Britain's MI6, exposed the operation.

Again, I ask, why no academic interest? It's not as if primary sources don't exist. The monumental Litopys UPA, edited by Prof. Peter Potichny and others, offers a gold mine of information for the interested academic. One can only wonder why no scholars associated with Ukrainian research centers at Harvard, Columbia, the University of Toronto, or the University of Alberta have ventured into this rich but relatively unexplored research area.

Since almost all of the documentation regarding UPA is in Ukrainian, and since there is a dearth of English-language publications for the serious scholar, there exists today a number of tendentious, propagandistic screeds about UPA which only muddy the waters. The most egregious of these were published by the Soviets who painted the UPA as a Nazi invention created for the sole purpose of killing Jews and patriotic Soviet Ukrainians.

Although the Soviet Union has been relegated to the dustbin of history, many of its poisonous ideas still resonate among certain world figures. The appearance of Simon Wiesenthal on "60 Minutes" on October 23, 1994, is a classic example as is the U.S.-published book titled "Alliance for Murder: The Nazi-Ukrainian Partnership in Genocide." Other distortions in need of flushing are still out there.

Fortunately, help is on the way. An all-day conference dedicated to the UPA took place on Saturday, June 11, in Chicago. Sponsored by Ukrainian American Veterans (UAV) Post 35 in cooperation with Selfreliance Federal Credit Union, it featured UPA veterans Maria Pyskir and Prof. Potichnyj as well as recently retired U.S. military veterans Sgt. Maj. Danylo Zahody, Cmdr. Charles Dobra and Lt. Col. Orest Logusz, author of a well-researched and highly readable English-language history of the Galicia Division. Mr. Logusz's announcement that he is currently working on an English-language history of UPA was met by warm, enthusiastic applause.

Kudos for keeping the ideals of UPA alive in our community belong to UAV Post Commander Roman Golash. He is carrying on the military tradition of his parents, both of whom served in the UPA. His efforts are bearing fruit.

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

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