“I’m looking for my uncle who died rather than be taken prisoner.”
“My great aunt lived through the terror and tragedy of family executions.”
“My grandfather was in the UPA.”
These are familiar comments. We heard many similar ones over the weekend of St. Thomas Sunday (April 18-19), when an extensive collection of Ukrainian Insurgent Army (known by its Ukrainian-based acronym as UPA) memorabilia, books, calendars, and storylines were on display at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in South Bound Brook, N.J.
Family members heard such personal stories over and over from grandparents in oral histories that beckon them to find clues about what had happened during a most terrible time in European and World history, the World War II era.
Timothy Snyder, a well-respected historian and professor of Eastern European history and the Holocaust at Yale University, said in his recent lecture on “Ukraine, Russia and the Future of Europe” (Columbia University, April 13) that an especially significant statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin in October 2014, is troubling not only for Ukraine but for the European Union. Mr. Putin “rehabilitated” the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union at the start of WWII in 1939.
Officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the pact was signed in Moscow by Foreign Ministers Vyacheslav Molotov and Joachim Von Ribbentrop. The pact renounced warfare between the two countries and each signatory promised not to join any grouping of powers that was “directly or indirectly aimed at the other party.” The pact also contained secret protocols that divided Eastern Europe into German and Soviet “spheres of influence.”
As a result of this pact, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union had reasonably strong diplomatic relations and were important trading partners. The Soviet Union supplied oil and raw materials to Germany, while Germany provided technology to the Soviet Union. Despite the pact, the two sides remained strongly suspicious of each other’s intentions, and as they began colliding with each other in Eastern Europe it appeared that conflict was inevitable.
As Prof. Snyder indicated, by defending the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact not only is Mr. Putin rehabilitating Stalin, but he is rehabilitating Hitler and trying to rewrite history about the way the second world war began.
That is why exhibits such as the one based on Volume I, Series 1 of the Litopys UPA, Chronicles of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, are ever important. The UPA exhibit provides an extensive overview of the structure of the UPA in 1942-1943 in Volyn and Polissia. It is primary source material in which, for example, a high-ranking officer, Lt. Col. Omeliusik, describes the positive and negative aspects of the UPA situation, its organization based on international military law, orders creating rank and file, keeping military secrets, as well as tactical and officer training. The UPA’s problems – no funds, no armaments, no supplies – had to be overcome with much time spent on setting up underground headquarters and bunker sites, housing medical units and finding solutions with civilian support.
The UPA sent political information to other nations in letters stating their objectives and urging unity. Many other nationalities joined the UPA. The Ukrainians understood that by uniting with the other nations they could all fight for a common cause – freedom from Soviet domination.
It should be noted that recently the Ukrainian government officially recognized the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) as fighters for Ukraine’s independence entitled to receive the same benefits as other veterans of World War II. The new law is a direct affront to Mr. Putin’s version of world history. This recent legislation has Mr. Putin and the Kremlin activating a massive campaign to discredit the UPA and the veterans still living.
Christina Kotlar
Bob Cade shows visitors a soldier’s wallet leather-tooled with a tryzub from the 1940s – one of his extraordinary finds during 10 years of collecting UPA artifacts and memorabilia.
Having curated several UPA exhibits since my first in 2005, I can say that the highlight of this latest exhibit at the Ukrainian Cultural Center was the Cade collection that began 10 years ago, starting with one book and one calendar, and now includes a significant assembly and assortment of World War II and UPA artifacts and memorabilia. Bob and Maria Cade have spent endless hours collecting, organizing, coordinating and driving long distances to set up and show their priceless displays. After perusing the entire exhibit, many visitors – in awe of the volume of information – dove into specifics.
I am accustomed to seeing someone examine maps and printed material, intently looking for clues that might give them the answers to their quest for closure. It happens often enough that I know where someone can start finding connections by asking a for a few bits of information: name, rank, nom-de-guerre, year and territory where a family member might have passed through. It’s getting better to cross-reference with the volumes (over 100) and series (three separate series and individual biographies) coming out of the UPA’s legacy. This was their final directive as soldiers, partisans and freedom fighters during the war (which, by the way, did not end in 1945 for the UPA) and its aftermath to save their history for the world and future generations. That’s why they started publishing the Litopys UPA – Chronicles of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
Other displays came from my father’s personal archives. Julian “Levko” Kotlar was a sergeant, always on reconnaissance patrol, formidable as a soldier, partisan and a bodyguard for his commander. A dedicated veteran and active member of the Former Soldiers of the UPA, he took his oath and final directives seriously, remaining active to his dying day in organizing committees for cooperation among veterans’ groups, social services for veterans left behind in Poland and Ukraine, inaugurating an UPA memorial park section within St. Andrew Cemetery in South Bound Brook, N.J., and taking part in the planning and holding executive positions on the editorial board of the Litopys UPA Publishing House.
What these efforts by him and his fellow veterans and Ukrainian patriots show is the incredible resilience, resourcefulness and dedication UPA soldiers have in continuing their publishing despite the rapidly dwindling numbers of veterans left to combat the lies Mr. Putin and the Kremlin media machine continues to spew.
Prof. Snyder found similarities between what happened then and what is going on today and what it means for Ukraine, Russia and the future of Europe. He remarked that it wouldn’t be surprising to see a spring offensive against Mariupol and noted that Mr. Putin’s rehabilitation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact is a blatant rewriting of the history of World War II. Mr. Putin’s success will depend upon Europe’s reaction.
Prof. Snyder noted, “Whether European voters understand what is happening in the present day and what will happen in the future for the European Union remains to be seen. If it is not seen as such by the Europeans, elections and international debates on unity will be lost and, over time, the European Union will disintegrate. …What Europe is facing now is an actual live challenge on a scale of 1989. And what will be decisive: is it seen as such.”
Whereas many academics theorize differently and some media outlets still refer to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a Ukrainian civil war, the reality is that Moscow’s designs on Ukraine and its ability to spin propaganda while sending its paid provocateurs into the thick of things continue from seven decades ago. There is a rule of thumb that it takes 10 years for every one year to recover from the propaganda put out, so it will take Russia a long time to recover from Putin’s alternative reality.
In the meantime, more Litopys UPA exhibits are pivotal and needed in providing the world audience with archival documents and information untwisted and in context. There are many lessons to be learned in these uncertain times.
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For more information about having an UPA exhibit in your area, contact Christina Kotlar, curator, at [email protected].