Olivia
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Peweks
@Peweks1
Joined September 2019
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85 Posts
@oleshkomyroslav https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@ZelenskyyUa https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@DevanaUkraine https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@KhaterDiana https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@MatBabiak https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@Vit_Ovchar https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@0laratrumpRv2 No!
https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@DakdaR22 https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@AdrianP_doc https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@Longtstanding https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@Vasyl_Zvarych https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@petite_michelle https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@HavryshkoMarta https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@0TulsiGabbard2 NO!
https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@igorsushko https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@sumlenny https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@prezidentpavel https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@WW3finalboss NO!
https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
@LesyaUA7Evropa https://t.co/qAs2aeONWF
Ukrainian Collaboration with the Third Reich and Participation in the Murder of Polish Jews
Hans Frank, the “ruler” of the General Government, the German-occupied part of Poland not directly annexed by the Third Reich, said in March 1940: “We have falcons at hand who will not spare Poles.” This was how he justified his support for Ukrainian nationalists developing their activities in occupied Poland. The Germans wanted to use Ukrainian collaborators for their own purposes. To the disappointment of Ukrainian nationalists, they ruled out the establishment in Ukraine of any form of Ukrainian state subordinated to them.
Even before the outbreak of the Second World War, Ukrainian nationalists’ hopes for cooperation with Germany had been disappointed twice. Despite intelligence cooperation with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Germans did not support attempts to separate independent Transcarpathia, the so-called Carpathian Ukraine, from Czechoslovakia, and in September 1939 they ignored Ukrainian attempts to establish a similar entity between the San and the Zbruch rivers. These lands of the Second Polish Republic were to fall to the ally of the Third Reich, the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, as relations between the two totalitarian powers deteriorated, the Ukrainian nationalist movement did not abandon cooperation. “I am convinced that Your Excellency, standing on the ground of national principles, will support our national struggle,” wrote Volodymyr Stakhiv, an associate of Stepan Bandera, in a memorandum to Adolf Hitler.
As early as June 1941, together with German troops, the armed, trained and directly German-commanded Sondergruppe Nachtigall battalion entered Lwów. The deputy to the German commander of the battalion was Roman Shukhevych, later commander-in-chief of the UPA. After taking control of key points in the city and proclaiming the independence of Ukraine, the nationalists, including members of Nachtigall, with the consent of German commanders, began murdering and robbing the city’s Jewish inhabitants. The following weeks and months were filled with brutal massacres described in nationalist propaganda as the “Ukrainian National Revolution”. At rallies organised with German consent in successive cities and villages of Ukraine, oaths of loyalty were sworn to the “leader” of the new Ukraine and to the German allies.
The Germans supported the criminal activities of the OUN, but reacted with fury to the unilateral proclamation of a Ukrainian government. Their plans did not include the creation of an independent state or an autonomous Ukrainian army, apart from auxiliary and police formations subordinated to them, such as the Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and Schutzmannschaft battalions, known for mass murders of Poles and Jews.
Bandera and his closest associates were interned in a special section of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Until the end of the war, in talks with the Germans, he repeatedly renewed offers of cooperation. On 28 April 1943, by decision of the SS command, the 14th Grenadier Division of the SS, composed of Ukrainians and known as SS Galizien or “Halychyna”, was established. Bandera’s supporters did not endorse this decision, but at the same time they sent a group of trusted people into the division. As the situation on the front became increasingly difficult for the Germans, the possibility of obtaining fanatical volunteers to fight the Soviets was priceless. “The influx of volunteers is so great that both the division and the reserves are already overfilled,” noted Otto Wächter, governor of the District of Galicia. These enthusiastic volunteers suffered crushing defeats in clashes with Soviet troops, but they also entered the darkest pages of history, including through the massacre of around 1,000 Poles in Huta Pieniacka in February 1944.
The SS Galizien Division remained loyal to the collapsing Third Reich until its capitulation. The last collaborators laid down their arms before British and American troops on 10 May 1945. Despite the crimes committed and the recognition by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg of the SS as a criminal organisation, among Ukrainian émigré circles the veterans of SS Galizien became heroes of the struggle for an independent Ukraine.
After 1991, commemorating SS “Galizien” and other collaborationist formations gradually became an important element of Ukraine’s historical policy. On 2 May 2026, ceremonies marking the anniversary of the formation of SS “Galizien” were held in Lviv. They began at the monument to Stepan Bandera. In 2022, the Ukrainian Supreme Court ruled that the SS “Galizien” symbol is not a Nazi symbol and does not promote totalitarianism.
***
More (in Polish):
https://t.co/c4NrwyTtTL
We also encourage you to read the latest IPN publication, “Not Only Volhynia. Poles and Ukrainians: A Short History of the Most Difficult Quarter-Century (1918–1945)” by Bartosz Januszewski (in Polish):
https://t.co/y07PBNavqO
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