Ukrainian Insurgent Army. “For the Freedom of Enslaved Peoples!”

Among the archival materials there is a lot of information about how representatives of different nationalities fought in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. On the one hand, this is confirmed by the NKGB- MGB operational documents mentioning the presence in UPA of separate detachments formed on a national basis, on the other hand – there are the insurgents’ leaflets calling on Uzbeks, Georgians, Armenians, Russians, Chechens, Bashkirs, other peoples of Asia and Siberia to join the ranks of the UPA and fight together against the Moscow-bolshevik and Hitler invaders.

The reports, letters, summaries, signed by chiefs of the NKGB units or commanders of Soviet partisan detachments regarding the formations of the UPA, often mention that they included separate units formed of representatives of different nationalities. Among the Intelligence’s archival documents, the first mention that the UPA Command was favorable to attracting people of other nationalities to its ranks dates back to the beginning of the summer of 1943. In particular, one of the reports of the NKGB of the USSR in this regard, points out:

“In June 1943, the UPA's Supreme Command addressed the peoples of the Caucasus, calling on them to organize national guerrilla units in agreement with the UPA to fight for “independent states of the Caucasian peoples” (the leaflet has been sent to the 4th Directorate of the NKDB of the USSR).

Commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army “Klym Savur”’s order of August 31, 1943 points out: “To contact with members of other enslaved peoples who are in Ukraine at this time. To help them organize in UPA their national insurgent units to fight our common enemies, Berlin and Moscow. Today, this struggle is aimed at weakening the imperialists, and in the future national legions will leave Ukraine for their native lands and will fight shoulder to shoulder in the revolutionary struggle against the imperialists for our free national states”. (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine, F.1, Case 7088. - V. 2. - P. 8).

Shortly after that, as shown by archival documents, such national formations began to appear in UPA. In particular, a letter, addressed to People's Commissar of the State Security of the Ukrainian SSR Serhiy Savchenko, dated December 16, 1943 and signed by Chief of the 4th Directorate of the NKGB USSR Pavel Sudoplatov, among other things, reads as follows: “Near the village Borsuky of Vyshhorod district, there is Banderites’ Hundred, formed of Uzbeks- prisoners of war. In this hundred, as well as in other units of UPA, they were recently listed for cavalry… ”(BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. - F. 1. - Case. 7088. - V. 1. - P. 102).

Scientists’ studies point out that it was the Uzbek department, established in mid -1943, that was the first National Unit of the UPA. Almost simultaneously there were formed a Georgian Kurin (Battalion- Transl.) and a hundred of Kuban Cossacks. A little later in Volyn, there was a Kurin of the Azerbaijanis. In addition to the representatives of these peoples, the French, Serbs, Croats, Magyars, Italians, and even Germans who ran from the front joined UPA and tried with the help of the insurgents to get to their homelands as soon as possible. Jewish doctors were greatly respected by the soldiers and the command staff of UPA, of which there is a lot of evidence. Besides, there are references to the fact that in the summer – autumn of 1944, units of Crimean Tatars, Kalmyks, Chechens, Georgians and Azerbaijanis went on raids to the East of Ukraine.

The paper issued by the NKGB of the Ukrainian SSR on February 19, 1944 states: “The commander of the partisan union comrade Saburov has reported that the agents as well as the testimonies of prisoners, arrested and those UPA fighters who came to our side, show that among the UPA personnel there are 40% of persons of Eastern nationalities – the Ingush, Ossetians, Circassians, Turks, Russians. Ukrainian nationalists make up the core of UPA. Among the prisoners of war of the Red Army of different nationalities, the OUN members carry out work in the direction of unification of those nationalities under the leadership of OUN ”(BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. - F. 1. - Case. 7088. - V. 1. - P. 191).

In the archive of the SZR of Ukraine, there is a document signed on March 19, 1944 by Chief of the NKGB of the USSR Pavel Sudoplatov, which points out: “As part of UPA, there was a group of Magyars – about 100 – people who escaped the Red Army’s captivity. Some of those Magyars are wearing the officers’ uniform of the Hungarian army. This circumstance is probably used to spread rumors about the visit of representatives of England and America to the UPA headquarters in December 1943 under the guise of Hungarians” (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. - F. 1. - Case. 7088. - V. 1. - P. 212).

The presence of so many representatives of other peoples in UPA was the impetus for the first Conference of Enslaved Peoples of Eastern Europe and Asia. It took place on November 21-22, 1943 in the village of Buderazh, Zdolbuniv district in Rivne region. There is a report on the event in the Intelligence archive, which states that 39 delegates of 13 nationalities took part in the Conference: 6 Georgians, 6 Azerbaijanis, 5 Uzbeks, 5 Ukrainians, 4 Armenians, 4 Tatars, 2 Belarusians, 2 Ossetians, 1 Kazakh, 1 Circassian, 1 Kabardin, 1 Chuvash, 1 Bashkir.

First of all the participants honored the memory of the fighters of all enslaved peoples who died in the struggle for national independence with a minute of scilence. Then there was a number of speeches and discussions of the political situation, tasks and practical goals of enslaved peoples. “In the discussion of speeches”, the report said, “besides Ukrainian delegates, especially actively participated delegates from Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Kazakhs, Uzbeks, Tatars, who expressed deep anger and protest of their peoples against unprecedented physical terror, cultural and national oppression, and also against economic exploitation by the Moscow-Bolshevik imperialism… ”. In the end, all participants agreed on the need to create a joint front for “struggle for national liberation from the Stalin and Hitler oppression” (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine, F.1, Case 7088, V.1, P.359- 360).

On the eve of the Conference of Enslaved Peoples of Eastern Europe and Asia, as well as after it, the insurgents’ Provid (Leadership- Transl.) prepaired and printed a series of leaflets. In the archive of the SZR of Ukraine a number of such leaflets were found, which at one time fell into the hands of members of the intelligence groups of Soviet bodies of state security and partisan units, which operated in the rear of the enemy and gathered information about the situation in the occupied territories. They were addressed to representatives of certain nationalities: “Russians!”, “Armenians and other peoples of the Caucasus!”, “Georgians!”, “Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Turkmen, Tajiks, Bashkirs, Tatars, peoples of the Urals, Volga and Siberia, peoples of Asia!” “Uzbek askers!”, “Sons of Turkmenistan!”, “Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Udmurts!”, “Tatars of the Volga!”, “Circassians, Kabardins, Ossetians, Chechens, Adiges, Lezgins, Ingushes!”, “Don Cossacks!”, “Belarusian people!”, etc. And later, in 1945-1946, there were leaflets with appeals to the peoples of Europe – “Poles!”, “Czechs! Slovaks! Soldiers!”

The authors of the leaflets found special words to representative of each people, taking into consideration historical peculiarities of their development, trying to remind of the tragic pages of the past, to touch on the living, to reach the heart, to make them realize the need to fight the oppressors.

The texts were usually in Russian, but later they began to be translated into the languages ​​of those who were addressed. For example, the appeal to the peoples of Central Asia and Siberia reads as follows: “The war, in which Moscow involved you, is for imperialists’ interests. Moscow and Berlin argue among themselves about who of them should rob you. For centuries, imperialist Moscow had been robbing you of your bread, your iron, your coal, your cattle, your cotton, and during the war took blood tax from you: sending your sons and fathers to the front... ”(BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. - F. 1. - Case. 7088. - V. 2. - P. 180).

And the Georgians were addressed with the following words: “Georgians! The descendants of the heroic people of the Caucasus! For centuries, you courageously fought Turkish and Russian invaders. You suffered bloody sacrifices, defending your freedom and your own state... The Ukrainian people is your faithful ally in the struggle against imperialists. We are fighting for an independent Ukrainian state, as you are for your independent Georgia. We invite you to struggle together against common enemies...”(BSA of the SZR of Ukraine. - F. 1. - Case. 7088. - V. 1. - P. 47-47).

Special words were found for the Russians as well: “Today, the Russian people found themselves at the crossroads. Where to go? Where to look for solutions to the national question? To return to the form of old tsarist Russia? Impossible! Wheels of history do not turn back! To support a bankrupt communism? This will not lead anywhere either! Among the masses, the idea of ​​communism has died... Only friendly harmonious coexistence of independent states will stop imperialist bloodshed and create conditions for peaceful economic progress. Only in such conditions , is possible the revival of the Russian national spirit of the state. All imperialists’ attempts will shatter against the rock of the resistance of neighboring peoples, attract other imperialisms to the Russian ethnographic territory and will end in a bloody massacre like the one we are experiencing”, (BSA of the SZR of Ukraine, F.1, Case 7088, V.1, P. 45-45).

This leaflet has neither insults, nor threats, nor superiority. Not a single bad word to the Russians. This is despite the fact that during the war it was possible to immediately take revenge on the people-opressors, one of which Ukrainian nationalists considered the Russian people. Moreover, the UPA Command strongly abandoned the pronounced anti -Russian policy. On the contrary, it used the slightest chance to attract Russians, who were not happy with the Soviet authorities, let alone with a new order of German invaders. At this, the authors of this and other leaflets were constantly appealing to patriotism and feelings of national dignity in the fight against a common enemy-Hitler and Moscow-Bolshevik imperialism.

In leaflets, along with the slogans of the struggle for an independent Ukrainian state and the construction of other national states in the lands of the USSR, according to archival documents, a certain place was given to other topical problems – the life of workers under Soviet and German occupation, the issue of land after restoration of independence, protection of people’s rights, establishing an 8-hour working day, fair pay, free choice of profession and place of work, freedom of trade unions, elimination of Stakhanov’s movement and socialist competitions, etc. In this way, the UPA leaflets played the role of a great supplement to other types of agitation and propaganda activity of Ukrainian insurgents.