Belarus declassified KGB archives on UPA crimes

The state security archive about the atrocities of Ukrainian nationalists and the punitive police battalions formed from them has been declassified. From January 1943 to July 1951, that is, even after the Victory, there were hundreds of facts of terror, political massacres and killings of civilians. In total, the underground formations of the OUN / UPA on the territory of Belarus by the summer of 1944 numbered 14 thousand people.

The most inhuman atrocities are on the conscience of the punishers of the 118th, and a little later - the 63rd police battalion, formed by the Nazis in Kyiv. The commander is a former Petliurite Smovsky. Chief of Staff - Vasyura.

Here are the protocols of the interrogation of a certain Stepan Sakhno, a resident of Kiev. He tells in detail about the punitive operation in Khatyn. About how they pushed people into the barn. About how they burned. Alive. 149 people were shot and burned alive, including 43 women and 79 children.

Dressed in Soviet uniforms, Bandera massacred civilians.

A very remarkable document of the “Electronic Archive of Ukrainian Vizvolny Rukh” from the archive of Stephan Bandera's deputy during his stay in Zellenbau, one of the founders of the UPA, a staff member of the CIA and the creator of its “under-roof ” organization “Prologue” – Mykola Lebed. Here the myth of disguised NKVD members is documented. Everything was, as the Bandera document tests, exactly the opposite. Members of the UPA, dressed in Soviet military or police uniforms, terrorized the civilian population in order to intimidate the Soviet authorities.

Let me also remind you of Soviet archival documents confirming these terrible facts: With the advance of the front deep into the territory of Ukraine, the commanders of units and formations of the Red Army began to receive reports that the nationalist gangs operating in the regions of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR often resorted to disguise and attacked villages under the guise of Soviet partisan detachments. (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.930, l.11-22.) The same information was confirmed by the partisans themselves.

Moreover, as the commander of the Rivne partisan unit No. 1 V. Begma reported, there are a number of cases when

Nationalists, under the guise of partisans, receive arms and ammunition from Red Army units in order to help.

“The Red Army quite willingly helps partisan detachments,” he wrote in a report on February 5, 1944, “but some unit commanders have not yet understood this provocation carried out by the nationalists.” (TsGAOOOU, f. 62, op. 1, d. 1517, l. 127.) Such provocations deceived not only the Red Army soldiers, who mistook Bandera for their own, but, most importantly, the local population. For example, in February 1943, a detachment of Bandera, disguised as Soviet partisans, thus misled the inhabitants of the village of Parosloye, Sarnensky district, Rivne region, who treated the gang all day, and in the evening, Bandera massacred.

In total, 173 people were killed, only two villagers, who were littered with corpses, and a 6-year-old boy managed to escape.

Later inspection showed the exceptional cruelty with which the massacre was committed. Several people were skinned, women were raped, and then their breasts, noses, ears were cut off, their eyes were gouged out, and their heads were cut off. Then the “fighters for independence” had a drinking party in the house of the local headman. After the gang left, among the bottles of moonshine and food leftovers scattered on the table, a 12-month-old baby was found nailed to the table with a knife, in whose mouth a half-eaten pickled cucumber stub stuck out. (Jozef Turowski and Wladystaw Siemiaszko: "Zbrodnie nacjonalistow ukrainskich dokonane na ludnosci polskiej na Wolyniu 1939-1945". - Warsaw, 1990, p. 22) These data of Polish historians are also confirmed by the Soviet side.

As the commander of the 13th Army, Lieutenant-General NP Pukhov, reported on February 13, 1944, “the population of almost all villages is very frightened by the actions of the“ Banderists ”, who often commit their crimes under the guise of Soviet partisans. Therefore, in a conversation with us, they are reluctant to give evidence, they often confuse it with partisans, declaring that both of them are robbing.” (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, file 930, l.32-38.)

However, the matter was not limited to provocative "dressing up" in Soviet partisans. With the arrival of the Red Army on the territory of Western Ukraine, the reports of the army command increasingly began to record cases when Bandera not only attacked small detachments of Red Army soldiers and single soldiers who had fallen behind their units on the march, but also removed clothes from the dead, took away orders and medals.

The commander of the 1st Guards Tank Army, Colonel-General ME Katukov, wrote about this in his memoirs:

They roamed under the guise of ordinary peasants, so it was difficult to figure out who they were.

They attacked individual soldiers. They killed, took away weapons, uniforms, documents.” (Katukov ME At the tip of the main blow. - M .: Military Publishing House, 1974, p. 312)

It is worth adding that this trend continued after the end of the war. As reported on December 28, 1945 by Major General LI Brezhnev, then the head of the political department of the Carpathian military district, “most cases of attacks by bandits were committed precisely on single military personnel during their movement through villages, deserted roads or at night in villages in apartments. Many of the attacks were committed by bandits in November. Using the element of surprise and superiority in forces - the attack of several on one - the bandits were successful. The purpose of many of these attacks is to obtain weapons, uniforms, documents, orders, etc...

At 24.00 on November 29, in the village of Zalesye, Snyatinsky district, a group of bandits suddenly attacked Corporal Kuprikhin from 88 ODEB. The bandits with fire from 3 machine guns seriously wounded Kuprikhin, took off his tunic, took away the medal "For Military Merit", the guards badge and the machine gun. The seriously wounded Kuprikhin could not resist ...

November 13 in the center of the village. Potsikuv lieutenant Kozyrev, privates Nikitin and Karpunin from the 223rd anti-aircraft artillery regiment were fired upon from behind the fence with automatic fire. The bandits killed Lieutenant Kozyrev and Private Nikitin. ... It turned out that the bandits took off their uniforms from Lieutenant Kozyrev, took a pistol and documents, and took off his overcoat and boots from the Red Army soldier Nikitin ...

Junior lieutenant Fateev and foreman Karev guarded the subsidiary farm of the 295 joint venture in the village of Visnevets. The company commander sent them to the neighboring village of Maidan Sredny, 1.5 km from the village of Visnevtse, to get a blacksmith. On their way back, Fateev and Karev were suddenly fired upon on the outskirts of the village. The bandits killed Fateev and severely wounded Karev. Somehow, crawling, he reached the company. 2 mobile groups left for the scene. They established that the bandits brutally mutilated Lieutenant Fateev, took off his uniform, took away his machine gun and revolver ...

On November 7, privates Vychelat and Bulyagin from the 565th joint venture were returning from a business trip and, on the orders of Lieutenant Belyaev, went to the village of Delyatyn for hay for horses. Both went to the house of a local resident Gulyak, who promised to sell hay. A group of bandits up to 15 people attacked this house and killed both privates, the mistress of the house and her 14-year-old daughter. The surviving second 17-year-old daughter of a citizen Gulyak said that one of the privates was first wounded and then shot by bandits. The bandits took documents from the dead, 3 medals "For Courage" and 2 carbines ...

Near the village of Dobromysl on November 21 at 16:00, the gang attacked a group of fighters from the 142nd separate cable pole communication battalion. The bandits killed Private Ulyanovsky and wounded Corporal Mochanov, took away a wagon, a carbine with 90 rounds of ammunition, orders and documents of the dead man and took away his corpse.

And then Leonid Ilyich drew attention to one rather characteristic detail: “In the liquidated gangs, some of the bandits turned out to be in the form of Red Army soldiers, with orders and medals ... Among those killed, 1 bandit was in the form of a major of the Red Army with the Order of Glory 3rd degree. Another bandit is in the form of a senior lieutenant of the Red Army, dressed in uniform and with orders belonging to the missing person on November 7 this year. to the commander of the battery 465 joint venture, lieutenant Filippov ... ”(TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.2958, l.1-20.)

A month later, in his other report, Brezhnev again returned to the issue of theft of uniforms and awards: “A number of new attacks on single soldiers, officers, Soviet and party assets have been registered. In the village of Khomchin - 18 km south of the city of Kolomyia - on January 10, bandits killed the Kosovo district military commissar captain Zakharov and the head of the 3rd part of this RVC Akulov. The bandits robbed the killed officers, taking away their weapons, documents and clothes. The garrison of the village of Podpechery under the command of the chief captain Chertenkov, combing the village, entered into battle with the gang. 3 bandits were killed in the battle. Among them is the bandit Stage Mikhail Dmitrievich - the district leader, nicknamed "Yura".According to the documents found on him, it was established that he once killed the deputy head of the political department of the 38th Army, Colonel Golubev. A party card in the name of Irina Dmitrievna Titarchuk, a candidate card in the name of Surik Oganesyan, 12 Komsomol tickets, more than 100 Red Army books, the Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, 2 Orders of Glory of the 3rd degree, the medal "For Courage", 2 medals "For Military Merit" and a medal "For the Victory over Germany". (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.2958, l.21-30.) For their part, the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the NKVD department of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR reported that during operations to eliminaters, incl.Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, 2 Orders of Glory of the 3rd degree, a medal "For Courage", 2 medals "For Military Merit" and a medal "For the Victory over Germany". (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.2958, l.21-30.) For their part, the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the NKVD department of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR reported that during operations to eliminaters, incl. Order of the Patriotic War of the 2nd degree, 2 Orders of Glory of the 3rd degree, a medal "For Courage", 2 medals "For Military Merit" and a medal "For the Victory over Germany".(TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.2958, l.21-30.) For their part, the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 1st Ukrainian Front and the NKVD department of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR reported that during operations to eliminaters, incl.

For example, during the liquidation of the OUN conductor of the Carpathian region Y. Melnyk - "Robert" on November 1, 1946, in his cache on Mount Yavorina, Bolekhovsky district, Stanislav region, security officers found 28 orders and medals of the USSR , 11 party cards, 9 candidate cards, 30 Komsomol tickets , 180 military tickets, 55 Red Army books, 78 Soviet passports and other documents. (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.2961, l.139-143.) Why did the Banderaites need so many Soviet military uniforms and orders? The answer came very soon.

From the message of the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

February 15, 1944 near the village of Mikulino, 16 km from the mountains. Exactly, an active bandit group, dressed in the uniform of military personnel, was established, which kidnapped a fighter of the sapper battalion 121 GGSD Koftun and took him away in an unknown direction. (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.930, l.56.) From the report of the Volyn regional committee of the Communist Party (b)U (March 1944). In the village of Silno, Tsumansky district, a gang of 30 people appeared. in the form of Soviet military personnel, who left an order in the village council on behalf of the "Revolutionary Tribunal", forbidding to be registered and threatening with reprisals to "As a traitor to the Motherland." Also, they pasted the orders on the buildings of the village.(TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.930, l.133-137.)

From the report of the Rivne regional committee of the CP (b) U (April 1944).

On the night of April 10, a group of people in military uniform, armed with machine guns, grenades and rifles, raided the village council of the village of Plosky, Rivne region. During the raid, lists and inventories of the property of farms, monetary documents and receipts for settlements with peasants on state deliveries, as well as 1,753 rubles of money intended for payment for handed over bread and other products on state deliveries, were taken away. (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.890, l.41-46.)

From the report of the Ternopil regional committee of the CP (b) U (April 1944).

On April 13, 1944, a bandit group of 15 people, armed with rifles and a machine gun, dressed in the uniform of the Red Army, appeared in the village of Snegirevka, Vishnevetsky district, Ternopil region, killed the chairman of the village council and massacred his entire family. And on April 26, the Morozenko bandits arrived in the village of Kotlyarovskoye, Pederkalsky District, took the chairman and secretary of the village council and hanged them in the forest because they did not comply with the order of the Morozenko bandits to mobilize the inhabitants of the village of Kotlyarevskoye in the UPA. (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, d.930, l.190-198.)

From the message of the SMERSH counterintelligence department of the 1st Ukrainian Front.

11/10/1944 in the village. Kolovert Rivne region was killed by the deputy chairman of the village council Veremko Vasily Nikolaevich under the following circumstances. At night, two unidentified men dressed in the uniform of the Red Army soldiers entered Veremko's apartment; having shown him documents that they were employees of the SMERSH counterintelligence department, they demanded that he put at their disposal two double-horse carts. During the conversation, the bandits offered Veremko to help them in identifying Bandera. Having received his consent, they took Veremko to the outskirts of the village and killed him there, leaving a note with the following content: “Attention!Such a punishment will befall every lieutenant, informer and agent of the NKVD, who, with his vile work, will harm the Ukrainian nationalist revolution. (TsGAOOOU, f.1, op.23, file 930, l.166-170.)

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