Roman Shukhevych
Encyclopedia
Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych ' onMouseout='HidePop("67948")' href="/topics/Pseudonym">pseudonym
Taras Chuprynka; June 30, 1907 — March 5, 1950) was a Ukrainian
politician and military leader, the general of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
, in Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
which is located today between Lviv
and the Ukrainian-Polish border. Both parents were involved with the Ukrainian national revival in the 19th century. The family lays claim to dozens of active community activists in politics, music, science and art. Shukhevych received his early education outside of Lviv. He returned to Lviv to study at the Gymnasium there living with his grandfather, an ethnographer. His political formation was influenced by Yevhen Konovaletz - the commander of the Ukrainian Military Organization
who rented out a room in his father's house from 1921-22.
organization Plast
. Was a member of Lisovi Chorty. He organized Plast groups and founded the "Chornomortsi" (Black Sea Cossacks) kurin in 1927.
.
UVO
. In 1926, Shukhevych was ordered to assassinate the Lviv
school superintendent, Stanisław Sobiński, accused of "Polonizing" the Ukrainian education system. The assassination was carried out by Roman Shukhevych and Bohdan Pidhainy on October 19, 1926. In February 1929, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
was founded in Vienna
. Shukhevych under the name "Dzvin" (Bell) became a representative of the Ukrainian Executive.
Shukhevych was a leader of a wave of attacks against Polish property and homes in Galicia in 1930 intended to provoke Polish authorities into retaliation and radicalise Ukrainian society. The Polish administration retaliated with a process of "pacification
" which intensified anti-Polish sentiment and increased Ukrainian nationalism
.
Shukhevych continued to plan and also participate in terrorist activities and assassinations (sometimes claimed by Ukrainian Nationalists to be acts of protest against anti-Ukrainian policies). These included:
Shukhevych, Stepan Bandera
, Stepan Lenkavsky, Yaroslav Stetsko
, Yaroslav Starukh and others developed the concept of "permanent revolution". According to their thesis the Ukrainian people being exploited by an occupier could only obtain freedom through continued pressure on the enemy. As a result the OUN took on the responsibility of preparing for an All-Ukrainian revolt. Shukhevych propagated the ideas that the revolution was an uncompromising conflict in order to permanently defeat the foe.
Shukhevych took an active part in developing a concept regarding the formation of a Ukrainian army. At that time two diametrically opposed arguments existed. The first was to form a Ukrainian army in the Ukrainian emigration, the second, a national army to be formed in Western Ukraine organized by Ukrainians.
During the Warsaw process against the OUN (November 18, 1935 - January 13, 1936) he was called as a witness. Shukhevych stood by his right to speak in Ukrainian for which he was fined 200 zloty. After greeting the court with the call "Glory to Ukraine" was once again interred.
From January 19, 1935 Shukhevych was confined to the Bryhidka jail in Lviv. He was incriminated for his membership in the Regional executive of the OUN. The lawyer in the process was his uncle: Stepan Shukhevych
. Shukhevych was sentenced to 3 years in jail, however, because of the 1935 amnesty he was released from jail after spending half a year in the Bereza Kartuska Concentration Camp and two years in prison.
After being released in 1937, Shukhevych set up an advertising cooperative in March called "Fama" which became a front for the activities of the OUN. Soon outlets were set up throughout Galicia, Volyn and within Poland itself. The workers of the company were members of the OUN, often recently released political prisoners. The company was very successful and had sections working with the press and film, publishing booklets, printing posters, selling mineral water, compiling address listings and also opened its own transportation section.
gained autonomy within the Czecho-Slovak state. Shukhevych organized financial aid for the government of the fledgling republic and sent OUN members to set up the Carpathian Sich
.
In December 1938, he illegally crossed the border from Poland into Czechoslovakia
, traveling to the Ukrainian city of Khust
. There, with the aid of local OUN members and German intelligence
, he set up the General headquarters for the fight against the Czecho-Slovak central government.
Moreover, in the January 1939 the OUN decided to throw off the autonomous government, which seemed too much pro-Czechoslovak to them. The coup d'état
attempt occurred in the night of March 13.-14., in the relation to the proclamation of Slovak independence, managed by Germany. With help of sympathizers among the police the insurgents led by Shukhevych gained the weapons of the gendarmerie
, but their assaults on garrison
s of Czechslovak army failed. Just in the Khust
11 OUN fighters were killed and 51 captured. However, after the Slovak proclamation of independence on March 14 and Nazi's seizure of Czech lands
on March 15, Carpatho-Ukraine was immediately invaded and annexed by Hungary
. Shukhevych took an active part in the short-term armed conflict with Hungarian forces and was almost killed in one of the actions.
After the occupation of Carpathian Ukraine by Hungary was done, Shukhevych traveled through Romania and Yugoslavia to Austria, where he consulted with OUN commanders and was given new orders and sent to Danzig to carry out subversive activities.
with his family where he acted as the contact for the Ukrainian Nationalist Command directed by Andriy Melnyk
. He organized the illegal transportation of documents and materials across the Soviet-German border and collected information about OUN activities in Ukraine.
The new political realities required new forms of activity. The Command of the Ukrainian Nationalists could not come to a unified agreement regarding tactics. As a result on February 10, 1940 the organization in Kraków split into two factions - one led by Stepan Bandera
and the other by Andriy Melnyk
. Shukhevych became a member the Revolutionary Command of the OUN headed by Bandera, taking charge of the section dealing with territories claimed by the Ukrainians, which after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
had been seized by Germany (Pidliashshia, Kholm, Nadsiania and Lemkivshchyna
).
A powerful web was formed for the preparation of underground activities in Ukraine. Paramilitary training courses were set up. Military cadres were prepared which were to command a future Ukrainian army. Shukhevych prepared the II Great congress of the OUN which took place in April 1941.
held meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "Nachtigall
" and "Roland
" Battalions. February 25, 1941 head of the Abwehr
Wilhelm Franz Canaris sanctioned the creation of the "Ukrainian Legion" under German command. The unit would have had 800 persons. Shukhevych became a commander of the Legion from the OUN-B side. OUN expected that the unit would become the core of the future Ukrainian army. In the spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities against the USSR. In the spring of 1941 the Legion was reorganized into 3 units. One of the units became known as Nachtigall Battalion
, a second became the Roland Battalion
, a third was inmmidiately dispatched into Soviet Union for sabotage of Red Army's rear.
After intensive training the battalion traveled to Riashiv on June 18, and entered Lviv on June 29 ., where the Act for establishment of the Ukrainian Statehood was proclaimed. The German administration however did not support this act.
At same time it's estimated that in June–July 1941 over 4,000 Jews were murdered in pogrom
s in Lviv
and other cities in Western Ukraine. There is controversy regarding the participation of the Nachtigall Battalion
and Roman Shukhevych in these atrocities, as well as in the Massacre of Lviv professors.
The first company
of the unit remained in Lviv for only 7 days, while the remainder of the unit joined later during their eastward march towards Zolochiv
, Ternopil
and Vinnytsia
.
There are claims that the soldiers of Nachtigall participated in the killing of Jews. During the march at three villages of the Vinnytsia
region, Jews were said to have been shot en masse.
The German refusal to accept the OUN-B’s June 30 proclamation of Ukrainian independence in Lviv led to a change of the Nachtigall battalion direction. As the result, Shukhevych together with the battalion was recalled to Germany.
. It numbered 650 persons who were given individual contracts that required the combatants to serve for one additional year.
Roman Shukhevych’s title was that of Hauptmann
of the first company and the deputy commander of the Battalion, which was commanded by Yevhen Pobihushchyi.
On March 19, 1942 the Battalion arrived in Belarus
where it served in the triangle between Mahiliou-Vitsebsk-Lepel. With the expiration of the one year contract all the Ukrainian soldiers refused to renew their services. On January 6, 1943 they were sent to Lviv where they arrived January 8. Roman Shukhevych escaped from arrest by the Gestapo
.
Polish-German historian and Holocaust expert Frank Golczewski from the University of Hamburg
describes the activities of 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion at Belarus as “fighting partisans and killing Jews". John Paul Himka, a specialist in Ukrainian history during World War II, notes that although units such as the 201st Battalion were routinely used to fight partisans and kill Jews, noone has studied the specific activities of the 201st battalion from this perspective and this ought to be a subject for further study.
More than 2,000 of partisans were killed by battalion personnel during its stay in Belarus.
, and in early 1944, these campaigns began to include Eastern Galicia. It is alleged that up to 100,000 Polish civilians were murdered, by Ukrainian groups, including the OUN-Bandera, led by Mykola Lebed
and then Shukhevych. Shukhevych commanded the UPA during the time when some of those massacres occurred. In August 1943, during III OUN Convention Shukhevych accepted "Volhynia stategy" (ethnic cleansing) against Poles realized by Dmytro Klyachkivsky. As the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army he continued anti-Polish action in Eastern Lesser Poland
(Eastern Galicia). In April 1944, main Command of UIA ordered massive ethnic cleansing of Poles from Galicia.
Under Shukhevych's leadership the evolution of the program for which the OUN fought was further refined. Its core tenets were:
The Insurgent Army was joined by various people from the Caucasus and Central Asia who had fought in German formations. The rise of non-Ukrainians in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army gave stimulus to the special conference for Captive Nations of Europe and Asia which took place November 21–22, 1943 in Buderazh, not far from Rivne
. The agenda included the formation of a unified plan for the attack against occupational forces.
During the period of German occupation Shukhevych spent most of his time fighting in the forests, and from August 1944 under the Soviet occupation living in various villages in Western Ukraine. In order to unite all Ukrainian national forces to fight for Ukrainian independence Shukhevych organized a meeting between all the Ukrainian political parties. As a result the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council
(UHVR) was formed.
.
's Bryhidka Prison, just before the German occupation of Lviv. His mother Yevhenia and his wife, Nataliya Berezynska, were exiled to Siberia
. His son Yuri Shukhevych and daughter Mariyka were placed in an orphanage
. In September 1972, Yuri was sentenced to ten years camp imprisonment and another five years exile after already having spent 20 years in Soviet camps.
According to NKVD
officers' memoirs, Roman Shukhevych's body was transported out of Ukraine, burned, and the ashes scattered. This was done on the left bank of the Zbruch River
. The unburned remains were thrown into the Zbruch, where a commemorative stone cross was erected in 2003.
According to Yuri Shukhevych, at the beginning of the World War II
their family lived in Lviv on Queen Yadvyga Street, where their neighbors, Wolf and Ruzha Reichenberg owned a textile shop. The elder daughter, Irma Reichenberg, was shot by the Nazis in the street in 1942. Her younger sister Irene lived with Shukhevych family for a certain period of time while preparing for school.
Roman Shukhevych used his connections to provide the girl with new documents in the Ukrainian name of Iryna Vasylivna Ryzhko. Girl's actual birth year was changed from 1936 to 1937.
In her new documents "Iryna" was listed as the daughter of a Red Army
officer killed early in the war.
After the arrest of Natalia Shukhevych in 1943 by the Gestapo
, Roman Shukhevych took Irene to the orphan shelter at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Convent of Vasilianky in the village of Phylypove, near the township of Kulykiv in 30 kilometres from Lviv, where Irene remained until the end of the World War II
surviving German occupation and Holocaust. In 1956 Irene sent a letter with her picture to the prioress of the monastery.
After the war Irene remained in Ukraine and died in 2007 in Kiev, aged 72. Her son Vladimir lives in Kiev. Yuri Shukhevych met with him after his mothers death. The Reichenberg family is mentioned in the list of victims of the Nazis at the Yad Vashem
memorial in Israel.
According to Ukrainian historian and former UPA soldier Lev Shankovsky, immediately upon assuming the position of commander of UPA Shukhevych issued an order banning participation in anti-Jewish activities. No written record of this order, however, has been found.
On Shukhevych's birthdays remembrance mass meetings take place in various Ukrainian cities.
He was portrayed by Ukrainian-Canadian actor Hryhoriy Hladiy
in the Ukrainian film Neskorenyi (The Undefeated
).
On October 23, 2001 the Lviv Historic Museum converted the house in which Shukhevych was killed into a memorial museum.
Postage stamps and coins have been minted in his honour of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Posthumously, he was awarded the UPA's highest decorations: the Gold Cross of Combat Merit First Class and the Cross of Merit in gold.
by President
Viktor Yushchenko
on October 12, 2007. On February 12, 2009, an administrative Donetsk
region court ruled the Presidential decree awarding the title to be legal after a lawyer had claimed that his rights as a citizen were violated because Shukhevych was never a citizen of Ukraine
.
President
Viktor Yanukovych
stated on March 5, 2010 he would make a decision to repeal the decrees to honor the title as Heroes of Ukraine
to Shukhevych and fellow nationalist Stepan Bandera
before the next Victory Day. Although the Hero of Ukraine decrees do not stipulate the possibility that a decree on awarding this title can be annulled. On April 21, 2010, Donetsk Administrative Court of Appeals has declared unlawful former Ukrainian President
Viktor Yuschenko's decree of October 12, 2007 to award the Hero of Ukraine
title to Roman Shukhevych. The court ruled that the former President
had had no right to confer this title to Shukhevych, because Shukhevych had died in 1950 and therefore he had not lived on the territory of independent Ukraine
(after 1991). Consequently, Shukhevych was not a Ukrainian
citizen
, and this title could not be awarded to him. On August 12, 2010 the High Administrative Court of Ukraine dismissed suits to declare four decrees by President Viktor Yanukovych
on awarding the Hero of Ukraine title to Soviet soldiers
illegal and cancel them. The filer of these suit stated they were based on the same arguments used by Donetsk Administrative Court of Appeals that on April 21 satisfied an appeal that deprived Roman Shukhevych the Hero of Ukraine title, as Shukhevych was not a citizen of Ukraine. The title however was not rescinded, pending an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine which set aside all previous court decisions on February 17, 2011.
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Taras Chuprynka; June 30, 1907 — March 5, 1950) was a Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
politician and military leader, the general of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
Childhood
Roman Taras Yosypovych Shukhevych was born in the city of Krakovets, Jaworow powiatKrakovets
Krakovets is a town in Lviv Oblast in western Ukraine. It is the birthplace of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army general Roman Shukhevych.A border crossing into Poland is located at Krakovets. The town across the border in Poland is Korczowa....
, in Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
which is located today between Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
and the Ukrainian-Polish border. Both parents were involved with the Ukrainian national revival in the 19th century. The family lays claim to dozens of active community activists in politics, music, science and art. Shukhevych received his early education outside of Lviv. He returned to Lviv to study at the Gymnasium there living with his grandfather, an ethnographer. His political formation was influenced by Yevhen Konovaletz - the commander of the Ukrainian Military Organization
Ukrainian Military Organization
The Ukrainian Military Organization was a Ukrainian resistance and sabotage movement active in Poland's Eastern Lesser Poland during the years between the world wars...
who rented out a room in his father's house from 1921-22.
Youth
In October 1926, Shukhevych entered the Lviv Politechnic Institute to study civil engineering. In July 1934 he completed his studies with an engineering degree. At this time he was known for his athletic abilities for which he won numerous awards. He was also an accomplished musician and with his brother Yuriy completed studies in piano and voice at the Lysenko Music Institute. He sang solo on occasions with his brother in the Lviv opera.Scouting
During his student years in the Gymnasium, Roman became an active member of the Ukrainian ScoutingScouting
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth movement with the stated aim of supporting young people in their physical, mental and spiritual development, that they may play constructive roles in society....
organization Plast
Plast
The Plast National Scout Organization of Ukraine commonly called Ukrainian Plast or simply Plast is the largest Scouting organization in Ukraine.-First Phase: 1911-1920:...
. Was a member of Lisovi Chorty. He organized Plast groups and founded the "Chornomortsi" (Black Sea Cossacks) kurin in 1927.
Military training
From 1928-1929, Roman did his military service in the Polish Army. As a tertiary student, he was sent automatically for officer training, however he was deemed unreliable, and completed his military service as a private in the artillery in VolhyniaVolhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
.
Ukrainian Military Organization
In 1925, Shukhevych joined the Ukrainian Military OrganizationUkrainian Military Organization
The Ukrainian Military Organization was a Ukrainian resistance and sabotage movement active in Poland's Eastern Lesser Poland during the years between the world wars...
UVO
UVO
UVO is an acronym. It can mean...* A telematics system from Kia Motors, Kia UVO.* Ukrainian Military Organization , a Ukrainian resistance and sabotage movement active in Poland between the world wars....
. In 1926, Shukhevych was ordered to assassinate the Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
school superintendent, Stanisław Sobiński, accused of "Polonizing" the Ukrainian education system. The assassination was carried out by Roman Shukhevych and Bohdan Pidhainy on October 19, 1926. In February 1929, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
was founded in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. Shukhevych under the name "Dzvin" (Bell) became a representative of the Ukrainian Executive.
Shukhevych was a leader of a wave of attacks against Polish property and homes in Galicia in 1930 intended to provoke Polish authorities into retaliation and radicalise Ukrainian society. The Polish administration retaliated with a process of "pacification
Pacification of Ukrainians in Eastern Galicia (1930)
Pacification of Ukrainians refers to the punitive action by police and military of the Second Polish Republic against the Ukrainian minority in Poland in September–November 1930 in response to a wave of more than 2,200 acts of sabotage against Polish property in the region...
" which intensified anti-Polish sentiment and increased Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism
Ukrainian nationalism refers to the Ukrainian version of nationalism.Although the current Ukrainian state emerged fairly recently, some historians, such as Mykhailo Hrushevskyi, Orest Subtelny and Paul Magosci have cited the medieval state of Kievan Rus' as an early precedents of specifically...
.
Shukhevych continued to plan and also participate in terrorist activities and assassinations (sometimes claimed by Ukrainian Nationalists to be acts of protest against anti-Ukrainian policies). These included:
- The co-ordination of a series of expropriations from Polish government offices in order to fund continued insurrection in the struggle for Ukrainian national determination, i.e. bank robberies and assaults on postal offices or wagons.
- September 1, 1931 assassination of Tadeusz Hołówko, a moderate Polish politician, who advocated cultural autonomy for Ukrainians. His murder caused a shock and was condemned by both societies.
- The assassination on March 22, 1932 of Police Commissioner Czechowski
- The unsuccessful assassination of the Soviet consul in Lviv as a protest for the HolodomorHolodomorThe Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...
in Central Ukraine by Mykola LemykMykola LemykMykola Lemyk was a Ukrainian political activist and leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists .- Biography :...
, who mistakenly assassinated the Special emissary of the NKVD, Alexiy Mayov. - The assassination of the minister of internal affairs Bronisław Pieracki, who was declared by the OUN to be "the main person responsible for organizing and executing the 'pacification'" and labeled the "hangman of the Ukrainian nation". The assassination was carried out July 15, 1934 in Warsaw by Hryts Matseiko.
- 30 November 1932 Shukhevych participated in an assault on the post office in Gródek Jagielloński, where a number of civilians were killed.
Shukhevych, Stepan Bandera
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine , who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists...
, Stepan Lenkavsky, Yaroslav Stetsko
Yaroslav Stetsko
Yaroslav Stetsko was the leader of the Bandera's Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists , from 1968 until death. In 1941, during Nazi Germany invasion into the Soviet Union he was self-proclaimed temporary head of the self-proclaimed Ukrainian statehood...
, Yaroslav Starukh and others developed the concept of "permanent revolution". According to their thesis the Ukrainian people being exploited by an occupier could only obtain freedom through continued pressure on the enemy. As a result the OUN took on the responsibility of preparing for an All-Ukrainian revolt. Shukhevych propagated the ideas that the revolution was an uncompromising conflict in order to permanently defeat the foe.
Shukhevych took an active part in developing a concept regarding the formation of a Ukrainian army. At that time two diametrically opposed arguments existed. The first was to form a Ukrainian army in the Ukrainian emigration, the second, a national army to be formed in Western Ukraine organized by Ukrainians.
Imprisonment
In July 1934, mass arrests took place regarding the death of Bronisław Pieracki. On July 18 Shukhevych was arrested and July 6–7 he was sent to the Bereza Kartuska Concentration Camp. In camp he organized a Ukrainian self-defense group. In December 1935 he was acquitted and released from the camp for lack of evidence.During the Warsaw process against the OUN (November 18, 1935 - January 13, 1936) he was called as a witness. Shukhevych stood by his right to speak in Ukrainian for which he was fined 200 zloty. After greeting the court with the call "Glory to Ukraine" was once again interred.
From January 19, 1935 Shukhevych was confined to the Bryhidka jail in Lviv. He was incriminated for his membership in the Regional executive of the OUN. The lawyer in the process was his uncle: Stepan Shukhevych
Stepan Shukhevych
Stepan Shukhevych was a Ukrainian lawyer and military figure....
. Shukhevych was sentenced to 3 years in jail, however, because of the 1935 amnesty he was released from jail after spending half a year in the Bereza Kartuska Concentration Camp and two years in prison.
After being released in 1937, Shukhevych set up an advertising cooperative in March called "Fama" which became a front for the activities of the OUN. Soon outlets were set up throughout Galicia, Volyn and within Poland itself. The workers of the company were members of the OUN, often recently released political prisoners. The company was very successful and had sections working with the press and film, publishing booklets, printing posters, selling mineral water, compiling address listings and also opened its own transportation section.
Carpathian Ukraine
In November 1938, Carpatho-UkraineCarpatho-Ukraine
Carpatho-Ukraine was an autonomous region within Czechoslovakia from late 1938 to March 15, 1939. It declared itself an independent republic on March 15, 1939, but was occupied by Hungary between March 15 and March 18, 1939, remaining under Hungarian control until the Nazi occupation of Hungary in...
gained autonomy within the Czecho-Slovak state. Shukhevych organized financial aid for the government of the fledgling republic and sent OUN members to set up the Carpathian Sich
Carpathian Sich
The Carpathian Sich were irregular soldiers of the short-lived state of Carpatho-Ukraine.-History:The Carpathian Sich was formed in November 1938 under the newly-elected moderate Ukrainian nationalist prime minister of the Subcarpathian Autonomous Region within Czechoslovakia, Avgustyn Voloshyn....
.
In December 1938, he illegally crossed the border from Poland into Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, traveling to the Ukrainian city of Khust
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...
. There, with the aid of local OUN members and German intelligence
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
, he set up the General headquarters for the fight against the Czecho-Slovak central government.
Moreover, in the January 1939 the OUN decided to throw off the autonomous government, which seemed too much pro-Czechoslovak to them. The coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
attempt occurred in the night of March 13.-14., in the relation to the proclamation of Slovak independence, managed by Germany. With help of sympathizers among the police the insurgents led by Shukhevych gained the weapons of the gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
, but their assaults on garrison
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....
s of Czechslovak army failed. Just in the Khust
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...
11 OUN fighters were killed and 51 captured. However, after the Slovak proclamation of independence on March 14 and Nazi's seizure of Czech lands
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German occupation of Czechoslovakia began with the Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia's northern and western border regions, known collectively as the Sudetenland, under terms outlined by the Munich Agreement. Nazi leader Adolf Hitler's pretext for this effort was the alleged privations suffered by...
on March 15, Carpatho-Ukraine was immediately invaded and annexed by Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. Shukhevych took an active part in the short-term armed conflict with Hungarian forces and was almost killed in one of the actions.
After the occupation of Carpathian Ukraine by Hungary was done, Shukhevych traveled through Romania and Yugoslavia to Austria, where he consulted with OUN commanders and was given new orders and sent to Danzig to carry out subversive activities.
World War II
In the Fall of 1939 Shukhevych moved to KrakówKraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
with his family where he acted as the contact for the Ukrainian Nationalist Command directed by Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk , Ukrainian military and political leader.-Life:Born near Drohobych, Galicia into a peasant family. Between 1912 and 1914 he studied at the Higher School of Agriculture in Vienna...
. He organized the illegal transportation of documents and materials across the Soviet-German border and collected information about OUN activities in Ukraine.
The new political realities required new forms of activity. The Command of the Ukrainian Nationalists could not come to a unified agreement regarding tactics. As a result on February 10, 1940 the organization in Kraków split into two factions - one led by Stepan Bandera
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine , who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists...
and the other by Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk
Andriy Melnyk , Ukrainian military and political leader.-Life:Born near Drohobych, Galicia into a peasant family. Between 1912 and 1914 he studied at the Higher School of Agriculture in Vienna...
. Shukhevych became a member the Revolutionary Command of the OUN headed by Bandera, taking charge of the section dealing with territories claimed by the Ukrainians, which after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially titled the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and signed in Moscow in the late hours of 23 August 1939...
had been seized by Germany (Pidliashshia, Kholm, Nadsiania and Lemkivshchyna
Lemkivshchyna
Lemkivshchyna sometimes called Lemkovyna, Lemkivshchyna, Lemkovshchina or Łemkowszczyzna, is the region traditionally inhabited by the Lemkos. It forms an ethnographic peninsula 140 km long and 25–50 km wide from the Ukrainian border within Polish and Slovak territory...
).
A powerful web was formed for the preparation of underground activities in Ukraine. Paramilitary training courses were set up. Military cadres were prepared which were to command a future Ukrainian army. Shukhevych prepared the II Great congress of the OUN which took place in April 1941.
Nachtigall Battalion
Prior to Operation Barbarossa, the OUN actively cooperated with Nazi Germany. According to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and other sources, OUN-B leader Stepan BanderaStepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine , who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists...
held meetings with the heads of Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "Nachtigall
Nachtigall Battalion
The Nachtigall Battalion , officially known as Special Group Nachtigall, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
" and "Roland
Roland Battalion
The Roland Battalion , officially known as Special Group Roland, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
" Battalions. February 25, 1941 head of the Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
Wilhelm Franz Canaris sanctioned the creation of the "Ukrainian Legion" under German command. The unit would have had 800 persons. Shukhevych became a commander of the Legion from the OUN-B side. OUN expected that the unit would become the core of the future Ukrainian army. In the spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities against the USSR. In the spring of 1941 the Legion was reorganized into 3 units. One of the units became known as Nachtigall Battalion
Nachtigall Battalion
The Nachtigall Battalion , officially known as Special Group Nachtigall, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
, a second became the Roland Battalion
Roland Battalion
The Roland Battalion , officially known as Special Group Roland, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
, a third was inmmidiately dispatched into Soviet Union for sabotage of Red Army's rear.
After intensive training the battalion traveled to Riashiv on June 18, and entered Lviv on June 29 ., where the Act for establishment of the Ukrainian Statehood was proclaimed. The German administration however did not support this act.
At same time it's estimated that in June–July 1941 over 4,000 Jews were murdered in pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s in Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
and other cities in Western Ukraine. There is controversy regarding the participation of the Nachtigall Battalion
Nachtigall Battalion
The Nachtigall Battalion , officially known as Special Group Nachtigall, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
and Roman Shukhevych in these atrocities, as well as in the Massacre of Lviv professors.
The first company
Company (military unit)
A company is a military unit, typically consisting of 80–225 soldiers and usually commanded by a Captain, Major or Commandant. Most companies are formed of three to five platoons although the exact number may vary by country, unit type, and structure...
of the unit remained in Lviv for only 7 days, while the remainder of the unit joined later during their eastward march towards Zolochiv
Zolochiv
Zolochiv is a town located in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zolochiv Raion ....
, Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
and Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia is a city located on the banks of the Southern Bug, in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast.-Names:...
.
There are claims that the soldiers of Nachtigall participated in the killing of Jews. During the march at three villages of the Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia
Vinnytsia is a city located on the banks of the Southern Bug, in central Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast.-Names:...
region, Jews were said to have been shot en masse.
The German refusal to accept the OUN-B’s June 30 proclamation of Ukrainian independence in Lviv led to a change of the Nachtigall battalion direction. As the result, Shukhevych together with the battalion was recalled to Germany.
201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion
In Germany, in November 1941 the Ukrainian personnel of the Legion was reorganized into the 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion
The 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion was a Security Police unit composed from the personnel of the Abwehrs Roland Battalion and Nachtigall Battalion....
. It numbered 650 persons who were given individual contracts that required the combatants to serve for one additional year.
Roman Shukhevych’s title was that of Hauptmann
Hauptmann
Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian and Swiss armies. While "haupt" in contemporary German means "main", it also has the dated meaning of "head", i.e...
of the first company and the deputy commander of the Battalion, which was commanded by Yevhen Pobihushchyi.
On March 19, 1942 the Battalion arrived in Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
where it served in the triangle between Mahiliou-Vitsebsk-Lepel. With the expiration of the one year contract all the Ukrainian soldiers refused to renew their services. On January 6, 1943 they were sent to Lviv where they arrived January 8. Roman Shukhevych escaped from arrest by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
.
Polish-German historian and Holocaust expert Frank Golczewski from the University of Hamburg
University of Hamburg
The University of Hamburg is a university in Hamburg, Germany. It was founded on 28 March 1919 by Wilhelm Stern and others. It grew out of the previous Allgemeines Vorlesungswesen and the Kolonialinstitut as well as the Akademisches Gymnasium. There are around 38,000 students as of the start of...
describes the activities of 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion at Belarus as “fighting partisans and killing Jews". John Paul Himka, a specialist in Ukrainian history during World War II, notes that although units such as the 201st Battalion were routinely used to fight partisans and kill Jews, noone has studied the specific activities of the 201st battalion from this perspective and this ought to be a subject for further study.
More than 2,000 of partisans were killed by battalion personnel during its stay in Belarus.
Massacres of Poles
In late 1942, Ukrainian nationalist groups began a campaign of ethnic cleansing of VolhyniaVolhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
, and in early 1944, these campaigns began to include Eastern Galicia. It is alleged that up to 100,000 Polish civilians were murdered, by Ukrainian groups, including the OUN-Bandera, led by Mykola Lebed
Mykola Lebed
Mykola Lebed , also known as Maksym Ruban, Marko or Yevhen Skyrba, was a Ukrainian political activist, Ukrainian nationalist and guerrilla fighter. He was among those tried, convicted, and imprisoned for the murder, in 1936, of Polish Interior Minister Bronislaw Pieracki. The court sentenced him to...
and then Shukhevych. Shukhevych commanded the UPA during the time when some of those massacres occurred. In August 1943, during III OUN Convention Shukhevych accepted "Volhynia stategy" (ethnic cleansing) against Poles realized by Dmytro Klyachkivsky. As the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army he continued anti-Polish action in Eastern Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland
Lesser Poland is one of the historical regions of Poland, with its capital in the city of Kraków. It forms the southeastern corner of the country, and should not be confused with the modern Lesser Poland Voivodeship, which covers only a small, southern part of Lesser Poland...
(Eastern Galicia). In April 1944, main Command of UIA ordered massive ethnic cleansing of Poles from Galicia.
Ukrainian Insurgent Army
After escaping from German custody Shukhevych once again headed the Military section of the OUN. In May he became a member of the leadership of the OUN and in time the head. In August 1943 at the III Special Congress of the OUN he was elected head of the Direction of the OUN and Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army known as UPA.Under Shukhevych's leadership the evolution of the program for which the OUN fought was further refined. Its core tenets were:
- Opposition to all forms of totalitarian government
- Construction of a democratic state system in Ukraine
- Guaranteed right for self determination against empire and imperialism.
The Insurgent Army was joined by various people from the Caucasus and Central Asia who had fought in German formations. The rise of non-Ukrainians in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army gave stimulus to the special conference for Captive Nations of Europe and Asia which took place November 21–22, 1943 in Buderazh, not far from Rivne
Rivne
Rivne or Rovno is a historic city in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rivne Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Rivne Raion within the oblast...
. The agenda included the formation of a unified plan for the attack against occupational forces.
During the period of German occupation Shukhevych spent most of his time fighting in the forests, and from August 1944 under the Soviet occupation living in various villages in Western Ukraine. In order to unite all Ukrainian national forces to fight for Ukrainian independence Shukhevych organized a meeting between all the Ukrainian political parties. As a result the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council
Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council
Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council was a Ukrainian political organisation formed in July 1944.UHVR united Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Ukrainian Insurgent Army . After the end of the Second World War, the council co-ordinated resistance efforts in Soviet-occupied Ukraine...
(UHVR) was formed.
Death
Shukhеvych died in combat with special units of the MVD near Lviv on March 5, 1950, aged 42. He was succeeded as leader of UPA by Vasyl KukVasyl Kuk
Vasyl Stepanovich Kuk ) was a Ukrainian nationalist who was the last leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, following the death of Roman Shukhevych.-Biography:...
.
Family
Soviet authorities applied the rationale of collective guilt and persecuted all the members of the Shukhevych family. Roman's brother Yuri was murdered at LvivLviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
's Bryhidka Prison, just before the German occupation of Lviv. His mother Yevhenia and his wife, Nataliya Berezynska, were exiled to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. His son Yuri Shukhevych and daughter Mariyka were placed in an orphanage
Orphanage
An orphanage is a residential institution devoted to the care of orphans – children whose parents are deceased or otherwise unable or unwilling to care for them...
. In September 1972, Yuri was sentenced to ten years camp imprisonment and another five years exile after already having spent 20 years in Soviet camps.
According to NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
officers' memoirs, Roman Shukhevych's body was transported out of Ukraine, burned, and the ashes scattered. This was done on the left bank of the Zbruch River
Zbruch River
Zbruch River is a river in Western Ukraine, a left tributary of the Dniester.It flows within the Podolia Upland starting from the Avratinian Upland. Zbruch is the namesake of the Zbruch idol, a sculpture of a Slavic deity in the form of a column with a head with four faces, discovered in 1848 by...
. The unburned remains were thrown into the Zbruch, where a commemorative stone cross was erected in 2003.
Rescue of Irene Reichenberg
According to Vladimir Vyatrovich, a historian specializing in UPA, Natalia Shukhevych, wife of the UPA Head Commander Roman Shukhevych, sheltered a Jewish girl, Irene Reichenberg (or Reisinberg, Reitenberg), the daughter of a neighbor from September 1942 until February 1943.According to Yuri Shukhevych, at the beginning of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
their family lived in Lviv on Queen Yadvyga Street, where their neighbors, Wolf and Ruzha Reichenberg owned a textile shop. The elder daughter, Irma Reichenberg, was shot by the Nazis in the street in 1942. Her younger sister Irene lived with Shukhevych family for a certain period of time while preparing for school.
Roman Shukhevych used his connections to provide the girl with new documents in the Ukrainian name of Iryna Vasylivna Ryzhko. Girl's actual birth year was changed from 1936 to 1937.
In her new documents "Iryna" was listed as the daughter of a Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
officer killed early in the war.
After the arrest of Natalia Shukhevych in 1943 by the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, Roman Shukhevych took Irene to the orphan shelter at the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Convent of Vasilianky in the village of Phylypove, near the township of Kulykiv in 30 kilometres from Lviv, where Irene remained until the end of the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
surviving German occupation and Holocaust. In 1956 Irene sent a letter with her picture to the prioress of the monastery.
After the war Irene remained in Ukraine and died in 2007 in Kiev, aged 72. Her son Vladimir lives in Kiev. Yuri Shukhevych met with him after his mothers death. The Reichenberg family is mentioned in the list of victims of the Nazis at the Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
memorial in Israel.
According to Ukrainian historian and former UPA soldier Lev Shankovsky, immediately upon assuming the position of commander of UPA Shukhevych issued an order banning participation in anti-Jewish activities. No written record of this order, however, has been found.
Legacy
He was portrayed by Ukrainian-Canadian actor Hryhoriy Hladiy
Gregory Hlady
Gregory Hlady is a Ukrainian actor. He has appeared in over 50 films and television shows since 1973. He starred in Music for December, which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival....
in the Ukrainian film Neskorenyi (The Undefeated
The Undefeated (2000 film)
The Undefeated is a Ukrainian film by Oles Yanchuk. Filmed at the studio "Studio Oles-film", with the assistance of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America , with the National Cinema Studio of feature films named after O.Dovzhenko. Chief advisor to the film was Askold Lozynsky .September 30,...
).
On October 23, 2001 the Lviv Historic Museum converted the house in which Shukhevych was killed into a memorial museum.
Postage stamps and coins have been minted in his honour of the 100th anniversary of his birth. Posthumously, he was awarded the UPA's highest decorations: the Gold Cross of Combat Merit First Class and the Cross of Merit in gold.
Hero of Ukraine Award
Roman Shukhevych was posthumously conferred the title of Hero of UkraineHero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine is the highest state decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the Government of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as of August 25 2011 the total number of awards is 265. The award is divided into two classes of distinction:...
by President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
on October 12, 2007. On February 12, 2009, an administrative Donetsk
Donetsk
Donetsk , is a large city in eastern Ukraine on the Kalmius river. Administratively, it is a center of Donetsk Oblast, while historically, it is the unofficial capital and largest city of the economic and cultural Donets Basin region...
region court ruled the Presidential decree awarding the title to be legal after a lawyer had claimed that his rights as a citizen were violated because Shukhevych was never a citizen of Ukraine
Ukrainian citizenship
Citizenship of Ukraine is governed by the Law on Citizenship of Ukraine and by the Ukrainian Constitution.-Definition of Ukrainian citizenship:Citizens of Ukraine are defined as:...
.
President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
stated on March 5, 2010 he would make a decision to repeal the decrees to honor the title as Heroes of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine is the highest state decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the Government of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as of August 25 2011 the total number of awards is 265. The award is divided into two classes of distinction:...
to Shukhevych and fellow nationalist Stepan Bandera
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera was a Ukrainian politician and one of the leaders of Ukrainian national movement in Western Ukraine , who headed the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists...
before the next Victory Day. Although the Hero of Ukraine decrees do not stipulate the possibility that a decree on awarding this title can be annulled. On April 21, 2010, Donetsk Administrative Court of Appeals has declared unlawful former Ukrainian President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
Viktor Yuschenko's decree of October 12, 2007 to award the Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine
Hero of Ukraine is the highest state decoration that can be conferred upon an individual citizen by the Government of Ukraine. The title was created in 1998 by President Leonid Kuchma and as of August 25 2011 the total number of awards is 265. The award is divided into two classes of distinction:...
title to Roman Shukhevych. The court ruled that the former President
President of Ukraine
Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...
had had no right to confer this title to Shukhevych, because Shukhevych had died in 1950 and therefore he had not lived on the territory of independent Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(after 1991). Consequently, Shukhevych was not a Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
citizen
Ukrainian citizenship
Citizenship of Ukraine is governed by the Law on Citizenship of Ukraine and by the Ukrainian Constitution.-Definition of Ukrainian citizenship:Citizens of Ukraine are defined as:...
, and this title could not be awarded to him. On August 12, 2010 the High Administrative Court of Ukraine dismissed suits to declare four decrees by President Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych is a Ukrainian politician who has been the President of Ukraine since February 2010.Yanukovych served as the Governor of Donetsk Oblast from 1997 to 2002...
on awarding the Hero of Ukraine title to Soviet soldiers
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
illegal and cancel them. The filer of these suit stated they were based on the same arguments used by Donetsk Administrative Court of Appeals that on April 21 satisfied an appeal that deprived Roman Shukhevych the Hero of Ukraine title, as Shukhevych was not a citizen of Ukraine. The title however was not rescinded, pending an appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court of Ukraine which set aside all previous court decisions on February 17, 2011.