Yaroslav Stetsko
Encyclopedia
Yaroslav Stetsko (19 January 1912, Ternopil
, Austria–Hungary - 5 July 1986, Munich
, Germany
) was the leader of the Bandera's Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
(OUN), 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. Stetsko was the head of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations
from the time of foundation until 1986, the year of his death.
, Austria–Hungary (now Ukraine
) into a Ukrainian Catholic priest's family
. His father, Semen, and his mother, Teodoziya, née Chubaty, encouraged him to pursue a higher education, which was very difficult for ethnic Ukrainians. Yaroslav not only graduated high school in Ternopil, but later studied Law and Philosophy at the Kraków
and Lwów Universities, graduating in 1934.
and eventually the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
(OUN) .
Because of his pro-Ukrainian activities and the recent assassination of Piernacki by Ukrainian nationalists, Stetsko was arrested by Polish authorities in 1934 and sentenced to a 5 year term. This sentence was reduced, and Stetsko was released in 1937 in a general amnesty.
In 1929-1934, he studied philosophy at the Universities of Lwow and Kraków in Poland. In the 1930s, he became one of the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
" and "Roland
" Battalions. In spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities inside the USSR.
the formation of a Ukrainian state which "will closely cooperate with the National-Socialist Greater Germany
, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler
which is forming a new order in Europe and the world
" - as stated in the text of the "Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood"
Gestapo
and Abwehr
officials protected Bandera followers, as both organizations intended to use them for their own purposes.He wrote, "Moscow and Jewry are the main enemies of Ukraine ... Considering the main and decisive enemy to be Moscow, which has
masterfully kept Ukraine in captivity, I, however, regard as damaging and hostile the fate of the Jews, who help Moscow enslave Ukraine. Therefore I stand on the position of the EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWS AND the ADVISABILITY of transferring to Ukraine the GERMAN METHOD OF EXTERMINATION OF JEWS, PREVENTING THEIR ASSIMILATION and so on...”
On July 5, OUN-B leader Bandera was placed under honorary arrest in Kraków, and transported to Berlin the next day. 14 July he was released, but required to stay in Berlin. 12 July 1941 he was joined in Berlin by his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko, whom the Germans had moved from Lviv after an unsuccessful attempt by unknown persons to assassinate him. During July–August both of them submitted dozens of proposals for cooperation to different Nazi institutions (OKW, RSHA
etc.) and freely communicate with their followers.
After the assassination of two key members of Melnyk OUN, said to have been committed by members of OUN-B, Bandera and Stetsko after 15 September 1941 were held in the central Berlin prison at Spandau and, in January 1942, transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
's special barrack for high profile political prisoners Zellenbau.
In April 1944 Bandera and his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko were approached by an RSHA
official to discuss plans for diversions and sabotage against Soviet Army.
In September 1944 Stetsko and Bandera were released by the German authorities
in the hope that he would rouse the native populace to fight the advancing Soviet Army. With German consent Bandera set up headquarters in Berlin.> Germans supplied OUN-B and UIA
by air with arms and equipment. Assigned German personnel and agents trained to conduct terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported by air until early 1945.
In April 1945 Stetsko was seriously injured during Allied air-attack on Nazi military vehicles convoy
at the Bohemia
.
, the ABN. He was president of this organization until his death.
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...
, Austria–Hungary - 5 July 1986, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
) was the leader of the Bandera's 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...
(OUN), from 1968 until death. In 1941, during Nazi Germany invasion into the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
he was self-proclaimed temporary head of the self-proclaimed Ukrainian statehood. Stetsko was the head of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations
Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations
Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations was a co-ordinating center for anti-Communist émigré political organizations from Soviet and other socialist countries. The A.B.N. formation dates back to an underground conference of representatives of non-Russian peoples that took place on November 1943, near...
from the time of foundation until 1986, the year of his death.
Childhood
Yaroslav Stetsko was born on January 12, 1912 in TernopilTernopil
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...
, Austria–Hungary (now 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...
) into a Ukrainian Catholic priest's family
Western Ukrainian Clergy
The Western Ukrainian clergy of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church were a hereditary tight-knit social caste that dominated western Ukrainian society from the late eighteenth until the mid twentieth centuries, following the reforms instituted by Joseph II, Emperor of Austria...
. His father, Semen, and his mother, Teodoziya, née Chubaty, encouraged him to pursue a higher education, which was very difficult for ethnic Ukrainians. Yaroslav not only graduated high school in Ternopil, but later studied Law and Philosophy at the Kraków
Kraków
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...
and Lwów Universities, graduating in 1934.
Youth activities
Yaroslav Stetsko was active in Ukrainian nationalist organizations from an early age. He was a member of three separate organizations: "Ukrayinska Natsionalistychna Molod'" (Ukrainian Nationalist Youth; ) where he became a member of the National Executive in 1932, Ukrainian Military Organization the UVOUkrainian 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...
and eventually 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...
(OUN) .
Because of his pro-Ukrainian activities and the recent assassination of Piernacki by Ukrainian nationalists, Stetsko was arrested by Polish authorities in 1934 and sentenced to a 5 year term. This sentence was reduced, and Stetsko was released in 1937 in a general amnesty.
In 1929-1934, he studied philosophy at the Universities of Lwow and Kraków in Poland. In the 1930s, he became one of the leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
The Nazis and the OUN
According to the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and other sources, OUN leaders had meetings with the heads of Nazi Germany's intelligence, regarding the formation of "NachtigallNachtigall 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. In spring the OUN received 2.5 million marks for subversive activities inside the USSR.
Operation Barbarossa
On 30 June 1941, Stetsko declared in 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...
the formation of a Ukrainian state which "will closely cooperate with the National-Socialist Greater Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, under the leadership of its leader Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
which is forming a new order in Europe and the world
New Order (political system)
The New Order or the New Order of Europe was the political order which the Nazis wanted to impose on Europe, and eventually the rest of the world, during their reign over Germany from 1933 to 1945...
" - as stated in the text of the "Act of Proclamation of Ukrainian Statehood"
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...
and 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...
officials protected Bandera followers, as both organizations intended to use them for their own purposes.He wrote, "Moscow and Jewry are the main enemies of Ukraine ... Considering the main and decisive enemy to be Moscow, which has
masterfully kept Ukraine in captivity, I, however, regard as damaging and hostile the fate of the Jews, who help Moscow enslave Ukraine. Therefore I stand on the position of the EXTERMINATION OF THE JEWS AND the ADVISABILITY of transferring to Ukraine the GERMAN METHOD OF EXTERMINATION OF JEWS, PREVENTING THEIR ASSIMILATION and so on...”
On July 5, OUN-B leader Bandera was placed under honorary arrest in Kraków, and transported to Berlin the next day. 14 July he was released, but required to stay in Berlin. 12 July 1941 he was joined in Berlin by his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko, whom the Germans had moved from Lviv after an unsuccessful attempt by unknown persons to assassinate him. During July–August both of them submitted dozens of proposals for cooperation to different Nazi institutions (OKW, RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
etc.) and freely communicate with their followers.
After the assassination of two key members of Melnyk OUN, said to have been committed by members of OUN-B, Bandera and Stetsko after 15 September 1941 were held in the central Berlin prison at Spandau and, in January 1942, transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
's special barrack for high profile political prisoners Zellenbau.
In April 1944 Bandera and his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko were approached by an RSHA
RSHA
The RSHA, or Reichssicherheitshauptamt was an organization subordinate to Heinrich Himmler in his dual capacities as Chef der Deutschen Polizei and Reichsführer-SS...
official to discuss plans for diversions and sabotage against Soviet Army.
In September 1944 Stetsko and Bandera were released by the German authorities
Sicherheitsdienst
Sicherheitsdienst , full title Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers-SS, or SD, was the intelligence agency of the SS and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany. The organization was the first Nazi Party intelligence organization to be established and was often considered a "sister organization" with the...
in the hope that he would rouse the native populace to fight the advancing Soviet Army. With German consent Bandera set up headquarters in Berlin.> Germans supplied OUN-B and UIA
UIA
UIA can refer to:* Inter-American University * Ukrainian Insurgent Army* Ukraine International Airlines* Universiti Islam Antarabangsa* Union of International Associations...
by air with arms and equipment. Assigned German personnel and agents trained to conduct terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported by air until early 1945.
In April 1945 Stetsko was seriously injured during Allied air-attack on Nazi military vehicles convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
at the Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
.
After the war
Stetsko continued to be very active politically after World War II. In 1968 he became a suprime leader of the OUN-B.The Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations
In 1946, Stetsko spearheaded the creation of a new anti-soviet organization, the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of NationsAnti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations
Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations was a co-ordinating center for anti-Communist émigré political organizations from Soviet and other socialist countries. The A.B.N. formation dates back to an underground conference of representatives of non-Russian peoples that took place on November 1943, near...
, the ABN. He was president of this organization until his death.