THE SHADOW OUN UNITS IN ZAPORIZHZHIA (1939–41)

Abstract

The study is dedicated to the formation and activity problem of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in Zaporizhzhia from the autumn of 1939 to the summer of 1941. In the process of nationalist movement during the interwar period, the OUN leadership planned to expand its influence on the territory of Ukrainian lands which were included in the Soviet Union. A favourable moment for that came after the “Golden September” of 1939 when the Western Ukrainian lands joined the USSR.

Since autumn of 1939, The OUN special representatives had been sent to Eastern and Southern industrial oblasts to form units of the nationalist organisation. Similar situations had been recorded in Sumy, Donetsk, as well as Dnipropetrovsk oblasts. During 1940–41 in Zaporizhzhia, the State Security body succeeded in identifying and eliminating two organisations: the youth movement “Samostiina Ukraina” (“Independent Ukraine”) and the OUN unit created by the Red Army soldiers of the 31st battalion. Taking the dangerous activity of the OUN members into consideration, after the beginning of the German-Soviet war, the authorities of the Soviet intelligence service recourse to repressions against originates of Western Ukraine who even might not have been participated in the shadow units.

Therefore, the suggested study aims to enlarge the understanding of modern Zaporizhzhia within the chronological frameworks of 1939–41 as about a city which used to be on the orbit of Ukrainian nationalist movement development and preparation of the All-Ukrainian national uprising under the auspices of the OUN. The article highlights the fact that due to the successful activity of both NKVD and NKGB, in autumn of 1941, members of derived groups had to create the OUN units anew without any support from earlier come undergrounders.