on the creation in the western regions of Ukraine of the People's Liberation Revolutionary Organization (NVRO)

Archive: GA RF. F. R-9478. Op. 1.D. 117. L. 23-26. Copy.

Ukrainian nationalist organizations during the Second World War. Volume 2 1944-1945 Moscow. ROSSPEN 2012 Page 429-431

Late November 17, 1944 1

Top secret

Information about the organization of Ukrainian nationalists NVRO

As the Red Army defeated the Nazi troops and liberated the western regions of Ukraine from them, the plans of the OUN leadership to create a “Cathedral Ukraine” with the help of the Germans were compromised before the population.

Sharp dissatisfaction with the policy pursued by the leadership of the OUN began to appear among the population and gang members, expressed in a number of cases by leaving the gangs and the refusal of the peasants to supply the gangs with food.

As the military-political situation changed in favor of the USSR, attempts by the OUN leadership to change their tactics and link the struggle for a "Cathedral Ukraine" with external anti-German forces began to be noted.

In August 1943, in the area of the village of Sloboda-Zolota, Kozovsky district, Ternopil region, the so-called Third Supernumerary Assembly (a congress assembled by a representative of the OUN central wire SHUKHEVICH) was held, which was attended by about 20 delegates. During the discussion of issues and in the decisions of the meeting, attempts were made to adapt the OUN's program guidelines to the current political situation.

The arrested member of the central wire of the OUN “Sergey” - STEPANYUK M.D., referring to the issues discussed at the gathering, testified: “At the Third Extraordinary Gathering, during the discussion on the report on the international and domestic situation (the report was made by a member of the central wire, the referent of the propaganda “GARMASH” ) and changing the program settings (the report was made by the representative of the Pivdnya regional wire - IVANIV), I made a statement that the OUN compromised itself with ties with the Germans as a purely fascist organization that cannot count on serious successes in Ukraine ... "; “... I suggested creating a new organization by dissolving the OUN. At the same time, I believed that the OUN should be the initiator and leader in the creation of a new organization. This proposal failed."

According to the testimony of "Sergei", he did not abandon his idea of creating a new organization: "... In conversations with members of the central wire of the OUN "Lemesh" (the regional conductor of "Pivdnya") and Galyn (a member of the central wire, a member of the regional wire of the PZUZ and a political UPA assistant under Klim SAVUR), I nevertheless proved to them the need to abandon the OUN and create a new organization, with which they agreed. We discussed questions about its program and tactics ... ". “... On our own initiative, in July 1944, Lemesh convened a conference, which was attended by Lemesh, Galina, Sereda - the chief of the district propaganda, Veres - the organizational referent of the Pivdnya regional wire , "Eney" - the commander of the military district of the UPA and others, whom I do not remember, in the amount of 10 people ... ".

The subject of discussion at the conference was the question of ways out of the impasse in which OUN members found themselves in connection with the growth of negative sentiment towards them from the Ukrainian population.

Some participants in the conference suggested openly dissociating themselves from the OUN, accusing the leadership of the central wire, headed by SHUKHEVICH, of having links with the Germans. They also suggested that the OUN organizations in Volyn (Rivne, Volyn and the northern part of the Ternopil region) withdraw from the subordination of the central wire, forming their own independent leadership.

At the conference, it was decided to change the name of the OUN in Volhynia to NVRO (People's Liberation Revolutionary Organization) and thereby separate from the OUN, headed by SHUKHEVICH. At the same conference, "Sergey" was entrusted with drawing up the NVRO program, preserving all the basic principles of the OUN 164 .

Concerning the issue of compiling the NVRO program, arrested on July 30 of this year. an active participant in the UPA PALAMARCHUK - "Andreichuk" showed: ""Sergei" tried to "make happy" the Ukrainian people by creating his own needlework - a brilliantly stupid, empty state-political system. Moreover, this “cunning” handicraft creation consists of a mixture of artificially cobbled together parts of various state systems, of all formations, of all times. And all the stupid emptyness, lifelessness of this creature, the violent fantasy of a handful of sick people can be invisible only to the "foresters" who have lost the courage to think.

The existence of NVRO organizations in Volhynia was subsequently confirmed by the following facts:

1. In September 1944, anti-Soviet slogans were pasted up in certain districts of the Rovno region on behalf of the People's Liberation Revolutionary Organization 165 .

2. Arrested steward of the OUN organization of the Mlynovsky district of the Rivne region POTAPOVSKY V.V. showed: “September 10 of this year. a meeting of the OUN leaders of the Mlynovsky district was held, at which an order was announced to rename the OUN to the NVRO. I do not remember the full content of the order, but I can state its most important points. The order says that for the best secrecy, the OUN is liquidated and instead of the OUN, under the same leadership, the NVRO is created. Members of this organization may be persons of all nationalities, including Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, Czechs, Jews. Persons who were under arrest in the NKVD should not be accepted into the organization.

3. November 17, 1944 in the Lyudvipolsky district of the Rivne region, an operation was carried out to eliminate the UPA bandit group. During the operation, 2 bandits were killed (identities not established). Among the documents seized during the search of the corpses, a "resolution of the founding congress" of the NVRO was found. As can be seen from the document, the founding congress of the NVRO took place on July 17-18, 1944. The resolution analyzes the current international situation, the nature of the ongoing war, determines the attitude towards the USSR, the political platform, and puts forward the main tasks and goals of the struggle carried out by the NVRO.

Since in other regions of Western Ukraine leaflets on behalf of the NVRO did not appear, and there was no information either from agents or from those arrested about the existence of the NVRO there, there is reason to believe that the creation of the NVRO took place only in Volyn (Rivne, Volyn and northern part that is not part of Galicia, Ternopil region).

It should be noted that in the actions of the OUN leaders in Volyn to create the NVRO, personal hostile relations between “Lemesh”, “Sergey” and Maxim RUBAN on the one hand, and SHUKHEVICH, along with the rest of the members of the central wire who lead the OUN in Galicia, play no small role , - with another.

Head of the Main Directorate of the NKVD of the USSR for Combating Banditry Commissar of State Security 3rd rank A. Leontiev

I Dated according to the content of the document.

164The founding conference of the People's Liberation Revolutionary Organization (Ukrainian - People's Volunteer Revolutionary Organization) was held on July 17-18, 1944. The initiative to hold the conference came from supporters of the transformation of certain provisions of the nationalist doctrine and the creation of a supra-party institution in the conditions that changed after the victories of the Soviet army ( M. Stepanyak, V. Cook, J. Busol).

The new organization was supposed to unite all anti-Soviet forces, including representatives of other peoples outside the borders of Ukraine. The leaders of the OUN were also to be included in the leadership of the NORO. Since there were no connections with the OUN wire, the conference participants sent notifications to the localities about the appearance of a new unifying center. October 10, 1944 The Central Committee of the NORO issued an "Instruction for the leadership of the general districts" (Instruction for the maintenance of the general districts).

The leaders of the NORO assumed that the struggle "against Stalin's tyranny" would be a long one. At the same time, a war between the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition was considered very likely after the fall of the Nazi regime in Germany, which could create conditions for the proclamation of a sovereign Ukrainian state. To this end, it was proposed to intensify agitation, propaganda and organizational work among the masses, to switch to sabotage-terrorist, partisan actions. However, the Bandera people reacted negatively to the emergence of the NORO, emphasizing the danger of a common anti-imperialist idea for the Ukrainian movement (OUN and UPA in 1944 rotation .... Part 1. S. 36-37. See also ' organizations (NGOs). South 1944 // Ibid. C. 86—90).

165 According to the information of the NKVD of the URSR dated November 20, 1944, “in September of this year. in some places in the Stanislav and Lvov regions, leaflets began to appear under the title "Universal Ukrainian Vizvolno Radi" (Decree of the main Ukrainian liberation council).

This "Universal" proclaims the completed unification of all Ukrainian nationalist operations under one leadership, called the "Ukrainian Headquarters Vizvolna Rada."

The "Universal" states:

1943-1959. Book 1. 1943-1945. Pp. 298-299).