Working group of historians to study OUN/UPA activities
In
early 2008, a working group of historians to study OUN/UPA activities
was set at the SBU. The group was made up of members of various state
and public organizations: the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory,
the State Committee of Archives of Ukraine, the Institute of History at
the National Academy of Sciences, the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National
University, the SBU National University, the SBU archive and the
Memorial Society.
According to work group members, their
research will focus on the liberation movement in Ukraine from 1920
through 1991. As separate aspects, the dissidents’ movement of the
1960s – 1970s as well as the democratic movement of the 1980s – 1990s
will be examined. As a priority task, the group will study the
documents of the SBU central and oblast archives.
The work
group goal is to attract scholars for the examination of archive
materials and the implementation of joint research and publication
projects.
The group’s chair is SBU head’s adviser Volodymyr Vyatrovych, Ph.D (History). His contact phone is (380 44) 239-70-93.
Center for the study of documents related to the history of the Ukrainian liberation movement
At
present, the SBU is possessor of the largest amount of materials
related to OUN/UPA activities. However, these materials have been
studied inadequately and were not accessible to the public. Given
highly mixed and controversial feelings on these issues existing in
Ukraine, the declassification and publication of archives is of crucial
importance.
Accordingly, the center for the study of documents
about the history of the liberation movement was set up in June 2008.
The center is part of the SBU state archive. The center’s main purposes
are:
[1] searching, studying, systematization and
declassification of archive materials related to the history of the
liberation movement;
[2] creation of an annotated electronic directory of materials;
[3]
implementation of publication projects, preparation of books and
articles, organization of public hearings related to OUN/UPA
activities;
[4] enrollment of NGOs in the study of documents
about the liberation movement, cooperation with domestic and foreign
research and public organizations involved in the study of OUN/UPA
history.
The center can be reached at: phone: (044) 256-98-32, fax: (044) 253-13-86, email: arhivsbu@ssu.gov.ua
SBU information center launched October 2, 2008
Oct.
2, 2008, the Security Service of Ukraine, SBU, launched its Information
Center (IC) [in Kyiv] including an open electronic archive – to
simplify access to materials stored in the SSU archive. [I attended
this event in Kyiv, AUR Editor]
Over the past several years the
SBU has been actively involved in declassifying documents related to
the operations of Soviet security services and the history of
liberation movement in Ukraine.
The IC provides an
opportunity to get acquainted with electronic copies of archive
documents. All documents have been arranged according to various topics
(1932-1933 Holodomor, OUN/UPA Activities, Repression in Ukraine,
Movement of Dissidents, etc.)
The IC also gives access to a large
number of photographs, scientific journals and books, electronic
versions of exhibitions and presentations. At present, the IC has 8
workplaces. The IC’s easy search system will be convenient to scholars,
journalists and students of Ukrainian history working with original
materials.
As declassification and conversion of
materials into electronic form continues, the IC database is updated
daily. Simultaneously, SBU has appealed to institutions, NGOs, and
individuals who own archive documents related to the specified topics,
asking them to make their materials available to IC visitors.
The SBU Information Center is located at the following address: 4 Irynska St., Kyiv, Ukraine; Phone: 380 44 255-82-24.
Electronic archive of national memory
The
SBU, jointly with the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, has
initiated the formation of an electronic archive of national memory.
The archive will make it possible to facilitate the study of liberation
movement history and contribute to the emergence of its uniform
assessment by Ukrainians.
At present, the bulk of related
materials is stored in state and law-enforcement agencies archives as
well as the archives run by NGOs and individual researchers, both in
Ukraine and abroad. The purpose of establishing the electronic archive
is to create a unified database allowing a comprehensive study of the
20th century liberation movement history. Stage 1 of such work which is
already under way is to convert SBU archive documents into electronic
form.
Archive materials are being arranged according to the
recommendations of Ukraine’s research institutions and scholars. The
final analysis of documents is carried out by the Ukrainian Institute
of National Memory, an authorized central executive body for restoring
and preserving the national memory. The electronic archive database is
to be published by the official sites of SBU and UINM.
Publication projects
A lot of attention is being given to the publication of documents from the SBU archive.
[1]
The book titled “Declassified Memory. 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine as
reflected by GPU/NKVD documents” was prepared by the SBU with the
assistance from the “Ukrayina 3000” international charity foundation,
the country’s academic institutes and scholars as well as the Ukrainian
Institute of National Memory.
The book, for the first time in
the Ukrainian history, presents a complete range of Soviet security
services documents (the State Political department, GPU, and the
People’s Commissariat of Internal Affaires, NKVD), unveiling the
causes, strategies and consequences of the 1932-1933 Holodomor, the
most severe tragedy which afflicted Ukraine in the 20th century.
The
documents throw light on massive political repression by state security
agencies, including efforts to quash the truth about the Famine and
providing a credible source for the study of activities by central and
local executive officials and party leaders in 1932-1933. For over 70
years these materials were classified and not accessible to
researchers. The book also includes research articles analyzing
various aspects of the Holodomor.
[2] “Roman Shukhevych in the
Documents of Soviet State Security Agencies” is a collection of
materials about various aspects of the life of UPA Commander-in-Chief
Roman Shukhevych. The book was published jointly with the Center for
Ukrainian Studies at Kyiv Shevchenko National University.
[3]
Another book on the 1932-1933 Holodomor is currently being prepared
jointly by the Interior Ministry and the Administration of Poland. It
is the 7th volume to be published within the framework of the “Poland
and Ukraine in the 30s and 40s of the 20th century. Unknown documents
in secret services archives,” research/publication project between
Ukraine’s SBU and its Polish partners.
The book titled
“1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine in the documents of Soviet and Polish
secret services” will come out in the Ukrainian and Polish ahead of the
75th anniversary of the Holodomor. The book’s presentation is scheduled
in Kyiv as part of the events to mark the Day of Memory for the victims
of holodomors. Later, the book will be translated into English and
presented in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Volume 7
will include documents and materials presenting the points of view on
the Holodomor taken by Polish and Ukrainian researchers. The book is
unique as the materials have been studied by an international team of
scholars.
The book will contain materials from the SBU archive
and Poland’s military archive. The Polish documents include the reports
by the Polish police and diplomats hitherto unknown to the wide public.
The documents provided by the SSU archive have also not been published
before. This research/publication project, whose first volume came out
in print in 1998, is supported by presidents Viktor Yushchenko and Lech
Kaczynski.
Public hearings
With
the participation of the work group of historians, the SBU launched a
series of public hearings of scholars, journalists and members of the
public in order to shed light and discuss the Ukrainian liberation
movement, attracting newly declassified documents.
In
2008, for instance, the following public hearings were held:
“Operations of secret agents and guerilla groups,” “UPA: its trail in
history”, “Accusations against the Nachtigall Unit – historical truth
or political games,” ”OUN activities in Central and Eastern Ukraine,”
“Role of Jews in the Ukrainian liberation movement.” Public hearings
are open to interested individuals.
Exhibitions
Based
on declassified materials from SBU archives, three road-show topical
exhibitions were arranged. Along with the already showcased “UPA:
History of the Unconquered”, the two others are “Roman Shukhevych” and
“Declassified Memory.”
“Declassified Memory” which portrays
the 1932-1933 Holodomor was showcased in all the regions of Ukraine,
attracting about 100,000 visitors. Exhibition materials have been
handed over to the foreign ministry for translation into other
languages and presentation worldwide.
List of Holodomor perpetrators
The
SBU publicised and placed on its website the first list of high-ranking
Communist party and state officials who were heads of punitive bodies
OGPU (United State Political Department) and GPU (State Political
Department) in 1932-1933 as well as the documents signed by these
officials that formed a legal and organizational base for perpetrating
the Holodomor and massive political repression.
The documents
give conclusive evidence of the fact that the 1932-1933
Holodomor-Genocide was deliberately engineered by the totalitarian
Communist regime.
To make the archive materials on the
organizers and culprits of Holodomor as well as the documents signed by
them more accessible, SBU offered website visitors an opportunity not
only to familiarize themselves with the list of perpetrators but also
access orders, Communist party politburo protocols, secret instructions
to party activists, instructions on how to apply the notorious “Law on
the Five Ears,” directives on arrests in the rural areas, etc.
Such
kind of publication initiates a new project involving SBU archives, and
the Security Service of Ukraine urged the Ukrainian Institute of
National Memory, the State Committee of Archives, lawyers, experts of
other law-enforcement agencies’ archives, Holodomor researchers,
members of NGOs to join in to evaluate the activities of Holodomor
organizers and perpetrators and eventually bring them to justice for
committing crimes in Ukraine.
Cooperation with other countries
The
SBU is involved in cooperation with respective agencies in other
countries of the world, primarily in the former CIS republics, with the
purpose of finding and exchanging information about the victims of
political repression by the totalitarian regime in the USSR.
Accordingly,
the SBU cooperates with the Committee for National Security of
Kazakhstan, having received information regarding 15,675 Ukrainians who
were victims of repression and served their sentences in Kazakhstan in
1920s-1950s.
Notably, the Kazakh security service provided a
list of 7,103 Ukrainians and victims of the Steplah concentration camp
and 915 victims of the Karlah camp (near Karahanda). In addition,
regional branches of the CNS handed over lists of 7,657 Ukrainians who,
according to their archives, were kept in other concentration camps.
Simultaneously,
the SBU handed over to Kazakh authorities a list of 85 natives of
Kazakhstan who had been imprisoned or repressed in the Ukrainian SSR.
Materials on the SBU website
Events
announcements, news on SBU activities, electronic versions of
publications and exhibitions, copies of archive documents, protocols of
work groups and public hearings sessions are available on the SSU
official site at www.ssu.gov.ua
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 2, 2008
SBU material translated into English for the Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Morgan Williams, Editor & Publisher, Washington, D.C., Wednesday, October 15, 2008