Abstract
This paper is devoted to the analysis of the narrative displayed to the mass Soviet reader of the anti-Polish ethnic cleansing conducted by Ukrainian nationalists in 1943 in Volhynia. The sources used in this paper include the most widely published books of partisan commanders who were active in the region. These texts are examined as sources aimed to shape public opinion about the Ukrainian nationalists after the war. For the Soviet public, the memoirs of Soviet partisans operating in North-West Ukraine in 1943–1944 along with propagandist anti-nationalist literature were the main source of information about the Volhynian Massacre. In these books, the stories about the massacre appear, above all, to be a propaganda tool. The comparison of the depictions of the Volhynian Massacre provided by partisan authors with modern scholarly works shows us intentional distortions by the former. It may perhaps seem paradoxical to note that the partisan memoirists, who tended to discredit the Ukrainian nationalists, preferred to blame them only as perpetrators, but not as the initiators of the anti-Polish massacres in Volhynia. The anti-Polish “actions” were described primarily as a direct initiative of German occupational authorities, whereas the detachments of nationalists’ organisations were portrayed as its faithful executors. The memoirists stressed the disinterestedness and unwillingness of ordinary Ukrainian peasants to participate in the massacres and the alienation of its organizers from the broad masses of working people. In this light, the Soviet partisan memoirs give us little help in understanding the Volhynian massacre itself but serve as an excellent example of Soviet propaganda efforts aimed at modelling representations of the past.
Highlights
Résumé : Cet article est consacré à l’analyse de la représentation proposée au lecteur soviétique du nettoyage ethnique anti-polonais réalisé par les nationalistes ukrainiens en 1943 en Volhynie
Nationalists were usually accused of collaborating with the Nazis, working for “world reaction,” seeking to restore the bourgeois order, murdering Soviet activists and civilians etc.2. Among these actual and fictional deeds of Ukrainian nationalists, the real and biggest crime of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN, hereafter always the branch controlled by Stepan Bandera) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was almost totally neglected in Soviet propaganda —namely the Volhynian Massacre (Portnov 2016)
In the spring of 1943 in German-occupied Volhynia partisans of the UPA controlled by the OUN started ethnic cleansing in Polish villages
Summary
The Volhynian Massacre did not become the subject of historical research in the USSR, there were some Soviet publications that dealt with the topic. Some of the most famous Soviet partisan commanders started to write their books even before the war with Germany came to an end The reason why they were so eager to share with the readers their stories about very recent events was simple enough. It should be borne in mind that excepting Vershigora, these partisan commanders were not professional writers While reading their books, as well as most other Soviet war memoirs, we should remember that these texts usually had two co-authors. In preparation of the Russian translation of Bakradze’s memoirs (initially it was published in Georgian) Vershigora participated To understand these texts, it is important to note that direct reminiscences (or episodes given as reminiscences) in them are accompanied by large explanatory fragments devoted to a general description of the situation according to the authors in the region during the war years. As far as I was able to track, episodes related to the situation in Volhynia were not excluded; as I will show with the example of Fёdorov’s text, amendments with ideological implications could be made
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
More From: Connexe : les espaces postcommunistes en question(s)
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.