OUN’S EXPEDITION GROUPS IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN REGIONS OF UKRAINE

Abstract

The OUN marching groups take a special place in the history of the Ukrainian liberation movement. Those organized groups consisted of the nationalistic activists from the Western Ukraine and the Ukrainian immigrants from many European countries. During the period of World War II (in the summer and autumn months of 1941) they were led to the central, eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. Their purpose was establishing Ukrainian authorities, local authorities; organizing national civilian and cultural life on the territories occupied by the Nazi Germany. The marching groups were formed by both the OUN under the leadership of Colonel A.Melnyk and the OUN-R led by S.Bandera. The article covers the OUN marching groups’ deployment and the main directions of their activity in the northern and eastern regions of Ukraine. On the basis of the historiographical sources the authors have come to the following conclusion. The active actions of the OUN underground were encouraged by the German administration’s inability to manage the occupied territories. The local population representatives’ engagement into the collaboration also played its part in that process. The downside of this activity was the German security agencies’ repressive policies that resulted in the death of the majority of the OUN underground members.