PUBLISHING AND PROPAGANDA ACTIVITIES OF THE OUN IN THE EDUCATIONAL AREA OF WESTERN UKRAINE (1944–1953)

Abstract

The journalistic activity of the Ukrainian nationalist clandestine in the field of education in the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR in the postwar period is analyzed. On the basis of archival documents and modern historiography, the main methods and means of implementing the ideological influence of the OUN on local youth and the pedagogical intelligentsia have been determined. The goal is to make a general review of propaganda literature for young people and materials of a pedagogical and educational nature that were distributed by the nationalist clandestine. Accordingly, the task is to determine the educational and moral foundations of insurgent literature for schoolchildren and students. In the course of the study, it was substantiated that an important component of the confrontation between the Ukrainian national liberation movement and the Stalinist regime was the educational area, and the influence on the intelligentsia and the youth largely ensured control over the entire society. It was determined that the ideological activity of the rebels in Western Ukraine had significant support and understanding from the local population. On the basis of the source material, it is shown that the publishing activity of the Ukrainian liberation movement was diverse in terms of forms, topics, and goals. In order to satisfy the intellectual needs of the youth, the underground published works on history, philosophy, literature, geography and economics. The reaction of the Soviet leadership to the publishing activities of the national forces in the educational sphere and the methods of their countermeasures, which were mainly of a repressive nature, are highlighted. It was established that the agitational and propagandistic influence of the OUN in the educational area of the Western Ukrainian region significantly complicated the establishment of Soviet power here and the spread of the communist worldview. Along with the armed struggle, the ideological, educational and publishing activities of the Ukrainian insurgents contributed to the preservation and development of the national-state idea in Ukrainian society. Keywords: educational area, OUN, ideology, propaganda, clandestine literature, Soviet power, western regions of the Ukrainian SSR.