THE ORGANIZATION OF THE STRUGGLE OF REPRESSIVE-PUNITIVE BODIES AGAINST THE UKRAINIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT: UNKNOWN INSTRUCTIVE DOCUMENTS (1945)

Abstract

Summary. The purpose of the article is to introduce the instructive documents of the Soviet repressive-punitive bodies about the organization, forms and methods of the struggle against the Ukrainian liberation movement in the western regions of Ukraine. The methodology of the study is based on the principles of historicism, systematism, scientificity, verification, authoritative objectivity, moderate narrative constructivism, as well as the use of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special historical (historical-genetic, historical-typological, historical-systemic) methods. The scientific novelty is that the unknown instructive documents about the organization of the fight of repressive and punitive bodies were introduced for the first time – a decree of the troops of Lviv Military District (January 13, 1945) on comprehensive assistance to the Soviet party organs, PCIA and PCSS structures in the struggle against OUN and URA and the instructions of the Deputy People’s Commissar of the USSR, Lieutenant General Strokach, submitted at the meeting of the commanders of units of 82 cd (November 25, 1945). Conclusions. Thus, the repressive-punitive system in the struggle against the liberation movement on the Western Ukrainian lands used a number of forms and methods that were «honed» during the struggle. Accordingly, they were marked by efficiency and caused considerable losses to the nationalists. The hopes of the Soviet administration for the swift and complete destruction of the liberation movement were not justified since it had the support of the population and, in its turn, chose the optimal model of functioning in the relevant period. That is why the repressive and punitive apparatus changed its tasks while fighting against Ukrainian nationalists. However, throughout the whole period of the struggle the main focus was on the forceful resolution of the conflict. Thus, if large-scale operations were carried out at the initial stage of the struggle, then in late 1946 – early 1947, security forces conducted operations with small maneuvering units against specific insurgent units or individual figures of the underground (district, supradistrict and regional (provides) branches of the OUN), dislocation of which was noticed by agenda. These changes allowed the Soviet security forces, operating in small groups, with accurate agency data to cover a larger territory and eliminate the remaining nationalists. Recently, we have found two documents that expand the scope of the struggle of the Soviet system with the Ukrainian liberation movement, and are at odds with the official picture presented in official Soviet propaganda. It should be noted that the published documents are an important source for a comprehensive study of the repressive policies of the Soviet administration in the Western Ukrainian region in general, and the confrontation with the Ukrainian liberation movement in particular.