The purpose of the article is to analyze the activities of the national organizations of Kharkiv region in the struggle for independent Ukraine both against the USSR and against Germany during the Second World War and to clarify their role in preventing the export of the Ukrainian Ostarbaiters to Germany. The research methodology is based on the use of the historiographical analysis method, the historical-systemic and problem-chronological method, the method of critical analysis. The scientific novelty of the research consists in the fact that for the first time the systematization and analysis of materials dedicated to the activities of the nationalist movement in the Kharkiv region was carried out in order to determine the role of national organizations in helping ostarbaiters. Conclusions. A special role in the development of the nationalist movement in the Kharkiv region during the World War ІІ belongs to the Derivative groups of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Kharkiv residents revived the activities of "Prosvita" and organized the "Kharkov Civic Committee". Their main task was the restoration of the independence of the Ukrainian state and the recognition of its legitimacy by the Soviet and German authorities. In Kharkiv, in order to achieve a similar goal, representatives of nationalist organizations tried to occupy positions in German authorities, especially in particular Kharkiv residents. Among the large number of lands captured by Germany, it was Ukraine that became the source of replenishing the labor force for the benefit of the Third Reich. Nationalist organizations contributed to preventing the deportation of the population of Kharkiv region to work in Germany. The activities in this direction of V. Dolenka and M. Gorban, who tried to solve it through their influence on the members of the "Kharkov Public Committee" and "Prosvita", who worked in the bodies of the occupying German authorities, should be highlighted.