Antisovětská propaganda ukrajinských nacionalistů: OUN-B a UPA v letech 1944 – 1951

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyse and interpret the propaganda materials of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought from the end of World War II to the early 1950s against the Soviet forces in western Ukraine. The paper focuses primarily on the analysis and interpretation of archival materials and attempts to conceptualize, in particular, the positions of Ukrainian nationalists in this violent conflict. As the situation of the insurgents deteriorated rapidly from 1945 onwards with the arrival of thousands and thousands of Soviet soldiers and security forces, the radical Ukrainian movement had no choice but to fight the strong Soviet communist power illegally and with the help of propaganda and partisan means. During this period, the Ukrainian propagandists published thousands of pages of printed leaflets, brochures, journals, cartoons, etc. The study discusses the organization of the publishing activities provided by the central and regional propaganda centres of the OUN-B and UPA, the key personalities and the journals, brochures and other materials. Last but not least, the paper is devoted to an analysis of the ideological texts of the most prominent propagandists, including Petro Fedun – Poltava, Osyp Dyakiv – Hornovy and many others, which give us an insight into the Ukrainian nationalist insurgents’ ideas. The most prominent figures among the propagandists can be characterized, on the basis of their texts, as cultivated, conscious and extraordinary personalities who, despite their youth, were highly educated, gifted and possessed political talent and skills. Most of them, however, had died by the beginning of the 1950s.