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Feb 5, 2010

217

LWÓW

Poland

Thirdly, the German and Soviet perpetrators were different. German genocide was carried out entirely by "specialized" criminal formations in uniform, in particular the socalled Einsotzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei or the SD (Sicherheitsdiertst), and the Soviets used NKVD troops. This was not how it was with the Ukrainian genocide. The crimes there were committed by two major elements. Dominating the scene were the Ukrainian Insurgent Army of Stefan Bandera and, in Volhynia, the competing forces of Bulba and Melnik as well as the Ukrainian police set up by the Germans in the latter half of 1941 (which deserted in early 1943). But in major genocide operations, there participated thousands upon thousands of local Ukrainian peasants, including the so-called Kushtchov Self-Defence Unils (Somooboronni Kushtchooi Viddily), oslensibly peasant "self-defence" unils which were in fact used by the Ukrainian Insurgenl Army to assist in genocide against the Poles. Added to this were bands armed with axes, pitchforks, etc., often composed of neighbours, who formed a kind of Ukrainian levy in mass. As if this were not enough, these bands were often accompanied by Ukrainian women, youths, and even children, who busied themselves with looting, on a massive scale, arson and finishing off of Poles who had been wounded but survived 18. This took place despite, at times, years of supposed mutual friendship, or bonds of gratitude that had existed towards certain Poles 19

It is for this reason that I would qualify the genocide in Volhynia during World War II as being clearly Ukrainion genocide, and not, for example, genocide committed by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the Bandera bands, Ukrainian nationalists and so Forth: Contrary to what is often claimed by Wiktor Poliszczuk in his publications (he is later quoted highly favourably in lhis Summary), the genocide in Volhynia - as is documented by the Siemaszko work - was carried out by a broad spectrum of Ukrainians from that area and not only by the "fighters" of the Ukrainian Insurgenl Army. As was already mentioned, there took pari in it thousands and thousands of ordinary peasants (often forced into it by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army), including unfortunately, hordes of greedy women, adolescents and even children at times.

However, it must be made clear that: 1) The claim is not being made that the majority of Volhynian Ukrainians participated in the genocide and the acts that accompanied it, especially as the genocide against the Poles had to be limited, generally, to the countryside (urban areas being firmly held by German garrisons); nevertheless, a significant segment of the Ukrainians of Volhynia were involved. And so the facts alone, as well as the exigency of honesty, demand, or at the very least allow, that we speak in this case about Ukrainians as such, just as the president of Germany, Roman Herzog, quoted later on, does not restrict himself to speaking of crimes committed by the Nazis, etc., but of the crimes of Germans tout court. 2) At the same time, we must express the greatest respect for those Ukrainians who, as is well attested to by numerous examples to be found in the Siemaszko work, aided the Poles by warning them, hiding them briefly, or transporting them to the nearest town. For help of this kind the fanatics in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalisls (especially the notorious Security Service of the OUN, or Slushba Bezpeky OUN) oflen punished their own compatriots by killing them. But all that help was, unfortunately, only a drop in the ocean in the face of the tens of thousands of Poles murdered at that time.

Fourthly, special mention must be made of the viciously criminal stance taken in cases of mixed Polish-Ukrainian marriages. In such cases the Ukrainian assassins often murdered, wherever possible, whole families, including the children, or, at least, the Polish partner. Not only this, but there were instances where the Ukrainian husband (or even the wife) was forced to kill the Polish partner with his own hands 20. Such barbarity was never applied in similar cases of mixed marriage, by the Soviets 21, or in the case of mixed German-Jewish marriages by the Germans. Among these latter, despite the almost total Ausrottung of the German Jews, most of these couples, though severely persecuted and forced into starvation, nevertheless managed to survive the war 22. A characteristic example of this would be the well-known case of Prof. Karl Jaspers, who was married to a Jewess. The couple lived for the years of the war in a tragic state of Suizidbereitschoft (readiness to commit suicide), but neverlesess survived 23. Ordering a German man or woman to kill his or her Jewish pariner was unthinkableUkrainian genocide committed against the Poles during World War II surpassed German and Soviet genocide in certain respects: it was marked by the utmost ruthlessness and barbarity, and, upon its completion, up until the present day, it has been denied or, at best, presented with reminders that all is "relative" or other such evasions..