How the Verkhovna Rada Gave Privileges to the Participants of the Holocaust and the Volyn Massacre

Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

23:11:09
17/12/2018

strana.ua

On December 6th the Verkhovna Rada appointed privileges for participants of OUN and UPA, and at the same time detached these privileges from accusations of genocide.

Now banderists from UPA and any henchmen who served the nazis who were included in the list of “preferential” nationalist organisations are now entitled to these payments. At the same time, those who participated in the mass murder of Poles and Jews and also joined the ranks of UPA can also count on receiving them. 

Such a draft law was adopted by the parliament. It made changes to the law “On the Status of Veterans of War and Guarantees of Their Social Protection”. The document concerns strengthening social protection for “participants of the fight for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century”.

“Strana” describes what this law is about and how an ambiguous amendment crept into it. 

The list of “canonical” nationalists

The essence of the document lies in securing the status of participants of military operations for fighters of nationalist organisations who acted in Western Ukraine during WW2. 

In the explanatory note it is specified that among them there are: representatives of the Ukrainian Military Organisation (UMO), Organisation of the Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), Ukrainian Insurgent Army of Ataman Taras Borovets (Bulba) “Polissian Sich”, and the Ukrainian People’s Revolutionary Army (UNRA).

Statistical data is provided in the draft law. Thus, according to the information of the All-Ukrainian brotherhood of OUN-UPA named after General-Khorunzhyi Roman Shukhevych as of May 23rd 2018 “the number of specified participants of the fight for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century from among the armed units of OUN and UPA” totals 1201 persons, including in regions and districts:

  • The Kiev Regional Brotherhood of Veterans of OUN and UPA and other national liberation formations – 13;
  • The Lvov Regional Brotherhood of veterans of the national liberation fight – 105;
  • Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of the Carpathian region – 191;
  • Brotherhood of veterans of OUN-UPA of the Volyn region named after Colonel Klim Savur – 164;
  • Donetsk Regional Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of General Roman Shukhevych  and Taras Chuprinka – 9;
  • Zaporozhye Koshevoy Council of the Brotherhood of Soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army – 23 in total;
  • The Cherkassy regional organisation of the All-Ukrainian Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of General Roman Shukhevych and Taras Chuprinka – 18;
  • OUN-UPA Brotherhood of General Roman Shukhevych  and Taras Chuprinka in the Rovno region – 217;
  • Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of the Odessa Council – 7;
  • The Ternopol regional organisation of the All-Ukrainian Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of General Roman Shukhevych and Taras Chuprinka “Lysonya” – 372;
  • The Rakhov Settlement Brotherhood of OUN-UPA – 4;
  • Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of the Dnepropetrovsk Council – 5;
  • Brotherhoods of OUN-UPA of the Bukovina area of the Chernovtsi region – 41;
  • Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of the Zhytomyr region – 27;
  • The Nikolaev regional organisation of the All-Ukrainian Brotherhood of OUN-UPA of General Roman Shukhevych and Taras Chuprinka – 2;
  • The Chernigov Settlement Brotherhood of OUN-UPA – 3.
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“Crimes against humanity” were removed from the law

One more amendment deserves special attention.

People’s Deputies specify that in the law “On the Status of Veterans of War and Guarantees of Their Social Protection” there already is a norm that recognises the soldiers of UPA in 1941-1944  as participants of military operations – in the event that they didn’t commit crimes against peace and humanity.

Legislators specify that UPA fought from 1942 to the 1950’s. That’s why it was suggested to change this norm – and to replace it by mentioning that all veterans of the specified nationalist organisations have the right for privileges without restrictions. 

Here is how this amendment looks in the comparative table attached to the law. The column on the left – participants of military operations and, respectively, recipients of privileges before the adoption of the current law, and the column on the right – afterwards. 

Translation:

Comparative table of the Ukrainian draft law “On amendments to the Law of Ukraine ‘On the Status of Veterans of War and Guarantees of Their Social Protection’ to strengthen the social protection of participants of the fight for the independence of Ukraine in the 20th century”

As we see, one essential point disappeared from the new edition – the reservation that privileges aren’t provided to those who committed crimes against peace and humanity. I.e., the direct reference to the Holocaust, the Volyn massacre, and other types of genocide, which not only Germans, but also Ukrainian nationalists can be involved in, disappeared. 

This amendment was made by the people’s deputy from the Radical Party, the deputy head of the Committee on Affairs of Veterans and Invalids Yury-Bogdan Shukhevych. 

“The committee added one more amendment (to the draft law), I ask to include under the shorthand report there, in addition to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, ‘Polissian Sich’ of Bulba-Borovets, and the Ukrainian People’s Revolutionary Army, also to add participants of the Ukrainian Military Organisation, and the ‘Carpathian Sich‘ National Defense Organization“

said Shukhevych

The procedure of providing the status of a participant of military operations to specified persons will be established by the Cabinet of Ministers. The law will come into force three months from the date of its publication. 

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