Roman Shuhevich One of the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists Date of Birth: 30.06.1907 Country: Ukraine

Biography of Roman Shukhevych

Roman Shukhevych, one of the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists, was born in 1905 in the town of Krakovets in a family of a lawyer. He studied at the Lviv Ukrainian Gymnasium, where his grandfather was a professor. At the age of seventeen, Shukhevych joined the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO) in 1923. He learned about the role and goals of this organization directly from Ataman Konovalec. After graduating from the gymnasium, Roman entered the Gdansk Technical College and then transferred to the Lviv Polytechnic Institute. It was in Lviv that he began engaging in terrorist activities. In October 1926, together with Bogdan Pidchayny, Roman killed the school curator Jan Sobinsky. The perpetrators of the attack managed to escape punishment, and two innocent people were convicted instead. The impunity "emboldened" Shukhevych, and in the late 1920s, he became an active participant in a series of "expropriations" (robberies of government institutions). It is said that Shukhevych's excessive zeal made the direct supervisor of the UVO, Knysh, warn the overly active nationalist about possible "undesirable consequences". At the end of 1929, the future leader of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) underwent training at an Italian school for spies. It was there that he mastered the complex skills of sabotage work and met Stepan Bandera, the leader of the "young" OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists). The skills acquired in Italy proved useful to both graduates of the spy school in the 1930s when a series of terrorist attacks swept through Galicia. Bandera and Shukhevych became the inspirers and organizers of these "high-profile cases". The leaders of the "young" OUN gained notoriety for the assassination of the Polish Minister of Internal Affairs Peratsky. Bandera was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Lviv trial of 23 nationalists, while Shukhevych received a mere four years. However, he did not serve this sentence - he was released two years later under amnesty. Upon his release in 1937, the future general decided not to tempt fate and hastily left Poland. He moved to Germany and enrolled in special courses at the Military Academy in Munich. After completing them, Shukhevych was awarded the rank of Hauptsturmführer (captain) in the SS and became an officer in the Wehrmacht. In 1939, the fascists occupied Poland, freeing the leaders of the "young generation of the OUN." This ambitious "youth" tried to seize power within the organization of Ukrainian nationalists, which led to a split and the formation of a new regional executive from the Bandera followers. Roman Shukhevych became a member of the "government" of the OUN-B, leading the regional branch in the western Ukrainian territories occupied by the fascists. At the same time, preparations intensified among the OUN members for the invasion of the USSR. The "Nachtigall" unit was formed in Poland. Its commander was appointed Oberleutnant Hertser, while Bandera appointed Shukhevych. Roman's rating among the Bandera followers was very high - the commander of "Nachtigall" became a member of the main leadership in April 1941 and headed the military branch's headquarters. On June 18, 1941, "Eastern specialist" Oberlander and Shukhevych swore allegiance to the Fuhrer, and soon the soldiers of the Ukrainian nationalist legion began their dirty "work". Under Shukhevych's command, "Nachtigall" reached Vinnytsia, and then the Nazis found a new application for them. The "legionnaires" were trained in Frankfurt an der Oder and then, combined with "colleagues" from "Roland" in "Schutzmannschaft Battalion-201", were sent to fight Belarusian partisans. Shukhevych was awarded the Iron Cross by Hitler for his diligence in "war labor". In late 1942 and early 1943, under the leadership of Dmitry Klyachkovsky (Klim Savur), the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was formed. Soon, Roman Shukhevych moved here, becoming the chief of the main military staff of the "insurgents". In December 1943, he was appointed the commander-in-chief of the UPA, with the nickname Taras Chuprinka. When the retreat of the Nazis from western Ukrainian lands became a reality, the leaders of the UPA became concerned about their fate. Some planned to escape with their owners, while others prepared to launch a "great action" in the rear of the Red Army (as the Nazis generously supplied the OUN members with weapons). Their leader was Roman Shukhevych, who decided to stand to the end on the advice of Metropolitan Sheptytsky. Meanwhile, Chuprinka received an order from Bandera marked "top secret" three times. According to it, anyone suspected of wanting to join the Soviets should be "liquidated". The SB (Security Service) was assigned by Shukhevych to carry out this task. At the end of 1944, when the entire Ukraine was liberated from the Nazis, Shukhevych welcomed guests. Together with Bandera's envoys Lopatinsky, Chizhevsky, and Skorobogatov, the UPA general visited Hauptman Kirn. The Nazi captain handed Shukhevych five million rubles, weapons, explosives, a radio, and medication. Meanwhile, the government of Soviet Ukraine appealed to the OUN members to lay down their weapons, and then offered to negotiate an end to the fighting. In early 1945, Shukhevych was forced to agree to negotiations, as not only ordinary members of the OUN, but also many UPA squad leaders, made it clear to their leaders that they were willing to engage with the authorities even without their consent. The negotiations lasted for five hours, but at the end of them, Shukhevych's representatives (Maievsky and Busol) stated that they were not authorized to sign any documents, claiming that the conversation was preliminary and informational, and the final response would come later. Soon, Maievsky and Busol were removed from "leadership positions" in the UPA. Maievsky, assessing the situation, took his own life, and Busol was soon eliminated by the SB, staging a gang attack. In early 1948, the UPA practically ceased to exist - some of its fighters tried to make their way through Poland and Czechoslovakia to West Germany, while others surrendered to the authorities. But Shukhevych had nowhere to run. He and a group of subordinates continued to terrorize the population of the Lviv, Ternopil, and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. Apparently, sensing that the end was near, Shukhevych and his comrades-in-arms tried to "enjoy themselves to the fullest." Former OUN guide in Stryi, P. Uger, recalled: "The sergeants behaved particularly immorally. There was not a day without revelry, drunkenness, wild orgies, and killings. Venereal diseases began to spread. It is known that the commander of the UPA, Chuprinka, himself was treated for a disease that the people called 'dirty.' Nevertheless, Tur (Shukhevych's nickname while leading the OUN on Ukrainian lands) understood that this could not go on forever. Fearing for his life, he constantly moved with security. And then, in the early hours of March 5, 1950, he "let his guard down". Feeling completely safe in his lover Anna Didyk's house, Shukhevych dismissed his escort. Some time later, the door was knocked on by NKVD agents... Half a year later, Bandera was informed that the head commander of the UPA, General-Horunzhy Taras Chuprinka, also known as the head of the secretariat of the UHOR (Ukrainian Liberation Head Council) Roman Lozovsky, also known as the head of the OUN branch on Ukrainian lands, Tur, and also the son of Lviv lawyer Roman Shukhevych, was killed while attempting to escape on March 5, 1950.