Mykola Lebed assumed control of Bandera's faction of the OUN in western Ukraine, which would come to dominate the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) until 1943.
The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was created in 1942 by a faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The UPA fought mostly against the Armia Krajowa of Poland and the Red Army in Western Ukraine. The OUN-UPA men – who were also known as the “Bandera Men” – are accused of several crimes, including killing some 100,000 Poles, Czechs and Jews in the Western Volyn Region. Thousands of Ukrainians who refused to cooperate with them were also murdered. For those activities, Bandera is now considered to be a criminal and a terrorist in Poland. In 1941 UPA leader Bandera urged the Ukrainian people to help Nazis destroy Moscow and the Bolsheviks. In Western Ukraine, many people see Bandera as a hero. Streets in several cities have been named after him and a monument has also been recently been erected in his name in Lviv. But in eastern, southern and central parts of the country Bandera is seen as a traitor and Nazi sympathizer.
International Jubilee Committee
Yaroslav Stetsko led an "International Jubilee Committee" in 1982 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the UPA, which included Azov's Roman Zvarych, Senator Barry Goldwater, former DIA Director Gen. Daniel O. Graham, former SAC commander-in-chief Gen. Bruce K. Holloway, Singlaub, Lev Dobriansky, and Otto von Habsburg.
"This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the creation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). All Ukrainians and their friends throughout the world are solemnly commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the UPA. This commemoration is patronized by the International Jubilee Committee in honour of the heroic national-liberation struggle of Ukraine, which fought on two fronts — against National-socialist Germany and Bolshevik Russia — for its national independence, statehood, sovereignty and freedom.
The composition of this Honorary Committee is as follows:
- Hon. Yaroslav Stetsko — former Prime Minister of Ukraine.
- His Beatitude Audrey — Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek-Orthodox Church of Winnipeg and all Canada.
- His Excellency Maksym Hermaniuk — Archbishop of Winnipeg, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada.
- His Excellency Marko — Archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA.
- His Excellency Konstantyn — Archbishop of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA.
- His Excellency Izydor Boreckyj — Eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church of Toronto and Eastern Canada.
- His Excellency Ivan Prashko — Eparch of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.
- His Royal Highness Otto von Habsburg — Member of the European Parliament, Honorary President of the European Freedom Council.
- Hon. Senator Barry Goldwater — former candidate for President of the USA, General of the US Air Force.
- General Sir Walter Walker (Great Britain) — former Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces-North.
- General Bruce K. Holloway, (USAF) — former Commander-in-Chief of of the Strategic Air Command,
- Gen. Daniel O. Graham, (USA) — former Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency,
- Gen. John K. Singlaub, (USA) — former Commander-in-Chief of United Nations Forces in Korea, President of the United States Council for World Freedom,
- Gen. Robert C. Richardson, III (USAF).
- Dr. Lev E. Dobriansky (Colonel-USAR).
- General Robert Close (Belgium).
- General Wego W. K. Chiang (Republic of China).
- General Adriano Magi Braschi (Italy).
- General W. D. Whitaker (Canada).
- General Daron J. A. Bentinck (Holland),
- General E. J. C. Van Hootegem (Holland).
- General Alejo S. Santos (the Philippines).
- General Praphan Kulapichitr (Thailand).
- Gen. F. P. Serong (Australia).
- General Abdul Sabur Scharaf (Afghan “Mujahideen”) — Commander of the Front Esteklal in Kandahar,
- Commander Mohammad Nabi Saheli (Afghan “Mujahideen”) — Commander of the Insurgents in the Kunar Province.
- General Konstantyn Mandzenko (Ukraine),
- General Sava Yaskevycz (Ukraine),
- Colonel Yuriy Tys-Krokhmaliuk (Ukraine).
- General Stasys Rastikis (Lithuania).
- Colonel Jonas Svedas (Lithuania).
- Colonel Preben Kiihl (Denmark).
- Colonel D. Kosmowicz (Byelorussia).
- Dr. Ivan Bankovsky (Bulgaria) — Head of the Bulgarian Combatants.
- Mr. Vilis A. Hazners (Latvia) — Honorary President of the Latvian Combatants. “Daugavas Vanagi”.
- Colonel Eugen Ren (Ukraine) — Commander of the Units of Ukrainian Nationalists (DUN),
- Mr. Vasyl Ninovskyj (Ukraine) — DUN and UPA. Mr. Sviatoslav Frolyak, representative of Ukrainian-Combatants of the Canadian Army.
Representatives of the UPA Warriors:
- Mykola Kowalczyn,
- Mykola Kulyk,
- Lev Futala,
- Dr. Bohdan KrukMelodia,
- Stepan Goliash,
- Volodymyr Makar,
- Yuriy Borets,
- Petro Mytsak,
- Nadia Goliash,
- Mykola Hryckowian,
- Mychajlo Shashkevych,
- Mychajlo Chereshnovskyj.
- Prof. Dr. Roman Osinchuk and Dr. Bohdan Dzerovycz — Members of the Sovereign Ukrainian Government (1941).
- Prof. Lev Shankovsky — Head of the Initiatory Committee for the creation of the Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR).
- Prof. Avhustyn Shtefan — Head of the Parliament of the Carpatho-Ukrainian State.
- Hon. Dr. Ku Cheng-Kang (Republic of China) — Honorary Chairman of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL).
- Hon. John Wilkinson, M.P. (Great Britain) — President of the European Freedom Council (EFC).
- Mrs. Slava Stetsko, M.A, (Ukraine).
- Dr. Dimitr Waltscheff (Bulgaria).
- Dr. Baymirza Hay it (Turkestan).
- Dr. Basil Mailat (Rumania) — Central Committee of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN).
- Mr. Osami Kuboki (Japan) — former President of WACL, President of the International Federation for “Victory over Communism”.
- Senator Dr. Cihad Fehti Tevetoglu (Turkey) — Secretary General of the World Refugees League, Member of the Honorary Presidium of the EFC.
- Prof. Dr. Woo Jae-Seung (Korea) -— WACL Secretary-General.
- Veli Kayum-Khan (Turkestan) — President of the National Turkestanian Unity Committee.
- Mr. Enrique Matrinez Codo (Argentina) — world renowned author of a book on the UPA, entitled — “Insurgents Behind the Iron Curtain”.
- Dr. Ante Bonifacic (Croatia) — Honorary President of the Croatian Liberation Movement.
- Dr. Mykola Klymyshyn and Mr. Julian Zablockyj — Representatives of the Executive of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN).
- Mr. Osyp Tiushka, M.A. — Member of the OUN Executive (1941).
- Prof. Simon Wozhakivskyj — regional OUN leader in Kirovohrad, organizer of the detachment of the UPA-South.
- Mr. Sviatoslav Karavansky — prisoner of Russian concentration camps for over 30 years for his activity in the OUN, a writer and a freedom-fighter.
- Dr. Roman Malashchuk — Chairman of the World Ukrainian Liberation Front.
- Mr. Ivan Bazarko, M.A. — President of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians.
- Mrs. Lidia Burachynska — Chairman of the World Federation of Ukrain ian Women’s Organizations (SFUZhO).
- Mr. Yaroslav Hayvas — Secretary of the Ukrainian National Council in Kyiv.
- Mrs. Stephania Bukshovana — Chairman of the World Federation of Friends of the National Centre of the Ukrainian National Republic in Exile.
- Mr. Oleksa Kalynnyk — Association of the Federation of Ukrainian Political Prisoners.
- Mr. Yevhen Hanovskyj — President of the World Executive Board of the Ukrainian Youth Association (SUM).
- Mr. Roman Zvarycz — World Federation of Ukrainian Students (CeSUS)."1
Bibliography
- Breitman, Richard and Norman J.W. Goda. Hitler's Shadow: Nazi War Criminals, US Intelligence, and the Cold War. National Archives, 2010. http://www.archives.gov/iwg/reports/hitlers-shadow.pdf.
- 1The Ukrainian Review, Vol. XXX. No. 4, Winter 1982. http://diasporiana.org.ua/wp-content/uploads/books/14392/file.pdf.