| Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council Українська головна визвольна рада Ukrainska holovna vyzvolna rada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | |
| Type | Unicameral house of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army |
| History | |
| Founded | 15 July 1944 (1944-07-15) |
| Disbanded | 1950 |
| Preceded by | |
| Succeeded by | Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic |
| Leadership | |
| President | Kyrylo Osmak [uk], USRP |
| First Vice-President | Vasyl Mudry, UNDO |
| Second Vice-President | Ivan Hrynokh, UGCC |
| Third Vice-President | Ivan Vovchuk [uk], OUN |
| Structure | |
| Political groups | |
| Meeting place | |
| Inconsistent | |
The Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (Ukrainian: Українська головна визвольна рада, romanized: Ukrainska holovna vyzvolna rada; abbreviated UHVR) was a secretive legislature and de facto provisional government in areas under the control of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) during and shortly after World War II. Including members of various political parties, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the UPA itself, the UHVR served to convince both Ukrainians and the international community was a serious group concerned with consensus-building and the establishment of an independent state.
History
The Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council was formed on 15 July 1944 in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, uniting the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) within lands under the control of Nazi Germany. The UHVR was placed in charge of directing resistance efforts in areas under German control. This brought it into contradiction with the People's Revolutionary Liberation Organisation (NVRO), a left-wing group active in Volhynia, and it was soon determined that only one group could be responsible for coordinating Ukrainian nationalist activities. The NVRO was formally absorbed into the UHVR by a November 1944 act of the latter.
The UHVR was not composed wholly of or led by the OUN or UPA, nor individuals from western Ukraine, the OUN's traditional support base; the presidency was held by Kyrylo Osmak, a member of the Ukrainian Socialist-Revolutionary Party and a former member of the Central Rada from Poltava Oblast, while the vice-presidents were members of the centrist Ukrainian National Democratic Alliance party (Vasyl Mudry), the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (Ivan Hrynokh), and the OUN (Ivan Vovchuk [uk]) The only major party in Ukraine not to participate in the UHVR was the wing of the OUN loyal to Andriy Melnyk. Roman Shukhevych, leader of the UPA, was head of the UHVR's general secretariat and tasked with forming a government.
After the end of the Second World War, the council co-ordinated resistance efforts in Soviet Ukraine. It also organised the boycott of the Soviet-sponsored elections in 1946. After the killing of Shukhevych in 1950 by Soviet MGB forces during battle, most members of the council were arrested, and the council ceased to exist.
Members of UHVR abroad, led by Hrynokh, formed External Representation group of the council (ZP UHVR), which popularised the efforts of the Ukrainian dissident movement in the West.
The ZP UVHR had more long lasting success, with former OUN-B leader Mykola Lebed linked to it. In 1951, in Munich, the UHVR began publishing the bi-weekly newspaper "Suchasna Ukraina" and the monthly "Ukrainian Literary Gazette", on the basis of which the magazine Suchasnist was published in 1961, affiliated with CIA-linked "Prolog Corporation". It was an important pan-ideological magazine for the Ukrainian diaspora during the Cold War.
Notes
- The UHVR did not have a permanent location as a result of changing conditions during World War II and the corresponding anti-Soviet insurgency by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. It met in various regions of western Ukraine, holding its founding congress in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains.
References
- ^ Vovk, Oleksandr. "Короткий нарис діяльності УПА та її запілля на ПЗУЗ і в прилеглих регіонах у 1943—1946 рр" [Brief outline of UPA and its underground activities in the PZUZ and surrounding regions, 1943–1946]. Period of the OUN and UPA's Armed Struggle (in Ukrainian) (8): 198.
- Shurkhalo, Dmytro (14 July 2019). "Українська головна визвольна рада (УГВР): 75-річчя повстанського парламенту" [Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR): 75-year anniversary of the insurgent parliament]. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- ^ "1944 – створено УГВР" (in Ukrainian). Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
- "Українська Головна Визвольна Рада. Таємні протоколи" [The Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council: Secret Protocols]. Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine (in Ukrainian). 10 July 2024. Retrieved 13 December 2024.
- Marchuk, Ihor (2009). Командир УПА-Північ Дмитро Клячківський-«Клим Савур» [Dmytro Klyachkivsky-Klym Savur, commander of UPA-North] (in Ukrainian). Rivne: Oleh Zek. pp. 118–121. ISBN 978-966-2096-57-6.
- Kuzio, Taras (March–June 2012). "U.S. support for Ukraine's liberation during the Cold War". Communist and Post-Communist Studies. 45 (1/2). University of California Press: 51–64. doi:10.1016/j.postcomstud.2012.02.007. ISSN 0967-067X. JSTOR 48609660. Archived from the original on 26 January 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
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