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This new book is a historical account of the 14th Waffen-SS Galicia Division (also known as the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army). In 1943/1944 a determined group of young men and women in Galicia volunteered to serve in a combat division destined for eastern front combat. Their goal: to engage and destroy the Soviet hordes menacing their homeland and to counter Nazi Germany's subjugation of their country. Although initially Galicia's Volunteers would serve in a German sponsored military formation, in actuality the volunteers of the Galicia division wanted to engage all hostile ideologies-both from the east and west-in order to secure a free independent Ukraine. The division's history is presented along with a human aspect of what the soldiers endured during the brutal battles on the eastern front.
The first volume of a two part set on the history of the Galician Division is based on over 25 years research by accomplished historian Michael James Melnyk who has sourced additional new and hitherto unseen original material on all aspects of the Division's history from archives and private collections in Europe, Australia, North American and Canada. Complemented by the individual accounts and contributions of many veterans which add an engaging personal dimension, this new definitive two volume account supersedes his earlier divisional history published in 2002. As a recognised authority on the subject he has produced the most reliable and exhaustive account to date lavishly illustrated with many rare and unique photos and crammed full of details, notes and references in this last ever book to include direct and new material from the participants.
Of all the 'foreign' Waffen-SS divisions, the 14th has arguably maintained a higher public profile and continued to attract more attention in the UK, USA, Canada, Russia, Ukraine and Poland than any other. Drawing extensively upon a wide variety of sources, the author details the abortive history of German/Ukrainian relations during the first half of the twentieth century which preceded the formation of the Galician Division in the spring of 1943. Set firmly within the political context of the time, this work demonstrates that from the outset both German and Ukrainian architects of the Division sought to exploit the formation for their own conflicting agendas. The author gives a careful assessment of the Division's military engagements and explains the reasons for its tragic demise at the Battle of Brody, emphasizing how the military initiative and vast material superiority of the Red Army led to its virtual destruction during the Soviet summer offensive of 1944. The book concludes with the cessation of hostilities, when the Division, despite being the focus of Stalin's attention, escaped the forced repatriation operations undertaken by the Western Allies in the immediate postwar period. Key Features A widely-researched, accurate, detailed and impartial account of a particular Waffen-SS division which continues to fascinate Contains detailed appendices Presents over 250 previously unpublished photographs, combined with maps, documents and other illustrations Set to become one of the most important English-language books to appear on the Waffen-SS in recent years
Between 1950 and 1955, thousands of veterans from the notorious German-led, Ukrainian 14th Waffen-SS Galicia Division emigrated to North America with the full consent of the governments despite immigration regulations in force at the time that forbade entry to all who served in any branch of the SS. The Jewish community fought a brief, but futile, battle to persuade those governments to deny them entry, denouncing them as a "sinister legion" of "bloodthirsty murderers"-war criminals who had engaged in the mass murder of thousands of innocent civilians. On the other hand, a well-organized body of Division supporters insisted there was nothing "sinister" or "murderous" about the young men who had volunteered to serve in its ranks. They declared them exceptional soldiers who obeyed the international rules of war, praised them for being dedicated soldiers who harbored no hatred for Jews, guarded no concentration camps, and committed no crimes against humanity. At issue then was the nature of the Division and its war record. Were they "pure soldiers" as many of their supporters contended, or were they, to use Daniel Goldhagen’s phrase, among Hitler’s willing executioners? Pure Soldiers or Bloodthirsty Murdererstraces the 14th Waffen-SS Galicia Division’s fortunes from its formation in April 1943, to its surrender to the British in May 1946, from immigrant farm workers in Britain, Canada and the USA, to Cold War CIA assassins. Along the way, it attempts to shed some light on this acrimonious dispute that has continued to the present day. Sol Littmanis former Canadian Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, author ofWar Criminal on Trial, founding editor ofThe Canadian Jewish News, the First Director of B’nai Brith Canada’s "League for Human Rights," and also served with the Anti-Defamation League in the United States.
This book is the story of one death among many in the war in eastern Ukraine. Its author is a historian of war whose brother was killed at the frontline in 2017 while serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Olesya Khromeychuk takes the point of view of a civilian and a woman, perspectives that tend to be neglected in war narratives, and focuses on the stories that play out far away from the warzone. Through a combination of personal memoir and essay, Khromeychuk attempts to help her readers understand the private experience of this still ongoing but almost forgotten war in the heart of Europe and the private experience of war as such. This book will resonate with anyone battling with grief and the shock of the sudden loss of a loved one.
Galicia was created at the first partition of Poland in 1772 and disappeared in 1918. Yet, in slightly over a century, the idea of Galicia came to have meaning for both the peoples who lived there and the Habsburg government that ruled it. Indeed, its memory continues to exercise a powerful fascination for those who live in its former territories and for the descendants of those who emigrated out of Galicia. The idea of Galicia was largely produced by the cultures of two cities, Lviv and Cracow. Making use of travelers' accounts, newspaper reports, and literary works, Wolff engages such figures as Emperor Joseph II, Metternich, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Ivan Franko, Stanisław Wyspiański, Tadeusz "Boy" Żeleński, Isaac Babel, Martin Buber, and Bruno Schulz. He shows the exceptional importance of provincial space as a site for the evolution of cultural meanings and identities, and analyzes the province as the framework for non-national and multi-national understandings of empire in European history.
Ukrainian Galicia was home to Poles, Jews and Ukrainians for hundreds of years. It was witness to both World Wars, starvation, mass killings and independence movements. Family members of the authors include survivors of German concentration camps and the GULAG prisons. They fought in Austrian, Polish, Russian and German armies, as well as in the Ukrainian pro-independence army. They were arrested by the Gestapo and the NKVD, tortured and even declared dead. They survived against the most unlikely odds. Their stories, shadows and secrets permeate this book and provide a rich background to some of the most dramatic events humanity has witnessed.
BAREAKING THE CHAINS is a full account of the 14th Waffem-SS Division, formed by Ukranians, initially from the province of Galacia but later encompassing the whole of the Ukraine. The history of this unit is set uupon a particularly full discussion of the political background of the Ukraine, especially the Ukranian nationalist movements of the post-World War 1 period. These movements, especially the OUN (Organisation of Ukarinian Nationalists), were fundamental in providing the basis for the new division being for the creation of two early Ukranian formations (Roland and Nachtigall battalions) which fougtht at the outset of the Russian campaign. After the German take-over in the Ukraine, many other units were set up, Notably the German Police 'Schuma' battalions and many German Army volunteer units, generically termed Osttruppen (East Troops). These units are also fully covered in the book - as far as information is avaliable. However, in the later German political system in the major part of the Ukraine, the oppressivce policies of Reichskommisar Irich Koch eventyally led to much anto-German feeling and the setting up of local partisan forces, most priminetly in the form of the UPA. It is this destructive policy by some, but certainly not all German officials which the author argues was a major factor in thje eventual German defeat. The book concludes with the immediate post-war agonies of the ukranian nationalist movement in the face of the horrific Stalinist dictatorship. A full set of appendices are included, covering all known Ukrainian units in the German ground forces, rank and appointment terms in the SS, Police, German Government etc., and the usual Shelf Books treatment of foreign placenames. All in all, this book constutures a complete history of the Ukranian involvement in World War II - a Story of tragedy, Disappointment and, on the German side, What would appear to be gross stupidity.
The second volume of the definitive history of the 14th Waffen-Grenadier Division der SS (Ukrainische Nr 1). The lavishly illustrated concluding volume of the division's history features chapters on its reformation, deployment against Communist-backed partisans in Slovakia, the forced march to Slovenia, anti-partisan action against Tito's partisans in Slovenia and its committal for the final time on the Eastern Front against the Red Army in Austria. It concludes with an investigation into the Division's escape from repatriation a subject which has long been the subject of contention amongst historians. This volume also deals with internment and ends with its unique post war fate including new information about the secret role of MI6 in training former members of the Division for secret espionage activities behind the Iron Curtain. Drawing on an unsurpassed collection of material accumulated over decades of research, the author offers unique photographic sections on all aspects of the Divisions history including uniform details together with much hitherto unseen material featuring recent document discoveries, new veteran testimonies and detailed information on every aspect of the Division.
Certain to engender debate in the media, especially in Ukraine itself, as well as the academic community. Using a wide selection of newspapers, journals, monographs, and school textbooks from different regions of the country, the book examines the sensitive issue of the changing perspectives ? often shifting 180 degrees ? on several events discussed in the new narratives of the Stalin years published in the Ukraine since the late Gorbachev period until 2005. These events were pivotal to Ukrainian history in the 20th century, including the Famine of 1932?33 and Ukrainian insurgency during the war years. This latter period is particularly disputed, and analyzed with regard to the roles of the OUN (Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists) and the UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) during and after the war. Were these organizations "freedom fighters" or "collaborators"? To what extent are they the architects of the modern independent state? "This excellent book fills a longstanding void in literature on the politics of memory in Eastern Europe. Professor Marples has produced an innovative and courageous study of how postcommunist Ukraine is rewriting its Stalinist and wartime past by gradually but inconsistently substituting Soviet models with nationalist interpretations. Grounded in an attentive reading of Ukrainian scholarship and journalism from the last two decades, this book offers a balanced take on such sensitive issues as the Great Famine of 1932-33 and the role of the Ukrainian nationalist insurgents during World War II. Instead of taking sides in the passionate debates on these subjects, Marples analyzes the debates themselves as discursive sites where a new national history is being forged. Clearly written and well argued, this study will make a major impact both within and beyond academia." - Serhy Yekelchyk, University of Victoria