The true depth of Yushchenko's depravity and that of his backers in the diaspora and Western governments is indicated by the fact that Bandera and Shukhevych came in the train of the Wehrmachtafter Operation Barbarossa, a campaign whose ultimate political objective was to win soil for the German plow by exterminating the Slavic subhumans who were infesting that land, a category that very much included Ukrainians.

It is also indicated by the fact that Yuchchenko never ceases talking about a very flexible number of Ukrainians dead 75+ years, while ignoring the facts that Ukraine's population has declined by ~6 million since the end of "Soviet genocide", or that deaths exceed births by ~240,000/year.

That's right, every time the sun sets, about 650 more Ukrainians have died than were born since the last time, and none of Yushchenko, his backers in the Ukrainian diaspora, or his supporters in Western governments care one bit.

The pro-Bandera spin stresses how the historical figure in question opposed the Nazis, upon seeing what they had planned for Ukraine.

What remains an issue is how some of Bandera's forces behaved after they opposed the Nazis (primarily, the atrocities committed against Jews, Poles and Ukrainians seen as opposing Bandera).

Someone in Ukrainian media said the released Soviet documents confirm an NKVD scheme to besmirch Bandera's movement by having agents committing atrocities dressed as OUN/UPA. The individual sending me this info. added that the documentation he/she brought up serves as proof of Bandera's forces being innocent.

I didn't get an answer back on the extent of the stated NKVD operation, as well as following up on whether the media person in question actually believes that Bandera's forces didn't commit atrocities during and after their alliance with the Nazis .

At last notice, RFE/RL didn't cover this recent story concerning Ukraine's chief rabbi. Instead, there continues to be the highlighting of nationalist extremism in Russia.

@ rkka

I don't think Yushchenko had any particular interest in making a decent historical investigation.

@ Michael

I came across some essays claiming that UPA and OUN had Jewish members among them, notably working as physicians. I had no time to read them yet but given that the rabbi reacted in this way I am getting a feeling that these instances were exceptions to the general rule.

@Michael Averko

But the question is are they authentic documents which is a question that can be asked of other declassified documents.

The fact that Bandera was created by Nazi intelligence and later support by western intelligence as part of there stay behind units recruited near the end of WW2 they could be fraudulent documents forged by CIA/MI6 to present them in a positive light.

Your husband's courage and dedication to liberty will serve as a continuing source of inspiration to all those striving for freedom and self-determination.

-- letter from President Reagan to the widow of Yaroslav Stetsko, ranking OUN terrorist, murderer, and Nazi collaborator, read by retired general John Singlaub at a conference of the World Anti-Communist League, September 7, 1986.

The best case of fraudulent deception to highlight based on Ukrainian nationalist, Nazi propaganda and British intelligence source is the Holomodor man- made famine hoax which I have posted links to before in a previous comment

Most of what we know about the Stalin era is based on Cold war propaganda with a few revisionist historians like Professor Stephen Wheatcroft and Robert W. Thurston give a more realistic evaluation of Stalin-era repression.

“Repression and mass killings carried out by German and Soviet leaderships during the period 1930-45 differed in several respects. It appears that the German leader Adolf Hitler put to death at least five million innocent people mainly because of his antipathy towards Jews and communists. In contrast, Soviet leader Josef Stalin ordered the murder of some one million people because he apparently believed them to be guilty of crimes against the state. He was careful about documenting these executions whereas Hitler did not bother about making any pretence at legality.”

The Scale and Nature of German and Soviet Repression and Mass Killings, 1930-1945", Europe-Asia Studies 48 (December 1996), 1319-1353

It is reported as fact that Stalin killed at a minimum of 20 million people prior to WW2 with estimates reaching as high as 40 million yet bogus atrocity stories where routinely reported in the fascist aligned right wing press especially that of William Randolph Hearst and Red Cross documents that were seized by allied forces after WW2 as well as Nazi propaganda material show that outbreaks of large scale diseases and famines occurred.

And it does beg the question why there was strong resistance to the Nazi invasion if the Soviet authorities were committing mass genocide and collapse like Saddam’s regime.

Lately Professor Grover Furr (although he is a Marxist but his arguments complete with citations for anyone to refute) and historians in Russia have been dissecting and reviewing source material including studying archive material.

Furr did a good review of Robert W. Thurston book Life and Terror in Stalin's Russia, 1934-1941. (London and New Haven: Yale University Press, 1996).

http://clogic.eserver.org/1-2/furr.html

It would be good Michael if you could email the document links to Leos and he could e-mail them to me which I will then email them Professor Furr which he can forward to his associates in Russia to see what they think about them is they are genuine or not.

I ran into that one as well Leos. The one I came across noted Armenians as well. I also came across an ethnic Russian UPA member who has been made known in contemporary media. On a somewhat related point, some ethnic Russians in Chechnya have actively supported the Chechen separatist movement. At issue is the matter of exception over rule.

I share your general take.

There seems to be plausible historiography suggesting Il Duce and Italian foces abroad during WW II weren't as brutal as the Nazis and some others. This point didn't stop Jews in Italy from being rounded up in significant numbers and sent to concentration camps.

I've heard of Croat Ustasha leaders having Jewish wives and mistresses. There's also the reality of the Ustasha run concentration camp at Jasenovac.

Jack, Bandera's activity goes back to at least the 1930s, when he opposed the Polish government. This was when eastern Galicia (in present day Ukraine) was part of Poland.

Bland for me to say, I'm all for as accurate a historical accounting as possible.

The Poles and Soviets did some not so nice things in eastern Galicia, with Jews throughout Ukraine tending to identify more with either a Polish or Russian background than Ukrainian. I don't see how this dynamic explains away the negative manner of the OUN/UPA.

There has been a good deal written on such matters. For accuracy sake, one needs to be careful when formulating their opinions on these issues.

Something just came up on my end. I'll check back in a bit.