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The Nazis and the SS Volunteer Division "Galicia"

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2019

Basil Dmytryshyn
Basil Dmytryshyn*
Affiliation:
Institute of Slavic Studies, University of California at Berkeley
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Extract

In the Nazi search for Lebensraum the Ukraine was assigned a highly important role. Nazi leaders viewed the abundance of Ukrainian raw materials as a valuable source of supply for German industry. They considered the Ukraine's fertile soil not only as a significant food base for the Third Reich, but also as an indispensable area for future German agricultural settlement. Finally, they envisaged the Ukraine's strategic location as an excellent starting point for further German economic and political penetration into Central Asia, the Near and the Middle East.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Slavic and East European Review , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , February 1956 , pp. 1 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 1956

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References

1 Hitler, Adolf, Mein Kampf (München, 1940), pp. 750–55.Google Scholar See also Hitler's statement of September 12, 1936 at the Nürnberg Party gathering, as fully reproduced by Baynes, Norman H., ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922— August 1939 (London, 1942), I, 929.Google Scholar

2 Rosenberg, Alfred, Der Zukunftsweg einer deutschen Aussenpolitik (München, 1927), pp. 97–98.Google Scholar For a valuable analysis of Nazi expansionist philosophy and methods in Eastern Europe based on documents brought to light at the Nürnberg trials, see Rich, Norman Robert, Nazi Expansion: Its Creed and Realpolitik (Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1949), pp. 250-90Google Scholar; see also Fischer, George, Soviet Opposition to Stalin. A Case Study in World War II (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1952), pp. 7–18.Google Scholar For a sound study of various phases of Nazi policies toward and treatment of Ukrainians during World War II, see Armstrong, John A., Ukrainian Nationalism. 1939-1945 (New York, 1955), pp. 73–129 Google Scholar.

3 The documents pertaining to the SS Division “Galicia”, upon which this paper is based, are contained in the Orange Folders, Drawer #7, Folder #263. The originals were photographed by the 7771 Document Center, APO 742A, and loose copies, uncatalogued and unorganized, are held in the Hoover War Memorial Library, Stanford, California.

4 For a rather naive Ukrainian nationalist justification of the existence of these units, see the foreword to the Druzhyny Ukrainskykh Nacionalistiv u 1941-1942 rokakh (Munich, 1953). Pp. 3-7.

5 Wächter to Himmler, Lvov, July 30, 1943. This letter contains the only record of the March 1 conversation.

6 Wächter to Himmler, Lvov, March 4, 1943; also April 2, 1943. Nothing in the Himmler files reveals what Ukrainian leaders the Nazis intended to consult.

7 Himmler to Wächter, Field Command Post, March 28, 1943.

8 Brandt (Himmler's secretary) to Wachter, Field Command Post, April 10, 1943.

9 See the eight-page long protocol on the discussion, dated April 12, 1943.

10 ”… das zwar der ukrainischen Tradition dieses Landes zugehört, aber kein Symbol der grossukrainischen Bestrebungen ist.“

11 Grothmann (Himmler's Office Chief) to Wächter, Berlin, April 16, 1943.

12 Berger to Himmler, Berlin, April 16, 1943.

13 Wächter to Grothmann, Lvov, April 19, 1943.

14 Krüger to Berger, Cracow, May 11, 1943.

15 Berger to Himmler, Berlin, June 21, 1943.

16 Berger to Himmler, Berlin, July 2, 1943.

17 See cf. Himmler's Circular Order of July 5, 1943.

18 Krakauer Zeitung, April 29, 1943.

19 Härter to General Kommissar for Volyn and Podolia, Gorokhov, June 19, 1943.

20 Himmler to all Company Commanders, Field Command Post, July 14, 1943.

21 Police Chief of Southern Russia to Himmler, Wolfsheide, July 18, 1943.

22 Wächter to Himmler, Lvov, July 30, 1943.

23 Himmler to Wächter, Field Command Post, August 11, 1943. Copies o£ this letter went to Berger, Krüger, and Kaltenbrunner.

24 Wächter to Himmler, Lvov, September 4, 1943.

25 Wächter to Brandt, Lvov, October 13, 1943; Brandt to Wächter, Field Command Post, October 21, 1943; Wächter to Himmler, Lvov, October 30, 1943.

26 Wächter's defense of Ukrainians and his attempt to persuade Himmler to change the order of July 14, 1943, contradicted Wächter's previous stand. It was he who had suggested the name “Galicia” at the April 12, 1943 conference, even though he was aware that only Ukrainians were to be enlisted.

27 Wächter to Himmler, Lvov, May 3, 1944.

28 In contrast to this argument it must be stated that through the “Galicia” the Ukrainian underground had access to Nazi military storehouses, depots, documents, etc., which otherwise would not have been as easily possible.