CONFRONTATION BETWEEN THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE UKRAINIAN LIBERATION MOVEMENT AND THE STATE AND REPRESSIVE-SECURITY AGENCIES OF THE USSR IN 1945: PERSPECTIVES OF CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35774/gsip2025.02.137Keywords:
Ukrainian liberation movement, contemporary historiography, OUN(B), UIA, Soviet totalitarian regime, punitive-security agencies, confrontationAbstract
The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of how contemporary Ukrainian historiography studies the armed confrontation between the participants of the Ukrainian national liberation movement and the state as well as punitive-repressive agencies of the communist Soviet regime in 1945. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, scientificness, objectivity, and systemic analysis. The use of methods of analysis and synthesis, along with generalization, made it possible to summarize the scholarly contributions of modern Ukrainian historians in exploring the confrontation between the actors of the Ukrainian liberation movement and the Soviet totalitarian regime together with its punitive-repressive institutions. Scientific novelty. On the base of recent historical research, the article analyzes the theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of the stated topic and generalizes the scholarly achievements in assessing the armed struggle of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Bandera faction, OUN(B)) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UIA) against the administrative and security institutions of the communist regime in 1945. Over the past 20-25 years, Ukrainian historical scholarship has made significant progress in studying the complex issues of armed confrontation between the state and repressive-security structures of the USSR and the participants of the Ukrainian independence movement. In this uncompromising struggle, both sides employed an almost unlimited range of methods and forms of warfare. Ukrainian scholars generally concur that, in its attempts to suppress the resistance of the nationalist underground and the insurgent army units, the communist regime resorted to a wide range of “sophisticated” methods, while cynically violating human rights and existing legislation, and applying unjustified terror and repression against the civilian population of Western Ukraine. Communist propaganda sowed ideological stereotypes that divided Ukrainian society for decades to come.
At the same time, despite the broadening of research themes, there remains a lack of comprehensive, historical-analytical, and interdisciplinary studies employing innovative methodological tools. Such works are essential for producing an objective and qualitatively new assessment of the national liberation struggle in the postwar period - an issue of particular importance in the context of contemporary state commemoration policy.
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