Stepan Bandera : the Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist ; Fascism, Genocide, and Cult

"The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist" is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe illuminates the life of a mythologized personality and scrutinizes the history of the most violent twentieth-century Ukrainian nationalist movement: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Elucidating the circumstances in which Bandera and his movement emerged and functioned, Rossoliński-Liebe explains how fascism and racism impacted on Ukrainian revolutionary and genocidal nationalism. The book shows why Bandera and his followers failed—despite their ideological similarity to the Croatian Ustaša and the Slovak Hlinka Party—to establish a collaborationist state under the auspices of Nazi Germany and examines the involvement of the Ukrainian nationalists in the Holocaust and other atrocities during and after the Second World War. The author brings to light some of the darkest elements of modern Ukrainian history and demonstrates its complexity, paying special attention to the Soviet terror in Ukraine and the entanglement between Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, German, and Soviet history. The monograph also charts the creation and growth of the Bandera cult before the Second World War, its vivid revivals during the Cold War among the Ukrainian diaspora, and in Bandera's native eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe illuminates the life of a mythologized personality and scrutinizes the history of the most violent twentieth-century Ukrainian nationalist movement: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army.Elucidating the circumstances in which Bandera and his movement emerged and functioned, Rossolinski-Liebe explains how fascism and racism impacted on Ukrainian revolutionary and genocidal nationalism. The book shows why Bandera and his followers failed -- despite their ideological similarity to the Croatian Ustaša and the Slovak Hlinka Party -- to establish a collaborationist state under the auspices of Nazi Germany and examines the involvement of the Ukrainian nationalists in the Holocaust and other atrocities during and after the Second World War. The author brings to light some of the darkest elements of modern Ukrainian history and demonstrates its complexity, paying special attention to the Soviet terror in Ukraine and the entanglement between Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, German, and Soviet history. The monograph also charts the creation and growth of the Bandera cult before the Second World War, its vivid revivals during the Cold War among the Ukrainian diaspora, and in Bandera's native eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Cover 1 Contents 5 Preface and Acknowledgments 8 List of Abbrevations 12 Note on Language, Names, and Transliterations 17 Introduction 18 The Person 18 Cult, Myth, Charisma, and Rituals 19 Ukrainian Nationalism and Integral Nationalism 22 The OUN and Fascism 24 Fascism, Nationalism, and the Radical Right 30 Sacralization of Politicsand the Heroization-Demonization Dichotomy 31 Memory, Identity, Symbol, and Denial 32 Genocide, Mass Violence, and the Complexity of the Holocaust 33 Documents, Interpretations and Manipulations 34 Literature 37 Objectives and Limitations 39 Chapter 1:Heterogeneity, Modernity, and the Turn to the Right 41 “Longue Durée” Perspective andthe Heterogeneity of Ukrainian History 41 The Beginnings of Ukrainian “Heroic Modernity” 47 The Lost Struggle for Ukrainian Statehood 48 The Lack of a Ukrainian Stateand the Polish-Ukrainian Conflict 51 The OUN: Racism, Fascism, Revolution, Violence,and the Struggle for a Ukrainian State 58 Conclusion 78 Chapter 2:Formative Years 79 Family, Education, Appearance,and Political Commitment 79 Career in the OUN 88 Worldview 94 Conclusion 104 Chapter 3:Pieracki’s Assassination and the Warsaw and Lviv Trials 105 Pieracki’s Assassination 105 The Ideological Dimension of Pieracki’s Assassination 107 The First Trial of OUN Members in Warsaw 114 The Second OUN Trial (in Lviv) 137 Bandera and the Aftermath of the Trials 145 Bandera in Polish Prisons 147 Conclusion 151 Chapter 4:The “Ukrainian National Revolution”:Mass Violence and Political Disaster 152 The Beginning of the Second World War 152 The Second Great Congressof the Ukrainian Nationalists (in Cracow) 160 Practical Preparations for the “Ukrainian National Revolution” 165 The “Ukrainian National Revolution” 177 Result of the “Ukrainian National Revolution” 210 Bandera’s Agency and Responsibility 212 Conclusion 215 Chapter 5:Resistance, Collaboration, and Genocidal Aspirations 216 The OUN-M and the Question of Eastern Ukraine 216 Disagreement 219 Ukraine without Bandera 225 The Ukrainian Police and the OUN-B 228 The OUN-B in 1942 232 The UPA—Mass Violence and “Democratization” 233 Bandera and Banderites 247 Resistance, Further Collaboration,and the Reactivation of Bandera 249 Conclusion 253 Chapter 6:Third World War and the Globalizationof Ukrainian Nationalism 255 The Subordination of the Greek Catholic Church 256 The Conflict between the OUN-UPA and the Soviet Authorities 258 Operation Rollback 270 Displaced Persons 272 Conclusion 276 Chapter 7:The Providnyk in Exile 277 The Opponents and Victims of Nazi Germany 277 Bandera and Conflicts in the Organization 282 Bandera and Western Intelligence Services 288 Bandera’s Private Life 292 Bandera’s Worldview after the Second World War 296 Stashyns’kyi, Oberländer, Lippolz,and the Assassination of Bandera 301 Conclusion 314 Chapter 8:Bandera and Soviet Propaganda 316 German-Ukrainian Nationalists 318 Bourgeois Nationalists 339 The Reaction of the Nationalist Underground to Soviet Propaganda 344 Halan—Soviet Martyr and Heroic Intellectual 348 Soviet Heroes and Monuments to the Victims of the OUN-UPA 350 Bandera in the Late Soviet Discourse 353 Conclusion 358 Chapter 9:The Revival of the Cult 360 Bandera’s Death and the Funeral 360 Anticommunist Celebrations, Demonstrations, and Rituals 370 The First Bandera Museum 393 Historians and the Bandera Cult 397 Conclusion 409 Chapter 10:Return to Ukraine 411 Double Propaganda 412 The First Bandera Monument in Ukraine 415 The Second Turn to the Right 417 The Bandera Cult in Historiography 421 Bandera’s Museums 430 Bandera Streets, Plaques and Monuments 441 Bandera in the Context of other Leader Cults 474 Conclusion 478 The Person, the Movement, and the Cult 479 Fascism 493 The Afterlife 496 Inability to Mourn, Lack of Empathy, Sacralization, and Trauma 503 Glossary 507 Bibliography 511 Endnotes 551 Copyright 635 History,Europe,Eastern,Modern,20th Century,Political Science,Political Ideologies,Fascism & Totalitarianism

The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe illuminates the life of a mythologized personality and scrutinizes the history of the most violent twentieth-century Ukrainian nationalist movement: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Elucidating the circumstances in which Bandera and his movement emerged and functioned, Rossolinski-Liebe explains how fascism and racism impacted on Ukrainian revolutionary and genocidal nationalism. The book shows why Bandera and his followers failed—despite their ideological similarity to the Croatian Ustaša and the Slovak Hlinka Party—to establish a collaborationist state under the auspices of Nazi Germany and examines the involvement of the Ukrainian nationalists in the Holocaust and other atrocities during and after the Second World War. The author brings to light some of the darkest elements of modern Ukrainian history and demonstrates its complexity, paying special attention to the Soviet terror in Ukraine and the entanglement between Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, German, and Soviet history. The monograph also charts the creation and growth of the Bandera cult before the Second World War, its vivid revivals during the Cold War among the Ukrainian diaspora, and in Bandera's native eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

'The Life and Afterlife of a Ukrainian Nationalist'is the first comprehensive and scholarly biography of the Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera and the first in-depth study of his political cult. In this fascinating book, Grzegorz Rossolinski-Liebe illuminates the life of a mythologized personality and scrutinizes the history of the most violent twentieth-century Ukrainian nationalist movement: the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and its Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Elucidating the circumstances in which Bandera and his movement emerged and functioned, Rossolinski-Liebe explains how fascism and racism impacted on Ukrainian revolutionary and genocidal nationalism. The book shows why Bandera and his followers failed—despite their ideological similarity to the Croatian Ustaša and the Slovak Hlinka Party—to establish a collaborationist state under the auspices of Nazi Germany and examines the involvement of the Ukrainian nationalists in the Holocaust and other atrocities during and after the Second World War. The author brings to light some of the darkest elements of modern Ukrainian history and demonstrates its complexity, paying special attention to the Soviet terror in Ukraine and the entanglement between Ukrainian, Jewish, Polish, Russian, German, and Soviet history. The monograph also charts the creation and growth of the Bandera cult before the Second World War, its vivid revivals during the Cold War among the Ukrainian diaspora, and in Bandera's native eastern Galicia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Preface and Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Note on Language, Names, and Transliterations Introduction Chapter 1: Heterogeneity, Modernity, and the Turn to the Right Chapter 2: Formative Years Chapter 3: Pieracki’s Assassination and the Warsaw and Lviv Trials Chapter 4: The “Ukrainian National Revolution”: Mass Violence and Political Disaster Chapter 5: Resistance, Collaboration, and Genocidal Aspirations Chapter 6: Third World War and the Globalization of Ukrainian Nationalism Chapter 7: The Providnyk in Exile Chapter 8: Bandera and Soviet Propaganda Chapter 9: The Revival of the Cult Chapter 10: Return to Ukraine Conclusion Glossary Bibliography Index