Changes

The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 was welcomed by many Ukrainians at first; the [[Stepan Bandera|OUN]] even attempted to establish a government under German auspices. Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946) considered Ukraine a strategically important region that should be occupied through capturing the hearts and minds of the Ukrainians. According to Rosenberg, everything should have been done to make the Ukrainians view the Germans as liberators. Though he presented his views on different occasions, [[Adolf Hitler]]'s anti-Slavic racial views prevailed and overrode strategic considerations, leading to a harsh occupation.  Very soon the realization that Nazi policies were brutal toward all the Ukrainians, and not only the Jews and Communists, drove most Ukrainians into opposition to the Nazis.  Germany forced many Ukrainians to work within the so-called Reichskommissariat Ukraine (RKU) on tasks such as agriculture, road and railway building, and the construction of fortifications. The German authorities soon faced a serious local labor shortage, especially among skilled workers, as a result of Soviet evacuations before the invasion, the ongoing murder of the Jewish population, and the brutal recruitment, arrest, and deportation of other groups, usually with the cooperation of the local civilian, military, and police authorities. The pool of labor was further reduced as the Germans lost territory in the later stages of the conflict. Nazi administrator Fritz Sauckel's labor recruitment measures strained relations with local officials responsible for selecting the deportees, leading to bribery and corruption. The Kiev area was the main focus for recruitment and deportation, along with the Vinnitsa region of central Ukraine.  Over a million locals and prisoners of war were forced into labor in the Ukrainian coal mines in the Donbas region ([[Donets Basin]]). The forced laborers endured fines, starvation, imprisonment, beatings, and hanging, but also had better chances for more food, money, and mobility.

The German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 was welcomed by many Ukrainians at first; the [[Stepan Bandera|OUN]] even attempted to establish a government under German auspices. Nazi ideologue Alfred Rosenberg (1893-1946) considered Ukraine a strategically important region that should be occupied through capturing the hearts and minds of the Ukrainians. According to Rosenberg, everything should have been done to make the Ukrainians view the Germans as liberators. Though he presented his views on different occasions, [[Adolf Hitler]]'s anti-Slavic racial views prevailed and overrode strategic considerations, leading to a harsh occupation.  Very soon the realization that Nazi policies were brutal toward all the Ukrainians, and not only the Jews and Communists, drove most Ukrainians into opposition to the Nazis.  Germany forced many Ukrainians to work within the so-called Reichskommissariat Ukraine (RKU) on tasks such as agriculture, road and railway building, and the construction of fortifications. The German authorities soon faced a serious local labor shortage, especially among skilled workers, as a result of Soviet evacuations before the invasion, the ongoing murder of the Jewish population, and the brutal recruitment, arrest, and deportation of other groups, usually with the cooperation of the local civilian, military, and police authorities. The pool of labor was further reduced as the Germans lost territory in the later stages of the conflict. Nazi administrator Fritz Sauckel's labor recruitment measures strained relations with local officials responsible for selecting the deportees, leading to bribery and corruption. The Kiev area was the main focus for recruitment and deportation, along with the Vinnitsa region of central Ukraine.  Over a million locals and prisoners of war were forced into labor in the Ukrainian coal mines in the Donbas region ([[Donets Basin]]). The forced laborers endured fines, starvation, imprisonment, beatings, and hanging, but also had better chances for more food, money, and mobility.

 

In Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia the first stage of partisan development, from 1941 to the fall of 1942, was uncoordinated and resulted in a great many losses. The second stage, late 1942 to 1944, was better coordinated; partisan groups were better defined, and relatively large-scale operations were carried out, often in cooperation with the Red Army. Organized leadership and cadres were created, various forms of actions (such as diversions, sabotage, and direct attacks) were developed; the Germans responded with vicious punitive activities against the partisans. In all, more than 1.3 million partisans took part in actions in Germany's rear in 6,200 units; more than 300,000 received decorations for their actions.  The OUN created a nationalist partisan fighting force, the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] (UPA); many Ukrainians also joined the Soviet partisans and fought in the Soviet Army against the Germans. After [[World War II]], the OUN and the UPA continued a hopeless guerrilla struggle against Soviet rule until 1953. The devastation caused by the war included major destruction in over 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages.

In Ukraine, Belarus, and western Russia the first stage of partisan development, from 1941 to the fall of 1942, was uncoordinated and resulted in a great many losses. The second stage, late 1942 to 1944, was better coordinated; partisan groups were better defined, and relatively large-scale operations were carried out, often in cooperation with the Red Army. Organized leadership and cadres were created, various forms of actions (such as diversions, sabotage, and direct attacks) were developed; the Germans responded with vicious punitive activities against the partisans. In all, more than 1.3 million partisans took part in actions in Germany's rear in 6,200 units; more than 300,000 received decorations for their actions.  The OUN created a nationalist partisan fighting force, the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] (UPA); many Ukrainians also joined the Soviet partisans and fought in the Soviet Army against the Germans. After [[World War II]], the OUN and the UPA continued a hopeless guerrilla struggle against Soviet rule until 1953. The devastation caused by the war included major destruction in over 700 cities and towns and 28,000 villages.

===Fascist insurgency: 1944-1954===

===Fascist insurgency: 1944-1954===

 

In the June 1944, when Canadian, British and American soldiers were landing on the beaches of Normandy, their Soviet allies rolled into the German-occupied Western Ukraine. The Red Army soldiers and officers quickly noticed a stark contrast in the attitude of locals compared to other recently liberated regions of the Soviet Union.  Instead of cheering crowds of peasant women and children who would offer them water and the traditional Slavic greeting of bread and salt, there was an eerie silence in many villages, and few locals would even talk to the new arrivals. Soon, chilling rumors started about murdered Red Army soldiers found hanged or decapitated in the woods. Rumors were soon followed by orders issued to troops stationed in the allegedly safe rear, far behind the frontline, to increase their vigilance, never to venture anywhere alone or unarmed, and to look out for “bandits” hiding in the forests. The [[NKVD]] (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs – as the law enforcement agency of the Soviet Union between 1934 and 1946 was known) units that followed close behind the Red Army quickly proceeded with their routine practice of rounding up numerous suspected Nazi collaborators, as well as members of the Polish anti-Nazi underground, in Lviv and other west Ukrainian cities. However, a number of feared Soviet secret policemen were soon found dead in Ukrainian villages and Galician forests, and in some areas of the countryside those who dared to venture there had to be heavily armed and in large numbers. This was the start of a brutal insurgency that lasted almost ten years in rural Western Ukraine and resulted in one of the toughest counterinsurgency challenges the Soviets ever faced.  

In the June 1944, when Canadian, British and American soldiers were landing on the beaches of Normandy, their Soviet allies rolled into the German-occupied Western Ukraine. The Red Army soldiers and officers quickly noticed a stark contrast in the attitude of locals compared to other recently liberated regions of the Soviet Union.  Instead of cheering crowds of peasant women and children who would offer them water and the traditional Slavic greeting of bread and salt, there was an eerie silence in many villages, and few locals would even talk to the new arrivals. Soon, chilling rumors started about murdered Red Army soldiers found hanged or decapitated in the woods. Rumors were soon followed by orders issued to troops stationed in the allegedly safe rear, far behind the frontline, to increase their vigilance, never to venture anywhere alone or unarmed, and to look out for “bandits” hiding in the forests. The [[NKVD]] (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs – as the law enforcement agency of the Soviet Union between 1934 and 1946 was known) units that followed close behind the Red Army quickly proceeded with their routine practice of rounding up numerous suspected Nazi collaborators, as well as members of the Polish anti-Nazi underground, in Lviv and other west Ukrainian cities. However, a number of feared Soviet secret policemen were soon found dead in Ukrainian villages and Galician forests, and in some areas of the countryside those who dared to venture there had to be heavily armed and in large numbers. This was the start of a brutal insurgency that lasted almost ten years in rural Western Ukraine and resulted in one of the toughest counterinsurgency challenges the Soviets ever faced.  

===Denazificatrion and reconstruction: 1954 to 1991===

===Denazificatrion and reconstruction: 1954 to 1991===

Stalin's death finally brought relief in many ways. The thaw initiated by [[Nikita Khrushchev]], who had served as Ukrainian party chief in the 1930s, led to the emergence in the late 1950s and the early 1960s of the "sixties generation" of writers, artists, and intellectuals. In order to mark the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine in 1954. Following Khrushchev's downfall in 1964, Moscow, under [[Leonid Brezhnev]] initiated a series of crackdowns on Ukrainian dissidents, including [[Ivan Dziuba]] (b. 1931), the author of Internationalism or Russification?; Vyacheslav Chornovil (b. 1938), the editor of the underground ''Ukrainian Herald''; and Valentyn Moroz (b. 1936), the author of stinging attacks on Soviet policy. In 1972, Petro Shelest, the national-Communist Ukrainian party chief, was replaced by hardliner Volodymyr Shcherbytsky.

Stalin's death finally brought relief in many ways. The thaw initiated by [[Nikita Khrushchev]], who had served as Ukrainian party chief in the 1930s, led to the emergence in the late 1950s and the early 1960s of the "sixties generation" of writers, artists, and intellectuals. In order to mark the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Pereyaslav, Khrushchev gave Crimea to Ukraine in 1954. Following Khrushchev's downfall in 1964, Moscow, under [[Leonid Brezhnev]] initiated a series of crackdowns on Ukrainian dissidents, including [[Ivan Dziuba]] (b. 1931), the author of Internationalism or Russification?; Vyacheslav Chornovil (b. 1938), the editor of the underground ''Ukrainian Herald''; and Valentyn Moroz (b. 1936), the author of stinging attacks on Soviet policy. In 1972, Petro Shelest, the national-Communist Ukrainian party chief, was replaced by hardliner Volodymyr Shcherbytsky.

 

The Number Four reactor at Chernobyl exploded during a routine power test in April 1986. Radioactive contaminants from the [[Chernobyl disaster]] fell on northern Ukraine and several neighboring countries, reaching as far as Japan and the United States, causing casualties, sparking a major embarrassment for the Soviet Union, and inciting fears of nuclear energy.<ref>Jim T. Smith, and Nicholas A. Beresford, ''Chernobyl: Catastrophe and Consequences.''  Springer, 2005. 310 pp.</ref>

The Number Four reactor at Chernobyl exploded during a routine power test in April 1986. Radioactive contaminants from the [[Chernobyl disaster]] fell on northern Ukraine and several neighboring countries, reaching as far as Japan and the United States, causing casualties, sparking a major embarrassment for the Soviet Union, and inciting fears of nuclear energy.<ref>Jim T. Smith, and Nicholas A. Beresford, ''Chernobyl: Catastrophe and Consequences.''  Springer, 2005. 310 pp.</ref>