Waffen SS Division Galizien Is Far From All of Ukraine

When we considered the allegations against the Ukrainian SS division, we were received with incredible hostility from some sections of the Ukrainian community, including an attack by Professor Mushynka in The Day (No. 8, March 6, 2001). The professor accused me of using distortion and inaccuracy in my film SS in Britain.

I would have thought that any ‘academic’ investigation of my film would have, at the very least, considered the documentary evidence we produced.

At one point in his article Professor Mushynka says that if we did have the evidence of the involvement of members of the SS Galician Division in war crimes then, “it stands to reason that those Ukrainians were indeed brutal and ruthless”. So what is the evidence?

Following the outbreak of a popular anti-Nazi uprising in Slovakia in August 1944, (which was actively supported by all the Allies), units of the 14th SS Division Galizien were sent to help quash the rebellion. Various divisional battle groups (Kampfgruppen) were formed to actively search out and destroy the Slovak partisans.

Former members of the division and their defenders have always stated that they enjoyed good relations with the Slovak population at the time and that they committed no crimes whilst on Slovak territory.

But is this point true? Did the Ukrainian SS men enjoy good and friendly relations with the Slovaks?

The evidence does not look good.

In the German Federal Archives in Koblenz, we discovered numerous police and SS (SD) intelligence reports which consistently reported serious problems between the Ukrainian SS men and the local population. According to one such report of December 1944, “In general much is currently being said amongst the Slovak population about the Ukrainian soldiers now stationed in Slovakia. It can be taken from these discussions that these soldiers in general are not much liked. In Slovak circles, hostile to Germany, they are considered mercenaries, who are not fighting for the ideals of a new Europe, rather simply for personal enrichment through robbery and plunder. Even circles friendly to Germany complain passionately about this formation... It’s also said about these Ukrainian soldiers that they’ve no longer any interest in the war and have already obtained civilian clothing in order to desert.”

Another report said, “The Slovaks in general complain about the Ukrainians, that they are a bunch of crooks who are responsible for numerous misdeeds. According to reports from many Slovaks we have learned that the Ukrainians complain about the Bolsheviks and always say that they are much more trouble than the Germans. Some of the Ukrainians, according to the Slovak statements, are particularly unreliable and it’s said that they are even doing deals with the Partisans. Slovak circles, particularly amongst farmers have reacted with great relief to the news that all of the Ukrainian military forces will be withdrawn from Slovakia and replaced with Hungarian soldiers. The population in the countryside would be very pleased, as they say that the Hungarians are much more reasonable, that is more humane, than the Ukrainians...”

We found other evidence of considerable problems with the divisions ill discipline and misconduct from other sources. The divisional commander even requested powers to shoot his men without trial because he considered their conduct to be so bad.

But bad conduct, theft, and disciplinary problems are not war crimes. So is there any convincing evidence that Ukrainian SS men of the Galicia Division were involved in war-crimes and atrocities?

An article by the Canadian critic Sol Litmann, in 1993 indicated that members of the 14th SS division may have committed war crimes during their service for the Nazis in Slovakia. Although he produced no documentary evidence in support of this claim, he did refer to research at the Slovak Military Historical Institute in Bratislava.

During the initial research for our film we contacted the director of that Institute, Col. Dr. Jozef Bystricky and received a detailed reply from Dr Jan Korcek, the institute’s special authority on Nazi forces active during the Slovak National Uprising. He detailed some nine separate incidents where Slovak researchers held the 14th SS Division Galizien responsible for crimes against the Slovak population.

Dr Korcek helped us gain access to the Slovak State Archives in Bratislava, where we found useful background material. He recommended further that we seek additional information from the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising and its Director Dr Jan Stanislav in Banska Bystrica.

Dr Stanislav confirmed Dr Korcek’s information in a lengthy interview for our film and was able to provide some documentary evidence from the museum’s own archives.

Despite what Dr Stanislav may have subsequently told Prof. Mushynka, his testimony was that some members of the division (not all of them) particularly those of the Kampfgruppe Wittenmayer of the Galician Division were certainly involved in killings and reprisals against the civilian population. Our film reported what he told us fairly and accurately.

Dr Korcek, Dr Stanislav and the village chronicle all confirmed that the Wittenmayer unit was involved in an attack on the village of Smrecany, burning down the village as a reprisal for allegedly helping the partisans.

Dr Korcek and Dr Stanislav also confirmed an attack by the same unit on the village of Nizna Boca, where the Ukrainian SS men stormed into the pub, interrogated the men folk and then executed 5 villagers as alleged partisans. One of them, Cyril Zahradnik, was just 15 years old and died calling out for his mummy. He was arrested for having a Russian coin in his pocket.

We discovered additional material in the Nizna Boca village chronicle, which confirmed that those responsible were SS troops along with Hlinka Guardists. The Kampfgruppe Wittenmayer was, of course, an SS unit of the 14th SS Division and wore SS uniform.

Additionally we found two surviving witnesses who were able to testify to what happened in the village that day. It’s important to realise that it is not surprising that these witnesses, who were frightened and in hiding when then atrocities were committed, are not able, after more than 50 years, to identify precisely which individual SS unit (out of some 30 divisions) was attacking their village and killing their menfolk.

But they don’t need to identify which unit committed the crime because we know from other crucial evidence. Evidence written at the time by the Germans themselves. Evidence, which was curiously ignored by Professor Mushynka.

The most compelling evidence for the Wittenmayer unit’s involvement in the massacre at Nizna Boca is contained in documents now held in the Czech State Archives in Prague. We discovered the extremely detailed German military situation intelligence reports sent daily from Bratislava to the German military command in Prague during the course of the Slovak uprising and its aftermath.

These daily reports enabled us to plot with exceptional accuracy the precise movements of the Wittenmayer unit throughout their anti- partisan campaign.

The captured German documents were unequivocal.

The only Nazi unit in Nizna Boca on the day of the massacre was the Wittenmayer unit. On the very day the civilians were massacred the report stated, “Kampfgruppe Wittenmayer in process of occupying Nizna Boca (10 km S of Krl. Lehota). Road between Rosenberg and Poprad therefore now free of the enemy. The Ukrainian volunteers of the 14 Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS used in the operation fought excellently.”

These documents paint a consistent picture.

We have found considerable evidence that some units of the Galician Division in Slovakia did commit war crimes during their service for the Nazis and that there were serious problems with their discipline and conduct during their suppression of the Slovak National Uprising.

I know that many different people joined the SS Division Galicia for very many reasons. Our film clearly stated that not everybody in the Division was involved in war crimes. But we did show convincingly that there is considerable evidence that some of the Galician units were involved in terrible atrocities throughout their existence, in Brody district, in Poland and in Slovakia. These men have never been adequately investigated and there is some significant evidence that some of them may have escaped justice and settled in Great Britain and the West after the war.

I can understand that after years of disinformation it must be difficult for some people to come to terms with the fact that there were a minority of people in the Galicia Division who committed war crimes.

But in my view, to deny this evidence and to defend this minority of SS criminals as somehow representative of the wider Ukrainian community does a severe injustice to the memory of the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who really suffered at the hands of the Nazis. It prevents a true understanding of the tragic history of Ukraine in the twentieth century. We should debate the actual evidence and not ignore it.