Myśl polityczna Organizacji Ukraińskich Nacjonalistów w drugiej połowie lat trzydziestych wbświetle nowych dokumentów
Political Thought of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in the Second Half of the 1930s in the Light of New Documents

Summary/Abstract: The article is based on a source analysis of previously unused documents, originating from the legacy of Mykola Kapustiansky and Mykhailo Seleshko from the Archives of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in Kyiv. The text discusses the evolution of the political thought of the OUN in the second half of the 1930s, in three thematic areas, which are the subject of intense discussion among scholars. First of all, analysing Seleshko correspondence, I show that the attitude of the older generation of OUN activists towards Jews, on the eve of World War II, was not much more radical than that of young activists coming from the National Executive of OUN. Secondly, new documents complement our knowledge of the political and military concept of Mykhailo Kolodzinsky. I show that his idea of a nationalist uprising was presented for the first time in his 1937 work Guerrilla War; at that time, Kolodzinsky distanced himself from the idea to link the uprising with ethnic cleansing on Poles and Jews. Finally, I show that although the basic political orientation of Ukrainian nationalists on the eve of World War II assumed cooperation between the OUN and the Third Reich, there are also documents showing attempts to interest the British in the Ukrainian question. These conclusions diverge to some extent from existing arrangements, which means that further source research into the OUN political thought in the second half of the 1930s is necessary.

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