The Colonel had to be an active participant in the most dramatic periods of our history. Throughout the fifty revolutionary years of the First and Second World Wars, he was always where he was needed.

In the photo: Colonel Andrey Melnik, deputy commander of the Sich Riflemen Corps, 1920 (?)

A. Melnik was born on December 12, 1890 in the village of Volya Yakubova not far from Drohobych, in the Lviv region. The foundations of national consciousness and patriotism were formed in their home, where Ivan Franko was especially revered and they followed the living example of their father, who was not only a good owner, but also a famous public figure.

He received combat training in the legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, during the First World War he fought against Russian army on the territory of Galicia. There his extraordinary talent as a military organizer manifested itself. At first, A. Melnik was entrusted with the leadership of the detachment, and subsequently led a hundred USS riflemen.

In the battle for Berezhany on Mount Lysonya, Andrei Melnik was captured by Russians and interned in the village. Dubovitsa near Tsaritsyn. In a concentration camp above the Volga, he meets Yevgeny Konovalets. When the fire of the Ukrainian revolution began to burn in Kyiv in 1917, Melnik and Konovalets escape from captivity and join the struggle for the revival of the national state.

A characteristic detail is that both are twin cities, despite changes in governments and metamorphoses political life, persistently developed the Ukrainian armed forces, because they were convinced that it was possible to gain and maintain statehood only when there was a combat-ready and patriotic army.

In the “service record” of those times, A. Melnyk does not have “political positions”, only military ones: deputy commander of the Siege Riflemen Siege Corps, acting commander of the USS Corps, chief of staff of the Separate Sichovy Riflemen Detachment, chief of staff of the UPR Army, assistant group commandant Sichev Streltsy. In December 1918, A. Melnik was awarded the military rank of Ataman of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, who fell into despair and apathy after the defeat of the UPR, Andrei Melnyk found the strength not to lose optimism and faith in the Ukrainian state. Already in exile, in Galicia, together with E. Konovalets, he takes on the organization of the Ukrainian Military Organization, the forerunner; in particular, he becomes the regional commandant of the UVO.

In April 1924, A. Melnik was arrested and spent four years in a Polish prison. After his release, he worked for some time as a manager of the estates of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.

The circumstances were such that after the tragic death of the first chairman of the OUN, Colonel Konovalets, which occurred as a result terrorist attack committed by agent Sudoplatov in Rotterdam, Melnyk had to head an organization that, at the beginning of the twentieth century, concentrated almost the entire revolutionary potential of the Ukrainian nation.

Andrey Melnik headed according to the oral will of Yevgeny Konovalets. His task was to preserve the OUN as a national force, capable of all available methods and by means of fighting against the enemies of the Ukrainian people and through a national revolution to obtain the Ukrainian Independent Cathedral State. As chairman he enjoyed great authority. Colonel Melnik was given the best characteristics.

The poet Evgeny Malanyuk called him “a man of silk and steel”; well-known ideologist of nationalism Nikolai Sciborsky: “This is one of the fundamental figures of the Liberation Struggle. Who else, if not him, should continue? And to continue you need experience. History does not recognize improvisation.”; UPR Army veteran Roman Sushko: “This is great person who never failed."

The always reserved Oleg Olzhich, when it came to Melnik, did not hide his emotions: “You have to be able to endure breaking ribs in one word in order to talk about the endurance of a revolutionary... Yes, this is not a leader like Yevgeny Konovalets, less so a strategist and politician. This is the character of a chief of staff, but a person who never breaks down and has a sense of the essence of history.”

A. Melnik also enjoyed due authority in church circles. This is how Archbishop Ivan Buchko of the UGCC recalled him: “Colonel Melnik is best person, whom Ukrainians can have as a leader. Hardworking, pious and respected by everyone - he says little, but he does... He will always justify trust... Andrei Melnik is trusted by the people and the people are proud of him.”

Even after the split of the OUN in 1940, when many nationalists, mainly the so-called “regionalists,” left the Organization, almost all outstanding figures of the national liberation movement remained loyal to the colonel, among whom Yulian Vassian, the ideologist of the OUN, the author of program documents of the founding Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists in Vienna in 1929; Mykola Sciborsky is the author of the work “Naziocracy,” which became the cornerstone in the system of ideological foundations of Ukrainian nationalism. These are Nikolai Kapustyansky, Dmitry Andrievsky, Evgeny Onatsky and a number of other famous figures, which once again confirms the extraordinary personality of Andrei Melnik.

The real test for A. Melnyk was the events in Carpathian Ukraine in 1939. The revolutionary breakdown on the Silver Land, the emergence of the Carpathian-Ukrainian State, and as a consequence - fundamental changes on the political map of Europe - all this required an adequate position of the OUN and its new chairman A. Melnyk.

The idea of ​​statehood of Carpathian Ukraine was perceived by A. Melnyk as a logical and natural result of the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their national independence. Therefore, the best cadres of the OUN were thrown into Transcarpathia, into the very whirlpool of the struggle.

The heroic position of the OUN members, the armed resistance of the Carpathian Sich members to the Hungarian occupation showed that the Ukrainian people are ready for decisive action in the name of the independence of Ukraine.

With the outbreak of World War II, conditions arose for the active activities of the OUN in Ukraine. However, differences in assessments of the political situation led to a split in the OUN. Motivating the need for decisive, “revolutionary” actions, in 1940 he headed the “Revolutionary Wire of the OUN”.

During the years of Ukraine, A. Melnik was first under house arrest, and from February 1944 he was imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. However, his imprisonment did not affect the activity of the OUN.

The first OUN marching groups went to Ukraine in the summer of 1941, immediately after the start of the Great Patriotic War. At the same time, the leadership of the OUN Special attention paid to the so-called “Middle and Eastern lands", which were under Bolshevik occupation for more than twenty years. The leading and best forces of the OUN were sent there.

A total of three roads led to the east. The northern marching group of the OUN followed the route Dubno - Shepetovka - Zhitomir - Kyiv - Poltava - Kharkov. Srednyaya - Proskurov - Vinnitsa - Uman - Kyiv - Donbass. The southern route ran from Vinnitsa to Odessa and Nikolaev. The movement to Kyiv was led by O. Olzhich, a famous Ukrainian scientist and poet, deputy chairman of the OUN.

It was O. Olzhych who came up with the idea of ​​​​creating the Ukrainian National Rada in Kyiv, which later became an important statist institution in enslaved Ukraine. The Ukrainian National Rada appeared in early October 1941 at crowded meetings in Kyiv. UNRada was headed by Professor Nikolai Velichkovsky. In its structure and political orientation, UNRada was reminiscent of the times. This symbolized the continuity of state tradition.

The UNRada consisted of 130 delegates representing all Ukrainian lands and was not a one-party formation. It included members of various political trends: from hetmans to nationalists. The guiding core was the presidium, which, in addition to Professor M. Velichkivsky, included engineer Anton Baranovsky, geologist Ivan Dubina and member of the OUN line Osip Boydunik.

The Constituent Assembly adopted a Declaration and Appeal, the author of which was O. Olzhych, and where the main tasks of the UNRada were formulated, namely: to worthily represent the Ukrainian people before German officials who are in Ukraine; fight Bolshevik propaganda and agitation among the population; fight Bolshevik sabotage and sabotage by all means; to educate youth physically and spiritually into respectable citizens; to affirm civil and social values: to develop national culture and education, to restore church and religious life, the economy, and agriculture.

After the defeat of the national liberation struggle, A. Melnik made a lot of efforts to unite disparate political formations abroad. Thus, in 1948, a new Ukrainian National Rada was created, which included political forces that recognized the Acts of January 22, 1918 and 1919, which proclaimed the Ukrainian People's Republic as an independent and conciliar state of the Ukrainian people.

Through the efforts of A. Melnyk, world Ukrainians united in the World Congress of Free Ukrainians as a supra-party institution that has represented the interests of Ukrainians for a long time. Thus, one of the foundations of Ukrainian nationalism was realized in practice - to strive for conciliarity and national solidarity, to help the resistance forces in Ukraine.

Melnik Andrey Antanasovich (Melnik Andriy) (1890-1964) - one of the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists; Colonel of the UPR Army. Harvest With. Volya near Lvov (Austria-Hungary). Former manager of the estates of Metropolitan A. Sheptytsky. Member of the First World War; commander of a hundred legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen as part of the Austro-Hungarian army. In 1918 he took part in the formation of the kuren of the Sich Riflemen (Kyiv) as part of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR). In 1920-1921 inspector of military missions of the UPR. Brother-in-law of E. Konovalets, founder of the OUN. Together with Konovalets, he created the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO). After the liquidation of Konovalets on October 11, 1938 by the Soviet special services, he proclaimed himself his successor and headed the Provod Ukrainian Nationalists (PUN). Since 1938 - an agent of German military intelligence (nickname "Consul-1"), then of the Gestapo. On 08/27/1939, with the support of the Uniate Metropolitan A. Sheptytsky, he took the post of head of the OUN. 02/11/1940 Bandera’s supporters at a conference in Krakow stated that governing body OUN - PUN does not meet the needs of the OUN in its composition, and Melnyk and PUE came to power on the basis of the mythical testament of Konovalets, and were not elected in accordance with the resolutions of the first “Great Gathering of Ukrainian Nationalists” (VZUN). The second VZUN (Bandera members) in April 1941 expelled A. Melnik from the OUN and forbade him to speak on behalf of this organization. Melnik sent a letter to the beginning on February 6, 1943. OKW sent a letter to V. Keitel asking him to resolve the issue of “involving the Ukrainian armed forces in the fight against Moscow,” then he actively made statements about the creation of an independent Ukrainian state. 02/26/1944 arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in Sachsenhausen. After the war, he collaborated with the American intelligence services OSS - CIA. In 1947, at the 3rd Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, he was elected leader of the PUN. Died in Clairvaux (Luxembourg).

Ukrainian nationalist organizations during the Second World War. Documentation. In two volumes. Volume 2. 1944-1945. Curriculum Vitae. P. 1054.

The events in Lviv on May 9, 2011 prompted me to become interested in the
Ukrainian nationalism.
So I decided to find out more about the leaders of this movement.

http://profil-ua.com/index.phtml?action=view&art_id=2729

Bone BONDARENKO, specially for “Profile”

Against the backdrop of heated debate among historians and politicians regarding the personality of Stepan Bandera, his contribution to the history of Ukraine and the Ukrainian national liberation movement, Bandera’s main political opponent, Colonel Andrei Melnik, somehow moves aside. But in fact, he was an outstanding, interesting and disproportionately more significant personality than Bandera. But history decreed otherwise: Melnik remained a hero of history, Bandera became part of the national myth. Prominent historical figures do not always become part of the legend. And fame does not always go to the worthy...

Andrei Afanasyevich Melnik was born on December 12, 1890 in the village of Volya Yakubova not far from Drohobych. His father, Atanas (Afanasy) Melnik, was an educated man, graduated from the Dyakov school in Przemysl, and was later elected a mayor in his native village. At the voyt's post, he built a paved road to the village, bought the tavern and opened a library in it. Ivan Franko visited Atanas Melnik’s home more than once. Atanas joined the Russian-Ukrainian Radical Party, led by Ivan Franko, and even got into short term to prison - “for the rebellion of peasants.” In 1889, Atanas married a young peasant woman, Maria, and a year later their son Andrei was born. In 1896, Maria Melnik died of tuberculosis. Atanas marries a second time - to the young widow Pavlina Matchak (her son Mikhail - Andrei Melnik's half-brother - would later become one of the OUN leaders). But Atanas did not live long: in 1906 he died, also from tuberculosis. Pavlina soon marries the peasant Kostya Mysiv, who became attached to Andrei with all his soul and allocated money for his education.

Young Andrei Melnik brilliantly mastered German and Polish languages(he spoke them without an accent), after graduating from the gymnasium in Drohobych he was able to enter the Higher Regional School in Vienna. His adoptive parents decided that Andrey should become an agronomist. While studying in the capital, Andrei was also diagnosed with tuberculosis. Pavlina and Kostya decided to sell part of the land and spent the money on the treatment of the young man. Andrey Melnik underwent a complex operation, removing one lung and several ribs. At the same time, Andrey, not wanting to feel disabled, begins to actively train and play sports. A year later, no one could say that the tall young man with Aryan features had recently been doomed to death or disability.

With the onset of the First World War, student Melnik writes a statement and volunteers to go to the front. To attract Ukrainians into the army and increase their patriotic feelings, the Austrian authorities decided to create a Ukrainianized unit - Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen, which was aimed at Eastern front fight against other Ukrainians who are part of the Russian army. The creation of the USS Legion caused an unprecedented emotional upsurge among Ukrainian youth. Thousands of boys and girls come to collection points and submit applications. Not everyone is accepted - candidates undergo a rigorous selection process. Only every tenth was able to become a Legion fighter. How Andrei Melnik was able to get into the Legion is a mystery: after all, he did not have a single chance to pass the medical examination.

But Melnik is not just passing the competition. Very soon he becomes a chetar (sergeant), then a lieutenant. During the battles for Mount Makivka in May 1915, Melnik showed personal courage. He - according to the recollections of eyewitnesses - did not bend before the bullets, walked in full height and by his example he ignited other fighters. The bloody battles on Makovka led to the fact that the Austrian troops were able to regroup, bring up reinforcements and launch an attack on the Russian units, which by that time had managed to occupy almost all of Galicia - right up to Przemysl. Later these battles were reflected in folklore, in particular, in the song “Oh, on the mountain, on Makivtsi, oh there the Sich’s archers are fighting. For three days they are fighting, not giving up, going to the battle - still laughing.” For the heroism shown in the battles on Makivka, Andrei Melnik received from the hands of the heir to the throne, Archduke Charles, the Great Silver Cross, as well as a personalized silver saber.

In 1916, Melnik was captured by Russians and sent deep into Russia, to the Dubovka camp near Tsaritsyn. This camp was intended specifically for captured Galician Ukrainians. Here ideological and propaganda work was carried out with them. The regime in the camp was not particularly harsh - as, by the way, in most other Russian camps for captured Austrians and Germans. Prisoners in Dubovka could go on leave, communicate with the local population, correspond with relatives and friends, and receive press and books. It is no coincidence that in Dubovka the captured Galicians organized a library and even tried to create a theater.

It was in Dubovka that Melnik met people who played a vital role in his future fate. Among them are Roman Dashkevich, Roman Sushko, Fyodor Chernik, Vasily Kuchabsky and others. Among the others, the 25-year-old lieutenant especially stood out Evgen Konovalets, who previously served not in the Legion, but in regular units of the Landwehr. A strong friendship began between Konovalets and Melnik.

Interesting moment: in Dubovka Miller learned Russian. Moreover, as Melnik’s closest ally and his successor as OUN leader Oleg Shtul-Zhdanovich recalls, until the end of his life, Melnik’s favorite song was the Russian song “Far, far away the steppe has gone beyond the Volga.” It is also worth noting that at the very beginning of World War II, Melnik, along with other pseudonyms, used the surname Afanasyev. Moreover: Melnik loved Russian literature and culture in general, he could talk a lot about the psychological traits of the Russian people - while the majority of Galician nationalists simply ignored everything Russian or perceived any manifestations of Russianness negatively.

With the beginning of the revolution in Russia, prisoners in Dubovka began to actively study the situation in Ukraine and even wrote a collective letter to the leader of the Central Rada, Mikhail Grushevsky, with a request to accept them for military service UNR. The answer was somewhat discouraging: Grushevsky wrote that Ukraine would build a state that in the future would function without the participation of the army at all, and the socialist revolution in Ukraine would take place without the help of bourgeois Galicians.

True, closer to 1918, a group of prisoners, taking advantage of the anarchy in the country, boarded a train and arrived in Kyiv, where they came to Grushevsky in person. As a result, it was possible to ensure that the leadership of the Central Rada allowed the creation of Kuren (hundred) Sich Riflemen under the command of Yevgen Konovalets. Andrey Melnik becomes Kuren's chief of staff. As it turned out, just in time. Bolshevik troops led by Mikhail Muravyov were approaching Kyiv. An uprising of workers at the Arsenal plant broke out inside Kyiv. Military units, which in the summer of 1917 spoke about their desire to defend Ukraine, suddenly declared their neutrality - they say, we do not want to shoot at our fellow Slav brothers (by the way, these same brothers of the same religion will stage a bloody pogrom on the streets of Kyiv in a few weeks ). It was under these conditions that the Sich Riflemen turned out to be the most combat-ready unit, which, by the way, helped Grushevsky evacuate from Kyiv. The Streltsy were the last to leave Kyiv and the first - after the Brest Peace Treaty was signed and the Bolsheviks were forced to retreat - to enter the Ukrainian capital.

After the hetman came to power Skoropadsky in April 1918, the Sich Riflemen were sent from Kyiv to Bila Tserkva. By that time, their numbers had grown to the level of an entire corps. But Skoropadsky openly did not trust Sagittarius. This could not but cause a response. When Simon Petlyura began his uprising against the hetman, in November 1918, he turned to the Sich Riflemen for help. It is around Streltsy that the Siege Corps begins to form - a coalition of anti-Hetman forces leading an attack on Kyiv. Andrey Melnik becomes head of the Siege Corps headquarters. In the battles near Fastov and Motovilovka, they managed to defeat the troops of Hetman Skoropadsky and on December 14, 1918, entered Kyiv.
The Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic came to power.

Some politicians in December 1918 put forward a plan to create a People's Dictatorship. Dictatorial powers were to be received (according to the version of politician Osip Nazaruk - initially a supporter, and later an ardent opponent of Melnik) Vladimir Vinnichenko, Simon Petlyura, Evgen Konovalets and Andrey Melnik. In December 1918, Melnik, Konovalets, Petliura and Vasily Tyutyunnik (a talented military commander who died a year later from typhus) received the rank of ataman of the UPR. Which, according to the initiators, was equivalent to the rank of general. However, both Konovalets and Melnik used exclusively the rank of “Colonel” until the end of their lives. In addition, Melnik and Konovalets refused to discuss dictatorial powers and even the issue of joining the UPR Directory due to their own youth: Melnik at that time was 28 years old, Konovalets - 27.

In March 1919, Melnik headed the General Staff of the Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Almost all memoirists note Melnik’s strategic talent. This almost two-meter tall, tall, fair-haired young man with a clear commanding voice, irony in his steel-colored eyes and long beard aroused sympathy and won over even his opponents. True, he often did not delve into the essence of the matter and showed superficial knowledge of certain issues, but during the revolutionary elements all this was taken for granted.

In October 1919, Melnik fell ill with typhus and was admitted to a field hospital near Rivne. For several weeks he was between life and death. The doctors, taking into account the state of Melnik’s body and the operations he had undergone, did not give up hope for recovery. But ironically, Melnik’s comrade-in-arms, the healthy Siberian Vasily Tyutyunnik, died in the hospital, but Melnik survived... After being discharged from the hospital, Melnik was for some time an inspector of the General Staff, and in 1920 he was interned by the Poles.

In 1921, Melnik, together with Konovalets and a number of other Sich Riflemen, decided to create an underground organization, the main idea of ​​which was to fight for the liberation of Ukraine using methods other than those proposed by the leadership of the UPR. The Ukrainian revolution ended, and - as Konovalets and Melnik believed - it was to blame democratic principles, professed by Petliura, Vinnychenko and their associates. New revolution will be authoritarian, the military commanders believed. This is how a secret Ukrainian military organization arises, led by Konovalets. Already in September 1921, the young terrorist Stepan Fedak shoots Polish Marshal Jozef Pilsudski in Lviv. However, it was unsuccessful. This was the first high-profile action of the UVO.

In 1924, the first tactical differences began between Konovalets and Melnik. Friends often argue about various things. By the way, by that time Melnik had completed his studies, interrupted by the war, and received a diploma in agronomist and forest engineer. He had aristocratic manners and behaved like a gallant gentleman - especially since at 34 he was not yet married. The miller wanted to throw in his lot with cousin Konovalets, Olga Basarab, nee Levitskaya. Olga's husband died during the war on the Italian front. The young widow served as a liaison in the nationalist underground.

The Polish police arrested Olga in February 1924, and through her they found Melnik, who was also detained. In prison, the woman was tortured, and using the most sophisticated torture. According to some reports, she was raped multiple times. Unable to withstand the abuse, Olga hanged herself in her prison cell. This caused a real wave of indignation - the Basarab case was investigated by special commissions that arrived from Warsaw. Although, after working for several months, the commission, as is often the case, did not find any corpus delicti in the actions of the police.

The trial in the case of the “Basarabites,” in which Andrei Melnik was the main defendant, accused members of the UVO of spying for Germany. Melnik received four years in prison.

In prison, Melnik was subjected to frequent beatings by prison authorities. Thus, a doctor called in 1926 to examine a prisoner saw so many beatings on his body that his whole body was a blue-bloody mess. The miller suffered a number of fractures, a concussion, and his teeth were knocked out. And again - a wave of indignation in Polish society regarding the regime of detention of prisoners, speeches in the Sejm and in the League of Nations, signatures in defense of political prisoners. They are trying to reconsider Melnik's case - the most experienced lawyer Stepan Fedak (whose son shot Pilsudski) is taking on this. However, in vain...

In 1928, Melnik was released and decided to quit his relationship. political activity. His state of health is very poor. He is 38 years old, and at the same time he is left without work, he has no family, no children. Sporadic relations with Yevgen Konovalets, who settled abroad, exist, but Melnyk does not share the ideology and practice of the Ukrainian Military Organization in everything. For example, he could not come to terms with the murder of the most talented young poet, whom Ivan Franko especially singled out, Sidor Tverdokhlib, who called for a Polish-Ukrainian compromise.

Melnik could not act actively for another reason: he is under secret surveillance. That is why connections with Konovalets are becoming extremely rare. He learns more and more about his friend from newspapers, as well as through his family line.

In January 1929 - just when Konovalets started holding the first Congress of Ukrainian nationalists - Melnik proposed to the daughter of his lawyer, Sofia Fedak. Sofia's older sister, Olga, by that time was already married to Evgen Konovalets, and they had a son, Yuri.

Under the patronage of his father-in-law, Melnik gets a job with Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky. The Metropolitan owned vast lands - forests, fields, protected areas. He needed a manager. After 1931, when Sheptytsky was paralyzed, Melnik became almost the Metropolitan’s main confidant in the secular sphere. It was at this moment that the actual break in relations between Melnyk and Konovalets took place.

In the early 30s, Metropolitan Sheptytsky, condemning political terror, issued a message “Thou shalt not kill!”, which was later read several times, replicated and especially relevant during the Second World War. Konovalets decided that this was a challenge to the entire nationalist movement. Nationalists began to sharply criticize Sheptytsky’s position: they recalled his Polish origin and accused him of wanting to sell Ukraine to Poland. According to some reports, Konovalets even gave the order to prepare an assassination attempt on the Metropolitan (however, documents that could shed light on this matter for some reason turned out to be classified in the mid-90s of the 20th century).

At the same time, Melnyk, on Sheptytsky’s instructions, is preparing the action “Ukrainian Youth for Christ.” Konovalets is trying to boycott the action and calls on young people not to support the Metropolitan and his actions. But the boycott failed: the action of many thousands took place with great success, with an unprecedented crowd of people!

Apparently, by 1937 Konovalets had to reconcile with the metropolitan. At the very least, Sheptytsky’s authority in Galicia was colossal, and confrontation with him would hardly have led to political success for the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.

On February 6, 1937, Stepan Fedak, father-in-law of Melnik and Konovalets, died. The miller had to comply with certain conditions to enter into inheritance rights. To do this, he initiates a meeting with Konovalets - in September 1937, in complete secrecy, on the shore of Lake Szczyrb in the Slovak Tatras. Later, according to official nationalist historiography, it was believed that Konovalets, foreseeing his imminent death, turned to Melnyk with the words: “Get ready to take the helm of the OUN into your own hands.” Today no one can confirm or deny these words.

Andrey Melnik

Melnik Andrey (1890-1964) was born in Galicia in 1890. In the years first world war was an officer in the Ukrainian Sich Riflemen (USS) corps in the Austrian army. In Petlyura's army he received the rank of colonel. He was one of the commanders of the Sich Riflemen Siege Corps, headed by Konovalets. Participated in the suppression of the Arsenal workers' uprising. A relative of Yevgeny Konovalets ("Pan Ataman" and Melnik married sisters and daughters of Western Ukrainian financier Stepan Fedak). Together with Konovalets, Andrei Melnik stood at the origins of the UVO. In 1938, he was recruited by Abwehr officer Erwin Stolze. Siegfried Müller, who first worked in the Gestapo and then headed the Abwehr branch in Riga, testified on September 19, 1945 that “Melnik visited the head of the 4th department, Schroeder, in his Gestapo office, where he received the necessary instructions for his work. I myself often saw Melnik within the walls of the Gestapo..." OUN leader Andrei Melnik collaborated with the Abwehr under the nickname "Consul-1". Its curator was Captain Paluy ("Doctor Puchert"). After the murder of the OUN founder Yevgen Konovalets, the Ukrainian nationalists were led by a “triumvirate” (Baranovsky, Senyk-Gribivsky and Scidorsky). Then Andrei Melnik declared his rights to the post of leader, saying that Konovalets allegedly transferred power to his relative (that is, Melnik) in his will. Although no one saw this document, in 1939 in Vienna at the second meeting of the OUN, the former Petliura colonel was elected leader of the nationalists. There is reason to assume that Metropolitan Sheptytsky, who had great authority among the OUN members, was trying to elect Melnik as Konovalets’ successor (the newly-crowned leader managed the estates of this prince of the Greek Catholic Church). Meanwhile, the OUN masters, the fascists, captured Poland. The war was approaching USSR, so the Abwehr switched the nationalists to subversive activities against the Soviet Union. According to Erwin Stolze's testimony, Melnik's services were no longer enough. That's why I was recruited Stepan Bandera, released by the Germans from a Polish prison... With the release of many young nationalists, the situation in the OUN became increasingly aggravated. The “New Generation” was preparing a coup, not suspecting that the conflict was being intensively fueled by the Abwehr and the Gestapo through Theodor Oberlander and one of the OUN leaders, Richard Yaroy. In 1940, the young people staged a riot. They put forward demands: “the comprehensive militarization of the OUN, the organization of secret centers in the western regions of Ukraine, the formation of a legion on the side of the Germans against the USSR, the removal of the OUN leadership and their transfer to... a tribunal.” In response, Melnik accused Bandera’s supporters of provocateurs. However, he did not deny that “the Germans are the only ally of the OUN, and this alliance cannot be harmed.” With the help of the Abwehr, Bandera convened a conference of his supporters in Krakow in February 1940. At this meeting, Bandera’s supporters created the main revolutionary tribunal, which passed a death sentence on members of the “triumvirate” and many other Melnikites. The newly created security service of the Security Service, headed by Lebed and Arsenich (the latter was characterized by one of his colleagues as the most cruel Banderaite, not taking into account any circumstances and not knowing any other measures of influence other than physical destruction), was engaged in putting the sentence into effect. Within a few months after the conference, about 400 Melnikovites were killed. They responded by liquidating over 200 Bandera supporters. The Abwehr leadership grabbed their heads, but it was too late - reconciliation became impossible. Nevertheless, on April 5, 1940, Bandera visited Melnik at his residence in Italy. He demanded that power be handed over to the young, citing the decision of the Bandera conference in Krakow. Melnik threatened Bandera with a tribunal, and a split occurred. In April 1941, Bandera’s supporters convened a “great gathering” of the OUN in Krakow. As many as 68 delegates attended this event. The decisions of the Melnikovites were annulled, and Bandera was proclaimed the leader of the OUN. The OUN split into OUN-M (Melnikovites) and OUN-B (Banderaites) or OUN-R (revolutionary). The Melnikovites arrived in the German-occupied territory of Ukraine very late. With their arrival on the ground, a struggle began between the OUN-B and OUN-M for leadership positions in institutions created by the Germans. Let me remind you that shortly before the start of the war, Bandera’s followers formed their own line. Following them, Melnik created his own “government”. The headquarters for organizing the Melnik movement in the city of Rovno was directly subordinate to the OUN-M wire. The choice to create a center in this city was probably not accidental. Reich Commissioner of Ukraine Eric Koch also chose Rivne for his residence. Thus, Melnikov’s headquarters settled “under the wing” of the fascist administration, which gave clear advantages in conducting intrigues against the OUN-B. The “roof” did not help, Bandera’s followers “removed” Melnik’s prominent associates - Sciborsky and Senik in Zhitomir and Shulga on the road to Lutsk. In July 1941, the fascists hit Bandera on the nose. Taking the hint, the Melnikites condemned the Banderaites’ attempt to create a Ukrainian state and assured the Germans of their readiness to cooperate on any terms. Assurances of this are contained in Melnik’s letter to headquarters Hitler dated July 6, 1941: “The Ukrainian people, like no other, fighting for their freedom, are imbued with all their souls by the ideals of the new Europe. The desire of the entire Ukrainian people is to take part in establishing the ideals”... How the OUN members “established these ideals” experienced themselves hundreds of thousands of civilians killed by them. No matter how much the defenders of the OUN write that at the end of 1941 the Gestapo brutally persecuted the Melnikovites, the facts indicate the opposite. Firstly, Melnik lived quietly in Berlin, close to the Gestapo, and was not subject to arrests at that time, even “honorable” ones. His comrades Levitsky (in Warsaw) and Omelyanovich-Pavlenko (in Prague) felt just as calm. All of them signed a letter dated January 14, 1942, addressed to Hitler: “We assure you, Your Excellency, that the leadership circles in Ukraine are striving for the closest cooperation with Germany, in order to join forces... to implement a new order in Ukraine and throughout Eastern Europe." And on February 6, 1943, Melnik sent a message to the chief of the Wehrmacht Keitel with a request to resolve “the issue of involving the Ukrainian armed forces in the fight against Moscow.” After the defeat of Nazi Germany, Melnik managed to escape punishment and fled abroad. Died in 1964.

V. Ryabchikov. Current heroes of Ukraine - http://www.mrezha.ru/ua/Heroes.htm

Melnik Andrey (12/12/1890, Volya village, near Lvov, Austria-Hungary - 11/1/1964, Clairvaux, Luxembourg), one of the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists. Participant of the 1st World War, commander of a hundred legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen as part of the Austro-Hungarian army. 4.9.1916 captured. On January 6, 1917, with a group of Galicians, he escaped from a prisoner of war camp and in 1918 took part in the formation of the Sich Riflemen kuren (Kyiv) as part of the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic (UNR), chief of staff of the kuren, then chief of staff of the Sich Riflemen regiment. During the uprising against the power of Hetman P. Skoropadsky - deputy commander of the siege corps, in 1919 - acting corps commander. On 12/19/1918 he was promoted to atamans of the UPR army. In 1919, chief of staff of the army, then assistant commander of the army group. At the end of 1919 he was interned by Polish troops. In 1920-21, inspector of military missions of the UPR. Brother-in-law of Ataman E. Konovalets, founder of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). Together with Konovalets, he created the Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO), which was called upon to conduct an armed struggle against the Bolsheviks. Since 1923 regional commandant in Galicia. In April 1924 arrested by Polish police. In 1933-38, he was the head of the Main Rada of the Catholic Association of Ukrainian Youth "Eagle". Since 1924, member of the leadership of the UVO and chairman of the OUN Senate. After the murder of Konovalets by NKVD agents (10/11/1938), he declared himself his successor and led the march of Ukrainian nationalists (PUN). He came into conflict with the leader of the “young” S. Bandera, who was aspiring to power in the OUN (in 1940, the confrontation took the form of military and terrorist actions). From 1938 he collaborated with the Abwehr, then a secret agent of the Gestapo. On August 27, 1939, with the support of A. Sheptytsky, he was elected head of the OUN. In April 1941 OUN split into OUN-M (supporters of M.) and OUN-B (supporters of Bandera). After the occupation of Ukraine by German troops, he created a headquarters in Rivne (where the residence of Reich Commissioner E. Koch was located). M., who was in Berlin, condemned Bandera’s attempt to create an independent Ukrainian state and appealed to A. Hitler for cooperation. On 6 February 1943 he sent a letter to the Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command, V. Keigel, with a request to resolve “the issue of involving the Ukrainian armed forces in the fight against Moscow.” After the defeat of the German troops in 1943, he began to actively make statements about the creation of an independent Ukrainian state and on February 26, 1944 he was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After the end of the war M. managed to avoid extradition to the Soviet authorities, lived in Germany, Luxembourg and Canada. In 1947, at the 3rd Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, he was elected leader of the PUN.

Panov nationalists, I have a misunderstanding of some questions regarding the heroism of Bandera and Shukhevych, so I ask you to clarify them for me.

You consider the SS men from the Galicia division and Hauptmann Shukhevych as heroes, who fought on the side of the German Nazis and took the oath to Hitler, against the Soviet army and carried out punitive operations in Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia. They are your heroes.

At the same time, you consider the UPA fighters and one of the OUN leaders Stepan Bandera to be heroes. At first, Bandera also recognized Adolf Hitler as his Fuhrer, but when he realized that there could be no talk of an independent Ukraine, he formally opposed him and was sent to a concentration camp. At the same time, Shukhevych and his SS men continued to faithfully serve Germany.

The UPA is generally a mysterious army that fought against everyone at the same time. At first, she fought with the Polish AK and destroyed Polish civilians and Jews. When the “forester” came in the person of the fascist troops and began to disperse them, she began to permanently fight the Germans. Then she fought with Soviet partisans. During the offensive of the Soviet army, they fought with it. After the war, they exterminated Ukrainian civilians who supported Soviet power, shot, hung and killed teachers, doctors, collective farm chairmen and rural activists.

The OUN consisted of two parts - OUN-B, under the leadership of Bandera and Lebed, and OUN-M under the leadership of Melnik. Bandera gave the order to exterminate Melnik and all his supporters. In the struggle for power, Bandera’s followers first destroyed Stsiborsky and Sennik, and then shot Olzhich and E. Teliga at Babi Yar.

Now explain to me how it is possible to simultaneously consider as heroes people who formally fought with each other, one on the side of Nazi Germany as part of the SS Galicia division, the other in the OUN-UPA against this very Germany. At the same time, according to you, each of them fought for the independence of Ukraine, destroying the Ukrainians themselves. It turns out that everyone has their own Ukraine, where he is the chief hetman. This condition, when a person has two opposing opinions in his head, is called split personality or schizophrenia.

I also don’t understand this kind of surrealism. If both Bandera and Melnik fought for the independence of Ukraine, then why is Bandera a hero, and who then are Sciborsky, Olzhych, Melnik, Teliga?

It turns out they are anti-heroes. And if they are also heroes, then Bandera is evil. And why then don’t you advocate recognizing Melnik and his comrades as heroes?

So, a question for experts - please explain to me these confusing moments of Ukrainian history and who is the most heroic hero?