Ukrainian SS In Britain - Postwar SS-Galizien Division Refugees

[Music] the arrival of refugees from the war in Ukraine has been widely reported in European nations their reasons for coming obvious and a clear case of humanitarian need for the refugees that have arrived in Britain since the Russian invasion are not the first ukrainians to come to the UK because of war the first arrived 78 years ago and instead of being phased by locals they were conversely secretly brought into the country and quietly resettled in small groups and towns and cities the length and breadth of Britain it was almost as if the British government didn't want the population to know about the ukrainian's arrival and indeed that was the case and remained so for decades after they arrived the question is why because the first Ukrainian refugees far from being terrorized and homeless civilians fleeing from Wreck cities were instead tough young men all of them former soldiers and not just any soldiers but men of Hitler's elite the vaffane SS [Music] foreign [Music] that's right just after the end of the War the British government allowed former SS to settle in the UK not a few dozen or even a few hundred but over 8 000 all former members of the Ukrainian SS over which accusations of war crimes committed on the Eastern Front still hangs today who these Ukrainian SS were and why are the British government deliberately let them come to the UK is both fascinating and not a little disturbing this then is the secret story of the Ukrainian SS refugees who came to Britain and never left a story the British government hoped would just go away it is no secret that Heinrich himmler's SS looked far and wide for recruits to circumvent recruiting restrictions placed upon it by the German Army in german-occupied Ukraine the Germans discovered many men sympathetic to the Nazi cause or more particularly adherents of a brand of Ukrainian nationalism that was opposed to Soviet communism and sought an independent Ukrainian state many of these groups saw the German occupation of Ukraine as the beginning their own National dream and by cooperating with the occupiers they might promote Independence or at least some kind of autonomy under Hitler's rule the area of Eastern Galicia now Southeastern Poland and Western Ukraine had a majority Ukrainian population with its political allegiances split between two main groups the moderate National Democrats and the more radical organization of Ukrainian nationalists the latter group would be at the Forefront of collaboration with the Germans following their capture of Poland in 1939 and then the capture of the Soviet Ukraine in 1941. the organization of Ukrainian nationalists was split into two factions the moderate ounm led by Andrew Melnick and the more radical ounb under Stefan Bandera under German occupation the Ukrainian leaders wanted an armed force of their own the Jews and Nazi racism regarding Slavic peoples this only happened in 1943 as German Manpower losses forced it to look further afield for new groups to recruit the German governor of Galicia Dr Otto von Vector suggested raising an SS division from among ukrainians in his Province for service on the Eastern Front Himmler supported the idea and on the 28th of April 1943 the new unit was announced with a call for volunteers Himmler stipulated that the word Ukrainian was not to be used in the new division's title instead Galicia or in German galid scene was to be used as it harked back to the name of the old austro-hungarian Province giving the unit an imperial and Aryan heritage the Ukrainian leaders obtained promises from Himmler that the unit would only be used to fight the Soviets and not the Western allies the oath the men took to Hitler was also conditional on the continued war against the Soviet Union there were plenty of volunteers young men who believed that service in the SS would ultimately further the cause of Ukrainian Independence a strong supporter being melnick's moderate faction of the OU n Stephan Bandera was against the unit's creation largely because he couldn't control it he also believed its members were just cannon fodder for the German cause and not for Ukraine's however later some of Banderas men did join and Achieve High positions in the organization as Bandera tried to infiltrate it the new unit's official name was the 14th raffan Grenadier division of the SS first galitian and it adopted as its divisional badge the old Ukrainian symbol of the Golden Lion with crowns on a blue background the division was led by German Austrian and Ukrainian officers and in total around 52 000 men enlisted from this number some 13 000 were formally inducted into the SS many other ukrainians went on to serve in the German concentration camp system as what were called SS trevnikis after the camp where they were trained and many others were recruited into auxiliary police units and another SS division the 30th Waffen Grenadier division of the SS its members later mutinied against the Germans when stationed in France in 1944 going over on mass to the French Resistance a topic I've already covered in a video link in the end screen in mid-February 1944 the 14th SS gallitzin was ordered to provide a battle group for deployment against Soviet and polish partisans in the javosh area of Southeast Poland earning rare praise for its activities from famous German field Marshal voter Moodle the division was then involved in combat in the Brody area attempting to hold the front against the Red Army the unit was very heavily involved in a huge German counter-attack in mid-july 1944 that resulted in the encirclement of a large number of German forces in the so-called Brody pocket the 14th SS gallitzin acquitted itself very well in combat repulsing several strong Soviet assaults on its sector of the line desperate attempts were made to break the Soviet encirclement the Ukrainian troops in particular under no Illusions as to their fate if captured the division disintegrated in the heavy combat out of 11 000 troops deployed a brody only some 3 000 made it back to German Lions the rest being killed or captured the Germans rebuilt the division primarily using conscripts stationing it in Slovakia where it helped to suppress the Slovak National Uprising against the German occupation archival documents show numerous problems between the Ukrainian SS and the Slovak population the German Security Police logging many complaints made against the 14th SS the ill discipline and criminality the German commander of the division even asked for permission to shoot Ukrainian SS members without trial because of their bad behavior and because a number tried to Desert to the Slovak partisans the Slovak State archives contain much evidence of war crimes committed by 14th SS galitsin units previously units of the division are alleged to have taken part in war crimes in the Brody region and elsewhere in Poland in January 1945 the division was sent to Slovenia where in concert with other SS and police units it fought Yugoslav pardesans until the end of March 1945. following the collapse of the German front as the Red Army punched into Austria from Hungary the division was thrown into desperate combat in the Gratz region of Austria the division numbered 14 000 Frontline troops with a further 8 000 in a training and replacement regiment during the fighting the Ukrainian SS suffered 1 600 killed or wounded politically things were changing on the 17th of March 1945 Ukrainian emigry leaders founded the Ukrainian National Committee to oversee all ukrainians still in Nazi Germany as part of this the Ukrainian military units were formed into a new Ukrainian national Army under General Pavlo chandruk for 14 CSS galit scene was renamed the first division of this new Army however it was now too late for these title changes to come into effect and the title of 14th SS remained in use to the war's end not relishing surrender to the Soviets the division's survivors Trek West until they met British forces in Austria formally surrendering on the 10th of May 1945 two days after the German capitulation the British shipped the ukrainians to Remini in Northern Italy placing them in camps under polish military control specifically a unit of General vladislav Anders the Ukrainian SS leaders made representations to General Anders pleading not to be turned over to the Soviets Stalin pressed strongly for the deportations of all Soviet citizens who had fought with the Nazis and in due course the British would indeed hand over Cossacks and other groups using great violence to force them onto trains to the Soviet zone where many were then executed or sentenced to decades and labor camps in Siberia the problem for the British was the fact that the region the ukrainians had been recruited from was partly pre-war polish territory and had merely been invaded by the Soviets and then by the Germans General Anders was against handing over to the Soviets polish citizens he allowed some to join his own Army while he protected the bulk of the 14th SS galitsin the pope also intervening on their behalf Pius XII describing the Ukrainian SS manners quote good Catholics and fervent anti-communists end quote the British bowing to such pressure changed the status of the SS men from prisoners of War to surrendered enemy personnel the men stayed in their camps in Remini until 1947 as the British sought ways to deal with them eventually a list of over 8 000 names was drawn up the so-called Remini list these men would be permitted to move to Britain and Canada during May to June 1947 8570 Ukrainian SS were transported by ships from Venice to Britain they were only likely screened for links to war crimes known to have been committed by the division during its existence these men spent a few months in detention camps in the UK before being freed with many later emigrating to Canada members founded the association of ukrainians in Great Britain the presence of Ukrainian SS in Britain inconsiderable numbers went largely unnoticed for decades in 1999 a television documentary about the Ukrainian SS in Britain was pulled at the last minute from the viewing schedule the program blocked for some unknown reason in 2003 the Metropolitan Police cross-referenced the Remini list with national health service patient Social Security and pension records and discovered some 1500 Ukrainian SS was still alive and living in Britain the reason why the British authorities have been uninterested in properly investigating the 14th SS galitsin and its alleged war crimes is all to do with the Cold War in the immediate post-war period British intelligence recruited many former Ukrainian SS whose language skills and cultural backgrounds made them ideal agents to operate behind the Iron Curtain in Soviet territory opening an investigation into war crimes would also force the British government to admit it recruited potential war criminals for its own National self-interest which wouldn't have played well with the press or the public better to sweep the whole sorry Saga under the carpet and let time eliminate the last living Veterans of the Ukrainian SS though the metropolitan police investigation was stopped in the early 2000s the recent events in Ukraine have once more highlighted the role of the Ukrainian SS in World War II it was uncomfortable for many to discover that since ukrainian's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. the images and history of the 14th SS galitsin are widely honored in modern Ukraine fueling Russia's old argument that modern Ukraine has a Nazi and Neo-Nazi problem Ukrainian nationalism has been associated with the old SS unit and figures such as Bandera are Ukrainian national heroes today there are streets named after the unit and people like Bandera and the old divisional symbol appears constantly in Canada where many Ukrainian SS settled a granite Memorial to the division exists in Oakville Ontario the present war in Ukraine seems to show once again that World War II is casting a very long Shadow indeed many thanks for watching please subscribe and share and also visit my audiobook Channel War stories with Mark Felton you can also help to support both of my channels at PayPal and patreon details in the description box below [Music]

Channel: Mark Felton Productions

Views: 1,190,897

Keywords: Mark Felton, 14th Galician Division, War in Ukraine

Id: UB_Gs-0dhOo

Length: 14min 40sec (880 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2023