“Freedom for nations! Freedom for the Individual!
OFFERING
To finance the national struggle of enslaved nations against Bolshevik tyranny
20 zlotys”.
This is how the text is translated from Polish. The atypicality of the find lies in the fact that, as is known, the Polish side had a restrained attitude to the activities of the Anti-Bolshevik Block of Nations, which was organized at the initiative of the OUN. The organizational and political basis of the ABN was laid at the secret Conference of the Enslaved Nations of Eastern Europe and Asia, held on 21-22 November 1943 in the village of Buderazh in the Rivne Region at the initiative of the OUN Branch. Delegates representing 13 nations enslaved by Moscow – Ukrainians, Belarusians, Georgians, Armenians, Tatars, Ossetians, Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Circassians, Kabardians, Chuvash, Bashkirs (almost all of them spoke under pseudonyms) – agreed on a joint struggle against two empires – USSR and Nazi Germany.
Organizationally, ABN took shape in 1946 at a conference in Munich and existed until the early 1990s, surviving the USSR and significantly contributing to its collapse. During this time, the ABN included various nations, but no Poles were there.
What does this find show? First of all, about the fact that the Ukrainian Liberation Movement and the liberation movements of other dispossessed nations have always been open to alliances with different countries. It is common knowledge that even in the 1940s, the leadership of the OUN, UPA, UHVR (The Ukrainian Supreme Liberation Council, ) and the organizers of the First Conference of the Enslaved Nations of Eastern Europe and Asia appealed to all parties that fought against Hitler and Stalin with proposals for a joint struggle. They turned to various nations for financial support.
But the version about the Polish origin of the boffin is not rejected either. Whether the Kraiova Army issued such appeals, that is, speaking more broadly, whether its political leadership claimed the role of the leader of the enslaved nations at the same time as the Ukrainians, remains to be investigated.
A copy of the boffin was found among the reports of UPA departments from Zakerzonny for 1944.
Архів ОУН
