On 1 December 2024, my fellow countrymen from the Radekhiv region – the villages of Ordova, Bysheva, and Torkiv visited the Zdolbuniv region. The trip was dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the Gurbensky battle, the largest battle in the history of the UPA with the NKVD troops. The rebel formation “Kholodny Yar” was commanded in it by a native of the village of Ordov, UPA major Mykola Svystun, under the pseudonym “Yasen”. On 8 December 1943, he, together with 32 rebels, heroically died in battle nearby in the village of Obgov (now Sosnovye) in the Dubniv region. Before that, on the Feast of the Protection of the Virgin, in his native village, at a crowded meeting, a memorial cross to Mykola Svystun was consecrated. It is not known where the remains of the hero are buried, Muscovites after the battle dug his body out of the grave for identification and that is where the trail ended. Mykola was and remains a hero to us, posthumously awarded two Golden Crosses of Military Merit of the UPA, 1st Class. His life is an example of Ukrainian courage and victory in the fight against the eternal enemy.
The people of Radekhiv, Zdolbuniv, Mizo, and Derman took part in an improvised vigil and laid flowers to the figure of the Mother of God in the Pantheon of Heroes in Gurby. Everyone was delighted to see how they cherish the memory of their heroes in this magical corner of Volyn, admired the miraculous icons of the Church of the Holy Ascension of the Gurby Monastery, and the hiding place, where the life and living conditions of the insurgents are recreated.
The travellers also visited the village of Buderazh, where the guests were met by teachers and students of the school, and had an interesting excursion. The history of this village is closely connected with the national liberation movement of the 40s-50s of the last century and a historical event that dates back over 80 years and continues to this day.
On 21-22 November 1943, during the German occupation, the Conference of Enslaved Nations was held in Buderazh, which took place in conditions of deep conspiracy. Both the Nazis and Stalin’s agents were interested in its holding, in particular, the Kovpakites, who equally fought the UPA, sent their agents and provocateurs into its ranks and tried to keep an eye on the processes of armed resistance taking place in Volhynia. Therefore, the organisers of the Conference had to spread false information about the place where it was held. Even today, some researchers doubt whether this event took place in Buderazh, and not in Ilyashivka or elsewhere. I do not share such opinions, because I knew the participants of the Conference, witnesses of this historical event.
In particular, it was attended by the well-known leading figure of the OUN Petro Duzhy, who 50 years later, already under independent Ukraine, visited Buderazh and in his memoirs recalled those memorable places where the Conference took place. Oleg Tyshchenko’s book “Gurby: April 1944″ records the memories of Kindrat Kalchuk, a native of the village of Derman, who remembered this significant event that took place in the village school of Buderazh, then in the Mizotsky district, at the end of 1943. He, as part of the Derman choir, performed before the delegates of the Conference, which took place under conditions of conspiracy. I knew this man and he also told me about it in the early 90s.
What do written historical sources show? In 1956, the publication of the OUN Central Committee published the book “The Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations in the Light of the Resolutions of Conferences and Other Materials from the Activities of 1941-1956.” It noted that Ukraine, as a people and territory, the greatest potential and actual force in the fight against Moscow imperialism, stood and stands in the vanguard of this struggle. In 1917, a Conference of all nations enslaved by Moscow was held in Kyiv under the auspices of the Ukrainian Central Rada, where they considered ways and methods of a joint struggle against Russia’s aggressive policy. Unfortunately, these ideas did not gain wide popularity, but the spark had been ignited.
In 1940-41, the Political Commission under the OUN Leadership of Independentists-Statepersons (OUNSD) began active political activity among the peoples enslaved by Moscow and agreed to publish a joint magazine “Our Front”, which was to become a platform for political discussions and clarification of the problems of the need to create a common anti-Bolshevik front. World War II suspended this work for a while.
As noted in the above-mentioned book: “On 25 June 1943, a Conference of Representatives of Individual Nationalities is held, which considers current issues.” Most likely, in my opinion, this took place in the village of Ilyashivka. In terms of its format, it was a preparatory meeting and one of the issues discussed was the unification of military groups for joint military operations. As a result of these agreements, which were later approved by the 1st Conference of the Enslaved Nations of Eastern Europe and Asia, at the end of 1943, an armed division was created under the UPA from soldiers of various nationalities. These were escapees from German captivity, political emigrants, deserters of the ČA – a total of about 10 thousand people. Such national divisions were to become the base of independent national insurgent armies and then transfer to their territories to continue the fight. The National Committee of Enslaved Nations was to become the coordinating body of the people’s revolutionary struggle.
The 1st Conference of the Enslaved Nations of Eastern Europe and Asia on 21-22 November 1943 was attended by 12 nationalities: 5 Ukrainians, 2 Belarusians, 5 Georgians, 6 Azerbaijanis, 4 Armenians, 2 Tatars, 2 Ossetians, 1 Kabardian, 1 Circassian, 1 Chuvash, 6 Turkestans, 5 Uzbeks, 1 Kazakh. The Ukrainian delegation was represented by Dmytro Klyachkivsky (Klym Savur) – commander of the UPA group “North”, a member of the OUN leadership Rostyslav Voloshyn, publicist Yakiv Busel and Kateryna Meshko. The main report at the Conference was delivered by Roman Shukhevych (Taras Chuprynka). The National Committee for the Enslavement of Nations was created, a political platform was adopted, and a Manifesto to the Enslaved Nations was proclaimed, the basis of which was dominated by: “Freedom for nations! Freedom for the individual! “. Even the Anthem of Enslaved Nations was proposed, which has the following refrain:
It is no longer necessary to obey the common executioner,
I can’t stand the Moscow yoke anymore.
Together we will become free,
We will give freedom to nations and to the individual!
Maria Bazelyuk, who was a leading figure of the ABN for a long time in the late 1990s and early 2000s, recalls from the stories of ABN veterans that it was strictly forbidden to disclose the location of the 1st Conference, especially, not to mention it in written documents or publications. For such an event, the SS or NKVD could burn the village and shoot the people, as happened in her neighbouring village of Malyn in the east of the Rivne region. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no mention of the Conference, Buderazh, or Ilyashivka anywhere in the documents. But it is impossible to erase people’s memory. This event was secretly passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth, by the people of Buderazh, Derman, and Mizo, who lived and fought in those turbulent times.
After the defeat of Hitlerite Nazism in 1945, Moscow Bolshevism remained a prison for the enslavement of nations, whose victims were the people of Ukraine, the people of the Baltic countries, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Far East, and Central Europe. Having found themselves under the rule of a new occupier, the OUN-UPA, led by Roman Shukhevych, continued a fierce armed struggle. Meanwhile, the Foreign Parts of the OUN in the West, Stepan Bandera, and Yaroslav Stetsko intensified their work with the leaders of the liberation movements of the nations enslaved by the Bolsheviks.
On 16 April 1946, the Constituent Congress was convened in Munich, which proclaimed the creation of an international organization – the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (ABN), the successor to the National Committee of Enslaved Nations. Dozens of representatives of the nations of sub-Bolshevik Europe and Asia united in this organization with a single goal – to overcome Moscow Bolshevism, the USSR – the prison of nations. The slogan “Freedom for nations! Freedom for the individual!” was adopted from the Conference in Buderezha and remained on the banner of the ABN.
As N. Athanina notes in her brochure “To the 60th anniversary of the ABN”, the means of the ABN’s struggle were hundreds of conferences, seminars, pickets, memoranda to the governments of the world, presidents, political, cultural, and religious organizations on the protection of the national and human rights of enslaved people. Cooperation was established with the Lithuanian liberation organization “For the Freedom of Lithuania”, Hungarian insurgents in 1956, Czechs and Slovaks in 1968, and Afghan liberation forces in 1980.
Stepan Bandera attached great importance to the front of enslaved nations against the Bolshevik empire and put the struggle of the Ukrainian people at the forefront.
In 1948, at the Second Congress of the ABN, the prominent OUN figure Yaroslav Stetsko was elected Chairman of the ABN Central Committee, and headed it until 1986. His wife Yaroslava Stetsko and other dignitaries of the OUN (b) continued the work.
In 1996, at the school building in the village of Buderazh, I, as a National Deputy of the 2nd convocation from the Zdolbunivka electoral district, together with the Head of the OUN leadership, and Head of the ABN Yaroslava Stetsko, and with the participation of Buderazh residents, local teachers, and guests, had the honour to open a commemorative plaque on this historic building. The school management was given documentary materials from the ABN archives to create a museum room. The history of this organization has ceased to be a secret and is available to visitors. Currently, a new school building has been built in Buderazh and it houses historical materials about the Conference of Enslaved Nations. A history teacher, a local historian, conducts excursions on the history of the village. On the site of the old school, which was demolished due to dilapidation, a memorial stone about the historical Conference was installed, thanks to the efforts of the then head of the Zdolbunivka district council, Vasyl Tymoshchuk, and his colleagues.
The ABN case continues. Bolshevism collapsed, but on its ruins, appeared a new dragon – Moscow imperialism, racism, a strangler of freedom, which destroys weaker nations and their states all around. In Russia, there are currently about 7,000 political prisoners – fighters for their national rights, of which 27% are women, and 33% are journalists. What can we say about thousands of our Ukrainian prisoners of war, kidnapped children and civilians who are being tortured within Moscow’s walls? Again, a common, united front is necessary with the slogan of the 1st Conference of Enslaved Nations, which was born in Buderezha – “Freedom for nations! Freedom for the individual!”
On 3 May 2023, the successor to the ABN was an organization with a slightly changed name – the Anti-Imperial Block of Nations, but also the ABN, which in June 2024 held the First World Congress of the ABN in Lithuania, in the city of Kaunas. Dozens of national liberation movements of enslaved nations joined the ABN to achieve a common goal – to finally destroy the Muscovite empire! History repeats itself again, through the centuries….
Oleg Matkivskyi,
Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine,
National Deputy of Ukraine of the 2nd Convocation
