Memorandum of I.A. Serova L.P. Beria on the results of the operation against the OUN in the western regions of Ukraine

 Archive:  SB Ukraine. F. 16. Op. 34. Ref. 8. Ark. 17-29. Certified copy.

January 15, 1941

Top secret

The materials recently received from the agents, as well as the data of the investigation, testified that after the defeat in September 1940 of the Lviv regional executive of the Stanislavsky, Kolomiysky, Striysky district centers and a number of county and district district organizations of the OUN, the remaining repressed members of the regional executive and regional guides - MIRON - "Robert", TsMOTS - "Modest", KLIMOV - "Marmash", VALCHIK - "Sum", SKOPYUK and others launched active work to restore the OUN underground.

Arrested in mid-December last year while crossing the state border, a member of the Lviv regional executive __________ 1 fully confirmed the materials at our disposal about the great practical activities carried out by the OUN after the September failure in all regions of Western Ukraine.

__________1 showed that the leaders of the OUN, who had escaped arrest, were able to in a short time to reorganize their work, to restore district, district, regional organizations, to nominate new personnel to the leadership, to organize equipment, communications with the Krakow wire and grassroots organizations.

By the same time, the testimonies of the district leaders Chaikovsky, Kondrat and others, arrested by the UNKVD in the Stanislav and Ternopil regions, were received, confirming this circumstance.

In the Podgaetsky and Buchachsky districts of the Ternopil region, two illegal OUN printing houses with a significant amount of type and other materials necessary for printing were opened and liquidated. The same printing houses contained radio installations, weapons, grenades, ammunition, and counter-revolutionary nationalist literature.

With such data on the revitalization of the OUN, the operation was carefully prepared. In the seizure, the leadership of the organization, couriers, signalmen and the most active members of the OUN were marked. According to preliminary estimates, 621 people were scheduled for arrest.

The operation was carried out on the night of December 21-22, 1940. Subsequently, those who fled from arrest on the first day of the operation and persons on whom materials were obtained about belonging to the OUN during the initial interrogations of those arrested were seized.

A total of 996 people were arrested, of which: in the Lviv region - 520, Ternopil - 133, Drohobych - 42, Stanislav - 235, Volyn - 56 and Rivne - 10 people.

Basically, the operation in all regions was successful, the contingent planned for arrest, with the exception of a few, was withdrawn. One of the positive aspects of the operation is that it was seized mainly the assets of the OUN underground.

Among those arrested:

KINDIY Bogdan Nikolaevich, born in 1920, 3rd year student at the Institute of Soviet Trade, member of the latest OUN regional executive. Carried out leadership of the "Yunatstvom" and organizations of the OUN in higher educational institutions. During his arrest, the following were confiscated from him: a plan of attack on the prison in Lvov, encrypted documents. Organizational nickname "Cancer".

ZUBRIY Ivan Nikolayevich, born in 1919, student of the Institute of Soviet Trade, member of the regional executive. Supervised the organizational report. Organizational nickname "Eaglet".

DIDINSKY Lev Leonardovich, born in 1919, 4th year student of the Lviv Polytechnic Institute. Conductor of the regional Lviv organization of the OUN. Organizational nickname "Berkut".

BILENBKY Bogdan Yaroslavovich, born in 1921, student of the medical institute, head of the Lviv city district organization of the OUN. When arrested, he offered armed resistance. Three grenades, a pistol, three ampoules of strychnine, a plan for the location of units of the Lvov garrison, technical literature and an organization code were confiscated.

MATSKIV Nikolai Mikhailovich, born in 1911, no fixed occupation. Head of intelligence of the regional organization of the OUN. He had a wide network of intelligence officers in touch.

MAGALYAS Semyon Semyonovich, born in 1914, deputy head of the mechanical repair shop of the Lviv power plant. The leader of the sabotage group. He had a task - to disable the power plant at the time of the armed uprising.

KOVALIUK Zenon Grigoryevich, born in 1903, Ukrainian priest. Authorized by Metropolitan SHEPTYTSKY in connection with the leadership of the OUN.

GAUR Roman Mikhailovich, born in 1917, employee of the sports society "Spartak". Gestapo agent.

DAMANSKAYA Maria Vladislavovna, born in 1919, university student, courier of the Lviv regional organization.

MIRON Antonina, regional signalman and owner of a safe house, sister of Miron, head of the Lviv regional executive.

MEDVED Ivan - head of the school, head of the Peremyshlian district organization of the OUN.

PAVLUSEVICH Teofiliya Mikhailovna, born in 1903, no fixed occupation. The owner of the safe house of the OUN regional executive and the courier, in whose apartment, at the time of the operation, the emissaries who arrived from behind the cordon were hiding, who offered armed resistance.

SKOPYUK Ivan was in an illegal position for a year, the head of the Volyn regional organization of the OUN. During the arrest, two revolvers and 4 grenades were taken away from SKOPYUK, and others.

During the arrest, part of the OUN personnel offered armed resistance, as a result of which there were killings and injuries on both sides. NKVD officers killed two people, wounded two people: OUN killed 5 people, wounded 4 people.

In Lvov, at the safe house PAVLUSEVICH on the street. Petro Mogila No. 6, where at the time of the operation there was the temporary head of the regional executive of the TsMOTS - "Modest", during the ensuing shootout, an investigator of the NKVD investigation unit SAVIN was killed, an employee of the 3rd special department BORODYANSKY and an operative police officer were seriously injured. The brother of the owner of the safe house was killed.

Illegals TSIBULSKY and KUCHERA offered armed resistance during the arrest, both were killed in a shootout.

OUN members SAVITSKY Alexander, nicknamed “Mussolini”, and VLADIMIRETS, nicknamed “Badger”, who arrived from behind the cordon, tried to use weapons, but were disarmed.

During the arrest of an active OUN member in the Bibrsky district of the Lviv region, the head of the military registration desk of the RK police, KALINICHENKO, was killed.

In the Berezhany district of the Ternopil region, during the arrest of an OUN member CHAPIL, who was hiding the head of the OUN intelligence SEMCHISHIN Dmitry, the task force was fired upon with revolver fire. The bandit SEMCHISHIN was offered four times to lay down his arms and surrender, the latter categorically refused to comply with this demand, saying that he wanted to die a Ukrainian hero. SEMCHISHIN is killed.

By the time the task force arrived at the house of an active member of the OUN, LAPSHINSKY, there were two unknown bandits who, as soon as the officers entered the house, threw a grenade. By mere chance, the grenade explosion did not cause any damage to the employees.

As a result of the operation, weapons were seized: 7 rifles, 6 carbines, 31 revolvers of various systems, 6 grenades, 655 different cartridges. In addition, toxic substances were seized - strychnine, arsenic.

In the Lvov, Ternopol, Volyn, Stanislav regions, a large amount of counter-revolutionary literature, appeals, and proclamations issued recently have been confiscated.

Spy materials were taken from individual arrested members of the OUN during the arrest, which they prepared for transfer to German intelligence agencies.

To work on the arrested, special operational-investigative groups were created under the UNKVD, which launched work from the moment the operation began.

This event ensured the timely turn of the investigation, the opening of the composition and activities of the OUN organization.

The testimonies of the arrested leaders of the OUN - KINDIA, ZUBRIYA, BILENKOY and others established that already at the end of October 1940, MIRON - "Robert" formed a regional executive in the following composition:

MIRON - "Robert", he is also "Tomash-Volya" - the conductor of the regional executive.

TsMOTS - "Modest" - the conductor of the Drogobych regional organization and the deputy of Miron.

KLIMOV - "Marmash" - conductor of the Volyn regional organization, member of the regional executive.

Zubriy Ivan - "Orlenko" - a member of the regional executive. Head of the organizational report (arrested).

"KHMARA" (surname not established), works in one of the institutions in Lvov, the head of the so-called eastern department, was in charge of the creation of OUN organizations on the territory of the Eastern regions of the Ukrainian SSR.

KINDIY Bogdan - "Rak", head of the "Yunatstv" and OUN organizations in higher educational institutions.

“BOGDAN” (surname not established), conductor of the Stanislav regional organization of the OUN, according to intelligence data, is hiding in the monastery of St. Yura.

MIRON - "Robert", having formed a regional executive in this composition, immediately began the organizational restructuring of the OUN.

The over-the-cord wire of the OUN and the regional executive set themselves the task of preserving the actual composition of the organization and expanding the base of their influence. To this end, MIRON - "Robert" suggested that regional guides prepare for the transfer of illegal OUN members across the cordon, with the expectation that by the spring of 1941 they would again be transferred to the territory of the Ukrainian SSR to raise an armed uprising.

In total, up to 1,000 people were planned to be transferred over the cordon around the region, who in the period of October and November were formed into separate groups and sent to previously prepared crossing points.

An insignificant part of illegal immigrants broke through the border in small groups, but the vast majority of them, thanks to the operational measures taken, were detained or were forced to return.

To manage the activities of the OUN in the western regions of Ukraine, by decision of the regional executive, only two experienced illegals were left in each district. To the leadership of the county, sub-district, supra-district organizations, new OUN cadres were nominated, who are in legal conditions.

The regional executive was actively preparing for an armed uprising on the territory of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR, which was planned for the autumn of 1940.

The arrested Kindius had a task from the regional executive to develop a plan for the uprising. In the apartment of Kindia, during a search, a scheme of a unified plan for an armed uprising by an organization of Ukrainian nationalists was seized.

But in connection with the changes that had taken place in the international situation and the failure of the organization, the question of organizing an uprising in the autumn of 1940 was removed from the agenda and postponed indefinitely. However, preparations for it did not stop, but on the contrary, the new leadership of the OUN organizations intensified work in this direction.

The head of intelligence of the regional organization of the OUN - MATSKIV, having a wide network of intelligence officers, launched an active work to collect information of a military and economic nature. As scouts, he used mainly students who had connections in Soviet and party organizations.

A group of scouts, on the instructions of the organizational report of the regional executive, prepared a plan for an armed attack on the prison in Lvov, with the aim of releasing the prisoners.

BOGACH Mikhail, arrested by us, whose weapons were confiscated during the search, SHINKAR, GUSAK and CZECH took part in the fulfillment of this task. All of them confessed that, on behalf of the OUN leadership, they monitored the prison, drew a sketch of the prison, the location of guard posts, and drew up a plan for an armed attack.

Much attention was paid to the military training of OUN members. The leadership set the task that each member of the OUN mastered military affairs. For these purposes, the study of weapons, equipment, military literature, etc. was organized.

The new composition of the regional executive in the organizational restructuring of the OUN relied on student youth. In this direction, they managed to carry out significant work.

The arrested KINDIUS testified that OUN organizations were created and exist in all educational institutions in the city of Lvov; in particular: at the university, polytechnic institute, pedagogical institute, art school and pedagogical schools.

The testimonies of the arrested Lev Didinsky, who served as the head of the district executive, established that the regional executive also managed to restore the rural organizations of the OUN.

Didinsky testified that the district he headed included 7 districts, of which the Bobrsky district consisted of 20 members of the OUN, the Vinnikovsky district - 100 people, etc.

During the investigation, it was also revealed that the Gestapo stepped up its work on the territory of the western regions of the Ukrainian SSR, using OUN cadres on a large scale for this purpose.

Arrested agents of the Gestapo GNURA, TIKHOLIZ and GAUR at the very first interrogations testified about their intelligence activities in favor of Germany.

The testimonies of the arrested KINDIA and DIDINSKY confirm the data at our disposal that at the beginning of 1941 the 3rd Congress of the OUN was to be held in Krakow.

As delegates to the congress, at the end of November 1940, MIRON - "Robert", KLIMOV - "Marmash" and the head of the Yavorsky district of the OUN - "Tit" went.

Temporarily, the leadership of the regional executive was entrusted to the TsMOTS - "Modest".

We continue the investigation. We direct further intelligence and operational measures to open the entire composition of the organization, identify and seize caches of weapons, equipment and acquire valuable agents.

I will inform you about the progress of the intelligence and investigative development.

People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR

Commissioner of State Security 3rd rank    

Serov

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1 Here and below, text omissions are made by the author of the document.