Dear Subscribers:

It has become patently obvious that the attack on the Halychyna Division via the defamatory video documentary "SS in Britain" and echoed by Lord Janner's parliamentary committee has been spearheaded by the Holocaust Industry. The techniques employed are very similar to those employed in the John Demjanjuk case in the United States and in the establishment of the Deschenes Commission in Canada.

To ensure that readers are not duped and are fully informed, I have decided to respond to the provocation to my original posting of January 10, 2001.

In addition, I have archived some of the material on the issue which has been posted on the Internet on the MoZeus website at
/tp/
Just go to the third column and click on the link to "SS in Britain".

Regards
Will Zuzak

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Casale"
To:
Sent: Sunday, January 14, 2001 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: Re; SS in Britain

In message <001801c07b50$727a6d40$34c6b8a1@moezuzak>, mozuz writes

Dear Subscribers:

Thanks to Stepan Pasicznyk and Roman Zyla for bringing to our attention the item "SS in Britain" in the Sunday, Dec. 24, 2000 issue of the Sunday Times and Sunday Express, as well as on ITV on Sunday, Jan. 07, 2001.

May I make the following points:

(1) It would be nice to know the composition and history of Lord Janner's "British Parliamentary Committee War Crimes Group". Is the driving force behind it the Holocaust Industry? Or does it have broader political ramifications?

**** M.C. **** **** ****
The driving force behind the Group is the fact that for several reasons, after the Nuremberg Trials, Britain's efforts at locating and unmasking Nazi war criminals was very poor. Lord Janner's efforts are directed at remedying that although everyone acknowledges that such criminals are now bound to be very old. There are no political ramifications in relationship to this.

**** W.Z. **** **** ****
The above response provides no details as to the composition and history of Lord Janner's group. It does, however, confirm that the Holocaust Industry is, indeed, the driving force behind it, and presumably behind the production of the defamatory video documentary "SS in Britain".

By definition, a parliamentary committee is a political entity that implies political ramifications. In this case, the ramifications for Ukraine, both politically and economically, could be devastating. When an instrument of the British government knowingly condones and supports a disinformation campaign promoting hatred against Ukrainians, it sends a signal to all Ukrainophobes that hunting season is open.
**** **** **** **** ****

(2) This latest outburst appears to be a deliberate attempt to foment dissension between Ukrainians and Poles. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Polish political and intellectual elite has taken a very positive stance towards Ukraine and Ukrainian independence. Ukrainians must not rise to the bait and get into a war of recrimination with the Poles.

**** M.C. **** **** ****
As I seem to be one of the few people on this List who has seen the documentary, I did not think for one moment that it was anti-Ukrainian. It made the point that these war criminals were into killing Ukrainians as well as Poles or even Jews of both countries. The opening part of the documentary made it clear that it was referring to a number of war criminals who effectively were 'hiding' amongst the other 8000 or so Ukrainian members of the Galizean Division.

**** W.Z. **** **** ****
Michael Melnyk disagrees with the above assessment and considers David Cesarani to be a zealot. Dr. Mushynka has documented the Ukrainophobia of the producer, Julian Hendy, and his staff.

Note the terminology the author uses to further promote negativity towards the Halychyna Division.
**** **** **** **** ****

(3) Lubomyr Prytulak on his UKAR website has researched the "Lviv Pogrom" in some detail. In particular, see the article from the report by de Zayas:
http://www.ukar.org/zayas01.shtml
There is additional information in his letters to Jordan and Hilberg: jordan02.shtml, hilber02.shtml, etc.

**** W.Z. **** **** ****
There was an error in my original posting in the link to UKAR (.net rather than .org), which has now been corrected. The de Zayas article is well worth reading. The Mazur-Kurlak letter to the BBC, protesting the defamation of the "SS in Britain" documentary, is archived on UKAR as mazur01.shtml .

As noted above, further information attributed to Michael Melnyk and Dr. Mushynka has been archived at
/tp/
**** **** **** **** ****

(4) Lord Janner and his group should be invited to examine British atrocities and crimes against humanity during and after WWII, such as
(a) deliberate bombing of civilian targets, and

**** M.C. **** **** ****
Whoops! I seem to have vague recollections about the Germans bombing odd places such as Guernica a few years before the outbreak of WWII. We have enough moral conscience every year in this country (Britain) to discuss whether it was right to bomb Dresden despite the fact that Hitler was dropping V1 and V2 rockets on London's civilian population. Sometimes even the best democracies have to do things which they don't like. At least they know afterwards that it wasn't a nice choice to make unlike their adversaries who thought that daily civilian murder was a perfectly reasonable way to conduct themselves.

**** W.Z. **** **** ****
In my opinion, the British Empire loyalists have absolutely no moral conscience. This was illustrated some 10 years ago by the erection of a monument in honour of Butcher Bomber Harris in London. Blessed by the Queen Mother, no less.

One cannot justify one's evil deeds before God by subjectively claiming that the evil deeds of one's enemy are worse.
**** **** **** **** ****

(b) forcible repatriation of Ukrainian, Cossack and Yugoslavian refugees to the tender mercies of Stalin and Tito.

**** M.C. **** **** ****
Look, this argument that some British group or another shouldn't look at what some thoroughly disreputable Nazi war criminals and psychopaths did during the war until Britain starts looking at some other injustice/war crime (real or imagined) is absolutely spurious. Just to remind you that an army in a civilised country should be defending innocent unarmed civilians not shooting them. And that's exactly what the Nazis and their fellow travellers did and it was an instrument of state policy. And just to remind you, the documentary opened with the statement that Ukraine lost more people on its land than any other country in World War 2. Are you happy to let war criminals get away with that just because by an accident of birth they happened to be Ukrainian rather than some other nationality? I hope not.

**** W.Z. **** **** ****
What the author attributes to the Germans can also be attributed to the British wartime strategy. For example, the British trained and deployed Czechoslovakian partisans to assassinate Reinhard Heydrich in May 1942, knowing full well that the Germans would exact fearful retribution upon the civilian population. The British succeeded beyond their wildest hopes. The bloodbath that the Germans perpetrated in trying to locate the assassins resulted in an enduring hatred of the local populace towards the Germans.

There are countless examples of such British duplicity, both during and after WWII, sacrificing the lives of innocent civilians to further their military and political goals.

**** M.C. **** **** ****
Finally, under item (b) above the 8000 Ukrainian Galizean Division refugees were brought to Britain initially to avoid Stalin. If they were all considered criminals, then do you think they would have been transported here? With regard to the forcible repatriation of some Ukrainians, and Cossacks, Britain's record is not good on this but all we can do at this stage is to learn lessons from it.

**** W.Z. **** **** ****
Certainly, lessons can and should be learned from British crimes against humanity. An apology and financial compensation to the victims would be a good place to start. Criminal prosecution and/or denaturalization and deportation of the guilty personnel should commence immediately. Time is of the essence, one would not want these war criminals to die peacefully before they are exposed and punished.
**** **** **** **** ****

Regards
Will Zuzak

Michael Casale
Tel: +44 (0)20 8959 8655
Fax: +44 (0)20 8906 1299
e-mail: [email protected]

Toronto Star
Dec. 27, 2000

LONDON (Special) - Former SS soldiers, some of whom committed war crimes against women and children during World War II, are living undisturbed in Britain.

Evidence of crimes perpetrated by some members of the Waffen-SS, an 8,000-strong division of Ukrainian SS soldiers who collaborated with the Nazis, has surfaced half a century after they were admitted into Britain.

Now Poland's official war crimes investigators are demanding the Home Office - the United Kingdom's law and order department - check out the involvement of members of 14th SS Division ``Galizien'' in a series of atrocities from 1941 to 1944.

Any inquiry will have to include about 1,200 survivors of the SS division, which was sent to Britain after the war. It will ask why the government of British prime minister Clement Attlee shipped them to the U.K. in 1947 with only cursory checks.

Lord Janner, secretary of the Parliamentary War Crimes Group in Britain, said the failure of successive governments to rigorously scrutinize the ex-soldiers was ``monstrous.'' He called for a full investigation into ``this disgraceful episode'' and the part living unit members played in the atrocities.

His demands were endorsed by Witold Kulesza, chair of the main commission for investigation of crimes against the Polish nation, in Warsaw.

Members of SS Galizien were involved in the suppression of the Warsaw uprising in autumn, 1944. They were part of the Ukrainian Self-Defence Legion, a unit that later joined the Nazi division. Michael Melnyk, a British authority on SS Galizien, says his research had shown former members were still living in Britain.

LONDON SUNDAY TIMES

I read with interest your articles on the 24th December but wanted to wait until the television programme was shown before answering all of your points collectively with one letter.

Five main points come to mind.

1. You quite rightly mention that Ukraine lost more people than any other country in the Second World War, but you forget to mention that as well as suffering at the hands of the Nazis and the Bolshevik Russian Imperialists, Ukraine also suffered at the hands of the Polish Imperialist occupants of western Ukraine. Alleged atrocities against Poles are recounted, but no mention is made of atrocities such as operation Visla, the Polish forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainians from Ukraine which being forced, could not have been a bloodless affair.

2. You briefly mention that "some Jewish Citizens of Ukraine" co-operated with the Bolsheviks but you do not consider for one minute that any of this co-operation might have also amounted to crimes against the Ukrainian nation. I quote for example, the three most infamous examples, the main henchmen of Stalin, (the worst butcher of the 20th century), namely Derzhinsky [Dzerzhinsky], Yezhov and Kaganovich , between them responsible for the deaths of millions of Ukrainians and other non-Russian peoples in the Russian Empire (USSR) from the 1920’s onwards.

3. Professor David Cesarani although appearing to be objective in his approach, demonstrated some acute political illiteracy when using the word "nationalist" and seemed, despite his otherwise detailed approach, uncharacteristically vague when referring to actions against "partisans". My simple question is, which partisans? Was he talking about the Russian Bolshevik partisans working towards the destruction of Ukrainian independence aspirations? Or maybe the Polish partisans working for the continuation of Polish occupation of Western Ukraine? What about their atrocities, all aimed at the Ukrainian Nation? More interestingly, which Jewish partisans was he talking about? Who were they fighting for? Ukraine? Poland? Russia? Israel??? On the other hand, was he talking about the partisans of the Ukrainian Insurgent army, composed of committed Ukrainian Nationalists who fought on many fronts, against Russian, German and Polish imperialism for the independence of Ukraine. Incidentally, many Jewish citizens of Ukraine sought refuge in the Ukrainian Insurgent army (UPA) and served in it, and operation Visla was orchestrated by the Polish occupants of Western Ukraine to destroy popular Ukrainian civilian support for this Ukrainian partisan army.

4. The word "Nationalist" seems to be a wild card in these debates. A Polish nationalist uprising against the Nazis seems to be fine as does any kind of western European nationalism equated with the struggle against the Nazis, but as soon as it is Ukrainian nationalism against Russian, German and Polish occupation of Ukraine, it is given the usual liberal coating of negative connotations. In other words what is implied here is that the aspirations of freedom that one nation may have, to be free from foreign domination and subjugation, are more acceptable than the same aspirations of another nation. Some might call this attitude fascist.

5. Professor David Cesarani mentions that there are probably some individuals in Britain guilty of war crimes who belonged to the Galician Division, and that they should be brought to justice. Is it also possible that amongst the Jewish community in Britain there may be individuals who collaborated with the Bolsheviks (as briefly mentioned in your ITV programme), in committing crimes against the Ukrainian nation? Shouldn't we have a screening process for all these immigrants? A similar case came to light in Canada recently. Should this be the first of many such investigations? Is it also possible that amongst the Polish community in Britain there are people responsible for crimes against the Ukrainian nation, such as the afore-mentioned operation Visla? Surely to ignore these possibilities is a crime in itself as it would again imply that a crime against one nation is worth more investigation than a crime against another. If there are to be any investigations, then they must include crimes against the Ukrainian nation as well, which by your own admission in the opening minutes of your television programme, suffered more than any other nation in the Second World War.

Respectfully submitted
Stepan Pasicznyk

I post this for your information:

The UK government along with some of the countries major newspapers and television are focussing attention on the wartime activities of the Ukrainian members of the 14th SS Division Galizien.

A special meeting of the British Parliamentary committee war crimes group has been called together to examine the possibility that "as many as 1500 nazi murderers came to live in Britain in 1947" (Independent Jan 8 2001) Lord Janner of Braunstone, secretary of the all party war crimes group said " I have asked the Home Secretary to open a full, new investigation. Those who are now in Britain and were involved in genocidal murders should not sleep comfortably in their beds"

ITV and Yorkshire television aired a documentary on Sunday Jan 7 2001, titled "The SS in Britain", showing that members of the Ukrainian police unit (Nightingales) "who" it was said by Lord Janner "were believed at the time to be ordinary soldiers" took part in the "murder of thousands of Jews in Lvov in June 1941"

The reports in the press (Independent, Times, Express, Metro) all quote Documentary director Julian Hendy as saying that "People in Poland were very surprised that these people have been allowed to come into Britain." (Independent)

Much of the documentary was based on a number of interviews with Polish locals in Eastern Poland where the events of 1941 took place. "In Feb 1941 Galizien's troops murdered 800 Polish civilians in the Village of Huta Pienacka. And in August that year they massacred 44 unarmed civilians in the Polish village of Chlaniov, including children as young as three." (Independent)

The documentary and the reports provide little by way of balance in their coverage. No mention of Polish activities in the war, though it is said that Ukraine lost more people than any other single country in the war at the hands of the Germans and the Red Army.

The difficulty for the Ukrainian community in the UK appears to be that a concerted effort to counter such reports in the media is limited. Part of the problem is the relatively small number of Ukrainians living here and the second is the poor organisation of political response from the community.

The broad effect is that the general UK population is gaining a negative appreciation of who Ukrainian's are and what their past is about. In Britain the War and wartime activities play a very significant role in creating a popular image of nations.

In the British media and in politics here Ukrainians fare worse than badly.

Roman Zyla
PhD Researcher
SSEES/University College London

Re: Fw: Fw: Another attack on Ukrainians (not an attack I think)
From: Myroslava ([email protected])
Date: 01/09/01-11:22:29 PM Z

Below Michael Casale's evaluation is an analysis of the documentary by one the its participants - Michael Melnyk.
His press release and write-up in the British press is at variance with Michael Casale's (below).
Michael Melnyk also included additional supportive documentation in the form of attachments which is not included here.

I saw the programme on Sunday evening and my friend who saw it with me has recorded it so we will have the opportunity of reviewing it again this week.

I will try later this week to give a fair report on the comments forwarded in Lesia's post. My first impression of the programme was, though, that it was very fairly balanced. I would not describe it as anti-Ukrainian because, for example, one of the most authoritative Professors of 20th century Jewish history, David Cesarini explained at the beginning of the broadcast that the Galizien Division of the SS had initially attracted some 8000 volunteers who had joined for a mixture a motives, high amongst them being idealists who wanted the opportunity of ridding themselves of Stalin and Communism. Cesarini explained that initially many of the murders that the Division carried out in Lvov, for example, were against people against whom they had an anti-Communist grudge who just happened to unfortunately be Jewish.

The documentary showed how after massive combat casualties and later in the war (about 1942 as I understand), the Galizien Division changed its composition and incorporated some of the least desirable members of society. Mention was made that, like it or not, these people were into killing even their own countrymen.

Some members of the Ukrainian diaspora also contributed and made no excuses for those involved in war crimes. Quite reasonably given the somewhat chequered history of the Galizean Division, they effectively said that those who committed crimes should be punished and those that hadn't shouldn't be.

The essence of the remainder of the programme was that it was more than likely that some Ukrainian Galizean members had been involved in a village massacre in Poland. Overall, the evidence appears to strongly point to this. Some of these characters had infiltrated into the UK and hidden in the mass refuge given to Ukrainians and other FSU refugees at the end of the war. It was NOT saying that all Ukrainians or even all Galizean Division members were or had been involved in war crimes. It questioned the motives of the UK government and mentioned that there were rumours that Ukrainians had been sent back clandestinely into the FSU on behalf of the intelligence services. There was an inference, probably correct, that the UK government didn't want to find war criminals because it needed the intelligence much more.

I hope that is a fair summation of what I saw. As it was a documentary rather than a three day conference, it is always easy to challenge the historical validity of some of the claims. Would they have used so much petrol? Given the Nazis preoccupation with killing Jews in the concentration camps when their war effort should have been directed elsewhere I can well believe it. And this wasn't a Jewish village. Can you trust a 13 year old eye witness? Well, any of you with 13 year old sons and daughters will have to judge that one for themselves and pray that you never find yourself in the position that these poor unfortunates found themselves in.

The real thrust of the documentary was to show that some of these war criminals are still around, live and kicking, having not only killed Jews but anybody else that their defective and evil brains happened to pick on.

But it was a good documentary and tried to tell the story in a concise and easy to follow way.

Michael Casale
Tel: +44 (0)20 8959 8655
Fax: +44 (0)20 8906 1299
e-mail: [email protected]

Subject: Fw: The SS in Britian forthcoming documentary press release
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 15:23:31 -0000
From: "Michael Melnyk"

Thanks for the messages.

Hereto my reply to press release. Do with it as you see fit. For my part I have circulated it to all national media organisations in the UK (ie; TV, newspapers and radio).

On 5th January the Eastern Daily Press ran a large 2 page article in the centre pages about my position re the Division and the documentary which we both participated in. The article was in my opinion excellent, recording pretty faithfully all my counter arguments.

The BBC have just contacted me and requested that I participate in a radio programme tomorrow morning (with Ceserani - whom I regard as a zealot). I have agreed to take part and will be advancing the same arguments as outlined in the "reply to the press release attached hereto".

The remainder of the press seem - so far - to be proceeding with caution and some reservation on the "story", perhaps as the result of my reply to the press release.

warmest regards....

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Melnyk
To: [email protected]
Date: 04 January 2001 19:19
Subject: The SS in Britian forthcoming documentary press release

4 January 2001

To the Media Editor

Dear Sir / Madam

As you all probably know, the documentary made by Yorkshire TV entitled "The SS in Britain" is scheduled for a full terrestrial ITV network screening in England on Sunday 7th January 2000 at 22.55.

To publicise the screening, Yorkshire Television who were the makers of the documentary have circulated a Press Release, which outlines the main thrust of the programme. I took part in this programme by way of an interview as an author and authority of the subject, and feel that the end product gives a very distorted view of the history and activities of the Galician Division and that the programme makers have manipulated their material to suit their own agenda.

Under these circumstances and in light of the inevitable approaches by the media, I have taken the liberty of setting out my own position with regard to the Division and have formulated a brief "reply" to the official press release by the TV company (attached hereto and appended below).

Contrary to the claims made in the press release, I suggest that the allegations made in the programme are not new, the witness evidence has not been tested by submitting it to 'due legal process' and cannot therefore be accepted, and that the evidence used in the film is mostly 'circumstantial'. I have attempted to highlight some of the blatant falsehoods, half truths and misrepresentations contained therein, to refute the sensationalist claims which have been made.

If you have any further questions in relation to this subject I can be contacted on
01603 300815 (home) or (01603) 728224 (work)

Yours Sincerely

Michael Melnyk

In 1947 the British Government brought an entire division of the Nazi Waffen SS to Britain - 8,000 Ukrainians from the 14th SS Division ‘Galizien’.

The British Government did not bring an "ENTIRE" SS Division to this country. None of the approx. 3,000 German cadre and command personnel were included, neither were the 1,400 or so Ukrainian men who were held in internment by the Americans.

Today, over half a century later, 1,500 of the division who fought for Germany are still living in the UK.

The British Government has always claimed that there was no evidence to link this division of Ukrainian volunteers to war crimes. But they are wrong. For the first time ever SS in Britain provides that evidence.

In sharp contrast with this claim, this is not the first time that these issues have been raised, in fact several of these allegations have been raised publicly before over 30 years ago and periodically ever since, principally by former Soviet, Polish and Jewish sources. For example many of the Soviet allegations were catalogued by the Soviets over 16 years ago in "We Accuse" Dnipro Publishers, Kiev, 1984; This work provides full accounts along with details of the un-substantiated allegations with reference to the participation of a section of the 'Volhynian Legion' in the pacification of the village of CHLANIOW ( pp: 270-272) and the participation of a section of the 'Volhynian Legion' in the Warsaw Rising of August 1944 (see pp: 273-276).

Using previously closed archives in Eastern Europe, the programme pieces together compelling documentation and eyewitness testimony which confirms that members of the SS Division that settled in Britain were involved in mass murder and war crimes.

The somewhat 'one sided' testimony of the "witnesses" used for the purpose of the documentary has never been tested in a formal court of law and subjected to cross examination as part of 'due legal process'. Therefore in the context of the accusative tone of the programme , it would not be accepted as creditable in any court of law.

Despite all their investigative resources, the Governments of Britain and Australia have as yet been unable or unwilling to undertake such an investigation.

Such an investigation has been undertaken by the British authorities. The sole purpose of the Scotland Yard War Crimes Investigation Team in the 1980's was to examine the activities of any suspect individuals who had formerly served in the German armed forces and who came to Great Britain in the post war period. Likewise, an investigation was conducted by the Australian government but later discontinued after no successful prosecutions were made. The Canadian government also has an investigative body for the investigation of war criminals (of all nationalities - not just Ukrainians) but the results produced have been negligible. To date no former member of the Galician Division has been charged in Canada, Australia or the USA.

SS In Britain documents the involvement of members of the Galicia division in:

- the mass murder of thousands of Jews in Lvov in June 1941 by men of the Nightingale battalion, a Ukrainian police unit which later joined the SS Division Galizien.

At the time of this alleged massacre, (June 1941) by the Nachtigall Battalion, the Galician Division was not in existence (it was formed in April 1943). It has only been "alleged" that one company of the Nachtigall Battalion ever took part in these atrocities. Ultimately only a few of the former officers from the Nachtigall battalion went on to serve in the Galician Division (as an alternative to imprisonment). Very few if any of the Ukrainian soldiers from this company went on to serve in the Galician Division. The Soviet Embassy release of Soviet War News of December 30 1944, published in London, contains a section entitled "The L'vov Evidence", in which the Soviet "Extraordinary State Commission for Ascertaining and Investigating Alleged Atrocities", lists by name all the major participants in this action (including their function or unit to which the belonged), but significantly makes no reference to the 'Nachtigall Battalion' or any of its' personnel.

- the murder of over 800 Polish civilians in the village of Huta Pieniacka on February 28th 1944.

This aspect has been well documented and raised by the Polish authorities and in the British press over the course of the last 15 years for example by Neil Asherton in an article in the Times in the 1980's entitled "Alive and Well and Living Amongst US". The evidence presented in support of this allegation from the moment that it was first reported days afterwards contains a number of serious inconsistencies. Despite searching the archives, no documentary evidence has been produced by the Polish Main Commission for the Investigation of war Crimes against the Polish Nation, nor the makers of the documentary 'The SS in Britain' to corroborate the alleged presence of Ukrainian soldiers in the pacification activities conducted at Huta Pieniacka. Evidence which categorically records that Ukrainian units did not take part (ie; that of the so called Divisional Chronicle which the documentary cites elsewhere) was deliberately omitted from the programme.

- the murders of 44 unarmed civilians, some as young as three years old, in the Polish village of Chlaniov on August 23rd 1944.

- See above, regarding "We Accuse".

- the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in the autumn of 1944, by members of the Ukrainian Self Defence Legion, a unit which later joined the Division.

The presence of part of this unit which was distinct from the Galician Division has previously been raised (See above, regarding "We Accuse"). The Ukrainian Self Defence Legion (also known as the 'Volhynian Legion' was later assimilated into the Galician Division BY FORCE in March 1945.

- the capture of downed British and American air force personnel who were then transferred to the notorious Gestapo.

There is evidence of cases of confirmed contact between Ukrainian soldiers of the Galician Division and downed Allied Flyers in Slovakia and Slovenia, (albeit of an incidental nature). In these instances the airmen were duly reported to have been handed over to the "appropriate authorities". The documentary offers no unequivocal evidence to suggest that they came to any harm whilst in the custody of the Ukrainian soldiers. Document WO 108/107, AIR 402315, in the Public Record Office in London contains the statement of Flight Sergeant Parker a former allied airman given to the Provost Marshal R.A.F. In this statement he recounts that he was shot down in Slovenia, captured by units from the Galician Division, (from his statement by which he was apparently unharmed), survived the war and returned to England.

- numerous reprisals and murders of innocent civilians in Slovakia in October 1944.

The most recent investigations under taken by Mykola Mushynka, an academic at the Precov University, in Slovakia, has revealed serious discrepancies in the statements given to the producers of the TV documentary, and casts serious doubt over their motives and methodology. (see attached). Two of the witness interviewed by Yorkshire television who made the documentary have subsequently stated that the atrocities were carried out by GERMAN and HLINKA GUARD (indigenous Slovak security forces). Moreover, once again the testimony of the "witnesses" used for the purpose of the documentary has never been tested in a formal court of law and subjected to cross examination as part of 'due legal process'.

In 1945 the Ukrainians told the British authorities that they had spent the war on training and guard duties. They said they did not commit a single crime during the entire war.

And the British authorities simply believed them.

Despite numerous suspicions about them, the men of the 14th SS Division ‘Galizien’ have never been adequately checked. After the war the British sent a small group of officials to check the men, but they didn’t speak the language, had no records, and were given only two weeks to try and screen over 2000 men. It was totally inadequate and the officials in charge admitted as much.

Interpreters were at hand and the amount of effort invested in the screening undertaken by the British authorities was directly commensurate with what they considered necessary. A random sample of around 250 men were interviewed. There is also evidence that selected screening took place whilst the Ukrainians were held as POW's in Great Britain.

Yet current Government policy still relies on those inadequate screenings. The British Government still claims that there are no war criminals amongst the former members of the SS Division in this country.

Not every member of the Galicia Division committed war crimes – but a small minority undoubtedly did – and so far they have escaped Justice.

No member of the Galicia Division has ever been charged with war crimes offences in Britain. During the research for the programme, no trace could be found that any former member has even been investigated by the British authorities for crimes committed in the service of the Nazis.

Martin Dean, 001-202-488-6119, at the US Holocaust Museum was the senior historian for the Scotland Yard War Crimes unit. He has confirmed that dossiers were complied on 3 or 4 former Ukrainian members of the 'Volhynian Legion'.

Significantly the documentary also makes no mention of the lengthy and exhaustive "Commission of Inquiry on War Criminals" report by the Right Honourable Jules Deschenes concluded by the Canadian legal authorities the finding of which resulting from the application of due legal process were published on 30 December 1986. The conclusion states :

"The commission accordingly finds that ;

56. The Galicia Division (14.Waffengrenadierdivision der SS [gal.Nr.1]) should not be indicted as a group.

57. The members of the Galicia Division were individually screened for security purposes before admission to Canada.

58. Charges of war crimes against members of the Galicia Division have never been substantiated, either in 1950 when they were first preferred, or in 1984 when they were renewed before this commission.

59. Further, in the absence of any evidence of participation in or knowledge of specific war crimes, mere member ship in the Galician Division is insufficient to justify prosecution.

60. No case can be made against members of the Galicia Division for revocation of citizenship or deportation since the Canadian authorities were fully aware of the relevant facts in 1950 and admission to Canada was not granted them because of any false representation, or fraud, or concealment of material circumstances.

61. In the event, of the 217 officers of the Galicia Division denounced by Mr Simon Wiesenthal to the Canadian government, 187 (ie 86 percent of the list) never set foot in Canada, 11 have died in Canada, 2 have left for another country, no prima facie case has been established against 16 and the last one could not be located.

The Deschenes report, issued in 1986 was later confirmed by another judicial investigation by the minister of justice in Canada Anne McLellan in 1998."

Moreover, no formal accusations of war-criminality have EVER been raised by the respective governments of Slovakia and Yugoslavia where the Galician Division was deployed on anti-partisan duties.

Although Ukrainian Justice authorities were happy for the programme to see Ukrainian personnel records in their archives which could shed light on the guilty men, they asked that we obtain the prior consent of the British authorities before releasing the documentation.

The Crown Prosecution Service declined to give that consent.

During the course of the year long research, the programme talked to experts and eyewitnesses throughout the world. And the resources of over 30 archives, libraries and historical research institutes in Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia, Russia, Australia, Canada and the United States were used.

As a result, SS In Britain has uncovered rare and chilling archive film, much of which has laid untouched since the Second World War, and which has never been seen in this country before.

With the sole exception of the footage of the recruitment rallies taken in L'viv NONE of the remaining footage used in the documentary actually depict units of the Galician Division or even Ukrainian personnel. This has been employed as "wall paper" simply to provide moving images. For example the battle sequences used to accompany the commentary on the Division's deployment at Brody shows German soldiers wearing winter greatcoats whilst the Galician Division was deployed in a combat role at the front in the Brody sector in hot weather late July 1944.

Professor David Cesarani, former Director of London’s Institute of Contemporary History and Wiener Library, and a noted authority on War Crimes issues, calls on the British Government to re-examine the cases of the Ukrainian SS men who still live in Britain on the basis of the new evidence uncovered by the programme.

---------------------------------
Producer/Director : Julian Hendy

Press Enquiries: Melissa Carter on 0113 222 7117

Response : Michael Melnyk e-mail; [email protected]

Participant and author of "To Battle", scheduled for publication by Helion and Co autumn 2001 - contact Duncan Rogers on [email protected]

RE: The SS in Britian documentary
From: Myroslava ([email protected])
Date: 01/11/01-12:34:35 PM Z

Thank you Pani Myroslavo!
Reading the Mushynka Report (I know the gentleman, he is an honest and careful scholar) one cannot but conclude that these British a**h**** are Ukrainophobic liars. The rest of their "material" is tainted by association. I wonder if you could paste this Report as an ordinary e-mail and post it on Infoukes?
George K.
++++++++++++++++++++

In mid April 2000, the secretary of Ukrainian World Congress, Professor Wasyl Veryha asked me to investigate the alleged crimes made in the documentary 'The SS in Britain'. Without prejudice I fulfilled this request, my investigation lasted from May 1-3, 2000 and summarised my findings.

In the Museum of the Slovakian National Uprising, in Banska Bystrica, where all basic documents pertaining to the Slovakian national uprising movement in the second World War, are held. In the museum archives, no documents were found pertaining to the participation of Division "Galicia" in crimes, but "traces" of the English telecommunication staff having been there was found.

August 12, 1998, television company, Yorkshire Television Limited, The Television Centre Leeds, LS3 1YS England, submitted its official written request to review materials in the matter of (under title) "SS-Division Galicia and Slovakian National Uprising" to the Archives, of the Museum of the Slovakian National Uprising. That letter was signed by the television company’s producer Julian Hendy, in which he alleges that people are saying, that those eight thousand former members of SS-Division "Galicia" which were sent to Slovakia in 1944, for the suppression of the Slovakian National Uprising, are living in Great Britain. "We have only limited information about the activities of SS-Galician, further states J. Hendy. Some people substantiate the allegation that, SS-Galicia committed brutal acts against the Slovakian civilian population, but we have no such definite information, therefore in this case we are seeking your assistance". It was further mentioned in that letter, that studio staff of the television company would like to come to Slovakia, to obtain documentation pertaining to the said allegations, and also to talk with the people, who witnessed the participation of Division "Galicia" in those events.

On August 21, 1998, J. Hendy notified the Museum administration over the phone, that his staff would be coming to Banska Bystrica and would be seeking assistance. All the above would testify that the main objectives of the English tele-journalists, were to discredit Division "Galicia".

A short while after, they were there. They had their conversation with the archivist, madam Maria Demanova, who was fluent in English. She told me the following:

DECLARATION of MARIA NEMANOVA, the archivist, of the SNP Museum.

Contrary to my verbal conversation over the phone with the producer of the future tele-film where I advised him that there were no such documents pointing to the participation of SS-Division "Galicia" in the suppression the Slovakian national uprising , they came anyway. They had an interpreter with them, a Slovak, who, in my opinion, was very anxious to see that Ukrainians were portrayed negatively in that film. Unfortunately I can’t recall his name.

Since we have no such documents with concrete evidence against Division "Galicia", I showed them the publication: George Tassina Verlnde und Truppen der Deutchen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im ZuvatenWeltlavige 1939-45 (Osnabruk 1977). They indicated that the publication was already known to them. I gave them the book written by collective authors under the leadership of Karl Fremal, "Vyvrcholenie narodnooslobo- dzovacieho boja proti facizmu na strrednom Slovensku v rokoch 1944-45" (Bratyslava, 1989), which I believe, was written objectively on the subject matter. In that book, chronologically documented are all the Nazi oppression in Slovakia, during the second World War. That publication was also known to them.

I was under the impression that the English television staff came to Slovakia with the obvious task of discrediting Ukrainians. They spoke of SS-Galicia members as war criminals, which after the war escaped their punishment, and as a group of eight thousand settled in Great Britain, where they continue to propagate their Nazi outlook. The English television employees with their Slovak interpreter were openly saying that the main task of the tele-film was to disclose the criminal role of SS-Division "Galicia".

I sent them to our director Jan Stanislav who granted them his interview, on the subject matter.

In spite of his busy schedule, the director of Museum of the Slovakian National Uprising in Banska Bystrica, Jan Stanislav, one of the most knowledgeable investigator of the national uprising, and author of many publications on the subject matter, granted me an interview.

Dr Jan Stanislav, CSc, riaditel:
Museum SNP, Kapitulska 23
97401 Banska Bystrica
Slovakia.
Tel.: 088/415 20 70,
Fax.: 088/412 37 16,
E-mail Muzeum SNP@ isternet. Sk

Director of Museum of the Slovakian National Uprising, Dr. Jan Stanislav, candidate Inst. of Science DECLARED:

About two years ago, a group of employees from the English television studio arrived here, and asked me to grant them an interview pertaining to the Slovakian national uprising. As that subject was not foreign to me, I agreed. I noticed they came well prepared on the subject. They had knowledge on some matters, which I was not even aware of. I agreed to answer their questions directly on camera, not aware what those questions would be. They demanded short answers. There were 15-17 questions. In spite of having no written record of their questions and my answers, I distinctly remember them well. Which of my answers were inserted into that film I could not tell you, as I just learned from you today of that film’s existence.

They took pictures of some museum exhibitions. Their stay in the museum lasted for no more than, maybe half an hour. Upon being asked what my opinion was about 14 Division Waffen SS "Galicia", its commanding staff, and the duty it performed, my answer was that true volunteers, in that division were very few. The majority of them were forcibly taken into the German army from occupied territories, and sent there for penalty. There were also former war prisoners from the Red Army, who joined that division to saving their own lives. On Slovakian territory the division was just in the early stages of formation and in training. Its main task was to defend the railroad line Bahumin-Zlina-Ruzmberok-Kocice, which was used as a supply line for the German eastern front. From time to time, some penal units were sent strictly under the command of German officers, together with Wehrmacht units, and Hlinka Garda . They never took part in any major acts of oppression. Germans had 2500 of their own well trained thugs in Slovakia, who caused most of these brutal crimes, and their helpers, Slovak enthusiasts of the penal units of Hlinka Garda. To assert that the SS-Galicia was a Ukrainian military unit, consisting of Ukrainians only, is nonsense. The 14 Division SS-Galicia never acted as one unit alone on Slovakian territory, and we absolutely have no documents to substantiate that "crimes" were committed by that division. All my writings in detail about that subject is written in, Facisticky represiij na Slovensku (in the above mentioned book p. 215- 266), in which not even one word was mentioned about any "brutality" caused by the Ukrainians. Although that work was written and edited during totalitarian communist regime, I am still willing to put my signature to that right now.

Dr. Stanislav presented me with that book. I read his work carefully (as well as the work of the others, written in that book) and I can certify, that not even one such "crime" committed by Ukrainians was mentioned, though there are hundreds of accurately recorded evidential documents pertaining to such individual and massive executions of member participants in the Slovakian National Uprising, as well as peaceful people. In every concrete case, the name of the military unit, and the name of its commander was well documented. The subject at hand exclusively pertained to German military units, mainly, the German police group of the penal unit Abwehrgruppe 218, Edelweiss, Einsatzkommando 14, Komando zur besonderen Verwentung-Zb V 27, Sonderkommando 7a, and others. They were actively helped by members of the local profascist organizations and military units from the penal command of Hlinka Garda, and so on.

By summation of Jan Stanislav, in the years 1944-45 in Slovakia (main act, central) 3956 people were murdered ( majority of them subjected to torture). They found their dead in 186 massive graves (p. 265).

SS-Division "Galicia" is mentioned only once in that book: its members together with the Edelweiss group and the penal unit of Hlinka Garda in Zilina October 18 1944 in the village Ustredije near Zazriva, took part in destroying partisan telephone lines in the post office, and killing three partisans (p. 225).

Jan Stanislav, in our conversation, expressed that until today he has no documents of any Ukrainians from SS-Division "Galicia" that caused any atrocities on their own initiative. To the contrary, he expressed their positive behaviour toward Slovak population, as well as the Slovak population toward them. He regrets not knowing the history of that Division, and was surprised that in the west exists rich Ukrainian literature on that subject, as he also surprised at the number of organizations comprised of the former soldiers of that division.

Maria Nemanova, informed me, that the staff of the English television studio, from Banska Bystrica left for the village Nizna Boca.

DECLARATION of Marcela Herichova, mayor of village Nizna Boca.

The first information about the visit to that village by staff members of the English television studio, I received from Marcela Herichova, the village mayor, who had just returned from her two week journey to USA. I made a recording of her statement, which I submit to you, translated into Ukrainian.

Around the end of 1998, some expert from British television arrived. He did not tell us his name, nor did he leave his business card. He said, that British television would like to take a few shots for their television, and document how fascists had murdered civilian people during the war here. To his dispositions, I gave him our village chronicle and names to contact. Two were ladies, Maria Behmerova, Emelly Behmerova, plus two gentlemen. One of them was Mr. Jusik, the oldest man in the village, and Mr. Behrem, who might be able to remember the events of that period. I paid no attention really to what they were doing here. I have to confess, that many people were coming here, and they were always looking for something.

That man said, he was talking to the people, and if he could find nothing interesting, the English would not come. I could not give him any information, myself personally, about those events, as I was not from here. Originally I came 19 years ago from Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, when I married a local Slovak. I only know, that some time ago, television crews were here, but they did not visit our council that time. In the village, I only saw their vehicle.

Later I learned, they filmed two women on my previous recommendation. Mr. Jusik could not give them any information as he was away from home, serving in the army during the uprising. Mr. Behmer was already in such poor health, that his wife would not let them in. He died shortly after. Mr. Jusik died last year. There are still women alive, who might be able to tell you more about those events. They were questioning other people as well, but whether they filmed them or not, I do not know. They badly wanted to find out if among those who took part in shooting this people were Ukrainians or Poles, and what languages they spoke. Everyone told them it was the Germans and the Slovak Garda. They asked what these thugs had on their "collars", was it other then German insignia such as (trident), but people could not remember such details. They promised a copy of that film would be sent to us, but no one has seen it yet. After their departure, they never came back.

AN ARTICLE from a handwritten CHRONICLE of village NIZNA BOCA

Name of the chronicle "Pamjatna kniha obce Nizna Boca" since 1934, was written by a local teacher of the Evangelical school, Anrej Makovickij, born in New Ark, N J, USA, (as a child, he returned back to Slovakia with his parents). Every year that chronicle was certified by the local government. Events of 1944 to June 30 1945 were certified with the village Council’s stamp, and signed, by the village Mayor Jan Behmer, and three other members of the Council. In that chronicle, all main events of that time were recorded in an article "Povstanie v obci" ("uprising in the village") with the accurate documentation. Organization which consisted of 190 local members, was divided into squads. First Lieutenant L. Pivovarij, from the army reserves and born in that village, brought to the village on his own initiative 18 machine guns, 15 pistols and about 18000 rounds of ammunition, with that he armed the village. On arrival of Czecho-Slovakian regular insurgent army to the village, the local citizens were disarmed. "Local citizens" "returned their arms with sadness", "but it was necessary as arms were badly needed", writes the chronicler. Defence of the valley, was in the hands of the professional army command. Local citizens joined the insurgent. Citizens of village Nizna Boca were engaged in constructing bunkers and fortifications.

On September 10, Germans attacked the rebels with their armoured vehicles. The rebels managed to destroy the German armour train. Rebels with local people withstood German attacks for two months. On October 13 at the top of the hill Ohni”Oe near the village, a Soviet transport plane crashed. On October 18, 1944, in the presence of rebel General P. Viesta, those 19 victims of that plane were buried in a local cemetery by the village people. The names of those victims were also recorded in that chronicle (p. 319).

Under German military pressure, on October 24, the rebel units were forced to leave their positions, in the vicinity of that village. About further events, the chronicler writes the following:

On October 25,German invaders led by Slovakian traitors-gardists , which came through the St Jan’s valley, into our village […]

The worst nights were the 24th the 25th of October, 1944. At approximately 30 minutes past midnight, Germans and Slovakian Garda entered the village. Anyone who looked suspicious to the SS or to the Garda, (all male citizens), were taken to the local school for questioning. Suspicious persons were questioned by Slovakian Gaurdists. During questioning, arrested persons were inhumanely treated, many severely beaten.

The most unfortunate of them all, was an unknown soldier from the first Czechoslovakian brigade, who was caught during the night in the street. He was half naked, kicked and beaten, then after formally sentenced, was shot on the bridge near the old school, where he fell dead into the river. Among the local citizens, two brothers, Jdliusia and Branislav TregJr, were executed. The first one was a member of the Czecho-Slovakian army, a father of two children, head of the local branch, "Matica Slovenska" (Slovakian Mother) and also a member of the control Counsel co-operative loans. His brother was never a soldier nor a partisan […] with a shot to his head, he fell into the river on top of his dead brother. The following morning he was found still alive. A German doctor allowed him to be taken to Poluchanski hospital where he survived, and two months later returned back home from the hospital. A third casualty was Mikulus Mauritz, a German, who was married in Boca and fought against the Germans. The fourth casualty was a fifteen and a half year old boy, his name Cyril ZahradnRk. The Germans thought the boy was a partisan, but he was just an innocent student. He was not able to survive that German brutality.

In that chronicle, an additional four names of local citizens who died during the uprising were mentioned, and the names of other partisans who died on the territory of the village NiOna Boca. Not once did A. Makovycky mention that the executioners were Ukrainian soldiers from Division "Galicia". On the contrary, he stresses several times that they were Germans and the Slovakian Garda. That tragic night they looked for him as well, but could not find him.

The first question asked by Garda upon coming into the yard was what was your religion. Evangelists automatically were suspected as rebels and taken away to the school. 38 members of the Czecho-Slovakian army, were taken prisoners by the Germans. After the war in 1945, they all came back alive. The Germans left our valley, on November 12 and 13, 1944.

RECOLLECTION of witnesses of the bloody event in NIZNA BOCA during 1944

I took a recording of what both women filmed by the British television crew said on camera. Here are the excerpts of what they said on film.

Pavlina Behmerova, house # 64, born May 19 1921, Nizna Boca.

During the uprising behind our village, there were many partisans. They lived in their tents, houses, and so on. They were warned (they had their people everywhere), that the Germans were coming through the St Jan’s valley, and they should leave for the mountains.

In the evening, from Kralova Lehota to the village came our Slovakian soldiers, who defected to the partisans. In our house stayed: a Second Lieutenant and a Sergeant. Among the Slovakian soldiers were also boys from our village. On their arrival they washed themselves, had something to eat, and gathered in the upper part of the village.

Germans with Slovakian Gardists were on the road and noticed them. They even threw grenades at them. One of them, who was my cousin’s husband, got wounded.

The soldiers ran away into the hills, but my cousin’s husband with his brother remained at home. Both brothers were arrested by the Germans during their search. Arms and a complete uniform of my cousin’s husband was found by the Germans.

The following day, the village drummer called out the order for all the males in the village to come to that school. My ill father went to that school as ordered. Two German soldiers brought him back to his home as they saw he was ill.

In our dwellings stayed five Slovakian Gardists. I even made coffee for them. In that school all suspects were questioned. On one fourteen year old boy, Soviet money, one ruble, was found. He was shot. My cousin’s husband was shot, and so was his brother who was never a soldier, nor took part in the uprising. He was shot in the head, fell into the river on top of his dead brother, and miraculously survived.

Local people joined the insurgent army. Citizens of Nizna Boca were helping to build defence fortifications and bunkers.

After the defeat of the uprising came Vlasov’s army. They behaved kindly and never did anyone any wrong. Two officers stayed in our house. One was from Ukraine, and the second was somewhere from the Ural mountains. They said they had a very good life at home. "Why did you not stay at home?" I asked. "He said, at home we had ten pairs of horses, one pair was just for the carriage, which we used for going to church. When Stalin came to power he took everything away from us". The one from Ukraine, I could understand him very well, but the other, no. I did all the sewing for them, and they thanked me for that. They said come with us to Russia, and you will live as a queen.

Those who filmed me, asked me if there were Ukrainians among those who were shooting people. I said:

- Joj nie! To boli Nemci s gardistami. To boli zo Slovenska gardisti! (Oh no! Those were Germans and Garda. Those were Slovakian Gaurdists!)

The school where people were tortured was a (parochial school), and later was changed to a pioneer camp, for forty children. It was nice there. I worked there as a cook. Last year someone set it on fire. The building sustained internal damage and the windows were smashed. Its stands idle. Nothing will come of it.

STATEMENT of Ethel Behmerova (Ettela B`hmerova), house # 156, born January 26, 1917.

During the uprising in 1944, we dwelled in the basement. When the Germans came, they were doing a search, and ordered us to stay outside. They were looking for partisans. My brother-in-law Juraj Mykola, fortunately spoke German, and told them there were no partisans here. We were let go, but all the men were taken to the local school, where they were kept all night. In the lower end they found one local partisan, who was wounded. He hid himself, but forgot his helmet on the table, and that was how they recognized he was a partisan. He was brought to the school and they shot him. They shot three men and one young boy who found somewhere one old ruble (Soviet currency). One of them, Bronislav TregJr, never was a soldier. He begged the citizens: "tell them I am innocent, tell them that I never was a soldier, and never had any arms!" No one even said a word. Everyone was scared for his own life. Fortunately for him, he survived being shot. In the morning, one woman pulled him out of the river and a German doctor gave him first aid, sending him to the hospital. His head looked awful. No one thought he would survive. His wife was pregnant, expecting a baby within a month. It was awful living through that. Those who were shooting, were drunk. At the beginning they went to the store, got food, whiskey, got drunk and then began their vengeance.

Question: Who were those, that were shooting?
Answer: Germans!
Question: Were there Ukrainians among them?
Answer: No! No! No! No! Germans were shooting! Germans!

Later to the village came other German soldiers. Two young ones lived in our house. One of them said: Mama! Banska Bystrica- kaputt! (Banska Bystrica finished!) You are going to live, and we kaputt! (You are going to live, and we are finished!).

Question: When the English television crew filmed, what questions did they ask?

I told them what I just told you.

1. Near the bridge, where the members of the Slovakian national uprising were shot, stands a modest monument with writing on it:

Vecna vam laska v nashich srdciach. Vecna vam pamjat’ v dejinjach… Mauritz Mikulus, TregJr Jdlius, ZahradnRk Cyril, neznamy vojak I. csl. Brigady.
Z prRlezitosti 20. vvrocia SNP venujd obcania.

Our love for you in our hearts forever. Remembering you in history forever.
Mauritz Mikulus, TregJr Jdlidn, ZahradnRk Cyril, unknown soldier 1st Czecho-Slovakian brigade.
In commemoration on the 20th anniversary of the Slovakian national uprising, dedicated by the citizens of the village.

V tejto budove boli dna 24. oktobra 1944 v nocnch hodinach nemeckvmi fa”istami a prislu”nikmi PONG (underlined M.M.) zversky muceni a odsddenR na smrt’ zastrelenRm:
Mikulus Mauritz, nar. 20.11.1937 - vojak SNP
Jdlius TregJr, nar. 1.5.1909 - vojak SNP
Branislav TregJr, nar. 27.IX. 1911 - pomocnik povstalcov (prezil zranenie)
Cyril ZahradnRk, nar. 16.III. 1929 - pomocnik povstalcov.
Neznamy preslusneRk paradesantnej brigady 1 CSAZ v SSSR
Na vecnd pamiatku venujd obcania NiOney Boci.
August 1984.
L’udia bdite!

In this building October 24 1944, during the night hours German fascists and members of penal unit Hlinka Garda, savagely tortured and sentenced for execution by shooting: (names and their dates of birth of five victims)
Mikulus Mauritz, born 20. 11. 1937 soldier SNP
Jdlius Treger, born 1. 5. 1911 - soldier SNP
Bronislav Treger, born 27. IX. 1011 - rebel supporter (survived his wound)
Cyril ZahradnRk born 16. 3. 1929 - rebel supporter.
Unknown soldier of the paratroopers brigade 1 CSAZ v SSSR
In memory for ever dedicated by the village Nizna Boca.
August 1984.
People beware!

On the memorial are all the names of those victims who died during the first and the second World Wars, including their birth dates.

In the above submitted documents was proven that Division "Galicia" had no part in the "brutalities" committed in 1944, in the village Nizna Boca. There were no Ukrainians. If the documentary aired by the British television studio, portrayed Ukrainians as war criminals, it was done knowingly and intentionally to discredit innocent people.

In Nizna Boca, as in the whole region of the Slovakian National Uprising, crimes were committed by the Germans together with the members of the Slovakian Hlinka Garda penal units. This was confirmed by those people who took part in the above mentioned British documentary telefilm: director of the Museum of the Slovakian National Uprising, in Banska Bystrica , Dr Jan Stanislav, the archivist of that museum, Maria Chemanova, and the citizens of the village NyzOna Boca - Marcella Herichova (the village Mayor) and two old ladies Pavlina Behmerova and Etelle Behmerova.

Precov, May 12, 2000

Mykola Mushynka, Dr of Science,
Academic NAN of Ukraine,
director of Educational-Research Dept.
in Ukrainian Studies,
Precov University, Slovakia.

12 01 01

To:
Independent Television Commission
33 Foley Street
London W1P 7LB
England

"The SS in Britain"
Sunday 7th January 2001 at 10:55pm
Yorkshire Television and other regions.

(5 pages)

Dear Sir,

I would like to point out serious shortcomings with
1) the programme title,
2) the timing of the programme and
3) the content of the programme.

1. Programme Title

When looking in short-form TV programme listings (time and title only) The SS in Britain is simply construed by the public at large to be a programme about an elitist German Military Organisation and its activities before, during and after World War II, in Great Britain. The programme was not about this. Here is an example of what many persons I have spoken to would have envisaged, taken from The Independent, Nov 2000:

Another MI5 file released yesterday shows that the wife of "Lord Haw Haw" escaped execution as traitor because the British authorities did not want to prosecute her. Margaret Joyce married Oswald Mosley's former bodyguard William Joyce in 1937. With war imminent they fled to Germany in 1939 where both broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda throughout the war. While he was executed at the end of the war, the British authorities chose to accept her claim that she was a German citizen by the time of the broadcast and therefore not a traitor to Britain.

2. Programme Timing January 7th is Ukrainian Christmas day. Was the UK viewing public pleasantly educated with traditional Ukrainian religious customs? Church services, carol singing and messages of good will to all men? No. Far from it.

The UK viewer was set up to see how the Ukrainian man, woman or ethnic Ukrainian family neighbour next door was connected to the murder of innocent men, women and children more than half a century ago on mainland Europe.

This scheduling has been received and perceived to be a deliberate attack upon UK Ukrainian Christians and their respective Christian Faiths, with intent to shock them and to intimidate them. The ITV Network and UK Broadcasting Standards Authorities have no defence in pleading ignorance of knowing that January 7th is Ukrainian Christmas Day, and one of the most highly respected dates of the Ukrainian Religious Year across the World.

I would like to point out, further, that ignorance of this date is no excuse, and that UK Christmas Eve was a deliberately chosen time to bolster this provocation against the UK Ukrainian Christian Community with the Press Article

War crimes hunt for SS division sent to Britain
The Sunday Times
December 24 2000

3. Programme Content

a) The content of the programme included Statements from would-be Nazi-hunters of UK second generation Ukrainian extraction and are unreliable without a cross-examination, or fair reply, from knowledgeable Ukrainians of the first generation of UK settlers. These were the target and the true victims of the negative Propaganda of this Programme. These persons are the most appropriately empowered citizens to make the most informed comments about events portrayed in the Programme.

However, the first generation of Ukrainians did not have their say to put the record straight.
Please see

Unmasked after half a century, the SS killers living in Britain
Daily Mail
Monday Jan 8 2001
Peter Allen

I refer to the quotation of Jurig Opara, an 80-year-old retired machinist from Manchester: 'Ordinary soldiers like me were never asked any questions.'

Further, the Programme failed to acquire appropriate facts as officially documented in previous Western Commissions on the subject, and failed to acquire pointers to these facts from sources such as the following:

1. UK First Generation Ukrainian War Veterans

The Organisation of Former Ukrainian Veterans
49 Linden Gardens
London W2 4HG

Have the programme makers omitted the opinion of these persons because they have been pre-judged?

2. US Military (I specifically refer to the Book and Author):

Galicia Division
The Waffen SS 14th Grenadier Division 1943-1945
Michael O. Logusz (Major US Army Reserve. Graduate of the US Army Military Academy, US Rapid Deployment Force, MA Russian Studies).

Schiffer Military History (1997) ISBN 0-7643-0081-4

In the light of well documented and historic facts relating to the Galicia Division the programme makers have attempted to re-write history, with disrespect to the truth of their history, especially their reason for being, ie to fight communism and attain a freely independent Ukrainian State. The most appropriately qualified researchers of this History who have pieced this truth together for many, many years more than anyone involved with the making of this programme, were not referenced.

b) The content of the programme led the general public to believe that all Ukrainian soldiers who served in the Second World War were fascists - this was a stereotypical portrayal both grossly negative, and misleading and very politically incorrect.

Much damage has been caused to the psychological health, social status, and physical well being of the innocent immigrants currently resident in the UK, as a result of this broadcast.

c) The one-sidedness of the programme's content has produced the effect (knowingly or unknowingly) of stirring racial hatred against many UK Ukrainians of all generations, currently residing in the UK. The makers and broadcasters of this programme have decorated the members of the UK Ukrainian community with a Nazi Swastika. In the light of presented evidence, it was clearly visible that the programme was not solely intended for the benefit of justice for victims of mainland Europe but for the use as a vehicle of propaganda to induce ethnic hatred, now, in the UK. It is anticipated that the programme makers will deny this intent, but the consequences of this programme are now the resultant issues that will need to be reviewed and answered to. Such recent, and any further, broadcasting antagonism with intent to arouse ethnic racial hatred, will not be tolerated by the UK Ukrainian community and shall be appropriately stamped out and dealt with by this community with the assistance of the appropriate Courts of Law, as necessary.

d) The content of the programme gave the impression that the Ukrainian Galician Division freely marched into the UK and has lived here happily ever after. This is not the case. The programme failed to appropriately and fairly analyse and inform the viewer of previous UK Government and Canadian Government Commissions (and other further Independent Commissions - such as by the RCMP) regarding former members of the Galician Division where all extensive allegations and accusations were found to be completely unfounded. Rather, the viewer was led to believe that previous Government policy was lacking, and that SS criminals are still living amongst us. This approach smacked of alarmist paranoia, with the result that the public at large was misled, and that the psychological and physical well being of hundreds of innocent UK Ukrainian ethnic citizens has been negatively affected.

Bias against UK Ukrainians in regional Programme making and reporting by the ITV network regions has continued in such a manner since the commencement of such broadcasting in the 1960's. It should be stated that such regional companies have previously been accepting and supportive of Ethnic Ukrainian customs in small doses. (eg appearances by members of groups such as The Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain with allocated air time for the portrayal and explanation of Ukrainian Religious Feasts, Ukrainian Music and Ukrainian Dance on regional evening news magazines). However, no time has ever been allocated to the reply to accusations of Anti-Semitic behaviour and other ethnic cleansing allegedly perpetrated by members of this community.

It is of my humble opinion that the following statements hold true:

Nothing less than an immediate public broadcasting apology due to the failures of this programme will be perceived and received as decent.

Nothing less than an opportunity for the offended members of the UK Ukrainian Community to have its unbiased right to reply in proportion to the length of Broadcast and fully in proportion to the total financial costs laid out by YTV in the making of the above-named programme will be perceived and received as decent.

Nothing less than an immediate end forthwith to negative allegations such as those found in the making of the above-named Programme - The Propaganda, Methodology and Public Broadcasting - will be perceived and received as decent.

The UK Ukrainian Ethnic Community members reserve their right to fair UK broadcasting equality and representation, and to the use of higher legal support mechanisms should this matter not be addressed and rectified appropriately forthwith.

Yours faithfully,

Roman Revkniv

Summary in Brief
In the making and Broadcasting of the above-named programme, this letter points out flaws relating to:
* Inappropriate Programme Title.
* Deliberate anti-Christian antagonism through misuse of Broadcast Scheduling.
* Biased and unbalanced representation of Opinion and facts damaging to the well being of UK ethnic Ukrainian community members.
* Misrepresentation, under-representation improper presentation of known true documented historic events relating to the Galician Division.
* Stereotyping.
* The continuation of unfavourable UK-Ukrainian ethnic presentation, and continued under-representation of the positive aspects of that social group.
* Provocation and stimulation of hatred of UK Ukrainians.
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