15. OPENING OF SECURITY SERVICE (SBU)
INFORMATION CENTER IN KYIV
Activities of the Security
Service of Ukraine regarding declassification and publication
about the operations of the
Soviet Union Securities Services and the history of the
Ukrainian Liberation Movement
NEWS RELEASE: OPENING OF SBU INFORMATION CENTER IN
KYIV
Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday,
October 2, 2008
SBU material translated into English for the Action
Ukraine Report (AUR) #912
Morgan Williams, Editor & Publisher, Washington,
D.C., Saturday, October 18, 2008
KYIV - In order to facilitate the impartial coverage of the Ukrainian
history, consolidation of society and exposure of stereotypes and myths
about the events of the 20th century, the Security Service of Ukraine,
SBU, has engaged in the systemic work to declassify and publicize its
archive documents throwing light on the operations of Soviet security
services and the liberation movement in Ukraine.
Working
group of historians to study OUN/UPA activities
In early 2008, a working group of
historians to study OUN/UPA activities was set at the SBU. The group
was made up of members of various state and public organizations: the
Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the State Committee of Archives
of Ukraine, the Institute of History at the National Academy of
Sciences, the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, the SBU
National University, the SBU archive and the Memorial
Society.
According to work group members, their research will focus on the
liberation movement in Ukraine from 1920 through 1991. As separate
aspects, the dissidents’ movement of the 1960s – 1970s as well as the
democratic movement of the 1980s – 1990s will be examined. As a
priority task, the group will study the documents of the SBU central
and oblast archives.
The work group goal is to attract scholars for the examination of
archive materials and the implementation of joint research and
publication projects.
The group’s chair is SBU head’s adviser Volodymyr Vyatrovych, Ph.D
(History). His contact phone is (380 44) 239-70-93.
Center
for the study of documents related to the history of the Ukrainian
liberation movement
At present, the SBU is possessor of the
largest amount of materials related to OUN/UPA activities. However,
these materials have been studied inadequately and were not accessible
to the public. Given highly mixed and controversial feelings on these
issues existing in Ukraine, the declassification and publication of
archives is of crucial importance.
Accordingly, the center for the study of documents about the history of
the liberation movement was set up in June 2008. The center is part of
the SBU state archive. The center’s main purposes are:
[1] searching, studying, systematization and declassification
of archive materials related to the history of the liberation movement;
[2] creation of an annotated electronic directory of
materials;
[3] implementation of publication projects, preparation of
books and articles, organization of public hearings related to OUN/UPA
activities;
[4] enrollment of NGOs in the study of documents about the
liberation movement, cooperation with domestic and foreign research and
public organizations involved in the study of OUN/UPA history.
The center can be reached at: phone: (044) 256-98-32, fax: (044)
253-13-86, email:
[email protected]
SBU
INFORMATION CENTER LAUNCHED OCTOBER 2, 2008
On Oct. 2, 2008, the Security Service of
Ukraine, SBU, launched its Information Center (IC) [in Kyiv]
including an open electronic archive – to simplify access to materials
stored in the SSU archive. [I attended this event in Kyiv, AUR Editor]
Over the past several years the SBU has been actively involved in
declassifying documents related to the operations of Soviet security
services and the history of liberation movement in Ukraine.
The IC provides an opportunity to get acquainted with
electronic copies of archive documents. All documents have been
arranged according to various topics (1932-1933 Holodomor, OUN/UPA
Activities, Repression in Ukraine, Movement of Dissidents, etc.)
The IC also gives access to a large number of photographs, scientific
journals and books, electronic versions of exhibitions and
presentations. At present, the IC has 8 workplaces. The IC’s easy
search system will be convenient to scholars, journalists and students
of Ukrainian history working with original materials.
As declassification and conversion of materials into
electronic form continues, the IC database is updated daily.
Simultaneously, SBU has appealed to institutions, NGOs, and individuals
who own archive documents related to the specified topics, asking them
to make their materials available to IC visitors.
The SBU Information Center is located at the following
address: 4 Irynska St., Kyiv, Ukraine; Phone: 380 44 255-82-24.
Electronic
archive of national memory
The SBU, jointly with the Ukrainian
Institute of National Memory, has initiated the formation of an
electronic archive of national memory. The archive will make it
possible to facilitate the study of liberation movement history and
contribute to the emergence of its uniform assessment by Ukrainians.
At present, the bulk of related materials is stored in state and
law-enforcement agencies archives as well as the archives run by NGOs
and individual researchers, both in Ukraine and abroad. The purpose of
establishing the electronic archive is to create a unified database
allowing a comprehensive study of the 20th century liberation movement
history. Stage 1 of such work which is already under way is to convert
SBU archive documents into electronic form.
Archive materials are being arranged according to the recommendations
of Ukraine’s research institutions and scholars. The final analysis of
documents is carried out by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory,
an authorized central executive body for restoring and preserving the
national memory. The electronic archive database is to be published by
the official sites of SBU and UINM.
Publication
projects
A lot of attention is being given to the
publication of documents from the SBU archive.
[1] The book titled “Declassified Memory. 1932-1933 Holodomor in
Ukraine as reflected by GPU/NKVD documents” was prepared by the SBU
with the assistance from the “Ukrayina 3000” international charity
foundation, the country’s academic institutes and scholars as well as
the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory.
The book, for the first time in the Ukrainian history, presents a
complete range of Soviet security services documents (the State
Political department, GPU, and the People’s Commissariat of Internal
Affaires, NKVD), unveiling the causes, strategies and consequences of
the 1932-1933 Holodomor, the most severe tragedy which afflicted
Ukraine in the 20th century.
The documents throw light on massive political repression by
state security agencies, including efforts to quash the truth about the
Famine and providing a credible source for the study of activities by
central and local executive officials and party leaders in 1932-1933.
For over 70 years these materials were classified and not accessible to
researchers. The book also includes research
articles analyzing various aspects of the Holodomor.
[2] “Roman Shukhevych in the Documents of Soviet State Security
Agencies” is a collection of materials about various aspects of the
life of UPA Commander-in-Chief Roman Shukhevych. The book was published
jointly with the Center for Ukrainian Studies at Kyiv Shevchenko
National University.
[3] Another book on the 1932-1933 Holodomor is currently being prepared
jointly by the Interior Ministry and the Administration of
Poland. It is the 7th volume to be published within the
framework of the “Poland and Ukraine in the 30s and 40s of the 20th
century. Unknown documents in secret services archives,”
research/publication project between Ukraine’s SBU and its Polish
partners.
The book titled “1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine in the documents of
Soviet and Polish secret services” will come out in the Ukrainian and
Polish ahead of the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor. The book’s
presentation is scheduled in Kyiv as part of the events to mark the Day
of Memory for the victims of holodomors. Later, the book will be
translated into English and presented in the United States, Canada and
Europe.
Volume 7 will include documents and materials presenting the points of
view on the Holodomor taken by Polish and Ukrainian researchers. The
book is unique as the materials have been studied by an international
team of scholars.
The book will contain materials from the SBU archive and Poland’s
military archive. The Polish documents include the reports by the
Polish police and diplomats hitherto unknown to the wide public. The
documents provided by the SSU archive have also not been published
before. This research/publication project, whose first volume came out
in print in 1998, is supported by presidents Viktor Yushchenko and Lech
Kaczynski.
Public
hearings
With the participation of the work group of
historians, the SBU launched a series of public hearings of scholars,
journalists and members of the public in order to shed light and
discuss the Ukrainian liberation movement, attracting newly
declassified documents.
In 2008, for instance, the following public hearings were
held: “Operations of secret agents and guerilla groups,” “UPA: its
trail in history”, “Accusations against the Nachtigall Unit –
historical truth or political games,” ”OUN activities in Central and
Eastern Ukraine,” “Role of Jews in the Ukrainian liberation movement.”
Public hearings are open to interested
individuals.
Exhibitions
Based on declassified materials from SBU
archives, three road-show topical exhibitions were arranged. Along with
the already showcased “UPA: History of the Unconquered”, the two others
are “Roman Shukhevych” and “Declassified Memory.”
“Declassified Memory” which portrays the 1932-1933 Holodomor was
showcased in all the regions of Ukraine, attracting about 100,000
visitors. Exhibition materials have been handed over to the foreign
ministry for translation into other languages and presentation
worldwide.
LIST
OF HOLODOMOR PERPETRATORS
The SBU publicised and placed on its website the first list
of high-ranking Communist party and state officials who were heads of
punitive bodies OGPU (United State Political Department) and GPU (State
Political Department) in 1932-1933 as well as the documents signed by
these officials that formed a legal and organizational base for
perpetrating the Holodomor and massive political repression.
The documents give conclusive evidence of the fact that the 1932-1933
Holodomor-Genocide was deliberately engineered by the totalitarian
Communist regime.
To make the archive materials on the organizers and culprits of
Holodomor as well as the documents signed by them more accessible, SBU
offered website visitors an opportunity not only to familiarize
themselves with the list of perpetrators but also access orders,
Communist party politburo protocols, secret instructions to party
activists, instructions on how to apply the notorious “Law on the Five
Ears,” directives on arrests in the rural areas,
etc.
Such kind of publication initiates a new project involving SBU
archives, and the Security Service of Ukraine urged the Ukrainian
Institute of National Memory, the State Committee of Archives, lawyers,
experts of other law-enforcement agencies’ archives, Holodomor
researchers, members of NGOs to join in to evaluate the activities of
Holodomor organizers and perpetrators and eventually bring them to
justice for committing crimes in Ukraine.
Cooperation
with other countries
The SBU is involved in cooperation with
respective agencies in other countries of the world, primarily in the
former CIS republics, with the purpose of finding and exchanging
information about the victims of political repression by the
totalitarian regime in the USSR.
Accordingly, the SBU cooperates with the Committee for National
Security of Kazakhstan, having received information regarding 15,675
Ukrainians who were victims of repression and served their sentences in
Kazakhstan in 1920s-1950s.
Notably, the Kazakh security service provided a list of 7,103
Ukrainians and victims of the Steplah concentration camp and 915
victims of the Karlah camp (near Karahanda). In addition,
regional branches of the CNS handed over lists of 7,657 Ukrainians who,
according to their archives, were kept in other concentration
camps.
Simultaneously, the SBU handed over to Kazakh authorities a list of 85
natives of Kazakhstan who had been imprisoned or repressed in the
Ukrainian SSR.
Materials
on the SBU website
Events announcements, news on SBU
activities, electronic versions of publications and exhibitions, copies
of archive documents, protocols of work groups and public hearings
sessions are available on the SSU official site at
www.ssu.gov.ua