Ukrainians in the Waffen-SS & Wehrmacht

[Zulu]

Some photos of my grandfather's era in Rimini.
Then put more pictures of what life was like there. Greetings.

Stamp that was back in the first picture.

RR02.jpg (193.83 KiB) Viewed 7886 times

[Zulu]

More pictures from Rimini.

[Zulu]

The last two of this batch of photos. Greetings.

[Ordinary Canadian]

Hi Mike,

Apparently when the division's troops were interned by the British at Rimini, Italy in the summer of 1945, many were claiming to be "Polish" (hey, Galicia was a Polish province in the 20's and 30's, right?!) and thus not subject to repatriation back to the USSR as per the Yalta Agreement. The legal status of 14th SS members remained in limbo until circa 1947-48, when many were allowed to emigrate to the UK and other Commonwealth countries.

I am wondering if by this very fact that it could not be said that the group themselves declared they were something other than Ukrainan and should forever be viewed as such.

[Sid Guttridge]

Galicia, the home province of most of them, had passed from Polish to Soviet control in September 1939. Having later fought against the Red Army, to return them to the USSR would have been fatal.

The Geneva Conventions stated that released prisoners must be returned to their country of origin. There was no independent inter-war Ukraine/Ruthenia/Galicia to return them to. They thus had to choose between their pre-war Polish citizenship, or their post-war Soviet citizenship. Almost all opted for the Polish option in order to be able to stay in the West and thereby survive. When they migrated to places like Canada they did not set up or join Polish societies, but organized their own Ukrainian societies.

[JamesL]

I have to disagree with one of Sid's comments. As far as I can tell the Poles of Galicia were Roman Catholic. The Ukrainians of Galicia were Greek Catholic. That said, Gen. Shandruk is buried in the local 14th SS Galicia Division cemetery here in NJ. It is located at a Ukrainian Orthodox church.

Additionally, Galicia was a province of the Austria-Hungary Empire...the poorest province at that. Many people I've talked to locally - Poles, Ukrainians, Slovaks and Jews - trace their family to that province. They left around 1900-1910. They were lucky to get out.

[Sid Guttridge]

The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, to which most western Ukrainians nominally belong, acknowledges the Pope in Rome as its head, as do German, Polish and other Catholics. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is certainly not affiliated to the Eastern Orthodox churches, which disavow Rome.

[Melnyk]

I have met hundreds of veterans of this unit - my own father being one of them and I would say in my opinion Remek is right on the button. Religious considerations or factions within the community counted for next to nothing. In Rimini there were both Greek Catholic and Greek Orthodox priests. What mattered to them was that most considerd themsleves first and foremost to be 'Ukrainian'.

[Askold]

Fantastic photos and thank you for sharing! If you have any more, please do post them!

[14thpanzerjager]

[img]C:\Documents and Settings\Ehor Babiji\My Documents\My Pictures\rimini 47[img]

My father's I. D. card at Rimini.

[dralanbell]

my father in law was one of these soldiers
he would never talk about his experiences
he was a very nice man, just a peasant caught up in something too big to control
i am desperate to write a book about his life but obviously am missing 1943 to 1947
is there anyone who reads this an expert who could give me the story during this time? PLEASE!!

[JamesL]

Forum member Mike Melnyk is probably among the top 3 people in the world with knowledge of the Galicia Division. His book on the division is outstanding.

AND he lives in Jolly Old England.

Heck of a nice guy. Feel free to hit him up for a loan.

[comanche]

magnificas tus fotos zulu

[dralanbell]

can Mike Melnyk let me know if it is ok to contact him please (and how to more to the point) thanks

[Askold]

14thpanzerjager - the pic did not come out