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Birthdate
December 12, 1890
Birthplace
Date of Death
November 1, 1964
Place of Death
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Andriy Atanasovych Melnyk ( December 12, 1890, Volia Yakubova , Drohobych County , Kingdom of Galicia and Volodymyr, Austria-Hungary - November 1, 1964 , Cologne , Germany ) - Ukrainian statesman, military and political figure. Chairman of the Board of Ukrainian Nationalists, second chairman of the OUN. One of the closest associates of Colonel Yevhen Konovalets .
One of the organizers (co-founders) of the Sich Riflemen and its leadership of the Rifle Council , and the Ukrainian Military Organization . At the time of the establishment of the OUN , he was in Lviv , under the constant supervision of the Polish secret police, and was also banned from leaving Lviv by the Polish occupation authorities . As a result, Andriy Melnyk was unable to take part in the first congress of Ukrainian nationalists in Vienna. However, even at the same time, members of the PUN and leading figures of the OUN considered and attributed Andriy Melnyk to the co-founders of the OUN .
One of the initiators of the proclamation of the restoration of independence of the Ukrainian state in Kyiv. That is why, on October 5, 1941, the OUN derivatives group formed the Ukrainian National Council (UNRada) in Kyiv in 1941-1942 .
One of the initiators of the unification of the three main Ukrainian state centers - Lviv and Kyiv UNR, as well as the Central People's Council of Carpathian Ukraine. Thus, the All-Ukrainian National Council (VUNR) was created.
Andriy Melnyk, together with Stepan Bandera , Andriy Livytsky , and Pavlo Skoropadsky , became a co-founder of the Ukrainian National Committee .
After the end of the Second World War, he initiated the consolidation of Ukrainian independence forces, which led to the creation of the Ukrainian National Council.
He was the initiator and ideologue of the supra-party World Congress of Free Ukrainians .
A long-term prisoner of Polish prisons, a prisoner of the German Sachsenhausen concentration camp .
He forbade OUN members to take revenge on OUN (b) members for physically destroying OUN members.
Consistent supporter of the restoration of independence of the Ukrainian State, in all its ethnic lands [source not specified 90 days]. According to Ukrainian legislation, he can be considered a fighter for Ukraine 's independence in the twentieth century.
Biography
Family and the beginning of life
His father, Atanas Melnyk, was a public figure and friends with Ivan Franko 's family . His mother, Maria Koval, died early of tuberculosis ; his father remarried, and his new wife, Pavlina Matchak, raised Andriy after the death of his father. In her second marriage, Natalia (born 1903), Andrew's sister, was born. Later, Andriy helped his sister by sending money for Lubomyr's nephew's education at the gymnasium. Natalia's family was repressed in 1950 for her family ties to Andriy - the whole family (husband and five children) was sent into exile in a Siberian special settlement. Natalia was strangled during the detention; her family returned to Ukraine in 58.
From 1897 to 1900 he studied at the public school in Sambor and Drohobych , and from 1900 to 1905 at the gymnasium in Drohobych , and later at the gymnasium in Stryi , which he graduated in 1910. In 1910-1912 he was seriously ill, twice operated on in Lviv and Drohobych .
From 1912 to 1914 he studied in the studio at the Higher School of Land Administration in Vienna.
In the ranks of the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen
In 1914 he joined the Legion of Ukrainian Sich Riflemen as a volunteer in Lviv . He later moved to Goronda in Transcarpathia (in 1914 there was a USS Legion training point in this village ). In the same year, in late autumn, he went to the front in the Carpathians .
From 1914 to 1916 he fought on the Austrian-Russian front. He took part in the Carpathian battles of the USS Legion ( Pikui , Makivtsi ) and in the campaign from the Carpathians to Podillya to Zolota Lypa , near Zavalov and Strypa , Halych , Sosniv, Ishkiv, Lysonya to the rank (rank) of four and lieutenant (modern correspondence - senior lieutenant ). . According to eyewitnesses, he was a brave officer and personally led the offensive. In the battles on Mount Lysonya near Brzezany, he and his comrades were taken prisoner in Moscow.
In the late autumn of 1916, after several months of traveling with Mikhail Matchak , Vasyl Kuchabsky , Ivan Andrukh , and other Galician prisoners of war, they were sent to a POW camp in Tsaritsyn (modern-day Volgograd ) on the Volga. There he first met with the head of the USS legion Eugene Konovalets , who was taken prisoner in Moscow in 1915.
In the spring of 1917, Andriy Melnyk, along with other prisoners from the USS legion with whom he was taken prisoner, was sent 50 layers north to Dubovka. There was another POW camp. From which they escaped.
USS lieutenant Andriy Melnyk, 1914
Participation in the first liberation struggles
On January 7, 1918 , a group of Ukrainian officers, including Melnyk, Mykhailo Matchak, Roman Sushko , and others, escaped from captivity and reached Kyiv via Orel, Bryansk, and Gomel , where they joined the Galician-Bukovinian Smokehouse , which became the nucleus of the Sich Riflemen . In January 1918 he became one of the organizers of the Sich Riflemen 's Tent. In January 1918 he was appointed chief of staff of the tent. From January to March 1918 he took part in the battles for Kyiv as the commander of the SS tent . March 3, 1918 participant in the liberation of Kiev with the participation of the SS tentand the organization of a military parade on Sofia Square.
In March-April 1918 he was involved in the formation of the 1st SS Regiment in Kiev in the rank of centurion, and after the formation of the regiment - Chief of Staff. From August to November 1918 he took part in the formation of the Separate SS Detachment in Bila Tserkva , with the rank of "military officer" as assistant commander of the detachment .
On November 16, 1918, he took part in the uprising against the hetmanate and in the campaign of the SS Siege Corps in Kyiv. On November 18, 1918, at the head of the headquarters of the Separate Detachment of Sich Riflemen , he developed a plan and took part in the Battle of Motovyliv . After the conquest of Kyiv by the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic, he was awarded the military rank of Ataman of the UPR troops.
In January 1919, the Riflemen's Council secretly proposed to Simon Petliura to establish a military dictatorship. However, not wanting to take full responsibility, he refused. Because of this, another project of reforming the state power was proposed called "Triumvirate", which was to include Simon Petliura , Eugene Konovalets, Andrew Melnik.
Andriy Melnyk. 1919
On January 13, 1919, as Acting Commander of the Siege Corps, he issued the Order of the Siege Corps Command No. 22, ordering that all provocateurs who spread rumors about the possibility of Jewish pogroms or agitate for them be brought to trial. regard them as criminals who oppose the UPR.
On January 16, 1919, the so-called "state meeting" in which members of the Directory , the government, and various political parties took part, the Triumvirate project was rejected. After that, the Riflemen's Council decided to withdraw from interfering in political life and refuse to have a representative in the Directory of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
From January to July 1919 he was appointed Chief of Staff of the Active Army of the Ukrainian People's Republic . On July 23, 1919, he took part in the victorious Karabchi operation south of Proskurov as an assistant commander of the SS Corps .
On December 4, 1919, a meeting of all commanders of certain units of the UPR army in the presence of the Chief Ataman Simon Petliura and the Prime Minister of the UPR Isaac Mazepa took place in Chortoria (modern Nova Chortoria ) . All the officers of the Sich Riflemen Corps unanimously decided to demobilize the Corps and give everyone a choice, either to join the insurgent army (the First Winter Campaign ) or return home.
December 1919, fell ill with typhus , transported to the hospital in Rivne , where after recovery he left for Lutsk . He was detained there by Poles and sent to an internment camp, where Yevhen Konovalets was also present .
Later Eugene Konovalets wrote:
"At the same time, Colonel Andriy Melnyk was the most severe type of typhus"
In the spring of 1920 he was abroad, together with other members of the Riflemen's Council.
In early April 1920, by order of Chief Ataman Simon Petliura , Andriy Melnyk was appointed Ukrainian military agent in Czechoslovakia while acting as auditor of UPR military missions abroad .
From 1920 to 1921 he was an inspector of military missions of the Ukrainian People's Republic in Prague.
In 1922, he graduated from the High School of Land Administration in Vienna with a degree in forestry engineering, while also acting as a representative of the UVO abroad.
Return to Galicia. Participation in UVO and socio-political activities
On September 30, 1922, he returned to Galicia , was arrested a few days later, but was quickly released. In December of the same year he took the post of Regional Commander of the UVO , after leaving the region of Colonel Eugene Konovalets.
Confirmation that the regiment. After the departure of Colonel E. Konovalets , A. Melnyk became the first National Commander of the UVO and headed the newly created National Command of the UVO .
Andriy Melnyk and Yevhen Konovalets. Suburbs of Vienna, 1921.
In June 1923 he transferred the powers of the National Commander of the UVO to Yaroslav Indyshevsky . From 1923 to 1924 he was a forestry engineer at the Greek Catholic Metropolitanate in Perehinsk. there he was arrested by Poles in the spring of 1924. From 1924 to 1928 he was a prisoner in Polish prisons. Sentenced to 5 years in the trial of Basarabova in Lviv . He was imprisoned in Batory and Bryhidky prisons in Lviv , where he was severely tortured .
On February 28, 1929, he married Stepan Fedak 's daughter , Sofia Fedak (Melnyk), who was with him throughout his life .
From 1929 to 1938 he worked legally as an inspector of forests of the Greek Catholic Metropolitanate in Lviv , where he met the future Prince Felix of Luxembourg . From 1932 to 1938 he was a member of the board of the publishing union " Dilo ".
At the end of September 1930, he raised and donated funds at the request of Matviy Stakhiv to launch a campaign abroad against the policy of pacification of Galicia . At that time, the PUN and UVO were already holding relevant actions.
1933 - 1938 , Chairman of the Main Council of the Catholic Action of Ukrainian Youth "Eagles" (nationalist Catholic organization). He was a member of the Society of Ukrainian Combatants "Young Community".
From December 24 to 28, 1934, he took part in an inter-party meeting in Lviv, at which a Preparatory Commission for the convening of the All-Ukrainian World Congress was established .
From 1929 to 1938 he was a member of the UVO seigneur and chairman of the OUN Senate .
In August 1937 he went abroad for a personal meeting with Colonel Yevhen Konovalets , which took place in the Tatras on Shcherbsky Lake. He received an offer from him to join the Board of Ukrainian Nationalists and take the position of his deputy. This should be formalized at the Second VZUN in the following year (1938). To which he immediately agrees:
I did not hesitate to answer and did not ask for time to think, but immediately stated: if he thinks that I need to do what he offers, then I, aware of the importance of the case, will meet his wishes ...
On May 23, 1938, Colonel Yevhen Konovalets was killed in Rotterdam . On August 30, 1938, after the blessing of Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky , he went abroad, called by the "narrower" PUN to take the position of chairman of the PUN.
Chairman of the UN
The first actions at the head of the organization
On October 11, 1938, the PUN 's narrow leadership issued a resolution appointing Colonel Andriy Melnyk chairman of the Ukrainian Nationalists . The signatories of the resolution are Omelyan Senyk - "Hrybivsky" , Yaroslav Baranovsky - "Limnytsky" , Richard Yary - "Carpathians" . On October 12, 1938, he became chairman of the PUN .
In October of the same year, he called on OUN members to support Transcarpathian Ukrainians in the struggle for independence. March 15, 1939 , announces an appeal to Ukrainian nationalists on the events in Carpathian Ukraine . On July 21, 1939, in Venice , in the presence of the Chairman of the PUN Colonel Andriy Melnyk and the President of Carpathian Ukraine Augustyn Voloshin , an Act of Relations and Guidelines for Cooperation between the Ukrainian Nationalists and the Government of Carpathian Ukraine was signed . The act states:
Based on the principle of the unity of the Ukrainian nation, both sides firmly defend the position of inseparability of Carpathian Ukraine from the Ukrainian lands and declare that the principle of unity of the Ukrainian lands can not be violated
In May 1939, he took steps to transfer part of the PUN to a neutral country - Spain , and later Portugal .
In June 1939, the OUN and German military intelligence agreed to establish a Ukrainian sabotage unit to be transported to Poland from Slovakia or by air via East Prussia , and to reinforce its members during the outbreak of the anti-Polish uprising in East Galicia . Andriy Melnyk met with the head of German military intelligence (Abwehr), Wilhelm Canaris . According to Osip Boidunyk , he refused to revolt on the rear of the Polish army in case of war if there is no clear position on Ukraine's independence.
On August 26, 1939 , the Second Great Gathering of Ukrainian Nationalists was held in Rome , which approved the political program of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists , proclaimed Ukrainian nationalism the OUN ideology , established the need to build a Ukrainian state on the basis of national democracy , and elected A. Melnyk.
In the first half of 1939, the PUN put forward a project to convene an all-Ukrainian congress to establish a Ukrainian representation of the "government." The congress was to take place in the United States and the representations to be held in Paris . In September-October 1939 he issued relevant directives to the Ukrainian People's Union in France to prevent the mobilization of Ukrainians in the Polish army organized by General Sikorski . Negotiates with French government circles to grant permission for the formation of the Ukrainian Legion.
Far left, Colonel Andriy Melnyk, at the grave of Colonel Yevhen Konovalets. 1939 or 1940.
In October 1939, at the initiative of the PUN , an auxiliary committee was established in Krakow for emigrants from western Ukrainian lands, which was later transformed into the Ukrainian Central Committee with a system of local auxiliary committees and operated independently of the OUN .
With the beginning of the Soviet-Finnish war, he supported initiatives to help Ukrainian prisoners in Finland and create Ukrainian units from them, about which a letter was sent by Eugene Onatsky to the Finnish Embassy in Rome.
From January to February 1940, he held talks with Andriy Livytsky and other politicians of the Ukrainian People's Republic through Professor Yevhen Onatsky to consolidate efforts in the struggle to restore the independence of the Ukrainian state. Demands that the leaders of the UPR denounce the Warsaw Pact , and conduct any negotiations with the Polish side on the position that the western lands of Ukraine should belong to the Ukrainian State.
OUN
In the early 1940s, there was a conflict in the organization, mostly between senior members living in exile on the one hand and the younger generation, mostly former political prisoners led by Stepan Bandera on the other .
In January 1940, Andriy Melnyk met with Stepan Bandera and offered him the position of Regional Affairs Officer under the Chairman of the PUN , and his incorporation into the PUN . Stepan Bandera relinquished those functions, demanding personal changes in the composition of the PUN.
On March 22, 1940, he received letters from representatives of the Krai with a request to conduct a judicial investigation into Yaroslav Baranovsky and Omelyan Senik, as well as to suspend them from membership in the PUN for the time of the trial. In this regard, he invited Stepan Bandera to a meeting to explain these requirements. On April 5, 1940, in Italy , she met with Stepan Bandera , who handed him the decrees of the " revolutionary PUN". Negotiations in Rome did not lead to a settlement of differences. The conflict took on acute forms and led to a split. Part of the OUN led by S. Bandera in February 1940 inKrakow formed the "Revolutionary Leadership of the OUN" and chose the name OUN (b) (later - OUN (sd), OUN (r)), and the rest remained in the OUN, led by the Chairman of the PUN Regiment. Andriy Melnyk.
From March to August 1940, he tried to reach an agreement with Stepan Bandera and the revolutionary PUN . They are looking for opportunities to restore the unity of the OUN . After the failure of the negotiations, he convened the OUN Revolutionary Tribunal .
In July 1940, he left Italy for Germany , planning to return later, but German political circles prevented him from obtaining a visa from the Italian government.
In September 1940, he arrived in Krakow , where the OUN Revolutionary Tribunal, which decided to expel Stepan Bandera and his supporters from the organization, and sentenced Stepan Bandera and Yaroslav Stetska to death. A. Melnyk, cancels the decision of the Revolutionary Tribunal on the death sentence of Stepan Bandera and his associates, adds to the decision of the tribunal, the possibility of their rehabilitation in case of repentance, and their continuation of underground anti-Bolshevik activities .
Activities during the war with the USSR
In the first half of 1941 he instructed to organize "marching groups" to the east, and ordered some leading figures of the OUN , such as Oleg Olzhych , Mykola Stsiborsky , Senyk Omelyan , Ivan Rohach and many others to go deep into Ukrainian lands and influence further development of events.
On May 11, 1941, he received a letter from Professor Luka Bych expressing his views on the political situation in Kuban and the southeastern borders of the Ukrainian state , noting that the vast majority of the population of the Kuban Krai were Ukrainians and that it should belong to the Ukrainian state .
On June 22, 1941, the PUN sent instructions to all OUN activists , ordering them to start creating military units and associations, and not to allow them to clash with the Germans, occupy various territories and build all forms of state life there. Accumulate and encourage means, in particular of a combat nature, in order to be able to use them at a later stage, when in much more difficult conditions it will be necessary to continue the struggle.
On June 29, 1941, he initiated the creation of the General Council of Combatants and the Military History Council. The first was headed by General M. Omelyanovich-Pavlenko and the secretary was Colonel Viktor Malets , and the second was headed by General Mykola Kapustyansky.
On June 30, 1941, he appealed to Ukrainians to unite under one flag, under one leadership, for the sake of electing an Independent Conciliar Ukrainian State:
there is only one way for us, as for the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists: to serve the Ukrainian state
On July 6, 1941, he appealed to the Ukrainians and called on those who had gone against the PUN to return to the organization. Indicates the readiness to forget everything that happened before, if they show good will, and a sincere desire to turn on the right path and stand under one wire.
On July 7, 1941, he sent a letter through the Abwehr branch in Krakow to Adolf Hitler , asking for permission to allow the formation of a Ukrainian combat unit .
On July 7, 1941, he received a letter from Metropolitan Andrei Sheptytsky stating that the entire Ukrainian public demanded an end to the dispute between him and Stepan Bandera , and that he recognized Yaroslav Stetsko as a subordinate of both Colonel Andriy Melnyk and Stepan Bandera .
On July 28, 1941, he protested in a letter to Heinrich Himmler against the inclusion of eastern Galicia in the Governor-General's Office .
At the end of July 1941, he and his wife were arrested on the orders of Gestapo Chairman Heinrich Müller and forcibly sent to Berlin , where he remained under house arrest and under constant Gestapo surveillance until January 26, 1944 .
On August 5 , 1941 , an agreement was reached between representatives of the PUN and the commander of the Polissya Sich - later the UPA - Ataman Taras Bulba-Borovets .
On August 19, 1941, he received a letter from the Lieutenant General of the Kuban Cossack Army Andriy Shkuro , in which he declared to stand under the OUN flag , and announced his intentions to include the Cossacks in the Ukrainian independent formations:
The times we are experiencing now impose on all Ukrainians the duty to gather all creative forces under one leadership in the fight against the eternal enemy of the Ukrainian Nation to fight for its sovereign state life in all its ethnographic borders.
On September 5, 1941, he appealed to OUN members for the murders of PUN members Omelyan Senyk-Hrybivsky and Mykola Stsiborsky . He calls the murderers national traitors, madmen who dig the grave of the Motherland.
In October 1941, at the initiative of the PUN , the Ukrainske Slovo publishing house was established in Kyiv , with Ivan Rohach as its editor-in-chief . Hetman Pavel Polubotko ". The Ukrainian National Council was also established , headed by Professor Mykola Velychkivsky . The PUN instructs nationalists to be ready to cooperate with the Ukrainian Central Committee , headed by Professor Volodymyr Kubiyovych , as well as with the Ukrainian National Council in Lviv .
At the end of December 1941 he received a report from the Secretary of the Ukrainian National Council in Kyiv on the events in Ukraine, held a meeting with members of the PUN and leading members of the OUN . who were in Berlin at the time . After the meeting, it was decided to prepare a memorandum and send it to Adolf Hitler , and to begin activities to establish a Ukrainian national front with a single political center called the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada. On January 15, 1942, he sent a memorandum to Adolf Hitler demanding an end to destructive German policy in Ukraine. This document, in addition to him, was signed by the Chairman of the UNR in Kyiv, Professor Mykola Velychkivsky, Chairman of the Ukrainian National Council in Lviv Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytsky , Deputy Chairman of the Directory of the UPR Andriy Livytsky , Chairman of the Ukrainian Combat Organizations General Omelyanovych-Pavlenko , signed separately due to political factors Hetman Pavlo Skoropadsky. Photocopies of the memorandum were also handed over to foreign embassies and ambassadors accredited in Berlin .
During January-February 1942, at the initiative of the PUN , attempts were made to establish contacts with the states belonging to the Axis . Adjustments are taking place with the Finnish, Croatian, Spanish and Italian embassies. The purpose of those ties was to convince Germany's allies of the fallacy of German policy toward Ukraine, and through them to influence its change.
On May 24-25, 1942, the Pochaiv OUN Conference was held at the initiative of the PUN , at which Oleg Kandyba-Olzhych , a supporter of the anti-German course, was elected Deputy Colonel Andriy Melnyk and Chairman of the Provod in Ukraine . At his initiative, OUN members began to form military units, some of which joined the military formations of Taras Bulba-Borovets.
Arrest by the Germans and concentration camp
Until January 26, 1944, he was under house arrest in Berlin , but under constant Gestapo surveillance he continued to lead the PUN and the OUN . He secretly met with OUN representatives, who provided him with up-to-date information on the state of events in Ukraine , and sent relevant directives back to Ukraine through them . During this time he also met and negotiated with representatives of the Ukrainian independence forces in order to consolidate efforts to restore the Ukrainian state. He repeatedly sent various memoranda, letters, statements and protests to high-ranking German officials, including Adolf Hitler ., in order to change the German policy towards the Ukrainian people, and the attitude of German political elites to the issue of independence of the Ukrainian state within its ethnic lands.
On January 18, 1944, he and his wife secretly left Berlin and settled in Vienna . These days he learns about the murder of Colonel Roman Sushko in Lviv . On January 26, 1944, he and his wife were arrested again on the orders of Gestapo Chairman Heinrich Müller . On January 28, 1944, he was taken to Berlin to communicate with Heinrich Müller .
In the first days of March 1944, he and his wife were taken to Hirsch in the Alps . The Gestapo places them in the Ifen Hotel, which housed various political prisoners. Together with them came Karl Wolf , who demanded to sign a document on certain commitments, among which was the refusal to establish ties with the OUN . Chairman of the PUN Regiment. A. Melnyk refuses to sign any documents, and refuses to assume any obligations.
On July 27, 1944 , he and his wife were taken by order of the Gestapo to Berlin and on the same day sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp., Denisa Kvitkovsky , Oleg Shtul , Lapychak Toma , Kost Melnyk and many other Ukrainian political prisoners, including Taras Bulba-Borovets and others. From Stepan Banderalearns about the colleagues present in the concentration camp, and about the death of Oleg Olzhych.
A few months later, at the request of Stepan Bandera , as a precondition for the start of any negotiations between Ukrainian and German political circles, the Germans gradually released all Ukrainian prisoners from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and other places of captivity.
However, according to other sources, namely the testimonies of various Ukrainian independent forces, they all demanded that the Germans release all Ukrainian political prisoners, regardless of their political beliefs, as a precondition for negotiations. That is why we can assume that the release of Ukrainian political prisoners, including A. Melnyk, S. Bandera , Taras Bulba-Borovets and others, was due to the consolidated demand of all Ukrainian independent forces.
Release from the concentration camp. Activities in the last months of the war
On October 17, 1944, he and his wife were released from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and forcibly taken to Berlin. On October 18, 1944, a meeting took place, which was attended by Andriy Livytsky, Pavlo Skoropadsky, Stepan Bandera and Andriy Melnyk. After considering the proposals of the Germans to establish the Ukrainian National Committee as a representation of Ukrainians in Germany , they decided to authorize Colonel Andriy Melnyk to head the UNC after its creation and to hold direct talks with the German side. These negotiations lasted from November to December 1944 and the following preconditions were put forward to the German side:
1. Negotiations will take place directly with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2. The German government will sign and declare that Germany will renounce all claims to Ukrainian lands and recognize the right of the Ukrainian people to an independent state.
3. The Ukrainian National Committee will be established as the only spokesman for Ukrainians in Germany, unrelated to the Russian Vlasov Committee.
4. The Ukrainian National Army will be created under Ukrainian unified command.
5. All Ukrainians arrested for political or national reasons will be released immediately from concentration camps and arrests.
At the end of December 1944, after the German side did not accept the preconditions put forward by Colonel Andriy Melnyk, he refused to negotiate with the German side and resigned to those who gave it to him. With the consent of Colonel Andriy Melnyk, Stepan Bandera , Andriy Livytsky , and Pavlo Skoropadsky , General Pavlo Shandruk was appointed Chairman of the Ukrainian National Committee .
In the first half of January 1945, he convened a meeting of members of the PUN and some leading members of the OUN , who were in Berlin at the time . After the meeting, it decided to instruct all PUN members and leading OUN figures to leave Berlin as soon as possible and set out to determine the part of Germany where they should contact them after the Allies ' arrival and acquaint them with the Ukrainian people's liberation war , the OUN 's role in the struggle. to warn of the threat of Moscow imperialism.
On February 11, 1945, he secretly left Berlin with two members of the PUN and went southwest to Bad Kissingen .
In March 1945 he returned to Berlin to talk to Ukrainians. Returning from Berlin , he arrived in Weimar, where he had conversations with Andriy Livytsky and Professor Volodymyr Kubiyovych and other leading figures of Ukrainian political and social life who stopped in Weimar.
On April 7, 1945, American troops occupied Bad Kissingen , in accordance with the directives of the January meeting in Berlin . found themselves in Germany, including the need for them in an appropriate organized form.
On April 27, 1945, under his direction, members of the PUN , signed by Dmytro Andrievsky and Osip Boydunyk , and signed by Bishop Mstislav , handed over a memorandum to the American command, namely the Military Administration, Germany. were removed to a separate group from the Poles and Russians, in the camps where Ukrainians were allowed to hang the national blue and yellow flag , a permanent separate connection was established between Ukrainians and Americans.
In May 1945, in order to consolidate the Ukrainian independence forces and create a single representative body, in agreement with Andriy Livytsky , he convened a meeting of representatives of the Ukrainian independence forces in Bad Kissingen . The meeting was attended by Andriy Livytsky from the Ukrainian People's Republic , Viktor Solovyi , Rioznyatovsky and Segeida from the Hetman-State Union, Colonel Andriy Melnyk and Osip Boidunyk from the OUNthere were no delegates. And although the final consolidation has not been achieved. All present agreed on the need to continue the relevant negotiations and reach a final agreement. Which ultimately led to the creation of the Ukrainian National Council on the basis of the State Center of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
In the autumn of 1945 he and his wife left for Bad Godesber. At the same time, through Dmitry Andrievsky , he sent a letter to Prince Felix of Luxembourg (whom he met before the war during his visits to the metropolitan forests) with a request for permission to move to Luxembourg .
At the end of May 1946 he received permission to enter Luxembourg and went there with his wife on May 25, 1946. He lived in the city of Clervaux .
Activities in exile. Attempts to unite Ukrainian emigration
In 1945, representatives of the OUN and OUNR leaders met , and in 1948 between Colonel Andriy Melnyk and Stepan Bandera . The talks showed the possibility of cooperation in many common issues, such as combating forced repatriation , reorganization of the Ukrainian People's Republic , organization of public life of the Ukrainian diaspora, countering pro-Soviet tendencies in Western politics, participation in anti-communist international formations and many others .
Since 1946, he has been appointing PUN members responsible for various areas in Europe . Thus , Oleg Shtul was appointed head of the French field. The OUN is sending leading figures to Canada and the United States. Chairman of the PUN Regiment. A. Melnyk aimed to build and strengthen organizational activities in all countries of the free world, where Ukrainians emigrated. Publishers, magazines and journals are established under the PUN directives . Issuance of weekly newspapers and magazines, publication of memoirs of participants in liberation struggles, etc. A separate area of activity of the OUNwas strengthening its role in various emigration organizations, so the chairman of the presidium of the Ukrainian National Union of Canada became Mykola Plavyuk . Various cooperative activities are being created, the purpose of which was mutual assistance between Ukrainians. A system of involving young people in organizational and political action is being established. The main goal was to prevent the assimilation of Ukrainians and prepare Ukrainian emigrants to fight for the restoration of independence of the Ukrainian State.
In 1947 , at the Third Great Assembly of Ukrainian Nationalists , A. Melnyk was elected lifelong chairman of the PUN. At his initiative, the process of rejuvenation of the PUN began.
From January to July 1948, on his initiative, the PUN took part in consolidation meetings that culminated in the reorganization of the State Center of the Ukrainian People's Republic and the creation of the Ukrainian National Council , which included all Ukrainian political forces except the Hetmans . And already at the first session of the UNR on July 20, 1948 in the city of Augsburg in Bavaria , a resolution was approved on the need to create a World Union of Ukrainians based on civic formations [5] . Also at the first session of the UNR , a compromise declaration was adopted, in which it was approvedthe act of the Central Council of Ukraine of January 22, 1918 on the restoration of independence of the Ukrainian State called the Ukrainian People's Republic , as well as the establishment of the Western Ukrainian People's Republic by the act of November 1, 1918, and the act of the All- Ukrainian Labor Congress of January 22, 1919 The Conciliar State. Thus, the Warsaw Pact of 1920 was de facto rejected . The words " on Ukrainian lands from the Tisza to the Kuban" were removed from the final draft declaration .
From 1947 to 1959 he corresponded and met Stepan Bandera several times . They are establishing cooperation on various issues, looking for an opportunity to restore the unity of the OUN . In his letters, Stepan Bandera addresses Colonel Andriy Melnyk as the head of the PUN , and Colonel Andriy Melnyk addresses Stepan Bandera as a respected friend. Stepan Bandera supports the initiative of Colonel Andriy Melnyk to jointly commemorate the anniversary of the death of Colonel Yevhen Konovalets.
In 1948-1957, under his directive, the leading members of the OUN and PUN were members of the UNR and the exile government . On March 19, 1957, he approved a resolution on the withdrawal of the OUN faction from the UNR due to the dominance of private interests of certain leaders of the UNR , and on November 2, 1961, the OUN faction returned to the UNR . He repeatedly received offers to occupy high positions in the structures of the UNR , but always refused.
In May 1957 he visited America and Canada , as a guest of the Ukrainian National Union of Canada at a banquet on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of UNO, put forward the idea to convene a World Congress of Ukrainians and create a World Union of Ukrainians. During his speech, Colonel Andriy Melnyk noted :
“… I see a great attempt to unite all Ukrainians in the free world, regardless of their country of residence, regardless of nationality - through the World Congress of Ukrainians to create a World Union of Ukrainians. Here is the task facing the Ukrainian nationalist world in the first place: to give not only the initiative, but also to be the implementer of that task… »
During his visit to Canada, he transferred the archive of the head of the PUN to Canada , appointed Yaroslav Haivas, Mykhailo Seleshko , Mykola Plavyuk, O. Maksymiv responsible for the preservation of this archive. From May 1957 to November 1, 1964 he issued relevant directives to members of the OUN and PUN , met with representatives of various Ukrainian political parties and organizations, public figures, representatives of Ukrainian churches in order to initiate the World Congress of Ukrainianswas implemented. Colonel Andriy Melnyk's initiative to unite World Ukraine was implemented a few years after his death in 1967. During his life, Colonel Andriy Melnyk repeatedly expressed his views on what this association should be:
"The convening of the UWC and the creation of the UWC should, in my opinion, be taken away from a purely political area, and in this from the UPR or the State Center of the UPR as a whole… The World Union of Ukrainians should, in our view, be apolitical. He should have the task of retaining Ukrainianness outside Ukraine and directing and coordinating the activities of the so-called public organizations"
On September 25, 1960 he was awarded the Military Cross.
The last months of life, death and burial
On July 19, 1964, he convened the Fifth Great Assembly of Ukrainian Nationalists . Editor Oleh Shtul-Zhdanovych became the head of the commission for the preparation of the Great Assembly .
From June 5 to 8, 1964, a meeting of the PUN was held in Munich , in the presence of nine people, chaired by Colonel Andriy Melnyk. A number of fundamental cases related to the state status of the Ukrainian SSR and others were discussed. It was planned to agree on the decisions in advance, and then to propose to the Grand Assembly to consider and approve them. Another meeting of the PUN was planned for the end of the month , but on June 14, during the deportation of a member of the PUN at the airport in Luxembourg , he lost consciousness and was admitted to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Luxembourg . After regaining consciousness, he sent a letter to the PUN , in the hands of the generalMykola Kapustyansky in which he asks Mykola Kapustyansky , Osip Boydunyk and Yakov Makovetsky , for the time of his illness or in case of death until the election of his successor in the PUN [5] . Appoints Yakov Makovetsky , his liaison with the PUN . In the same month, on the advice of a doctor, he was transported to Cologne , Germany, to the city hospital in Cologne - Merheim .
On June 29, 1964, he sent a letter to the participants of the V VZUN , in which he asked them by secret ballot to elect a new Chairman of the PUN and not to consider whether he will live to the Grand Assembly or not.
On July 24, 1964, he received delegates from the Fifth Grand Assembly , Oleg Shtul - Zhdanovich and Yakov Makovetsky . He receives a proposal from Oleg Shtul-Zhdanovich to elect his successor or to appoint the first Deputy Chairman of the PUN , who will become the Chairman of the PUN after his death . To which he refuses and replies:
The appointment of a successor is not a duty of the PUN Chairman, but a privilege. I did not use this privilege.
On the same day, in accordance with the OUN structure , the following list of PUN members , including General Mykola Kapustyansky , Osyp Boydunyk , Yaroslav Haivas , Oleksa Radchenko, Zinoviy Knysh , Stepan Kobylyansky, Yakiv Makovetsky , and Volodymyr , passed through delegates to the Grand Assembly for approval. Marunyak, Mykhailo Mushynsky, Mykola Plavyuk, Yuriy Pundyk, Yakiv Shumelda, Oleg Shtul. He also submitted for approval to the Grand Assembly, the next Deputy Chairmen of the PUN Oleg Shtul , Yakov Makovetsky and Yaroslav Haivas.
The Fifth Great Assembly unanimously re-elected Colonel Andriy Melnyk Chairman of the Ukrainian Nationalists and approved the PUN 's composition . Due to the situation of the OUN due to the illness of its Chairman, the Board included three Deputy Chairmen of the PUN and Business Kermanych.
At the Sixth VZUN , Yakiv Makovetsky announced the last will of Colonel Andriy Melnyk. He asked to strengthen and protect the OUN , to support the UNRukh , to help and not to leave Olga Konovalets and Sofia Melnyk, not to forget to financially support the founders of the OUN.
He died on November 1, 1964 in Cologne , Germany . It was proposed to bury Colonel Andriy Melnyk in Rotterdam , in the same cemetery where Colonel Yevhen Konovalets was buried , but Colonel Andriy Melnyk wished to be buried in the cemetery in Luxembourg , where his wife's mother, Maria Fedak, had already died. A few years before his death, he reserved a place in that cemetery for himself and his wife .
On November 7, 1964, Colonel Andriy Melnyk was buried in the Bonnevoie Cemetery in Luxembourg , attended by hundreds of Ukrainians and foreigners.
On October 31, 1965, a monument was unveiled and consecrated on the grave of the second Chairman of the PUN and OUN , Colonel Andriy Melnyk.
Honoring the memory
Streets in several cities of Ukraine were named after Andriy Melnyk, including Drohobych, Ivano-Frankivsk , Lviv, Rivne , Bila Tserkva , and Cherkasy .
In the Department of History of the Drohobych Museum , the Andriy Melnyk Memorial Room has been created, which is dedicated to the life and work of the Chairman of the Board (from personal belongings to thematic literature).
On April 9, 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the Law of Ukraine "On the Legal Status and Honoring the Memory of Fighters for Ukraine's Independence in the 20th Century" recognizing members of the UVO , OUN , and many other groups as fighters for Ukraine's independence . .
In the literature
Andriy Melnyk is one of the heroes of Roman Ivanychuk 's novel The Land of the Irredent .
Monuments
There are only two monuments to Melnyk in Ukraine . From July 23, 2006 in the native village of Volya Yakubova , Drohobych district, and from December 17, 2017 in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk.
Tomb of Andriy Melnyk in Bonevois Cemetery in Luxembourg
Memorial complex in the native village of Volya Yakubova
August 27, 1939
The second large (Roman) gathering of Ukrainian nationalists
Andriy Melnyk among Sich shooters
See also
Ukrainian Sich shooters
Sich archers
Sich Rifle Corps Rifle Council
Ukrainian military organization
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
Leaders of Ukrainian nationalists
Timeline
No Timeline data yet.
