S. Jazavita, PhD student
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuanian
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2017.132.1.16
ILLUSION AND REALITY OF STATEHOOD: THE SEARCH FOR PARALLELS BETWEEN THE LITHUANIAN ACTIVIST FRONT AND THE ORGANISATION OF UKRAINIAN NATIONALISTST
he present article analyses the relationship between the Lithuanian Activist Front and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and their activity parallels in order to reach the Lithuanian and the Ukrainian independence in 1941. The research focuses on the attempts of the OUN and the LAF leaders to project the future Lithuanian and Ukrainian states in the 'New Europe' headed by Germany. Reaching for counterbalance against the USSR and the Communist ideology, the LAF and the OUN organizations aimed at taking into consideration the military and political power of Germany, while Škirpa, the leader of the LAF, coordinated his activities with the OUN leaders, Stetsko, Yaryi, and Bandera. Fanatical chiefs of the Third Reich manipulated with the Lithuanians and Ukrainians' feelings of revenge against the Bolsheviks and the will to feel Europeans; however, they involved a part of Lithuanians and Ukrainians to the massacre of Jews rather than allowed to contribute to Wehrmacht fight against the USSR. Important lesson here that Lithuania and Ukraine did not obtain any independence but just became a part of the Third Reich, which controlled the so called 'New Europe' at the time.
Key words: The OUN, the LAF, Kazys Škirpa, Stepan Bandera, 'New Europe,' German policy in Central Eastern Europe during WWII, Antisemitism
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