Mykola Lebed | |
|---|---|
| Микола Лебідь | |
 Lebed after his arrest for his role in the murder ofBronisław Pieracki (June 24, 1934) | |
| Born | (1909-01-11)January 11, 1909 |
| Died | July 18, 1998(1998-07-18) (aged 89) |
| Nationality | Ukrainian |
| Other names | Maksym Ruban, Marko or Yevhen Skyrba |
| Occupation | Politician |
Mykola Kyrylovych Lebed[a] (January 11, 1909 – July 18, 1998, also spelledLebid;[b]; also known asMaksym Ruban,Marko, andYevhen Skyrba) was a Ukrainiannationalist political activist andguerrilla fighter. Lebed was described as a "Ukrainianfascist leader and suspectedNazi collaborator",[1] and later labeled as a "well-known sadist and collaborator of the Germans" byUnited States Army counterintelligence.[2] He was among those tried, convicted, and imprisoned for the murder of Polish interior ministerBronisław Pieracki in 1934. The court sentenced him to death, but the state commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. He escaped when the Germansinvaded Poland in 1939.[3]: 73 As a leader ofOUN-B, he was responsible for themassacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia.[4][5][6]
In 2009, theUnited States Congress directed theNational Archives and Records Administration to review declassified intelligence records pertaining to the activities of the Nazis and the Japanese Imperial Government that were not processed in time for theNazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group's (IWG) final report in 2007.: pref. The follow-up report from the IWG'sRichard Breitman andNorman J. W. Goda included a discussion of Lebed's relationship with theCentral Intelligence Agency during the Cold War.: pref. In 1949 he emigrated to theUnited States and lived inNew York. Through Prolog Research Corporation, his CIA funded organization, he gathered intelligence on theSoviet Union as late as into the late 1960s. The CIA project name for the operation was AERODYNAMIC.[3]: 85ff. The report stated that as late as 1991 the CIA, for fear of compromising the operation and triggering outrage within the Ukrainian émigré community, shielded Lebed from prosecution for war crimes by preventing theUnited States Department of Justice'sOffice of Special Investigations from learning about his wartime connections to the Nazis.: 90–91. He died in 1998.[7]
Born inNovi Strilyshcha, a small town inGalicia, nowadays western part ofUkraine (at the time,Austria-Hungary), Lebed completed his studies inLviv which during theInterbellum was part of theSecond Polish Republic. In 1930-32 he took an active part in setting up youth groups ofOrganization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) in the area around Lviv. From 1932 to 1934 he directed communications between the Ukrainian Executive and the Foreign Command of the OUN.
In 1934, he participated in the preparation of the assassination of the Polish Minister of Internal AffairsBronisław Pieracki. After the assassination he attempted to flee throughGdańsk-Szczecin toGermany, but by order ofHimmler was arrested by theGestapo and handed over to the Polish authorities.[8] During theWarsaw Process (1934–36) he was given thedeath penalty which was later commuted to life imprisonment. He escaped in September 1939 while being evacuated from theBereza Kartuska Prison due to the threatening Soviet invasion.
From November 1939 through March 1940 he served as the chief of the school of espionage and sabotage founded by theAbwehr inZakopane.
In 1940, during the internal conflict that erupted within theOrganization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) he supportedStepan Bandera, and, in 1941, became his assistant. In June 1941, he was one of the functionaries in the short-lived Ukrainian government. In 1942, he was a participant in the 3rd Special Conference of the OUN, and headed the head council and the delegate for external contacts of the Direction of the OUN.
Lebed assumed control of Bandera's faction of the OUN in western Ukraine, which would come to dominate theUkrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) until 1943.[9] In April 1943 he proposed that they should "cleanse the entire revolutionary territory of the Polish population".[10] As leader ofOUN-B, Lebed was responsible for theethnic cleansing of around 100,000 Poles inVolhynia and Eastern Galicia, including giving orders to carry out the killings.[5][4][6]
In 1944 he became one of the founders of theUkrainian Supreme Liberation Council (UHVR) and the general Secretary of International Policies of the UHVR. At the recommendation of the UHVR he traveled to the West where he contacted various Western governments. In 1948, he became a member of the OUN (Diaspora).
In a government reports publication, published by the National Archives,[3] Lebed is being suspected of having collaborated with Nazi Germany.
Lebed was described as a "Ukrainianfascist leader and suspectedNazi collaborator",[1] and later labeled as a "well-known sadist and collaborator of the Germans" byUnited States Army counterintelligence.[2]
Although some say that Lebed was also persecuted by the Gestapo, it is also known that the OUN/B, in which Lebed was a key player, pursued its own ethnic cleansing policies complementing the German aims. "On the one hand, [OUN/B] fought German rule, and the Gestapo put a price on Lebed's head. On the other, it pursued its own ethnic cleansing policies complementing German aims."[3]
From 1949, Lebed lived in theUnited States. During 1952–1974, he headed the Prolog Research Center in New York; in 1982–85, he was Deputy Chairman and since 1974 he was a Member of the Board of Directors of the institution. In 1956-91 he was a member of the board of the Ukrainian Society of Foreign Studies in Munich and Toronto, publishing committee "Chronicle of the UPA (1975). Author memories "UPA" (1946, 1987). Thanks to his collaboration with the CIA and their active shielding of him, Lebed was never tried for the war crimes he and his men had allegedly committed against Poles and Jews during WWII.[9]
