Maksym Skorupsky (; also known by his

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

Maks) (November 12, 1912 – December 11, 1985) was a Ukrainian military leader of the

Ukrainian Insurgent Army The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (, abbreviated UPA) was a Ukrainian nationalist partisan formation founded by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) on 14 October 1942. The UPA launched guerrilla warfare against Nazi Germany, the S ...

Biography

Born in the village of Antonivtsi,

Volhynian Governorate Volhynia Governorate, also known as Volyn Governorate, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Southwestern Krai of the Russian Empire. It consisted of an area of and a population of 2,989,482 inhabitants. The governorate ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(now

Ternopil Oblast Ternopil Oblast (), also referred to as Ternopilshchyna () or Ternopillia (), is an Oblasts of Ukraine, oblast (province) of Ukraine. Its Capital (political), administrative center is Ternopil, through which flows the Seret (river), Seret, a tribu ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

), he studied at the

Lviv University The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of highe ...

before his studies were terminated and he was called up for military service in the Polish Army. Skorupsky was not a member of OUN, but was a supporter of Andriy Melnyk. He was an officer in the

(UIA) known under the name "Maks" in UIA-South. In 1943 he operated in area south of

Rivne Rivne ( ; , ) is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast (province), as well as the Rivne Raion (district) within the oblast.

in the military group (division) “Bohun”. On May 3, he participated in the assault on Polish village Kuty during the

massacres of Poles in Volhynia The Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia (; ) were carried out in Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), with the support of parts of the local Ukrainians, Ukrainian popu ...

. At least 53 Poles were killed.

Grzegorz Motyka Grzegorz Motyka (born 1967) is a Polish historian and author specializing in the history of Poland–Ukraine relations. Since 1992 he served at the Institute of Political Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences and at the Institute of National ...

, Od rzezi wołyńskiej do akcji Wisła, p. 115 On February 29, 1944, Skorupsky took part in the attack on

Nikolai Vatutin Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin (; 16 December 1901 – 15 April 1944) was a Soviet Union, Soviet military commander during World War II who was responsible for many Red Army operations in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR as th ...

, a battle near the village of Myliatyn against the group

SMERSH SMERSH () was an umbrella organization for three independent counter-intelligence agencies in the Red Army formed in late 1942 or even earlier, but officially announced only on 14 April 1943. The name SMERSH was coined by Joseph Stalin. The form ...

. On 12 March 1944, ''kurin'' of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army under his command murdered Poles in

Pidkamin Pidkamin (; ) is a Populated places in Ukraine#Rural settlements, rural settlement in Zolochiv Raion, Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, near the administrative border of three oblasts, Lviv Oblast, Lviv, Rivne Oblast, Rivne, and Ternopil Oblast, Tern ...

. Estimates of victims include 150

, Ukraińska Partyzantka 1942-1960, Warszawa 2006, p. 385 and more than 250.Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Chapter 5
Kiev, Ukraine: Institute of History of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Chapter written by Ihor Ilyushin. pg. 285 Skorupsky took part in the Battle at Hurby, April 21–25, 1944, against soldiers of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

, which was a tactical win for the NKVD. After the battle, the NKVD burned down the villages of Hurby and Antonivets. In 1944, he emigrated to Austria and from there in 1948 to the United States, where he settled in New Jersey. He died in Trenton, New Jersey. Skorulsky is known for numerous published articles of reminiscences regarding his activities in the UIA and his book of memoirs, ''Туди, де бiй за волю'' ("There, where there is a battle for freedom").

References

Sources

* ''Encyclopedia of Ukraine'', Vol. IV, University of Toronto Press, 1993. * ''Encyclopedia of the history of UIA'' (Eнциклопедія історії УПА) * М. Сивіцький. Записки сірого волиняка. Львів, 1996. * П. Содоль. Українська Повстанча Армія 1943-49. Довідник. Нью-Йорк, «Пролог» 1994. *
Skorupsky, M.A. (Maks).

Туди де бій за волю ("Where the battle for freedom is") : (Спогади Курінного УПА Максима Скорупського-Макса) / М.А. Скорупський, Макс. - К. : Вид-во ім. Олени Теліги, 1992. - 351 с. -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Skorupsky, Maksym 1912 births 1985 deaths Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Military personnel from Ternopil Oblast People from Volhynian Governorate Commanders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Ukrainian collaborators with Nazi Germany Ukrainian exiles Ukrainian revolutionaries Soviet emigrants to the United States Perpetrators of massacres in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia Nazis who fled to the United States