Michal Apanasavič Vituška (; , ''Mikhail Afanasyevich Vitushko''; ; 5 November 1907 – 7 January 1945)
was a
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
ian leader of the ''Black Cats'', a unit of the ''SS-Jagdverbände'', during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
[Perry Biddiscombe: ]
The SS Hunter Battalions. The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement
'. Tempus, Stroud 2006, p. 66.
Biography
Michal Apanasavič Vituška was born in the city of
Nyasvizh in the
Minsk Governorate
Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...
of the
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 ...
(present-day
Belarus
Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...
) and studied in Belarusian gymnasiums in
Kletsk
Klyetsk or Kletsk is a town in Minsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Klyetsk District. Klyetsk is located on the Lan (river), Lan River. As of 2025, it has a population of 11,169.
History
The town was founded in the ...
and
Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...
.
[Biography at slounik.org](_blank)
(Belarusian) He graduated from a university in
Prague
Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...
and the
Warsaw University of Technology
The Warsaw University of Technology () is one of the leading institutes of technology in Poland and one of the largest in Central Europe. It employs 2,453 teaching faculty, with 357 professors (including 145 titular professors). The student body ...
. In Warsaw, Vituška joined the Belarusian Student Movement. Between 1939 and 1940, he served under the Chief of Soviet Police in Nyasvizh.
[Antonio J. Muñoz, Oleg V. Romanko: ''Hitler's White Russians: Collaboration, Extermination and Anti-partisan Warfare in Byelorussia, 1941-1944'', Europa Books 2003, p. 452f.]
On 2 November 1939, after the
Soviet invasion of Poland
The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military conflict by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Second Polish Republic, Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Polan ...
, the territories of
West Belarus were annexed by the Soviet Union. The local population remained disaffected towards the Soviet occupants, so when
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
invaded the
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
, many people organized around the
Belarusian Central Council, a Belarusian representative council in the
Nazi-occupied Belarus, Vituška among them.
In August 1941 he became one of the commanders of the Belarusian Self-Defense units formed in the Western part of Belarus. He was also a chief organizer of the
Belarusian Auxiliary Police in
Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
. From 1942 to 1943 he organized Belarusian forces in
Bryansk
Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census.
Bryans ...
,
Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow.
First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...
and
Mogilev
Mogilev (; , ), also transliterated as Mahilyow (, ), is a city in eastern Belarus. It is located on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, about from the Belarus–Russia border, border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from Bryansk Oblast. As of 2024, ...
. He also became a part of the Belarusian Self-Help and had the rank of a major in the
Byelorussian Home Defence. He took part in the 2nd Belarusian congress and beginning in the late summer of 1944 was also the officer of the ''Dallwitz'' parachute battalion.
Still, soon some Belarusian national activists including Vituška formed a pro-Nazi
Belarusian Independence Party (''Беларуская незалежніцкая партыя'') that was led by Vituška along with
Vincent Hadleŭski and
Usievalad Rodzka. However, unlike Hadleŭski, who would later turn against Germany, Vituška remained at Germany's side until his ultimate death.
Black Cats
Meanwhile, special units (''SS-Jagdverbände'') of local collaborationists were trained by the Germans to infiltrate the Soviet rear. They were trained in Dahlwitz near
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
by ''
SS-Standartenführer''
Otto Skorzeny
Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Standartenführer'' in the ''Waffen-SS'' during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including the removal from power ...
. The paratroopers came from ''
Reichskommissariat Ostland
The (RKO; ) was an Administrative division, administrative entity of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945. It served as the German Civil authority, civilian occupation regime in Lithuania, La ...
''; and were split into commandos based on the country of origin. As part of the Nazi effort to combat the growing
Soviet partisan movement in Belarus during the war, some thirty Belarusians from the espionage and sabotage outfit known as "Čorny Kot" (''Black Cat''), led by Vituška, were
airdrop
An airdrop is a type of airlift in which items including weapons, equipment, humanitarian aid or leaflets are delivered by military or civilian aircraft without their landing. Developed during World War II to resupply otherwise inaccessible tr ...
ped by the
Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
in late 1944 behind the lines of the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
. At that time, the German forces had been expelled from the present-day Belarus during
Operation Bagration
Operation Bagration () was the codename for the 1944 Soviet Byelorussian strategic offensive operation (), a military campaign fought between 22 June and 19 August 1944 in Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Byelorussia in the Eastern ...
.
The Black Cats experienced some initial successes due to disorganization in the rear of the Red Army. Other German-trained Belarusian nationalist units also slipped through the
Białowieża Forest
Białowieża Forest is a large forest complex on the border between Poland and Belarus. It is one of the last and the largest remaining part of the immense primeval forest that once stretched across the European Plain. The forest is home to more ...
in 1945.
[Perry Biddiscombe: ''The SS Hunter Battalions. The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement''. Tempus, Stroud 2006, p. 66.] Vituška became the leader of a small anti-Soviet movement in Belarus. However, 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 ...
secret police informants infiltrated these units. As a result, they were ambushed and killed in short order.
According to both western sources, such as the British
MI6
The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...
, and the Soviet
MGB, agreed that Vituška was likely executed in January 1945, and that organised resistance in Belarus had ceased by 1946.
This conclusion is supported by historians Anton Rudak and Igor Valakhanovich.
Conspiracy theories as to Vituška's continued survival, however, persist. Siarhiey Jarš in 2006 claimed Vituška's son had told him that he had died in a sanatorium at 98 in
Munich
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
. However, no proof for his claims has been provided.
Legacy
Historian
Andrej Kotljarchuk writes that Vituška is a popular figure for far-right and conservative circles of Belarusian youth. The myth, according to which Vituška led an anti-Soviet partisan army in 1944–1959, was created by veterans in exile and reimported to Belarus after it gained independence in 1991.
Vituška is honoured by organization ''
Young Front''. On 5 November 2007 activists of the organization were arrested after celebrating the hundredth birthday of Vituška. On 25 March 2014 members of the Young Front visited a demonstration with a banner, featuring Vituška along with
Vincent Hadleŭski,
Stepan Bandera
Stepan Andriyovych Bandera (, ; ; 1 January 1909 – 15 October 1959) was a Ukrainian far-right leader of the radical militant wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN-B.
Bandera was born in Austria-Hungary, in Galicia (Eas ...
,
Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz and
Roman Shukhevych
Roman-Taras Osypovych Shukhevych (, also known by his pseudonym, Tur and Taras Chuprynka; 30 June 1907 – 5 March 1950) was a Ukrainian nationalism, Ukrainian nationalist and a military leader of the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) ...
bearing the description: "Heroes do not die".
In 1949, several Belarusian anti-Soviet partisans, including Vituška, were awarded the
Order of the Pahonia by decree of the President of the
Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic
The Rada of the Belarusian People's Republic (, ) was the governing body of the Belarusian Democratic Republic. Since 1919, the Rada BNR has been in exile where it has preserved its existence among the Belarusian diaspora as an advocacy group ...
Mikola Abramchyk. He was also awarded the , 3rd Class by the Rada.
See also
*
Belarusian Central Rada
*
Occupation of Belarus by Nazi Germany
The German invasion of the Soviet Union started on 22 June 1941 and led to a German military occupation of Byelorussia until it was fully liberated in August 1944 as a result of Operation Bagration. The western parts of Byelorussia became part ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vituska, Michal
1907 births
1945 deaths
People from Nyasvizh
People from Slutsky Uyezd
People of Generalbezirk Weißruthenien
Belarusian Independence Party politicians
Belarusian generals
Belarusian Home Defence personnel
Belarusian Waffen-SS personnel
Warsaw University of Technology alumni
Charles University alumni
Waffen-SS personnel killed in action