Mykola Kyrylovych Lebed (January 11, 1909 – July 18, 1998, also spelled Lebid;; also known as Maksym Ruban, Marko, and Yevhen Skyrba) was a Ukrainian

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

political activist and guerrilla fighter. Lebed was described as a "Ukrainian

fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...

leader and suspected

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

collaborator",Salazar, Christian and Herschaft, Randy (2010-12-11
Declassified CIA Files Detail Ties Between U.S. And Ex-Nazis
''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

'' and later labeled as a "well-known sadist and collaborator of the Germans" by

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

counterintelligence.Roberts, Sam (11 December 2010)
"Declassified Papers Show U.S. Recruited Ex-Nazis".
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''. Retrieved 13 December 2010. He was among those tried, convicted, and imprisoned for the murder of Polish interior minister

Bronisław Pieracki Bronisław Wilhelm Pieracki (28 May 1895 – 15 June 1934) was a Polish military officer and politician. Life As a member of the Polish Legions in World War I, Pieracki took part in the Polish-Ukrainian War (1918–1919). He later supported J� ...

in 1934. The court sentenced him to death, but the state commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. He escaped when the Germans invaded Poland in 1939. As a leader of OUN-B, he was responsible for the

massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia 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 ...

.Lebed proposed in April to "cleanse the entire revolutionary territory of the Polish population," so that a resurgent Polish state would not claim the region as in 1918

ichard Breitman, Norman J.W. Goda, ''Hitler's Shadow: Nazi War Criminals, U.S. Intelligence, and the Cold War'' page 75.

Timothy Snyder Timothy David Snyder (born August 18, 1969) is an American historian specializing in the history of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and the Holocaust. He is on leave from his position as the Richard C. Levin, Richar ...

. (2004) ''The reconstruction of nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 ''. New Haven: Yale University Press pp. 164-165''W świetle przedstawionych wyżej ustaleń nie ulega wątpliwości, że zbrodnie, których dopuszczono się wobec ludności narodowości polskiej, noszą charakter niepodlegających przedawnieniu zbrodni ludobójstwa.'' - Piotr Zając, ''Prześladowania ludności narodowości polskiej na terenie Wołynia w latach 1939–1945 – ocena karnoprawna zdarzeń w oparciu o ustalenia śledztwa OKŚZpNP w Lublinie'', [in:
''Zbrodnie przeszłości. Opracowania i materiały prokuratorów IPN'', t. 2: ''Ludobójstwo'', red. Radosław Ignatiew, Antoni Kura, Warszawa 2008
p.34-49 In 2009, the United States Congress directed the National 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 the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group's (IWG) final report in 2007. The follow-up report from the IWG's ichard Breitman and Norman J. W. Goda">ichard Breitman and Norman J. W. Goda included a discussion of Lebed's relationship with the Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War. In 1949 he emigrated to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and lived in New York City, New York. Through Prolog Research Corporation, his CIA funded organization, he gathered intelligence on 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 ...

as late as into the late 1960s. The CIA project name for the operation was AERODYNAMIC. 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 the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...

's Office of Special Investigations from learning about his wartime connections to the Nazis. He died in 1998.

Early life

Born in Novi Strilyshcha, a small town in Galicia, nowadays western part of

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 ...

(at the time,

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

), Lebed completed his studies in

Lviv Lviv ( or ; ; ; see #Names and symbols, below for other names) is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the List of cities in Ukraine, fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of It serves as the administrative centre of ...

which during the Interbellum was part of the

Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 7 October 1918 and 6 October 1939. The state was established in the final stage of World War I ...

. In 1930-32 he took an active part in setting up youth groups of Organization 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 Affairs

. After the assassination he attempted to flee through

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

Szczecin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the Poland-Germany border, German border, it is a major port, seaport, the la ...

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 ...

, but by order of Himmler was arrested by the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

and handed over to the Polish authorities. During the Warsaw Process (1934–36) he was given the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

which was later commuted to life imprisonment. He escaped in September 1939 while being evacuated from the

Bereza Kartuska Prison Bereza Kartuska Prison (, "Place of Isolation at Bereza Kartuska") was operated by Poland's Sanation government from 1934 to 1939 in Biaroza, Bereza Kartuska, Polesie Voivodeship (today, Biaroza, Belarus). Because the inmates were detained with ...

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 the

Abwehr The (German language, German for ''resistance'' or ''defence'', though the word usually means ''counterintelligence'' in a military context) ) was the German military intelligence , military-intelligence service for the ''Reichswehr'' and the ...

Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...

World War II

In 1940, during the internal conflict that erupted within the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) he supported

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 ...

, 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 the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) until 1943.The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was created in 1942 by a faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). The UPA fought mostly against the

Armia Krajowa The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

of Poland and 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 ...

in Western Ukraine. The OUN-UPA men – who were also known as the "Bandera Men" – are accused of several crimes, including killing some 100,000 Poles, Czechs and Jews in the Western Volyn Region. Thousands of Ukrainians who refused to cooperate with them were also murdered. For those activities, Bandera is now considered to be a criminal and a terrorist in Poland. In 1941 UPA leader Bandera urged the Ukrainian people to help Nazis destroy Moscow and the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

. In Western Ukraine, many people see Bandera as a hero. Streets in several cities have been named after him and a monument has also been recently been erected in his name in Lviv. But in eastern, southern and central parts of the country Bandera is seen as a traitor and Nazi sympathizer In April 1943 he proposed that they should "cleanse the entire revolutionary territory of the Polish population". As leader of OUN-B, Lebed was responsible for the

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

of around 100,000 Poles in

Volhynia Volhynia or Volynia ( ; see #Names and etymology, below) is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between southeastern Poland, southwestern Belarus, and northwestern Ukraine. The borders of the region are not clearly defined, but in ...

and Eastern Galicia, including giving orders to carry out the killings. In 1944 he became one of the founders of the Ukrainian 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).

Collaboration with Nazi Germany

In a government reports publication, published by the National Archives, Lebed is being suspected of having collaborated with Nazi Germany. Lebed was described as a "Ukrainian

leader and suspected

collaborator",Salazar, Christian and Herschaft, Randy (2010-12-11
Declassified CIA Files Detail Ties Between U.S. And Ex-Nazis
''

'' and later labeled as a "well-known sadist and collaborator of the Germans" by

counterintelligence.Roberts, Sam (11 December 2010)
"Declassified Papers Show U.S. Recruited Ex-Nazis".
''

''. Retrieved 13 December 2010. 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, UN/Bfought 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." EthnoCarpathians 22082017DolynaUA-30

Post-war activities

From 1949, Lebed lived in the

. 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.

Early life

World War II

Collaboration with Nazi Germany

Post-war activities

Notes

References

Further reading