Dmytro Klyachkivsky ( uk, Клячківський Дмитро (Роман), also known by his

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

Klim Savur; 4 November 1911 – 12 February 1945), also known by his

s Klym Savur, Okhrim, and Bilash, was a commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), first head-commander of the UPA-North. He was responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Poles from Volhynia.

Biography

Klyachkivsky was born on 4 November 1911 in the city of Zbarazh,

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

(now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

) as a son of a bank clerk. He completed his secondary studies and entered the Law faculty of the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwow. A member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), he served in the Polish army and worked in the service sector in Stanisławów from 1934 until 1939 as chair of a committee of the Ukrainian sport organization Sokil in Zbarazh. After the joint Nazi and Soviet attack on Poland, Eastern Poland was occupied by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

(see

Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union Seventeen days after the German invasion of Poland in 1939, which marked the beginning of the Second World War, the Soviet Union entered the eastern regions of Poland (known as the '' Kresy'') and annexed territories totalling with a population ...

). Klyachkivsky was arrested by the Soviets (

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

) in

Lviv Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

and sentenced to death, which was commuted to 10 years of incarceration. He escaped from

Berdychiv Berdychiv ( uk, Берди́чів, ; pl, Berdyczów; yi, באַרדיטשעװ, Barditshev; russian: Берди́чев, Berdichev) is a historic city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center ...

Prison in July 1941. He was a member of the Directorate of the OUN in Lviv, the regional leader of OUN from January 1942, a member of the leadership of OUN and the first commander of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army from 1943. He was given the rank of major and made the regional commander of UIA-North in 1944.

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia

Dmytro Klyachkivsky is regarded as the initiator of the

massacres of Poles in Volhynia The massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia ( pl, rzeź wołyńska, lit=Volhynian slaughter; uk, Волинська трагедія, lit=Volyn tragedy, translit=Volynska trahediia), were carried out in German-occupied Poland by the ...

in modern-day western Ukraine in the years 1943–1945. It was his directive, issued in mid-1943, that ordered the extermination of the Polish population across the province.Matthew J. Gibney, Randall Hansen, ''Immigration and Asylum.'' Page 205.

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

One Ukrainian Insurgent Army commander who opposed it was threatened by Klyachkivsky with

court-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

.Tadeusz Piotrowski, ''Genocide and Rescue in Wołyń.'' Page 187.

Evidence of his actions was found in SBU archives by Polish historian

Władysław Filar Władysław Filar (18 July 1926 – 13 August 2019) was a Polish historian, academic and a soldier of the 27th Home Army Infantry Division. Filar was born in Iwanicze Nowe in Volhynia, Poland (now Ukraine). During the Second World War, he fou ...

and was published in 2000 in his book ''Before action Wisla, there was Volhynia''. It was an order addressed to the commanders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in

Volhynia Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...

. This secret directive stated: Nevertheless, as noted by Timothy Snyder, among the tens of thousands of Poles murdered by UPA on his orders, most of the victims were women and children.

Death

Klyachkivsky died in an ambush by the forces of the

in February 1945 near the settlement of Orzhiv in the vicinity of

Rivne Rivne (; uk, Рівне ),) also known as Rovno (Russian: Ровно; Polish: Równe; Yiddish: ראָוונע), is a city in western Ukraine. The city is the administrative center of Rivne Oblast ( province), as well as the surrounding Rivne ...

.The legend of the "Orzhiv operation": how the Internal Troops of the NKVD accidentally killed "Klima Savur"
Historishna Pravda (8 September 2021) He was posthumously awarded the title of Colonel of the UIA and UIA Gold Cross of Military Honors First Grade.

References

External links

*
How many soldiers were in Ukrainian Insurgent Army?
Historishna Pravda (3 December 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Klyachkivsky, Dmytro 1911 births 1945 deaths People from Zbarazh People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Ukrainian Austro-Hungarians Commanders of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army Ukrainian anti-communists Ukrainian people of World War II Ukrainian military leaders Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Massacres of Poles in Volhynia Holocaust perpetrators in Poland Ukrainian prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by the Soviet Union Escapees from Soviet detention Military personnel killed in World War II Ukrainian military personnel killed in action People killed in NKVD operations

Biography

Massacres of Poles in Volhynia

Death

See also

References

External links