I cordially invite you to episode 6 of the Wolf Echoes series, titled "Ukrainian Spaghetti." In this episode, I will talk about the OUN's Italian allies and the cult of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists.

Ante Pavelic (1889-1959) leader of the Croatian UstashaAnother OUN partner in Mussolini's Italy was the Croatian Ustaše, founded in 1929. Like the OUN, the Ustaše operated as an ultranationalist terrorist organization. Like the OUN, it fought for an independent state against perceived "occupiers" and ethnic and political enemies in Croatia. Contact with Ustaše leader Ante Pavelic was established in 1933 and 1934 in Berlin, where Pavelic met with Iaryi and Lebed. During the cooperation between the two organizations, some OUN members trained with Ustaše activists in paramilitary camps in Italy, established and sponsored by Mussolini.

Mykhailo Kolodzinskyi (1902-1939)Mykhailo Kolodzinskyi, a leading member of the OUN, taught courses at this camp. There he also worked on the "military doctrine" of Ukrainian nationalists, a key OUN document containing a plan for a Ukrainian uprising. Kolodzinskyi's plan promoted a cult of war and presented a Ukrainian version of imperialism, aimed at protecting "its own race" and expanding Ukraine's territories. Kolodzinskyi argued in his "military doctrine" that during a national uprising, western Ukraine should be completely "cleansed" of Poles, and that "the more Jews killed during the uprising, the better for the Ukrainian state."

Zynoviy Knysh, a member of the OUN, described the relations between Ukrainian and Croatian revolutionary nationalists as very warm:
[...] The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists has good relations with the main circles of the Croatian Ustasha revolutionary organization. Relations between the leaders of both organizations became even closer in exile, outside Croatia.

Alexander I Karađorđević (1888-1934), King of YugoslaviaCroats in general, and Croatian students in particular, respected the OUN, trusted its members, and considered Ukrainian nationalists more experienced in matters of revolutionary struggle, inviting them to discussions, meetings, and congresses. Relations between Italian, Ukrainian, and Croatian nationalists began to deteriorate following the OUN's assassination of Pieracki, as well as the assassinations of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou in Marseille on October 9, 1934. The French minister was assassinated by members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization.

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)During the Pieracki trial, it was revealed that Mussolini supported the Ustasha, who were involved in the Marseille assassination. The revelation of Mussolini's collaboration with the OUN and the Ustasha was highly inconvenient for the leader of fascist Italy. The simultaneous assassination trials of Alexander I and Pieracki further complicated matters. As these facts emerged, Mussolini decided to hold the OUN and the Ustasha in two separate locations in Sicily.

Italian Student Fascist Group (Italy. Gruppi Universitari Fascisti)The OUN remained in the village of Tortorici until June 1937. Among the OUN members recruited by Mussolini was Stepan Bandera's brother, Oleksandr, who arrived in Italy in early 1933 as a student with three young Ukrainians. Oleksandr initially lived in Rome and was supported by the Italian government. After taking up political studies, Oleksandr and his two Ukrainian companions, with whom he studied, joined the Italian Student Fascist Group (Ita. Gruppi Universitari Fascisti) to establish contact with Italian fascist youth. They also founded the Ukrainian student organization Zaravo in Rome to familiarize Ukrainian students with nationalist politics.

Hetman Skoropadsky and Wilhelm II (1859-1941) the last King of Prussia and German EmperorThe OUN became very popular among Ukrainian emigrants, especially in the second half of the 1930s. Two influential groups among Ukrainian emigrants were the conservative group led by Hetman Skoropadkyi and the Ukrainian National Association (UNO). Ukrainians in the OUN competed for German funding, particularly with the conservative Hetmanite group, which was controlled by the Ukrainian Scientific Institute in Berlin. Nationalists in the OUN had significant influence over Ukrainian student organizations in Germany, such as Zarevo, Osnova, and Sich. In the second half of the 1930s, the OUN took control of the UNO and other emigre organizations, which, like the OUN, were interested in cooperation with Germany and began to consider Ukrainian nationalism as a movement belonging to European fascist movements.

War in Ukraine. Fighting in Avdiivka, March 17, 2023The OUN adhered to a nationalist and fascist ideology. One of its many cults was the cult of war and death, and the belief that political problems should and must be resolved through war. OUN propaganda authorities proclaimed that every member killed by perceived enemies or alleged occupiers died as a martyr for Ukrainian independence and should become a national hero.

Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn in court (1932)Among the most popular Ukrainian martyrs of the interwar period were Vasyl Bilas and Dmytro Danylyshyn. Along with 10 other OUN members, they participated in a robbery of a post office in Grodno Jagielloński on November 30, 1932. During the robbery, OUN members wounded eight people, one of them fatally. Five of the robbers were wounded, and two other nationalists, Iurii Berezynskyi and Volodymyr Staryk, were accidentally killed by their own OUN members. Danylyshyn and Bilas fled the scene of the robbery. During their escape, Danilyshyn killed a policeman who wanted to check his documents. Furthermore, the police spread rumors that two of the escapees were Polish and that they had killed a Ukrainian official and his manager. When Bilas and Danylyshyn were caught by Ukrainian peasants, they were brutally beaten and confessed to being Ukrainians. Both criminals were arrested and put on trial from December 17 to 21, 1932. During the trial, Bilas and Danylyshyn confessed to the murder of politician Tadeusz Hołówko on August 29, 1931. Both were sentenced to death.

Stepan Bandera - leader of the OUN-BThe announced verdict enraged many Ukrainians in the Second Polish Republic. At the time of the execution on December 22, 1932, churches in Lviv and other towns rang their bells. The bell-ringing was organized by the OUN propaganda apparatus, led by Stepan Bandera. The OUN established a three-month mourning period. Priests who refused to conduct services in honor of Bilas and Danylyshyn were forced to leave. The OUN published countless propaganda leaflets and posters, and soon, the OUN turned the bandits and murderers Bilas and Danylyshyn into martyrs and heroes who died for Ukraine. There were many more such propaganda martyrs produced by the OUN in the Second Polish Republic. This concludes episode 6, in which I spoke about the OUN's ally, Benito Mussolini, the leader of fascist Italy, as well as the Croatian Ustasha, who adhered to fascist ideology.
I cordially invite you to episode 7, titled "Bandera's Alcatraz."

Photo source: Wikipedia