PROF. PETER POTICHNYJ

Professor Emeritus, McMaster University

Date and Place of Birth: 1930 in Pawlokoma, Poland

Date of Interview: July 15, 2016

Place of Interview: Ancaster, Ontario

Interviewer: Kassandra Luciuk

Length of Interview: 02:17:46 (raw)

(Excerpt):

…after 3 months I was finally accepted into the regular UPA unit. The company that I joined was the company of “Hromenko.” His real name was Mychajlo Duda.  He was eventually a captain, by rank he was captain, it was the same, and with him I stayed until 1947 and with him I came to Germany, because our unit in 1947 was ordered to go to West Germany on a propaganda raid to show the people in the West that Ukraine is still fighting. We did make quite a bit of a big story, a big fuss in Germany in various newspapers and so on. I read about it even in The Globe and Mail after I came to Canada. There was a small item that we came to Germany. That was a unit, which was composed of about 160 people, although it changed: 160, 120, and so on. But by the time we reached Germany only 36 of us came. Most, almost a half of our unit was either killed or captured. Killed in Poland when we were going to Czechoslovakia, and captured, a couple were killed as well, in Czechoslovakia, but mostly captured.  So only 36 of us finally arrived in Germany.

CROSS REFERENCES:

1. •Press Release, University of Alberta, “Dr. Peter Potichnyj Addresses Controversies Related to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Forty-First Annual Shevchenko Lecture“, 25 April 2007
   

1. •Blog Post, St.Josephat’s Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood, “Dr. Petro Potichnyj – Featured Ukrainian Canadian,” 3 October 2015.