Divizia Fund
The “Galicia” Division was a Ukrainian military formation in the German armed forces during World War II. The division was organized as part of a program of creating foreign formations of the Waffen SS to fight on the Soviet front. The Ukrainian Central Committee supported the division’s formation regarding it as a Ukrainian armed force and hoping to influence its character and organization as the core of a future national army. Its formation was announced on 28 April 1943 and in march 1945 the Galicia Division was reformed as the First Division of the Ukrainian National Army under General Petro Shandruk.
Much of the material relating to the Galicia Division collected by the UCRDC for the film Between Hitler and Stalin – documents, photographs, film clips and about 43 audio and video interviews with Division members – was not used in the film. This documentation and interviews are kept in the UCRDC archives.
The subtitle of the film Between Hitler and Stalin is “The Untold Story.” Of all the issues concerning Ukraine in WWII, that of the history and role of the Division is least known and hence most often distorted. The UCRDC feel an obligation to the persons who shared their recollections and materials about WWII with the Centre. They believe that in Canada and the United States there exist the resources and the means to research and gather addtional materials for a documentary film about the Division in order to disseminate its true story and role.
Some elements of the project would be:
• 20 additional interviews (to be done in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal)
• digitization of video interviews (13) and copying audio interviews onto disks (DVD).
• detailed catalogue of the Divizia archive
• production of a film, from photos and interviews, about the Divizia
• hiring of students to research for the film and compile a Divizia catalogue for the Internet.
In order to move this project forward, a separate Divizia Fund (Fond Dyvyziynykiv) was created in 2006 and the first donation were the contributions from friends ($2,500) and family ($5,000) in memory of former Divizia member Roman Cholkan. The following levels of donors have been established:
Founder $50,000+
Patron $25,000+
Sponsor $10,000+
Supporter $5,000+
Friends $1,000+
A permanent Table of Donors will be put up at the premises of the UCRDC, and will include individual as well as family donations in the name of former Divizia members.
Divizia Descendents’ Circle
It is obvious that further research and publication on the subjet of the Divizia has to pass on to the younger generation. An informal group named “Divizia descendants’ circle” has been created. Its aim will be to contact and organize members of the families of Divizia members into a study and research group whose task will be to maintain interest in the Divizia. Those interested in joining this informal group can contact the UCRDC at office@ucrdc.org.
Photo Album about the Divizia
A 254-page photo album - Ukrainska Divizia “Halychyna” (Ukrainian Division “Halychyna”) - subtitled “A history in photographs from its founding in 1943 to the discharge from prisoner-of-war camp in 1949” was published in 2009 in Lviv, in Ukrainian. It contains 278 captioned photographs, contributed mostly by Division members. The compiler and editor of the photo album is former Division officer Bohdan Maciw of Montreal. The photographs were selected with help from Professor Roman Serbyn who also wrote the afterword in which he examines the Division in the context of Ukrainians in various armed formations in World War II. A presentation of the photo album took place on December 6, 2009 in Toronto, organized by the UCRDC.
To order the book Ukrainska Divizia “Halychyna”, please contact:
B. Maciw
43 Aldercrest,
Dollard des Ormeaux, Quebec
H9A 1V1, Canada
Tel. 514-684-8212
(Include your full address, telephone number and $35 (cheque or money order). You will receive the book from Ukraine.)
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