The Archives of Underground of OUN and UPA: Document Storage Methods

The purpose of the work is to reveal the practice of preserving documents of the Underground of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) archives; is to study of the specifics of carrying out the specified work in the difficult conditions of intensified conspiracy and lack of support of state institutions; as well as is to highlight the key areas of the outlined task. The methodological principles of the article are the principles of historicism, which involves consideration of all historical facts and events in accordance with specific historical circumstances, in their interconnection and interdependence. The work uses both empirical general scientific (analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, induction, deduction, explanation, classification) and special-historical research methods (historical-comparative, problem-chronological, structural-systemic, historical-typological, periodization). Scientific novelty. The research for the first time comprehensively analyzed the process of preserving documents in the archives of the Underground of OUN and UPA. A number of little-known aspects of this problem have been clarified and supplemented. Analogies were drawn regarding the use of document storage containers in individual underground organizations in Lithuania and Poland. Conclusions. Archiving and preservation of documents was an important part of the functioning of the OUN and UPA network. Their loss or capture by the enemy could cause significant damage to the underground, and therefore preventing this was the focus of this line of work. Underground methods of activity made it impossible to place documents in specially adapted premises and prompted the search for the most effective ways of preserving them. Documents were usually packed and labeled, and then placed in appropriate containers. They buried archives in remote places with the possibility of easily masking the traces of visits. Periodically, the archives were inspected and, if necessary, moved to another place. References: 1. Birchak, V. & Viatrovych, V. et al. (Ed.) (2017). Polshcha ta Ukraina u trydtsiatykh – sorokovykh rokakh KhKh stolittia : Nevidomi dokumenty z arkhiviv spetsialnykh sluzhb. T. 9 : Orhanizatsiia ukrainskykh natsionalistiv u Polshchi v 1944–1950 rokakh. Likvidatsiia kerivnykh struktur Poland and Ukraine in the 1930s and 1940s : Unknown documents from the archives of special services. Vol. 9: Organization of Ukrainian nationalists in Poland in 1944–1950. Liquidation of management structures. Ch. 2. Varshava-Kyiv. 1567 s. in Ukrainian.2. Klymenko, O. (2017). SB OUN (B) na Ternopilshchyni 1942–1952 rr. SB of the OUN (B) in Ternopil Oblast, 1942–1952. In Ukrainskyi natsionalno-vyzvolnyi rukh u ХХ st. : istoriia, teoriia, praktyka : materialy Vseukrainskoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii, pryurochenoi do 75-yi richnytsi utvorennia Ukrainskoi Povstanskoi Armii). 13–14 zhovt. 2017 r. (pp. 155–166). Ternopil in Ukrainian. 3. Kovalchuk, V. (2021). Pysmovi dokumenty Ukrainskoi povstanskoi armii ta zbroinoho pidpillia Orhanizatsii ukrainskykh natsionalistiv-banderivtsiv (1943–1954 rr.) : osoblyvosti produkuvannia, klasyfikatsiia, informatsiinyi potentsial The written documents of the Ukrainian insurgent army and the armed underground of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists-Banderivtsi (1943–1954) : features of production, classification, information potential. Kyiv. 560 s. in Ukrainian.4. Lysak, S. & Rudiuk, O. (2010). Lanovechchyna : podii i liudy u vyzvolnii borotbi ХХ st. Knyha pamiati Lanovechchyna : events and people in the liberation struggle of the 20th century. Book of memory. Ternopil. 416 s. in Ukrainian.5. Marchuk, I. (2009). Dilovodstvo ta arkhivna sprava UPA-Pivnich The office and archival affairs of the UPA-North. Ukrainskyi arkheohrafichnyi shchorichnyk, 13/14, 125–126 in Ukrainian.6. Parkhomchuk, O. & Vavrenchuk, M. (2018). Narysy vyzvolnoi borotby. Volyn Essays of the liberation struggle. Volyn. Lutsk. 336 s. in Ukrainian.7. Rusnachenko, A. (2002). Narod zburenyi : Natsionalno-vyzvolnyi rukh v Ukraini y natsionalni rukhy oporu v Bilorusii, Lytvi, Latvii, Estonii u 1940–50-kh rokakh The People are Agitated : The National Liberation Movement in Ukraine and National Resistance Movements in Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the 1940s and 1950s. Kyiv. 519 s. in Ukrainian.8. Smirnova, V. & Bilous, O. (2007). Ukrainskyi vyzvolnyi rukh : dzhereloznavchyi zriz muzeinoi kolektsii. In «Za krai i voliu, za natsii doliu!»: doslidzhennia, dokumenty, svidchennia Ukrainian liberation movement: a source history section of the museum collection (pp. 66–97). Kyiv in Ukrainian.9. Viedienieiev, D. & Bystrukhin, H. (2006). Mech i tryzub. Rozvidka i kontrrozvidka rukhu ukrainskykh natsionalistiv ta UPA. 1920–1945 Sword and trident. Intelligence and counter-intelligence of the movement of Ukrainian nationalists and the UPA. 1920–1945. Kyiv. 408 s. in Ukrainian.