Dmytro Klyachkivsky | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname(s) | Klym Savur, Okhrim, Bilash |
| Born | 4 November 1911 Zbarazh, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine) |
| Died | 12 February 1945 (aged 33) Orzhiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine) |
| Allegiance | Ukrainian Insurgent Army |
| Commands held | UPA-North |
| Battles/wars | |
Dmytro Semenovych Klyachkivsky (Ukrainian: Дмитро Семенович Клячківський; 4 November 1911 – 12 February 1945), also known by the pseudonyms of Klym Savur,[1] 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.[2][3][4]
Klyachkivsky was born on 4 November 1911 in the city of Zbarazh, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ukraine) 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 (see Territories of Poland annexed by the Soviet Union). Klyachkivsky was arrested by the Soviets (NKVD) in Lviv and sentenced to death, which was commuted to 10 years of incarceration. He escaped from Berdychiv 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 UPA-North in 1944.
Dmytro Klyachkivsky is regarded as the initiator of the massacres of Poles in Volhynia 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.[2] One Ukrainian Insurgent Army commander who opposed it was threatened by Klyachkivsky with court-martial.[3]
Evidence of his actions was found in SBU archives by Polish historian Władysław Filar 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. This secret directive stated:
We should undertake the great action of the liquidation of the Polish element. As the German armies withdraw, we should take advantage of this convenient moment for liquidating the entire male population in the age from 16 up to 60 years. We cannot lose this fight, and it is necessary at all costs to weaken Polish forces. Villages and settlements situated next to the large forests should disappear from the face of the earth.[4][5]
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.[6]
According to a Ukrainian historian Sergei Ryabenko, the "secret directive" cited by many authors is of questionable authenticity. The document signature referenced by the authors does not exist in the SBU archives, and other signatures lead to a criminal case against a deserter from Soviet army Adam Mitchik, who then joined UPA, and was later captured by Soviets. NKVD interrogation protocol of Mitchik from 1945 is the only archival document that contains a reference to Klyachkivsky and "secret directive", with statements similar to the above text. Based on these results Ryabenko postulated that the "secret directive" never existed and the above quote was compiled from statements attributed to Mitchik in the interrogation protocol, likely written by NKVD and signed by the defendant under torture.[7]
Klyachkivsky was killed in an ambush by the forces of the NKVD in February 1945 near the settlement of Orzhiv in the vicinity of Rivne.[1] He was posthumously awarded the title of Colonel of the UPA and UPA Gold Cross of Military Honors First Grade.
