Radio Vienna: Broadcasts by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, 1938–1939

Abstract

Surviving transcripts of radio broadcasts made by the OUN in 1938 and 1939 defend the Ukrainian right to an independent state and support the formation of Carpatho-Ukraine as the first step towards achieving this goal. At the same time they praise Germany for the new situation created in the wake of the Munich Agreement. The broadcasts were allowed by Germany as part of its strategy to destabilize Czechoslovakia and Poland. The strong anti-Jewish line taken by the OUN in the first months of broadcasting was likely the required payment for being allowed to broadcast. The broadcasts stopped criticizing the Soviet Union when the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed.

Keywords

• nationalism
• oun
• ukraine
• interwar
• carpatho-ukraine
• germany
• poland