Krakivs'ki Visti

The Krakivs'ki Visti (Ukrainian: Краківські вісті: народний часопис для Генерал-Губернаторства, German: Krakauer Nachrichten – Ukrainische Tageszeitung), was a Ukrainian language newspaper with its original headquarters in Kraków, that was published from 1940 to 1945.[2] It was described by historian John-Paul Himka as "vehemently antisemitic."[3] Himka described it as a Nazi propaganda daily, published during World War II in the Ukrainian language with the German financial aid, and with exposure orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels himself.[4]

Krakivs'ki Visti
Krakivs'ki Visti frontispiece
TypeDaily newspaper
FormatTabloid
Editor-in-chiefMichael Chomiak (a.k.a. Mykhailo Khomiak)
Founded1940
Political alignmentNazi Party
LanguageUkrainian
Ceased publication1945
HeadquartersKraków, General Government (later in Vienna)
Circulation16,808 (1944) [1]

Origins

After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact, many Ukrainian nationalists left the Soviet-controlled Western Ukraine for the German zone of occupation, and Kraków became the centre of their nationalist activity. Some of the most prominent Ukrainian writers contributed to Krakivs’ki visti.[4] According to John-Paul Himka, a history professor at the University of Alberta, from 1940 until 1945, the newspaper was the "most important" in the Ukrainian language under the World War II German occupation.[5]:251 The newspaper's publisher, the Ukrainian Publishing House (UV) Ukrainske Vydavnytstvo, was established in December 1939 in Kraków, then the capital of the General Government or General Governorate, under occupation by Nazi Germany. "Despite the financial and technical difficulties, strict German censorship, and paper shortages that plagued it throughout its existence", Ukrainian Publishing House published prolifically from 1940 to 1945.[6] In a November 19, 1939 meeting with Ukrainian representatives, Governor general Hans Frank "pledged his support for a Ukrainian publishing house and press."[5]:251[6]

The original funding came from the Ukrainian population of the General Governorate for the new limited company, Krakivs'ki Visti. The German Head of the Press Department, Emil Gassner, gave Yevhen Yulii Pelensky, Ukrainske Vydavnytstvo's first director, the right to take over the printing press confiscated from the Jewish Nowy Dziennik.[5]:251

The daily was closely associated with the Ukrainian Central Committee headed by Volodymyr Kubiyovych. It was more autonomous than other Ukrainian-language publication under the German rule.[4]

Distribution

The first issue of Krakivs'ki Visti was published on January 7, 1940. It began to publish a daily paper in November 1940. At that time Ukrainske Vydavnytstvo began to publish a weekly paper for the rural population.[5]:252 The German occupiers limited the newspapers to small press runs.[5]:252 The press run was just over 10,000 in 1941 and just over 15,000 in 1943.[4]

There were very few Ukrainians living in Kraków, where the newspaper was published, therefore most copies were distributed elsewhere.[4]

The readership was located in the Governorate and among the Ukrainians "working as forced labor in Germany", and in German-occupied Europe. The Germans placed a ban on circulating the newspaper to the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (RKU), the civilian regime of much of Nazi German-occupied Ukraine, where "the bulk of the potential readership lived."[5]:253 The targeted audience envisioned by the newspapers founders were the "peasants, workers and refugees." In the end the daily was aimed at the intelligentsia and the weekly for the rural population and workers.[5]:254

After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact, many Ukrainian nationalists left the Soviet-controlled Kresy for the German zone of occupation, and Kraków became the centre of their nationalist activity. Some of the most prominent Ukrainian writers contributed to Krakivs’ki visti. However, there were very few Ukrainians living in Kraków, therefore most copies were distributed elsewhere.[4]

Content

Krakivs'ki visti, with headquarters in Kraków since 1940, republished materials from the German papers for distribution in the General Government territory of occupied Poland, especially the Nazi party organ Völkischer Beobachter, which appeared frequently. The articles were also translated from Berliner Illustrierte Nachtausgabe and all most important German papers.[4][7] The Krakivs'ki Visti was distributed in Nazi Germany among the Ukrainian Ostarbeiter workers for the purpose of indoctrination especially after the anti-Soviet Operation Barbarossa of 1941, but also throughout other German-occupied countries. The company was moved to Vienna in 1944 ahead of the Soviet counteroffensive. The last issue was published on March 29, 1945.[1] [5]:251–261

Critics

After Mykhailo Khomiak's death in 1984, John-Paul Himka, Khomiak's son-in-law, accessed Khomiak's papers, which are now held in the Provincial Archives of Alberta. Mykhailo Khomiak changed his name to Michael Chomiak when he emigrated to Canada after World War II.[8][9][10][11] According to Himka, the anti-Jewish materials published in Krakiws'ki Visti contributed in no small way to atmosphere conductive to the mass murder of Jews.[12]:619 Khomiak's granddaughter, Chrystia Freeland, is Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Some Canadian officials have claimed in 2017 that the circulation of news regarding Chomiak's connection to Nazism was the result of a Russian disinformation campaign.[10][11][13] Nevertheless, these facts have been confirmed by the University of Alberta historian and son-in-law of Chomiak, Professor John-Paul Himka,[10] among others.[14]

Editors

Ukrainske Vydavnytstvo's director Pelens'ki, had difficulty hiring a chief editor for the Krakivs'ki visti. Many talented editors from Lviv feared Soviet reprisals against their families who remained in Galicia.[5]:254 The first editor, Borys Levyt'ski was fired on the insistence of the Germans, after he published an article on the Russo-Finnish War.

Mykhailo Khomiak, who was in his thirties at the time, was appointed as editor-in-chief to replace Levyt'ski in 1940 and remained in that position until the paper closed in 1945.[5]:254 During that time, Ley Lepkyi was the deputy editor and Roman Kupchyns'kyi, Mariian Kozak, Iaroslav Zaremba, and Petro Sahaidachnyi, who were all Galacians, served on the editorial board.[5]:255

Relations with German authorities

The paper "was constantly running into difficulties with German censors", which did "damage to the paper" and created a "dangerous editorial crisis".[5]:257 In his correspondence with the publisher's office, Khomiak "placed blame" on the "lack of editorial presence in the newspaper", on German censorship.[5]:257

Antisemitic articles (1943)

In May 1943, the German press chief, demanded that the newspaper publish a series of antisemitic articles[15]:85 in the "flagship of Ukrainian journalism under Nazi occupation," Krakov's daily newspaper, the Krakivs'ki Visti.[15]:82

In 1984, following the death of Mykhailo Khomiak, then known as Michael Chomiak, his personal records revealed his role as editor-in-chief at Krakivski visti from 1940 through 1945 when he was in his thirties. He emigrated to Canada after WWII. Included in his records were detailed communications providing historical context of the articles. The records were acquired by the Provincial Archives of Alberta in 1985. Himka used these records as primary sources for papers he presented at Ukrainian-Jewish relations conferences in Kyiv in 1991 and Jerusalem in 1993. His 1996 article, "Krakivski visti and the Jews, 1943: A Contribution to the History of Ukrainian-Jewish Relations during the Second World War", published in the Journal of Ukrainian Studies, was a revised version of these papers. The records provided the names of the authors (now deceased) of the articles which were not included in the 1943 Krakivski visti articles: Kost Kuzyk, Luka Lutsiv, Olena Kysilevska, Oleksander Mystsiuk, and Oleksander Mokh who wrote a series of articles.[15]:86 Other Himka described the Krakivski visti as the "flagship of Ukrainian journalism under Nazi occupation," Krakov's daily newspaper, the Krakivs'ki Visti.[15]:82 The articles, which were published between May 25 through July, "provoked indignation on the part of the Ukrainian intelligentsia".[15]:89,95

References
  1. Karl Waldmann Museum. "Page from a Ukrainian newspaper Krakivs'ki Visti, December 1944". Galerie Pascal Polar, Belgium.
  2. Digital collections (2017). "Krakivs'ki Visti : narodnij časopis dlja General-Gubernatorstva, 1940-1942". Biblioteka Jagiellońska. Uniwersytet Jagielloński. Katalog Druków XIX-XX w. ze zbiorów byłej Pruskiej Biblioteki Państwowej w Berlinie przechowywanych w Bibliotece Jagiellońskiej. Roczniki czasopisma: 3 wol,; sygnatury BPC 2483 IV LIND, Ztg 2475. Lista roczników: 001 r. 1940 (sičen-červen; lipen-veresen); 003 r. 1942 (lipen-gruden).
  3. John-Paul Himka. "First Escape: Dealing with the Totalitarian Legacy in the Early Postwar Emigration". Ukemonde.com. Ukrainian Community in Montreal. The originals were vehemently antisemitic. paper presented at the conference "Soviet Totalitarianism in Ukraine: History and Legacy" held in Kiev on September 2–6, 2005
  4. John-Paul Himka. "Ethnicity and the Reporting of Mass Murder: Krakivs'ki visti, the NKVD Murders of 1941, and the Vinnytsia Exhumation". Time and Space. Lviv: University of Alberta. Archived from the original (DOC) on 2015-04-02. Retrieved 2017-03-11.
  5. Himka, John-Paul (1998). "Krakivs'ki visti: an Overview". Harvard Ukrainian Studies. Cultures and Nations of Central and Eastern Europe. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. 22: 251–261. JSTOR 41036740.
  6. "Ukrainske Vydavnytstvo (Cracow)". Encyclopedia of Ukraine. 5. 1993. Retrieved June 10, 2018. UV was undoubtedly the most prolific and important Ukrainian publisher of its time...[d]espite the financial and technical difficulties, strict German censorship, and paper shortages that plagued it throughout its existence, from 1940 to 1945.
  7. Rebecca Wetherbee (May 20, 2013). "Chrystia Freeland – U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times". Little Pink Book.
  8. Robert Fife, Ottawa Bureau Chief (March 7, 2017). "Freeland knew her grandfather was editor of Nazi newspaper". The Globe and Mail.
  9. Pugliese, David (March 8, 2017). "Chrystia Freeland's granddad was indeed a Nazi collaborator – so much for Russian disinformation". Ottawa Citizen. Ottawa. Retrieved June 10, 2018. Chomiak edited the paper first in Krakow (Cracow), Poland and then in Vienna. The reason he edited the paper in Vienna was because he had to flee with his Nazis colleagues as the Russians advanced into Poland.
  10. Cosh, Colby (March 8, 2018). "Colby Cosh: Of course it's 'news' that Freeland's grampa was a Nazi collaborator, even if the Russians are spreading it". National Post. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  11. Simons, Paula (March 8, 2017). "Paula Simons: 'School of hate': Was Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland's grandfather a Nazi collaborator?". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  12. John-Paul Himka (2013). Omer Bartov; Eric D. Weitz (eds.). Ethnicity and the Reporting of Mass Murder. Shatterzone of Empires: Coexistence and Violence in the German, Habsburg, Russian, and Ottoman Borderlands. Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0253006394.
  13. Glavin, Terry (March 8, 2017). "Terry Glavin: Enter the Freeland-Nazi conspiracy — and the amping-up of Russia's mischief in Canada". The National Post. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  14. Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe (Berlin). "Celebrating Fascism and War Criminality in Edmonton" (PDF). The Political Myth and Cult of Stepan Bandera in Multicultural Canada. Kakanien Revisited, No 12, 2010: 7–8. The newspaper Krakivs’ki visti not only reprinted German anti-Semitic propaganda but also featured articles written by Ukrainian intellectuals who responded to German requests to write nationalistic and anti-Semitic materials. Indeed, Volodymyr Kubiiovych (former director of the Ukrainian Central Committee – Ukraїns’kyi Tsentral’nyi Komitet, UTsK) in Berlin contributed to the newspaper.55 Furthermore, he asked the head of the General Government, Hans Frank, to see »a very significant part of confiscated Jewish wealth turned over to the Ukrainian people«.
  15. Himka, John-Paul (Summer–Winter 1996). "Krakivski visti and the Jews, 1943: A Contribution to the History of Ukrainian-Jewish Relations during the Second World War". Journal of Ukrainian Studies. 21: 81–95.
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