The Construction and Reconstruction of the "Historical Truth" about the Waffen S.S. "Galicia" Division

This paper looks at how the memory and narratives of the Waffen SS “Galicia,” later know as the 1^st Division of the Ukrainian National Army, are being re-constructed and presented to a wider audience by scholars, politicians and Second World War veterans.  It discusses the importance of the process of memory re-construction and how it affects the official narrative.  The narratives and political framings of the “Galicia” Division tend to divide into two dichotomous approaches, each presenting themselves as ‘historical truth’.  On the one hand the ex-members are often portrayed as traitors, opportunists and war criminals.  On the other hand, ex-“Galicians” are seen as those who arguably chose ‘the lesser of two evils’ and joined the Nazi Army in order to defend their motherland against the Soviet invasion and attempted to build a nucleus for the Ukrainian army.  Rather than follow the well-trodden path of attempting to justify or condemn the Division’s actions, this paper will emphasize the specificity of the historical and political conditions which surrounded the Division’s dissolution and which enabled its members to escape repatriation to the USSR.  By doing this, the paper will also ask how the contemporary narratives of the Division are being presented to the public and who participates in the process of creating an official narrative of the “Galicia”.