Languages Ukrainian Historical era World War II Disestablished September 1941 | Government Republic Established 30 June 1941 Founded 1941 | |
 | ||
Capital Lviv (actual)
Kyiv (intended) | ||
The Ukrainian national government (Ukrainian: Українське Державне Правління (УДП), Ukrainske Derzhavne Pravlinnia (UDP); Ukrainian State Board) of 1941 was Ukrainian national government established on territories, liberated from the Soviet Union after the declaration of renewal of the Ukrainian statehood (Act on renewal of the Ukrainian statehood). It was led by the Stepan Bandera's faction of OUN.
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The leader of the government was Yaroslav Stetsko. Many members were former government officials and military leaders of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
Originally planning to cooperate with Nazi Germany against the USSR, most of the leadership was arrested, deported, and imprisoned by the Nazis within a matter of weeks.
Background
Leaders of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN, first planned a declaration of Ukrainian independence in early June 1941. With the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, many thought that they found a new ally in Nazi Germany.
On 22 June 1941 leaders of the OUN met in Kraków, occupied Poland, and established a plan to create a Ukrainian state. The leaders of this meeting, Vsevolod Petriv and Volodymyr Horbovy, sent a letter to Adolf Hitler offering cooperation in exchange for Ukrainian independence.
Declaration of independence
By 30 June 1941 Soviet forces had abandoned Lviv. Prior to Nazi invasion, the OUN entered the city and proclaimed an independent and sovereign Ukrainian state.
Government structure
The government of 1941 was an attempt to include as many political parties in Ukraine as possible.
The structure and nominclature of the government functionaries was quite extensive, however:
The Prime Minister was Yaroslav Stetsko
- Deputy Prime Minister – Marian Panchyshyn – no political affiliation
- Deputy Prime Minister – Lev Rebet (OUN)
- Minister of the Interior – Volodymyr Lysy (Socialist Radical Party)
- Minister of External Affairs – Volodymyr Stakhiv
- Minister of Defence – Vsevolod Petriv (Social Revolution Party)
- Minister of State Security – Mykola Lebed (OUN)
- Minister of Justice – Yulian Fedusevych
- Minister of Agriculture – Yevhen Khraplyvy (Ukrainian National-Democratic Party)
- Minister of Health Marian Panchyshyn (no political affiliation)
- Minister of Education Volodymyr Radzykevych (no political affiliation)
- Minister of Communication N. Moroz (no political affiliation)
- Minister of Information Oleksandr Hai-Holovko (no political affiliation)
- Minister of Political Coordination Ivan Klymiv-Lehenda (OUN)
- Deputy Minister of Interior Konstantyn Pankivsky (Socialist Radical Party)
- Deputy Minister of External Affairs Oleksandr Maritchak (Ukrainian National-Democratic Party)
- Deputy Minister of Defense Roman Shukhevych (OUN)
- Deputy Minister of Defense Oleksandr Hasyn (OUN)
- Deputy Minister of Justice Bohdan Dzerovych (no political affiliation)
- Deputy Minister of Agriculture Andriy Piasetsky (Front of National Unity)
- Deputy Minister of Health Roman Osinchuk
- Secretary of the Ministry of Health Oleksandr Barvinsky (no political affiliation)
The government also featured a Council of Seniors, which was headed by Kost Levytsky.