The Uniate Church in Western Ukraine in the Period of the German Occupation During the Great Patriotic War

Abstract

The Greek Catholic Church in Galicia underwent reform at the beginning of the twentieth century under the leadership of Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky and emerged as one of the primary supporters of nascent Ukrainian nationalism. Indeed, the first half of the twentieth century witnessed significant involvement of the Uniate Church in advancing the Ukrainian nationalist cause. The inevitable consequence of this political alignment of the Galician Greek Catholic Church was its overt collaboration with the German Nazis who occupied Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War. The article explores the most prominent instances of such activities by Uniate hierarchs and clergy. An example of the most cynical collaboration between the Galician Uniates and the German occupiers was the assistance provided by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky to the Nazis in organizing the export of Ukrainian youth for forced labor in Germany. The Uniate Church continued to assist the German Nazis even when there were clear signs of their imminent defeat. In 1943, the leadership of the Galician Uniates actively assisted the Nazis in creating the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) commonly referred to as the Galicia Division, comprising mainly Western Ukrainian Uniates. Such a position loyal to the German occupiers was intended to secure not only favorable conditions for the Uniate Church’s survival under the Nazi regime but also the opportunity to proselytize in the occupied eastern territories. However, the occupation authorities pursued a complex religious policy in Ukraine and were not inclined to strengthen any particular denomination. For this reason, the Galician Uniates were not permitted by the German occupiers to conduct missionary activities outside Western Ukraine.