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Farewell to SS-Galicia Waffen Division

Film | Digitized | Accession Number: 2001.355.1 | RG Number: RG-60.3135 | Film ID: 2488

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    Farewell to SS-Galicia Waffen Division

    Overview

    Description
    A parade is organized to send the newly-formed Waffen SS "Galicia" Division in Ukraine off for training. Large crowds attend, and a farewell speech is given by Dr. Otto von Wächter, the German governor of Galicia, in Lviv (Lvov, Lwow), Geramn occupied territory of Ukraine. This likely takes place in the summer of 1943, though the troops did not see action until early 1944. Ukrainian soldiers are presented with flowers by Ukrainian women in traditional dress. There is a clear display of Ukrainian nationalism alongside the Nazi pageantry. Large crowds gather in the city square to bid the recruits farewell. CUs, faces in the crowd. Several Nazi flags are flying over the square. Young men march in formation, most in civilian clothes, as they have just volunteered for military service. New recruits board trains for journey to the front, and receive a huge send-off from fellow Ukrainians. The Galician SS Division would later go on destroy a few Polish villages in Galicia, and then to help quell uprisings in Yugoslavia and Slovakia.

    Translation of Ukrainian narration: In Lviv, SS brigade governor Dr. Otto von Wächter bids farewell to the volunteers of SS-Galicia Waffen who are leaving for further training. Celebration in front of the Lviv theatre. One more train with volunteers is leaving. Upon their return they will fight together with Germans to protect Europe against the Bolshevik enemies.
    Duration
    00:02:52
    Date
    Event:  1943
    Locale
    Lviv (Lvov), Poland
    Ukraine
    Soviet Union
    Credit
    Accessed at United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of TSDKFFA
    Contributor
    Subject: Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists

    Physical Details

    Language
    Ukrainian
    Genre/Form
    Newsreels.
    B&W / Color
    Black & White
    Image Quality
    Good
    Time Code
    01:24:57:00 to 01:27:49:00
    Film Format
    • Master
    • Master 2488 Video: Betacam SP - PAL - large
      Master 2488 Video: Betacam SP - PAL - large
      Master 2488 Video: Betacam SP - PAL - large
      Master 2488 Video: Betacam SP - PAL - large
    • Preservation
    • Preservation 2488 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2488 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2488 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large
      Preservation 2488 Video: Betacam SP - NTSC - large

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    You do not require further permission from the Museum to access this archival media.
    Copyright
    Central State Film and Photo Archive of Ukraine
    Conditions on Use
    For permission to license, reproduce, and use film materials from the Central State Film and Photo Archive of Ukraine, visit https://tsdkffa.archives.gov.ua/poslugy/ or contact tsdkffa@arch.gov.ua

    Keywords & Subjects

    Administrative Notes

    Film Provenance
    The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum purchased this collection of moving image segments from the Central State Film, Photo and Sound Archive (https://tsdkffa.archives.gov.ua) at the Ukraine National Archives in Kiev, Ukraine in 2001.
    Note
    Partial duplicate footage on Story 3162, Film ID 2489. but with very different narration, the comments are virtually opposite.

    SS-Galicia Waffen: Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS "Galizien" (also known as the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army). In 1943/1944 a determined group of young men and women in Galicia - the western area of the Ukraine that borders Poland - volunteered to serve in a combat division destined for eastern front combat. Their goal: to engage and destroy the Soviet hordes menacing their homeland and to counter Nazi Germany's subjugation of their country. Although initially Galicia's volunteers would serve in a German sponsored military formation, in actuality the volunteers of the Galicia division wanted to engage all hostile ideologies - both from the east and west - in order to secure a free independent Ukraine.

    The Waffen SS Division Galizien was formed in 1943 in response to the German defeat at Stalingrad. Previously, Slavs were seen as an inferior race, unfit for the German ranks. Now on the retreat, however, the Wehrmacht was less particular about its recruits. Some 80 thousand Galicians volunteered; roughly 30,000 were accepted, but only 11,600 were actually trained. Many of these volunteers were members of, or at least encouraged by, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), Mel'nyk faction. The OUN had splintered in 1941 into two bitterly opposed factions: OUN-Bandera (after its first leader, Stepan Bandera) and OUN-Mel'nyk (after its first leader, Andrii Mel'nyk). The OUN-Bandera was opposed to both Soviet and German occupation of Ukraine, and had as its aim the elimination of all Poles from "Ukrainian" territory, and the ultimate establishment of a Ukrainian nation. To this end, the Banderists formed the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which was involved in wholesale slaughter of Poles (and others) throughout Galicia and Volhynia. The OUN-Mel'nyk, on the other hand, saw collaboration with Germany as adjunct to its plans: preventing Soviet occupation, and ensuring that Galicia and Volhynia ended up in Ukrainian, and not Polish, hands. Thus, many volunteered to serve in the SS,
    Copied From
    35mm
    Film Source
    Central State Film and Photo Archive of Ukraine
    File Number
    Legacy Database File: 3439
    Source Archive Number: 3266
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 08:04:16
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn1002627

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