New books about Soviet partisans in Chernihiv region

"Red" partisans of Dobryanshchyna: behind the scenes of Soviet myths "and" Ivan Bovkun: the bloody path of the "people's avenger", - presented new books about Chernihiv partisans 16 and 18 September during the traditional Museum meetings, which took place in the Military History Museum – branch of the Chernihiv Historical Museum named after VV Tarnovsky Mykhailo Zhyrokhov, історик, military expert, researcher of the museum.

The publications were prepared on the basis of newly discovered archival sources, which have long been kept under the label "top secret".

Sergey Laevsky, moderator of both events, director of the museum, praised the first results of scientific research of a museum employee on the history of Soviet partisans of Chernihiv region from the standpoint of Ukrainian historiography, which debunk the established Soviet myths, and remarked: "We look forward to continuing these studies and their results, after all, your important and relevant answers raise more and more questions. ".

Mykhailo Zhyrokhov during the presentation of a book about the Dobryansky district detachment, which was the first in Chernihiv region, drew attention to that, що за останні 77 there was no objective information about him for years. Analysis of all facts, including from the staff documents of the detachment found by him in the Branch State Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine, refute Soviet myths about its activities and combat "effectiveness". So, according to him: "The short-term capture of the Dobryanka district center by partisans was dated 7 November. But in fact, for documents, it was 23-24 October. And they wrote everywhere, that on the anniversary of the October Revolution there were guerrillas, there was a rally. But there was no rally ".

The author identified the factors, influencing the existence and actions of guerrilla units in the Chernihiv region 1941 year, and in particular the Dobryansk detachment: formation of detachments by the central government, and not the local population, lack of necessary personnel experience, defeat of enemy guerrilla equipment bases, the presence of Polish weapons and the lack of ammunition for it.

The researcher made the following conclusion about the initial ethane of the detachment's activity: "In pursuance of the order of the communist state, this typical partisan detachment of the first period of the German-Soviet war was created.. They were not given enough weapons and ammunition, there was virtually nothing to fight for. There was no communication with the command, they were not supposed to give them radio stations then. Tasks, and what to do, was also not delivered. Отже, they faced a dilemma: to sit until receiving the appropriate orders from the Moscow center or to act on their own ideas about it. Remember, that the authorities gathered to fight against the Nazi occupation regime of party-Soviet officials and assets, who was not trained to fight in the rear of the enemy ".

Historian Mikhail Zhirokhov noted, that in the book he tried to trace the fate and place of burial of the commander of the Dobryan detachment Tikhon Yevtushenko on the basis of new materials, which he received from the family of the guerrilla leader and local historians.

The author pointed out, who deliberately called the next book "Ivan Bovkun: the bloody path of the "people's avenger". Among the actions of this guerrilla leader were the deliberate killings of guerrillas to unite troops and the struggle for power..

"Instead of a lacquered communist tale about" people's "avengers, we are presented with an honest one, true story. Варто відзначити, that Mikhail Zhirokhov confirmed the conclusions of national and foreign historiography, its leading representatives, such as Anatoly Kentiy, Alexander Gogun and others. He documented Soviet myths about irregular armed groups and saboteurs of the power structures of the USSR Armed Forces., which was called the guerrilla movement ", - this is how Serhiy Butko assessed the new scientific work, представник Українського інституту національної пам’яті. "All documents, with whom I got acquainted in the archives of the Chernihiv district of Chernihiv region, only confirm the findings of these studies. Partisans, which were in fact the creation and instrument of the communist totalitarian regime, was the indifferent fate of the civilian population under Nazi occupation ", - Serhiy Horobets also confirmed, another representative of the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory.

In addition to the presentation of the book, a professional discussion was held with the involvement of local historians of Chernihiv. In particular, The problematic issues concerning the creation of partisan detachments on the territory of Chernihiv region were discussed 1941 year, features of their actions and the role of guerrilla leaders in the activities of their units, planning of combat operations.

After a thorough discussion, the participants of these Museum meetings thanked the author for publishing the research and wished him further scientific achievements.