Plan  1. The Second World War in Ukraine.  2. Ukrainians under the fascist occupation. Movement of Opposition.  3. Return of the soviet power to Ukraine.

 World War II, or the Second World War, was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations.majority of the world's nations  There were two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. AlliesAxis  The starting date of the war is generally held to be September 1939 with the German invasion of PolandGerman invasion of Poland  The war involved the mobilization of over 100 million military personnel.

 Over 70 million people, the majority of them civilians, were killed, making it the deadliest conflict in human history.70 million peoplehuman history  The Soviet Union and the United States emerged from the war as the world's leading superpowers.Soviet UnionUnited States  This set the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 45 years.Cold War  The United Nations was formed in the hope of preventing another such conflict.United Nations

SECOND WORLD WAR IN UKRAINE  Second World War for Ukraine actually started on September , when Germans attacked Poland,  The most cruel and tragic stage of the war began with the attack of Germany on the USSR on June and continued till the autumn of 1944, when German forces were turned out from Ukraine.  Having guarantee of neutrality of the Soviet Union Hitler attacked Poland, initiating the start of the Second World War.

 On September the Soviet army went to eastern Poland and occupied almost all territory, settled by Ukrainians and Belorusians.  In June 1940 the USSR forced Rumania to give back Bessarabiya and Bukovyna  Punitive bodies of the USSR arrested and deported Ukrainian political leaders to the East of Russia.  From 20 to 30 thousand Ukrainian activists run away to Poland, occupied by the Germans.

 At the beginning many representatives of intelligence were impressed, as they received job in soviet educational and cultural establishments, but they quickly understood, that became strictly controlled by organization men of regime, and in case of violation of directions arose threaten of arrest and deportation  In the spring of 1940 the regime opened the mask of democracy and began wile-ranging repressions – as against the Ukrainians, as against Poles.  The most popular and awful their type was deportation to Siberia and Kazakhstan, where people died by the whole families.

KhreshchatykKhreshchatyk, the main street of Kiev, after German bombardment Kiev

Map of the World with the Participants in World War II. The western allies are shown in blue, the eastern allies in red, the Axis powers in black and the neutral countries in grey.Axis powers

Ukrainians under the fascist occupation. Movement of Opposition  In 1939 about 550 thousand of Ukrainians from Lemkivshina and Holemshina turned out in German occupation zone in the eastern remote area of Poland  Zacarpathian with 550 thousand Ukrainians formed a part of Hungary.  Soon after coming of Germans, in Ukraine appeared the national movement of opposition.  There also existed underground organizational system of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN)

 Partisans were mainly collected in northern west part of the country – in the forests of Volyn, bogs of Polissya and Carpathians.  In the beginning of 1944 on the occupied lands of Ukraine in general 47 thousand 800 people in the form of partisan detachments and struggled with fascist conquers.  In 1942 members of different branches of Organization of Ukrainian nationalists (OUN) created small elements in Volyn.  Ukrainian revolt army (URA) quickly grew in the big, well-organized partisan army, which took control under the significant parts of Volyn, Polissya and finally Galychyna.

Execution of partisans, somewhere in the Soviet Union, September, 1941

Partisans take on the village to drive away a German punitive expedition.

Return of the soviet power to Ukraine  The decisive crisis arose in the war in 1943: the soviet army began the counter-offensive, the main purpose of which was in liberation of the left-bank Ukraine.  During the end of the summer-autumn of 1943 the soviet army occupied left-bank and Donbas.  On August 23 in result of desperate fight Kharkiv was liberated. In September-October the Red army broke powerful line of German defense at the Dnieper and on November 6 entered to Kyiv.

 In January 1944 after the short stop almost 2,3 million of Red army began clearing from Germans right-bank and Crimea.  In September they crossed the Carpathians and till the October 1944 all ethnic Ukrainian territory appeared in soviet hands.  Second World War took the lives at least 5,3 million Ukrainians, or one from every six citizen of Ukraine died in the struggle.  2,3 million Ukrainians were taken out from the forced labor in Germany.

 Completely or partly it were destroyed over 700 big and small cities and 28 thousand villages, in result of what 10 million people became homeless.  As the war caused in Ukraine more damage, than in any country in Europe, losses in the economy gained huge measures.  It was estimated, that Ukraine lost over 40 percent of its economy.

References  1. Subtelny, Orest. Ukraine: A History. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1988).Subtelny  2. Andrew Wilson. The Ukrainians: Unexpected Nation. Yale University Press; 2nd edition (2002).Andrew Wilson  3. Anna Reid. Borderland: A Journey Through the History of Ukraine. London, Orion Books; 4th impression (1998, preface 2003).  4. Paul Robert Magocsi. A History of Ukraine. Toronto: University of Toronto Press (1996).  5. Mykhailo Hrushevsky. History of Ukraine-Rus’ in 9 volumes.Mykhailo Hrushevsky