Colonelul Mykhailo Kolodzinsky

Abstract

Colonel Mykhaylo Kolodzinsky. The article, based on a large amount of memoirs and scientific literature, attempts to comprehensively and ob jectively cover the life of one of the most radical representatives of Ukrai nian integral nationalism of the first half of the twentieth century, Mykhailo Kolodzinsky. The authors trace the main milestones in the life of a man who from a young age became a staunch revolutionary, an active member of the underground organizations banned in Poland of that time – the Ukrainian Military Association, and later the Organization of Ukrainian National ists. M. Kolodzinsky (“Kum”, “Burun”, “Mishko”, “General”, “M. Budzhak”, “Huzar”) repeatedly risked his life by participating in anti-Polish actions, for which he was arrested and imprisoned several times. The authors argue that M. Kolodzinsky was not only a nationalist-practitioner, but also one of the most famous Ukrainian military theorists of the 1920s and 1930s. This is evidenced by his thorough geopolitical scientific researches “Military Doctrine of Ukrainian Nationalists”, “Military Significance and Strategic Position of Transcarpathia”, “Railway Communication in the USSR”, etc. The article debunks the myth that was born in Soviet historiography, that Ukrainian nationalists served Hitler and the Nazis faithfully. Analyzing M. Kolodzinsky’s “Military Doctrine of Ukrainian Nationalists”, the authors ar gue that its author strongly condemned the aggressive plans of the leader of the Third Reich regarding the future fate of Ukraine. Under the pseudonym Полковник Михайло Колодзінський 97 “Huzar”, M. Kolodzinsky was one of the first to appear in Transcarpathia, where he significantly contributed to the formation of combat-ready units of the People’s Defense Organization “Carpathian Sich”, later heading the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Carpathian Ukraine. He did not leave the battlefield even when it was clear to everyone that the young Carpatho Ukrainian state was unable to stop the troops of Horthy’s Hungary. The au thors trace in detail the last days of life and the heroic death of Colonel M. Kolodzinsky, raise the question of proper, albeit belated in time, honoring of this prominent figure at the national level