Trial by Blood and Iron

The monography presents the problematic of the Ukrainian (integral) nationalism and the activities of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (so called „Banderites“), especially the topic of their activities in Czechoslovakia, according to the pre 1989 authors and publicistic scene predominantly violent and nowadays exploited in attempts to discredit the contemporal Ukrainian regime. Chapters follow in chronological order and analyse the problematics of the birth and evolution of Ukrainian nationalism, its formative period, ideological background, activities of the nationalists in Czechoslovakia and abroad in 1918 to 1960 and the propaganda and myths that surround the topic from its inception. The essential research task can be formulated as: Who were the so called „Banderites“ and what was their history?

The monography is primarily based on archival research in the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. Secondarily on the literature written by the Ukrainian nationalistic and scientific literature, predominantly Polish, Ukrainian and English.

The research has come to the conclusion that the problematic of violent activities of the Ukrainian underground structures both in Czechoslovakia and abroad is exaggerated, on top of that by structures that declare their continuity to those that themselves committed mass crimes on much higher scale and their methods often inspired those applied by the Ukrainian underground. Documented activities of the Ukrainian nationalists in Czechoslovakia were not predominantly violent in their nature, the counteractions of the state were inadequate and in the end harmed both sides.