In the Maelstrom: The Waffen-SS "Galicia" Division and Its Legacy by Myroslav Shkandrij (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: In the Maelstrom: The Waffen-SS "Galicia" Division and Its Legacy by Myroslav Shkandrij Per A. Rudling (bio) Myroslav Shkandrij, In the Maelstrom: The Waffen-SS "Galicia" Division and Its Legacy ( Montreal&Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023). 424 pp., ill. References. Index. ISBN: 978-0-2280-1653-3. The 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician) occupies a central place in the Ukrainian diaspora's pantheon of heroes of the fatherland. Since 1945, its legacy has been the object of intense debate. Myroslav Shkandrij's book is one of few scholarly works on the unit and, to date, the most ambitious. A professor emeritus of Slavic Studies at the University of Manitoba, Shkandrij was raised in the United Kingdom, in the Ukrainian émigré community dominated by the Bandera wing of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, OUN(b). For Shkandrij, working on the Galizian SS also means to a considerable degree writing family history. His father was a volunteer in the Waffen-SS (P. xvii), his father in-law was the editor of Krakivs'ki visti, the leading Ukrainian-language newspaper in Hans Frank's General Government. Shkandrij has a lifetime of experience with the Ukrainian diaspora, with a political background in far left, Trotskyite activism (P. xvii). The author's motivations for writing the book are personal; it is obvious that Shkandrij is stung by depictions of the Ukrainian Waffen-SS men in mainstream media, which, he argues, "showed no interest in what the veterans had experienced. Instead the coverage revelled in a nightmarish image of monsters 'living next door'" (P. xvii). This, Shkandrij writes, "did not square with my personal experience" (P. xvii). Shkandrij set out to challenge negative depictions of the unit, also taking on "the most controversial issues" (P. 4). In line with trends in North American academia, the book contains a trigger warning (P. xviii). The book is divided into five sections; "Motives," "Actions," "Camps," "Stories," and "Reappraisals." The first two sections – on background and military history are relatively short (Pp. 15–158) and based mostly on literature published by the Waffen-SS veterans themselves. Of the subsections, chapter 7, on the Galician SS Volunteer regiments, counts among the strongest, though it closely follows the work of Michael Melnyk, a chronicler of the unit – and, like Shkandrij, the son of a Waffen-SS volunteer. Though well-written, this section offers little that is new. Particularly notable is the near-total absence of German-language sources; a handful of references, cited in secondary sources, are given as "Bundesarkhiv [End Page 220] [sic], Berlin" and "Budesarkhiv [sic] Aussenstelle Ludwigsberg [sic]" (Pp. xi, 389) and are both misspelled. Limited knowledge of German may offer a partial explanation for the book's imbalance in regard to sources. Jewish voices about the division's activities are absent. Much stronger is Shkandrij's section on the postwar period, which, as he correctly notes, "has been particularly neglected," not least regarding "life in internment camps and emigration" and even the "personal experiences of soldiers or their political views." Shkandrij sets out to expand the horizons, stating that using "memoirs, interviews, and archival materials the present account examines these facets of the history" (P. 5). He becomes our chaperone throughout the Waffen-SS men's rich and quite original artistic production. There is a wealth of literature, art, music, theater plays, and even the philatelic culture of Cinderella stamps produced by the SS men, which Shkandrij saves from oblivion. In particular, the third and fourth sections, "Camps" and "Stories," respectively, must be regarded as the strongest sections of the book, especially when describing veterans' incarceration in the Rimini camp in Italy, 1945–1949. The section "Stories" offers a glimpse into the veterans' dramatic lives through interrogation reports, interviews, the press, poetry, memoirs, and fiction. Here, Shkandrij the mature literary scholar is in his element; the poetry is translated elegantly, the analyses of literature and biographies of the authors are well researched, and the role of this underrecognized literature is intelligently engaged with. Indeed, many of the SS volunteers were highly talented, literate, politically dedicated men. Their impact in politics and academia was considerable: two SS veterans served as...