Since its creation in 1943, the history of the Galicia Division and its wartime record has remained one the most politicized and controversial subjects in Ukrainian history during WWII. The Division’s soldiers are claimed as “collaborators-traitors,” “war criminals” or “ fighters for Ukrainian independence” by different historiographic traditions. This speech is focused on the role of the Division as viewed by its former soldiers. In particular, it will examine how the memory of the former soldiers is being (re)constructed by the veterans themselves through the prism of their collective memory formation and commemoration practices. Individual motivations for joining the Division are one of the most important research objectives in this area.

As well as referring to a number of theoretical works, the main sources for this research are interviews conducted with the former soldiers of the Galicia Division who are living now in Ukraine and Canada as part of my ongoing project “The Galicia Division through the Eyes of its Former Soldiers”. Published memoirs, materials of the Ukrainian state archives and of the Ukrainian-Canadian Documentation and Research Centre (Toronto, Canada) are used as well.