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Ukrainian Insurgent Army

Ukrainian military organization
Also known as: UPA

Quick Summary

The Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) was a nationalist partisan military organization that emerged in Volhynia and Galicia in early 1942 during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine. The UPA engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Germans and also fought against Soviet partisans. The formation of the UPA was a response to the brutal conditions and repression imposed by the Nazi regime, which sought to exploit Ukrainian resources and labor. This period saw widespread atrocities, including the mass killings of Jews, and the forced displacement of millions of Ukrainians to Germany as slave laborers. The UPA's activities were part of a broader underground resistance movement that developed in Ukraine during World War II.12

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