When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Galician)
Formed in 1943, it was mainly deployed in theEastern FrontofWorld War IIin combat against theRed Armyand in the repression ofSoviet,Polish, andYugoslav guerrilla partisans. Parts of the division were said to have taken part in several massacres, such asat Huta Pieniacka,Pidkamin, andPalikrowy. It was largely destroyed in theLvov–Sandomierz offensive, reformed, and saw action inSlovakia,Yugoslavia, andAustriabefore being transferred to the command of theUkrainian National Committeeon 14 April 1945, a change that was only partially implemented amidst the collapse of Germany, and surrendering to theWestern Alliesby 10 May 1945.
The unit went by several names during its existence. It was originally known as the SS-Volunteer Division \"Galicia\" (German:SS-Freiwilligen-Division Дивізія СС Dyviziia SS \"Halychyna\") from its creation until October 1943. It then became the 14th Galician SS-Volunteer Division, before being renamed again in June 1944 as the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division (1st Galician) until November 1944, when its designation was changed to 1st Ukrainian (German:14. Waffen-Grenadier-Division der SS (ukrainische Nr. 1)). In late April 1945 its name was changed to the 1st Division of theUkrainian National Armyfor the rest of the war.
In 1946 theInternational Military Tribunal at Nurembergdeclared all members of allSS divisions\"to becriminalwithin the meaning of theCharter.\" In 1985, the CanadianDeschênes Commissionconcluded that the Galicia division should not be indicted as a group. Polish and German commissions in the 2000s found it guilty ofwar crimes. In 2003, theChief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nationfound that the 4th battalion of the 14th division was guilty of war crimes. In 2005, the Institute of History at theUkrainian Academyof Sciences confirmed the Polish findings of war crimes committed by the 4th battalion of the 14th division.
The division is honored by thefar-right in Ukraineand by some organizations of theUkrainian diasporain Canada. In 2020, theUkrainian Supreme Courtruled that symbols of SS Division Galicia do not belong to the Nazis and were not banned in the country. On 30 April 2021, after a public march that prominently displayed SS Division Galicia symbols, Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelenskyystated: \"We categorically condemn any manifestation of propaganda of totalitarian regimes, in particular theNational Socialist, and attempts to revise truth aboutWorld War II.\"
The division\'s insignia is classified as aNaziandhate symbolby theFreedom Houseand theUkrainian Helsinki Human Rights
