Ukrainian national government (1941)


The Ukrainian national government, ''Ukrainske Derzhavne Pravlinnia of 1941 was a self-proclaimed Ukrainian government established on the Ukrainian territories occupied by Nazi Germany. The government was established by the 30 June 1941 Act of restoration of the Ukrainian state. It was led by the Stepan Bandera's faction of OUN.
On 22 June 1941 leaders of the OUN met in Kraków, occupied Poland, and established a plan to create a Ukrainian state. The leaders of this meeting, Vsevolod Petriv and Volodymyr Horbovy, sent a letter to Adolf Hitler offering cooperation in exchange for Ukrainian independence.
With the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, many thought that they found a new ally in Nazi Germany. The leader of the government was Yaroslav Stetsko. Many members were former government officials and military leaders of the Ukrainian People's Republic. Germany did not recognise the government; it arrested and imprisoned its members within a matter of weeks.

Government structure

The government of 1941 was an attempt to include as many political parties in Ukraine as possible. The structure and nomenclature of the government functionaries were quite extensive. They included:
The Prime Minister was Yaroslav Stetsko
  1. Deputy Prime Minister – Marian Panchyshyn – no political affiliation
  2. Deputy Prime Minister – Lev Rebet
  3. Minister of the Interior – Volodymyr Lysy
  4. Minister of External Affairs – Volodymyr Stakhiv
  5. Minister of Defence – Vsevolod Petriv
  6. Minister of State Security – Mykola Lebed
  7. Minister of Justice – Yulian Fedusevych
  8. Minister of Agriculture – Yevhen Khraplyvy
  9. Minister of Health Marian Panchyshyn
  10. Minister of Education Volodymyr Radzykevych
  11. Minister of Communication N. Moroz
  12. Minister of Information Oleksandr Hai-Holovko
  13. Minister of Political Coordination Ivan Klymiv-Lehenda
  14. Deputy Minister of Interior Konstantyn Pankivsky
  15. Deputy Minister of External Affairs Oleksandr Maritchak
  16. Deputy Minister of Defense Roman Shukhevych
  17. Deputy Minister of Defense Oleksandr Hasyn
  18. Deputy Minister of Justice Bohdan Dzerovych
  19. Deputy Minister of Agriculture Andriy Piasetsky
  20. Deputy Minister of Health Roman Osinchuk
  21. Secretary of the Ministry of Health Oleksandr Barvinsky
The government also featured a Council of Seniors, which was headed by Kost Levytsky.