Michał Vituška
| Michał Vituška | |
|---|---|
 Michał Vituška | |
| Native name | Міхал Вітушка |
| Born |
November 5, 1907 Nesvizh, Russian Empire |
| Died |
1946 Soviet Union |
| Rank | General |
| Commands held | Chorny Kot |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
General Michał Vituška (Belarusian: Міхал Вітушка; 5 November 1907 Nesvizh – ~ 1946) was a Belarusian anti-Soviet partisan leader in the early years after World War II.
Biography
Michał Vituška was born in the city of Nesvizh (then part of the Russian Empire) and studied in Belarusian gymnasiums in Kletsk, Wilno. He graduated from a university in Prague and the Warsaw University of Technology. During his years of study Vituška was an active participant of Belarusian cultural and political organisations.[1]
In 1939, after the Soviet invasion of Poland, the territories of West Belarus were annexed by the USSR. The local population remained disaffected towards the Soviet occupants, so when Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, many people organized around the Belarusian Central Rada, a Belarusian representative council in the Nazi-occupied Belarus, Vituška among them. [1]
Still, soon some Belarusian national activists including Vituška formed a conspirative Belarusian Independence Party (Беларуская Незалежніцкая Партыя) and started preparing an anti-Nazi uprising with the goal to revive the Belarusian Democratic Republic. The uprising did not take place and most members of the party fled to the West.[1]
Meanwhile, special units of local collaborationists were trained by the Germans to infiltrate the Soviet rear. In 1944 thirty Belarusians (known as "Chorny Kot" (Black Cat) and personally led by Vituška) were airdropped by the Luftwaffe behind the lines of the Red Army, which had already taken over Belarus during Operation Bagration. Some other German-trained Belarusian nationalist units also slipped through the Białowieża Forest in 1945.[2]
The anti-Soviet partisans experienced some initial success due to disorganization in the rear of the Red Army. In 1945 Vituška became the coordination centre leader of the anti-soviet resistance partisan movement in Belarus. The NKVD had already infiltrated these units, and by 1946 they were neutralized. At the beginning of the 1950s most of the leaders of the resistance movement had to escape to the West. Vituška himself was hunted down, captured and executed, although he continued to live on in Belarusian nationalist hagiography.[3]
Legacy
Vituška is openly honored by the Belarusian youth organization Young Front.[4] On November 5, 2007 activists of the organization were arrested after celebrating the hundredth birthday of Vituška.[5] On March 25, 2014 members of the Young Front visited a demonstration with an transparent, featuring Michał Vituška along with Vincent Hadleŭski, Stepan Bandera, Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz and Roman Shukhevych bearing the description: "Heroes do not die".[6]
See also
References
- 1 2 3 Biography at slounik.org (Belarusian)
- ↑ Perry Biddiscombe: The SS Hunter Battalions. The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement. Tempus, Stroud 2006, p. 66.
- ↑ Perry Biddiscombe: The SS Hunter Battalions. The Hidden History of the Nazi Resistance Movement. Tempus, Stroud 2006, p. 66.
- ↑ Міхал Вітушка: ТОП-5 міфаў., mfront.net]
- ↑ Niasvizh: Police Detain ‘Young Front’ Activists for Celebrating Vitushka’s Birthday, spring96.org
- ↑ Малады Фронт тлумачыць, каго лічыць героямі, svaboda.mobi]