Liberation of Kiev

The Ukrainian battalion Nachtigall was formed by Stepan Bandera (1909-1959), a very controversial figure in Ukrainian history. He was a Ukrainian nationalist who in June 1941 proclaimed independence for Ukraine. During 1941-44, he was presumably imprisoned at Sachsenhausen concentration camp for this declaration of independence, since it wasn't approved by the German command. Released in 1944 he continued to work with the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists at its headquarters in Germany, which now supported Bandera and the OUN in their struggle against the Soviet advance. In 1959 he was found dead at his house in Munich. It is understood now that his death was organized by Soviet intelligence. Bandera and his battalions (Nachtigall and Roland) were accused of anti-Semitism, pogroms, and mass murders of Jews and Communists in Western Ukraine. Liberation of Kiev. VS of the city. Soviet troops take the city by storm, routing the German forces. Tanks roll in. A huge icon, perhaps of Jesus, is shown covering the side of a demolished building. A woman cries. Soviet troops greet and embrace women, who thank them for liberating the city. Children walk about. VS, children, women, destruction and rubble in the streets, etc. VS, on a train of German official Hans Frank and advisors discussing plans for the region. Animated maps of Ukraine and Kiev city map. 01:13:37 Translation: They [Soviet army soldiers] reached Kyiv's suburbs. The flash-like offensive prevented Kyiv's streets from being completely destroyed by Germans. Street fights were short but fierce. [Narrator quotes from an order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the USSR] The order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief: "Today, on the morning of November 1 [1943], troops of the first Ukrainian front seized the capital of the Soviet Ukraine - Kiev." Great efforts were made to save children. Time was passing. Children were growing up. 01:14:27 General-governor Hans Frank is shown speaking with his men while on board a train. A man in an SS uniform, likely Menten (about whom the narrator is speaking). Images of the attack on the Soviet Union, then back to Frank and his inner circle on the train. Animated maps of Ukraine and Lvov, with shots of Lvov both before and after taking damage. VS, Ukrainian battalion Nachtigall on parade. VS of dead civilians. CU of a monument [presumably dedicated to victims of the Nazi regime]. Translation: Commissar Menter requests that the Governor-general Frank give him an SS uniform. Thus begins the first page in the biography of this Dutch millionaire (Menten): with the blacker-than-black uniform of the SS. Henceforth, guilders (Dutch money) will be made not only from human sweat, but from human blood. On the very first days of the German invasion of the USSR, Hans Frank and his circle were already counting their future loot. Menten belonged in the circle of Frank's closest companions: the SS General Schenbert, Obersturmbannfuhrer Gents, and Sturmbannfuhrer Bernau. As members of Brigadenfuhrer Schenbert's headquarters they arrived in Lvov on the first day of occupation. Every spot on this SS map of Lvov designates a place marked with human blood. Ukrainian nationalists from Stepan Bandera's battalion Nachtigall, those toadies, were ordered to shed their compatriots' blood. Every night one could hear the gunshots. Vandals killed the cream of the Ukrainian intelligentsia.