Petro Voinovsky

Who was Petro Voinovsky?

Petro Voinovsky, Romanian: Petru Voinovschi, Russian: Пётр Войновский, Ukrainian: Петро Войновський was a Ukrainian nationalist. He lived in Bukovyna, served in the Romanian army in the rank of lieutenant, resigned in 1935 due to the policy of "Romanization". He participated in Ukrainian scouting organization Plast, joined OUN in 1930s. Initially supported Stepan Bandera, but later moved to Andriy Melnyk's faction. Since 1940 Voinovsky was the regional leader of OUN in Bukovyna and Bessarabia.

In 1941, with German support, he organized the so-called Bukovyna Kurin - the biggest paramilitary unit of Andriy Melnyk's faction, got the rank of a captain. When the German-Soviet war began, the Bukovyna Kurin came to Ukraine in order to organize pro-German local administration. In November 1941 his unit was merged with the Kiev auxiliary police while Voinovsky and some other of his people were transferred to Schutzmannschaft battalions.

According to sources of Stepan Bandera's faction, Voinovsky actively helped Germans in their reprisals against Ukrainian nationalists - adherents of Bandera. Nevertheless, he was arrested by Gestapo in Lviv in 1944 and imprisoned in Brez concentration camp where he became paralyzed.