Turning the pages back... April 14, 1898 (04/14/96)

Turning the pages back...

April 14, 1898

The Austrian Ukrainian Riko Jary was a controversial figure, to say the least. Born on April 14, 1898, in the city of Rjyson, Austria, he became a founding member in 1929 of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and a treasurer of the Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists.

Jary served as the main contact between the OUN and the Abwehr (German military intelligence) and organized military and security training for the OUN.

In March 1939, he arranged the delivery of arms by Germany to Ukrainian insurgents in Transcarpathia, and in 1939-1940, he coordinated the assistance provided by the Abwehr to Ukrainian military formations, such as the Roland battalion.

In November 1940, Jary became a member of the OUN's Bandera faction and initiated contacts between the German service and Stepan Bandera.

Following the German invasion of June 1941, the OUN(B)'s proclamation of renewed Ukrainian statehood and the subsequent round-up of the Ukrainian nationalist leadership by the Gestapo, Jary was on the run. Initially saved by the intervention of Adm. Wilhelm Canaris of the Abwehr, he was arrested in 1942 and held under house arrest near Vienna.

After the war, Jary lived in Austria, surrounded by allegations, since unsubstantiated, that he and his wife, Olly (née Spiegelvogel), were Bolshevik agents. He died in Austria in May 1969.

Source: "Jary, Riko," Encyclopedia of Ukraine, Vol. 2 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993); Myroslav Yurkevych, "Galician Ukrainians in German Military Formations," in Y. Boshyk ed. "Ukraine during World War II" (Edmonton: Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, 1986).

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