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Yaroslav Semenovych Stetsko (; 19 January 1912 – 5 July 1986) was a Ukrainian politician, writer and Ideology who served as the leader of Stepan Bandera's faction of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the OUN-B, from 1941 until his death. During the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, he was named the temporary head of an independent Ukrainian government which was declared in the act of restoration of the Ukrainian state. From 1942 to 1944, he was imprisoned in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After World War II, Stetsko was the head of the Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations until his death in 1986.
Yaroslav Stetsko was active in Ukrainian nationalist organizations from an early age. He was a member of three separate organizations: "Ukrayinska Natsionalistychna Molod'" (Ukrainian Nationalist Youth; ) where he became a member of the National Executive in 1932, Ukrainian Military Organization (UVO) () and eventually the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) ().
Because of his anti-Polish activities and the recent assassination of Bronisław Pieracki by Ukrainian nationalists, Stetsko was arrested by Polish authorities in 1934 and sentenced to a 5-year term. This sentence was reduced, and Stetsko was released in 1937 in a general amnesty.
On 3 July 1941 Stetsko wrote a letter to Adolf Hitler in which he expressed his gratitude and admiration for the German army, and wished the war with the USSR to end with a quick victory. This letter was not included in the list of documents of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine "OUN in 1941".
The fait accompli presented by the Restoration was received negatively by the Germans, a report of the Chief of the SD in Berlin, dated July 2 1941 reads: "Additional measures against the Bandera group, in particular against Bandera himself, are being planned. They will be implemented as soon as possible. EK 4a and EK 4b have also arrived in Lviv with their staff".
In Cracow, a special commission headed by Under Secretary of the Third Reich, Kundt, questioned those involved in the Restoration. In "Discussion with members of the Ukrainian National Committee and Stepan Bandera" dated July 3 1941, Kundt stresses to those questioned "Only Adolf Hitler can determine what will happen there", referring to Ukraine.
After being placed under house arrest on 2 July, Bandera was arrested on July 5 and deported to Berlin. In the meantime Stetsko continued to form his government. The composition of Stetsko's cabinet draw the ire of the SD in Berlin, who in a reported dated July 4 1941 lists "The present composition: Head of the Government - Stetsko; Minister of Health -Dr. Panchyshyn" and "Ministry of War - Richard Yary married to a Jew". Stetsko was arrested with Roman Ilnytskyi on July 9 and deported to Berlin.
In Berlin, Stetsko was pressed to explain the circumstances of the proclamation, and that he acted without German approval, in "A Statement by the Head of the Ukrainian Government" dated 15 July 1941, Stetsko reaffirms "I did not arrange the Proclamation of the Ukrainian Government with any of the German administrative authorities".
Professor Hans Koch, a Captain in the Abwehr who had been present at the "National Assembly in Lviv" was questioned numerous times about his prior knowledge of the proclamation. He clarified he warned against this "irrational step" and refused to shake hands with Stetsko. In a "Report by Gr. Baum to Grosskopf" dated 21 July 1941, it is clarified that Koch "strongly reproached Mr. Stetsko for his disloyalty and left the assembly room with the other representatives of the Wehrmacht".
Prior to the Restoration of the Ukrainian State on 30 June 1941, OUN-B leadership issued the 'Memorandum of the OUN on the Resolution of the Ukrainian Question' dated 15 June and delivered to the Reich Chancellery on 23 June. The memorandum was received negatively in Berlin, in a Report to the Reichsminister for Foreign Affairs, dated July 1 1941, the Grosskopf writes: "With regard to the future, it warns Germany, sometimes with a threatening tone, that the reorganisation of Eastern Europe can only be maintained by the creation of an independent Ukrainian state and not by a lasting, determined military occupation. This Ukrainian state must also be economically independent and must not have its economic centre in Berlin".
Bandera and Stetsko were held in the central Berlin prison at Spandau from 15 September 1941 until January 1942, when they were transferred to Sachsenhausen concentration camp's special barrack for high-profile political prisoners, Zellenbau.Berkhoff, K.C. and M. Carynnyk 'The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and Its Attitude toward Germans and Jews: Iaroslav Stets'ko's 1941 Zhyttiepys' in: Harvard Ukrainian Studies, vol. 23 (1999), nr. 3/4, pp. 149—184 .
In April 1944 Stepan Bandera and his deputy Yaroslav Stetsko were approached by Otto Skorzeny to discuss plans for diversions and sabotage against the Soviet Army. ()
In September 1944 Stetsko and Stepan Bandera were released by the German authorities in the hope that he would rouse the native populace to fight the advancing Soviet Army. With German consent, Bandera set up headquarters in Berlin. "West Germany: The Partisan," Time magazine (Monday, 2 November 1959). The Germans supplied the OUN-B and the UIA by air with arms and equipment. Assigned German personnel and agents trained to conduct terrorist and intelligence activities behind Soviet lines, as well as some OUN-B leaders, were also transported by air until early 1945. Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, p.338 ()
In April 1945 Stetsko was seriously injured during an American air raid on a Nazi military convoy in Bohemia.Вєдєнєєв Д. Проблеми історії України: факти, судження, пошуки. – Київ: Інститут історії України НАН України, 2003. – №10. – page .405
In the second half of the 1950s, Yaroslav Stetsko collaborated with Haviv Shyber, who represented the Israeli organization Anti-Communist Voice of Jerusalem, to form a world anti-communist organization.
In 1983 he was received at the United States Capitol and, later, at the White House, where President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush received him as the "last premier of a free Ukrainian State".
In 2010, at the initiative of Viktor Yushchenko, a plaque for Stetsko was mounted at his home in Zeppelinstraße 67 in Munich.
A decoration of Ukraine's Ternopil Oblast, the Badge "for Merits to Ternopil Oblast" is named after Stetsko.
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