Post suicidal syndrome of ideological fanatics (based on files of OUN underground in Volyn)

POST SUICIDAL SYNDROME OF IDEOLOGICAL FANATICS (BASED ON FILES OF OUN UNDERGROUND IN VOLYN) Yaroslav ANTONIUK, Branch State Archive of Security Service of Ukraine, Kyiv (Ukraine) ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9419-5990 Researcher ID: E-3588-2017 ISSN: 2411-6181(on-line); ISSN: 2311-9896 (print) Current issues of social studies and history of med cine. Joint Ukrainian-RШmaЧiaЧ scieЧtific УШurЧaХ, 2017, No:2(14), P. 109-114 UDK 159.97: 316.624 + 94(477) DOI 10.24061/2411-6181.2.2017.50 History of medicine І орія е


History of medicine
Introduction. The human race has entered into 21 st century with an issue of ideological fanaticism escalation. The important precondition for its development was a loss of confidence in future by many people and discontent with their place in society. In order to resolve the issue, fanatically attuned individuals were ready not only to kill, but also massively to take their own lives. In consideration of these facts, the post suicidal syndrome research emerges as topical. The underground activity of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in 30th -40th of 20th century is a valuable source for the study of this matter.
Aim and task of the study are to analyze fanatically attuned individual's behavior after an unsuccessful suicide. For this purpose, the biographies of several underground OUN members from the territories of Volyn were examined.
The suicide was perceived differently, from heroization to contempt, depending on the epochs and nations. Sigmund Freud considered the death as an aim of life. The living beings possess an aspiration to revert back to inorganic state, from which they emerged, and the death instinct is a basis for all forms of violence, homicide and suicide 1 . Nevertheless, the suicide is always regarded as a mortal sin 2 . In consideration of this fact, at first sight, the practice of suicide appeared to be abnormal among deeply religious Volyn peasants, who formed the fundamental part in the underground movement.
In order to understand this phenomenon better, it is worthy to quote from a manual for OUN members with encrвpted name 'Sanitarв instructions for chronic diseases': 'The underground organiгation is not a cooperation which requires only a statement, it is an iron brotherhood, among which exists an unconditional trust between all, the highest unity and deference, and heroic codex of honor, aware of the one command onlв: 'Victorв or death!'' 3 . Thereby the suicide for the highest idea in guidelines of the underground organizations was harmoniously fitted into the principles of the Christian self-sacrifice, martyrdom. According to Emile Durkheim this kind of a suicide can be classified as 'altruistic' one 4 .
For the desire to devote one's life to the highest goal, the suicidal tendencies, at first sight, could provoke minor psychological traumas. The example of that was an incident occurred with the underground OUN member Mykola Koltoniuk 'Shchupaka'. Mвkola was deeplв impressed bв the death of Eugene Konovalets, the OUN leader in Rotterdam, on May 23, 1938. The Poles favorable reaction to the event, realization of his service as pointless, moral sufferings, finally pushed Koltoniuk for desertion in June the same year. Mykola revealed himself as a mentally ill person, while he was leading a night watch. He claimed he could not remember anything. After that he was sent to Lviv Psychiatric Hospital. Constantly being under observation, Mykola was compelled to take injections and to tolerate tortures with electricity. In the autumn 1938 the military service period of 1914 year conscripts was terminated. Nevertheless, Mykola was not demobilized but shunted to Krakow psychiatric hospital. Exhausted by suffering, he decided to commit a suicide. At night he descended through a window using a bed sheet lace and directed to a guard who was on duty. Mykola attached him suddenly, expecting an immediate death. Instead of what was expected, the guard struck him on the head with a gun stock and the unconscious was car-ried back to his hospital ward. Nonetheless, Koltoniuk resolutely continued suicide attempts. At second time while trying to 'run across a bullet', he headed for border fortifications. However, the fortune miraculously saved Mykola from the death again. Being nervous, he lost in darkness and came across German positions. It is not clear why the same daв Mвkola was returned to the Poles, who sent a 'criticallв ill patient' to a single prison cell of Krakow 'Montelupich' Prison. He was conveyed to psychiatric department of a local hospital in a daв. Koltoniuk was quicklв 'fading awaв', being close to the death because he had lost his гest for life. In April 1939 the leader of the sanitary service returned Mykola to his parents to Piddubtsi village, Lutsk district, Volвn region, trвing to get rid of a 'terminallв ill patient'. Koltoniuk was quicklв recovering surrounded bв the family and friends, and the resurgence of his ties with OUN returned him optimism and energy. In particular, a present, which is a British Enfield revolver in the 11.6 mm caliber, offered by the underground member Sergii Kachynskyi, revivified Mykola greatly. He was looking forward to using it shortly after against his offenders, the detested Poles 5 . Subsequently, in the summer 1943 Koltoniuk completely realized his ambition of revenge by administering elimination of the Poles in Kovel circuit 6 . Apparently his craving for revenge released Koltoniuk from suicidal intents and motivated him to an active lifemarriage, fatherhood and also rapid career advancement in the underground 7 .
The post-suicidal syndrome of the OUN circuit commander Oleksandr Panchuk, nicknamed 'Mamai', developed in an absolutely different way. Together with his typist he got into NKVS (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) military division encirclement on July 15, 1945 in Synteiv hamlet, Dubno district, Rivne region 8 . Following the instructions, published for the OUN underground of Rivne territorв, on September 26, 1944, with a statement 'Do not give up! Fight to the death!', theв opened fire on the division 9 . The typist died immediately but Oleksandr decided to shoot himself as he had got serious injuries 10 .
It is worthy to notice that the majority of the encircled underground members chose to commit a suicide 11 . That was the way to keep their organization secrets and save themselves from sufferings of the captivity. That was the criteria which differentiated the ideological fanatics from ordinary suicide victims. The amount of uncompleted suicide attempts among the ordinary suicide victims is ten times higher than successful ones 12 .
Regardless the OUN underground members determination, their suicides often were unsuccessful, due to various circumstances (haste, nervousness, dizziness caused by a wound, etc.). The majority of them instantly attempted suicide one more time if that possibility was available. Some of them had become unconscious and subsequently tried to kill themselves: they through out of hospital windows, attacked convoy guards, etc. The situation in the case of Mykola Panchuk appeared to be more difficult. He lost his eyes, arms and legs and was delivered to the Municipal Hospital of Dubno in an unconscious state as a consequence of serious wounds and an ineffective suicide attempt. For couple of years the patient had been pretending to be deaf and unable to speak. He was sent to Lviv Psychiatric Hospital on October 17, 1947 being suspected of simulation. Oleksandr started to talk as a result of electric shock therapy which he underwent on January 30, 1948. The doctors discovered that their patient had suffered from 'reactive psвchosis with sвmptoms of surdo mutism', however, theв claimed him to be mentally healthy in general. Nonetheless, Oleksandr did not give up even after that. Under interrogation, he claimed that he would not give any evidence. That is how even being 'mutilated he continued to cause damage to the enemв'.
Afterwards, he was again sent to Lviv Psychiatric Hospital. According to the act № 110/115 created bв a medical commission, we have an idea about physical and mental state of the patient: 'considering his nervous sвstem condition: both eyes blindness (caused by absence of both eye balls), the tongue is along the midline. The left nasolabial fold is smoothed. The tactile reflexes of upper and lower patient's limbs are strong. The tendon reflexes of the lower limbs are absent. He has tremor occurred in the stretched hand fingers. Considering his psychological state: he has a clear consciousness which responds to surrounding environment and his self-awareness is adequate. The patient provides detailed evidence about himself. He freely gets in contact and has once told that he has not been disappointed in his convictions. There is nothing for him to lose as his family is exiled, and he is blind and unable to move. He claimed that if they treated him badly, he would refuse to talk as a sign of protest. In the ward he conducts himself calmly. Any intellectual or thinking disorders are not detected. He has been dwelling in Lviv Psychiatric Hospital from 17/10/47 to 03/03/49 (the medical record 1739 considering reactive psychosis with symptoms of surdo mutism). He was declared mentallв healthв bв the Commission on Februarв 6, 1948'. Being sent back to the prison № 1 of Rivne citв, Oleksandr steadfastly refused to talk. Due to the forensic medical expertise on June 23, 1948, the patient was sent for treatment to Vinnytsia Psychiatric Hospital. He was declared to be psychologically healthy one more time by the medical conclusion from July 11, 1949. Evidently, after that incident his investigators abandoned any hope to uncover at least some important information from the prisoner and took him to court. During the court session Oleksandr conducted calmly even being accused of more than 50 terroristic attacks. He testified that he did not consider himself as a citizen of the Soviet Union and that is why he could not be its traitor. Moreover, he affirmed that a murder of any person committed by him is not proven.
Notwithstanding all those arguments, on December 27, 1950 the military tribunal of Carpathian circuit sentenced Oleksandr to execution by fusillade. Attempting to ridicule of the court, he refused to submit a petition for his pardon which was traditional for such cases. Eventually, Oleksandr ordeals were finished on March 30, 1951 when he was fusilladed in Rivne prison 13 .
The post-suicidal syndrome of Mykola Kmet, nicknamed 'Savka', who was in charge of the Regional leadership of OUN communication group, was different from two previously described. The operational and military group of Torchyn local department of MDB (Ministry of State Security) on September 10, 1948 surrounded him in the secret shelter under a house of local citizen of Shepel village, Lutsk district, Volyn region. The proposition to surrender was immediately rejected by Mykola as he had decided to shoot himself 14 . He shot himself in the chin and temple but gunshot wound was not fatal. On a raincoat tent soldiers carried Mykola to a vehicle and then delivered him to a regional hospital 15 . Evidently, the investigators necessitated his testimony tremendously, considering the fact that the captivated underground member was transported by plane to Kyiv Neurosurgical Department of Internal Troops MDB. After several complex surgeries the patient recovered 16 .
Probably, his life rescue by the archenemy made an overwhelming impression on Mykola. He reconsidered his deeds and decided to cooperate with MDB employees. Shortly after that a chief of the Regional leadership of OUN Mykola Kozak had become aware of that fact. He wrote in a letter to Vasвl Halasa: 'On the first daвs of October 1948 he appeared in Lutsk district together with special group of MDB. As a result of his treason the MDB employees uncovered couple of empty secret shelters with an archive. They gained a box with educational and propaganda literature. Savka informed against all the people with whom he had organizational connection etc. Owing to Savka's betraвal MDB had led arrests of our supporters in villages: Boholiuby, Bogushivka, Zabolotsi, Shepel and Ozdenizh. In all the territory MDB had led revisions, raids, arrests and ambushes taking that area into their diligent activity. Savka had been near the '11th' (Ivan Lвtvвnchuk) third вear alreadв and knew a lot of things...' 17 .
Due to informational characteristics of Volyn regional MDB from June 21, 1949, Mykola Kmet provided the investigators with valuable information about the headship of Regional OUN leadership named 'Moskva'. As a fighter agent he entered into a military group, which acted under the guise of underground. As a result of his activity, 100 people connected to OUN were arrested, 15 secret shelters were uncovered, a typography and radio stations were confiscated. In January 1949 Mykola personally killed an OUN chief of Zaturtsi circuit, Volodymyr Topchai. According to major Rozhkov opinion (he was a chief of 4th department of 2-N MDB) Mвkola appeared to be 'bold, decisive, disciplined, well-trained emploвee' 18 .
Conclusion. All things considered, the analysis of post suicidal syndrome in three cases had significant differences.
They based on psychological peculiarities and physical state of personality, circumstances of suicide attempt and also surrounding people behavior in post suicidal period.
Right after an unsuccessful suicide attempt, Mykola Koltoniuk committed the next one. The second failure caused a deep depression. The factors that recovered Mykola to his normal physiological state were his return to the circle of relatives and possibility to revenge to his offenders.
In the other case, Oleksandr Panchuk could not repeat a suicide attempt, due to physical inability caused by serious injuries. For a long time he isolated himself from surrounding people and avoided communication. After being tortured with electricity charge he was compelled to give evidence. Nevertheless, he clearly stated that his fight continued by refusing communication and he did not have fear of the death. Oleksandr strived to complete commenced suicide by making fun of the investigators and court.
The third case of Mykola Kmet post suicide syndrome was absolutely distinct from two previously mentioned. After an unsuccessful suicide attempt and following complex treatment, which was provided by the enemy, influenced him to reconsider his deeds. Apparently, his desire to live and to accommodate to new conditions gained a dominant position in his life. Mykola actively joined the process of underground destruction after had betrayed his comrades. He unhesitatingly aimed his entire energy to serve a new ideology.
In conclusion, the materials which consider the OUN underground members' death maв be valuable for findings in suicidology and crisis psychotherapy, especially, when studying suicide of ideological fanatics.