Omelian Herman

He was an active participant in the Ukrainian Nationalist Militias [uk] and served as the commander of a platoon in the Roland Battalion.^[2]

After the formation of the 201st Schutzmannschaft Battalion, he served as the adjutant to its commander, Yevhen Pobihushchyi. He distinugished himself in battle against the Soviet partisans. Pobihushchyi wrote in his memoirs:

...having arrived early at the office, I did not find my adjutant, Omelian Herman. It was unheard of for him to oversleep; that had never happened before.

Herman arrived around noon with a group of our soldiers and told me that not far from our post, partisans had mined the road ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying grain.

When mines began exploding and shooting started, he assembled a group of soldiers, including members of the headquarters staff, ran to the aid of the convoy that had been attacked, and successfully forced the partisans away.^[3]

According to Ukrainian historian Roman Ponomarenko, after the disbandment of the 201st Battalion, Herman and Pobihushchyi were among a group of fifteen of the battalion's officers who did not follow Roman Shukhevych into the underground Ukrainian Insurgent Army but instead went on to form part of the officer corps of the 14th SS Division Galicia.^[1]

Between December 1943 and January 1944, Herman travelled to the Brody district [uk], the Zolochiv district [uk], and the Peremyshliany district [uk], as part of a divisional recruitment campaign throughout Galicia. He met with local officials and representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia, and organized meetings in various towns and villages. In a report of his activities, he noted that he had received a positive reception from the Ukrainian population but had encountered hostility from the Polish population and Soviet sympathizers. During these meetings, he also advised Ukrainian youth not to engage in partisan activities. 97 volunteers were recruited to the Galicia Division through his efforts: 7 in Brody, 20 in Zolochiv, and 70 in Peremyshliany.^[4]

In June 1944, Herman was made a company commander in the 1st Battalion of the Galicia Division's 29th Waffen-Grenadier Regiment.^[5][6] Ukrainian historian Andrii Bolianovskyi lists Herman as the commander of the 1st Company (sotnia) of the 1st Battalion (kurin) as of 28 June, during the time of the deployment of the division into the lands of western Ukraine.^[6] However, Navruzov writes that Herman was the commander of the battalion's 2nd Company, claiming that divisional commander Fritz Freitag appointed Herman to this post after dismissing the previous commander, Obersturmführer Bauff, a German, who had stamped on flowers arranged in the shape of a Ukrainian trident outside the company headquarters, having mistaken it for a communist symbol.^[5]

Pobihushchyi's memoirs contain a different explanation of how Herman became a company commander: 29th Regiment commander Friedrich Dern considered taking Herman as his adjutant, but preferred to have a German in this position, and assigned Herman to command a company instead.^[3]

Herman took part in the July 1944 battle of Brody,^[3][7] as commander of the 2nd sotnia of the 1st kurin.^[8] On 19 July, Herman and his company (sotnia) went into combat after the remnants of the 29th Regiment received an order to support Wehrmacht units defending Olesko.^[7] He was later killed in action at some point during the battle.^[9]