The Vital Narrative in the UPA in 1943—1944: Formation, Functions, Transformations

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to analyse the formation and transformation of the vital narrative in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in 1943—1944 as a key mechanism for constructing a normative model of male identity. The study focuses on showing how symbolic practices, initiation rituals, disciplinary requirements, and public rhetoric were used to construct the image of the insurgent as the embodiment of sacrifice, moral endurance, and spiritual uplift. The methodological basis of the study is guaranteed by an interdisciplinary approach that combines military history, everyday history, and military psychology. The sources consist of participants’ memoirs, archival materials, propaganda texts, oaths, internal instructions, and security service reports. Particular attention is paid to the emotional dimension of participation — fear, devotion, internal transformation, and the limits of physical and moral endurance. The article shows that the vital narrative performed not only a mobilising but also a normative function, setting expectations for behaviour, discipline, sacrifice, and acceptance of death. At the same time, from the second half of 1943, a noticeable shift can be traced in this narrative: the intensification of the war, internal repression, and regional differences led to a gradual loss of its integrity. Analysis of this transformation allows for a deeper understanding of the tension between the ideological project and the everyday experience of the movement’s participants. The proposed analytical framework allows us to consider the vital narrative as an integral system for the formation of insurgent subjectivity and explains the tension between the ideological concept and the everyday experience of the movement’s participants in the conditions of total war.