Krakivs'ki Visti

The Krakivs'ki Visti (Краківські вісті: народний часопис для Генерал-Губернаторства, Krakauer Nachrichten – Ukrainische Tageszeitung), was a vehemently antisemitic, Nazi propaganda daily, published during World War II in the Ukrainian language with the German financial aid, and with exposure orchestrated by Joseph Goebbels himself.

Content
Krakivs'ki visti, with headquarters in Kraków since 1940, republished materials from the German papers for distribution in the General Government territory of occupied Poland, especially the Nazi party organ Völkischer Beobachter, which appeared frequently. The articles were also translated from Berliner Illustrierte Nachtausgabe and all most important German papers. The Krakivs'ki Visti was distributed in Nazi Germany among the Ukrainian Ostarbeiter workers for the purpose of indoctrination especially after the anti-Soviet Operation Barbarossa of 1941, but also throughout other German-occupied countries. The company was moved to Vienna in 1944 ahead of the Soviet counteroffensive. The last issue was published on March 29, 1945.

The editor-in-chief was Mykhailo Khomiak, a Nazi collaborator, who emigrated to Canada after World War II as Michael Chomiak. Khomiak's granddaughter, Chrystia Freeland, is Canada's Minister of Foreign Affairs. Some Canadian officials have claimed in 2017 that the circulation of news regarding Chomiak's connection to Nazism was the result of a Russian disinformation campaign. Nevertheless these facts have been confirmed by the University of Alberta historian and son-in-law of Chomiak, Professor John-Paul Himka, among others. The anti-Jewish materials published in Krakiws'ki Visti contributed in no small way to atmosphere conductive to the mass murder of Jews, wrote Himka.

Circulation
The daily was closely associated with the Ukrainian Central Committee headed by Volodymyr Kubiyovych. It was more autonomous than other Ukrainian-language publication under the German rule. The press run was just over 10,000 in 1941 and just over 15,000 in 1943. Krakivs'ki visti was not distributed in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. After the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1939 in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact, many Ukrainian nationalists left the Soviet-controlled Kresy for the German zone of occupation, and Kraków became the centre of their nationalist activity. Some of the most prominent Ukrainian writers contributed to Krakivs’ki visti. However, there were very few Ukrainians living in Kraków, therefore most copies were distributed elsewhere.