View source for Archduke Wilhelm of Austria

{{Short description|Austrian archduke (1895–1948)}}
{{About|a 20th-century archduke|the 19th century|Archduke Wilhelm Franz of Austria}}
{{Multiple issues|
{{copy edit|date=June 2025}}
{{More citations needed|date=June 2025}}
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Archduke Wilhelm
| title        = 
| image        = Vyshyvanyi 01.jpg
| image_size   = 180px
| caption = Wilhelm in 1918
| house        = [[House of Habsburg-Lorraine|Habsburg-Lorraine]]
| father       = [[Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria]]
| mother       = [[Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1862–1933)|Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria]]
| birth_date   = {{Birth date|1895|2|10|df=yes}}
| birth_place  = [[Lošinj|Lötzing]], [[Austria-Hungary]] (present-day [[Croatia]])
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1948|8|18|1895|2|10|df=yes}}
| death_place  = [[Kyiv]], [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic]], [[Soviet Union]]
}}

'''Archduke Wilhelm Franz of Austria''', later '''Wilhelm Franz von Habsburg-Lothringen''' (10 February 1895 &ndash; 18 August 1948), also known as '''Vasyl Vyshyvanyi'''<ref name=argua191231/> ({{langx|uk|Василь Вишиваний}}), was an [[Austria-Hungary|Austrian]] [[archduke]], a [[colonel]] of the [[Ukrainian Sich Riflemen]], a [[poet]], and a member of the [[House of Habsburg-Lorraine]].

==Biography==
===Background and early life===
Archduke Wilhelm was the youngest son of [[Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria|Archduke Karl Stephan]] and [[Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (1862–1933)|Archduchess Maria Theresia, Princess of Tuscany]]. He was born in a family estate on the [[Lošinj]] island, [[Austrian Littoral]] (present day [[Croatia]]). During his arrest by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] authorities he indicated the city of Pola (at the time of arrest in [[Kingdom of Italy|Italy]], today [[Pula]], Croatia).<ref name=argua191231>Eduard Andriushchenko. ''[http://argumentua.com/stati/ertsgertsog-v-kievskoi-tyurme-delo-vasiliya-vyshivanogo-i-kgb Archduke in the Kiev jail. The case of Vasyl Vyshyvanyi and KGB (Эрцгерцог в киевской тюрьме. Дело Василия Вышиваного и КГБ)]''. Argumentua. 31 December 2019</ref> Wilhelm also indicated that his social class was a "landowner" ([[pomeschik]]'')'' and he was unemployed.<ref name="argua191231" /> This was inaccurate because at the time of his arrest, he was a businessman-entrepreneur''.<ref name="argua191231" />''

Wilhelm was raised in his parental estate located in the [[Cisleithania|Austrian]] city of [[Żywiec|Saybusch]], [[Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]].<ref name=argua191231/> His father was a patriot of Poland and believed the Ukrainian population to be inferior.<ref name=argua191231/> Accommodating the 19th-century rise of [[nationalism]], he decided that his branch of the Habsburg family would adopt a Polish identity and would combine a loyalty to their Habsburg family with a loyalty to Poland. Accordingly, he had his children learn Polish from an early age and tried to instill in them a sense of Polish patriotism. His oldest son, [[Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria|Karl-Albrecht]], would become a Polish officer who refused to renounce his Polish loyalty. Karl Stephan's two younger daughters would marry into the Polish noble families of [[Radziwiłł family|Radziwill]] and [[Czartoryski]].

Wilhelm, the youngest child, rebelled, and came to identify with the Poles' rivals, the Ukrainians. The younger Wilhelm was taught that Ukrainians were bandits and a tribe of robbers.<ref name=argua191231/> In 1912, when he was 17, Wilhelm decided see this mysterious people firsthand.<ref name=argua191231/> He boarded a train and traveled in incognito to Worochta ([[Vorokhta]]), and then through a number of [[Hutsuls]] villages.<ref name=argua191231/> Failing to find any robbers,<ref name=argua191231/> he developed a fascination with [[Culture of Ukraine|Ukrainian culture]] that he kept for the rest of his life.<ref name=argua191231/>

This interest in the relatively impoverished Ukrainian people earned him the nickname of the "Red Prince". Eventually the Habsburgs came to accept and encourage this interest, and according to [[Timothy D. Snyder]] he was groomed by them to take a leadership role amongst the Ukrainian people in a manner similar to the one in which his father and older brother were to take amongst the Habsburgs' Polish subjects.<ref>Timothy Snyder (2008). Red Prince: the Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke. New York: Basic Books</ref>

===World War I===
[[File:Vyshyvanyi 03.jpg|thumb|Photo during World War I]]
As Wilhelm studied at the [[Kriegsschule (Austria)|Vienna War College]], there began [[World War I]].<ref name=argua191231/> Upon graduation in 1915 he went to the frontlines starting his military service in a company of the [[:de:k.u.k. Ulanenregiment „von Böhm-Ermolli“ Nr. 13|13th Galicia Lancer (Ulan) Regiment]].<ref name=argua191231/> The regiment was dominated by Ukrainians around [[Zolochiv, Lviv Oblast|Solotschiw]].<ref name="argua191231" /> While serving in the regiment Wilhelm started to read works of [[Mykhailo Hrushevsky]], [[Ivan Franko]], [[Taras Shevchenko]] and others.<ref name="argua191231" /> His soldiers gave him as a present a Ukrainian embroidered shirt, called [[vyshyvanka]], which he carried under his uniform.<ref name="argua191231" /> Habsburg asked his soldiers to call him Vasyl and later for the embroidered shirt was nicknamed as Vyshyvanyi.<ref name="argua191231" /> During that period, he repeatedly had to defend the Galician Ukrainians whom the local administration, consisting predominantly of Poles, was arresting under suspicion of disloyalty to [[Austria-Hungary]].<ref name=argua191231/>

In 1916 Wilhelm returned from the frontlines, as reaching the age of 21, any male member of the Habsburg House automatically became a deputy of the [[House of Lords (Austria)|upper house]] of the Austrian parliament.<ref name=argua191231/> In parliament he came to work closely with Ukrainian deputies to the Austrian parliament and Metropolitan bishop [[Andrey Sheptytsky]]. He also served as a liaison between the Ukrainian community leaders and Austria's Emperor [[Charles I of Austria|Charles I]], whom Wilhelm had known since childhood and was even able to pay him an official visit in the beginning of 1917.<ref name=argua191231/> The most acceptable course to solve the "Ukrainian issue", for Wilhelm, was the creation of an autonomous Grand Duchy of Ukraine with federalist principles, within the [[Habsburg monarchy]] (see [[United States of Greater Austria]]).<ref name=argua191231/> That duchy, beside the Eastern Galicia and [[Duchy of Bukovina|Bukovina]] provinces, could include as well Ukrainian lands that at that time belonged to the [[Russian Empire]] and which had to be reconquered.<ref name=argua191231/>

Some researchers (e.g. Timothy Snyder) claim that Wilhelm saw himself as an ideal candidate for the role of [[head of state]] for the duchy, first of all because he was as a member of the ruling family, and second as one who already knew the language and had authority among the Ukrainians.<ref name=argua191231/> In a similar way to when the [[Kingdom of Poland (1917–1918)|Kingdom of Poland]] was restored in 1916, Wilhelm's father [[Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria|Stephen]] was considered the main candidate for the crown.<ref name=argua191231/> According to other historians, Vasyl Vyshyvanyi personally did not lay a claim to the "Ukrainian throne" and later wrote about it stating that he would lead Ukraine only in the case that a majority of its residents desired so.<ref name=argua191231/>

====Ukrainian–Soviet War====
Meanwhile, the [[Russian Empire]] fell apart, and there appeared the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]]. Following the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (Ukraine–Central Powers)|Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]], [[Austria-Hungary]] and the [[German Empire]] started to help Ukraine militarily in its struggle against Bolsheviks.<ref name=argua191231/> Promoted to the rank of captain, Vasyl Vyshyvanyi was placed in charge of the "Battle Group Archduke Wilhelm", created by the Emperor [[Charles I of Austria|Charles I]], and provided with approximately 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers and officers under his command from the Austrian [[Ukrainian Sich Riflemen|Legion of Sich Riflemen]]<ref name=argua191231/> and was directed to the Ukrainian South where they fought Bolsheviks.<ref name=argua191231/> At first the Austrian forces entered the already liberated [[Kherson]] and later for two months left in Aleksandrovsk (today [[Zaporizhzhia]]) where the Archduke began a series of turbulent missions: building connections between the Galician riflemen and local population, cooperating with the local public organization of [[Prosvita]], and attempting to lift military spirit, visiting iconic sites of Cossack history along with his subordinates.<ref name=argua191231/> His troops occupied a small area near the site of the old [[Zaporozhian Sich]], and were tasked with supporting the Ukrainian national cause in any way possible. This was done by screening officials by ethnicity, creating a newspaper, and engaging in cultural work with local peasants. Wilhelm mixed easily with the local peasants, who admired his ability to live simply like his soldiers. Within Wilhelm's personal occupation zone, peasants were allowed to keep the lands that they had taken from the landlords in 1917, and Wilhelm prevented the Habsburg armed forces from requisitioning grain. Ukrainians who had resisted requisitioning elsewhere - including those who had killed German or Austrian soldiers - were given refuge within Wilhelm's territory. During time the warriors of Vasyl Vyshyvanyi came in close cooperation with warriors, called Skhidniaky (for "Easterners"), particularly members of Zaporizhzhia Corps of the Ukrainian Army.<ref name=argua191231/> These actions outraged Germany and Austrian officials in Kyiv, but increased his popularity among local Ukrainians, who referred to him as affectionately as "Kniaz Vasyl" (local correspondence to Archduke Wilhelm).

[[File:Bolbochan&Habsburg.jpg|thumb|200px|With [[Petro Bolbochan]] in Ukraine (1918)]]
In April 1918, a coup-d'état took place in Ukraine which overthrew the Ukrainian republican government and placed former Imperial Russian general of the [[Svita]] (H. I. M. Retinue) [[Pavlo Skoropadskyi]] as the [[Hetman of Ukraine]].<ref name=argua191231/> During the period of the [[Ukrainian State]], the Germans feared that Wilhelm would create a coup and overthrow the Hetman. The Hetman was disliked by soldiers of the Zaporizhzhia Corps and Legion of Sich Riflemen.<ref name=argua191231/> In circles of the Zaporizhzhia Division officers, a plan was formed to overthrow the Hetman and place Archduke Wilhelm Habsburg as sovereign of Ukraine.<ref name=argua191231/> Among the most active supporters of the idea was Colonel [[Petro Bolbochan]]<ref name=argua191231/> (later executed on order of [[Symon Petliura]]). The Archduke was uncertain of the proposition and sought consultations of Charles I who did not approve it as it would lead into disagreement with Germans.<ref name=argua191231/> According to some researchers, the Habsburgs hoped for Ukraine to be a politically self-sufficient ally in order to counter German power.<ref>Snyder (2008). pg. 100 - In the words of Austria's military intelligence officer responsible for Ukraine - "We, as the creators of the first Ukrainian military unit, are called upon to enter Ukraine as leaders - against Germany!"</ref>

Wilhelm and his soldiers were finally recalled out of Ukraine in October 1918 due to the revolutionary conditions there,<ref name=argua191231/> moving to the Austrian [[Duchy of Bukovina]].<ref>Snyder (2008). pp.101-116</ref><ref name=argua191231/> In Czernowitz (today [[Chernivtsi]]) he was placed in hospital due to [[tuberculosis]].<ref name=argua191231/> Through his intervention, in October 1918 two regiments of mostly Ukrainian troops were garrisoned in Lemberg (modern [[Lviv]]).<ref>Snyder (2008). pg. 117</ref> This would set the stage for the declaration of the [[West Ukrainian People's Republic]] on 1 November.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}

[[File:Vyshyvanyi 02.jpg|Photo of Archduke Wilhelm (signed in Cyrillic) as a member of the Ukrainian Army General Staff, 1919|thumb|left]]
[[File:Archduke Wilhelm of Austria in Ternopil, 1918.jpg|thumb|Photo with Ukrainian Greek Catholic clergy in [[Ternopil]], 1918|right|200px]]
[[File:Habsburg05.jpg|thumb|Photo with Austrian [[Ukrainian Sich Riflemen|Legion of Sich Riflemen]] in 1918|200px|right]]
As he lay in the hospital, World War I ended, [[Dissolution of Austria-Hungary|Austria-Hungary fell apart]], and the Habsburgs lost their throne.<ref name=argua191231/> In Eastern Galicia the [[West Ukrainian National Republic]] was proclaimed, while the Ukrainians of Bukovina tried, unsuccessfully, to unite their land with the new Ukrainian republic.<ref name=argua191231/> The Bukovina was occupied by hostile [[Kingdom of Romania|Romanian]] forces, causing Wilhelm to flee to Lviv to avoid arrest.<ref name=argua191231/> As Lviv was occupied now by Polish forces, Wilhelm again was forced to leave, moving to the [[Carpathian]] region where he was hiding in local monasteries for almost half a year.<ref name=argua191231/> Meanwhile, while Germany was withdrawing its troops from Ukraine, the regime of Skoropadskyi in Ukraine was overthrown by republican forces<ref name=argua191231/> of "[[Directorate of Ukraine|Directorate]]", led by [[Volodymyr Vynnychenko]] and [[Symon Petliura]], and interest in seeing Wilhelm as sovereign of Ukraine faded.<ref name=argua191231/>

As a Habsburg, he had become a liability to the Ukrainian cause, which was being portrayed to the Allies by its Polish enemies as an Austrian plot.<ref>Snyder (2008). pg. 122</ref>

In June 1919, while traveling across Carpathians, Wilhelm was arrested by Romanian soldiers and detained for three months until on petition of the [[Ukrainian People's Republic]] he was released.<ref name=argua191231/> He then left for [[Kamianets-Podilskyi]], which served as a capital of Ukraine.<ref name=argua191231/> After pledging loyalty to the Ukrainian People's Republic, he was made a [[colonel]] and headed a section of international relations of the General Staff Main Department within the [[Ukrainian People's Army]].<ref name=argua191231/> In protest at Petliura's [[Treaty of Warsaw (1920)|peace treaty with Poland in 1920]], which he considered to be a betrayal, he resigned and lived in exile in [[Vienna]].<ref name=argua191231/>
{{-}}

===Interbellum period===
In an interview in a Viennese newspaper in January 1921, Wilhelm publicly rebuked [[Polish Second Republic|Poland]], condemning the [[Lwów pogrom (1918)|pogroms in Lwów]] as something that would never happen in a civilized country, and referring to Poland and Poles as dishonorable. This caused a permanent, public estrangement between Wilhelm and his father [[Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria|Stephan]].<ref name=argua191231/> Formally, he continued to be on payroll a colonel of the Ukrainian Army for a little while until the Austrian press published his anti-Polish declarations.<ref name=argua191231/> Following that, the Ukrainian government that had temporarily moved to Poland officially fired him.<ref name=argua191231/>

In 1921 Wilhelm published a book of poetry in [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]], ''Mynayut Dni'' (Минають дні - The days pass).<ref name=argua191231/>

In circles of Ukrainian political emigrants, a hope was burning that the loss was not yet final and the [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet regime]] could still be overthrown.<ref name=argua191231/> In Vienna, Wilhelm became involved with pro Ukrainian monarchists who saw in him an opportunity, but nothing came out of it.<ref name=argua191231/>

According to laws of the newly formed [[First Austrian Republic|Austrian Republic]], every Habsburg might become a citizen as well as obtaining residency only if they would officially abandon any claims to govern.<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm chose not to abandon those claims and de jure lived in Vienna illegally.<ref name=argua191231/> Finally, in 1922, he managed to obtain an empty Austrian passport where he inscribed his new name as Vasyl Vyshyvanyi.<ref name=argua191231/> Under his Ukrainian name Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, he left Austria for Spain in 1922, from which he hoped in vain to obtain financial support for his Ukrainian adventure from his cousin, King [[Alfonso XIII]].<ref>Snyder (2008). pp.138-148</ref><ref name=argua191231/> After Spain became a [[Second Spanish Republic|republic]] in 1931, Vyshyvanyi moved to [[Paris]].<ref name=argua191231/>

In 1933, Wilhelm's father Stephen died and Wilhelm's brothers, who inherited a brewery and land lots in [[Żywiec]], Poland, paid off Wilhelm's debts and provided him a monthly stipend.<ref name=argua191231/>

In Paris Vyshyvanyi renewed his communications with Ukrainians when members of the newly formed [[Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists]] (OUN) found him.<ref name=argua191231/> He twice met with head of OUN [[Yevhen Konovalets]].<ref name=argua191231/> Through Wilhelm, nationalists tried to find new sources of financing.<ref name=argua191231/>

In 1935 or 1934<ref name=argua191231/> he became enmeshed in a criminal case in which his girlfriend Paulette Couyba tried with a help of false bank check to swindle a French investor (dealers of alcohol)<ref name=argua191231/> of hundreds of thousands of [[French franc|francs]].<ref>Snyder (2008). pp. 173-181</ref> Wilhelm was invited to the meeting between Couyba and the investor, possibly to build trust.<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm later himself claimed not to understand what was taking place.<ref name=argua191231/> The arrested woman at first pleaded guilty, but later began to shift the blame on Wilhelm, stating that the ill-gotten money was supposed to go to return Habsburgs to power.<ref name=argua191231/> The sensationalistic news was picked up by the French left-wing news media which was irritated by the mere surname of the Austrian.<ref name=argua191231/> The press sentenced Wilhelm already before trial, and fearing an unjust verdict, Wilhelm fled Paris for Vienna.<ref name=argua191231/> An informant for the French police claimed that Wilhelm carried on a sexual relationship with two of his male assistants.<ref>Snyder (2008). p. 156</ref> The judges sentenced him to five years in prison, while Couyba was released.<ref name=argua191231/>

The American historian [[Timothy D. Snyder]], author of the book "Red Prince" about Wilhelm, considers him not guilty of that crime.<ref name=argua191231/> The researcher, as some contemporaries of Wilhelm did too, does not exclude that it was a deliberate diversion by some foreign intelligence forces (i.e. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Soviet Union) supposing to strike the Habsburgs' reputation and prevent their restoration.<ref name=argua191231/> That theory is supported by the fact that Couyba, under a false name and fictitious pretext, unsuccessfully tried to go to Austria, possibly to publicize the scandal in Austria.<ref name=argua191231/>

By the 1930's, the Austrian government of [[Engelbert Dollfuss]] was more supportive of the Habsburgs than in the 1920s and did not demand any renunciation of political activity  by them.<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm finally was able to receive official Austrian citizenship and passport with his real name.<ref name=argua191231/> For some time, Wilhelm considered himself a supporter of Austrian and Italian fascists, but by end of 1930s became more sympathetic towards German Nazis, of which most Habsburgs did not support and feelings were mutual.<ref name=argua191231/> It seemed that the new war in Europe was imminent and that it could give Ukrainians a chance to restore its sovereignty, and it also seemed that only [[Nazi Germany|Germany]] was interested in that happening.<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm Habsburg greeted the 1938 [[Anschluss]] of Austria and officially recognized himself belonging to the German nation.<ref name=argua191231/> Soon however, Wilhelm realized that the Hitlerites would not allow for creation of independent Ukraine even as a puppet state similar to [[Slovak Republic (1939–1945)|Slovakia]].<ref name=argua191231/> After he and his brother [[Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria|Karl Albrecht]] were arrested and interrogated by [[Gestapo]], Wilhelm changed his political views and soon joined the local anti-Nazi resistance in [[Vienna]].<ref name=argua191231/>

===World War II, French resistance, and Banderites===
It is uncertain when Wilhelm turned against the Nazis, but according to Snyder he was possibly already spying for some intelligence services, potentially the British [[MI6|SIS]] which financed and supported resistance movements throughout the whole of Europe, by the start of 1942.<ref name=argua191231/> Eventually he became a spy for the French resistance against the Nazis and then the [[Soviet Union]].<ref>Snyder (2008).pp. 230, 233-4</ref> In 1944, he became acquainted with some French national Paul Maas who in some documents is mentioned as Masse, but possibly the name is a pseudonym in any case.<ref name=argua191231/> The Germans deported Maas from France to Vienna and forced him to work at the military aviation factory, creating blueprints.<ref name=argua191231/> Maas had connections with British intelligence or French resistance movement (or possibly both). He handed over to his curators copies of factory blueprints for parts.<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm accepted Maas' offer to fight the occupiers together.<ref name=argua191231/> Thanks to his acquaintances with German officers, Wilhelm became a source of valuable information.<ref name=argua191231/> From him, the Frenchman was receiving information about the movement of Nazi troops as well as German war industry in Austria.<ref name=argua191231/> Later, during interrogations, Wilhelm said that he was driven exclusively by a hatred of Nazism.<ref name=argua191231/>

Also during the World War II, Wilhelm befriended another Ukrainian, Roman Novosad, who was a student at the [[University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna|Vienna Music Academy]].<ref name=argua191231/> He lived close, knew Maas, and helped with some requests of Frenchmen.<ref name=argua191231/> Through Novosad in 1944, Wilhelm heard about someone by the name of Lidia Tulchyn who was a contact for the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Bandera faction (her real name Hanna Prokopych).<ref name=argua191231/> At the end of war, the Ukrainian nationalists became aware that their chance to survive facing the Soviet threat was an alliance with western winning countries.<ref name=argua191231/> The Americans, British, and French could have been interested in such an alliance, as they worried about the strengthening of the Soviet Union as a result of the war.<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm decided to become a middle man between OUN and those who stood after Maas.<ref name=argua191231/>

Through Novosad, Wilhelm acquainted Lidia with the Frenchman who agreed to cooperate with the Ukrainian nationalists and gave Lidia her first task to find German documents for a British pilot who was downed in Austria.<ref name=argua191231/> Lidia accomplished this task.<ref name=argua191231/> Eventually from her, Wilhelm was informed that someone very important from the OUN had arrived in Vienna.<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm met with him at the Novosad's apartment where he learned that the person was called Dmytro-Volodymyr and later also introduced him to Maas.<ref name=argua191231/> In reality Dmytro-Volodymyr was Myroslav Prokop who was one of leaders of OUN and Ukrainian Main Liberation Council (UHVR).<ref name=argua191231/>

In 1945 the [[Abwehr]] arrested Maas, but despite torture he did not give away anyone.<ref name=argua191231/> The [[Red Army]] soon entered Vienna and Maas was freed.<ref name=argua191231/> However, soon he was arrested again by the Soviet [[SMERSH]], but later released and left for his native France.<ref name=argua191231/> Lidia also left Vienna and appeared in a camp of displaced persons in Bavaria, which was under [[American occupation zone in Germany|American occupation]].<ref name=argua191231/> Wilhelm and Novosad decided to stay in Vienna, but risked falling into hands of SMERSH.<ref name=argua191231/> But soon the city was divided into occupation zones and their house appeared under British authority.<ref name=argua191231/>

Also during the war Wilhelm received monetary compensation from the German Reich for a family property in Zywiec confiscated by Nazis. With these funds he founded three small companies in production of paint, varnish, and synthetic resin.<ref name=argua191231/> He also joined the right-wing [[Austrian People's Party]] that won the first elections in the revived Austria and formed government.<ref name=argua191231/> His Soviet dossier also contains a member certification of some post war Austrian Anti-Fascist Organization for Wilhelm Habsburg-Lothringen.<ref name=argua191231/>

At some point Maas introduced Wilhelm to his colleague Jack Brier who in his turn in 1946 introduced Wilhelm to French military officer Jean Pélissier.<ref name=argua191231/> The latter had been tasked by the French authorities to revive contacts with Ukrainian nationalists who continued to fight the Soviet regime.<ref name=argua191231/> Confrontation between yesterday's allies, the collective West and the Soviet Union, was becoming more obvious and eventually had grown into what now is known as the [[Cold War]].<ref name=argua191231/> The French representatives promised help with delivering by planes political agitation on the Soviet territory as well as Ukrainian militants who would join the [[Ukrainian Insurgent Army]] (UPA).<ref name=argua191231/> At first the French representatives requested to meet personally with [[Stepan Bandera]], but since it was too complicated, agreed to meet someone from his closer associates.<ref name=argua191231/> After listening to Pélissier, Wilhelm thought of Lidia, but she was somewhere in camps and his connection with her had been lost.<ref name=argua191231/> Then Wilhelm and Pélissier decided to send Novosad to find her and, even though it was dangerous, he agreed.<ref name=argua191231/> From Pélissier Novosad received a pass to the French occupation zone in western Austria where it was indicated that Novosad traveled to [[Innsbruck]] to conduct at a concert.<ref name=argua191231/>

Novosad managed the journey, he not only reached Munich without drawing attention of Soviet military, but he also found in a camp Lidia-Hanna.<ref name=argua191231/> As result after sometime in hotel of an Innsbruck suburb for two days he met Pélissier, [[Mykola Lebed]], Roman, Lidia, and Jack Brier.<ref name=argua191231/> The negotiations were primarily held among Pélissier and Lebed and Novosad did not know which exactly agreements were reached, but heard from the French that they were satisfied.<ref name=argua191231/> About at the same time through Wilhelm the French intelligence recruited another Ukrainian, Vasyl Kachorovsky.<ref name=argua191231/>

===Soviet arrest===
[[File:Bw5.jpg|thumb|125px|Wilhelm of Austria before arrest in 1947]]
In March 1947 at his apartment in the American occupation zone of Vienna, Kachorovsky too loudly celebrated his birthday and upset neighbors called the police.<ref name=argua191231/> The Austrian law officers handed the detained over to the Soviets.<ref name=argua191231/> The Ministry of State Security (MGB) Counter-Intelligence Department (SMERSH) of the [[Central Group of Forces]] that was based in Austria was already interested in Kachorovsky and several months before tried to detain him, but he then managed to fight them off and flee.<ref name=argua191231/> After interrogations of Kachorovsky, the MGB became aware of Roman Novosad and Vasyl Vyshyvanyi, while the latter obviously had previously been trapped in field of vision of the Soviet secret service.<ref name=argua191231/> After several months of hunting after him, they first detained Novosad and then Vyshyvanyi, de facto Novosad was detained on 14 June and Wilhelm on 26 August. Snyder writes that Kachorovsky soon was executed, while it is unclear from what source is that information.<ref name=argua191231/>

Novosad and Habsburg were held and interrogated in the Soviet MGB jail in [[Baden bei Wien]].<ref name=argua191231/> Against both of them opened one for two criminal case which to this day is kept in the Kyiv archive.<ref name=argua191231/> Later Roman was recollecting that "relationship to Wilhelm Habsburg as for chekists was quite proper", which leads to assume that he was not tortured.<ref name=argua191231/> About relationship them to himself Novosad wrote nothing.<ref name=argua191231/> The Archduke was given a personal plate for food, while other arrested of the jail had one plate for two.<ref name=argua191231/>

During his imprisonment on the question of his preferred language for testimony Wilhelm answered that he can do it in [[Ukrainian language]],<ref>Snyder (2008). pg. 4</ref><ref name=argua191231/> but nonetheless the protocols were written in Russian.<ref name=argua191231/> Several earlier protocols end with a phrase "The protocol is written down from my words correctly. It was read to me in comprehensible Russian language", but later were switched from "Russian" to "Ukrainian".<ref name=argua191231/> Novosad stated that can give in Russian and Ukrainian and the investigators stopped at his first choice.<ref name=argua191231/>

The investigators were pretty interested in the Wilhelm's distant past and his personal contacts with figures of the First Liberation War i.e. [[Petro Bolbochan]], [[Symon Petliura]], [[Pavlo Skoropadskyi]],<ref name=argua191231/> but the most attention was paid to cooperation with Maas, Pélissier, and Lidia Tulchyn.<ref name=argua191231/> At his interrogation the Archduke tried to down play his role in the Ukrainian revolution, for example he claimed that in 1919 during times of Directoria in [[Kamianets-Podilskyi]] he was an interpreter.<ref name=argua191231/> Also in earlier protocols Wilhelm said that the meeting near Innsbruck was dedicated to not making contacts between Frenchmen and OUN, but towards the fate of Ukrainians in the camps for displaced people.<ref name=argua191231/> But with time and the interrogation Novosad, the true story emerged.<ref name=argua191231/>

Despite that suspects every time were placing their signatures under the phrase "written correctly from my words", some answers in protocols obviously were formulated by the investigators.<ref name=argua191231/> "My stay in Ukraine was the result of an aggressive policy of Austria-Hungary imperialistic and ruling circles", but Wilhelm hardly spoke in such Soviet propagandistic clichés.<ref name=argua191231/> This feature is characteristic of many protocols of the Stalin era.<ref name=argua191231/>

In November 1947 the chekists of the [[Central Group of Forces]] decided to transfer the case and the arrested to their Ukrainian colleagues and before the New Year they brought them to [[Kyiv]].<ref name=argua191231/> The interrogations were renewed already in January 1948 after the holidays.<ref name=argua191231/> The Ukrainian investigators did not start from beginning, but rather turned to the subject that interested them the most, the British.<ref name=argua191231/> The chekists insisted that Novosad and Wilhelm, through Maas, deliberately worked specifically for the British special services, not French intelligence.<ref name=argua191231/> At the beginning Wilhelm tried to resist and persuaded his interrogators that Novosad told him about Maas connections with the British after the latter already returned to France, but later gave up and admitted (or "admitted").<ref name=argua191231/> Interrogation continued until May 1948, subsequently, the defendants were transferred from the MGB internal jail to the MVD jail #1, better known as [[Lukyanivska Prison]].<ref name=argua191231/>

Beside the testimonies of Wilhelm, those of Novosad, and Kachorovsky to the case, were also added as evidence filed the testimony of several others Ukrainian nationalists.<ref name=argua191231/> One of them, for example, claimed that they heard about contacts of Wilhelm with the OUN.<ref name=argua191231/> They also filed an extract from a book "Ukrainskie sechevye streltsy" that was published in Lwow in 1935 mentioning about the stay of Wilhelm in Ukraine's south in 1918.<ref name=argua191231/>

===Indictment===
In his indictment, Wilhelm Habsburg-Lothringen was charged with the following:<ref name=argua191231/>
* During World War I "carried out the aggressive plans of the Austro-Hungarian ruling circles and prepared to become the hetman of Ukraine"
* Fought against the Soviet Army in 1918 (in reality it was the Red Army)
* Served under [[Symon Petliura]]
* Launched nationalist activities in exile
* In 1944 he was recruited by the British intelligence and performed its tasks (A strange bullet as in the indictment there is nothing said about the role of Wilhelm in establishing contacts between Maas and OUN, only with Germans.<ref name=argua191231/>)
* In 1945 he was an agent of the French intelligence service, recruited agents, organized negotiations with OUN and [[Austrian People's Party]]

Timothy Snyder justly notes about the charges, "Soviet legislation was retroactive and extraterritorial, it was stretching for decades before formation of the Soviet Union and across lands over which Moscow never had its sovereignty".<ref name=argua191231/>

Novosad's list was smaller: belonging to the nationalist organization "Sich" (in reality it was a society of Ukrainian students in Vienna established in 1868), connections with Wilhelm and OUN and working for English and French intelligence services.<ref name=argua191231/>

The indictment contains articles of two criminal codes at once: for the Penal Code of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] relied on chekists in Vienna, while for the Penal Code of Ukrainian SSR – in Kyiv.<ref name=argua191231/> Roman was charged with espionage and participation in counter-revolutionary organization, Wilhelm the same thing plus "armed uprising or invasion for counter-revolutionary purposes over the Soviet territory".<ref name=argua191231/> These were all different paragraphs of the same "counter-revolutionary" article, in Ukrainian penal code it was the article 54, in Russian – 58.<ref name=argua191231/>

As most "counter-revolutionary" cases of that time, the fate of Wilhelm and Novosad had to be decided not in court but by the MGB Special Meeting.<ref name=argua191231/> It was an extrajudicial organ that carried out their decision in the mode of "conveyor belt", without any defendants, witnesses, or lawyers.<ref name=argua191231/> In fact, the decision was made by Limarchenko who signed the indictment: he was asking the Special Meeting sentenced both to 25 years of forced labor camps.<ref name=argua191231/> At that moment it was the maximum punishment, as the year earlier the Soviet authorities for some time abolished the death penalty.<ref name=argua191231/> Then Limarchenko issued a ruling according to which Roman and Vasily were to sit in a MVD special camp.<ref name=argua191231/> The Special Meeting that held session in July 1948 decided, as the investigation requested, giving both the accused 25 years of imprisonment.<ref name=argua191231/> At the same time, Roman had to serve his sentence in the camp, and Wilhelm - in prison, which was much more difficult.<ref name=argua191231/> On 12 August, chekists in Moscow determined exactly where Wilhelm would sit, in the infamous [[Vladimir Central Prison]], which had a special status.<ref name=argua191231/>

But they ran out of time before officially announcing the decision of Special Meeting to Wilhelm, as on 1 July from the 17th chamber of the Lukyanka Prison he was delivered to the prison hospital.<ref name=argua191231/> The prisoner complained about weakness, dizziness, cough, and pain in heart and chest.<ref name=argua191231/> The doctors discovered bilateral cavernous pulmonary tuberculosis in open form.<ref name=argua191231/> At 23rd hour on 18 August 1948<ref>Snyder (2008). pg. 245</ref> Wilhelm Habsburg died from tuberculosis after spending a month and half in the hospital.<ref name=argua191231/> The documents do not inform where he was buried.<ref name=argua191231/> There is an assumption that the nameless grave is located in the courtyard of the prison or the Lukyanivka Cemetery.<ref name=argua191231/>

Austria sent requests for the fate of its citizen to the Soviet Union.<ref name=argua191231/> In response, there came only a certificate of sentence, while the death of the prisoner was hidden.<ref name=argua191231/> There were even rumors throughout Vienna that Wilhelm Habsburg-Lothringen was seen alive in the Soviet Union.<ref name=argua191231/> In 1952, the authorities of the Austrian Republic decided: a passport was issued to him illegally in the 1930s - after all, he did not give up his right to the throne - and therefore revoked his citizenship.<ref name=argua191231/>

===Rehabilitation===
During the times of [[perestroika]] in 1989, the Soviet Office of Military Prosecutor fully rehabilitated both Wilhelm and Novosad.<ref name=argua191231/> It was Novosad who became the author of first publication about Wilhelm Habsburg in the independent Ukraine, in 1992 his recollections printed the magazine "Ukrayina".<ref name=argua191231/> By that time the name of the Archduke was forgotten.<ref name=argua191231/> In 1994 the declassified case of Wilhelm and Novosad was transferred from the [[Security Service of Ukraine|SBU]] Archive to the Central State Archive of public associations of Ukraine.<ref name=argua191231/> In 2005 all personal documents and photographs of Wilhelm that were kept in his dossier were transferred through the German Ambassador in Ukraine [[Dietmar Stüdemann]] to Wilhelm's nephew and citizen of Germany Leo Habsburg-Lothringen.<ref name=argua191231/> In the dossier were kept copies of the documents.<ref name=argua191231/>

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''Archduke Wilhelm of Austria'''
|2= 2. [[Archduke Charles Stephen of Austria]]
|3= 3. [[Archduchess Maria Theresia, Princess of Tuscany]] 
|4= 4. [[Archduke Karl Ferdinand of Austria]]
|5= 5. [[Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria]]
|6= 6. [[Archduke Karl Salvator, Prince of Tuscany]]
|7= 7. [[Princess Maria Immaculata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1844–1899)|Princess Maria Immaculata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies]]
|8= 8. [[Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen]]
|9= 9. [[Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg]]
|10= 10. [[Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary]]
|11= 11. [[Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg]]
|12= 12. [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany]]
|13= 13. [[Marie Antoinette of Tuscany|Princess Marie Antoinette of the Two Sicilies]]
|14= 14. [[Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies]]
|15= 15. [[Maria Theresa of Austria (1816-1867)|Maria Theresa of Austria]]
}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* [[Timothy Snyder]], ''The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of A Habsburg Archduke'' (Basic Books, 2008);

==External links==
{{commons}}
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070220141347/http://spilka.webua.org/library/habsburg.html On the biography of Wilhelm Habsburg]}} {{in lang|uk}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928092241/http://www.ucrania.com/article_read.asp?item=183 HABSBURG–LOTRINGEN, Archduke Wilhelm] {{in lang|es}}
* [http://www.oocities.org/veldes1/wilhelm.html Archduke Wilhelm von Österreich-Toskana] {{in lang|en}}

{{Austrian archdukes}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelm of Austria, Archduke}}
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[Category:Austrian princes]]
[[Category:People from Pula]]
[[Category:Theresian Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian poets]]
[[Category:Ukrainian male poets]]
[[Category:Ukrainian monarchists]]
[[Category:Austrian people who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Austrian people who died in Soviet detention]]
[[Category:Inmates of Lukyanivska Prison]]
[[Category:Spies who died in prison custody]]
[[Category:Western spies against the Eastern Bloc]]
[[Category:Ukrainian War of Independence]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Austria]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Iron Cross, 2nd class]]