Stella Krenzbach,[1] Kreutzbach,[2] or Krentsbakh,[3] is a possibly fictitious person, ostensibly a Jewish-Ukrainian member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) during World War II.
[4] The text began: "The reason that I'm alive today and can devote all of my energy to the state of Israel is thanks only to God and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
Stories and rumors started circulating in émigré circles that the woman had been murdered in Israel, supposedly for telling the truth about the UPA's attitude to the Jews.
[6] Bohdan Kordiuk, one-time leader of the Home Executive of UPA, repudiated in the newspaper Suchasna Ukraina (Contemporary Ukraine), issue no.
[3] Historian John-Paul Himka stated that the "Stella Krentsbakh/Kreutzbach forged biography" shows that the OUN, the UPA, and their "promoters" have to "resort to falsifications to defend their innocence vis-à-vis the Holocaust", which "indicates that they lack real evidence [in] their possession [about the alleged Jewish element among the nationalist organizations]", and concluded that "no one grabs for fig leaves when they are wearing clothes".
[10] Ukrainian historian Volodymyr Viatrovych has repeatedly proclaimed the veracity and accuracy of the Krenzbach life story, as related in the published text, attributing the denials to those who "accuse the OUN" of having been "anti-Semitic".