Local police and the Holocaust in the general district “Dnipropetrovs’k” (evidence from the districts of Kryvyi Rih and Stalindorf)

Размещено на http://allbest.ru

LOCAL POLICE AND THE HOLOCAUST IN THE GENERAL DISTRICT “DNIPROPETROVS'K” (EVIDENCE FROM THE DISTRICTS OF KRYVYI RIH AND STALINDORF)

Shliakhtych Roman,

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Dean of the Faculty of Law, The Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology Non-Residential Fellow of the IWM

Mykhalchuk Roman,

Candidate of Historical Sciences, associate Professor, Rivne State University of Humanities

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to study the involvement of local policemen in the Holocaust in the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk general district, in particular, the Kryvorizka and Stalindorf districts. The research methodology is based on general scientific, special historical research methods. The scientific novelty of the work lies in the fact that, on the basis of a wide source base, the memories of eyewitnesses, it was possible to establish the degree of involvement of the local police in the Holocaust, as well as to determine in which stages of the Holocaust representatives of the local police participated. The findings of the study indicate that most of the people involved in the Holocaust held commanding positions in the local police. Ordinary policemen were mainly engaged in gathering, guarding and escorting Jews to the places of execution, and sometimes personally killed them. Most of them came from rural areas and had little education.

Key words: Ukrainian police, Holocaust, Stalindorf district, Kryvorizka district.

Introduction. On August 20 1941, the Reikhskomissariat «Ukraine» was created. It was the only one of the four occupation zones on the territory of Ukraine. The RKU consisted of 6 general districts, one of which was the general district «Dnepropetrovsk». This consisted of the territory of Dnipropetrovsk and the Northern part Zaporizhye and Mykolaiv regions. Until mid-October 1941 these areas were occupied by German troops. Initially, power in the region belonged to the German military administration, but later it was passed into the hands of civil administration. However, on the ground, the power remained in the hands of local residents who were controlled by the Germans. The most sinister of all the power structures, created by the Germans in the occupied territories, were the SS, SD and local of German police forces. The direct executors, together with the Germans, were ordinary police officers. They are was mainly engaged in the collection and guard of the Jews before the execution, the escorting of the Jews to the places of execution, guard of places of mass murder, and sometimes directly committed the murder of Jews.

One of the first publication in the Ukrainian historiography that comprehensively reveals various aspects of the Holocaust in the territory of Ukraine occupied by the Nazis is the monograph "The Holocaust in Ukraine» (Kruglov O., Umansky A., Schupak I, 2016, 147). In this work, the authors reveal inter alia the problem of the involvement of local collaborators in the Holocaust. In I. Dereiko's (Dereiko, 2012) noteworthy monograph the author examines the local formation of the German police. The author investigates the structure of these bodies on the territory of the Reichskommissariat “Ukraine”, analyzes the degree of their involvement in various punitive operations including the territory of the General district “Dnipropetrovsk”. Another Ukrainian historian, Yu. Radchenko (Radchenko, 2011, 46-86) also writes about the local formation of the German police. In his opinion, Berlin officials gave only general instructions to their subordinates regarding the murder of Jews. And local security police and SD had “a broad initiative in the matter of the arrest and murder of all real and imaginary enemies of the new order” (including Jews). This researcher also argues that the local formations of the German police primarily served as “ordinary executors” who just followed the instructions and “proactive conformists” who entertained a view of the regime. The Soviet totalitarian society of the 30s made them to be that kind of people. We fully agree with this point of view. After all, in the German formations of local police, there were many people in Kryvyi Rih area convicted by Soviet authorities in the pre-war period. The police and the local administration also realized their right to power in accordance with the models they had seen in the 1930s. First of all, by force and coercion.

Serious work in researching the participation of local formations of the German police in the Holocaust has been carried out by foreign historians. One of the problems which preoccupy the work of modern foreign historians is the problem of the motives that guided the local policemen. This topic explored in the works M. Dean (Dean, 2000), C. Browning (Browning, 1993), and O. Prusin (Prusin, 2007, 31-59). Thus, M. Dean in his monograph explores the local formations of the German police, which operated on the territory of Ukraine and Belarus. He concludes that local policemen could voluntarily refuse to kill Jews. But, most of them decided to execute the command. A similar idea is found in the work of C. Browning. In his opinion, the question of choice occupies an important place in the formation of the criminal, since it was the choice that turned an ordinary person into a murderer. He also analyzes the psychological motives that led the policemen to kill innocent people. The main motive laid in the subordination to the authorities and the desire of the group affiliation.

The problem of motivation of local policemen is further explored by another well-known researcher, O. Prusin. He emphasizes that most of the policemen were mentally “normal” people. Therefore, their behavior during the occupation should be considered in the context of their age, socio-economic status, education, attitude to power and so on. He thus identifies three socio-psychological types of policemen: “political activists” are those who are guided by ideological ideas or motives; “proactive conformists” and “ordinary executors” who simply followed the order. The latter two types constituted the majority among the local policemen.

In addition, foreign historians pay considerable attention to the research of the participation of local policemen in various stages of the Holocaust. For example, in his book the well-known researcher Andrey Umansky gives archival records from the German s archives, as well as documentary photograph. This particular kind of historical sources is gaining more and more importance for studying the Holocaust. After all, in the photo submitted by the Umansky it is clearly visible that the police exactly take an active part in leading the convoy of the Kryvyi Rih Jews to place of their execution in October 1941(Umansky, 2018, 225-227). Well, known Polish researcher Y. Grabowksi (Grabowksi, 2017) also explores the participation of policeman in various stages of th e Holocaust. In particular, he notes that local police in Poland not only took part in guarding and escorting Jews in to the places of execution, but also in their murders. A similar situation can be observed on the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region. There is evidence that local policemen killed their former neighbors, namely local Jews. Many of these testimonies can be found in the work of Father Patrick Desbois (Desbois, 2011). On the basis of the analysis of witness's testimonies Father Desbois come s to the conclusion that the role of the “local” factor was one of the most important factors in the genocide of Jews in Ukraine. After all, it was the local collaborators who helped the Germans to identify the local Jews, often assaulted them, satisfied their material needs by looting the Jews, participated in their executions.

Archival materials deepen the research of Ukrainian and foreign scientists. We used materials from Ukrainian archives, as well as foreign ones. Especially, oral testimonies from the archives of Yahad-In Unum.

Thus, despite the large amount of archival material, as well as the studies of both Ukrainian and foreign researchers, the problem of participation of local police in the Holocaust remains understudied. Moreover, the participation of local police representative in Holocaust in the territory of the general district “Dnipropetrovsk” had hardly been studied.

The research aim is to study local policemen to be involved into the Holocaust and to reveal their level of involvement at th e main stages of the Holocaust in the area of the General district “Dnipropetrovsk” and the Kryvyi Rih and Stalindorf districts. Specifying the role of local police officers in these crimes will be a new story for Studies of the Holocaust in the region.

Results and Discussion. As soon as local of the German police bodies were created its representatives were involved in “Jew campaigns”. We know from archival materials and from testimonies of eyewitness and victims, that the police were involved in various tasks at different stages of the Holocaust. Thus, many of them were involved in the identification, arrest of the Jews and guard of detention facility. Also, together with the Germans, local policemen took part in various tortures of the victims.

It is known that all Jews of Kryvyi Rih on October 13, 1941 were gathered in the former Synagogue, located on Sportivnaya Street. And the day before, the chief of the Kryvyi Rih police N. Taranenko had a meeting with I. Kupriyanenko and G. Kunitsa the Heads of the 1st and 2nd police troops, his Deputy V. Pasternak, A. Ilchuk the Head of the reserve police troop and Koval the feldwebel of the police. A German translator was also present at the meeting. The main issue of the meeting was the organization of a mass murder the city Jews. N. Taranenko set the task to arrest the Jews and to gather them in the former Synagogue (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 18835, vol. 2, p. 49-50). After the meeting the leaders ordered their subordinates to fulfill it. Thus, the policemen I. Sobko had to arrest Jews in the Pochtovaia Street, the city center. Sobko together with the policeman V. Lysenko arrested six Jewish families, took them to the Synagogue and gave the keys of their apartments to Koval (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 17911, p. 23). The representatives of the reserve police troops were also personally involved into the arrest of the Jews. Thus, I. Kupriyanenko named six people from the “reserve police troop”, who, in his opinion, arrested the Jews. Moreover, I. Kupriyanenko, as the head of the 2nd police Department, also took part in the arrests of Jews and led a group of policemen (12 people) who guarded the building of the Synagogue and Jews before the murder. Also, all these people and eight more unknown policemen guarded the site of murder nearby the mine No. 5 with the weapon in hands. This group was also headed by I. Kupriyanenko (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 17911, p. 52).

Ilchuk, the head of “reserve police troop”, testified that after the murder of the Jews in October 1941, the policeman Mykola Bozhko came to him to and gave him the list with 10-15 Jewish families who had to be arrested and taken to the police. Names and addresses of Jews were specified in the list. A. Ilchuk ordered to three policemen Shkoliar, Rozum and Karabylo to arrests the Jews. Soon, these Jews were arrested and executed (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op. 2, case 18835, vol.1, p. 95-99).

The chief of the rural police Stepan Nikitsky was the one who organized the Holocaust in the rural area of Kryvyi Rih. One of the tasks he set for his subordinates was to identify and arrest the Jewish residents (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND6 (R), op. 2, case 11857, vol.1, p 27). For example, at the end of January or beginning of February 1942, the head of the Veselovsky Police Department Pavlo Nechepurenko arrested 15 Jews in the village of Novy Put (Stalindorf district). They were kept in the local school. Soon P. Nechepurenko and S. Nikitsky sent them to Kryvyi Rih (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND6 (R), op. 2, case 11857, vol.1, p. 68-69). Their names and fate remain unknown.

In Stalindorf and Kryvyi Rih districts, local policemen were one of those who provided the Germans with information about the local Jews. In addition, they took an active part in the arrests of Jews and the guard of detention facilities. Thus, the witness from the village of Putilovka recalls there were the 18th, 19th and 24th Jewish settlements which belonged to the Stalindorf district. There were no local policemen in Putilovka, but every day policemen from the neighboring village of Ivanivka came there. These policemen came to houses and gathered up Jewish families and took them directly to the sites of execution in the area of Putilovka and the nearest Jewish settlements (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 958U). The same situation was in the 2nd and 3rd settlements. The policemen took Jewish families out of their homes and immediately took them to the site execution. The public execution took place at the end of August 1941 in the Ingulets colony. On that day, the Germans arrested everyone they saw on the street, and local police officer Stepan Kostyukov selected 50 Jews from this group of arrested people. They were soon shot near the village of Lativka (Yad Vachem Archivs, Record Group: O.33- Testimonies, Diaries and Memoirs Collection, File Number: 4141, 4). Thus, the locals who joined the police gave the Germans their own fellow villagers, knowing that they will b e executed. Immediate execution of Jews was possible in the cases when there were only few of them in the village or there was no time to keep them somewhere. In other circumstances the Jews were gathered in somewhere before the execution, as a rule.

Many respondents who were interviewed by the team of Yahad -In Unum tell the same. Places used for the detention of Jews could be: a house on the outskirts of the village (Yad Vachem Archivs, Record Group: O.41 Lists and Documentation of Perished and Persecuted Collection, File Number: 1877), the former storages (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 952U), theaters (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 940U) and clubs (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 976U), former orphanages (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 969U). The Jews were kept in these places usually for a few days before the execution. But, if it was necessary to use their labor, they could “wait for death” being forced to work for several months. These temporary ghettos were guarded by local policemen and the Germans.

For example, there was a hall in the village No.8 in Stalindorf district, where local policemen and the Germans gathered the Jews from the nearest villages. In general, according to the witness, up to 30 Jewish families (around 300-400 people) were taken to this hall. Before being taken to the club, the Jew was told that they are going to the meeting that's why they do not need to take anything. They were kept there for almost a week before the execution. All this time th e club was guarded by local policemen. The villagers were allowed to bring some food for the Jews (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 974U). One more witness from the same village specifies that the hall was guarded by several groups of policemen: one gave the chance to locals to feed Jews, and others - no. The same witness said that there were about 90 people in the hall (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 976U). Thus, it is possible to assume that some different groups of Jews were kept in the hall of the settlement No. 8 and when some of them were executed another group replaced them. They were guarded by different shifts of policemen, who depending on their personal qualities, allowed or not to feed the prisoners. All police officers perfectly understood that the Jews were there for execution as it was the main purpose of Nazis after all.

However, in order to dehumanize the victim even more, as a part of some kind of ritual, Jews had to be psychically tortured. Cases when the Jews were forced to undress and sometimes even wash in the puddles just before the execution are well-known. For example, a witness from the village of Krasino recalls that soon after the Germans came to the village, they started to brand foreheads of the Jews with the Star of David in the local smithy. Branded Jews had to work in the collective farm until the execution, in the autumn of 1942. Before the shooting, they were kept in one house for four days, and then taken to the area of the village No. 4 and shot there (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 989U). And in the village Osetovka (respondents call it Gazetovka) local policemen put the Jews to a cart and forced to carry water through the village (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 987U). In the village of Malaya Kalinovka, the policeman Slusar tied the Jews with the hair to his chart and drove through the village until they died (Yahad-In Unum's Archives Testimony n. 1051U). The police in the village of Kamianka did the same. One of the first to be captured by police officers in the village was Shmulik Rusin and Wolf-Leiba Zaichyk. They were taken to a village commandant, tortured to death, then tied to a horse and driven through the village (Yad Vachem Archivs, Record Group: O.41 Lists and Documentation of Perished and Persecuted Collection, File Number: 18775). These episodes prove once again that some people can cross a line being unpunished and even encouraged to commit a crime. With no doubt, German politics and propaganda created enabled such cruelty . Therefore, very often it was the Germans who tortured the victims. But, as witnesses recall, local police readily joined them.

Thus, the locals who joined the German police were actively involved in the identification and arrests of the local Jews. These people joined the local bodies of the German police under various circumstances, and their behavior depended on various factors, but all of them had to carry out German orders, including related to the murders of the Jews.

The first shootings of Jews in Kryvyi Rih began in August 1941. These shootings were carried out by the Erinsatzgruppe No.6, commanded, by SS-Sturmbannfuhrer Dr. Erhard Kroger. 105 Jews were killed. From the 1^st to 13^th September, Erinsatzgruppe No.6 executed by shooting another 60 Jews. In addition, by the end of September 26 more local Jews were shot (Kruglov O., Umansky A., Schupak I, 2016, 150). Thus, in just one month, 191 Jews were killed in Kryvyi Rih.

On September 12, 1941, a troop of the Police battalion No.318, along with the SD, shot a group of Jews in the area of the village of Shyroke. And on September 25, 1941, the 1^st SS motorized infantry brigade shot Jews in villages along the highway Kryvyi Rih - Nikopol (Kruglov, 2004, 30; 34; 38.).

In September 1941, Jews were executed in the area of the brick factory in the Gdantsivka settlement, which is now part of the city. Witness Fedir Krysenko testified that in September 1941, 10-15 prisoners of war were driven into the quarry of a brick factory from a local Stammlager 338. They dug a huge pit. The next day, in the morning, 100-150 Jews of men, women and children were brought to the pit by the Germans and executed (Yad Vashem archives, record group М.33, file number JM/19697, 7021-57-513, p.144-145).

In the fall of 1941, the headquarters of the leader SS and chief Russia-South Police Friedrich Jeckeln was located in Kryvyi Rig. Under his leadership, a massive execution of the Jews was carried out in Kryvyi Rih (Kruglov O., Umansky A., Schupak I., 2016, 157). This execution took place on October 14, 1941. On this day, about 2,000 local residents and 800 war prisoners Jews were murdered. This happened at the pits of mine No. 5. We know it basically by virtue of the eyewitness's testimonies. One of them is Anatoly Nemchenko. In 1941, he was only 7 years old, but what he saw near the mine No. 5 affected all his life. Thus, from his memoirs we know that this day mainly children, women and the aged were shot. Initially, the German executioners killed the children and then divided the adults into groups and began to shot them. The German soldiers shot almost in the heads of the victims, and the Policemen threw them into the pit. After the shooting, several grenades were dropped into the mine pit. After all, they filled up the site of mass execution with salt, and detonated several air bombs nearby it (Unknown Kryvyi Rih: pages of Jewish history, 2015, 53-54). This way the Nazis tried to kill anyone who might stay alive.

However, the witness did not know which ones of local Policemen took part in this crime and what the role did they play in it. We can find this data in the archival criminal cases instituted against the former Policemen of the city. Thus, the Police officer I. Sobko provided us with the most complete information regarding this episode and Police officers who personally took part in it. He stressed in his testimony that before the execution, local Policemen Oleksii Pasternak and Mikhailo Strikal came to the building of the former Synagogue carrying suitcases. They looted wrist and pocket watches, gold and silver jewelry etc. They carried all these items to the city Police chief of M. Taranenko and his Deputy V. Pasternak (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 17911, p. 53). According to local resident Anna Atanashenko, I. S obko beat a Jewish woman who left the line while convoying the Jews to the site of execution (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 17277, p. 36). Local Policemen helped the Germans during the execution itself the. They prepared group of ten, undressed people and led them to the site of execution. In addition, the Police guarded the site of execution and did not allow local residents to reach it. One more their duty was to collect clothes and property left after the morning looting ( SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 17277, p. 23). This operation was led by abovementioned Ivan Kalashnikov, who was in charge of the Police warehouse at that time. I. Kalashnikov took for himself four pairs of men's underwear, three upper shirts, four towels, one pair of shoes, two women's dresses, two pairs of breeches (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op. 2, case 14293, p. 28).

Another Policeman Georgy Teluha testified that he once in the evening on the way home saw the line of the Jews escorted by Policemen and the Germans heading to the mine No. 5. According to the witness, the line was escorted by about 50 people from the local Police; among them he mentioned Sergienko, Dimarevsky, Beloshistov, and Ilchuk ( SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 18835, vol, 2, p. 28). But the witness did not see the Police taking part in the shooting.

After the mass shooting on October 14, 1941 almost no Jews had been left in the city. However, the Police continued to search for Jewish people. They were arrested, and then, as a rule, shot. Thus, the SS Brigadier and the Major General of Police Count von Bassevitz -Behr, who was the Fuhrer of the SS and the police of the Dnipropetrovsk General District, testified that in the winter of 1942 the executions of Jews continued (Bundesarhiv, B 162/200, band 1, 77). Local police officers confirm this information. From the testimony of the Policeman Gennady Beloshistov, we know that in the winter of 1942 the main part of prisoners kept in the basement of SD department in Kryvyi Rih consisted of the Jews. Thus, in January 1942 there were about 60 arrested Jews in the basement. Soon they all were shot. In February 1942 there were Jewish children, women and elderly people among the prisoners. They were provided with 50 grams of bread for the day, sometimes they did not get anything at all. Once, during yard time a woman asked G. Beloshystov to give them some bread. When G. Beloshystov gave her a loaf Kalashnikov said: “Why do you feed them, they are going to be shot anyway”. A few days later, these particular Jews were executed (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 14293, p. 46-48).

These executions took place in the area of the brick factory, which was located on the outskirts of the settlement of Gdantsivka, which is now part of the city. There are two testimonies of the executions in the area of the brick factory in the Yahad-In Unum archive. According to the testimony of witnesses, the overall picture of these crimes can be restored: a car with the Jews reached the railway nearby the quarry. Then people should move to the site of execution with the knees bent, taking off the shoes nearby the graves dug in advance, and at the same place their buttons and hair were cut off (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 944U). The Germans and Police set the quarry perimeter. The machine guns execution was performed by the Nazis (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 943U). Executions took place either in the evening or in the morning. There were a few pits in the quarry back-filled by prisoners of war from the local Stammlager (Stalag) 338 after each shooting (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 944U). The executions of Jews in the area of the brick factory are confirmed and the materials collected by the ESC. For example, witness Olga Nebesna claimed that in December 1941 200-300 Jews had been shot dead in the quarry near the factory. Before being shot they were stripped, put into a quarry and shot there. In general, she witnessed several such shootings during the winter of 1941 - the spring of 1942. Other witnesses Fedir Krysenko and Fekla Kurishko testified that the executions of the Jews took place in this place (Yad Vashem archives, record group М.33, file number JM/19697, 7021-57-513, p.146-147). Thus, the Policemen from Kryvyi Rih took an active part in the mass shootings of the Jewish population. It is true, the Germans carried out the executions themselves, but the local Policemen actively helped them at the sites of executions.

Local Police took similarly active part in mass murders of Jews in the countryside. Policemen in rural areas participated in escorting the Jews to the sites of execution, personally carried out the shootings, guarded these sites during a shooting and several days afterwards.

Mostly we have testimonies on participation of the Police in escorting the Jews to the sites of execution. According to the testimony of Nikolai Kondratenko, the Police chief of Zelenobalkovska district, there was a Jewish settlement of Nay-Leben in that district. The extermination of the local Jews began in January 1942. However, commandant Derko killed 4 Jews in the village, it was decided to send majority in Kryvyi Rih (probably to the mine No. 5, which was closest to Zelenobalkovska district) (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6(R), op.2, case 14293, p. 150).

A witness from the Ingulets colony mentioned that after the occupation of the colony, the Jews had been free for some time. But at the time, small groups of Jews were being executed and by local policemen as well. For example, in 1941, a resident of the Klimenko colony, together with police officers Gonchar and Miroshnichenko, took part in the arrest and escort to the execution site of Jews who worked in the vineyard (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 12868, p. 1). In the summer of 1942 armed Germans and Policemen convoyed a group of the Jews to the building of the theater to perform an execution. The Germans escorted the line ahead and behind, the Policemen were at its sides. The witness said that there were three locals among the Policemen who took part in the convoy of Jews, but recalls the names of only two of them: Tsyganok and Semko. Tsyganok was hanged after the war, and Semko was convicted and served his sentence (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 940U).

Another respondent testified about the execution of the Jewish population near the village of Kateryno-Mykhailivka. The Jews from the nearest Jewish settlements of the Stalindorf district were shot here. One of the locals recalled that the Jews of Local Policemen Horiuvatyi, Kostyurenko, Khrebtov and others escorted them. It is possible that before the execution the Jews were forced to undress and to dig a grave. The only one who survived was an 18-year-old Jewish girl. She went into hiding, first in the village of Chkalovo, later she was transported to Nikopol and this way she survived (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 950U). In June 1942, about 100 Jews from the Larino settlement were arrested, put into a truck and sent to the Nova Zorya settlement. They were escorted by two local policemen and a German detachment led by Georg Keller (Bundesarhiv, B 162/200, band 1, 91).

Thus, the Policemen who took part in escorting the Jews to the site of execution, even if they were not the ones who shot, they were accomplices in this crime. Obviously, many of them clearly understood where and what for they lead the Jews.

Among these testimonies, the most ominous and shocking is the information about the murder of Jewish children. One of these cases occurred in the village No. 16 of Stalindorf district. Volksdeutsche Bem was the head of the collective farm in this settlement, he had a wife named Maria, and she had a Jewish son named Vladik from her previous marriage. Once on the day of execution a Policeman came for the child, saying he is going to take Vladik to his grandmother. Yet the Policeman lied, he kidnapped the child and he took him to the already dug pit, where the Germans had shot the boy and then all the local Jews (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 948U). In the fall 1942 the Germans, with the help of a local Police, began to take the Jewish children from a 94 kindergarten in the village of Progress. Which one exactly the Jew was decided the local Policemen. The children of different age and sex were put to a cart and taken to the site of execution. The Germans shot them. Soon, another local Jews were shot at the same place. In General, according to the witness, here died about 1,000 people (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 925U). In Novokomna, another Jewish village, shootings of Mischlinge (children of mixed marriages) had begun after the execution of the local Jews. These children were also taken by the Policemen. A local Policeman Ivan Zhadko executed even the son of his sister, his own nephew (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1082U).

As a rule, whole families, including children, were killed during mass executions of Jews. There is much evidence of this in the documents of German post-war lawsuits. For example, the shooting of Jewish children took place in July and June 1942 near the settlements of Nova Zorya and the Zemotryad Stalindorf district (Bundesarhiv, B 162/200, band 1, 90;92). In total, about 1000 people were shot at this time, including children up to 12 years old. However, the cases of children-only executions were rare. Therefore, when talking about this kind of crime, we can say that the involvement of Policemen goes beyond simple order execution. Because, they pointed the Jewish children, despite of the fact that some of them were the relatives of theirs. It is obvious that the Policemen involved in these crimes were quite cynical and prudent. Since the victim was fully in their mercy and was not able to resist. Thus, the victim could be motivated for obedience with certain small encouragements or rewards.

Another job delegated by the Germans to the local Policemen was to guard the site of execution. The Police and Germans, both, guarded the place of execution during the shooting, and sometimes the Policemen had to guard the graves of the Jews. They did it in order to prevent the salvation of some wounded Jews, and to prevent the locals to help them as well. For example, Policemen and the Germans used to shoot the Jews near the village of Druzhinivka, which was six kilometers away from the settlement of Ozetivka. After execution, Policemen stayed near the grave in order to watch and to guard it. Thus, they killed the wounded Jew who tried to escape (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 987U). Also, another duty of Policemen was burying the corpses. Often, the Germans or the Policemen forced the local people to dig these graves, either manually or with the help of some mechanisms. For example, when burying the corpses of the Jews from the village No.13, the locals used a tractor (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 967U). However, sometimes Policemen had to dig a hole on their own.

Therefore, participation in escorting the Jews to execution and guard of these sites were one of the activities of the local Police. Witnesses from different villages of Kryvyi Rih and Stalindorf districts recall almost the same episodes in which Police and Germans escort the Jews, guard of the sites of execution, but still, there are only rare testimonies on Policemen personally shooting the Jews. However, such cases also took place.

For example, according to the Respondent, the execution of the Jews, which occurred in the area of the village No. 4, was carried out exclusively by Policemen under the command of the Germans (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 974U). The Police officers also took part in execution which occurred near the village of Nikolaevka (Yahad- In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1049U). At the time of shooting nearby the village of Ozetivka, the Policeman Karyaka grabbed the woman's child and threw him to the pit (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1053U part 1). Sometimes the execution was carried out only by Policemen without the participation of the Germans. A witness from the village of Novovitebske recalls that the local Jews were shot by the policemen. They drank alcohol during the execution and shot until they ran out of the bullets. The policemen finished the wounded with the iron rods and banged the children against the cart wheel and threw them to the pit. There were six Police officers in the village of Novovitebske and almost all of them were convicted after the war. One of them was even found in the Urals. At the court Nedilko, one of the officers, was asked whether he was sorry for the women and children he shot. He answered that he is sorry only for two twin-girls who embraced in front of the firing squad (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 926U). Despite the large number of criminal cases initiated against Policemen after the end of the Second World War, it is very difficult to determine the personal involvement of the Police officers in regard of mass killings. Therefore, eyewitness testimonies are very important sources of information for discover the truth.

Thus, the participation of Police officers in mass killings represents that these people were fully aware of what they were doing and 96 understood that the “new government” considered their actions not as criminal, but as acceptable. Thus, sometimes they even prided themselves for killing the Jews. According to an eyewitness, after the execution of Jews from the 14th village, which took place in the evening, the Policemen who took part in it, stopped at night in the deserted village, started to shoot, woke up the residents that left, and shouted that they've just shot “the Jewish scum” (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 988U). In the village of Ozetivka, Policeman Chemikos (although he was a Police agent and in the years of occupation worked as a coachman for the German commandant) took part in the execution of local Jews and then told that he personally killed a Jewish guy who tried to get out of the pit after the execution (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 984U). The local Policemen also took part in the shooting of the Jews from the villages of Freidorf and Lenindorf. A witness recalled the names only of two of them; it was Kostyurenko from the village of Tavricheskoye and Fedor Palets from the village of Kirovo. The Jews were shot at the local sandpit in groups of fifteen people. The Germans shot with machine guns, and the Police - with rifles. After the shooting, some of the Policemen told that they did not shoot the children, but threw of them into the pit alive (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 953U). Another witness specifies that Kostyurenko directed the Police officers who carried out this execution (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 955U). Stories about their “heroism” were one of the ways to establish their authority among people. Although, these confessions only raised their penalties, and some of them, after the war, were hung up without waiting for court decisions.

Thus, some Police officers from both the city and the village took part in the murders of Jews. The brutality of these crimes cannot be attributed to the order execution; rather, it is about the personal qualities of these persons. Even more revealing, from the point of view of personal qualities and beliefs, was the participation of local Police in the murder of one or more Jews. After all, if at the time of the mass murder, the Police sometimes could be justified by the fact that they acted together with others and it was, to some extent, an unconscious act. But the murder of one person is usually a deliberate act indicating clear criminal intent.

For example, in the village No. 20 in the Stalindorf district, local Policemen killed a Jewish young man named Ivan. They shot him right at the well when he was watering the horse (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 962U). Another case, recalled by witnesses, occurred in the village No. 8. Jewess Claudia Bem worked as a teacher in the local school. She had a little daughter and her husband was Volksdeutsch. In the years of occupation, the woman continued to work, and the little child was with her. One day, two Policemen came right in the classroom and shot the child. By that time, there were 35 children in the class (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 974U). In the village Osipenko local Policemen shot the Jewish family Sobolev. A witness recalls that there were two local Policemen, Kolesnik and Slusar, among those who committed the crime (Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1057U part 2). And in 1941, in the colony of Ingulets, a local resident of Klimenko, together with police officer Tsyganko, beat to death Juda Sheen (SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND6 (R), op.2, case 12868, p. 11). In general, during the years 1941-1942, the assault and killings of Jews in the Ingulets colony occurred systematically. Thus, murders, and 1not only of the Jews, were usual practice for some of local Policemen. They carried them out in accordance with the orders of the German leaders, and sometimes committed murder of their own free will. The research into the criminal activities of local collaborators should be continued.

Conclusions. Thus, the Local Police Body began to form in the area almost immediately after the capture of Kryvyi Rih and Stalindorf district by German forces. Exactly in this time, the extermination of the Jews began in the region. The Local Police Bodies were also involved in these actions. However, it should be noted that not all people who joined the Police of the region were related to the genocide of Jews. The most of people who were involved in the Holocaust held some command positions in the local Police. As a rule, these people only “organized” mass killings of the Jews, although sometimes they participated directly in the Holocaust. The direct executors, together with the Germans, were ordinary Police officers, who were mainly engaged in the gathering and guard of the Jews before the execution, the escorting of the Jews to the sites of execution, protection these sited, and sometimes personally murdered the Jews.

In the postwar period, a large number of former Policemen was sentenced by Soviet state security agencies. The archival criminal cases of local policemen have a huge information potential in relation to research of the Holocaust in the region . For example, they allow us to trace the motivational component of people who joined of the German Police. Thus, the main motivation was the material benefit, because they were paid for the service in the Police, as well as provided with clothes and food rations. In addition, the Police had the opportunity to rob the local residents, including murdered and evacuated Jews. Another motivation was the desire for power. The information from the archival criminal cases regarding the social profile of the Policemen is important too. Thus, most of Policemen were from rural families. It is therefore no wonder considering the social policy of the Soviet Union in the 30s. Furthermore, these people were undereducated and had problems with the Soviet authorities. And some, like A. Ilchuk, were sentenced before the war. And exactly these people joined the bodies of the German Police.

Thus, verbal testimonies and the archival criminal cases issued against local policemen, German files and data from the ESC help to reconstruct the events of the Holocaust in the region. However, research on the participation of local residents as performers and organizers of the Holocaust is only at the early stage and should be continued. In particular, the following aspects should be researched: participation of local administration in the Holocaust; ideological position of the Local Policemen; the level of involvement of members and sympathizers of the OUN in the German Police bodies.

holocaust local policemen involved dnipropetrovsk stalindorf districts

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kruglov, O., Umansky, A., Schupak, I. (2016). Holocaust in Ukraine: Reichskommissariat“Ukraine”, Governor “Transnistria”: monograph. Dnipro: Ukrainian Institute for the Study of the Holocaust "Tkuma"; PE LIRA.

Dereiko, I. (2012). Local Formations of the German Army and Police in the Reichskommissariat"Ukraine" (1941-1944) / science editor O. G. Bazhan. NASU Institute of History of Ukraine. K.

Radchenko, Y. (2011). "His boots and SS uniform were blood splattered ...": Secret Field Police, Security Police and SD, Auxiliary Police in Terror Against the Jews of Kharkiv (1941-1943) Holocaust and Modernity. Studies in Ukraine and the World. № 2.

Dean, M. (2000). Collaboration in the Holocaust: Crimes of the Local Police in Belorussia and Ukraine, 1941-44.- New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000.

Browning, C. (1993). The Path to Genocide, Essays on Launching the Final Solution, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Prusin, A. (2007). Ukrainian police and the Holocaust in the general district of Kiev, 1941-1943: actions and motivations Holocaust and Modernity. Studies in Ukraine and the World, №1, 2007.

Umansky, A. (2018). La shoah A' l'est : regards d'allemands, fayard historie, 2018, S. 225-227.

Grabowski. Jan (2017). The polish police: collaboration in the Holocaust, Washington, DC: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies.

Desbois, P. (2011). Keeper of Memories, K.: Spirit and Letter.

Bundesarhiv, B 162/200, band 1.

SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 18835, vol. 2

SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 17911.

SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 17277.

SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op. 2, case 14293.

SSU State Archive, Dnipro, FUND 6 (R), op.2, case 12868, p. 1

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 958U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 952U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 940U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 976U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 969U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 974U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 989U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 987U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives Testimony n. 1051U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1082U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 987U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 967U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1049U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1053U part 1.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 926U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 988U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 984U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 953U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 955U.

Yahad-In Unum's Archives / Testimony n. 1057U part 2.

Yad Vachem Archivs, Record Group: O.33- Testimonies, Diaries and Memoirs Collection, File Number: 4141, 4.

Yad Vachem Archivs, Record Group: O.41 Lists and Documentation of Perished and Persecuted Collection, File Number: 18775.

Yad Vashem Archives, record group М.33, file number JM/19697, 7021-57-513.

Unknown Kryvyi Rih: pages of Jewish history / M.I. Marmer, S.I. Poddubnaya (2015), Krivoy Rog: Publisher SP Chernyavsky D.A., p. 55.

Kruglov, A. (2004). Chronicles of the Holocaust in Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk.

Шляхтич Р, Михальчук Р.

МІСЦЕВА ПОЛІЦІЯ І ГОЛОКОСТ У ГЕНЕРАЛЬНІЙ ОКРУЗІ «ДНІПРОПЕТРОВСЬК» (НА ПРИКЛАДІ КРИВОРІЗЬКОГО ТА СТАЛІНДОРФСЬКОГО РАЙОНІВ)

Анотація

Метою роботи є вивчення причетності місцевих поліцейських до Голокосту на території генеральної округи «Дніпропетровськ», зокрема Криворізького та Сталіндорфського районів. Методологія дослідження ґрунтується на загальнонаукових, спеціальних історичних методів дослідження. Наукова новизна роботи полягає у тому, що на основі широкої джерельної бази, спогадів очевидців, вдалось встановити ступінь залученості місцевої поліції до Голокосту, а також визначити в яких етапах Голокосту брали участь представники місцевої поліції. Висновки дослідження свідчать, що більшість людей, причетних до Голокосту, обіймали командні посади в місцевій поліції. Рядові поліцейські в основному займалися збором, охороною та конвоюванням євреїв до місць страти, а іноді й особисто їх вбивали. Більшість з них були вихідцями із сільської місцевості та малоосвіченими.

Ключові слова: українська поліція, Голокост, Сталіндорфський район, Криворізький район.

Размещено на Allbest.ru