Participation of Local Administration Bodies of Provisional Military Administration and Reichskommissariat 'Ukraine' in Ensuring Holocaust Measures (1941-1944)

Some employees of the local administration bodies also had their own motivation to unmask the Jews; in particular, they used the official status granted to them for personal enrichment and the improvement of their family members' property status. However, that was a direct violation of the instructions for the organization of the control system established by the occupiers. But the number of cases of local administrative staff members' abuse of power did not decrease. Even after the threats of physical violence, the acquisitiveness of many such individuals did not disappear. So, after the shooting of the Jews in the town of Chornobyl, the Head of the local raion administration handed over the Jewish house with all the property to his relative.

Other violations of the established control system procedures could be found in the documents of that raion administration. The Head of Chornobyl raion administration, in addition to abusing Jewish property, used those people for different kinds of work in his household. Having arrested a local Jew, he forced him to alter clothes in his house, using physical methods of punishment if the Jew did not complete the daywork. After completing the work, the Jew was shot by the punitive body SSA SSU. Fund 5. File 61113. P. 27, 30..

Despite the violation of the established control system procedures and abuse of power, the occupiers did not raise any particular difficulties for such employees. At the same time, when abuses on the part of German officials were unveiled, the corresponding punishment, at least an investigation of the discovered facts, was inevitable. For example, after the shooting of Kyiv Jews, some of their belongings were at the disposal of the SiPo and SD. One resident of the town of Skvyra, a former member of the Party, and the future editor of the occupation periodicals 'Khabnivski Visti' and 'Dzvin Voli' acted as an intermediary in the exchange of that stuff for food products. But, the German commission found numerous violations and illegality in exchange operations. That resident, together with the Head of the raion administration, was immediately arrested and sent to Kyiv for investigation SSA SSU. Fund 6. File 72222-ФП. P. 59-60..

Thus, local administration officials could not fear persecution for their actions concerning the Jews, even if the actions had signs of looting. Although at the same time, the German administration in general disapproved of the mercenary interests of those employees and often punished them. But it also could not control 'all and everything'. Therefore, it sometimes had to 'close' the eyes to such actions. However, if the representatives of the local population plundered Jewish property, they were forced to return the looted stuff to the authorities TsDAGO of Ukraine. Fund 1. List 70. File 234. P. 15..

The local authorities took a special place in the looting of Jewish property and belongings. Based on German regulations, the local population was informed through announcements published, including in the press, about the prohibition of looting or appropriating the property of the Jews who had managed to evacuate, as well as of people who were shot. At the same time, the local population was informed about the cruelest punishments. Those who had already carried out those unauthorized actions had to hand over everything they had taken to the local administration bodies.

Thus, all the personal property belonging to the Jews, through the mediation of the local police, was registered and stored in the warehouses. Some of the most valuable personal property was appropriated by the Germans, and the rest was to be sold on local markets through the mediation of town/city and raion administrations. The funds received from the sale of that stuff were transferred to the accounts of the local authorities and were used to finance the work of its institutions, pay salaries, etc.

But, in fact, a significant part of that personal property was simply looted and appropriated by all the perpetrators of the Holocaust. Violation of official duties during the selling of Jewish property also occurred among German officials. In order for a local resident to get something of the mentioned personal property, acquaintances among German officials or personal relationships were needed. In the personal information record of one of the women who had Jewish personal property in her household, it is said quite succinctly: “She lived with a German” SSA SSU. Fund 5. File 61113. P. 16.. Telling about the activities of the translator of Pereiaslav gendarmerie, who, together with German officers, appropriated the personal property of the exterminated Jews, the witness testified that she “appropriated the stuff in the guise of gifts from the German officers” SSA SSU. Fund 6. File 69863-ФП. P. 112.. The 'gifts' were rather big because a car was used to transport them. It should be noted that the mentioned personal property was stored in the warehouse of the local administration.

Local authorities paid special attention to the immovable property of the Jews who had already been killed or were concentrated in the ghetto. Usually, it was also registered by local administration bodies. The burgomaster's office of Bila Tserkva reported that as of October 12, 1941, he had registered the accommodations left by “the Jews and Communists after the hasty retreat of the Bilshovyk army”. Some premises were renovated and handed over to accommodate army units. It was also reported in the local press that about a thousand families were provided with apartments because before the war they lived “in basements, dugouts, and damp premises” Дзвін. 1941. 12 жовтня..

After getting the corresponding permits, the Jewish accommodations, occupied by the representatives of the local population, came into their ownership and could be exchanged. They also used available furniture. If necessary, that furniture was confiscated by German officials SSA SSU. Fund 6. File 68860-ФП. P. 16.. The unusable houses of the Jews were dismantled and used to provide the occupation institutions with firewood SSA SSU. Fund 6. File 68431-ФП. P. 40..

It should be admitted that some of the Jewish property was looted by the local population. The occupation authorities did not encourage such actions. In such a way, in the town of Bila Tserkva, the population was informed of the punishment for looting property belonging to the Jews. At the same time, the corresponding announcements, placed in the local newspaper, were put up there not by the police, but by the town authorities. The local police got the right to arrest those residents and impose a fine of 300 krb. on them. House custodians and janitors were personally responsible for the preservation of the Jewish property Дзвін. 1941. 24 жовтня.. Within a week, an order, providing stronger sanctions, appeared: “For failure to carry out this order, the guilty will be punished according to the law of the wartime” Дзвін. 1941. 31 жовтня.. The German officials of both the PMA and the RKU also interfered in such situations and ordered to return of all looted stuff to the town administrations Дзвін. 1941. 5 листопада; Звільнена Україна. 1941. 31 жовтня.. At the same time, the town authorities somewhat exceeded their official powers when mentioned the death penalty using the euphemism “under the laws of wartime”. But such decisions, at the request of local administrative staff, were made by German authorities without notable moral qualms.

The property of the Jews voluntarily handed over to the authorities could be bought back. In Kyiv, the last deadline for the voluntary return of such property was set on December 16, 1941. The property was subject to assessment and redemption. 30% of the required sum was transferred to the current account of the raion administration within ten days from the day of assessment, and the rest sum should be transferred within two months. In case of non-payment of the whole sum or absence of the appeal, the property was confiscated Оголошення Голови м. Києва. Українське слово. 1941. 13 грудня..

It is typical that announcements in the local press about the prohibition of Jewish property looting coincided with the executions. The newspaper 'Vasylkivski Visti' reported: “Recently, the cases occur when empty houses, requisitioned by the Gebietskommissar have been looted. I remind you once again that the persons guilty of looting or damaging empty houses will be severely punished” Оголошення гебітскомісара Раба. Васильківські вісті. 1941. 23 серпня..

The problem complexity of the local authorities participating in the Holocaust also lies in the fact that Ukrainian-language newspaper offices functioned in their territories. Some of those newspapers were authorized by the German military authorities and established by the local authorities and intelligentsia in the first days and weeks of the occupation.

Journalists of such newspaper offices were only nominally the employees of local administration institutions, but their salaries and material and technical support they were getting from local sources. Strict censor control was established over their work, so the journalists of that time could not have personal opinions or positions. All their activities were aimed at propagandistic brainwashing of the local population, legitimization of the German authorities, and justification of the events of the Holocaust, which were conducted directly before the eyes of the local society.

During the subordination of the occupied territories to the PMA, the newspapers were usually published in raion centers and cities. But during the existence of the RKU, the newspapers were printed where the Gebietskommissariat institution was placed, spreading over its entire territory. This is evidence of the German authorities' efforts to control the content of Ukrainian-language publications and to prevent any degree of the editorial staff's willfulness. Thus, the work of those periodicals was financed at the expense of local authorities, and censorship duties were performed by the Gebietskommissariat officials.

Taking into account the presence of a considerable number of publications, the main subject of the study of which are the anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish components of that time press, we should note that the Jews of Ukraine in the Nazi's interpretation were shown as a collective absolute evil, guilty of all the atrocities committed by the Soviet regime against Ukrainians in general in the 1920s - 1930s.

Many of the employees of the local administration bodies acted as active authors of the materials to the occupation press, convincing Ukrainian society of the justice of the 'historical mission' of Germany, in particular, regarding the crimes of the Soviet regime against Ukrainians as an ethnic group. Also, some of those employees, often in defiance of their own position, had to speak at official rallies and meetings of the local population timed to coincide with certain events, for example, the 'liberation' from the 'Jewish-Bilshovyk regime' Гончаренко О.М. Функціонування окупаційної адміністрації Райхскомісаріату «Україна»....

Conclusions

Thus, in the territories under the control of the PMA and the RKU, local administration bodies were established, which, although not unified, were still typical institutions of occupation administration. Despite the unequal organizational structure, local administration bodies had to perform all the tasks assigned by the German authorities. Although there were no repressive and punitive functions, but it was their staff who had to provide the measures that were the basis of the Holocaust policy, which was consistently and all-out conducted by the Nazis in occupied Ukraine.

Performing the functions of the occupation administration, the employees of the local administration bodies of the PMA and the RKU took an active part in both the preparatory measures and the purely technical support of actions for the extermination of the Jews. With the assistance of the local administrative staff members, the German authorities managed to settle the matter of registration and identification of the Jewish population, establish an effective system of control over issuing personal documents, as well as search and selection of places for conducting the massacres. Without their active participation, the Nazis would not have been able to organize actions of exterminating people so quickly, as well as to identify systematically those who managed to avoid death and were hiding from the persecution of the German occupiers. Also quite actively, some employees of local administration bodies participated in propagandistic provision and justification of massacres of the Jews in Ukraine.

Local authorities took part in the redistribution of property that belonged to the killed Jews. A great part of the former Jewish property, with the permission of the German authorities, was given to the local administration bodies, and the funds received after its sale were transferred to the bank accounts of the local authorities and used to finance their activities. At the same time, many employees of local administration bodies, using their official position, tried to obtain part of the property of people who had already been killed.

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