“Civilian Collaboration in Occupied Ukraine and Crimea, 1941-1944: a Study of Motivation.”
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“Civilian Collaboration in Occupied Ukraine and Crimea, 1941-1944: A study of motivation.” Daria Rudakova This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The University of Western Australia School of Humanities History 2018 THESIS DECLARATION I, Daria Rudakova, certify that: This thesis has been substantially accomplished during enrolment in the degree. This thesis does not contain material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in my name, in any university or other tertiary institution. No part of this work will, in the future, be used in a submission in my name, for any other degree or diploma in any university or other tertiary institution without the prior approval of The University of Western Australia and where applicable, any partner institution responsible for the joint-award of this degree. This thesis does not contain any material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference has been made in the text. The work(s) are not in any way a violation or infringement of any copyright, trademark, patent, or other rights whatsoever of any person. The work described in this thesis was funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, “War and Displacement: From Soviet Union to Australia in the Wake of the Second World War”, DP130101215. This research was also supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. This thesis contains only sole-authored work, some of which has been published and/or prepared for publication under sole authorship. Signature: Date: 1 May 2018 ii ABSTRACT This study asks what role did the civilian population in occupied territories of Ukraine and Crimean Peninsula play in the establishment and enforcement of the new Nazi and Romanian occupation regime between 1941 and 1944. To what degree were local inhabitants culpable for the crimes committed by the occupiers against local Jews, Roma, Communists, partisans and others? More importantly who were these people? How and why did they become collaborators? This study aims to answer the thesis questions by analysing the records of war crime trials that were conducted by the Soviet authorities during and after the war ended. The files consist of interrogation records, testimonies of witnesses and defendants, court proceedings and final sentencing which reveal extensive biographical background of the defendants. The scope of the study was limited to only those defendants tried under the civilian subsection “a” of the Soviet Criminal code as 58-1 “traitors of the Motherland” or 58-3 as “accomplices”. The dissertation is arranged thematically with each chapter focusing on a specific grouping of collaborators. The categories include: village elders, policemen, Ukrainian nationalists, women, and miscellaneous jobs and activities undertaken by local civilian collaborators (the “others”). The study concludes that civilian collaboration is a complex phenomenon that took on various forms ranging from clerical work to murder. The analysis of the defendants’ biographical data revealed a lack of a singular significant attribute that could distinguish a civilian likely to collaborate from one that would not. The civilian collaborators found in the collection were of various genders, ages, and familial, social and political backgrounds, educational and professional levels. The motivating factors for initial collaboration ranged from ideological, political to emotional (a sense of fear, jealousy, greed or thirst for revenge), as well as more pragmatic reasons such as careerism, material gain or the primal iii will to survive. The degree to which civilians collaborated in the Holocaust depended more on their circumstances than their politics. Despite the initial motives to joining the local administration, police force, or other institutions, local inhabitants were instrumental in facilitating the implementation of occupation policies, including the destruction of Jews and Roma. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements vi Authorship declaration viii List of Tables ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Village elders 46 3 Policemen 81 4 Ukrainian Nationalists 114 5 The Others 146 6 Women 178 7 Conclusion 208 Glossary and Abbreviations 218 Bibliography 220 v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was researched and written in the course of three (and a bit) years. Even though the product has my sole name on, it would not have been possible without the financial, intellectual and emotional support from a large number of people and institutions. I would like to thank the Faculty of Arts and Humanities as well as the Graduate Research School at the University of Western Australia for providing the necessary material infrastructure and funding for my research on campus and abroad. Moreover, I would like to thank the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC and its archival staff for helping facilitate my research and master the art of finding, navigating through, and copying endless reels of microfilm. I would like acknowledge that the research was primarily funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Grant, DP130101215: War and Displacement: From Soviet Union to Australia in the Wake of the Second World War. This research was also supported by an Australian Government Research Training Program (RTP) Scholarship. Most importantly I would like to thank my supervisors Mark Edele, Giuseppe Finaldi and Robert Stuart for valuable commentary, encouragement and support. This manuscript benefited greatly from their vast knowledge of the subject matter as well as thorough copyediting. I would also like to mention the Russian History Research Group of UWA and thank all the members for their stimulating discussions and feedback in the early stages of my research. In addition, I am grateful to my examiners for their time, generous praise as well as fair criticism and helpful suggestions. I am grateful to my parents, Tatiana and Taras, for their support (both financially and emotionally) throughout my seemingly endless educational and academic endeavours. I am thankful to my family and friends who always express their admiration and encouragement for me and my academic pursuits. Last but not least. I am very grateful to Josh for his endless patience, love and support. vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: The year and Article or Decree which the civilian defendants in 21 USHMM, RG 31.018M were tried under. Table 1.2: Geographic location of the civilian defendants on trial for 22 Collaboration in USHMM, RG 31.018M. Table 1.3: Nationality and gender of civilian collaborators among 24 defendants found in USHMM, RG 31.018M. Table 1.4: Education level and age of civilian collaborators in 1941. 25 Table 1.5: Social background and political memberships of civilian 25 collaborators. Table 1.6: Occupation of civilian collaborators while under occupation, 26 1941-1944. Table 1.7: Involvement in inter-ethnic violence. 38 Table 2.1: Age of village elders at the beginning of occupation, 1941. 50 Table 2.2: Level of education and occupation of village elders before 52 occupation of their region in 1941. ix Table 2.3: Commencement and end dates of employment for village 55 elders. Table 3.1: Occupation of civilian collaborators in occupied territories, 90 1941-1944. Table 3.2: Age of civilians (in 1941) who were employed as policemen 91 by the occupation administration. Table 3.3: Date of commencement and end of service as policemen by 92 civilian collaborators. Table 3.4: Social background and political memberships of policemen. 95 Table 3.5: Level of education and occupation of policemen before 98 occupation of their region in 1941. Table 3.6: Policemen and their histories of repression. 99 Table 5.1: Social background and political memberships of “the other” 147 male collaborators. Table 5.2: Age of “the other” male collaborators at the beginning of 147 occupation, 1941. Table 5.3: Education level and occupation of “the others” under 148 occupation, 1941-1944. x Table 6.1: Biographical background of female defendants tried for 188 collaboration in USHMM, RG 31.018M. Table 7.1: Profession of civilian collaborators before and during 211 occupation. xi 1 CHAPTER 1 Introduction In his landmark study on the development of the modern Ukraine George Liber forewarned that “the many administrative and territorial changes that took place on the lands that became a united Ukraine in the twentieth century are confusing” for even the most informed readers.1 The territories in question exchanged hands multiple times between the outbreak of the First World War in 1914 and the end of Second World War in 1945. Prior to the outbreak of the First World War the borderlands were predominantly a violence-free zone. However, in 1914 the borderlands became a shifting battlefield as Austro-Hungarian and Russian armies marched back and forth claiming and reclaiming the ownership over the lands and the people. The interwar years saw a failed attempt to establish an independent Ukrainian nation, while Poland successfully gained its independence. The tumultuous political atmosphere in the borderlands resulted in nationalization policies from German, Polish and Soviet rulers which, coupled with economic strains, turned various ethnic groups against each other.2 Scholars like Alexander Prusin believe that the roots of inter-communal and inter-ethnic violence, which took on a genocidal character during the Second World War, can be traced back to the turbulent history of the borderlands.3 On the eve of the Second World War, several states ruled Ukrainian-inhabited territories. The largest section was part of the Soviet Union. By 1939 Soviet Ukraine (Ukrainian SSR) consisted of fifteen oblasti (districts) and Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR) which lay on the boundary with Romania. The second largest territory home to ethnic Ukrainians was Poland, which had become an independent state in 1918. Here, most Ukrainian lived in western Volhynia and east Galicia (which had been part of the 1 George O. Liber, Total Wars and the making of modern Ukraine, 1914-1954, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016, p.