Language:
English
Year of publication:
2007
Titel der Quelle:
East European Jewish Affairs
Angaben zur Quelle:
37,2 (2007) 217-248
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
World War, 1939-1945 Collaborationists
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
Abstract:
Examines wartime Ukrainian violence against Jews, focusing on western Ukraine. Argues for multi-factoral models to explain the events, taking into account not only the Ukrainian nationalist agenda but also non-political factors. Analyzes the roles of the two main forms of wartime collaboration with the Nazis - unsolicited activity by individuals and organized collaboration - during the first days of the German occupation and in the subsequent years. Focuses on the pogroms in the first days in western Ukraine, questioning the theories which ascribe them to German instigators or to the Ukrainian nationalists. Quoting extensively from survivors' accounts, examines two pogroms, in Lvov and in Boryslav, which took place at the same time that the Germans occupied these towns. The perpetrators were town mobs, peasants, and members of Ukrainian militias alike, who believed that the Jews were responsible for the crimes of the Soviets, as well as persons who were motivated by anti-Judaism or wanted to settle scores with some Jews or simply rob them. Criticizes Jewish eyewitnesses, and the researchers who use their accounts uncritically, for failing to distinguish between various groups of Ukrainians, thereby promoting the thesis of a "Ukrainian collective responsibility for the Holocaust".
DOI:
10.1080/13501670701430560
URL:
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