Shoah Atrocities Map - Ukraine
Overview of Holocaust in Ukraine
Alexander Kruglov
Translation: Tatyana Reznichenko and Vera Moshkevich
Alexander Kruglov
Translation: Tatyana Reznichenko and Vera Moshkevich
1. Jewish presence in Ukraine (click to expand)
Jews appear on the territory of modern Ukraine, particularly in the Crimea, back in the 4th century BC, and in Kiev - in the second half of the 10th century AD, after the defeat of the Khazar Kaganate by the Kiev prince Svyatoslav.
In the 13th-15th, in Western Europe, the Inquisition spearheaded the fighting for the purity of faith. That campaign of religious intolerance led to the expulsion of Jews from the states and towns of Western and Central Europe and their mass migration to the East. In the XIV century, without any ground, Jews were also accused in the outbreak of an epidemic of plague. At the end of the 15th century, Yiddish-speaking Jews from Poland and Germany (Ashkenazim) began to arrive in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which also included many Ukrainian lands at that time. The main area of their settlement in those days was Polesie and the towns of Volhynia. From there they moved to Kiev and Podolia.
After the second partition of Poland in 1793, the Russian Empire included the Ukrainian lands on the right bank of the Dnieper river with a large Jewish population. According to the 1897 census, 1,942,250 Jews lived in the Ukrainian part of the Russian Empire:
In the 13th-15th, in Western Europe, the Inquisition spearheaded the fighting for the purity of faith. That campaign of religious intolerance led to the expulsion of Jews from the states and towns of Western and Central Europe and their mass migration to the East. In the XIV century, without any ground, Jews were also accused in the outbreak of an epidemic of plague. At the end of the 15th century, Yiddish-speaking Jews from Poland and Germany (Ashkenazim) began to arrive in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania which also included many Ukrainian lands at that time. The main area of their settlement in those days was Polesie and the towns of Volhynia. From there they moved to Kiev and Podolia.
After the second partition of Poland in 1793, the Russian Empire included the Ukrainian lands on the right bank of the Dnieper river with a large Jewish population. According to the 1897 census, 1,942,250 Jews lived in the Ukrainian part of the Russian Empire:
Table 1-1
| Regions | Total Population | Jewish Population | Jewish population, % | |
| Kyiv | 3,559,229 | 430,489 | 12.1 | |
| Volhynia | 2,989,482 | 394,774 | 13.21 | |
| Podolia | 3,018,299 | 369,306 | 12.24 | |
| Kherson | 2,733,612 | 322,537 | 11.8 | |
| Poltava | 2,778,151 | 110,352 | 3.97 | |
| Ekaterinoslav | 2,113,674 | 99,152 | 4.69 | |
| Chernihiv (Ukrainian part) | 1,662,541 | 74,973 | 4.51 | |
| Bessarabia (Ukrainian part) | 817,053 | 71,945 | 8.81 | |
| Tavriya | 1,447,790 | 55,418 | 3.83 | |
| Kharkiv | 2,492,316 | 12,650 | 0.51 | |
| Putivl district | 164,133 | 654 | 0.4 | |
| Total: | 23,776,280 | 1,942,250 | 8.17 |
After the October Revolution of 1917 and the elimination of the "pale of settlement", Jews began to move to the Left Bank and to the largest cities of Ukraine and Russia. According to the 1926 census, there were 1574428 Jews in the Ukrainian SSR, according to the 1937 census - 1470484, according to the 1939 census - 1532776.
After the annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia to the Ukrainian SSR in the fall of 1939, as well as Northern Bukovina in mid-1940, the number of Jews in the Ukrainian SSR increased by about 1 million people.
On the eve of the German attack on the USSR, over 2.6 million Jews lived on the territory of Ukraine (within its present-day borders); by the number of Jews, Ukraine ranked first in Europe and second in the world (after the United States).
After the annexation of Eastern Galicia and Volhynia to the Ukrainian SSR in the fall of 1939, as well as Northern Bukovina in mid-1940, the number of Jews in the Ukrainian SSR increased by about 1 million people.
On the eve of the German attack on the USSR, over 2.6 million Jews lived on the territory of Ukraine (within its present-day borders); by the number of Jews, Ukraine ranked first in Europe and second in the world (after the United States).
The distribution of Jews by region is illustrated by the following table 1-2
| Region | Pre-war Jewish population | Region | Pre-war Jewish population | |
| Lviv [1] | 355,000 | Rivne | 112,000 | |
| Kyiv [2] | 297,409 | Chernivtsi | 102,000 | |
| Odessa [3] | 272,000 | Donetsk | 65,556 | |
| Vinnitsa | 141,825 | Crimea | 65,452 | |
| Ivano - Frankivsk | 140,000 | Poltava | 46,928 | |
| Kharkiv | 136,746 | Zaporizhzhia | 43,321 | |
| Ternopil | 136,000 | Nikolaev | 38,402 | |
| Dnipropetrovsk | 129,439 | Chernihiv | 31,887 | |
| Zhytomyr | 125,007 | Kherson | 28,000 | |
| Volyn | 123,000 | Kirovograd | 26,419 | |
| Transcarpathia | 123,000 | Luhansk | 19,949 | |
| Khmelnytskyi | 121,335 | Sumy | 16,363 |
[1] Including the then Drohobych region.
[2] Including the future Cherkasy region.
[3] Including the then Izmail region
[2] Including the future Cherkasy region.
[3] Including the then Izmail region
When compiling the table, the following sources were used:
1. The former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1939 census): Altshuler M . ( Ed .) Distribution of the Jewish Population of the USSR 1939. Jerusalem 1993.
2. The former Polish part of Ukraine (Lviv, Ternopil, Stanislav / Ivano-Frankivsk , Volyn and Rivne regions) (population census 1931, in the table the figures are given taking into account the natural increase in 1931-41 and Jewish refugees from Poland in the fall of 1939 ):
Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 68. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Lwowskie. Bez miasta Lwowa. Warszawa 1938; Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 65. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Stanisławowskie. Warszawa 1938; Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 78. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Tarnopolskie. Warszawa 1938; Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 70. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Wołyńskie. Warszawa, 1938
3. Transcarpatian region ( census 1941 ) Toth Gabor. "Az eltavolitas haladektalanul vegrehajtando ". Deportálások Kárpátalján a második világháborứ idején , in: Műhelytanulmány 32.Budapest , 2008, p. eleven
1. The former Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (1939 census): Altshuler M . ( Ed .) Distribution of the Jewish Population of the USSR 1939. Jerusalem 1993.
2. The former Polish part of Ukraine (Lviv, Ternopil, Stanislav / Ivano-Frankivsk , Volyn and Rivne regions) (population census 1931, in the table the figures are given taking into account the natural increase in 1931-41 and Jewish refugees from Poland in the fall of 1939 ):
Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 68. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Lwowskie. Bez miasta Lwowa. Warszawa 1938; Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 65. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Stanisławowskie. Warszawa 1938; Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 78. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Tarnopolskie. Warszawa 1938; Główny Urząd Statystyczny Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. Statystyka Polski. Seria C. Zeszyt 70. Drugi powszechny spis ludności z dn. 9.XII.1931 r. Mieszkania i gospodarstwa domowe. Ludność. Stosunki zawodowe. Województwo Wołyńskie. Warszawa, 1938
3. Transcarpatian region ( census 1941 ) Toth Gabor. "Az eltavolitas haladektalanul vegrehajtando ". Deportálások Kárpátalján a második világháborứ idején , in: Műhelytanulmány 32.Budapest , 2008, p. eleven
2. Nazis plan of total destruction of Jews
On the eve of the German attack on the USSR, four operational groups of the Security Police and SD (A, B, C and D) were created. The task of the groups was to "ensure security" in the rear of the German troops. The meaning of the "ensuring security" was primarily the destruction of real and potential political (communists, Soviet activists, partisans) and racial (Jews) opponents of Nazism. At the same time, the written orders to the operational groups did not mention the total extermination of Jews. At first, it was only about the liquidation of the Jewish intelligentsia and Jews - the functionaries of the Communist Party and the Soviet apparatus. However, these orders against the Jews were so vague that they could be understood in any way.
At a meeting of the fuhrer’s task forces and SD teams, held on the eve of the German attack on the USSR, the chief of the security police and SD Heydrich said, referring to the order of the fuehrer, “During the campaign to the East, Eastern Jewry as the spiritual reservoir of world Bolshevism ... must be destroyed."[1].
In operational order No. 2 of 1.7.1941, he emphasized that cleanup actions should primarily apply to the Bolsheviks and Jews."[2]. If desired, Jews could be understood as Jews in general, regardless of gender and age. Some of the fuhrers operational groups and SD teams (for example, chief of Einsatzgruppe A, Stahlecker, fuhrer’s Einsatzkommando 2 Butz / Batz), understood this exactly and therefore almost immediately, already at the beginning of July 1941, proceeded toward the complete extermination of Jews in the area. For other officials, these words meant only a general attitude and therefore they took a wait-and-see approach and decided not to rush and act. It was done not on the basis of appeal but to wait for specific, clear, unambiguous orders. Such oral orders were soon received, after which, in the second half of August 1941, the universal extermination of Jews in the occupied territory of the USSR became widespread.
The fact that the all-out extermination of Jews in the occupied territory of the USSR began already in early July 1941 suggests, in our opinion, that the fundamental decision to exterminate Soviet Jews as Bolshevik Jews was made, most likely, before the German attack on the USSR. This is confirmed by most of the survivors of the war and interrogated former fuehrer SD teams.
In October 1944 Himmler ordered an end to the physical extermination of Jews [3]. However, for the USSR, this order no longer had any meaning. By that time the liberation of the previously occupied Soviet territory was completed.
At a meeting of the fuhrer’s task forces and SD teams, held on the eve of the German attack on the USSR, the chief of the security police and SD Heydrich said, referring to the order of the fuehrer, “During the campaign to the East, Eastern Jewry as the spiritual reservoir of world Bolshevism ... must be destroyed."[1].
In operational order No. 2 of 1.7.1941, he emphasized that cleanup actions should primarily apply to the Bolsheviks and Jews."[2]. If desired, Jews could be understood as Jews in general, regardless of gender and age. Some of the fuhrers operational groups and SD teams (for example, chief of Einsatzgruppe A, Stahlecker, fuhrer’s Einsatzkommando 2 Butz / Batz), understood this exactly and therefore almost immediately, already at the beginning of July 1941, proceeded toward the complete extermination of Jews in the area. For other officials, these words meant only a general attitude and therefore they took a wait-and-see approach and decided not to rush and act. It was done not on the basis of appeal but to wait for specific, clear, unambiguous orders. Such oral orders were soon received, after which, in the second half of August 1941, the universal extermination of Jews in the occupied territory of the USSR became widespread.
The fact that the all-out extermination of Jews in the occupied territory of the USSR began already in early July 1941 suggests, in our opinion, that the fundamental decision to exterminate Soviet Jews as Bolshevik Jews was made, most likely, before the German attack on the USSR. This is confirmed by most of the survivors of the war and interrogated former fuehrer SD teams.
In October 1944 Himmler ordered an end to the physical extermination of Jews [3]. However, for the USSR, this order no longer had any meaning. By that time the liberation of the previously occupied Soviet territory was completed.
[1] See: testimony at the trial in Darmstadt in the case of former members of Sonderkommando 4a on 4.3.1968, former commander of Sonderkommando 7a Walter Blume // BArch B 162/17913, Bl. 1340-1341, 1344
[2] Klein P. (Hg.) Die Einsatzgruppen in der Sowjetunion 1941/42. Die Tätigkeits- und Lageberichte des Chefs der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD. Berlin 1997 (hereinafter - Die Einsatzgruppen in der Sowjetunion 1941/42). - S. 320
{3] Testimony of witness Dieter Wisliceny at the session of the International Military Tribunal on January 3, 1946 // Trial of the major war criminals before the International Military Tribunal. Nuremberg 14 November 1945 - 1 October 1946. Volume IV. Published at Nuremberg, Germany, 1947. - P. 360. See also: statement of the former SS-Standartenführer Kurt Becher of 8.3.1946 (The Nuremberg trials of the main German war criminals. Collection of materials in three volumes. Volume 3 / Under the general edited by R. A. Rudenko. - Moscow: Publishing house "Legal Literature", 1966. - pp. 587-588); written testimony (November 1946, Krakow) of the former commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp Rudolf Höß "The final solution of the Jewish question in KL Auschwitz."p . 160).
3. The occupation of Ukraine
The territory of Ukraine was occupied by German troops and troops of its allies (Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Italy) mainly in June - October 1941 (Luhansk region - in July 1942), i.e., one to four months after the Germany attack on the USSR (6.22.1941). Western Ukraine was occupied relatively quickly, within two to three weeks.
On September 1, 1941, the so-called "Reichskommissariat Ukraine" (RKU) was formed with the German civil administration, with Volhynia and Podolie included in RKU. Up to the end of 1941, the entire Right-Bank Ukraine was gradually included in the RKU. The Poltava region and parts of the Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions east of the Dnieper river were added on September 1,1942. Eastern Galicia (Lvov, Drohobych, Ternopil and Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk) regions were included in the "Polish governorship general" as a "Galicia district” on August 1, 1941. The territory of Ukraine between the Dniester and the Southern Bug rivers, i.e., Odessa region, parts of Vinnytsa and Nikolaev regions west of the Southern Bug river, Hitler transferred under the control of Romania on September 1, 1941; this territory was named "Transnistria Governorate" (Transnistria). The Chernivtsi region which was included in the newly formed “Governorship of Bukovina”, and the Izmail region which was included in the newly formed “Governorship of Bessarabia” also went to Romania. The Eastern Ukraine - Kharkiv, Donetsk, Lugansk regions, as well as Chernigov and Sumy regions were under control of the German military administration and remained so until the liberation of this territory.
On September 1, 1941, the so-called "Reichskommissariat Ukraine" (RKU) was formed with the German civil administration, with Volhynia and Podolie included in RKU. Up to the end of 1941, the entire Right-Bank Ukraine was gradually included in the RKU. The Poltava region and parts of the Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhye regions east of the Dnieper river were added on September 1,1942. Eastern Galicia (Lvov, Drohobych, Ternopil and Stanislav (Ivano-Frankivsk) regions were included in the "Polish governorship general" as a "Galicia district” on August 1, 1941. The territory of Ukraine between the Dniester and the Southern Bug rivers, i.e., Odessa region, parts of Vinnytsa and Nikolaev regions west of the Southern Bug river, Hitler transferred under the control of Romania on September 1, 1941; this territory was named "Transnistria Governorate" (Transnistria). The Chernivtsi region which was included in the newly formed “Governorship of Bukovina”, and the Izmail region which was included in the newly formed “Governorship of Bessarabia” also went to Romania. The Eastern Ukraine - Kharkiv, Donetsk, Lugansk regions, as well as Chernigov and Sumy regions were under control of the German military administration and remained so until the liberation of this territory.
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Zones of occupation of Ukraine
(Shoa in Ukraine. History, news, confirmation. For the editorial Rhea Brandon and Wendy Lauer. Per. from eng. - Kiev: Spirit of the Litera, 2011. - P. 68) The territory of the Vinnytsa and Nikolaev regions located east of the Yuzhny Bug river were partly included in the RKU. The territory west of the Yuzhny Bug river were included in the Romanian "Transnistria". |
4. The implementation of Nazis “Final solution”
The extermination of Jews in the second half of 1941
The extermination of Jews by the German army and their local accomplices began on June 22, 1941, which was the first day of Nazi Germany's attack on the USSR. On this day, German soldiers who occupied the city of Sokal in the Lviv region captured 11 Jews in the streets, then proceeded to beat them and kill them[1]. The murder of Jews continued until the liberation of Ukraine, with the last murders taking place in mid-July of 1944 in the city of Lviv; there, before retreating from the city, the Germans shot and burned Jewish artisans and specialists who had been put in prison [2]. In the second half of August of 1941, there was a fundamental change in Holocaust policy within Ukraine, in that the Germans began a universal extermination of Jews as opposed to just executing Jewish men to prevent them from organizing future resistance. This change can first be seen in the cities of Belaya Tserkov in the Kyiv region and Kamenets-Podolsky in the Khmelnytsky region[3]. In Belaya Tserkov, a detachment of Sonderkommando 4a, led by SS Obersturmfuehrer August Häfner, executed Jewish children along with adult Jews for the first time[4]. In Kamyanets-Podolsk, the Germans initiated a three-day "gross action" from August 26-28, 1941; during this time, the "headquarters company" of the SS Supreme Fuehrer, with the cooperation of SS Obergruppenfuehrer Friedrich Jeckeln's Police Regiment South and the 320th Police Battalion, almost completely exterminated the local Jews and the "foreign" Jews from Hungary that had been deported to the city[5].
In the second half of 1941, more than 500,000 Jews were exterminated in Ukraine.
Approximately 300,000 of these casualties can be attributed to the teams in Task Forces C and D, as well as to Police Regiment South, the 1st SS Infantry Brigade, and the 304th and 320th Police Battalions. From late July to early November, the four teams of Task Force C (Einsatzgruppe C) shot more than 85,000 Jews, the five teams of Task Force D (Einsatzgruppe D) executed about 75,000 Jews, and the subordinate units of the SS and the police battalions killed about 140,000 Jews [6]. During its five months of activity in Ukraine from the end of June to the end of November, the Sonderkommando 4a sub-group within Einsatzgruppe C shot 59,018 people, most of whom were Jews[7]. The largest “Jewish action” during this period was the “gross action” in Kyiv from September 29-30, 1941, when SS and police battalions reporting to Eekeln exterminated the remaining Jewish population of the city as part of the “final solution of the Jewish question”[8]. For Eckeln and his subordinates, the action in Kyiv was nothing special, as they had already murdered tens of thousands of Jews within a number of Ukrainian settlements. During the month of August in 1941, Eekeln's units shot a staggering 44,125 people, mostly Jews[9]. For SD teams, police battalions, and SS units, killing Jews as “the main carriers of Bolshevism”[10] became routine “work”, which, although disgusting, was considered a necessary part of the most important goal of the “campaign to the East”, which was to destroy the “Jewish-Bolshevik system” [11]. The action in Kyiv did not signal a change in the policy of extermination within Ukraine, as this had already occurred a month to a month and a half earlier. However, this action became one of the symbols of the anti-Jewish genocide strictly by its scale, as about 22,000 victims were killed in just one day, with the total reaching 34,000 after two days. Never before or after were the Nazis able to exterminate so many Jews in one day - not even in Auschwitz or Treblinka. Current and future generations will surely remember Babi Yar for a long time to come.
The extermination of Jews by the German army and their local accomplices began on June 22, 1941, which was the first day of Nazi Germany's attack on the USSR. On this day, German soldiers who occupied the city of Sokal in the Lviv region captured 11 Jews in the streets, then proceeded to beat them and kill them[1]. The murder of Jews continued until the liberation of Ukraine, with the last murders taking place in mid-July of 1944 in the city of Lviv; there, before retreating from the city, the Germans shot and burned Jewish artisans and specialists who had been put in prison [2]. In the second half of August of 1941, there was a fundamental change in Holocaust policy within Ukraine, in that the Germans began a universal extermination of Jews as opposed to just executing Jewish men to prevent them from organizing future resistance. This change can first be seen in the cities of Belaya Tserkov in the Kyiv region and Kamenets-Podolsky in the Khmelnytsky region[3]. In Belaya Tserkov, a detachment of Sonderkommando 4a, led by SS Obersturmfuehrer August Häfner, executed Jewish children along with adult Jews for the first time[4]. In Kamyanets-Podolsk, the Germans initiated a three-day "gross action" from August 26-28, 1941; during this time, the "headquarters company" of the SS Supreme Fuehrer, with the cooperation of SS Obergruppenfuehrer Friedrich Jeckeln's Police Regiment South and the 320th Police Battalion, almost completely exterminated the local Jews and the "foreign" Jews from Hungary that had been deported to the city[5].
In the second half of 1941, more than 500,000 Jews were exterminated in Ukraine.
Approximately 300,000 of these casualties can be attributed to the teams in Task Forces C and D, as well as to Police Regiment South, the 1st SS Infantry Brigade, and the 304th and 320th Police Battalions. From late July to early November, the four teams of Task Force C (Einsatzgruppe C) shot more than 85,000 Jews, the five teams of Task Force D (Einsatzgruppe D) executed about 75,000 Jews, and the subordinate units of the SS and the police battalions killed about 140,000 Jews [6]. During its five months of activity in Ukraine from the end of June to the end of November, the Sonderkommando 4a sub-group within Einsatzgruppe C shot 59,018 people, most of whom were Jews[7]. The largest “Jewish action” during this period was the “gross action” in Kyiv from September 29-30, 1941, when SS and police battalions reporting to Eekeln exterminated the remaining Jewish population of the city as part of the “final solution of the Jewish question”[8]. For Eckeln and his subordinates, the action in Kyiv was nothing special, as they had already murdered tens of thousands of Jews within a number of Ukrainian settlements. During the month of August in 1941, Eekeln's units shot a staggering 44,125 people, mostly Jews[9]. For SD teams, police battalions, and SS units, killing Jews as “the main carriers of Bolshevism”[10] became routine “work”, which, although disgusting, was considered a necessary part of the most important goal of the “campaign to the East”, which was to destroy the “Jewish-Bolshevik system” [11]. The action in Kyiv did not signal a change in the policy of extermination within Ukraine, as this had already occurred a month to a month and a half earlier. However, this action became one of the symbols of the anti-Jewish genocide strictly by its scale, as about 22,000 victims were killed in just one day, with the total reaching 34,000 after two days. Never before or after were the Nazis able to exterminate so many Jews in one day - not even in Auschwitz or Treblinka. Current and future generations will surely remember Babi Yar for a long time to come.
Babi Yar - the location where the Jews of Kyiv were executed at the end of September of 1941
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By the time that Kyiv was seized, the Germans were already carrying out the order for the total extermination of Jews in the occupied regions of the Soviet Union [12]. These exterminations were generally preceded by intermediate steps such as registration, herding, isolation, and identification. In Kyiv, these preliminary measures were skipped due to an incident that occurred a few days after the city's occupation. This incident involved some explosions of radio-controlled mines, which caused a large fire in the city center and prompted the Nazis to "resolve the Jewish question" at an accelerated pace. This meant that the decimation of the remaining Jewish population in Kyiv took place just ten days after German troops captured the city. The speed of the destruction was the key difference between the tragedy that took place in Kyiv and similar tragedies that occurred in other cities.
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“... The Germans seized Jews right from the streets and their homes and forced them to work in the prisons. The task of capturing Jews was entrusted to the newly created Ukrainian police force. The Ukrainians and Poles willingly helped the Germans. In three or four days, the operation was completed. Every morning, the authorities rounded up about 1,000 Jews and distributed them among three prisons. Some were ordered to break concrete and dig up bodies, while others were led into small courtyards within the prisons and shot there. But even those “lucky ones” who stayed to work did not always return home. Some lost consciousness from the stench emanating from the open graves, and were dragged away and shot themselves. Overseers wearing gas masks watched over the workers, and beat them severely at times. These overseers were German soldiers and officers, and from time to time they encouraged themselves with wild cries such as "Revenge is Sweet!" The "Aryan" inhabitants of Lviv took part in this terrible spectacle, wandering in crowds through the courtyards and prison corridors and watching the suffering of the Jews with satisfaction. Hysterical cries rang out from the onlookers: “Shoot them! Shoot the killers!" Some of the townspeople actually helped the Germans beat the Jews. In the first few days of the occupation of Lviv by the Germans, more than 3,000 Jews were killed in the prisons. One of the most famous and popular rabbis of Lviv, Dr. Yehezkel Levin, was among them, along with his brother Aaron Levin, the Rabbi of Rzeszow."
Both local Jews who had remained during the occupation and Jews who had been deported from other areas were exterminated in Ukraine in the second half of 1941. From September to November, the Romanian gendarmerie deported large numbers of Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina to the Vinnitsa and Odessa regions, which combined to form an area known as "Transnistria". Several tens of thousands of the deportees died of starvation or were killed on the way to their new home; many also died of hunger and disease in the camps and ghettos that the Romanian invaders drove them into. The largest of these camps was the one in the village of Bogdanovka on the Yuzhny Bug River in the Domanevsky district of the Mykolaiv region. In this camp, at the end of December of 1941, Ukrainian police and German colonists, organized by the SS into "self-defense" units, shot and burned several tens of thousands of Jews.
The extermination of Jews in 1942
By 1942, about one third of the Jews remaining in the occupied territories within Ukraine had been exterminated. The invaders and their accomplices completely "cleared" the Jews within the modern borders of Kyiv and within the Nikolaev and Kherson regions. They also killed most of the remaining Jews in the Chernigov, Sumy, Poltava and Odessa regions, and in Crimea. Despite this, there were still more than 1.1 million Jews in Ukraine at the beginning of 1942; they were located within Transcarpathia (100,000) and the regions of Eastern Galicia (470,000-480,000), Volyn (170,000-175,000), and Podolia (175,000-180,000). The Romanian occupiers had moved a large number of Jews into a territory called "Transnistria" that was located between the Dniester River and the Southern Bug River. These deportees came from a variety of locations: over 25,000 were from Southern Bukovina in Romania, about 9,000 came from the Dorohoi district in Romania, 20,000-25,000 came from Bessarabia in the Republic of Moldova and 50,000-55,000 came from Northern Bukovina in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine. The overwhelming majority of Jews in Ukraine did not survive the year of 1942. The extermination of the remaining Jews in the Left-bank area of Ukraine (encompassing the Chernigov, Sumy, and Poltava regions) and Crimea was completed in the first six months of 1942, while the final six months signaled the end for the Jews in Volyn and Podolia. Over 300,000 Jews in Eastern Galicia were also killed during this time, with 230,000 of them taken to the Belzec camp in Poland for extermination. The single largest "transport action" of this period was carried out in Lviv from August 10-22, 1942. During the trial of Rudolf Röder and 14 others at the Stuttgart Regional Court on April 29, 1968, the verdict of the jury with respect to this action was as follows [15]:
“The August action in Lvov began on August 10, 1942. It lasted 2 weeks and cost the lives of at least 40,000 Jews who were gassed to death in Belzec. Participating in this action were units of the security police, police of order, gendarmerie, special service police and Ukrainian police. Unlike during the March action, the extermination targets were no longer required to be masked. With extreme cruelty, people were dragged out of their homes, gathered in the streets, and driven to collection points near the Janowska camp, Sobieski's school, and Teodora Square. There they were mistreated and beaten, and after a quick check, taken to Kleparov station. Once at the station, the victims were forced to stand in the heat all day long, and then pushed among 80-100 people into freight cars; they were not given water or any other relief from the elements, creating inhuman conditions.”
Learn more about “August Aktion” in Lviv …
During this action, 38,000 Jews made it to Belzec, and 2,000 of them were killed immediately on arrival [16]. Former SS Obersturmführer Kurt Gerstein described what awaited the surviving Jews in Belzec[17]:
In total, approximately 770,000-780,000 Jews were killed in Ukraine in 1942.
The extermination of Jews in 1943
By the beginning of 1943, Jews remained mainly in Eastern Galicia (comprised of the Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regions) and the regions of Vinnytsia, Transcarpathia, Chernivtsi, Odessa, Volyn, and Cherkasy. There were 161,514 Jews in
Eastern Galicia as of December 31, 1942, including several thousand in the Lubachów region of Poland. They lived mainly in 33 ghettos, with the following distribution: the 17 ghettos of the Lviv region contained about 87,000 Jews, the 13 ghettos of the Ternopil region contained about 40,000 Jews, and the three ghettos of the Ivano-Frankivsk region contained over 7,000 Jews. Additionally, 23,000-24,000 Jews were used in labor camps and estates as working teams. In the Ivano- Frankivsk region, 3000 of these were distributed among five camps: Stanislav (about 450 people), Bolekhiv (1800 people), Vyshkov (400 people), Broshnev (100 people), and Nebylov (250 people). In the Ternopil region, there were over 6,000 in 14 camps and 3,000 in over 20 estates. The Lviv region contained 12,000 in 16 camps, including 3,500 in Yanovsk, 2,500 in Drohobych, and 1,500 in Borislav.
In the Vinnitsa region, there were 74,000-75,000 Jews. The part of the region occupied by the Romanians contained over 70,000 of them, 50,000 of which had been deported from Bessarabia and Bukovina. The remainder, about 3,500, were located in the area occupied by the Germans; about 1,500 of these were in the Khmelnik ghetto and the remaining 2,000 were located in camps along the Litin-Vinnitsa-Voronovitsa-Nemirov- Raigorod-Gaisin-Krasnopolka highway. The Jewish population of the remaining regions was as follows: Transcarpathia contained 100,000 Jews, Chernivtsi had 15,000, Odessa contained 3,500-4,000 (including 2,500 in the Balta ghetto), Volyn had 1,500 in the Vladimir-Volynsky ghetto, and Cherkasy contained several hundred in labor camps.
In total, there were still 350,000 Jews in Ukraine at the start of 1943. About 150,000 of these were killed by the end of the year, mainly in the Lviv (85,000), Ternopil (about 47,000) and Ivano-Frankivsk (about 10,000) regions. Additionally, over 4,000 Jews were killed in the Vinnitsa region, about 1,500 in the Volyn region, and several hundred each in the Odessa, Kirovograd and Kyiv regions. The overwhelming majority of the victims were killed on the spot, while about 10,000 (mainly from the Lviv region) were taken to Poland for their executions. The largest action of this period was the early June liquidation of the Lviv ghetto, which contained about 20,000 Jews. Within 3 days, 10,000-12,000 were killed, while 5,000-6,000 were taken to the Sobibor liquidation camp[18] and about 2,000 were transferred to the Yanovsk camp[19]. The following link contains the testimony of former SS Wachman Vasily Litvinenko, who participated in the liquidation of the Yanovsk camp [20]
The extermination of the Jews in the first half of 1944
By the beginning of 1944, Ukraine's Jews were mostly located in the Romanian zone of occupation ("Transnistria" and Chernivtsi) and in Transcarpathia, which was part of Hungary at the time. Transnistria contained 65,000-70,000 Jews, most of whom had been deported there, while Chernivtsi contained 15,000 Jews and Transcarpathia contained about 100,000. Four to five thousand Jews were under German control in the following locations: the camps in Drohobych and Borislav contained 1,500 each, Lviv had several hundred, Tolstoy and the surrounding area in Ternopil region had several hundred, and Ivano-Frankovsk had several dozen. When the Germans occupied Hungary in March, the Jews of the Transcarpathian region also fell under their control. In total, 185,000-190,000 Jews remained in Ukraine at the start of the year. Between January and July of 1944, approximately 1,300 Jews were killed and over 100,000 (mainly from Transcarpathia) were deported to concentration camps in Poland.
Both local Jews who had remained during the occupation and Jews who had been deported from other areas were exterminated in Ukraine in the second half of 1941. From September to November, the Romanian gendarmerie deported large numbers of Jews from Bessarabia and Bukovina to the Vinnitsa and Odessa regions, which combined to form an area known as "Transnistria". Several tens of thousands of the deportees died of starvation or were killed on the way to their new home; many also died of hunger and disease in the camps and ghettos that the Romanian invaders drove them into. The largest of these camps was the one in the village of Bogdanovka on the Yuzhny Bug River in the Domanevsky district of the Mykolaiv region. In this camp, at the end of December of 1941, Ukrainian police and German colonists, organized by the SS into "self-defense" units, shot and burned several tens of thousands of Jews.
The extermination of Jews in 1942
By 1942, about one third of the Jews remaining in the occupied territories within Ukraine had been exterminated. The invaders and their accomplices completely "cleared" the Jews within the modern borders of Kyiv and within the Nikolaev and Kherson regions. They also killed most of the remaining Jews in the Chernigov, Sumy, Poltava and Odessa regions, and in Crimea. Despite this, there were still more than 1.1 million Jews in Ukraine at the beginning of 1942; they were located within Transcarpathia (100,000) and the regions of Eastern Galicia (470,000-480,000), Volyn (170,000-175,000), and Podolia (175,000-180,000). The Romanian occupiers had moved a large number of Jews into a territory called "Transnistria" that was located between the Dniester River and the Southern Bug River. These deportees came from a variety of locations: over 25,000 were from Southern Bukovina in Romania, about 9,000 came from the Dorohoi district in Romania, 20,000-25,000 came from Bessarabia in the Republic of Moldova and 50,000-55,000 came from Northern Bukovina in the Chernivtsi region of Ukraine. The overwhelming majority of Jews in Ukraine did not survive the year of 1942. The extermination of the remaining Jews in the Left-bank area of Ukraine (encompassing the Chernigov, Sumy, and Poltava regions) and Crimea was completed in the first six months of 1942, while the final six months signaled the end for the Jews in Volyn and Podolia. Over 300,000 Jews in Eastern Galicia were also killed during this time, with 230,000 of them taken to the Belzec camp in Poland for extermination. The single largest "transport action" of this period was carried out in Lviv from August 10-22, 1942. During the trial of Rudolf Röder and 14 others at the Stuttgart Regional Court on April 29, 1968, the verdict of the jury with respect to this action was as follows [15]:
“The August action in Lvov began on August 10, 1942. It lasted 2 weeks and cost the lives of at least 40,000 Jews who were gassed to death in Belzec. Participating in this action were units of the security police, police of order, gendarmerie, special service police and Ukrainian police. Unlike during the March action, the extermination targets were no longer required to be masked. With extreme cruelty, people were dragged out of their homes, gathered in the streets, and driven to collection points near the Janowska camp, Sobieski's school, and Teodora Square. There they were mistreated and beaten, and after a quick check, taken to Kleparov station. Once at the station, the victims were forced to stand in the heat all day long, and then pushed among 80-100 people into freight cars; they were not given water or any other relief from the elements, creating inhuman conditions.”
Learn more about “August Aktion” in Lviv …
During this action, 38,000 Jews made it to Belzec, and 2,000 of them were killed immediately on arrival [16]. Former SS Obersturmführer Kurt Gerstein described what awaited the surviving Jews in Belzec[17]:
In total, approximately 770,000-780,000 Jews were killed in Ukraine in 1942.
The extermination of Jews in 1943
By the beginning of 1943, Jews remained mainly in Eastern Galicia (comprised of the Lviv, Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regions) and the regions of Vinnytsia, Transcarpathia, Chernivtsi, Odessa, Volyn, and Cherkasy. There were 161,514 Jews in
Eastern Galicia as of December 31, 1942, including several thousand in the Lubachów region of Poland. They lived mainly in 33 ghettos, with the following distribution: the 17 ghettos of the Lviv region contained about 87,000 Jews, the 13 ghettos of the Ternopil region contained about 40,000 Jews, and the three ghettos of the Ivano-Frankivsk region contained over 7,000 Jews. Additionally, 23,000-24,000 Jews were used in labor camps and estates as working teams. In the Ivano- Frankivsk region, 3000 of these were distributed among five camps: Stanislav (about 450 people), Bolekhiv (1800 people), Vyshkov (400 people), Broshnev (100 people), and Nebylov (250 people). In the Ternopil region, there were over 6,000 in 14 camps and 3,000 in over 20 estates. The Lviv region contained 12,000 in 16 camps, including 3,500 in Yanovsk, 2,500 in Drohobych, and 1,500 in Borislav.
In the Vinnitsa region, there were 74,000-75,000 Jews. The part of the region occupied by the Romanians contained over 70,000 of them, 50,000 of which had been deported from Bessarabia and Bukovina. The remainder, about 3,500, were located in the area occupied by the Germans; about 1,500 of these were in the Khmelnik ghetto and the remaining 2,000 were located in camps along the Litin-Vinnitsa-Voronovitsa-Nemirov- Raigorod-Gaisin-Krasnopolka highway. The Jewish population of the remaining regions was as follows: Transcarpathia contained 100,000 Jews, Chernivtsi had 15,000, Odessa contained 3,500-4,000 (including 2,500 in the Balta ghetto), Volyn had 1,500 in the Vladimir-Volynsky ghetto, and Cherkasy contained several hundred in labor camps.
In total, there were still 350,000 Jews in Ukraine at the start of 1943. About 150,000 of these were killed by the end of the year, mainly in the Lviv (85,000), Ternopil (about 47,000) and Ivano-Frankivsk (about 10,000) regions. Additionally, over 4,000 Jews were killed in the Vinnitsa region, about 1,500 in the Volyn region, and several hundred each in the Odessa, Kirovograd and Kyiv regions. The overwhelming majority of the victims were killed on the spot, while about 10,000 (mainly from the Lviv region) were taken to Poland for their executions. The largest action of this period was the early June liquidation of the Lviv ghetto, which contained about 20,000 Jews. Within 3 days, 10,000-12,000 were killed, while 5,000-6,000 were taken to the Sobibor liquidation camp[18] and about 2,000 were transferred to the Yanovsk camp[19]. The following link contains the testimony of former SS Wachman Vasily Litvinenko, who participated in the liquidation of the Yanovsk camp [20]
The extermination of the Jews in the first half of 1944
By the beginning of 1944, Ukraine's Jews were mostly located in the Romanian zone of occupation ("Transnistria" and Chernivtsi) and in Transcarpathia, which was part of Hungary at the time. Transnistria contained 65,000-70,000 Jews, most of whom had been deported there, while Chernivtsi contained 15,000 Jews and Transcarpathia contained about 100,000. Four to five thousand Jews were under German control in the following locations: the camps in Drohobych and Borislav contained 1,500 each, Lviv had several hundred, Tolstoy and the surrounding area in Ternopil region had several hundred, and Ivano-Frankovsk had several dozen. When the Germans occupied Hungary in March, the Jews of the Transcarpathian region also fell under their control. In total, 185,000-190,000 Jews remained in Ukraine at the start of the year. Between January and July of 1944, approximately 1,300 Jews were killed and over 100,000 (mainly from Transcarpathia) were deported to concentration camps in Poland.
[1] Act of 7.10.1944 (State Archives of the Russian Federation / GARF, f.7021, op. 67, d.82, l.2).
[2] See the transcript of the interrogation on October 2, 1973, of a former member of the “Caucasian SD Company”, witness MA Jaburia (Bundesarchiv / BArch B 162/1145, Bl. 967-968).
[3] A. Kruglov The Holocaust in the occupied regions of the USSR: the problem of periodization and regional peculiarities // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: Ukrainian Vimir. Abstracts shornichny magazine. Vip. 10. Dnipro: Institute "Tkuma"; PP "Lira LTD", 2018 (pp. 65-93).
[4] See: Urteil LG Darmstadt Ks 1/67 (Gsta) vom 11/29/1968 gegen Callsen u. a., in: Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, Bd. 31, Amsterdam, 2004, S. 207-225; Groscurth H. Tagebücher eines Abwehroffiziers 1938-1940. Stuttgart, 1970, S. 534ff.
[5] See details: Mallmann K.-M. Der qualitative Sprung im Vernichtungsprozeß. Das Massaker von Kamenez-Podolsk Ende August 1941 // Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung, 10 (2001); Kruglov A. "Jewish action" in Kamenets-Podolsk at the end of August 1941 in the light of German documents // Holocaust and modernity: scientific hour writing. Kyiv: Ukrainian Center for Vivchennya Holokostu. - 2005 - No. 1. - P. 43–48.
[6] A. Kruglov Operational groups: crimes and punishment // Problems of history of the Holocaust: science journal. - Vipusk 2. Dnipropetrovsk: Center "Tkuma"; Zaporizhzhia: Prem'ur, 2005 (S. 66-98); Kruglov A. "Schießt ihn tot": the role of Eckeln's headquarters and subordinate units in the extermination of the Jews of Ukraine in the summer and autumn of 1941 // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: science journal. Vipusk 3. Dnipropetrovsk: Porogi, 2006 (pp. 26-65); Kruglov A. About the number of Jews exterminated by the Einsatzgruppen in 1941-1943. // Holocaust and modernity: Studios in Ukraine and society. Science hour writing - № 1 (3). - Kiev: Ukrainian Center for Vivchennia Holokostu, 2008 (pp. 39-64).
[7] Ereignismeldung UdSSR No. 156 dated 16 January 1942 (BArch B 162/444, Bl. 191).
[8] According to the 1939 census, 224,236 Jews lived in Kiev, accounting for 26.5% of the city's residents (Altshuler M. (Ed.) Distribution of the Jewish Population of the USSR 1939. Jerusalem, 1993, p. 20). Due to the fact that German troops occupied the city almost three months after the start of the war, a significant part of the Jews were able to evacuate, while the men liable for military service were drafted or voluntarily entered the army.
[9] Ereignismeldung UdSSR No. 94 dated 25.9.1941 (BArch B 162/438, Bl. 321).
[10] See: Order of the Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command Keitel of 12.9.1941 (Bundesarchiv - Militärarchiv RH 37/3114).
[11)] See: Order of the commander of the 6th Army, Field Marshal von Reichenau of 10.10.1941, "On the behavior of troops in the East" (GARF, f. 7021, op. 148, d. 454, l. 25).
[12] See in detail: Ogorreck R. Die Einsatzgruppen und die "Genesis der Endlösung". Berlin 1996; Browning Ch. R. The Path to Genocide: Essays on Launching the Final Solution, Cambridge University Press 1995; Browning Ch. R. Der Weg zur Endlösung. Entscheidungen und Täter, Rowohlt Tb. 2002; Browning Ch. R. The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 - March 1942, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
[13] Żbikowski A. Lokalne pogromy żydow w czerwcu i lipcu 1941 roku na wschodnich rubieżach II Rzeczypospolitej // Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego.-1992.- No. 2-3; Kruglov A. Pogroms in Eastern Galicia in the summer of 1941: organizers, participants, scale and consequences // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: a science journal of the All-Ukrainian Center for Vivchennia to the Holocaust "Tkuma". Issue 5. Dnipropetrovsk: Tkuma, 2010 (pp. 56-74); Witold Mędykowski. W cieniu gigantów. Pogromy żydów w 1941 roku w byłej sowieckiej strefie okupacyjnej. Kontekst historyczny, spoleczny i kulturowy. Warsaw, 2012; Geissbühler S. Blutiger Juli. Rumäniens Vernichtungskrieg und der vergessene Massenmord an den Juden 1941. Paderborn-München-Wien-Zürich: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2013; Struve K. Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt. Der Sommer 1941 in der Westukraine. Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2015
[14] Diary of the Lviv ghetto. Memoirs of Rabbi David Kahane. Compiled by Jeanne Cowba. Kiev: Spirit and Litera, 2003. - S. 26-27
[15] LG Stuttgart Ks5 / 65 Urteil v. 4/29/1968 gegen Röder u. a. (BArch B 162/14365, Bl. 81-88)
[16] In August 1942, the number of Jews in the city decreased by 40 thousand - from 76 thousand to 36 thousand (Friedman F. Zagłada żydow łwowskich. Łodz 1945, p. 23), including 2 thousand were killed on place (Schoenfeld J. Holocaust Memoires. Hoboken, New Jersy 1985, p. 112). See also the report of the Oberfeld Commandant's Office 365, Lviv, dated 17.9.42: "... in Lvov, 40,000 Jews were evicted ..." (Pohl D. Nationalsozialistische Judenverfolgung in Ostgalizien 1941 - 1944. Organization und Durchführung eines staatlichen Massenverbrechens. 2 Auflage München: R. Oldenbourg Verlag 1997, S. 313).
[17] See the statement of Kurt Gerstein dated 4.5.1945 (Poliakov L., Wulf J. Das Dritte Reich und die Juden. Berlin 1955, S. 103-108).
[18] According to the testimony of witness L. Feldhendler, in June 1943, a train with Jews from Lvov (50 cars) arrived at Sobibor, and in half of the cars, people were already dead (Dokumenty i materialy z czasow okupacji niemieckiej w Polsce. Tom 1.Obozy . Łodz, 1946, s.205). According to other sources (Blatt T. Sobibor. The Forgotten Revolt. A Survivor’s Report. Issaquah, WA, 1996, p. 33) Jewish transports from Lvov arrived at Sobibor on 22.5. and 4.7.1943
[19] So, in May 1943, about 1000 Jewish women who worked in sewing workshops were transferred to the camp (Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland, r. Nos. 3672, 3745, mem. No. 56).
[20] See the protocol of interrogations on 21 and 22.10.1968 of the accused V.N. (case No. 158 on charges of V.N. Litvinenko and four others, in 17 volumes, v. 1, pp. 66-71, in: the archive of the SBU for the Lviv region, architect No. 57252).
[2] See the transcript of the interrogation on October 2, 1973, of a former member of the “Caucasian SD Company”, witness MA Jaburia (Bundesarchiv / BArch B 162/1145, Bl. 967-968).
[3] A. Kruglov The Holocaust in the occupied regions of the USSR: the problem of periodization and regional peculiarities // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: Ukrainian Vimir. Abstracts shornichny magazine. Vip. 10. Dnipro: Institute "Tkuma"; PP "Lira LTD", 2018 (pp. 65-93).
[4] See: Urteil LG Darmstadt Ks 1/67 (Gsta) vom 11/29/1968 gegen Callsen u. a., in: Justiz und NS-Verbrechen, Bd. 31, Amsterdam, 2004, S. 207-225; Groscurth H. Tagebücher eines Abwehroffiziers 1938-1940. Stuttgart, 1970, S. 534ff.
[5] See details: Mallmann K.-M. Der qualitative Sprung im Vernichtungsprozeß. Das Massaker von Kamenez-Podolsk Ende August 1941 // Jahrbuch für Antisemitismusforschung, 10 (2001); Kruglov A. "Jewish action" in Kamenets-Podolsk at the end of August 1941 in the light of German documents // Holocaust and modernity: scientific hour writing. Kyiv: Ukrainian Center for Vivchennya Holokostu. - 2005 - No. 1. - P. 43–48.
[6] A. Kruglov Operational groups: crimes and punishment // Problems of history of the Holocaust: science journal. - Vipusk 2. Dnipropetrovsk: Center "Tkuma"; Zaporizhzhia: Prem'ur, 2005 (S. 66-98); Kruglov A. "Schießt ihn tot": the role of Eckeln's headquarters and subordinate units in the extermination of the Jews of Ukraine in the summer and autumn of 1941 // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: science journal. Vipusk 3. Dnipropetrovsk: Porogi, 2006 (pp. 26-65); Kruglov A. About the number of Jews exterminated by the Einsatzgruppen in 1941-1943. // Holocaust and modernity: Studios in Ukraine and society. Science hour writing - № 1 (3). - Kiev: Ukrainian Center for Vivchennia Holokostu, 2008 (pp. 39-64).
[7] Ereignismeldung UdSSR No. 156 dated 16 January 1942 (BArch B 162/444, Bl. 191).
[8] According to the 1939 census, 224,236 Jews lived in Kiev, accounting for 26.5% of the city's residents (Altshuler M. (Ed.) Distribution of the Jewish Population of the USSR 1939. Jerusalem, 1993, p. 20). Due to the fact that German troops occupied the city almost three months after the start of the war, a significant part of the Jews were able to evacuate, while the men liable for military service were drafted or voluntarily entered the army.
[9] Ereignismeldung UdSSR No. 94 dated 25.9.1941 (BArch B 162/438, Bl. 321).
[10] See: Order of the Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command Keitel of 12.9.1941 (Bundesarchiv - Militärarchiv RH 37/3114).
[11)] See: Order of the commander of the 6th Army, Field Marshal von Reichenau of 10.10.1941, "On the behavior of troops in the East" (GARF, f. 7021, op. 148, d. 454, l. 25).
[12] See in detail: Ogorreck R. Die Einsatzgruppen und die "Genesis der Endlösung". Berlin 1996; Browning Ch. R. The Path to Genocide: Essays on Launching the Final Solution, Cambridge University Press 1995; Browning Ch. R. Der Weg zur Endlösung. Entscheidungen und Täter, Rowohlt Tb. 2002; Browning Ch. R. The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939 - March 1942, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004.
[13] Żbikowski A. Lokalne pogromy żydow w czerwcu i lipcu 1941 roku na wschodnich rubieżach II Rzeczypospolitej // Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego.-1992.- No. 2-3; Kruglov A. Pogroms in Eastern Galicia in the summer of 1941: organizers, participants, scale and consequences // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: a science journal of the All-Ukrainian Center for Vivchennia to the Holocaust "Tkuma". Issue 5. Dnipropetrovsk: Tkuma, 2010 (pp. 56-74); Witold Mędykowski. W cieniu gigantów. Pogromy żydów w 1941 roku w byłej sowieckiej strefie okupacyjnej. Kontekst historyczny, spoleczny i kulturowy. Warsaw, 2012; Geissbühler S. Blutiger Juli. Rumäniens Vernichtungskrieg und der vergessene Massenmord an den Juden 1941. Paderborn-München-Wien-Zürich: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2013; Struve K. Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt. Der Sommer 1941 in der Westukraine. Oldenbourg: De Gruyter, 2015
[14] Diary of the Lviv ghetto. Memoirs of Rabbi David Kahane. Compiled by Jeanne Cowba. Kiev: Spirit and Litera, 2003. - S. 26-27
[15] LG Stuttgart Ks5 / 65 Urteil v. 4/29/1968 gegen Röder u. a. (BArch B 162/14365, Bl. 81-88)
[16] In August 1942, the number of Jews in the city decreased by 40 thousand - from 76 thousand to 36 thousand (Friedman F. Zagłada żydow łwowskich. Łodz 1945, p. 23), including 2 thousand were killed on place (Schoenfeld J. Holocaust Memoires. Hoboken, New Jersy 1985, p. 112). See also the report of the Oberfeld Commandant's Office 365, Lviv, dated 17.9.42: "... in Lvov, 40,000 Jews were evicted ..." (Pohl D. Nationalsozialistische Judenverfolgung in Ostgalizien 1941 - 1944. Organization und Durchführung eines staatlichen Massenverbrechens. 2 Auflage München: R. Oldenbourg Verlag 1997, S. 313).
[17] See the statement of Kurt Gerstein dated 4.5.1945 (Poliakov L., Wulf J. Das Dritte Reich und die Juden. Berlin 1955, S. 103-108).
[18] According to the testimony of witness L. Feldhendler, in June 1943, a train with Jews from Lvov (50 cars) arrived at Sobibor, and in half of the cars, people were already dead (Dokumenty i materialy z czasow okupacji niemieckiej w Polsce. Tom 1.Obozy . Łodz, 1946, s.205). According to other sources (Blatt T. Sobibor. The Forgotten Revolt. A Survivor’s Report. Issaquah, WA, 1996, p. 33) Jewish transports from Lvov arrived at Sobibor on 22.5. and 4.7.1943
[19] So, in May 1943, about 1000 Jewish women who worked in sewing workshops were transferred to the camp (Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute in Poland, r. Nos. 3672, 3745, mem. No. 56).
[20] See the protocol of interrogations on 21 and 22.10.1968 of the accused V.N. (case No. 158 on charges of V.N. Litvinenko and four others, in 17 volumes, v. 1, pp. 66-71, in: the archive of the SBU for the Lviv region, architect No. 57252).
5. Methods of the extermination of Jews in Ukraine
The overwhelming majority of Ukraine's Jews were exterminated on Ukrainian territory; over 22 percent (about 345,000) were taken out of the country and killed on Polish territory. They were Jews from the Lviv region (over 170,000, or over 60 percent of Jews killed), the Ternopil region (over 41,000, or 28 percent of all victims) and the Zakarpatska region (95,000, or 86 percent of all victims).
The overwhelming majority of Jews (over 70 percent) were executed by shooting, 22-23 percent by poison gas, and approximately 5 percent (mainly in the Romanian occupation zone) died in ghettoes or camps from starvation or illness.
The various occupation zones in Ukraine had their own characteristics and specificities when it came to the extermination of Jews. For example, although ghettoes were created in the military administration zone, they were few in number. In most communities there, Jews were killed onsite without prior removal to ghettos. Fourteen “ghettos” were created in this zone – six in the Chernihiv region, two in the Sumy region, three in the Kharkiv region, and three in the Donetsk region.[1] Furthermore, these “ghettos” were not typical ghettos, but zones where Jews were concentrated for a short time before they were exterminated. At the same time, in the German civilian administration zone (RKU and the District of Galicia), several hundred ghettos (open and closed) and labor camps (there were no camps in the military administration zone) were created, some of which existed for quite a long time – until the end of the occupation. In the military administration zone, the process of exterminating the remaining Jews was mostly complete by spring 1942, while in the RKU and the District of Galicia, this occurred by the end of 1942 and mid-1943, respectively. In the Romanian-occupied zone, especially in Transnistria, mass shootings of Jews mainly took place around German villages,[2] while in other parts of this zone, Jews in ghettos and camps were not exterminated. In the District of Galicia the process of exterminating Jews took two years, with part of the Jews killed onsite, and another part removed to the Belzec 1 extermination camp in Poland.
The overwhelming majority of Jews (over 70 percent) were executed by shooting, 22-23 percent by poison gas, and approximately 5 percent (mainly in the Romanian occupation zone) died in ghettoes or camps from starvation or illness.
The various occupation zones in Ukraine had their own characteristics and specificities when it came to the extermination of Jews. For example, although ghettoes were created in the military administration zone, they were few in number. In most communities there, Jews were killed onsite without prior removal to ghettos. Fourteen “ghettos” were created in this zone – six in the Chernihiv region, two in the Sumy region, three in the Kharkiv region, and three in the Donetsk region.[1] Furthermore, these “ghettos” were not typical ghettos, but zones where Jews were concentrated for a short time before they were exterminated. At the same time, in the German civilian administration zone (RKU and the District of Galicia), several hundred ghettos (open and closed) and labor camps (there were no camps in the military administration zone) were created, some of which existed for quite a long time – until the end of the occupation. In the military administration zone, the process of exterminating the remaining Jews was mostly complete by spring 1942, while in the RKU and the District of Galicia, this occurred by the end of 1942 and mid-1943, respectively. In the Romanian-occupied zone, especially in Transnistria, mass shootings of Jews mainly took place around German villages,[2] while in other parts of this zone, Jews in ghettos and camps were not exterminated. In the District of Galicia the process of exterminating Jews took two years, with part of the Jews killed onsite, and another part removed to the Belzec 1 extermination camp in Poland.
[1] Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945. Volume II: Ghettos in German-Occupied Eastern Europe. General Editor: Geoffrey P. Megargee, Volume Editor: Martin Dean, Introduction by Christopher R. Browning, Contributing Editor: Mel Hecker. Published in Association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Indiana University Press: Bloomington and Indianapolis 2012, p. 1760
[2] Kruglov A. Deportation and extermination of the Jews of Odessa in the northern districts of the region in 1942 // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: Ukrainian Vimir. Science journal. Vipusk 9. Dnipro: Ukrainian Institute of Vivchennia Holocaust "Tkuma"; PP "Lira LTD", 2017 (pp. 68-99); Kruglov A., Feferman K. Bloody Snow. The Mass Slaughter of Odessa Jews in Berezovka Uezd in the First Half of 1942, in: Yad Vashem Studies, vol. 47: 2 (2019), p. 14-44.
[2] Kruglov A. Deportation and extermination of the Jews of Odessa in the northern districts of the region in 1942 // Problems of the history of the Holocaust: Ukrainian Vimir. Science journal. Vipusk 9. Dnipro: Ukrainian Institute of Vivchennia Holocaust "Tkuma"; PP "Lira LTD", 2017 (pp. 68-99); Kruglov A., Feferman K. Bloody Snow. The Mass Slaughter of Odessa Jews in Berezovka Uezd in the First Half of 1942, in: Yad Vashem Studies, vol. 47: 2 (2019), p. 14-44.
6. Attempts by Nazis to Destroy Traces of Mass Killing
In 1943-1944 in various parts of Ukraine the Nazis made efforts to destroy mass graves by exhuming and burning corpses in order to conceal their crimes; this special operation was called Sonderaktion 1005.[1] In the German military administration zone, special operation 1005 was not implemented since, by the time it began in Ukraine (July-August 1943), this territory (mostly Eastern Ukraine) had effectively become a combat zone and was liberated very quickly (mainly in August-September 1943). The question of whether to implement Sonderaktion 1005 in the Romanian occupation zone did not come up at all, especially since the Selbstschutz self-protection units created by the SS from local ethnic Germans, who carried out mass shootings of Jews (mostly from Odessa) in 1942, generally covered their tracks immediately by burning the corpses of the Jews they had shot. As a result, Sonderaktion 1005 was practically carried out only in eastern Galicia and in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine zone.
During this special operation, in eastern Galicia in the Lviv and Stanislav districts more than 100,000 corpses were destroyed in 1943-1944.
In order to destroy the traces of mass killings in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine zone, two units were created – Sonderkommando 1005a and Sonderkommando 1005b. In total, in seven locations (Kyiv, Bila Tserkva, Dnipropetrovsk, Uman, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Voznesensk) these units burned at most 100,000 corpses, and most likely, around 85,000. In fact, the operation was a failure.
The Nazis were unable to achieve the goal they had set, namely to destroy all mass graves on Ukrainian territory. Out of hundreds of mass graves, they were able to destroy at most two dozen (1 to 2 percent of all graves) containing approximately 200,000 corpses (3 to 4 percent of all corpses).
During this special operation, in eastern Galicia in the Lviv and Stanislav districts more than 100,000 corpses were destroyed in 1943-1944.
In order to destroy the traces of mass killings in the Reichskommissariat Ukraine zone, two units were created – Sonderkommando 1005a and Sonderkommando 1005b. In total, in seven locations (Kyiv, Bila Tserkva, Dnipropetrovsk, Uman, Mykolaiv, Kherson, and Voznesensk) these units burned at most 100,000 corpses, and most likely, around 85,000. In fact, the operation was a failure.
The Nazis were unable to achieve the goal they had set, namely to destroy all mass graves on Ukrainian territory. Out of hundreds of mass graves, they were able to destroy at most two dozen (1 to 2 percent of all graves) containing approximately 200,000 corpses (3 to 4 percent of all corpses).
Routes taken by Sondercommando units 1005а and 1005b and areas
where Sonderaktion 1005 was carried out in Ukraine
(Angrick A. „Aktion 1005“– Spurenbeseitigung von NS-Massenverbrechen 1942–1945: Eine „geheime Reichssache“ im Spannungsfeld von Kriegswende und Propaganda. Wallstein, Göttingen 2018, S. 460)
|
The failure of the operation can be explained by the fact that the Nazis only began carrying it out in late summer 1943, when the strategic initiative had shifted decisively to the Soviet Union after the defeat of the German troops at Stalingrad and Kursk, and the liberation of Ukraine had began, which occurred over a relatively short period of time (about a year). That is why they no longer had time to develop their techniques and obliterate every mass grave. In addition, the manpower to carry out this operation was limited – in order to keep the operation secret the Nazis tried to limit the circle of people who knew as much as possible.
That is precisely why the obliteration of mass graves most likely did not begin everywhere at once, and in Lviv and Kyiv first. The Nazis did not manage to keep this operation a secret, despite their great efforts to keep it under wraps: Prisoner escapes in Kyiv and Lviv prevented them from doing so – Soviet security agencies had already received information about this operation, including its implementation in Kyiv, by November 1943. |
[1] See in detail: Spector Sh. Aktion 1005 - Effacing the Murder of Millions, in: Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vol. 5, # 2, 1990; Pere Patrick Desbois et Levana Frenk. Operation 1005. Des techniques et des hommes au service de l'effacement des traces de la Shoah, in: Les Etudes du CRIF (Paris), # 3, 2003 (44 p.); Hoffmann J. 'Das kann man nicht erzäIhlen', Aktion 1005 - Wie die Nazis die Spuren ihrer Massenmorde in Osteuropa beseitigten. Konkret Literatur Verlag, 2008; Angrick A. “Aktion 1005” - Spurenbeseitigung von NS-Massenverbrechen 1942–1945: Eine “geheime Reichssache“ im Spannungsfeld von Kriegswende und Propaganda. Wallstein, Göttingen 2018.
7. Grim statistics of Holocaust in Ukraine
In total, about 1.55 million Jews were exterminated in Ukraine using various methods in 1941-1944, including 50,000 Jews from other countries (Moldova, Romania, Hungary). The breakdown of the victims by region is as follows:
Table 7-1
Table 7-1
| Region | Pre-war Jewish population | Number of Jewish victims | Number of victims as a share of pre-war Jewish population, % | |
| Lviv | 355000 | 302000 | 85 | |
| Kyiv | 297409 | 77000 | 26 | |
| Odessa | 272000 | 117000Â [1)] | ||
| Â 90000 -local | 33 | |||
| Vinnitsa | 141825 | 160000 [2] | ||
| 115000-local | 81 | |||
| Ivano - Frankivsk | 140,000 | 132000 | 94 | |
| Kharkiv | 136746 | 12500 | 9 | |
| Ternopil | 136000 | 132000 | 97 | |
| Dnipropetrovsk | 129439 | 35000 | 27 | |
| Zhytomyr | 125007 | 55000 | 44 | |
| Volyn | 123000 | 109000 | 89 | |
| Transcarpathia | 123000 | 100,000 | 81 | |
| Khmelnytskyi | 121335 | 115000Â [3] | ||
| 100000 local | 82 | |||
| Rivne | 112000 | 95000 | 85 | |
| Chernivtsi | 102000 | Â 11000 [4]Â Â Â Â Â 55000Â died in Transnistria5 | 65 | |
| Donetsk | 65556 | 16000 | 24 | |
| Crimea | 65452 | 27000 | 41 | |
| Poltava | 46928 | 11000 | 23 | |
| Zaporizhzhia | 43321 | 10000 | 23 | |
| Nikolaev | 38402 | Â 23000 [5]Â 15000 -local | ||
| 39 | ||||
| Chernihiv | 31887 | 4000 | 13 | |
| Kherson | 28000 | 18000 | 64 | |
| Kirovograd | 26419 | 12000 | 45 | |
| Luhansk | 19949 | 2000 | 10 | |
| Sumy | 16363 | 3000 | 18 |
[1] Including 90,000 local Jews and 27,000 from northern and southern Bukovina and Bessarabia.
[2] Including 115,000 local Jews and 45,000 from northern and southern Bukovina and Bessarabia.
[3] Including over 100,000 local Jews and 10,000-12,000 deported from Hungary.
[4] Only in the region. In addition, more than 75,000 Jews in 1941-2 were deported to Transnistria; more than 55,000 of them died there.
[5] Including 15,000 local Jews and 8,000 Jews from Odessa.
Jews who died as prisoners of war as well as Jews who were killed on Russian territory – mainly in the northern Caucasus, where they had been evacuated in 1941 and caught by the Germans in 1942 – should be added to the aforementioned total. Taking into account these victims, the total number of Ukrainian Jews killed is estimated at 1.6 million.
In 1941, the occupiers exterminated 85,000 Jews a month, or more than 2,600 a day. In 1942 it was 64,500 and over 2,000, respectively, and in 1943, 12,000 and 400, respectively.
The process of killing Ukraine's Jews (starting from when Ukraine was occupied) took two years in Galicia, one and a half years in Volhynia, Podolia, and Right-Bank Ukraine, and about half a year in southern and Left-Bank Ukraine.
In total, Ukraine lost about two thirds of its pre-war Jewish population. The table below shows how the Jewish population of various regions changed, mainly as a result of its physical destruction:
Table 7-2
[2] Including 115,000 local Jews and 45,000 from northern and southern Bukovina and Bessarabia.
[3] Including over 100,000 local Jews and 10,000-12,000 deported from Hungary.
[4] Only in the region. In addition, more than 75,000 Jews in 1941-2 were deported to Transnistria; more than 55,000 of them died there.
[5] Including 15,000 local Jews and 8,000 Jews from Odessa.
Jews who died as prisoners of war as well as Jews who were killed on Russian territory – mainly in the northern Caucasus, where they had been evacuated in 1941 and caught by the Germans in 1942 – should be added to the aforementioned total. Taking into account these victims, the total number of Ukrainian Jews killed is estimated at 1.6 million.
In 1941, the occupiers exterminated 85,000 Jews a month, or more than 2,600 a day. In 1942 it was 64,500 and over 2,000, respectively, and in 1943, 12,000 and 400, respectively.
The process of killing Ukraine's Jews (starting from when Ukraine was occupied) took two years in Galicia, one and a half years in Volhynia, Podolia, and Right-Bank Ukraine, and about half a year in southern and Left-Bank Ukraine.
In total, Ukraine lost about two thirds of its pre-war Jewish population. The table below shows how the Jewish population of various regions changed, mainly as a result of its physical destruction:
Table 7-2
| Region | Pre-war Jewish population | Jewish population | Jewish population in 1959 as a share of pre-war Jewish population, % | Decrease of | |
| by 1959 census | Jewish population | ||||
| between | |||||
| 1941 -1959 | |||||
| Lviv | 355,000 | 30,030 | 8.5 | 324,970 | |
| Kyiv 1 | 297,409 | 181,359 2 | 61.0 | 116,050 | |
| Odessa | 272,000 | 121,377 | 44.6 | 150,623 | |
| Vinnitsa | 141,825 | 50,157 | 35.4 | 91,668 | |
| Ivano - Frankivsk | 140,000 | 3,900 | 2.8 | 136,100 | |
| Kharkiv | 136,746 | 84,192 | 61.6 | 52,554 | |
| Ternopil | 136,000 | 1,600 | 1.2 | 134,400 | |
| Dnipropetrovsk | 129,439 | 73,256 | 56.6 | 56,183 | |
| Zhytomyr | 125,007 | 42,048 | 33.6 | 82,,959 | |
| Volyn | 123,000 | 1,500 | 1.2 | 12,500 | |
| Transcarpathia | 123,000 | 12,169 | 9.9 | 110,831 | |
| Khmelnytskyi | 121,335 | 19,050 | 15.7 | 102,285 | |
| Rivne | 112,000 | 2,600 | 2.3 | 109,400 | |
| Chernivtsi | 102,000 | 42,140 | 41.3 | 59,860 | |
| Donetsk | 65,556 | 42,501 | 64.8 | 23,055 | |
| Crimea | 65,452 | 26,374 | 40.3 | 39,078 | |
| Poltava | 46,928 | 12,287 | 26.2 | 34,642 | |
| Zaporizhzhia | 43,321 | 20,811 | 48 | 22,510 | |
| Mikolaev | 38,402 | 20,277 | 52.8 | 18,125 | |
| Chernihiv | 31,887 | 12,562 | 39.4 | 19,325 | |
| Kherson | 28,000 | 10,437 | 37.3 | 17,563 | |
| Kirovohrad | 26,419 | 9,505 | 36.0 | 16,914 | |
| Luhansk | 19,949 | 13,939 | 70 | 6,010 | |
| Sumy | 16,363 | 6,259 | 38.3 | 10,104 | |
| Total: | 2,605,238 | 840,311 | Average 32.25 | 1,856,709 |
[1] Including the current Cherkasy region.
[2] Including in the city of Kyiv - 153,466, in the Kyiv region -14,783 and in Cherkasy region - 13,110.
Jews lost the largest share, about two thirds, of their civilian population in Ukraine during the war. The scope of the loss of life was determined by geographical location.
In eastern and northern regions of Ukraine, the proportion of Jewish victims both in the total number of victims and in relation to the pre-war Jewish population is much smaller than in the western regions: these regions were occupied three to four months after the start of the war (Luhansk region as late as July 1942), and the vast majority of Jews were able to escape from these regions to the eastern parts of Soviet Union.
Due to the fact that western Ukraine was occupied relatively quickly, over the course of two to three weeks, the majority of Jews could not evacuate in time and remained in occupied areas, whereas in central, southern, and especially eastern Ukraine, the Jewish population had more time to evacuate to areas deep in the USSR, and the proportion of evacuated Jews reached 80-90 percent in some communities. For example, in Kyiv (captured on September 19, 1941), 80 percent of Jews joined the army or were evacuated; in Khmelnytskyi (Proskuriv, captured on August 14, 1941) the number was around 20 percent; in Vinnytsia (captured on July 19, 1941) it was around 40 percent; Kirovohrad (captured on August 14, 1941) it was 72 percent, in Kherson (captured on August 19, 1941) it was 60 percent, in Mykolaiv (captured on August 17, 1941) it was 72 percent; in Dnipropetrovsk (captured on August 25, 1941) it was 78 percent; in Chernihiv (captured on September 8, 1941) it was 96 percent; in Zaporizhzhia (captured on October 4, 1941) it was 83 percent; in Sumy (captured on October 10, 1941) it was 73 percent; in Donetsk (captured on October 20, 1941) it was 88 percent; in Kharkiv (captured on October 24, 1941) it was around 90 percent. All together, 700,000 to 750,000 Jews, or about 60 percent of all Jews from this area, were evacuated or drafted into the army. Nearly 1 million Jews were evacuated from Ukrainian territory as a whole in the summer and fall of 1941.
A lower share of Jewish victims is observed in those regions where conditions were favorable for development of the Soviet partisan resistance movement (Sumy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr), as well as in “proletarian” regions (Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk); the occupiers' brutality in these regions was not so much ethnically as politically motivated.
[2] Including in the city of Kyiv - 153,466, in the Kyiv region -14,783 and in Cherkasy region - 13,110.
Jews lost the largest share, about two thirds, of their civilian population in Ukraine during the war. The scope of the loss of life was determined by geographical location.
In eastern and northern regions of Ukraine, the proportion of Jewish victims both in the total number of victims and in relation to the pre-war Jewish population is much smaller than in the western regions: these regions were occupied three to four months after the start of the war (Luhansk region as late as July 1942), and the vast majority of Jews were able to escape from these regions to the eastern parts of Soviet Union.
Due to the fact that western Ukraine was occupied relatively quickly, over the course of two to three weeks, the majority of Jews could not evacuate in time and remained in occupied areas, whereas in central, southern, and especially eastern Ukraine, the Jewish population had more time to evacuate to areas deep in the USSR, and the proportion of evacuated Jews reached 80-90 percent in some communities. For example, in Kyiv (captured on September 19, 1941), 80 percent of Jews joined the army or were evacuated; in Khmelnytskyi (Proskuriv, captured on August 14, 1941) the number was around 20 percent; in Vinnytsia (captured on July 19, 1941) it was around 40 percent; Kirovohrad (captured on August 14, 1941) it was 72 percent, in Kherson (captured on August 19, 1941) it was 60 percent, in Mykolaiv (captured on August 17, 1941) it was 72 percent; in Dnipropetrovsk (captured on August 25, 1941) it was 78 percent; in Chernihiv (captured on September 8, 1941) it was 96 percent; in Zaporizhzhia (captured on October 4, 1941) it was 83 percent; in Sumy (captured on October 10, 1941) it was 73 percent; in Donetsk (captured on October 20, 1941) it was 88 percent; in Kharkiv (captured on October 24, 1941) it was around 90 percent. All together, 700,000 to 750,000 Jews, or about 60 percent of all Jews from this area, were evacuated or drafted into the army. Nearly 1 million Jews were evacuated from Ukrainian territory as a whole in the summer and fall of 1941.
A lower share of Jewish victims is observed in those regions where conditions were favorable for development of the Soviet partisan resistance movement (Sumy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr), as well as in “proletarian” regions (Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk); the occupiers' brutality in these regions was not so much ethnically as politically motivated.
8. The rescue of the Jews by The Righteous Among The Nations
Since 1963, Yad Vashem, the Israeli Shoah (Holocaust) Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, has been awarding the honorary title “Righteous Among the Nations” to non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews from imminent destruction in territories occupied by Nazi Germany and its allies.
The first Ukrainian to be awarded the honorary title “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1964 was Vasily Lopatinski, who served as the village elder of Kosov (Ivano-Frankivsk region) starting from November 1,1942; together with his wife, Anna, he hid seven Jews at their home.
As of January 1, 2020, the title “Righteous Among the Nations” has been awarded to 2,659 citizens of Ukraine.[1] Ukraine ranks fourth in terms of the number of Righteous (9.5 percent of the total number of Righteous), after Poland, the Netherlands, and France.
The following is a breakdown of the number of Ukrainian residents who have been honored with this title by year:
Table 8-1
The first Ukrainian to be awarded the honorary title “Righteous Among the Nations” in 1964 was Vasily Lopatinski, who served as the village elder of Kosov (Ivano-Frankivsk region) starting from November 1,1942; together with his wife, Anna, he hid seven Jews at their home.
As of January 1, 2020, the title “Righteous Among the Nations” has been awarded to 2,659 citizens of Ukraine.[1] Ukraine ranks fourth in terms of the number of Righteous (9.5 percent of the total number of Righteous), after Poland, the Netherlands, and France.
The following is a breakdown of the number of Ukrainian residents who have been honored with this title by year:
Table 8-1
| Year | Number of Righteous people | Year | Number of Righteous people | |
| 1964 | 2 | 1995 | 218 | |
| 1965 | 2 | 1996 | 194 | |
| 1966 | 1 | 1997 | 192 | |
| 1968 | 3 | 1998 | 165 | |
| 1969 | 1 | 1999 | 199 | |
| 1974 | 6 | 2000 | 210 | |
| 1976 | 1 | 2001 | 137 | |
| 1978 | 4 | 2002 | 124 | |
| 1979 | 1 | 2003 | 104 | |
| 1980 | 1 | 2004 | 94 | |
| 1981 | 6 | 2005 | 48 | |
| 1982 | 2 | 2006 | 45 | |
| 1983 | 21 | 2007 | 25 | |
| 1984 | 21 | 2008 | 29 | |
| 1985 | 8 | 2009 | 26 | |
| 1986 | 6 | 2010 | 20 | |
| 1987 | 3 | 2011 | 36 | |
| 1988 | 19 | 2012 | 41 | |
| 1989 | 13 | 2013 | 32 | |
| 1990 | 38 | 2014 | 46 | |
| 1991 | 20 | 2015 | 29 | |
| 1992 | 88 | 2016 | 30 | |
| 1993 | 77 | 2017 | 44 | |
| 1994 | 152 | 2018 | 15 | |
| 2019 | 25 |
The distribution of the Righteous among the regions of Ukraine (as of 1.1.2017) is given in the following
table 8-2 [38]:
table 8-2 [38]:
| Region | Oblast | Number of Righteous people | Total | |
| Western Ukraine | Volynskaya | 116 | 901 | |
| Ivano-Frankivsk | 75 | |||
| Lviv | 116 | |||
| Rivne | 216 | |||
| Ternopil | 168 | |||
| Khmelnytsky | 177 | |||
| Transcarpathian | 24 | |||
| Chernivtsi | 9 | |||
| Central Ukraine | Vinnitsa | 504 | 649 | |
| Kirovograd | 49 | |||
| Poltava | 36 | |||
| Cherkasskaya | 60 | |||
| Nothern Ukraine | Zhytomyr | 213 | 465 | |
| Kievskaya and Kiev | 221 | |||
| Chernihiv | 16 | |||
| Sumy | 15 | |||
| Southern Ukraine | Crimea | 27 | 383 | |
| Dnipropetrovsk | 69 | |||
| Zaporizhzhya | 21 | |||
| Nikolaevskaya | 81 | |||
| Odessa | 157 | |||
| Kherson | 28 | |||
| Eastern Ukraine | Donetsk | 45 | 140 | |
| Luhansk | 9 | |||
| Kharkiv | 86 | |||
| Region unknown | 1 | 1 | ||
| Moved to other countries after the war | Belarus | 2 | 35 | |
| Germany | 2 | |||
| Moldavia | 2 | |||
| Poland | 24 | |||
| Russia | 5 | |||
| Total | 2574 |
IIn reality, the number of rescuers was greater, since there is a category of people for whom evidence of rescuing Jews was either rejected by the Yad Vashem Commission for the Designation of the Righteous for a variety of reasons (for example, the story of Metropolitan Archbishop Andrey Sheptytsky saving Jews), or it was not submitted to Yad Vashem at all, and as a result, these rescuers have remained unknown and unrecognized.
It was not just local residents who helped save Ukrainian Jews, but also Germans – employees of the occupation administration, Wehrmacht military personnel, and even police and SS officers. Seven of them have been honored with the title “Righteous Among the Nations” for saving Jews in Ukraine. They are: Berthold Beitz, the business manager of an oil company (Karpathen-Öl AG) in Boryslav (Lviv region), agricultural expert Eberhard Helmrich, a regional farm leader (Gebietslandwirte) in Drohobych (Lviv region), Hermann Friedrich Graebe, the manager and chief engineer of the Josef Jung construction company (Solingen, Germany) in the town of Zdolbuniv (Rivne region), Hauptmann Dr. Fritz Fiedler, the military commander of the town of Horodenka (Ivano-Frankivsk region), Josef Meyer, director of the Department of Supplies and Agriculture at the district chief's (Krieshauptmann's) administration in Zloczow (Lviv region), Willi Ahrem, OT-Haupttruppführer [3] in the town of Nemyriv (Vinnytsia region), Konrad Schweser OT-Haupttruppführer in Teplyk (Vinnytsia region).[4]
The rescuers had different motivations. The first category were guided by religious convictions, the second acted on the basis of their awareness of the Nazi regime's criminality and their willingness to resist it however they could, the third were motivated by principles of decency and humanism, and the fourth, sympathy for the Jews (sometimes religiously motivated) or personal feelings toward a particular Jew.
It was not just local residents who helped save Ukrainian Jews, but also Germans – employees of the occupation administration, Wehrmacht military personnel, and even police and SS officers. Seven of them have been honored with the title “Righteous Among the Nations” for saving Jews in Ukraine. They are: Berthold Beitz, the business manager of an oil company (Karpathen-Öl AG) in Boryslav (Lviv region), agricultural expert Eberhard Helmrich, a regional farm leader (Gebietslandwirte) in Drohobych (Lviv region), Hermann Friedrich Graebe, the manager and chief engineer of the Josef Jung construction company (Solingen, Germany) in the town of Zdolbuniv (Rivne region), Hauptmann Dr. Fritz Fiedler, the military commander of the town of Horodenka (Ivano-Frankivsk region), Josef Meyer, director of the Department of Supplies and Agriculture at the district chief's (Krieshauptmann's) administration in Zloczow (Lviv region), Willi Ahrem, OT-Haupttruppführer [3] in the town of Nemyriv (Vinnytsia region), Konrad Schweser OT-Haupttruppführer in Teplyk (Vinnytsia region).[4]
The rescuers had different motivations. The first category were guided by religious convictions, the second acted on the basis of their awareness of the Nazi regime's criminality and their willingness to resist it however they could, the third were motivated by principles of decency and humanism, and the fourth, sympathy for the Jews (sometimes religiously motivated) or personal feelings toward a particular Jew.
[1] https://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/statistics.html
[2] Alexander Kruglov, Andrey Umansky, Igor Shchupak. Holocaust in Ukraine: the zone of the German military administration, the Romanian zone of occupation, the "Galicia"
[2] Alexander Kruglov, Andrey Umansky, Igor Shchupak. Holocaust in Ukraine: the zone of the German military administration, the Romanian zone of occupation, the "Galicia"
Map of Killing Sites in Ukraine by regions
Map of all Killing Sites in Ukraine
The Guide to Shoah Atlas (in English)
The Guide to Shoah Atlas (in Ukranian)
Map of all Killing Sites in Ukraine
The Guide to Shoah Atlas (in English)
The Guide to Shoah Atlas (in Ukranian)