"Small death jobs": the role of forced civilian persons in the Nazi plans of the Holocaust in the general district of Volyn-Podillia (on the materials of Yahad-in Unum)

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Rivne State Humanities University

“Small death jobs”: the role of forced civilian persons in the Nazi plans of the Holocaust in the general district of Volyn-Podillia (on the materials of Yahad-In Unum)

Roman Mykhalchuk, PhD (History),

Associate Professor of the Department of World History

Rivne, Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the role of the civilians ("small death jobs") in the Holocaust on the example of the General District "Volyn-Podillya" as a separate administrative entity of the Reich Commissariat Ukraine.

The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, objectivity, multifactoriality. The research has been carried out due to general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) methods, and special-historical (historical-typological, historical-systemic) methods. The oral history method played important role.

The scientific novelty is that for the first time in the Ukrainian historiography, the role of civilians ("small death jobs") in the Nazi plans to carry out the Holocaust during the enforcement of the functions required by the occupiers has been analyzed.

The study is based on the analysis of previously unintroduced scientific materials (Yahad-In Unum's oral history interview, Paris, France) and characterizes a particular region during the Nazi occupation of the Reich Commissariat Ukraine - the General District "Volyn-Podillya".

The Conclusions. Thus, civilians -forcibly workers involved into the murder of the Jews - became the Nazi service personnel in the implementation of Holocaust plans. Once being in the grip ofthe Nazi reality, these people were forced to perform their functions.

Often fellow villagers, neighbours of the victims of the occupiers, the tragedy of the Holocaust had many psychological consequences to many of them, which influenced physical condition and health.

Until recently, attention to the role of civilians ("small death jobs") has been on the margins of the research due to the lack of information in official documents and it has become more possible for analysis with the use of an oral-historical approach, eyewitness testimonies, a large video collection, which is included, in particular, into the Yahad-InUnum archive. Despite the fact that the functions of "small death jobs" and their role in the implementation of the Holocaust practicesc has been onsidered on the example of the General District "Volyn-Podillya", the results of the study, of course, have much broader significance for a general understanding of the problem of the Nazi-occupied Eastern Territories, where the civilians were made to do such forced work.

Key words: Holocaust, "smalldeathjobs", Volyn-Podillia, Yahad-In Unum, video testimony, oral history.

Анотація

“Small death jobs” : роль примусово задіяних цивільних осіб в нацистських планах здійснення голокосту в генеральній окрузі “Волинь-Поділля” (на матеріалах Яхад-Ін Унум)

Роман Михальчук, кандидат історичних наук, доцент кафедри всесвітньої історії Рівненського державного гуманітарного університету, м. Рівне, Україна

Мета дослідження - аналіз ролі цивільних осіб ("small death jobs”) у здійсненні Голокосту на прикладі генеральної округи "Волинь-Поділля” як окремого адміністративного утворення Райхскомісаріату Україна під час німецької окупації.

Методологія дослідження базується на засадах історизму, об'єктивністі, багатофакторності. Дослідження здійснено завдяки загальнонауковим (аналіз, синтез, узагальнення) методам, та спеціально-історичним (історико-типологічний, історико-системний). Важливу роль відіграв метод усної історії.

Наукова новизна. Уперше в українській історіографії здійснено аналіз ролі цивільних осіб ("small death jobs”) в нацистських планах здійснення Голокосту під час примусового виконання потрібних окупантам функцій. Дослідження виконано на основі аналізу раніше не введених до наукового обігу матеріалів (усних свідчень організаціїЯхад-ІнУнум, м. Париж, Франція) та характеризує окремо взятий регіон під час нацистської окупації Райхскомісарату Україна - генеральну округу "Волинь- Поділля”.

Висновки. Цивільні жителі - примусово забрані працівники, задіяні в процесі вбивства євреїв стали обслуговуючим персоналам нацистів у здійсненні планів Голокосту. Опинившись в лещатах нацистської дійсності, ці люди змушені були виконувати покладені на них функції, часто будучи односельцями, сусідами жертв окупантів. Трагедія Голокосту обернулася для багатьох з них психологічними наслідками, що впливали на фізичний стан та здоров'я. Досі увага до ролі цивільних осіб ("small death jobs”) була на маргінесі досліджень через брак інформації в офіційних документах і стала більш можливою із застосуванням у дослідженнях усноісторичного підходу, свідчень очевидців, велику відеоколекцію яких містить, зокрема, і архів Яхад-Ін Унум. Незважаючи на те, що функції "small death jobs” та їхня роль у здійсненні практик Голокосту розглянута на прикладі генерального округу "Волинь-Поділля”, результати дослідження, безумовно, мають набагато ширше значення для загального розуміння поставленої проблематики на окупованих нацистами східних теренах, де подібні примусові роботи/практики змушено було виконувати цивільних жителів.

Ключові слова: Голокост, ”small death jobs”, Волинь-Поділля, Яхад-Ін Унум, відеосвідчення, усна історія.

The Problem Statement

Yahad-In Unum (Paris, France) is an organization, which seeks for the Nazi victims' mass graves with the help of the witnesses, who observed the Jews and Roma murders during World War II in 8 countries (Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Lithuania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). The organization was founded in 2004 in France by the Catholic priest Fr. Patrick Desbois, Yahad-Inunum (meaning `together'), managed to identify about 2.4 thousand places of mass shootings and today the organization's video collection contains about 7 thousand units.

The archive's video evidence differs in the degree of the informativeness, but they have a common structure: the respondent's personal data, his social origin, the story of the coexistence of Jewish and non-Jewish population during the interwar period, the depicted events during the war - the Holocaust, the information about the places of the Jewish detention in ghettos and their mass shootings, the role of the military and the civilians in this process. In addition, the respondents, who were interviewed, showed the places they were telling about (the territory of the former ghettos, the places where the Jews were shot, the memorials that appeared during the Soviet era and during the period of independent Ukraine) and expressed their own judgments.

The scientific achievements of the above-mentioned oral history collection give us the golden opportunity to put emphasis on its powerful potential in the Holocaust research, due to the exclusive information, which could not be found in other sources. The German and Soviet documents may not always fully cover the process of involving civilians in the Holocaust as such information is displayed in the official documents rarely. Hence, the stories provided by victims, witnesses and perpetrators are considered to be the main sources which cover such facts to the fullest. As a result, Fr. Patrick Desbois noted the category of forced laborers among the local population in the implementation of Holocaust plans - “smalldeathjobs” (literally - “small deadly works”). Fr. Patrick Desbois calls these people an “invisible group” that was one of the main discoveries of the Yahad-InUnum project (Desbois, 2013, p. 96). The above-mentioned group of people were under the Nazi control and were forced to perform their functions in the Holocaust. nazi occupation ukraine holocaust

The Analysis of Sources and Recent Researches. The research is based on the works written by Fr. Patrick Desbois (Desbois, 2011; Desbois, 2013; Desbois, 2018) (French researcher, priest), which disclose the information about the above-mentioned category of people, which was found during the collection of evidence of “The Holocaust by Bullets” in the Eastern Europe (oral interview, recorded on video). The source base of the publication was the organization's archives video testimonies concerning the territory of Volyn-Podillya. In particular, on the example of Yahad-In Unum videos, there are 3 conditional groups of the eyewitness testimonies: the indirect witnesses, who did not see the murder but heard about it from the stories of others; the direct witnesses who were present at the time of the murder; the “Smalldeathjobs” - the people, who were forced to work at the scene of a murder (Desbois, 2011, pp. 101-102). The testimony provided by the “smalldeathjobs” is the most valuable because these people not only saw the process but also to some extent participated in the process itself. In addition, valuable sources of research were the documents of the State Archives of Rivne region, in particular, Kostopil Gebitkomisar Lenert's order to provide people with the paths followed by the Jewish columns and whose task was to collect and bury the Jews, who were shot during the escape (SARR, f. r. 29, d. 1, с. 22, р. 49). Another important archive is the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), where, in particular, in the criminal case of Khaim Sigal, 4 volumes of the Holocaust witnesses, who buried the executed Jews, provided some details on the campaign (SSASSU, f. 5, c. 67436, vol. 1-4).

There are still few works in the Ukrainian historiography that would cover the “smalldeathjobs” issue thoroughly. One of the scientific investigations written by Ivan Kapas about the ghetto, which was located in Dubrovytsya, is based on the materials of Khaim Sigal's archival and criminal case. It mentions the Jews graves' diggers, who witnessed the murder. Thus, according to the testimony of Peter Nashor, Philip Rock and Peter Elk, it is known that the massive shootings took place in two cemeteries, located in Dubrovytsia (Kapas, 2012, р. 84). Later on, after the war, these witnesses helped to establish the Jews probable burial place (Kapas, 2012, p. 86). Another research written by Roman Mykhalchuk, is based on eyewitness accounts of the Mizoch Holocaust, analyzes the facts of the forced use of the “smalldeathjobs” by the occupiers for their own purposes. Thus, Mizoch residents and the residents of neighboring villages were forced to bury graves at the site of the Jews murders in October 1942 (Mykhalchuk, 2017, p. 268).

The purpose of this research is to analyze the role of the civilians (“small death jobs”) in the Holocaust on the example of the General District “Volyn-Podillya” as a separate administrative entity of the Reich Commissariat Ukraine.

The topicality of the choice of this region for the analysis of these processes is explained by the fact that the above-mentioned areas played an important role in the functioning of the Reich administration in the occupied eastern territories. Numerous main Reich Commissariat Ukraine institutions were situated in this region. Moreover, the city of Rivne was the Reich Commissariat Ukraine center, the headquarters of the main quartermaster and economic department of “South”Army Group, the headquarters of the Wehrmacht rear units in Ukraine, the Central Issuing Bank of Ukraine, the German Supreme Court. In 1943, the region occupied the first place in the Reich Commissariat, and the second most populous. The Jewish community made up 60-80 % of the population of large cities.

Presentation of the main material

Fr. Patrick Desbois with the phrase “smalldeathjobs” calls those people, who were involved in forced labor at the scene of the murder (Desbois, 2011, pp. 101-102). Therefore, the attention will be focused on the persons' role involved in the execution place (digging and burying graves, bringing victims to execution sites, etc.), as well as the other functions when they were not in the direct contact with the victims (sorting, transportation, Jews property sale). The above-mentioned works were performed by force.

It should be noted that the oral testimony is a subjective source that requires the critical approach. While conducting the scientific research, it is vital to determine the reliability of the research by mutual comparison, the cross-case analysis application. The cross-case analysis method assumes that quotes, which are taken from interviews and the information contained in them are subject to “linking” with the information from other sources, which is the essence of the cross-criticism and analysis (Hrinchenko, Rebrova, & Romanova, 2012, p. 180).

The genocide implementation was the main spur for the use in this process not only the direct killers but also the auxiliary personnel, picked up from the civilians as service personnel. Such people were requisitioned to perform ancillary functions in the Holocaust by force. Patrick DesBois discovered more than 20 types of such work, which were done by “smalldeathjobs” (Desbois, 2013, pp. 96-97). The most popular jobs among them were the gravediggers before the execution, pits' diggers after the victims' murder, the carriers of people to the execution place, and so on. Sometimes the functions of such persons at the time of the shooting were quite specific. For example, in Stara Syniava, a witness recalled seeing her 16-year-old neighbor Ivan bringing the ammunition and wine in boxes on a sleigh. The German drank wine from a bottle there and performed massive shootings (YIU, Testimony 861UK. Stara Syniava). In addition, after the victims' murder, their property remained, as a result, it had to be sorted, if necessary cleaned of blood and dirt, later on the property should have been collected and sold. The above-mentioned work was performed in whole or in part by this category of the civilians.

The “smalldeathjobs” involved the civilians, mostly the settlements' residents, where the Jews (neighbors) were exterminated, as well as the Soviet prisoners of war and prisoners of the Nazi prisons. They were neither police officers nor collaborators. In general, it was young men and women, children or teenagers who were taken from home by armed men to perform work (Desbois,2011, p. 109). Thus, by involving these individuals, the penal authorities made a rational approach to the cause of the victims' extermination, while using human resources free of charge as free labor.

The orders on the need to perform a particular job in the hierarchy were sent vertically. For example, in Kostopil, during the Jews extermination on the 26^th of August in 1941, Lehnert, the Commissioner in a telephone message, addressed to Kostopil City Administration, noted that the roads on which the Jewish columns were going should be provided with the helping hands (people) as their task was to collect and bury the Jews, who were shot during the escape (SARR, f. r. 29, d. 1, с. 22, р. 49).

According to the order, which was issued on the same day, Kostopil City Council Head, F. Stepaniuk, appointed Matsyuk, Zakharchuk, Yaslovskyi, Trofimchuk, and Prokopyuk as the commissioners and those responsible for the case. Their task was to determine the required number of people immediately in order to collect and bury the Jews dead corpses, shot during the escape in certain areas (SARR, f.r. 29, d. 1, с. 22, р. 48). And those people (the performers) were already engaged in a specific job.

In Dubrovytsia, Petro Nashoru testified that he and his fellow villagers had been made to dig graves to bury the Jews. Thus, in August 1942, he received a written order to come to the town council of Dubrovytsia. There he saw his fellow villagers Peter Los, Philip Rock, Mark Korzhyk and other residents. According to the order of of Vasyl Havrylchuk, the head of the administration, they went, together with the police, headed by Khaim Syholenko, to the old Jewish cemetery. The task of Peter Nashor was to dig a big hole, and Khaim Syholenkoordered Peter Los, Philip Rok and Mark Korzhyk Sigolen to collect all the corpses of the Jews at the territory of Dubrovytsia (SSASSU, f. 5, c. 67436, vol. 2, р. 280).

In general, the need to do certain types of work for the civilians was reported by lower- level representatives of the local administration. These could be heads and commissioners of various levels, heads of villages, sergeants, burgomasters, sometimes police, gendarmerie.

It depended on the local government and its representatives what kind of work and its amount should be done by a particular person. That is why, one person could dig graves, another person - bury the bodies, another one - bring victims to the place of execution, distribute and pack victims' clothes, etc. However, according to the vailable sources, most often these functions were combined and their wide range had to be performed by the same people. For instance, in Sernyky, a man berofe the murder of the Jews first dug holes before the shooting, then buried the bodies of the Jews after the shooting, and then loaded and transported the Jews' belongings. Together with him, the same work was done by other people and horses. There was about a dozen of men (YIU, Testimony 544UK. Sernyky).

By hiring the civilians, they could be warned in advance. For instance, in the evening they were told to come for doing the next day's tasks, but this was often spontaneous. Such cases are recorded in many settlements. For instance, in Kozhan-Horodok anyone was chosen for burying the Jews, who came across: “Who stands in the street - come here”. Thus, about a dozen of people was involved in such work. They followed the column of the Jews to the place of execution at a distance of 50 m (YIU, Testimony 185B. Kozhan-Horodok).

In Mizocha, such work was avoided by teenagers, who came from a nearby village and accidentally saw killing in October 1942. The boys were detained by security police and were ordered to wait until the Jews were shot so that they could bury the Jews' dead bodies. However, in some period of time teenagers managed to escape and avoided doing such work (Mykhalchuk, 2017, p. 268).

Such types of work could take from several hours to two or three days. In the case of works related to the Jewish property, the term could be longer (for a month, as it is recorded in the testimony). Also, often it was not a one-time action, because this event required to be involved for several days. For instance, in Tuchyn, a man who buried the Jews' dead bodies, had to go and do the same job the next day again. (YIU, Testimony 1387UK. Tuchyn). A witness from Mikashevychi (near Brest) recalled that her brother had been told to go to work with a shovel. He was not at home for all night. He came back in the morning. He was allowed to go home, being told that if necessary, he would be called again (YIU, Testimony 235B. Mikashevychi (Brest)). In Dubrovytsia, a few days after the execution of the Jews, the same diggers were made to do such work again. At first, by the order of the commandant Sygolenko, men were made to dig holes, then they were allowed to go home. But after the murder of 40 Jews, the men were made to return to the murder place and to bury the Jews' dead bodies (Kapas, 2012, р. 102).

Despite such physically and morally difficult, dirty work, women were also made to do that kind of work, not only men. The compulsion to work for girls and women is explained by the fact that during the Nazi occupation there were not enough men, because they were on the fronts, in the underground, etc. For instance, near Pinsk, where the pits were dug near the airport, women were involved into the process of digging took part in this process (YIU, Testimony 176B. Halevo (Pinsk)).

It happened that the residents had no idea, why they were doing earthworks -digging holes, because the preparation for the shooting was a top secret. Therefore, even the diggers sometimes did not know the purpose of the dug holes, as noted by witnesses in Orynyn (YIU, Testimony 642UK.Orynyn), Minkivtsi and other villages. For instance, in Minkivtsi, people who were taken away and made to dig graves, were not allowed to leave the place of digging for a long time, so that they would not tell anyone about their work. And in order to conspire the process of digging graves, they were taken away at night (YIU, Testimony 684UK. Minkivtsi).

Sometimes security guards and police sometimes supervised the process of digging graves by civilians. But often there was no control. For instance, in Kozhan-Horodok, after the execution of the Jews, 10 - 15 people with shovels were ordered to bury the Jews' dead bodies. When the group began work, there were no Germans, no police, no guards. They did everything themselves (YIU, Testimony 188B. Kozhan-Horodok).

It was common practice to use the work of prisoners of war. Often civilians -residents of the region together with them did the work related to "smalldeathjobs". The detention and concentration of captive prisoners generally took place in big cities. For instance, in Rivne, a centre of Reich Commissariat, where in November 1941, 17,5 thousand of the Jews were killed, there worked a group of prisoners of war and civilians at the place of killing. According to the witness, who did the work, the police forced him to drive to the place of execution and transport the dead bodies to the pit. In total, there were 6-7 such carts. Along the road the dead bodies were of those Jews, who were shot when they tried to escape. The man's task was to transport the bodies, and the task of the prisoners of war was to load the bodies on the cart, dump them in a pit, and then to bury (YIU, Testimony 1416UK. Rivne).

The work of this category of civilians was not officially paid. Such people were simply taken away for a while, and then released. But unofficially, sometimes the reward could be. It all depended on the initiative of the local authorities. A witness from Balyn noted that those, who buried the Jews, could take the Jews'clothes, they were told to take the Jewish things. (YIU, Testimony 649UK. Балин). In Tuchyn one of the diggers was given the victims' clothes. There was a jacket that was suitable for his son, in which there was the money (a banknote - five). However, as the son Mykola noted later, he threw away the jacket because the acquaintance of the neighbour recognized it and Mykola was ashamed (YIU, Testimony 1387UK. Tuchyn). In Starokostiantyniv, according to a witness, women, who checked the clothes of the murdered Jews, were given it as a payment. The process itself lasted for a long time, about a month (YIU, Testimony 865UK. Starokostiantyniv).

Some of the diggers dared to take things. It is known that in Varkovychi the men, who buried the killed Jews, took their things (YIU, Testimony 1396UK. Varkovychi). However, this practice was dangerous, because it was possible to receive a severe punishment. For instance, in Sernyky, when loading the Jewish clothes, one worker took a jacket and put it on. This was noticed by a German, so the man had to be shot for such an act. He was not killed because the commandant of Sernykiv asked not to kill the man, who turned out to be his relative (YIU, Testimony 545UK. Sernyky).

Some people, who fulfilled completed the work, dared to take things on their own. It is known that in Varkovychi the men who buried the killed Jews took their things (YIU, Testimony 1396UK. Varkovychi). However, such kind of practice was dangerous, due to the severe punishment, which could be imposed. For example, in Sernyky, when loading the Jewish clothes, one worker took a jacket and put it on. As a German noticed that fact, the man had to be shot for such an act. The worker managed to get away with it owing to the commandant of Sernyky, who asked for man and turned out to be his relative (YIU, Testimony 545UK. Sernyky).

In some cases, the diggers managed not only to get the Jewish things, but also to give other residents the opportunity to do so. According to the witness, the diggers told other people that they could take the Jewish things and properties in Chetvertnia (YIU,Testimony 1475UK Chtvertnia). The above-mentioned situation was depicted in the testimony provided by the eyewitnesses repeatedly, but in general they should be classified as the exceptions. After all, the victims' clothes, things and all other property belonged to the state and the occupying authorities after their death, hence, it was a crime to distribute them to the civilians. Therefore, such cases could be only informal or semi-official.

The part of the studied category of people was lucky to avoid contact with dead bodies. Among them could be those, who were forced to fence the ghetto (YIU, Testimony 181B. Lakhva), who transported the Jews, who were alive to the execution place (for example, it is known from the stories about Lanivtsi) (YIU, Testimony 821UK. Lanivtsi), Vyshnivets (YIU, Testimony 841UK. Vyshnivets). It was also possible to avoid contacting the dead while carrying out forced work in the ghetto when after their elimination the people were forced to go to the building and take out the property, clothes, etc., which were then taken away by the occupiers (YIU, Testimony 839UK. Vyshnivets). For example, in Brest in 1942, the residents were driven into the ghetto and forced to put things, which were found there, in boxes. Then they were taken to the local market and sold. It is worth highlighting that the property (clothes) was sold in closed boxes, so people did not know what they were buying. However, such things were sold and the price per unit ranged from 5 to 20 marks (YIU, Testimony 161B. Brest). According to the fact, there was one man in Vyshnivets, who took the clothes at the place of the Jewish execution, took their property to the big Jewish house, and then sold them separately (YIU, Testimony 841UK. Vyshnivets).

The murder process involvement and death surveillance had a negative impact on people's psychological health. Mental disorders and anxiety occurred in both the killers and their victims (if they survived). There were many cases of emotional shock in the civilians, who witnessed some horrific events while working on forced labor (“smalldeathjobs”). Psychological disruptions in this group often occurred immediately after the procedure (burying the dead, carrying the dead bodies to the pits, observing the murder process, etc.). There were also some cases when everything that people had seen, haunted them all their lives.

In addition to it, performing the above-mentioned functions turned out to be the psychological stress for “smalldeathjobs” workers, as they dealt with the Nazi victims, who were often their fellow villagers, neighbors, friends. Sometimes the victims could be close friends or relatives.

Moreover, in most cases, the diggers knew the victims, whom they had to bury after some time. For example, when the Jews were shot in Tuchyn, a dozen men, who were assigned to fill the pit with earth after the massive shooting, were sitting and waiting at a distance of 5 m from the execution's place. The victims and the diggers recognized each other. They were acquaintances, sitting next to each other and talking, waiting for their turn. And before the death, the Jews asked their friends (the diggers) to light a cigarette with the following words: “The Kostyuk Brothers, let me smoke, I'll smoke before the death at least” (YIU, Testimony 1387UK. Tuchyn). Later on, the Jew shook hands with Kostyuk (the digger) and went to be shot.

It was even more depressing to observe the victims, who were tortured. Thus, in Sernyky, the witness buried alive in graves about 10% of the Jews, who were not killed in the massive shooting (YIU, Testimony 544UK. Sernyky).

It was morally difficult to deal with the dead bodies, even the adult men could not withstand the psychological stress. When the murdered Jews' bodies were transported to the ravine in Richytsia, the carrier was frightened and ran away when he saw the murdered Jew. When he was asked why he did so, the carrier replied that the horse was scared (YIU, Testimony 1389UK. Tuchyn).

If we analyze women's behavior, then obviously their emotional experiences were even more impressive, and the effects of psychological stress were stronger. Thus, an eyewitness from Kozhan-Horodok testified about a woman, who was forced to bury the Jews. When she returned after such work, she was laying down for a long time, unable even to drink or eat (YIU, Testimony 189B. Kozhan-Horodok). Another case of psychological distress was mentioned by a witness about his brother from Leletintsi, who transported the Jews to the execution's place and then took their belongings to Felshtyn. According to the sister, when the brother returned, he was so exhausted from the deaths and murders he saw that the family no longer hoped that he would live. She said about himthe following: “He was ill-conditioned... He was so gangling, he was so weak that the world could not see him. He had a bad experience... We thought that he would hit the dust, as he was emaciated” (YIU, Testimony 647UK. Pavlykivtsi (Khmelnytsk)).

Taking everything into consideration, it is not surprising that when the authorities came for the civilians and forced them to complete such jobs, people tried to protect young family members from possible stress, because they knew how it could affect on their health. Women did their best to protect their husbands, mothers - children. So when the police came to one family in Tuchyn in order to bury the dead bodies, his wife summoned all her strength and asked them not to the husband, instead she suggested taking the old man (obviously his father or father-in-law) be taken, because he had already seen the blood. The woman received the response that they did not care (YIU, Testimony 1387UK. Tuchyn).

The Conclusions

Thus, civilians - forcibly workers involved into the murder of the Jews - became the Nazi service personnel in the implementation of Holocaust plans. Once being in the grip of the Nazi reality, these people were forced to perform their functions. Often fellow villagers, neighbours of the victims of the occupiers, the tragedy of the Holocaust had many psychological consequences to many of them, which influenced physical condition and health. Until recently, attention to the role of civilians (“smalldeathjobs”) has been on the margins of the research due to the lack of information in official documents and it has become more possible for analysis with the use of an oral-historical approach, eyewitness testimonies, a large video collection, which is included, in particular, into the Yahad-InUnum archive.

Despite the fact that the functions of “small deathjobs” and their role in the implementation of the Holocaust practicesc has been onsidered on the example of the General District “Volyn-Podillya”, the results of the study, of course, have much broader significance for a general understanding of the problem of the Nazi-occupied Eastern Territories, where the civilians were made to do such forced work.

Bibliography

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