Training of engineering and technical staff in professional education institutions in the German occupation zones of Ukraine in 1941-1944

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Training of engineering and technical staff in professional education institutions in the German occupation zones of Ukraine in 1941-1944

Oleksiy Honcharenko Oleksiy Honcharenko PhD hab. (History), Professor of the Department of Theory and Methods of Technological Education and Computer Graphics, Dean of the Faculty of Technological and Mathematical Education Hryhorii Skovoroda University in Pereiaslav, 30 Sukhomlynskyi Street, Pereyaslav, Ukraine, Alina Ivanenko Alina Ivanenko PhD hab. (History), Associate Professor, Professor of the Department of Law, Philosophy and Political Science T. H. Shevchenko National University “Chernihiv Colehium”, Street Hetman Polubotko, 53, Chernihiv

Abstract

The purpose of this historical study is to elucidate a practically unknown page of professional training of engineering staff during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine in 1941 - 1944.

One of the essential gaps of modern historical science is the lack of comprehensive research, the subject of which would be the study of the German leaders ' experience in the occupation zones of Ukraine in the field of specialists training of engineering and technical profiles.

The scientific novelty of the study is that, this studyfills an existing gap of scientific knowledge, promotes a better understanding of processes in the field of vocational education that took place in the occupied territory of Ukraine by Germany, reconstructs attempts to train a skilled personnel under extreme conditions of the occupation regime, reproduces the issue of educational and methodological support for future specialists in engineering and technical profile.

The following methods have been used to achieve the research goal: analysis, synthesis, systematization, comparison and generalization, retrospective, logical and system-structural methods, methods of selection, systematization and periodization of historical facts, search and bibliographic methods, periodization methods, generalization of found and analyzed materials.

The Conclusion. In all German occupation zones of Ukraine, their administrations organized vocational training of local youth. At the same time, dominant organizational forms of educational institutions of vocational training in the MZO and the RRU, were the former Soviet institutions, technical schools and colleges.

Only in Dnipropetmvsk, in the one occupation zone of Ukraine the operation of the University was renewed. In the RRU, the German administration did not pay attention and did not counteract the introduction ofsubjects of a general level into the educational process, even History of Ukraine, although in general, it "did not welcome".

Thus, in these occupation zones the model of engineering personnel training provided for the formation of a wider profile specialist, not a narrow one, as in the DG.

Key words: occupation regime, institution of vocational education, engineering and technical worker.

Анотація

Підготовка інженерно-технічних працівників у закладах професійної освіти німецьких окупаційних зон України 1941 - 1944 рр.

Олексій Гончаренко

доктор історичних наук, професор кафедри теорії і методики технологічної освіти та комп'ютерної графіки Університету Григорія Сковороди в Переяславі, вул. Сухомлинського 30, м. Переяслав, Україна

Аліна Іваненко

докторка історичних наук, доцентка, професорка кафедри права, філософії та політології Національного університету “Чернігівський колегіум” імені Т. Г. Шевченка, вул. Гетьмана Полуботка 53, Чернігів

Мета пропонованої розвідки полягає у розкритті практично невідомої сторінки професійної підготовки інженерно-технічних кадрів у період нацистської окупації України в 1941 - 1944 рр. Однією із суттєвих прогалин сучасної історичної науки є відсутність комплексних досліджень, предметом яких стало б вивчення досвіду керівників німецьких окупаційних зон України у сфері підготовки фахівців інженерно-технічного профілю.

Наукова новизна полягає у тому, що дослідження заповнює наявну лакуну наукового пізнання, сприяє кращому розумінню процесів у сфері професійної освіти, які відбувалися на загарбаній Німеччиною території України, реконструює спроби підготовки кваліфікованих кадрів в екстремальних умовах окупаційного режиму, відтворює питання навчально-методичного забезпечення навчання майбутніх фахівців інженерно-технічного профілю. Для досягнення мети публікації використовувалися такі методи: аналіз, синтез, систематизація, порівняння та узагальнення, ретроспективні, логічні і системно-структурні методи, методи відбору, систематизації та періодизації історичних фактів, пошуково-бібліографічі методи, методи періодизації, узагальнення виявлених та оброблених матеріалів. Висновок. У всіх зонах німецької окупації України адміністрації організували професійне навчання місцевої молоді. Водночас домінуючими організаційними формами навчальних закладів професійно-технічної підготовки в МЗО та РКУ були колишні радянські заклади, технікуми та коледжі. Лише в Дніпропетровську відновили роботу єдиної окупаційної зони України в університеті. РКУ, німецька адміністрація не звертала уваги і не протидіяла впровадженню в навчальний процес предметів загального рівня, навіть історії України, хоча загалом це "не вітається". Таким чином, модель підготовки інженерних кадрів у цих зонах занять передбачала формування спеціаліста ширшого, а не вузького, як у ДГ профілю.

Ключові слова: окупаційний режим, заклад професійної освіти, інженерно-технічний працівник.

Introduction

The Problem Statement. Qualified workers of the engineering and technical profile have always been the basis for a stable functioning of the system of production, and the economic growth of the state. Without these specialists it is impossible to do with the creation and provision of the work of any system of industrial and agrarian production, means of transport and communal infrastructures, and their management.

These circumstances clearly manifested themselves during the Nazi occupation of Ukraine in 1941 - 1944. Of course, Germany, occupying Ukraine had far-sighted plans for its future development and its transformation into German colony. “Life Space” for “the Aryans” to which Ukraine would have been transformed, provided for the local population to be given the status of a slave labour force, deprived of the right to obtain a full-fledged education, and therefore to obtain a high professional status.

But the illusory plans of the Nazi leadership of the Third Reich came into conflict with an objective reality. Firstly, that war still needed to be won, and secondly, the German occupation administration faced a catastrophic shortage of qualified personnel in almost all sectors of the economy and the municipal sphere of the occupied territory.

The impressive and large-scale victories of the Wehrmacht in the summer and first autumn months of 1941 were of a tactical nature, and the military disaster was steadily approaching Germany.

Under these conditions, the importance of the most valuable achievement to the Nazis, i. e., Ukraine, acquired a strategic tone, since the military fate of Germany depended on the food and raw material supply, which was predatorily pumped out of the occupied territory.

And in this case, the Nazis' racist illusory ideas met with an “unpleasant” objective reality - in order to ensure the relevant needs of Germany and the Wehrmacht, it was necessary to organize certain production, develop logistics, etc. And without qualified engineering and technical personnel, it was impossible to accomplish this task.

Thus, the issue of this historical and pedagogical study is topical and can be considered in the context of professional training of engineering and technical personnel in the German occupation zones of Ukraine during the period of 1941 - 1944. The other part of the article is written the following way: materials and methods represented publications, whose authors consider various aspects of training skilled personnel in Ukraine during the Nazi occupation; the methodology and methods of research. Results and discussions are presented in the conclusion.

The Analysis of Recent Researches and Publications. The training of engineering and technical personnel under conditions of vocational education institutions operation in the occupation zones of Ukraine is insufficiently researched and needs an additional study, since this issue has not become the focus subject of scholars-pedagogues.

For the most part, it is studied by representatives of historical science, a specific subject and methods of which do not allow to analyze the training of engineering and technical personnel at vocational education institutions under occupation at the angle of view of the history of Pedagogy. Particularly historical works on this topic are written by P. Dobrov (Dobrov & Bystra, 2006), O. Goncharenko (Goncharenko, 2008; Goncharenko, 2011; Goncharenko, 2013; Goncharenko, 2014; Goncharenko, Kunytskyi & Goncharenko, 2014), V Hinda (Hinda, 2001), B. Yerzhabkova (Yerzhabkova, 2008), F. Polyansky (Polyansky, 2010), O. Potylchak (Potylchak, 1998; Potylchak, 2006), G. Stefanyuk (Stefanyuk, 2004), I. Spudka (Spudka, 2002; Spudka, 2018), V Masnenko (Masnenko, 2005), V. Borisov (Borisov, 2009), S. Mohyliuk (Mohyliuk, 2012). Only M. Haliv (Haliv, 2004), H. Bilavych (Bilavych, 2016) and O. Zhosan (Zhosan, 2013) consider this issue at the angle of vocational education institutions operation. Separate aspects of the work of Kyiv Hydrological Institute are analyzed in the dissertation of N. Schulga (Shulga, 2020). S. Riznychok (Riznychok, 2013) and V. Slipchuk (Slipchuk, 2018) studied the work of educational institutions at which pharmaceutical specialists were trained. However, the authors of these dissertations analyze the training of specialists in the pharmaceutical sphere during the occupation period quite schematically and in general. It is clear that the chronological limits of the research subject did not allow their authors to do it fully. Consequently, the issue of training engineering and technical personnel under the conditions of the Nazi occupation regime in Ukraine requires additional research efforts.

The Materials and Methods

The complex of general scientific and historical and pedagogical research methods was used to realize the purpose of the study. Thus, to analyze the state of the study issue, scholars' creative work there were used such general scientific research methods as analysis, synthesis, systematization, comparison and generalization. The analysis of scientific literature and archival sources was carried out on the basis of the use of retrospective, logical and systemic and structural methods. Methods of selection, systematization and periodization of historical facts allowed the actualization of the issue, to identify qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the process of establishing vocational education institutions in the German occupation zones of Ukraine. The content of archival funds and systematization of the contents of printed sources was based on the search and bibliographic method. Periodization method allowed to compare common and different features in the educational institutions establishment by the leaders of various occupation zones of Ukraine. At the stage of formulation of conclusions, the generalization method of found and analyzed materials was used.

The research materials are divided into three main groups. These groups include published research, which are mainly written by professional historians. In these, mostly small publications and individual monographs, historical aspects of vocational educational institutions establishment in the territory of occupied Ukraine are studied. In addition, the majority of them are written in the already traditional context of illustrating the criminal entity of the Nazi occupation regime and are purely criminatory. Therefore, the authors of this publication used purely factologic data on separate vocational education institutions establishment and their typologization was conducted. An important source of this study was the materials of the occupation periodicals of all zones of Ukraine. These are data on the opening of various educational institutions, the statistics of their contingent, personality of managers, a normative legal base. Specific reconstructions of educational and methodological, organizational aspects of work of vocational education institutions that trained by engineering and technical personnel were carried out on the basis of found and analyzed archival documents of the management of various occupation zones of Ukraine, internal documentation of the vocational education institutions.

The Results of the Research

As a result of the invasion of Germany to the territories of the Soviet Union, during the period of 1941 - 1942 several occupation zones were formed in Ukraine. The country was divided into: the District “Galicia” (hereinafter - the DG), the Reichskommissariat “Ukraine” (hereinafter referred to as the RKU) and the military zone of occupation (hereinafter - the MZO) (Honcharenko & Potilchak, 2021; Honcharenko & Potilchak, 2021а). Each occupation zone had its own administration, borders and management system. The German authorities in order to ensure the growing needs of the district and the Wehrmacht had to organize production. But there was no enough personnel to perform this task. It should be noted that the Soviet evacuation influenced this problem, because, since the first days of the military conflict, the most skilled specialists were taken to the Eastern districts of the country or called up to serve in the army. The total extermination of the Jewish population, including skilled specialists only caused additional tension to this problem. professional education german occupation engineering

During the first months of occupation of Ukraine the German leadership encouraged the activities of vocational education institution (Salata &Tarnavskii, 2020). One of the most rational ways out of a catastrophic personnel problem, which faced the German authority was the organization of vocational training of the Ukrainian youth. The German authorities refused the Ukrainians in the right to obtain secondary education, but it was not possible for the authorities to eliminate the Ukrainian youth from vocational education for quite objective reasons. At the same time, the affiliation of certain regions of Ukraine to the occupied zones also influenced the organization state of youth vocational training. In the best position there was a vocational education in the District “Galicia”. This area entered the general governorate and was considered to be attached directly to Germany, and therefore in it, in a certain way, in a restricted and extremely limited form, but the relevant system of vocational education and didactic approaches to the training of specialists was reproduced. The activity of the Ukrainian education organizations also contributed to this (Tron'-Radoms'ka, 2020). At the same time, the regional authorities organized separate vocational training for the Ukrainian and Polish youth (Haliv & Ohar, 2017). At a far worse level there was a vocational education in the RKU, whose leadership, unlike the administration of the MZO, stubbornly refused to take steps that seemed rational under those conditions to introduce vocational training among the Ukrainian youth. Even the military sought to eliminate young people from the harmful influence of street education and concentrate them in vocational education institutions, to teach them something useful. The local administration also tried to conduct similar measures.

The political leadership of Germany was unanimous in the creation of a vocational education system for the local population of the occupied regions of Ukraine. The largest loyalty to this issue was manifested by the head of the Reich Ministry of the Eastern occupied territories, a well-known theorist of Nazism A. Rozenberg. Unlike the Orthodox environment of A. Hitler, he suggested establishing University in Kyiv, other educational institutions of the vocational education system. However, the head of the RKU, E. Koch, resisted A. Rozenberg's intensions in every possible way. Thus, in February of 1942, the Office of A. Rozenberg approved Directive on School Education in the RKU. This normative act, which was spread in the MZO, introduced a seven-year training. During four years, children went to people's schools, after finishing which they could enter three-year vocational schools. Graduates could enter technical schools, the term of study at which was two years. Higher education was prohibited for the Ukrainians. However, at the same time, it was allowed to restore the work of medical, veterinary, agricultural and natural faculties of the former Soviet institutions. But even these restricted events caused the opposition of E. Koch. However, E. Koch resisted the normative acts of A. Rozenberg much, but in the end he had to admit the need for vocational educational institutions. In the end, E. Koch's resistance to normative acts of A. Rozenberg led to the fact that the latter bypassing the central apparatus of the RKU sent them directly to the leaders of the General Commissariates (Goncharenko, Goncharenko & Kunytskyi, 2014, pp. 83-88). In general, this led to the functioning imbalance of the German management system, regional and local leaders of which did not take into account the position of E. Koch and made quite independent decisions. At the official level separate general commissaries protested against of E. Koch's management decisions in the field of education (Stelnykovych, 2016, p. 16).

The military occupation administration, in general, treated the educational needs of the Ukrainians more loyal and acted in this regard pragmatically, opening those institutions of vocational education, whose graduates were needed by the occupied regions economy of Ukraine. As well as in the RKU in the MZO, the German authorities, contrary to the normative acts of their leadership provided permits for the establishment of secondary schools for men, women and real gymnasiums (Reconstruction, 1942, November 3; Reconstruction, 1942, November 5). Even in Rivne - the center of the RKU, “near by” E. Koch operated a natural and mathematical gymnasium, as well as several secondary vocational schools at which the Ukrainian youth gained professional education (Dobrochynska & Pivovarchuk, 2020, p. 139).

Despite the refusal to the Ukrainians in the right to obtain higher education diploma, the occupation authorities were forced, in a limited form, to give permits to establish vocational education institutions. Thus, in the spring of 1942, a medical, pharmaceutical, agricultural, law institutes, as well as construction, architectural, chemical, machine-building, electrotechnical faculties of technical universities, the forest studies department of the agricultural institute began to work (Pankivsky, 1959, р. 98). In the autumn of 1942, renaming of Lviv universities took place. From that time on, they received a formal name of state professional courses in Lviv. The German administration tried to avoid identification of these institutions as organizational structures of higher education. In the press it was recognized that the so-called professional courses are a “high school surrogate” (Krakow News, 1942, August 1). True, this renaming did not affect the quality of the educational process. The state technical professional courses operated in Lviv. Records of students' surnames for studying were conducted in the first and subsequent semesters (Krakow News, 1942, July 31). At the same time, since mid-1942 in the educational institution there operated a two-year railway school (Krakow News, 1942, August 4). Also from September 1, 1942, agricultural, veterinary professional courses began to operate, and on October 1, pharmaceutical and medical courses (Krakow News, 1942, August 2). In 1943 in Lviv, a state higher trade school was established. As of the autumn of 1943, 500 Ukrainian students studied at medical institute, at pharmaceutical - 130, veterinary - 260, at the departments of technical institutes - 400 and agricultural - 100 (Pankivsky, 1959, p. 364). In general, in 1942 - 1943, 1776 Ukrainians were trained at higher professional courses (Kondratyuk, 2019, p. 365).

In general, the success of vocational schools in Galicia, in comparison with the Second Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, can still be traced. According to official statistics, before the Soviet occupation of the region in September of 1939, in Galicia there was 1 state professional and 11 private secondary vocational schools, at which 1,270 students studied and 38 teachers worked. With the German occupation, there were 82 vocational schools in Galicia (not counting compulsory agricultural schools). They had about 10,000 students and 500 teachers. It was assumed that in 1942/1943 academic year another 58 new professional schools with the Ukrainian language of instruction would be created. Vocational schools were divided into industrial, commercial and agricultural schools for men and women.

One of the problems that was observed in the field of vocational education was the lack of qualified teaching staff. Therefore, in many districts of Galicia, despite permits, these educational institutions did not start operating. Therefore, the authorities launched the programme of courses where teachers of secondary and public schools were retrained as teachers of vocational education institutions. It was assumed that about 2,000 specialists would be trained in this way (Krakow News, 1942, August 5). But the RKU and the MZO did not even have this problem on the agenda. Usually, in educational institutions the positions of teachers were held by the former Soviet teachers or narrow specialists-practitioners found by the administration. There was out of the question of training teachers for vocational education institutions.

In the RKU and the MZO, in contrast to the DG, the situation with the renewal of work of higher education did not have such a purposeful and unified character. These measures were conducted chaotic and actually contradicted the Normative Basis of the department of A. Rozenberg, which was sent to local administrations at the beginning of 1942. Therefore, in many regions organizational measures to renew the work of the former Soviet universities began in the summer - autumn of 1941. This process was influenced by personal preferences of the heads of the military commandant's offices of the Wehrmacht, the influence of the

Ukrainian public and the centers of the OUN, who at that time were trying, in many cases, and quite successfully, to take control of local administrations. The latter often became initiators of relevant appeals to the German administration, which at that time was identified as the “liberators” of the Ukrainians from the Bolshevik authorities. Thus, at the beginning of 1942, the military commanding in Poltava gave the permission to establish all industrial, agricultural and forest vocational schools (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, January 15). Similar measures were carried out by the military and in other regions of Ukraine.

The military occupation leadership, acting in unison with the political guidelines of the leaders of the Third Reich, restricted the access of the Ukrainians to higher education, but they could not completely eliminate it. Therefore, in some cities of occupied Ukraine, there were separate institutions of a technical profile, or their relevant faculties at the beginning of the occupation regime. Thus, in Dnipropetrovsk, in the autumn of 1941, the University was established at which the former profile institutions became faculties. In the city there operated the Institute of Transport Engineers, which included road-building, electrotechnical, operational and mechanical faculties (Spudka, 2018, p. 33). Its structure included a railway technical school, a craft school and there was conducted a course training of specialists in this profile (Mohyliuk, 2012, p. 140). Dnipropetrovsk Polytechnic Institute operated on the basis of united metallurgical, mining, chemical and technological and construction institutions which received the status of faculties (Borisov, 2009, p. 78). The Cooperative Institute operated in the city (Gubytsky & Melnyk, 2016, p. 120). In November of 1941, the only Hydromeliorative Institute in the whole country started operating in Kyiv. As of January of 1942, this educational institution consisted of two departments: research and educational. The educational department included hydromelior, peat mechanical and agro-mechanical faculties (Krakow News, 1942, September 15). On March 1, 1942, the fourth and the fifth-year students began their studying. The first and the second-year students were to begin their studying on September 1, 1942. The educational institution was subordinated to the General Commissariat, and there was lack of Hydro Department specialists. Therefore, the General Commissariat gave permission to renew the work of the only engineering and technical profile educational institution in Ukraine. The research marsh stations of Ukraine was subordinated to the Institute, and were directed by the Doctor of agricultural sciences, Professor M. O. Tiulenev. Educational practices of graduation students were held at Kyiv water supply stations, railway management and other economic institutions (New Ukrainian Word, 1942, August 2), in particular, in Supiysk research reclamation marsh station (Dovgoruk, 2018). In mid-1942, the administration of the educational institution organized entrance exams for applicants to become the first-year students (Goncharenko O., 2008, p. 60). In Kyiv, in mid-1942, an agricultural institute began operating. However, only the fourth and the fifth- year students studied at it. There operated the following faculties: agronomic, technological and agricultural machinery (Verkhnodniprovska newspaper, 1942, December 26). The renewed Kharkiv Agricultural Institute comprised agricultural, zootechnical, veterinary, forest- meliorative and technical faculties (Krakow News, 1942, August 19).

By initiating the establishment of vocational education institutions, the local administration based on the principles of the expediency of their creation, respectively, by immediate production needs, compliance with the available economic infrastructure. The dominant type of vocational schools in the countryside should be agricultural schools. In these educational institutions, teachers had to bring up students with love of village and agriculture. But in the cities there should dominate vocational schools, at which technical specialists were trained (Voice of Poltava region, 1941, 6 November).

Education in rural areas of the country envisaged the following structure: a compulsory school with a five-year term of training, a lower rural economic or forest studies school with a two-year term of study, a secondary agricultural school. The lower agricultural school should consist of the best elementary school graduates. At it, in the scope of seven years, teaching of general subjects was planned: Ukrainian and German, Physical Geography, Arithmetic, Natural Science and Chemistry, elements of Physics and Geometry. Each educational institution was given land plots, agricultural equipment and horses. Since these schools trained “an educated agriculture” a prominent place was occupied by teaching students Farming and Agronomy, Gardening, and Beekeeping (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, July 19). It should be noted that such schools, in particular, in Poltava, were established (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, August 28).

The basis of future education of the Ukrainian youth was vocational training, which was associated with the immediate practical needs of the country. This way there was achieved the adaptability of graduates to life. Thus, according to Pryluchchyna administration, in the district, vocational schools were established in agricultural sectors, medicine, processing of wood and metal. It was planned to establish a vocational school to meet the needs of the communal services. For this purpose, the city Starostat together with an electromechanical enterprise planned to establish electrotechnical school, which would train electrical engineering specialists (a three-year period of study) and master-plumbers. In entering these specialties, the advantage was given to men. People who finished the 4th - 5th grades of secondary school became the first-year students, and the 6th - 7th grades - the second-year students (News of Priluchchina, 1942, November 1). In mid-1942 the secondary automobile school operated in Dnipropetrovsk (Native field (Yagotin), 1942, August 11).

In Ukraine, on the initiative of the administration of A. Rozenberg, the so-called agrarian reform began. For its direct conduct, it was important to have a necessary number of specialists, in particular, surveyors. Therefore, in many cities of Ukraine, correspondent educational institutions were established (Constantinople new news, 1942, August 12). The German authorities recognized the need and importance of establishing appropriate educational institutions. One of them renewed its work in Poltava almost on the first days of the occupation. The land management technical school was provided with teaching personnel, including 6 professors and 8 associate professors. In particular, such educational subjects as Geodesy, Land Management Design, Agricultural Melioration, Drawings, Land Legislation were taught (Native field (Pyriatyn), 1942, November 4). And in Constantinograd, on the basis of former technical schools, an agricultural technical school was established, which trained agronomists. It was assumed that already in 1942 there had to graduate trained specialists (Bulletin of the Constantinople district and city administration, 1942, March 3). There was no enough amount of this profile specialists, and therefore, at technical schools a few monthly courses of land surveyors and land management were established. In Poltava, former students of specialty Agriculture and Agricultural Engineering were invited to these courses (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, May 3).

Quite often, educational institutions of vocational direction announced the admission of students to all courses at once. Thus, in August of 1942 Berezovo-Rudsky agricultural school announced the admission of students on the Ist year, the IId year and the IIId year of studying. The full term of training for students who entered the agricultural school was 4 years. Entrants who had education certificates of the 7th - the 8th grades took entrance exams in the German and Ukrainian language, Mathematics. Entrants who had education certificates of the 9th and the 10th grades entered the IId year and the IIId year of studying, but had to pass exams in professional subjects during the first half of the year. The the 1st year and the IId year students started studying on September 1, but the third-year students - on August 1, 1942 (Native field (Yagotin), 1942, July 25). In August of 1942, 13 specialists graduated from the educational institution who were sent to practical work at state farms. Only after this practical work they could get diplomas (Native field (Pyriatyn), 1942, August 11). It is obvious that the introduction of a four-year term of training is explained by the obligatory practical work. Admission of students to all years of studying was observed in other educational institutions (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, January 15). Similarly, in the autumn of 1942 Sokyrenska Agrovetschool in Pryluchchyna announced the admission of students on the the Ist, the IId, the IIId years of studying. Former students of local agro- and veterinarian schools or other related educational institutionswho had a certificate of a successful completion of the Ist and the IId years of studying were enrolled as the IId year and the IIId year students. Graduates who finished the 9th and the 10th high school grades were enrolled as the IId year students on condition of a successful compilation of professional disciplines studied during the Ist year. Entrants who entered the institution as the Ist year students had to take entrance exams in the Ukrainian language, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry (News of Priluchchina, 1942, September 11).

In July of 1942 Konstiantynohrad Secondary Agricultural School announced entrance exams for students aged 16 to 20, who finished the 7th grade of a secondary school and were enrolled as the Ist year, the IId year and the IIId year students. School, except of other typical specialties, trained technicians-mechanics of agricultural machines, tractors and cars. The term of study was 3 years. There were entrance exams in the Ukrainian language, Mathematics and Physics according to the secondary school programme (Konstantinohrad news, 1942, July 15). Also, in the autumn of 1942, a craftsman-vocational school was established in the city, which trained specialists at 4 departments: carpentry, electrical assembly and installation, metalworking, turning, shoemaking, weaving, and embroidery. Contingent amounted to 180 students (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, October 21).

The German leadership, giving permits for establishing vocational education institutions, organizationally tried to combine the training of specialists in single-specialty educational institutions. Thus, in Kharkiv on the basis of the established in winter of 1941 of the Secondary Polytechnic Railway School there was established Kharkiv Association of Technical Educational Institutions of Southern Railways. Polytechnic, lower technical schools and technical courses were part of the educational institution. Establishment of Association took six months. As of June 1, 1942, 350 students were trained in the educational institution (Konstantinohrad news, 1942, August 1). This education institution was established on the material basis of the former Kharkiv Railway Institute (Native field (Yagotin), 1942, July 25). In June of 1942, in Kyiv, a mechanical college began operating (Konstantinohrad news, 1942, August 5), and two handicraft schools and the German courses began operating as well (SAKR, f. R. 2356, d. 6. c. 2, р. 122). A similar situation was observed in Kherson to a maritime school, at which there was carried out training of navigators and captains of sea ships, diesel mechanics for the merchant marine fleet, a former technical college as the Ichthiological department was joined at which specialists in breeding and growing fish resources were trained (Voice of the Dnipro, 1942, April 8).

The state of educational institutions operation was influenced by the corresponding territories of the RKU administration, which was more intolerable than the military in treating educational institutions issue. Thus, from September 1, 1942, part of the regions of Ukraine was transferred to the administration of the RKU. This change also affected the work of educational institutions. For example, enrollment of students to Berezovo-Rudsky Agricultural Technology college took place during the period when this territory was ruled by the military. But since September 1, 1942, this territory was under rule of the administration of the RKU. Therefore, the Ist year students did not start their studies. Only on October 24, 1942, there was the announcement on the registration of freshmen in order to send them to production practice (Native niva (Pyriatyn), 1942, October 24).

The educational institutions of the agricultural profile had a material base for practical training. Thus, the agricultural school in Viytivtsi, Vinnytsia region, had 156 hectares of land, educational workshops. Students, during having production practices, received a 75 kop. salary per hour (Gaisin News, 1943, September 19). To establish an agricultural school in Mariupol, there was also planned a certain land area (Verkhnodniprovska newspaper, 1943, July 3).

Usually, the German administration tried to reduce the educational status of educational institutions. Thus, on the basis of the former Soviet technical colleges, vocational schools were established. For example, at the beginning of 1942, on the basis of Poltava woodworking technical college, a school of mechanical processing of wood, at which were trained the same technicians of mechanical processing of wood was established (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, March 15). On the basis of Poltava technical college of land management, hydromelioration and fish farming land management school was established. The educational institution trained surveyor technicians and land managers, crop technicians and fish farmers. The specialty of crop technician, instead of the cancelled specialty of a water hydromeliotrator, provided for future work in the field of agricultural construction, arrangement of villages and carrying out hydromelioration works (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, March 29). School had operated since 1909. In the autumn of 1942, 450 students went to it (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, October 21). The only one in Ukraine, the technical college of beekeeping and silk production was renewed its work in Boyarka, located in Kyiv region, in the autumn of 1942 (Krakow News, 1942, September 12).

On the basis of Poltava Agricultural Institute in February of 1942, the secondary vocational school was established. The enrollment of students was carried out for all three years of studying. Former students of the Institute were enrolled to the last year of studying (Voice of Poltava region: 1942, October 30). For the most part, the German authorities renewed the former Soviet vocational educational institutions. However, there were other approaches. Thus, in mid-1942, in Novo-Sanzharshchyna, in the middle of 1942, a commercial school and agricultural vocational educational institutions were established on the basis of senior grades of secondary schools (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, April 12). Zinkiv Forest College trained specialists in forestry. In June of 1942, there were 32 first-year students (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, June 24). In mid-1942, in Hradysk, which is located in Poltava region an agrarian and cooperative technical college was established, which trained specialists for cooperative unions (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, June 26).

The inconsistency and contradictability of the approaches of occupational authorities to the issues of renewal of vocational training of the Ukrainian youth manifested itself in the fact that many educational institutions established by military authorities stopped their work after being under rule of the Administration of the RKU. For example, in the autumn of 1942, in Poltava, the system of vocational training established by the military, with the exception of the training of students in certain specialties that were under certain deficits under those conditions, turned out to be curtailed. Thus, on November 11, 1942, in accordance with the notification of the Department of Education under Poltava Burgomaster, medical assistant and obstetrician students, dental, pharmaceutical, land management (agriculture and fish breeding departments), craft schools for men and women were instructed to appear at the labour exchange and receive documents (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, 11 November). As a result of these measures, only students studying to become land managers and students contingent of Poltava Agricultural School continued their studies (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, November 25; New Ukraine (Poltava), 1943, August 12).

The German-style approaches to vocational education introduced in occupied Ukraine provided for the training of specialists who mastered purely practical skills and abilities. Therefore, educational institutions administration undertook not to introduce the humanities subjects into the curriculum and to significantly reduce the hourly workload for students to study subjects of general education cycles (SAZR, f. R. 1433, d. 3. c. 1). However, such approaches were used exclusively in the DG. In other occupation zones, the situation was radically different from these instructions and was more similar to the Soviet model of training specialists in vocational educational institutions. Exceptions were only educational subjects with a clear ideological subtext. Thus, in the DG, in the training of specialists in the pharmaceutical sphere, subjects of the secondary cycle were removed from the curriculum (Slipchuk, 2018), and but in a similar educational institution in Rivne (the capital of RCU) there was studied Physics, History and Geography of Ukraine (SARR, f. R. 75, d. 1, c. 4, р. 1). The same, as evidenced by the internal documentation of vocational education institutions concerns other vocational education institutions (New Ukraine (Poltava), 1943, August 12, p. 22; SAZR, f. R. 1433, d. 3, c. 1, pp. 1-3; SARR, f. R. 75, d. 1, c. 4, p. 16; SARR, f. R. 33, d. 2, c. 21, p. 1; SARR, f. R. 295, d. 1, c. 10, p. 15). At the same time, in some educational institutions, for example, in Vinnytsia Energy Technical College, it was proposed to conduct vocational training of a narrower profile, in particular, training should be more closely combined with the practical experience of future specialists, reducing the time for acquiring purely theoretical knowledge (SAVR, f. R. 1312, d. 1, c. 137, p. 7).

The analysis of curricula of educational institutions that trained specialists in the engineering and technical profile convinces us that the real situation in this field contradicted the German instructions. The German authorities prohibited, but still did not control the creation peculiarities of educational institutions curricula by the administration for training not only engineering and technical specialists, but also specialists of other profiles. In mid- 1942 even E. Koch personally asked the general commissioners to send his samples of typical curricula of individual vocational education institutions (Goncharenko, Kunytskyi & Goncharenko, 2014, p. 123). This action testifies to the fact that the Reichskommissar lost control over the educational process in the established educational institutions.

Internal documentation of educational institutions and publications in the local press prove the existence of certain discussions on this issue. Thus, in January of 1942, in the newspaper “The Voice of Poltava Region”, the article was published, the author of which categorically opposed the dominance of practice in the training of future specialists, expressing the opinion that these approaches corresponded to medieval craft training. Pupils of these schools had to master general education subjects as well, because they broadened their general horizons and contributed to a better mastery of the future profession (Voice of Poltava region, 1942, January 15).

Convincing ideas about the organization peculiarities of the educational process in vocational education institutions during the occupation period are provided by the original documentation deposited in archival institutions. Thus, in Vinnytsia Construction Technology college, as of February 1943, 140 students studied and 18 teachers worked, 8 of whom taught such taught such non-professional, general education subjects as general subjects as the Law of God, History of Ukraine and Geography, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, the Ukrainian language and literature, German, Physical Culture (SAZR, f. R. 1433, d. 3, c. 1, р. 2). Professional subjects were: Architecture and Design, Geodesy, Resistance Materials, Reinforced Concrete Structures, Drawings. At the same time, secondary education subjects amounted to 100 hours, and professional - 58 hours a week. The largest number of hours - 33 was allocated to studying Mathematics, and the smallest - 4 for conducting Physical Education. Also, on the study of such subjects as Drawings and Architecture 18 hours of weekly load were allocated (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 143, p. 4).

The occupational period with its extreme challenges and its own process of studying led to the reduction in the student contingent and changes in the organization of the educational process. Thus, if at the beginning of 1943, 140 students studied in Vinnytsia construction college, as of May 1, their number decreased and amounted to 103 people. The reason for reducing the contingent was expelling students who failed at the exams, poor discipline. Another 23 students were on temporary work on one of the local German enterprises. Due to the low filling of the course groups, the administration of the technical college combined the 1st year students with the IId year students in one group, without taking into account their professional division. And only the IIId year students were to be divided into two groups, according to their chosen specialty. Of course, to make this division, it was necessary to make adjustments to the curriculum of specialists training (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 143, p. 6).

Every day life under occupation made its corrections in the practical training of students of this educational institution. In winter, there was not enough fuel, and therefore students did not work in educational workshops. But in the spring of 1943, the premises of workshops and the entire second floor of the educational institution were used as housing to evacuated people. The institution administration planned that after the term exams, students of the technical college would undergo training at the local Todtu institution for three summer months. But the graduating 4th year students had to work on a diploma project (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 143, p. 7).

In March of 1943 the reduction in the contingent also took place in Vinnytsia power technology college, whose students stopped studying for fear of being forced to work in Germany. The administration of the educational institution conducted an appropriate explanatory work with students' parents, but 43 students did not begin their studies. Therefore, they were expelled. In this regard, educational groups of electrical engineering and heat engineers were combined into one. This concerned only students of the 1st year, the others were not the subject to reorganization. In total, 141 students studied at the educational institution. The administration of educational institution was able to create a heat engineering laboratory in which in April and May of 1943 there was provided practical training for students. Also, in the technical college, a physical, chemical and electrical laboratories worked. For graduates, in agreement with the technical department of the district administration of the Sugar Industry, to which the educational institution was subordinated, individual diploma projects were approved (SAVR, f. R. 1312, d. 1, c. 143, p. 8). In June of 1943, after the graduation of trained specialists and “labour mobilization” in the technical college there were only 50 students. Therefore, the administration of the educational institution planned to enroll 80 first-year students. It was planned to enroll 20 second-year students from the number of high school graduates that had to take exams in Mathematics, Drawings and Technologies of Metals for the 1st year of the technical college. For the 3rd year and the 4th year, in the order of additional enrollment, it was planned to enroll people who already had the appropriate vocational education the 2nd and th 3rd years of mechanical technical college (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 143, р. 9).

The director of Vinnytsia energy technical college took the initiative to issue technician diplomas only after the students completed a one-year work experience directly at production. During the examinationss, the graduate had not only to certify relevant knowledge in professional disciplines, but also to illustrate success of his industrial internship (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 137, р. 7).

Usually, specialists of a certain profile with a higher education diploma were appointed managers of higher education institutions. Thus, the director of Vinnytsia construction technical allege S. Bernard had practical job experience of 40 years and higher engineering education diploma, and the head of the educational department, V. Kravtsov - higher education diploma and a nine-year experience (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 143, p. 3). Of the 18 teachers of this educational institution, 16 had a higher education diploma, and 2 had a special secondary education diploma. The latter occupied the positions of instructors. People who occupied the positions of an accountant, a secretary, a commandant and a librarian had a diploma of a secondary education (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 143, p. 4). Even in Vinnytsia craft school of 11 full-time teachers - 7 had a higher technical diploma and 3 humanitarian education diploma. All teachers had - from 3 to 30 years of pedagogical job experience (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 140, p. 2).

At the same time, in vocational education institutions, there were many teachers who did not have any pedagogical job experience, since they were engineers according to their specialty diploma (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 138, p. 15). Therefore, the administration of educational institutions attended the lessons conducted by them, provided appropriate methodological assistance. But the director of Vinnytsia power engineering college provided his own lecture notes on Theoretical Mechanics, Basics of Electrical Engineering, Electric Machines and Machines Tools. Employees of local enterprises also worked in the educational institution and taught Technology of Sugar Production (SAVR, f. R.1312, d. 1, c. 141, p. 14). The same situation was observed in other educational institutions. Sometimes, this situation created problems because these teachers did not work out all the number of teaching load complete their full teaching load because they were not able to leave their main place of work (SAVR, f. R. 1312, d. 1, c. 138, p. 20).