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The Ukraine was the agricultural breadbasket of the Soviet Union. It also had important natural resources and an expanding industrial base. It was for Hitler perhaps the great prize of World War II with enormous Lebensraum for the German people. The agricultural idea appealed to the NAZIs--especially to Himmler. The Ukraine was populated primarily with Ukraians along with important Russian, Polish, and Jewish minorities. The Ukranians were Eastern Slavs cloesly related to the Great Russians. For the NAXZs this meant a population to eliminated or deported or enslaved to make room for German settlers. Stalin had brutalized the Ukranians creating wide-spread anti-Soviet sentiment. Had the NAZIs not been committed to genocide against the Slavs, large numbers of Ukranians would have received the NAZIs as liberators.
The Ukraine was the agricultural breadbasket of the Soviet Union. It also had important natural resources and an expanding industrial base. It was for Hitler perhaps the great prize of World War II with enormous Lebensraum for the German people. The Ukraine in aicient times was populated by many nomadic peoples, including the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, and Goths. Much of our knowledge of these peoples comes from trading peoples with written languges such as the Greeks. The Slavic tribes founded Kiev, the first important state founded in Russia. Kiev came to be ruled by the Khazars. They in turn were conquered by the Varangian (Eastern or Swedish Vikings) Oleg. Just as the Western Christian kingdoms were coinquered by the Eastern Vikings becoming the ruling class, so did the Eastern Vikings moving down the trading routes of the great Russian rivers conquer the Slavs of the steppe becoming the rling class and giving Russia its name. After the decline of the Kievian state, scatteded cities and principalies rose, all subject to the Mongols. Gradually a state coaleased around Halych-Volynia. The Mongols were especially interested in tribute. Two powerful states arose in Poland and Lithuania which drove the Mongols out of the Urraine (14th century). The Black Sea area fell to the Tartars and later to the Ottomans. The expanding power of Muscovy and the decline of Poland meant in essence that Russia gradually expanded its influence over the Ukraine. The partitions of Poland left Russia in control of most of the Ukraine except for the western areas which came under Austrian control (Galicia). Russia was unprepared for World War I. Russia armies sustauned grevious losses at the hand of the Germans, but the Eastern Front prevented the Germans from brining the full force of their army to bear on the critical Western Front. Finally the Russian Revolution forced then Tsar to abdigate. The Bolshviks were forced to sign a draconian peace (Treary of Brest-Litovsk) recognizing an independent Ukraine under German protection (1917). German defeat in the West shattered the other two empires (Prussia and Austria). This created a huge power vacuum in eastern Europe. Ukranians tried to create an independent state, but were overwealmed by the Bolsevicks. Stalin to destroy the nationalist movement in the kraine and to gain control over the peasanty brought about a devestatng famine.
The Ukranians were Slavs and thus in NAZI eyes not only an inferior people, but a threat to Germany and the Aryan people. Hitler spokje at great length in Mein Kampf
about the near for Lebensraum and land in the East. The Ukraine was what he especially coveted. NAZI plans were to conduct a Holocaust of Slavs, but unlike the Jews, a portion of the Slavic population was to be allowed to live as slave labor.
Hitler until the fall of France had been a calculating politican. He seized power in Germany even though the BAZIs were a minority power by keeping the opposition divided. The same was true in his seizure of much of Europe, he managed to keep the opposition divided. This enabled him to seize Czechoslovakia and then through the Non-Aggression Pact bought off Stalin while he defeated first Poland and then France, leaving him the master of Western Europe. And Hitler's policies shifted. He increasingly shifted to what he had always wanted to be, a war lord rather than a politican. He also shifted his policies from supresion of the Jews and other peoples judged to be "undesirables" to genocide.
Even after the NAZI victories in Poland and France, NAZI Germany was still not an overwealmingly powerful state. A combination of the Soviet Union, Britain, and America had far greater industrial, scientific, and human resources. A victory in the East would change that calculation. Any logical assessment of a war with the Soviet Union would point to Hitler continuing to use the same divide and conquer policies Hiltler had used in the past.
The obvious step was to ally themselves with the Ukranians where because of the Famine and other suppresive Soviet policies, there was a great deal of anti-Soviet feeling.
The NAZIs had in fact showed some willingness in Poland to cooperate with the OUN agaist the Poles.
Ukranians in Galacia there were not anxious to join the Soviet Union, the wisdom there had been confirmed by brutal Soviet occupation policies (1939-41). This the Germans were seen as enemies of both the Poles and Soviets when they entered Galacia providing the posibility of a liberated Ukraine state. The NAZIs could have achieved a public relations coup and obtained large numbers of military recruits by giving lip service to Ukranian nationalist aspirations.
Both Stalin snd Hiler saw the Ukraine as vital to their European empire. The rich agricultural land and mineral resources were vital to the Soviet Union ahd what Hitler coveted. And for Hitler he needed the Ukraine to get to the vast petrokleum resources in the Caucauses. Stalin anticipated this and much of the Soviet armor was un the Ukraine when Hitler launched Btbarossa. And when Barbarossa failed, Hitler launched the second German summer offensive into the Ukraine that ended diatorouslyat Stalingrad. He consantly preached to his geberals about the economic importance of the Ukraine. While both Stalin and Hitler wanted the Ukraine itself, they did not want the Ukraianas that lived there. Stalin engineered the Ukranian famine to break the bavk of the nationalistic Ukranian peasantry. The SS with Generalplan Ost planned to deal even more severely with the Ukranians. SS planners debate how to deal with the Ukranians. Initially the plan was to allow about one-third of the populatttion to remain in the German settlement area. They would be subjected to Germanization. The remaining two-thirds were to be liquidated or deported east of the Urals. The Reichskommissariat Ukraine was to be the political organization. As the Plan was refined, it was decided to deport the Ukrainians not suitable for Germanization to the area of this Reichskommissariat. The failure of Barbsrossa (1941-42) and Operation Blue (1942-43), however, meant tht the SS was nevera able to implement the Plan.
The Soviet terror that had been visited on the eastern and central Ukraine was mposed on the area of the westetn Ukraine seized from Poland (September 1939). There are countless instances of Soviet oppression. One young Ukranian patriot recounts being arrested by the NKVD (January 1940). He was incarcerated in the Brygitki prison with 10,000 other Ukranians. They were subjected to ruthless intrerogation and totrure. They heard bombs falling and realized the Germans invaded the Soviet Union (June 22, 1941). They thought they might be liberated by the Germans. That very afternoon, however, the NKVD guards began taking small groups of prisonors into the cellar of the prison where the poping noises of gun fire could be heard. By the time the NKVD evacuated only 500-600 of the prisoners were left allive when the Ukranian underground broke into the prison. It is not surprising that Ukranians initially greeted the Germans as linerators. The suppresion of Ukranian nationalists, however, was virtually seem;\less. The NAZIs once they arrived began killing massive numbers of Jews. In addition, noted Ukranian activits were hung or shot in the town square. [Kazaniwsky]
Because of the anti-Soviet feeling, many Ukranians in the opening phase of Barbarossa greeted the Germans as liberators. This was especially true in Galacia where the Poles before the War had supressed the Ukranians. The Germans entered Lviv, a largely Ukranian city (June 30). With them was the OUN-B which they had allowed to operate in the Government General (occupied Poland). The OUN-B upon entering Lviv proclaimed a new Ukrainian state. Hitler was outraged by this action which he had not approved. The OUN-B leaders were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Subsequentlky the NAZIS also arrested Bandera and subsquently Melnyk as well. Both were vocal anti-Soviet spokesmen with a following in the Ukraine. German Foreign Ministry officials had been in cotact with emigres groups who may have proven useful to use as puppet leaders to give the impression that the NAZIs were going to create an independent Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry was, however, ordered to cease these operations. The Foreign Ministry turned over its files on these conracts to the SS. The individuals were arrested and interned in concentration camps.
Not only did Hiltler decide not go even give lip-service to Ukranian nationalist aspirations, he perpetuated the division of the Ukrnian people (August 1941). The NAZIs returned Galicia to occupied Poland. Bukovina was returned to Romania as a reward for that country's military participation in Barbarossa. The Romanians also received other Ukranian populated territory. The Romanians received the land between the Dniester and Southern Buh rivers hich was renamed Transnistria, with a capital in the former Soviet city of Odessa. The rest of the NAZI occupied Ukraine became the Reichskommissariat Ukraine.
Decessions like this were not made by committess and experts leaving written records. They were decessions made arbitrarely by Hitler himself. Thus we do not know just why he decided not to take advantage of anti-Soviet Ukranian nationalism. Hitler's conduct of the War, especially behavior and change of tactics is one of the largely unanswered questions of World War II. We know that Hitler did not like enjoy the political dealing (he was so good at) and aspired to be a great war commander (which he was not competent at). We can only assume that he decided that the Soviet Union was already defeated and the Ukranians were not needed. Arming the Ukranians wuld have created a frce that would have to later be disarmed. Thus Hitler decided to avoid this complication.
The NAZI program for Lebensraum in the east was not just to acquire territory. The plans for that territory was monsterous
beyond belief. NAZI policies in the East were not carefully planned. This is because Hitler did not create a clear administrative structure. There were competing ministeries and officials as well as the SS involved. These agencies had often different attitudes toward policies in the East. As a result, the barbarities that occurred were no the result of a carefully executed plan. While other agencies were involved, the real power lay with the SS. The plan was to reduce the population of Poles and Russians in these territories through outright murder and forced expulsions. Some would remain to serve as slave laborers. Many would be killed outright. Millions more would be expelled or "evacuated" with the understanding that large numbers would die in the process. The goal was to make the east ethnically German. Here Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler had the responsibility for persuing this effort. He appears to have assigned his deputy Reinhard Heydrich to coordinate this effort and essentially the SS's entire eastern operations.
The NAZIs pursued Ukrania's Jews with an unimagined ferocity. After their victory at Kiev the NAZIs murderd about 70,000 Jews at Babi-Yar outside Kiev. In all the NAZIs murdered about 0.6-1.0 million Jews in the Ukraine (1941-44). Most were killed in the opening months of the campaign by the Einsatzgruppe. The Ukranins and other Eastern Europeans have been accused of collaborating with the NAZIs. There is substantial reason for these charges. It is, however, a more complicated issue than often presented. One author focusng on the Ukraine provides a nuanced discussion. [Berkhoff] The Jews of course were only the first step. Overall NAZI plans called for large-scale killing of Ukranians as well as deportations and servitude for those not killed. There were actions against the Ukranians although not on the industrial scale of the Jewish Holocaust. (We will never know for sure what would have happened to the Ukranians had the NAZIs won the War but almost certainly there would have been horendous actions.)
They murdered approximately 1 million Ukranian Jews. There were also terrible attrocities aimed at other Ukrainians.
Hitler appointed Erich Koch as Reichskommissariat who proved to be as barberous as NAZI administrators in Poland. He came to be known as the "Second Stalin" and even liked the image.
He believed in the use of brutality and even carried a whip with him. He made no secret about his nature. He even stated that the appropriate approach in the Ukraine suggesting that the best thing to do in the Ukraine was to kill all the men and then use the women as Aryan breeding stock. This of course would no solve the racial question. It's unclear why he said it, but it does demonstrate the monsterous nature of Hitler's heenchman. He also declared, "If I find a Ukrainian who is worthy of sitting at the same table with me, I must have him shot." Alfred Rosenberg as Reichminister overseeing the Ostministeriumand was formally Koch's superior. The two, however, hated each other personally, but also disagreed about occupation policies. Koch believed that the way to rile the Ukraine was unrelenting brutality. Rosenberg argued that Koch would simply drive the Ukranians into the hands of the Bolsheviks. Koch was an early NAZI convert. He had closer ties to Hitler than Rosenberg and in the NAZI system that meant everything. His relationship and his position as Gauleiter in of East Prussia gave him direct access to the F�hrer. And Hitler agreed with Koch about the use of force. Koch not only ignored Rosenberg's instructions, but would insult him in public. The result was to essentially reduce the Ostministerium to a non-entity in the NAZI state.
The Ukraine was the NAZI's largest and potentially most bountiful colony. One author describes how a mixture of German nationalism, anti-Semitism, and racist denegration of the Slavs produced a feightening reign of terror and genocide. [Berkhoff] The NAZI anti-Semetic policies in the occupied East are the best known aspect of NAZI rule in the occupied East. This was the most draconian asoect of the NAZI racial policies the NAZIs implemented, but it was only one aspect of the overall program. The Ukranians hoped that the unpopular collective farms would be broken up and the land returned to the peasants. Koch did not do this, seeing as Stalin did that the collectives were useful in exerting political control. Much of the industry of the Ukraine was evacuated or destroyed by retreating Red Army troops. Koch made no effort to reactivate Ukranian industrial plants which actually might have proved useful to support the NAZI war effort. The NAZIs saw the Ukraine as important for grain and mineral resources. Koch proceeded to loot the Ukraine. Food stuffs were diverted from Ukranian cities to the Reich, creating severe food shortahes in the Ukraine itself.
One author argues that is impossible to fully appreciate the Ukrainin response to the NAZI assault without assssing the impact of two decades of Soviet rule. The prevailing Soviet mentality prevented the development of any unified resistance to the NAZIs. The vast majority of Ukranians failed to resist the NAZIs. [Berkhoff]
The Ukraine was also used a source of slave labor for the NAZI war effort. Some were recruite, others were forcibly seized. An estimated 2.5 million workers were transported to Germany. The NAZIs as in Poland supressed any kind of nationalist expression or organization. The one exception was the Ukrainian Orthodox church which had been supressed by Stalin. The situation was somewhat different in Galacia which was outside Koch's control.
Here there was degree of cultural and civic activity allowed as well as relief orgamization.
NAZI propaganda trumpted the "Friendship Movement". Propaganda films showed the locals and the German "liberators" working together. There were films of German soldiers with dancing Ukranian peasant girls. I am not entirely sure who these films were shown to. I do not know to what extent movie theaters operated in the occupied Ukraine. And what films would they show. They clearly wouldm't have shown films made during the Soviet era. I supose they culd have shown German films with subtitles. I don't know if they did this. Did the Propaganda Miistry set up film studios? I don't kno the answers to these questions. Hopefully reades will know more. The films were surely shown in German theaters to show how German troops were being welcomed by the oppressed people of the East. Of course any reading of Mein Kampf would have led one to question that Germany's mission was to liberate the Slavs of the East.
Large quantities of food was shipped west to the Reich. The disrupttion of the invasion affected food production. Thus food quickly became scarse. Food was strictly rationed in the occupied Ukraine. Only Ukranians who worked for the occupation authorities or in economic activities approved by the authorities got ration cupons. Ukranians were given the choice. All others were considered "useless eaters" and faced starvation. Koch made a decesion to starve Kiev as an important step in reducing the Slavic population and Urkranian nationalism. [Berkhoff]
Koch ordered the schools in the Ukraine closed. He reasoned, what conceivable reason was there to educate slaves?
The Germans could begin the Lebensborn program in October 1939 in Poland. The Soviet invasion did not take place until June 1941 and by mid 1944 the Red Army had largely liberated the country. Thus the German control over Soviet territory was much shorter than their control over Poland and it was less through as active Polish resistance largely seized after the Government surrendeded. As a result, the conditins to execute the kidnapping of children were more difficult than in Poland. We do not know to what extent these kidnappings were conducted in the Soviet Union. There were, however, large numbers of racially acceptable children. One source estimates that about 50,000 Ukrainian children were kidnapped. I have no way of assessing how accurate this estimate is. They were sent west for racial assessment. Many were picked up because they had blond hair and blue eyes, but the racial assessment was much more complicated. Those that passed the racil tests might be adopted by suitable German families. The children that did not pass the tests were used for slaved labor or often if they were to young to work, murdered. We have very limited information at this time specifically on the Ukranian Lebensorn children.
There was since Tsarist days an ethnic German population in the Ukraine and southern Russia. There were several different German populations in the Ukraine of different historical origins. The Black Sea Germans (the Bessarabian Germans, the Dobrujan Germans, and the Bukovina Germans) emigrated into areas recovered from the Ottomans during 18th century wars waged by Catherine the Great. The Crimean Germans were part of the influx of Europeans promoted by Tsarist authoroties to weaken the Crimean Tatars. The Volhynia Germans settled at the encourament of local, often Polish nobels. among the Germand were the Mennnotes. Some mnged to get out after the Revolution. When the NAZIs invaded the Soviet Union, Stalin ordered the Germans still in Soviet controlled areas transported to Siberia. The Germans moved rapifly enough to over run Germans in the Western Ukraine before Soviet authorities could transport them. This included the Mennoites. Most had suffered under Soviet rule, especially collectivization. They presumably saw the NAZIs as liberators and collaborated with them, although we have few details at this time. When the Soviets recovered the Ukraine, most of the erthnic Germans acconpanied the retreating German Army.
Berkhoff, Karel C. Harvest of Despair: Life and Death in Ukraine Under Nazi Rule.
Kamenetsky, Ihor. Hitler's Occupation of Ukraine, 1941-1944: A Study of Totalitarian Imperialism (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 1956).
Kazaniwsky, Bohdan. "Amid death, gratitude for life," The Washington Post (May 28, 2004), p. W12.
Snyder, Timothy. The Reconstruction Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus 1569-1999.
"Executions," New York Times (December 4, 2001). A short New York Times item read,
"Officials have found evidence that Soviet forces summarily executed 513 people whose bodies were dumped in a mass grave in July 1941 near Lviv, now western Ukraine. Municipal archives yielded information on the mass grave in the registry of the Yanivske cemetery. Authorities have not yet made a decision on whether to carry out exhumations."
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