“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)

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze the role of the civilians (“smalldeathjobs”) 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 (“smalldeathjobs”) 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 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 “smalldeathjobs” 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.