Стосунки вахманів з євреями у таборі смерті Белжець: за архівними матеріалами СБУ

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to investigate the relationship between the Vakhman staff and Jews who ended up in the Belzec extermination camp, directly or indirectly: during the creation of this camp, during its main functioning, and at the time of the liquidation of this structure, using materials contained in branch archives of the SSU. The research methodology is based on the principles of historicism, systematicity and objectivity, induction, and deduction. The methods used should be considered the method of analysis and partially the chronological, geographical, and historical-genetic methods. The scientific novelty of the research results is attributable to the insufficient study of the problem in the previous period and to the introduction into scientific circulation and processing by the article's author of a complex of little-known archival materials. Conclusions. In the Belzec extermination camp, an established mechanism of execution was involved, in which the Vakhman staff and kapos took a direct part in all its stages. Kapos and workers from the brigades allowed the camp management to replace ordinary Vakhmans at some stages of the destruction of prisoners, the reason for which was a conflict of interests. There were different ways of killing Jews: by shooting, gassing, and physical beating. Considering the Jews as workers, we found out that they were not a homogeneous category, divided by gender – into men's and women's teams, by professional orientation – into team workers and narrowly qualified workers, by social stratum – into ordinary workers and «seniors» in the form of kapo and oberkapo. Relations between the Vakhmans and the Jews had an exclusively «functional» character. The files mentioned only one attempt at a joint action by the Vakhman staff and the prisoners against the German administration, which ended in failure. The result was the tragic end of the labor brigade, which could serve as an example and perhaps one of the reasons for the uprising in the Sobibor extermination camp. The biggest problem of studying the issue based on the archival files remains the statistical research directions and the event chronology because the evidence gives only approximate dates and data on the number of workers and those killed. Prospects for further research are possible due to the expansion of the source base by attracting new archival cases, as well as due to the method of comparative analysis of various extermination camps and an interdisciplinary approach in the study of psychological portraits of guards and prisoner-workers.