ACTIVITIES OF KHARKIV POLYTECHNICAL INSTITUTE DURING THE GERMAN OCCUPATION

Abstract

The article examines the activities of employees of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute who remained in Kharkiv during the nazi occupation during the Great Patriotic War. These employees were unable to leave the city on time due to the poor organization of the evacuation of the institute. Difficult circumstances forced many of them to cooperate with the occupiers. However, this cooperation did not give much to the invaders, but it helped most of the scientists of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute to survive and preserve the buildings of the institute, library collections and laboratory equipment. The names of outstanding scientists and teachers who were in the occupation are given. The horrors of the new government are shown: hunger, cold, the death of civilians. Most of the teachers and staff of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute were forced to exchange their own things, jewelry, and building materials for food. The facts of violation of international law by German troops are given. It is shown that the German authorities promoted small-scale handicrafts, retail trade, and the provision of household services. However, the main goal of the German troops was to provide the German army with food, equipment, transport, housing, as well as sending young people and the able-bodied population to forced labor in Germany. The German press was engaged in disinformation, spreading false assurances about the happy life of Eastern workers in Germany, about introducing them to European culture, about their rest and leisure. It is described that thanks to the activities of an outstanding chemist, Professor Pavel Didusenko, it was possible to establish the production of matches and soap. Thanks to the implementation of these essential necessities, scarce in wartime, it was possible to save the lives of a large number of employees of the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute.