Collective help to Jews during the Holocaust in Kremenchuk (1941–1943)

Abstract


 
 
 The article examines a still unexplored issue of collective help to Jews during the Holocaust in Kremenchuk. Based on theoretical developments in Holocaust studies, it attempts to investigate the phenomenon of collective help to Jews in the context of the genocidal process unfolding in the city and the vicissitudes of the war in the region. Therefore, the author considers the process of changes in the “solution of the Jewish question” at the time of the Wehrmacht’s entry into Kremenchuk, as well as the dynamics of the Holocaust in the city. The author outlines the definition of “collective help” and offers its analysis through the prism of the activities of both non-Jews and Jews. In this regard, the article analyzes possible ways to obtain information by the local population about the genocide of Jews, as early awareness of the situation could provide more opportunities for action. The author reviewed the available historiographical works on the topic of helping Jews during the Holocaust, collected and systematized the available mentions of assistance to Jews in Kremenchuk, which can be qualified as acts of collective help, and described the specifics of the source base.
 For the first time, the article considers the actions of Synytsia-Verkhovsky, the first mayor of Kremenchuk under Nazi rule, and underground fighters from the organization “Patriot of the Motherland” under the leadership of Taras Zhvania as acts of collective aid. The article outlines what types of collective help were provided to Jews during the Holocaust in Kremenchuk. In addition, it assumes that during the collective assistance of the members of the organization “Patriot of the Motherland” infrastructural cooperation was established (the First City Hospital, the Red Cross, apartments of members of the underground organization). In this way, the author seeks to complement the historiographical contributions that have discussed help to the Jews of Kremenchuk very briefly and only from the viewpoint of individual acts.