Formation of the Ukrainian Police in Kyiv (1941–1943)

Abstract

The phenomenon of Soviet people collaborationism has become widespread during the Second World War. According to some calculations, the number of Ukrainians in the German police forces fluctuates within 100–150 thousand people. The total number of Soviet volunteers in the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS calculated around 1.0–1.2 million people. There were no such precedents in history. Even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, modern Ukrainian historical society does not avoid negative connotations around “collaborationism”, neglecting fundamental “historical objectivism”. The local police was mainly studied through the prism of participation in the Holocaust. Collaborationism studies at the regional level is a very promising area of scientific research at present. The existing historiography about the organization of the Kyiv police does not respond to the scientific needs, so the author drew attention to the factual side of the problem. In that case, the author of the article demonstrated the process of formation of the Kyiv police forces. The author tried to investigate the problems and specificity of the formation of departments of the Ukrainian auxiliary police in Kyiv in the context of the creation of the Nazi Germany administration, and corroborate the research thesis with sources and historiography material. Submission of factual material pertaining to the organization of the Kyiv police forces will give a better understanding of the general tendencies of creation of similar police units in Reichskommissariat of Ukraine. The author made a deliberate mention of basic biographical information, as the commandants of the Kyiv police forces are unknown (except for the city police commanders). Outlining such information will help other researchers to find parts of biographies of famous members of the Ukrainian nationalist movement and emigration.Manuscript received 11.03.2020