Sovietisation and the Jewish Response to Nazi Policies of Mass Murder

Abstract

Over one-and-a-half million Jews lived in the Eastern provinces of Poland occupied by the USSR in September 1939.1 In June–July 1941 these territories were conquered by Nazi Germany. Almost the entire Jewish population residing in the area was annihilated in the Holocaust. It was, numerically, one of the largest communities extinguished in Europe. Only a small minority survived by fleeing with the retreating Soviet troops. Yet this Jewish community was the only one which had somewhere to flee to: the Soviet rear could accommodate masses of refugees, contrary to other European countries that were completely overrun by German troops. But the vast majority of local Jews did not even try to escape. At least part of the explanation for this phenomenon should be looked for in the 21 months of Soviet rule that preceded the Holocaust. In that period the new rulers introduced basic changes in the life of the Jewish population. Centuries-old structures of community life, leadership and relations between the individual and the surrounding world were destroyed. By the time Soviet rule came to an end the Jew had been deprived of leadership, communal organisation and age-old methods of dealing with situations of crisis. He faced a threat to his very existence — and stood alone.KeywordsJewish CommunityJewish PopulationAutonomous InstitutionJewish OrganisationGerman OccupationThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.