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ABSTRACT
Although officially designated as representative, self-governing bodies, the Jewish councils (Judenräte) set up in Nazi-controlled territories were essentially tasked with carrying out orders issued by the regime, with at best limited possibilities of mitigating harmful measures against the Jews. This essay, which describes and also notes differences between the Judenräte in eastern and western areas of the present-day Vitebsk region of Belarus, is based on data from Belarusian, Russian, and Israeli archives, supplemented by witness testimonies collected by the author.Footnote1
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 The testimonies of 146 witnesses of the events are concentrated in the author’s personal archive, which was compiled during a period spanning 1995–2016. The author personally interviewed all the witnesses.
2 Altman, ed., Kholokost na territorii SSSR, 164.
3 Ibid., 156.
4 Vinnitsa, Kholokost na okkupirovannoi territorii, 14.
5 Ibid. It should be noted that, at the beginning of the occupation, the Vidzy and Lyntupy administrative subdivisions (volosts) were included in the General District of Belarus. On April 1, 1942, in accordance with order no. 10 (20 March 1942) of General Commissioner Theodor Adrian von Renteln, they were transferred to the General District of Lithuania, Vilnius district (Kreisgebiet Wilna-Land). The Vidzy volost was attached to the Swieciany uyezd (group of volosts) and the Lyntupe volost became part of the Svir uyezd. See Guzenberg, Movsocic, and Sedova, eds. Ghettos of Oshmyany, Svir, Svencionys Regions, 124.
6 Hilberg, “The Judenrat – Conscious or Unconscious Tool.”
7 Reitlinger, The Final Solution.
8 Trunk, Judenrat.
9 Weiss, “Jewish Leadership in Occupied Poland.”
10 Michman, Istoriografia Khatastrofy; cf. Robinson, And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight, 426.
11 Rudenko, ed., Nurnbergskiy process, 2: 409.
12 Arad, Gutman, and Margaliot, eds., Documents on the Holocaust, 139; Rudenko, ed., Nurnbergskiy process, 4: 627.
13 Vinnitsa, Kholokost na okkupirovannoi territorii Vostochnoi Belorussii, 284–285.
14 Altman, ed., Kholokost na territorii SSSR, 698; Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoah, 228; Rajak, Khurbn Glubok, Szarkowszczyna, Dunilowicz, Postavy, Druya, Kazian, 63.
15 “Verwaltungsanordnungen Nr. 2, Des Befehlshaber des rüeckw. Heeres–Gebietes Mitte, 13. Juli 1941,” Nacionalnyi arhiv Respubliki Belarus (hereafter: NARB), f. 4683, op. 3, d. 952, l.4.
16 Ibid.
17 “Obyavlenie dlya zanyatoi oblasti ot 15. 7. 1941,” Gosudarstvennyi arhiv Vitebskoi oblasti (hereafter: GAVO), f. 2290, op. 1, d. 97, l. 3 (ch.2).
18 “Nastavlenie burgomistram (volostnym starshinam). Polevaya komendatura. Otd.VII,” GAVO, f. 1602, op. 1, d. 2, l.9.
19 Lohse document in Arad, ed., Unichtozhenie evreev SSSR v gody nemeckoi okkupacii, 49.
20 Document in Guzenberg, Movsovic, and Sedova, eds., Asmenos, Svieriu, Svencioniu apskriciu getai, 130–1. A portion of the territory in question was part of Kreisgebiet Wilna – Land.
21 Rajak, Khurbn Glubok, Szarkowszczyna, Dunilowicz, Postavy, Druya, Kazian, 164.
22 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 410.
23 Stockfish, ed., Sefer Dokshitz – Parafianov, 213.
24 Rajak, Khurbn Glubok, Szarkowszczyna, Dunilowicz, Postavy, Druya, Kazian, 160.
25 Ibid., 161.
26 Ibid., 164.
27 Ereignismeldung UdSSR № 31., 23 Juli 1941 (copy), Archive Yad Vashem, О.51, 163.31. (p. 88).
28 Guzenberg, Movsovic, and Sedova, eds., Asmenos, Svieriu, Svencioniu apskriciu getai, 130–131.
29 Testimony of Naum Kagan, author’s personal archive (hereafter: APA); Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 410.
30 Testimony of Olga Notkina, APA.
31 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 377.
32 Ibid., 410; Stockfish, ed., Sefer Dokshitz – Parafianov, 213.
33 Altman, ed., Kholokost na territorii SSSR: Entsiklopedia, 162.
34 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 228.
35 Altman, ed., Kholokost na territorii SSSR, 1057; Vinnitsa, Kholokost na okkupirovannoi territorii Vostochnoi Belorussii, 102.
36 Altman, ed., Kholokost na territorii SSSR: Entsiklopedia, 774, 919; Gosudarstvennyi arhiv Rossiskoi Federacii (hereafter: GARF), 7021, op. 92, d. 220, l.111.
37 Rajak, Khurbn Glubok, Szarkowszczyna, Dunilowicz, Postavy, Druya, Kazian, 64.
38 Ibid., 63.
39 Testimony of Varvara Dolzhenkova, APA.
40 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 125.
41 Stockfish, ed., Sefer Dokshitz–Parafianov, 286.
42 Neishtat, ed., Sefer Druja vekehilot Miory, Drujsk, veLeonpol, 162; Stockfish, ed., Sefer Dokshitz–Parafianov, 225; Rajak, Khurbn Glubok, Szarkowszczyna, Dunilowicz, Postavy, Druya, Kazian, 343.
43 Neishtat, ed., Sefer Druja vekehilot Miory, Drujsk, veLeonpol, 127.
44 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 383.
45 Neishtat, ed., Sefer Druja vekehilot Miory, Drujsk, veLeonpol, 120–121.
46 Ibid., 160.
47 Stockfish, ed., Sefer Dokshitz – Parafianov, 222.
48 Testimony of Maria Dunets, APA; Kiselev, ed., Pamyac, 152; Sudebnyi process, 58.
49 Altman, ed., Kholokost na territorii SSSR: Entsiklopedia, 1057, 1133; Vinnitsa, Kholokost na okkupirovannoi territorii Vostochnoi Belorussii, 104.
50 GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 220, l. 116; Testimony of Anna Iofik and Olga Notkina, APA.
51 GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 220, l. 116; Rivkin and Shulman, Hronika strashnych dnei, 94; Testimony of Olga Notkina and Kagan Naum, APA.
52 Testimony of Olga Notkina, APA.
53 Rivkin and Shulman, Hronika strashnych dnei, 94; Sudebnyi process po delu o zlodeyaniyich, sovershennych nemecko – fashistskimi zahvatchikami v Belorusskoi SSR, 58.
54 Testimony of Valentina Adamovich, in personal archive of Tatiana Pleshivova (Braslav).
55 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 74, GAVO, f. 2848, op. 1, d.7, l. 35 ob.; GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 224, l.313.
56 GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 214, l.29; Neishtat, ed., Sefer Druja vekehilot Miory, Drujsk, veLeonpol, 121; GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 217, l. 73.
57 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 43, 74, 169.
58 Vinnitsa, Kholokost na okkupirovannoi territorii Vostochnoi Belorussii, 104.
59 Testimony of Naum Kagan, APA.
60 Rivkin and Shulman, Hronika strashnych dnei. Tragedia Vitebskogo getto, 94.
61 Ibid.
62 Testimony of Olga Notkina, APA.
63 GAVO, f. 2073, op.1, d.85, l.35; GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 220, l.111.
64 Guzenberg, Movsovic, and Sedova, eds. Asmenos, Svieriu, Svencioniu apskriciu getai, 437, 583; GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 217, l.73; GARF, f. 7021, op. 92, d. 214, l. 29; GARF, f.7021, op. 92, d. 224. l. 313.
65 Machnes and Klinov, eds., Emesh shoa, 446.
66 Stockfish, ed. Sefer Dokshitz–Parafianov, 223–4.
67 Rajak, Khurbn Glubok, Szarkowszczyna, Dunilowicz, Postawy, Druya, Kazian, 303.
68 Beilin, Bernshtein, and Chirlin, eds., Disna; sefer zikaron le-kehila, 169, 180.
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Gennadiy Vinnitsa
Gennadiy Vinnitsa, Ph.D., is an independent researcher dealing with the Holocaust in Belarus and Ukraine. He is the author of five books and 49 articles.
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