Historical Sources on Cases of Collaborationism on the Occupied Territory of the Central-Chernozem Region in 1941–1943
| 15 August 2024
Posted in
Publication of archival documents
Tsukanov I.P.,
Kursk, Russian Federation
Historical Sources on Cases of Collaborationism on the Occupied Territory of the Central-Chernozem Region in 1941–1943
Abstract
The article analyses several cases of collaborationism of former Soviet citizens on the occupied territories of the Central Black Earth Region in 1941–1943. The author studies the documents of the Central Archive of the Ministry of Defense and the State Archives of the Kursk Region. Most of them were introduced into scientific use for the first time. The study ascertains that at the time in the Black Earth Region during the course of warfare there spread out a guerrilla movement and there was a large number of Soviet prisoners of war camps. At the end of 1941 – beginning of 1942 Voskoboinikov K.P. and Kaminski B.V. formed a local governance in the settlement of Lokot, which was busy fighting the guerrilla in the Oryol Region. The German command founded Lokotsky district, which included 8 areas of the current Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk Regions. The Nazi started forming Russian-German troops to fight the guerrilla in summer 1942. As there were few volunteers in autumn 1942 a mobilization was announced. Its coercive nature enabled Kaminski to form the Russian National Liberation Army (Russkaja osvoboditel'naja narodnaja armija, RONA) which was used for antiguerrilla operations, protection of railways and punitive measures. In spring 1943 the regiments of the Russian National Liberation Army fought in battles against the Red Army. Analysis of extensive factual data demonstrates that the Soviet government ignoring local sensitivities, culture and customs of national territories in the pre-war years resulted in collaboration of the locals with the Nazis. Ukrainian volunteers and Cossacks formed cavalry units and Georgian prisoners-of-war formed the so-called “Georgian legion”. The article shows that the Nazis dealt with the personnel shortage by attracting volunteers from the number of prisoners of war and the locals for noncombatant and general service. In the Kursk battle among the enemy combatants there were some vlasovtsy. The article argues that Stalin's anti-national policy and mass repressions factored into allowance of the prisoners of war and the locals for the fascist regime. And still the nation always considered betrayal of the Motherland the worst crime not ever to be forgiven.
Keywords
Archives, source, The Great Patriotic War, the Central Black Earth Region, prisoners of war, collaborationism, antiguerrilla operations.
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About the authors
Tsukanov Igor Pavlovich, PhD in History, Head of Centre for Patriotic Education of the Youth of the Kursk State University, Kursk, Russian Federation, 8-471-270-04-08, 8-906-694-61-80, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it