Figure 1.-- The Germans were welcomed in the Baltics and western Urkraine. The situation was different in in the Russian hearland annd more Russified eastern Ukraine. Here the population remined staunchly loyal to the Soviet Union. Not so much for Communism, but for Mother Russia. Civilians volunteered in large numbers to build anti-tank barriers and other defensive works. Here women volunteers somewhere in the Don Blas work to build anti-tank inplacement, probably after the fall of Kiev. It looks like October 1941.

Soviet citizens were stunned at the news of the NAZI invasion. The Soviet Union was a multi-national state. Stalin as a result of the Non-Agression Pact with Hitler has significantly expanded Soviet boundariess west. And in these new territories the NKVD and Red Army had carried out a ruthless campaign to purge the population of anti-Soviet elements, meaning not only people desiring an independent state, but whole classes of people who tended to have nationalist aspirations. This was the case in the Baltics. Civilians attitudes in eastern Poland/Beylorussia were more mixed, but in the western Ukraine the Germans were seen as liberators. Thus the first people who the Germans encountered were not at all hostile and in some cases genuinely pleased to see the Germans. And there were other peoples, especially in the Caucuses that were hostile to the Soviets. It was a different matter in the Soviet Union's Russian heartland. Here the population remined staunchly loyal, not so much for Communism, but for Mother Russia. Civilians volunteered in large numbers to build anti-tank barriers and other defensive works. Here there was sometime as it took the Germans time to reach the Russian ethnic areas of the Soviet Union. And the Russians rallied to the cause before the genocidal nature of the NAZI invaders was fully understood. This would not be known until the Red Army offensve before Moscow (December 1941) would take back villages occupied by the Germans. One interesting view of Soviet civilians are the photographs taken by German soldiers who compiled many scrapbooks of their exploits. We are not entirely sure how to interpret these images. After the disaster before Moscow, Hitler reassessed attitudes toward the Russians and allowed the Whermacht to organize a Russian Liberatin Army. Amost all of these men, however, came from German POW camps.

Anti-Communist Russians and Ukranians

The NAZIs had in the Soviet Union the possibility of being received as liberators by substantial elements of the population. This was not just the case in the Baltics, but especially in the Ukraine. Stalin's oppresive regime had alientanted large numbers of Soviet citizens. The NAZIs in their lust for booty and hatred of the Slavs chose not to take advantage of this opportunity. A wide range of NAZI policies turned those opposed to Stalin and and the Soviet regime against the NAZIs. Unlike in Western Europe, the NAZIs did not even an attempt to disguise their intententions. The Soviet prisonors of war were horribly mistreated. Some 3.5? million are believed to have died in NAZI captivity. These include large numbers who may have been enduced to fight with the Germans are as leat have been used as labor in the German war economy. The mass murder of the Einsatgrupen whichb focused on Jews were not limited to them. Much of the Einsatzgrupen killing was doine openly, not behind barbed wire in camps. The administratioin of seized territory in the Soviet Union was in the hands of men like Alfred Rosenberg, Minister for the East, Erich Koch, Commissioner for the Ukraine. These were men who saw the East as a area to be looted and were desorous of reducing the Slav population. The Germans made no attempt to maximize the production inoccupied, Eastern areas. In large measure, they seized what the retreatting Soviets did not destroy and shipped it back to Germany. The civilian popukation was left to fend for itself. Rather than capitalizing on the disaffected Soviet population, they instead built support for Stalin and generated the War's most partisan movement

Regions

The Soviet civilan reaction to the German invaders depended somewhat on the regions involved. Stalin as a result of the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact (August 1939) and the resulkting alliance with Hitler had pushed the borders of the Soviet Union to the west at the eexpende of Poland, Finland, the Baltics and Romaia. Thus much of the territory seized by the Germans has only many Soviet for a little over a year. And brutal Soviet actions had deeply alientated the local poplation. In the western Ukrane, the Soviets held the territory for much longer, but were also very unpopulsar. In addition, the Germany Army had occupied the area in World War and belave relatively correctly. So large elements of the local population at first trated the Germans as liberators and were not full aware of NAZI race policies. It was here thast the lethality of the Holocaust was unleased on the Jews. This was begun by the Einsatzgruppen thst followed in the wake of the combat troops. And the Wehrmsacht in many asctions supported the killing. The Wehrmacht was less radicalized as regards its conduct toward non-Jews. From the beginning, elements oif the Wehrmsacht wanted to make common causde with the anti-Bolshevick nationalist groupings. This approach was vetoed by Hitler's expressed orders. This benign attitude can be seen with the average Wehrmacht soldier who took mumerous photogaphs of the local children, especially during Basrbaossa. Ad we see children with the soldiers without fear, apparebntly attempting to ear a few coins. Many of these photgraohs are unidentified and undated, but were tasken and used to create photograpohic albums the soldiers wee compiling of their military careers.

Collective Farms

Stalin forecably collectivized Soviet agriculture in the late-1920s and 30s. Peasants who resisted were foribly dealt with. The great resistance was in the Ukraine where there was also a strong nationalist movement. Stalin's response was to engineer the Great Famine, a repression so severe that many Ukranians now lavel it as an act of genocide. Peasants who resisted were laveled Kulaks. Some were deported, others including whole families were simply forced off their farms, even in the Winter. No one was allowed to assist them or offer shelter. Soviet agriculture never recovered. The collectives which Stalin put in place is what the Germans found when they invaded the Soviet Union. And agricultural land and production was one of the primary goals of Barbarossa. We are not entirely sure what happened on the collective farms. The Soviets pursued ascorced earth policy, but the German advance was so rapid that many farms were captured in good shape. Here we do not yet have details. We would welcome any infirmation reads may have. The NAZI Commisar order involved shooting Party Commisars in the Red Army. This may have also meant the leadership of collectives. Here we are also unsure. We do not know just how the Germans administered agriculture. We do not know to what extent the collectives were involved in the resistance movement. They held large areas of the Ulraine (1941-43) and other areas of the Baltics and Bylorussi where the collectives were less well established (1941-44). We believe that the collectives erxperienced more damage when the Germans were forced to withdraw. The Germans not only destroyed the physucal plant, but in some cases murdered the collective members. Here we also do not yet have details. Large numbers of Ukranians were deported to the Reich for slave labor. This may have been primarily city resients, but as the Red Army approached this may have included collective members.

Civilians: German Photographs

We notice large numbers of photographs that the Geran soldiers took of Soviet civilans. Most of these photographs were taken rural areas rather than in the cities. Many of these photgraphs come from the Ukraine, although they may not have been taken there. Soviet armies overran the Wehrmacht in five major offensives during 1944. This leads us to the question of how German photographs came into Soviet hands. Perhaps the personal affect of German soldiers were obtained in these offensives. Or perhsaps Soviet soldiers brought back German war albums as personal war booty. German soldiers were no susosed to have personl cameras and take photgraphs. But apparently many did. I think this ould have mostly been officers. We are not entirely sure of their motives. The fact that they mostly took photographs in rural areas, commonly of ragged men and children suggests that they were recording the poverty and backwardness of the society tht they were destroying. These images seem to cofirm many of the basic NAZI prejudices about their superiority and Soviet and Slavic backwardness. The expressions on the faces of the civilins do not seem to be one of fear. Rather the impression ne gets is tht the civilians had not idea what the German goals were. It should also be remembered that only near the final phase of Barbarossa did the Germns move into areas populsated by ethnic Russians. One notable observation is that the Soviet rural population looked ragged, they were often dressed warmly--something that could not be said about the invading Germans.

Russian Liberation Army

After the disaster before Moscow, Hitler reassessed attitudes toward the Russians and allowed the Whermacht to organize a Russian Liberatin Army. Amost all of these men, however, came from German POW camps.

Created: 5:04 AM 3/4/2005
Last updated: 5:22 AM 10/2/2009