Warcrimes of the "Wiking" Division

[Rob - wssob2]

Continuing with a synopsis of the chapter Verbrechen der Waffen-SS Division „Wiking“ in Kai Struve's recent book Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt (German Rule, Ukrainian Nationalism, and Anti-Semitic Violence: The Summer of 1941 in Western Ukraine):

The first major massacres by elements of SS "Wiking" Division took place in the first city behind Slovita on the route of advance of the Division, namely in Zoločiv. Zoločiv was also the site of a major Soviet prison. Again, the Soviets had murdered the occupants from their withdrawal.

After vigorous bombardment and fighting the 9th Panzer Division occupied Zoločiv morning on 1 July 1941.23 During the deployment, it seems that the German troops took few casualties and there were a few incidents of looting by civilians. According to Jewish survivor Salo Altman, many Ukrainians who now poured into the streets, small signs attached to the clothes, which stood up: "Ukrainians - speaks German and provides information"

In the morning, Zoločiv civilians approached the NKVD prison, located in a “citiadel” building on the outskirts of town. They discovered blood trails, a few bodies, and two mass graves in the yard and garden of the facility. One of the graves was situated next to the prison wall, apparently so that the NKVD could toss the bodies of their victims out of the prison windows and into the pit below. The graves were dug up and a total of 649 bodies counted. Rumors start to circulate that the victims had been tortured prior to execution, although it was difficult to definitely prove as the corpses had already begun to rot.

The reprisal pogrom at Zoločiv occurred between July 2 and 4th, 1941.

On July 2, rumors began to spread among the Jewish townsfolk of German soliders and Ukrainian civilians committing plunder and rape against the Jews. Altaman fled his apartment and hid in a Polish friend’s house near the Jabłonowskich Barracks. Altman heard the sounds of SS troops occupying the barracks, although postwar he seems to have assumed that they were members of Einsatzgruppe C, Sonderkommando 4c. However, Sonderkommando 4c. apparently didn’t enter Zoločiv until July 4th and stayed only briefly., so the SS troops Altman heard were most likely advance elements of the Wiking Division., specifically the Nordland and Germania Regiments.

Soon after establishing the barracks at the base, the SS troops went door-to-door in the surrounding neighborhood, pounding on doors and asking if there were Russians or Jews inside. Altman and about sixty other Jewish civilians were apprehended and gathered into the barracks yard by the SS troops. The SS troops forced the civilians to clean up the yard and the nearby access road, filling in potholes with their bare hands. One elderly Jew couldn’t handle the work and collapsed, prompting blows from the SS soldiers. An SS NCO came over to see what the trouble was and Altman told him in German that the elderly guy couldn’t work and was a former Major in the Austrian Army (note that this part of Ukraine was prior to WWI part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire).

Thanks to Alman’s fluent German and the former Major’s military service, the SS NCO let the two men go. Altman made it back to his friends house., where he again tried to stay out of sight. Around 8PM, Altman heard the sound of machine gun fire. Venturing out to investigate, his Polish friend reported that all the Jews who had been forced to clean up the barracks had just been shot.

[Jan-Hendrik]

A holocaust scholar devotes an entire chapter to the Wiking division's genocide during the summer of 1941 in the Ukraine, and includes quotes from official German Army documentation on how the SS troops are killing Jewish civilians

Would be interesting to see these german documents, at least which BAMA or NARA signatures they have to take an eye on these primary sources.

Jan-Hendrik

[dshaday]

Hi

Continuing with a synopsis of the chapter Verbrechen der Waffen-SS Division „Wiking“ in Kai Struve's recent book Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt (German Rule, Ukrainian Nationalism, and Anti-Semitic Violence: The Summer of 1941 in Western Ukraine):

The first major massacres by elements of SS "Wiking" Division took place in the first city behind Slovita on the route of advance of the Division, namely in Zoločiv...

Comments about Zoločiv and some eyewitness accounts have previously been discussed in the thread:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=147435

Dennis

[dshaday]

Hi Rob

In your post you say that "first major massacres by elements of SS "Wiking" Division took place in the first city behind Slovita on the route of advance of the Division, namely in Zoločiv."

In that post the only direct reference to war crimes I can see backing up this statement is:

On July 2, rumors began to spread among the Jewish townsfolk of German soliders and Ukrainian civilians committing plunder and rape against the Jews. ...

so the SS troops Altman heard were most likely advance elements of the Wiking Division., specifically the Nordland and Germania Regiments...

Around 8PM, Altman heard the sound of machine gun fire. Venturing out to investigate, his Polish friend reported that all the Jews who had been forced to clean up the barracks had just been shot.

In the only reported shootings so far, no mention is made that SS troops were involved. There must be a lot more information in the book regarding crimes at Zoločiv ?

Dennis

[Jan-Hendrik]

Hi

Continuing with a synopsis of the chapter Verbrechen der Waffen-SS Division „Wiking“ in Kai Struve's recent book Deutsche Herrschaft, ukrainischer Nationalismus, antijüdische Gewalt (German Rule, Ukrainian Nationalism, and Anti-Semitic Violence: The Summer of 1941 in Western Ukraine):

The first major massacres by elements of SS "Wiking" Division took place in the first city behind Slovita on the route of advance of the Division, namely in Zoločiv...

Comments about Zoločiv and some eyewitness accounts have previously been discussed in the thread:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=147435

Dennis

I have tried the search at the Doew-website....under 'wiking i got any relevant hit for our topic....

[Rob - wssob2]

Would be interesting to see these german documents, at least which BAMA or NARA signatures they have to take an eye on these primary sources.

Hi Jan-Hendrik, the relevant pages on the initial events of Zoločiv are roughly on pp.567-69 of the book. The footnotes of those pages are as follows:

0 Zit. n. Musial: „Konterrevolutionäre Elemente“, S. 228 (Gefreiter Ferdinand B., Bibliothek für Zeit- geschichte, Stuttgart, Sammlung Sterz).
21 Lappi-Seppälä: Haudat Dnjeprin Varrella, (in auszugsweiser englischer Übersetzung http:// forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84298, Januar 2015) Zu den Racheakten des Regiments „Westland“ auch Carynnyk: Zoločiv movčyt’, S. 14.
22 Evertjan van Roekel: Jongens van Nederland. Nederlandse vrijwilligers in de Waffen-SS, Houten- Antwerpen 2011, S. 87.
23 Seit dem Nachmittag des 30. Juni gab es heftige Kämpfe in der Umgebung von Zoločiv. Am 1. Juli gegen 9.00 Uhr drang die Schützen-Brigade 9 in Zolochiv ein und hatte gegen Mittag schon das gut zehn Kilometer südöstlich am weiteren Verlauf der Vormarschstraße gelegene Pluhiv (poln. Pluhów) erreicht, 9. Panzerdivision, Führungsabteilung, KTB Nr. 1, 19.5.41–22.1.1942, BA-MA RH 27-9/4, Bl. 15. Nach Erinnerungen von Einwohnern rückten die ersten deutsche Truppen schon zwischen zwei und
vier Uhr morgens in Zoločiv ein, Tennenbaum: Zloczow Memoir, S. 166; zu den Bombardements und den Kämpfen in den vorhergehenden Tagen, ebd., S. 164f.
24 Tennenbaum: Zloczow Memoir, S. 168. Zu weiteren von deutschen Soldaten erschossenen zivilen Opfern und Morden an verwundeten Rotarmisten, Carynnyk: All Monstrous and Hellish. The Zolochiv Pogrom, July 1941, unveröffentlichter Vortrag auf der AAASS Convention, Boston, November 2009 , S. 5.
25 Tennenbaum: Zloczow Memoir, S. 168.
26 S. Altman: Haunting Memories, in Eliezer Boneh, Baruch Karu, I.M. Laski (Hg.): Sefer kehilat Zlots’ov/The City of Zloczow, Tel Aviv 1967, Sp. 29–146, hier Sp. 32.
27 Dynowski: Ewakuacja więzień, S. 134–136; Musial: „Konterrevolutionäre Elemente“, S. 127f., 162f. Dynowski berichtet, dass im Hof drei Massengräber gefunden worden seien, Musial spricht sogar von vier. Nach seiner Darstellung wurden bei der Exhumierung im Obstgarten weitere Massengräber gefunden, aus denen die Leichen allerdings nicht hervorgeholt wurden, ebd., S. 167. In den ukrai- nischen Zeitungen aus dem Juli 1941 wird allerdings nur über die oben genannten zwei Massengrä- ber berichtet, „Žertvy bol’ševyc’kych zvirstv u Zoločivs’kij v”jaznyci“, Ukraïns’ki ščodenni visti Nr. 11, 18. Juli 1941, S. 3; abgedr. in Litopys neskorenoï Ukraïny, Bd. 1, S. 58f., u. Romaniv, Feduščak: Zachidnoukraïns’ka trahedija, S. 275f.
28 „Žertvy bol’ševyc’kych zvirstv u Zoločivs’kij v“jaznyci“, Ukraïns’ki ščodenni visti Nr. 11, 18. Juli 1941, S. 3. Die Einsatzgruppe berichtete über „insgesamt 700 Ukrainer“, die von „den Russen“ vor ihrem Abzug festgenommen und ermordet worden waren, Mallmann u.a. (Hg.): Die „Ereignismeldungen UdSSR“, S. 133 (EM 24, 16. Juli 1941).

29 Popiński: Ewakuacja więzień, S. 16f. Vor Kriegsbeginn hatten im Gefängnis von Zoločiv nach so- wjetischen Daten vom 10. Juni 1941 zwischen 614 und 625 Häftlinge eingesessen, Kokurin: Ewakuacja więzień, S. 83, 86; Romaniv, Feduščak: Zachidnoukraïns’ka trahedija, S. 339.

30 Zum Aussehen der Leichen s.u. Die Ukraïns’ki ščodenni visti berichteten, dass den Häftlingen Nägel in die Köpfe geschlagen, Nasen und Ohren abgerissen und Haut- und Fleischstücke bei lebendi- gem Leib abgeschnitten worden seien, „Neljuds’ki zvirstva enkavedystiv. 800 trupiv u Zoločivščyni“, Ukraïns’ki ščodenni visti Nr. 10, 17. Juli 1941, S. 3, abgedr. in Litopys neskorenoï Ukraïny, Bd. 1, S. 56f., u. Romaniv, Feduščak: Zachidnoukraïns’ka trahedija, S. 274f. Die hier genannte Zahl von 800 Toten wurde in dem oben schon angeführten Bericht vom folgenden Tag auf 649 reduziert. Auch der zweite Artikel sprach von „abgerissenen Körperteilen und Armen, ausgestochenen Augen, herausgerisse- nen Zungen, gebrochenen Beinen und ausgerissenen Haarbüscheln“, „Žertvy bol’ševyc’kych zvirstv u Zoločivs’kij v”jaznyci“, Ukraïns’ki ščodenni visti Nr. 11, 18. Juli 1941, S. 3. Der deutsche Schriftsteller Bruno Brehm kam vermutlich erstmals am 4. oder 5. Juli auf dem Weg nach Ternopil’ durch Zoločiv. In Ternopil’ besprach er am 5. Juli mit dem Ic-Offizier der 9. Panzerdivision die Veröffentlichung von Ge- fechtsschilderungen, Tätigkeitsbericht Ic 22.6.41–22.1.42, BA-MA RH 27-9/81, Bl. 3. In Zoločiv suchte er das Gefängnisgebäude auf und sah die ausgelegten Leichen. Er beobachtete, dass bei den männlichen Leichen die Geschlechtsorgane fehlten. Brehm schilderte dies in seinem Werk Aus der Reitschul’! Ein autobiographischer Roman, Graz 1951 (2. Aufl.), S. 291. In einem Artikel für den „Völkischen Beobach- ter“ im Jahr 1941 hatte er diese Beobachtung antisemitisch interpretiert: „Der Graben selbst lag voll von Leichen. Keine von ihnen, die nicht furchtbar verstümmelt war, wohin das Denken der Beschnit- tenen immer geht, gleichviel ob das nun die Psychoanalyse Freuds ist oder die Martern der Henker in diesen Gefängnissen sind“, Bruno Brehm: Die tödliche Schule, als Ausschnitt im Kriegstagebuch Deringer, (http://www.htl-steyr.ac.at/~holz/dachbo ... itg02.html, Januar 2015)

31 Altman: Haunting Memories, Sp. 33.

32 Mallmann u.a. (Hg.): Die „Ereignismeldungen UdSSR“, S. 86 (EM 14, 6. Juli 1941); ebd., S. 83 (EM 13, 5. Juli 1941). Nach einer Aussage von Günther Herrmanns Fahrer fuhr Herrmann zunächst am 3. oder 4. Juli nur mit einem Vorkommando nach Ternopil’, dem der Hauptteil des Kommandos erst ein oder zwei Tage später folgte, als Herrmann für Besprechungen wieder nach Lemberg zurückkehr- te. Nach dieser Aussage fuhr das Vorkommando ohne Unterbrechung innerhalb eines halben Tages nach Ternopil’, Adolf Blaschke, Vernehmung am 30. Januar 1973, BStU MfS HA IX/11 ZUV 22, Bd. 1, Bl. 205–210. Vgl. auch Abschlussbericht der ZStL vom 28. August 1962 im Ermittlungsverfahren gegen Günther Herrmann, BA B 162/3771, Bl. 558.

33 Ebd., S. 133 (EM 24, 16. Juli 1941).

34 Ebd., S. 104 (EM 19, 11. Juli 1941).

35 KTB der Führungsstaffel (Ia) Gen. Kdo XIV. A.K., 22.4.–15.12.41, BA-MA RH 24-14/33, Bl. 25. Nach dem Kriegstagebuch der 295. Infanterie-Division erschien eine Vorausabteilung der Division „Wiking“ am 2. Juli gegen 16.00 Uhr am Westeingang von Zoločiv, Kirstein (Hg.): Infanterie-Division 295. Rekon- struktion eines Tagebuchs, S. 249.
36 Kriegstagebuch II./SS-Regiment „Westland“, S. 3.

A quick Google translate of the footnotes in English is the following:

0 Zit n Musial:.. "Counterrevolutionaries elements", S. 228 (Corporal Ferdinand B., Library of contemporary history, Stuttgart, collection mush).
Lappi-Seppälä 21: Haudat Dnjeprin varrella, (in excerpts English translation http: // forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=84298 January 2015) The revenge of the Regiment "Westland" also Carynnyk: Zoločiv movčyt ', p. 14

22 Evertjan van Roekel: Jongens van Nederland. Nederlandse vrijwilligers in de Waffen-SS, Houten- Antwerp 2011 S. 87th

23 Since the afternoon of June 30th, there was fierce fighting around Zoločiv. On 1 July, around 9:00 clock the Rifle Brigade 9 (Pluhów Pol.) Came in Zolochiv and had around noon already the ten kilometers southeast to the further course of the advance road location Pluhiv achieved 9th Armored Division, guidance department, KTB Nr. 1 , 19.5.41-22.1.1942, BA-MA RH 27-9 / 4, Bl. 15. According to memories of residents already engaged the first German troops between two and
four clock in the morning in a Zoločiv, Tennenbaum: Zloczow Memoir, p 166; to the bombing and the fighting in the preceding days, ibid., p 164f.

24 Tennenbaum: Zloczow Memoir, p 168. Additional shot by German soldiers and civilian victims of murders of wounded Red Army soldiers, Carynnyk: All Monstrous and Hellish. The Zolochiv pogrom, July 1941, unpublished paper presented at the AAASS Convention, Boston, Nov. 2009, p. 5

25 Tennenbaum: Zloczow Memoir, S. 168th

26 S. Altman: Haunting Memories, in Eliezer Boneh, Baruch Karu, IN Laski (Hg.):.. Sefer Kehilat Zlots'ov / The City of Zloczow, Tel Aviv 1967 Sp 29-146, here SP32.

27 Dynowski: Ewakuacja więzień, pp 134-136; Musial: "counterrevolutionaries elements", S. 127f, 162f.. Dynowski reported that three mass graves were found in the yard, Musial is even talk of four. According to his account more mass graves were found during the exhumation in the orchard from which the bodies were, however, not brought out, ibid., P 167. Where, in the Ukrainian newspapers from July 1941, however, only about the above two Massengrä- about reported "Žertvy bol'ševyc'kych zvirstv u Zoločivs'kij v" jaznyci "Ukraïns'ki ščodenni visti No. 11, July 18, 1941, p. 3; repr. in Litopys neskorenoï Ukrainy, Vol 1, p 58f, u Romaniv, Feduščak:... Zachidnoukraïns'ka trahedija, p 275F.

28 "Žertvy bol'ševyc'kych zvirstv u Zoločivs'kij v" jaznyci "Ukraïns'ki ščodenni visti no. 11, July 18, 1941, p 3. The Task Force reported on" a total of 700 Ukrainians "to" the Russians had been "arrested and murdered before their withdrawal, Mallmann and Others (Hg.): The "event messages USSR", S. 133 (EM 24, July 16, 1941).

29 Popinski: Ewakuacja więzień, S. 16f. Had before the outbreak of war in the prison of Zoločiv been eating well after wjetischen data from June 10, 1941 614-625 prisoners, Kokurin: Ewakuacja więzień, S. 83, 86; Romaniv, Feduščak: Zachidnoukraïns'ka trahedija, S. 339th

30 The external appearance of the corpses S.U. The Ukraïns'ki ščodenni visti reported that the prisoners beaten nails in their heads, noses and ears and torn skin and pieces of meat were cut off at lebendi- gem body, "Neljuds'ki zvirstva enkavedystiv. 800 trupiv u Zoločivščyni "Ukraïns'ki ščodenni visti no. 10, July 17, 1941: 3, repr. in Litopys neskorenoï Ukrainy, Vol 1, p 56f, u Romaniv, Feduščak:... Zachidnoukraïns'ka trahedija, S. 274f. The above mentioned number of 800 deaths have been reduced by the following day to 649 in the report above already mentioned. The second article spoke of "torn body parts and arms, eyes gouged out, herausgerisse- NEN tongues, broken legs and torn tufts of hair", "Žertvy bol'ševyc'kych zvirstv u Zoločivs'kij v" jaznyci "Ukraïns'ki ščodenni visti No. . 11, July 18, 1941, p 3. The German writer Bruno Brehm came probably the first time on 4 or 5 July at the road to Ternopil 'by Zoločiv. In Ternopil 'he discussed on 5 July with the Ic officer of the 9th Armored Division, the release of GE Fencing accounts, activity report Ic 22.6.41-22.1.42, BA-MA RH 27-9 / 81, Bl. 3. In Zoločiv he went to the prison building and saw the corpses laid out. He observed that in the male bodies lacked the sexual organs. Brehm described this in his work from the riding school '! An autobiographical novel, Graz 1951 (2nd ed.), P 291. In an article for the "Nationalists observer" in 1941, he had interpreted this observation antisemitic: "The trench itself was full of corpses. None of them, which was not mutilated terribly, whereas the thinking of the trimmed always goes, whether the Freudian psychoanalysis is now or the torments of hell in these prisons are "Bruno Brehm: The deadly school, as a cutout in the war diary Deringer, (http://www.htl-steyr.ac.at/~holz/dachbo ... itg02.html January 2015)

31 Altman: Haunting Memories, Sp 33rd.

32 Mallmann et al (Ed.): The "event messages USSR", p.86 (EM 14, July 6, 1941); ibid., p.83 (EM 13, July 5, 1941). According to a statement from Günther Herrmann's driver did Herrmann initially on 3rd or 4th July must a Vorkommando to Ternopil ', where the main part of the command followed only a day or two later, when Herrmann for meetings back to Lviv zurückkehr- te. After this statement the Vorkommando drove without stopping within half a day to Ternopil ', Adolf Blaschke, hearing on 30 January 1973 BStU MfS HA IX / 11 ZUV 22, Vol. 1, pp. 205-210. See. Also Final Report of ZStL of 28 August 1962 at the investigation against Günther Herrmann, BA B 162/3771, Bl. 558th

33 Ibid., P 133 (EM 24, July 16, 1941).

34 Ibid., P 104 (EM 19, July 11, 1941).

[Rob - wssob2]

Dennis:

As I stated before, the Pogrom at Zolochiv occurred on July 2, 3 and 4th, 1941.

Rumors of mistreatment and looting by German troops and Ukrainian civilians began circulating among the town’s Jewish population on July 2.

SS troops arrived in Zolochiv on July 2. These were most likely advanced elements of the Wiking Division, as the Einsatzgruppe contingents weren’t’ operating that far forward on that day. Sonderkommando 4b only stopped briefly at Zolochiv on July 4th.


I’ll give a brief summary of the Zolochiv pogrom:

Ukrainian civlians of Zoboriv formed an ad hoc city government on July 2.

Angered over the NKVD massacre site in the Citadel, the Ukrainian “officials” met with the SS commanders in the area. The Ukrainians either asked for permission to conduct a pogrom against the town’s Jews in retaliation, for the NKVD murders. Or the German commanders incited the local populace to think that is was the local Jews responsible for the NKVD murders. Regardless of who incited whom to begin the murders, the Pogrom was officially scheduled to begin July 3rd.

The Germans published a poster ordering all Jews, under pain of death, to assemble at 8AM July 3 in the town square. The Germans may have claimed that they were conducting the roundup for forced labor. The house to house search was possibly initiated when too few Jews had appeared in the square. SS troops and Ukrainian civilians, wearing nationalist armbands, began a house to house search for Jewish and Russian civilians, targeting grown males. The Ukrainian nationalists led the troops to the homes of their Jewish neighbors.

The II Battalion of the SS-Westland Regiment arrived at Zolochiv in the afternoon.

During the day, the town’s Jews were escorted to the Citadel - on the way they were beaten and bloodied with “with rifles, sticks, iron rods and stones” - and forced to exhume the bodies of the executed NKVD victims.. The exhumation was difficult, as the flesh was falling off the bones of the victims. SS troops with batons and Ukrainian auxiliaries occasionally beat the Jews digging out the corpses. Other civilians gathered at the scene, including individuals looking to learn the fate of their relatives arrested by the NKVD.

Incidents of shooting by SS troops seem to have begin around midday and increased in amount and severity till about 6PM, when a severe thunderstorm arrived. Jews were murdered in various parts of the town. Some were shot as they were hustled out of their houses. A Waffen-SS motorcyclist dragged Rabbi Eilenberg by a rope through the streets until he expired. Ukrainian auxiliaries, possibly provided weapons by the Germans, gathered sixty Jews in the courtyard of the town hospital and shot them. Several Jews were allegedly drowned in latrines or sewers.

In the late afternoon, the SS troops machine-gunned the Jews exhuming corpses at the Citadel mass grave.

Toward the later part of the day, additional elements of the German Army began to arrive in the town. The Army apparently was aware that something was amiss, as Colonel Otto Korfes of theof the 518th Infantry Regiment. 295th Infantry Division was ordered to restore order in the town. Korfes apparently passed the order town to Lieutenant Colonel Patzwahl.

On July 4th, Ukrainian auxiliaries continued the Pogrom at the Citiadel, prompting Korfes to visit the area and restore order. Korfes briefly questioned two SS engineers on the scene, who denied taking part in the killing. German troops were then forbidden to photograph the area. Korfes later testified in 1960 that the he ordered his troops – possibly at the request of SS Wiking commanders - not to report the involvement of Waffen-SS troops in the killing, but to document that the events in question were only perpetrated by Ukrainians.

The bestial behavior of the Waffen-SS troops was documented by 295th Engineer Battalion officer Lieutenant Kaesber in his diary, among others.
Jewish survivors who recounted these events include Shlomo Wolkowicz (who survived the shooting at the Citadel pit), Abram Efremovič Čotkover, Anna Ulrich.

[michael mills]

Regardless of who incited whom to begin the murders, the Pogrom was officially scheduled to begin July 3rd.

"Scheduled" by whom? The Ukrainian local government set up on 2 July?

Is there any evidence that the commander of the forward elements of the Wiking Division ordered his men to join the local Ukrainians in the pogrom? There seems to be some uncertainty about how it started.

Korfes later testified in 1960 that the he ordered his troops – possibly at the request of SS Wiking commanders - not to report the involvement of Waffen-SS troops in the killing, but to document that the events in question were only perpetrated by Ukrainians.

That would suggest that the men of the Wiking Division had not received any official order or authorisation to join in the pogrom. The description of the events suggests that the men of the Wiking Division who arrived in Zolochiv on 2 and 3 July were enraged by the sight of the bodies of the victims executed by the NKVD before the retreat of the latter, and on their own initiative joined the Ukrainians who had started taking revenge on the local Jews.

The idea that the Ukrainians of Zolochiv needed to be "incited" to start of pogrom against the Jews of the town represents apologetic special pleading. The Ukrainians were well aware that the local Jews had collaborated with the Soviet occupiers in suppressing any manifestation of Ukrainian nationalism, and had helped in the identification and rounding up of anti-Soviet Ukrainians, that is, the very people who had been executed by the NKVD.

It is quite possible that the leaders of the Ukrainian city government set up on 2 July asked the commanders of the SS units that arrived on that day whether there would be any objection to their taking revenge on the Jews of the town, and were told that there would not be on the part of the Germans.

In any case, it must have been the local Ukrainians who told the arriving German troops that the NKVD had executed the prisoners held in the citadel before their retreat, and that the bodies of the victims were buried there. The order issued by the commander of the Germans troops for all Jews of Zolochiv to assemble on the town square at 08:00 on 3 July must have been in response to that information from the Ukrainians. It is also quite likely that the Ukrainians told the German commanders that the local Jews had been complicit in the NKVD killings.

It is possible that the German intention was just to compel the Jews to exhume the bodies of the victims. When the exhumations began, the Ukrainians became enraged at the sight of the bodies of the victims, which apparently were in a bad way, and started to attack the Jews, both those doing the exhumation and others elsewhere in the town.

There seems to have been some delay between the assembling of the Jews at 08:00 and the time when the German troops began shooting the Jews at around midday. That is possibly because it was not the original intention of the German troops witnessing the exhumation to execute the Jews, but they became increasingly tense in the course of the morning, as the exhumation proceeded, and eventually some of them began to join the Ukrainians in attacking the Jews, without having been ordered to do so.

The bestial behavior of the Waffen-SS troops.......

Illegal, perhaps, but quite understandable in the context of a mass atrocity perpetrated by the NKVD.

[michael mills]

Korfes later testified in 1960.......

Where did he testify, and under what circumstances?

Korfes was taken prisoner at Stalingrad, and subsequently committed treason by joining the renegade "Nationalkommittee Freies Deutschland, a group of captured German officers who volunteered to work for Soviet propaganda. In that capacity he worked closely with Walter Ulbricht, the later dictator of East Germany and Soviet stooge.

When Korfes was released from captivity, he settled in East Germany, where he became a general in the Volkspolizei.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Korfes

So in 1960 Korfes was a Communist fellow-traveller, not exactly a trustworthy character.

[Dimitrii]

Quoting from Stein's oudated (1966!) work and then including a very dubious source (a Volkspolizei-stooge from a dictorial state) just further proves that the "evidence" against Wiking is really, really slim. It looks like some people are desperatly looking for any crimes and, by lack of any serious evidence, just present a strange mix of misinterpreted facts into the unscholary mix. Very unconvincing.

Thanks Mr. Mills for your in-depth knowledge against the romancers.

[dshaday]

Hi Dimitrii

Quoting from Stein's oudated (1966!) work ...

To be fair, the work by Stein was excellent in it's day and is still a great source for information that is not readily covered in other books. The age of the book does not discount it's usefulness. There is no stigma in Rob's use of this work. What needs to be looked into is what footnotes or sources Stein gives for his comments regarding Wiking.

In this thread we are looking at a specific and narrow part of history, which is not often sourced by authors. Namely, did Wiking commit war crimes in Zlochov (and other nominated places). Sources can often be conflicting, emotional or incomplete in what they tell us regarding the perpetrators.

Even if Wiking soldiers can be placed at the scene of a war crime we still need, as Michael has pointed out, to discover: Was the crime committed by Wiking or someone else? Was the crime ordered by Wiking? Is it the work of a few Wiking soldiers without orders?

All the best

Dennis

[seaburn]

Totally agree with your sentiments Dennis regarding slating a book due to its age. While it can be argued that over time other viewpoints arise to challenge a books POV, it's stuff of nonsense to dismiss its contents as flawed without hard rebuttal evidence.

Looking forward to seeing if this allegation against Wiking can be pinned down by further research.

C

[Dimitrii]

Sure, I can agree with the fact that Stein (and even Höhne) are still useable. However using for such a niche subject (supposed 'war crimes' of Viking in one village) and then coining the romancing term "genocide" (in 1941!) as a conclusion is really another thing.

Mr. Mills, to your knowledge, how anachronistic is it so refer to Viking as comitting genocide in 1941? It's a serious allegation, one of many, by romancing authors of fiction - has it been done before?

[michael mills]

Dimitrii,

In answer to your question, the term "genocide" implies a policy or decision made by a government or other central authority to physically destroy a defined population group, essentially by killing members of that population group. In the absence of such a policy, killings perpetrated by a group of soldiers running amok cannot reasonably be termed "genocide".

As of July 1941, there is no hard evidence of any German Government policy or decision to physically destroy any population group as such. To be sure, Heydrich had issued orders to the SS and Police Leaders to carry out targeted executions of defined groups within the Soviet population, but those groups were defined politically rather than ethnically. The only Jews listed for summary execution in those orders were those in State and Party positions, ie Jews who were functionaries in the Soviet political system. Thus, there was at that time no order to kill Jews in general.

Since the Security Police had not received orders to kill ordinary Jewish civilians who were not politically involved, it is unlikely that Waffen-SS units, which had a combat rather than a policing role, would have received any such orders. Thus, it is a reasonable assumption that any members of the Wiking Division who participated in the massacre of Jews at Zlochiv were doing so on their own initiative, without orders from their commanders, and most probably they were copying the actions of the Ukrainians.

That having been said, Heydrich had also issued instructions that local populations were not to be hindered in carrying out revenge attacks against the Jews in their midst, "self-cleansing actions" as he termed such attacks. Thus, Wiking commanders were precluded from preventing attacks on Jews by the local Ukrainian population, and had no incentive to intervene.

[Rob - wssob2]

Michael, you wrote:

"Scheduled" by whom? The Ukrainian local government set up on 2 July?

Is there any evidence that the commander of the forward elements of the Wiking Division ordered his men to join the local Ukrainians in the pogrom? There seems to be some uncertainty about how it started.

It is unclear. My translation/synopsis on the relevant paragraphs on pp.570-71:

…Then a delegation had asked the SS unit for formal permission for a pogrom, which was then scheduled for the following day, July 3. Al'te Bomze said, however, that the Germans, the Ukrainian Committee and the militia were tasked to organize a pogrom. (Footnote #40, referring to witness Old Lazarevič Bomze, [no date, probably in mid September 1944], ) The Germans identified Jews as an essential group of perpetrators in the massacre of the (NKVD) prisoners. …

Apart from the question of who ultimately organized the initiative, the essential context of violence in Zoločiv was also that Jews dig up the corpses of the murdered prisoners and should interpret. The German commander of the Ukrainian militia may also have given the order to procure Jewish forced laborers. The (Einstzgruppen) morning report stated in part "In retaliation for this, by order of the Armed Forces, the militia arrested more 100 Jews, whom have been shot. The number of liquidated Jews ranges from 3 to 500. “

The relevant section footnotes are:

42 Vgl. dazu Kap. 3.2: Das sowjetische Massaker als Ritualmord – Gerüchte über Verstümmelungen.

43 Mallmann u.a. (Hg.): Die „Ereignismeldungen UdSSR“, S. 133 (EM 24, 16. Juli 1941).

Footnote #43 is referring to the book Die "Ereignismeldungen UdSSR" 1941: Dokumente der Einsatzgruppen in der Sowjetunion – see
http://www.amazon.de/Die-Ereignismeldun ... 3534244680

That would suggest that the men of the Wiking Division had not received any official order or authorisation to join in the pogrom. The description of the events suggests that the men of the Wiking Division who arrived in Zolochiv on 2 and 3 July were enraged by the sight of the bodies of the victims executed by the NKVD before the retreat of the latter, and on their own initiative joined the Ukrainians who had started taking revenge on the local Jews.

The idea that the Ukrainians of Zolochiv needed to be "incited" to start of pogrom against the Jews of the town represents apologetic special pleading. The Ukrainians were well aware that the local Jews had collaborated with the Soviet occupiers in suppressing any manifestation of Ukrainian nationalism, and had helped in the identification and rounding up of anti-Soviet Ukrainians, that is, the very people who had been executed by the NKVD.

It’s not apologetic special pleading at all; it’s current Holocaust-studies theory. For example

Mark Mazower, Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazi’s Ruled Europe (2008) p.76:

“… Despite the involvement of the Wehrmacht in the killing itself, anti-Jewish policy was the preserve of the SS. Heydrich’s instructions to the Einsatzgruppen initially defined their “self-cleaning campaign” chiefly in terms of the struggle against Bolshevism. On 2 July they were told to liquidate communist officials and “Jews in party and state positions” as well as “other radical elements (saboteurs, propagandists, snipers, attempted political murderers, agitators, etc.)”. But they were also to encourage local populations to begin “attempts at self-cleansing on the part of anti-communist or anti-semitic elements in the areas to be occupied - a green light for the massacres that erupted in several parts of the Western Ukraine and the Baltic in the first weeks of occupation.”

Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), p.196

”…In the first few days of the war, local militias, with and without various kinds of German aid and encouragement, killed and instigated others to kills about 19,655 Jews in pogroms.

Political calculation and local suffering do not entirely explain the participation in these pograms. Violence against Jews served to bring the Germans and elements of the local non-Jewish population closer together. Anger was directed, as the Germans wished, towards the Jews, rather than against collaborators with the Soviet regime as such. People who reacted to the Germans’ urging new that they were pleasing their new masters, whether or not they believed that the Jews were responsible for their own woes. By their actions they were confirming the Nazi worldview. The act of killing Jews as revenge for NKVD executions confirmed the Nazi understanding of the Soviet Union as a Jewish state. Violence against Jews also allowed local Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Poles who had themselves cooperated with the Soviet regime to escape any such taint. The ideas that only Jews served communists was convenient not just for the occupiers but for some of the occupied as well.

On pp.155-56 of his most recent work, The Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning, Timothy Syndor further investigates how the Nazis cultivated and instigated local pograms in the Western Ukraine in the summer of 1941, specifically mentioning how it was a deliberate attempt to define the recent Soviet occupation on a simple narrative of Ukrainian victimhood and Jewish guilt, and served as a convenient myth as escape route for local Soviet collaborators. P.156 also mentions the evidence of double collaboration – that many of the Ukrainians in 1940 Galicia enforcing Soviet rule suddenly became “nationalists” in 1941 enforcing Nazi occupation.

Meet the new boss, the same as the old boss. Lawlessness and pograms were an efficient method for the Nazis to identify who among the locals were willing to commit genocide.