Rovno POW Camp, Ukraine

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 28 Jan 2004 23:29

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David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 28 Jan 2004 23:31

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David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 28 Jan 2004 23:32

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David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 28 Jan 2004 23:34

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David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 28 Jan 2004 23:36

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Michael Miller · Post by **Michael Miller** » 29 Jan 2004 00:28

Just a minor observation concerning the last page you posted, David. Concerning "Commissar General of Polessie and Volyn areas Scheeck", it can be assumed the author refers to this guy:

Schoene, Heinrich August
SA-Obergruppenführer

Born: 25.11.1889 in Berlin / Killed in action 9.04.1945 in Königsberg - 09.04.1945

01.09.1941 - 00.00.1943
Generalkommissar für den Generalbezirk Wolhynien-Podolien (in Reichskommissariat Ukraine) and Bezirksleiter des Bezirks Wolhynien-Podolien der NSDAP: 1.09.1941 - 1943.

And "von den Back" is- of course- Erich von dem Bach.

Best wishes,
~ Mike

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 29 Jan 2004 03:05

Thanks, Michael! No doubt a fair number of war criminals were able to escape being listed because their names were translated into some cyrillic script or English and as a result were misspelled.

michael mills · Post by **michael mills** » 29 Jan 2004 12:11

Rovno (or Rivne as it is spelled in Ukrainian) is the capital of Volhynia, and was the seat of Erich Koch, Reichskommissar Ukraine.

Volhynia had been part of Poland, and was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1939, along with the other East Polish territories (East Galicia, Polesie, Wilno). At first it was the ethnic Polish population that was persecuted by the Soviet occupiers, but from the beginning of 1941 it was the Ukrainian population that was targeted, in an effort to stamp out Ukrainian nationalism, which had initially been fostered by the Soviet Government as an anti-Polish measure.

When the German forces captured the area in July 1941, they greeted as liberators from Soviet tyranny by the local population, in particular by the ethnic Ukrainian segment.

The puzzling thing is that in 1943, when most of the alleged German atrocities mentioned in the text are supposed to have occurred, Volhynia was being devastated by a Ukrainian nationalist uprising aimed at the local ethnic Polish population, which the Ukrainians were trying to drive out of the region. There were large-scale massacres of Polish villagers by the Ukrainian insurgents.

The German authorities, who had their hands full trying to fight a war against Soviet partisans, were able to do little to protect the Polish population, but they provided shelter to those who were able to make it to the German garrison towns, of which Rovno was the main one.

The Soviet allegations about German atrocities in the Rovno region simply do not fit into what we know was happening at the time, nor are they consistent with the attitude of the local population, which was bitterly anti-Soviet and guardedly pro-German. For that reason I am not prepared to accept them at face value, except those regarding the treatment of Soviet POWs, which may well be true in essence.

Benoit Douville · Post by **Benoit Douville** » 01 Mar 2004 02:15

About the Volhynia genocide. The Ukrainian genocide commited against the Poles during World War II surpassed German and Soviet genocide in certain respects, it was mark by the utmost ruthlessness and barbarity. The total loss of life among the Poles at the hands of the Ukrainians is estimated between 50 and 60 thousand!

Source: Professor Ryszard Szawlowski.

Regards

David Thompson · Post by **David Thompson** » 01 Mar 2004 02:24

Readers interested in the bloody history of Volhynia during WWII may find these threads helpful:

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=14761
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=34465
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=28082
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=26483
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=18182
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=17547
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=1838

Mostowka · Post by **Mostowka** » 01 Mar 2004 17:27

David Thompson,

Thank you for posting the text. My family is fron "Rovno" and I have tried to obtain info on the wartime situation there for many years without any substantial results.

/Mostowka

Ordinary Canadian · Post by **Ordinary Canadian** » 11 Oct 2010 10:10

Benoit Douville wrote:About the Volhynia genocide. The Ukrainian genocide commited against the Poles during World War II surpassed German and Soviet genocide in certain respects, it was mark by the utmost ruthlessness and barbarity. The total loss of life among the Poles at the hands of the Ukrainians is estimated between 50 and 60 thousand!

Source: Professor Ryszard Szawlowski.

Regards

I am wondering if you could tell me what publication you took this quote from.
Thanks.

Axis History Forum

Rovno POW Camp, Ukraine

Rovno POW Camp, Ukraine

Generalkommissar fur den Generalbezirk Wolhynien-Podolien

Re: