One More "East": Southern Ukraine under Romanian Occupation, 1941-1944

FAIN: FT-57973-10

Vladimir A. Solonari
University of Central Florida Board of Trustees (Orlando, FL 32816-8005)

This project proposal requests funding to continue research in Ukraine on a book-length project. In 1941-1944, Romania occupied a south-western part of Ukraine. Between 220,000 and 300,000 Jews and about 10,000 Gypsies, both local and those deported from Romania, perished there as a result of the occupation. The book will cover, for the first time in historiography, the social history of this region during occupation. Its publication will contribute to debates on the wider issues of Romanian and Ukrainian history, such as the aims and dynamic of Romanian anti-Jewish and anti-Roma policy, the role of local Ukrainian population in the persecution of Jews and Roma (Gypsies), and the nature of collaboration and resistance in the occupied Soviet Ukraine. It will likely spur a public debate on those painful episodes from the national pasts of Ukrainians and Romanians, thus contributing to the "healing process" which might help alleviate those societies' deep-seated complexes.

Associated Products

“Hating Soviets—Killing Jews: How Antisemitic Were Local Perpetrators in Southern Ukraine, 1941–42?” in Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 15, 3 (Summer 2014): 505–33. (Article)
Title: “Hating Soviets—Killing Jews: How Antisemitic Were Local Perpetrators in Southern Ukraine, 1941–42?” in Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 15, 3 (Summer 2014): 505–33.
Author: Vladimir Solonari
Abstract: This article explores motivations of war criminals from among the local population of southern Ukraine participated, in 1941-1942, in mass executions of Jews, under the German and Romanian population. It argues that while many of the executioners participated in such crimes under the pressure from occupying authorities, the core of killing squads consisted of persons whom occupiers considered the most reliable and who indeed accepted such assignments willingly. Often, those were people who suffered the most under the Soviets, or who participated in the Russian civil war on the side of the Whites and later lived under assumed identity, or who for various other reasons hated the Soviet regime. Quite often, such persons accepted the narrative of Jews as the backbone of the Soviet regime and sworn enemies of the Christians, which was propagated by the occupiers.
Year: 2014
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Kritika: Exploration in Russian and Eurasian History
Publisher: Slavica

Nationalist Utopianism, Orientalist Imagination, and Economic Exploitation: Romanian Aims and Policies in Transnistria, 1941–1945 (Article)
Title: Nationalist Utopianism, Orientalist Imagination, and Economic Exploitation: Romanian Aims and Policies in Transnistria, 1941–1945
Author: Vladimir Solonari
Abstract: broad and ultimately contradictory politico-cultural assumptions, embedded in the experiences of European wars, power politics, nationalism, and colonialism. In anticipation of Transnistria’s annexation at the end of the conflict, Romanian government endeavored to prove its right to rule over foreign territories by creating an efficient, stern, and “civilized” administration there. Romanians fancied themselves liberators and restorers of conservative Christian values, but at the same time, they planned to ethnically cleanse the region and to repopulate it with settlers of Romanian ethnic stock. At the end of the day, perceived military necessity to exploit the region’s resources to the utmost took precedence over all other considerations and ruined Romanians’ relations with the local population.
Year: 1916
Access Model: hard copy and JStore
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: Slavis Review Fall 2016
Publisher: Association of Slavis, East European, and Eurasian Studies

On the Persistence of Moral Judgment: Local Perpetrators in Transnistria as Seen by Survivors and Their Christian Neighbors (Book Section)
Title: On the Persistence of Moral Judgment: Local Perpetrators in Transnistria as Seen by Survivors and Their Christian Neighbors
Author: vladimir Solonari
Editor: Claire Zalc and Tal Bruttmann
Abstract: The article addresses the issue of agency of the local perpetrators in Romania-occupied southern Ukraine. Based on the communist-era investigative from Romania and the Soviet Union, the author claims that both the Jewish survivors of mass executions and Christians eyewitnesses of them were aware of substantial differences between various perpetrators. All eyewitness distinguished between zealous fanatics, evaders, and compliers; they also often clearly characterized perpetrators depending on their degree of moral depravity. Traditional gender roles also played into the perception of female perpetrators as particularly vicious. The dynamic of gender roles was also evident in that female members of male perpetrators’ families were both intended beneficiaries of their looting of Jewish possessions and sometimes scolded their men for their savagery.
Year: 2016
Publisher: Bberghahn

“What Are They Worth? Assessing Reliability and Possible Usages of Communist-era Sources in Holocaust Studies, (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “What Are They Worth? Assessing Reliability and Possible Usages of Communist-era Sources in Holocaust Studies,
Author: vladimir Solonari
Abstract: This papers argues that Soviet communist-era-files constitute an important source for the micro-history of the Holocaust, although they have substantial limitations. The paper explains how the author used some of them in his research.
Date: 11/01/2014
Conference Name: Lessons and Legacies XIII: The Holocaust after 70 years: New Perspectives on Persecution, Resistance, and Survival”

Traitors into Heroes: Towards a History of “Partisan Glory” in Odessa Region of Ukraine" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Traitors into Heroes: Towards a History of “Partisan Glory” in Odessa Region of Ukraine"
Author: Vladimir Solonari
Abstract: The paper argues that construction of the myth of “Partisan Glory” went through three stages that broadly coincide with late Stalinism, Khrushchevian destalinization, and Brezhnevite stagnation. In the first, the regime’s main emphasis was on sifting out all elements of resistance whose behavior under occupation did not fully meet its unrealistic expectations of ideological orthodoxy and fanatical self-abnegation. As a result, what emerged from officially sanctioned accounts was a partisan glory without partisans, so scarce was registry of names of those officially recognized as worthy of this title. In the second, regime displayed interest in rehabilitating some of the previously vilified and repressed “traitors”, especially former communists, even if their wartime record was uneven at best. The notion of “restoring good name to honest communists,” some of whom were pronounced heroes, carried implication of the party rediscovering its true sole. It also tended to lend credence to Khrushchev’s claims to rejuvenation of the country. In the third, Brezhnev’s leadership endeavored to boost the regime’s legitimacy by involving as many people as possible in the celebration of its myths. Consequently, it proved willing to confer the title of “partisan” on many a person whose role in the movement was marginal. In each of those phases former resisters, whether real or false, actively participated in shaping and reshaping the public discourse on “Partisan Glory” either by denouncing their comrades as “traitors” or lending their testimony to party’s search for reasons to rehabilitate them, or actively seeking recognition for their friends and acquaintances. Shaping and reshaping the “Partisan Glory” was thus a fully social enterprise. This goes some way towards explaining its tenacity and longevity far beyond the fall of communism.
Date: 06/03/2015
Conference Name: «Europe, 1945: Liberation, Occupation, Retribution» Moscow High School of Economics

“Becoming a Partisan: Joining Armed resistance in Romania-Occupied South Ukraine" (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Becoming a Partisan: Joining Armed resistance in Romania-Occupied South Ukraine"
Author: Vladimir Solonari
Abstract: This papers explores individual trajectories that brought people into the ranks of pro-Soviet armed resistance in southern Ukraine. It argues that on par with groups organized by the Soviets before their withdrawal from the region there appeared autonomous groups, organized by groups of Soviet citizens on their own initiative. Their motivations were different by ultimately, they were driven by the desire to avenge their injured national pride. The paper also argues that some persons who initially participated in the ranks of Ukrainian nationalist underground later in the war joined pro-Soviet groups.
Date: 11/18/2011
Conference Name: 43rd Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, Washington, DC

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