Wartime and Post-War Criminal Prosecution of Persons Involved in Nazi Crimes in the Kharkiv Region

doi:10.26565/2220-7929-2024-65-07

Vitalii Yakovliev National Museum of Military History of Slobozhanshchyna https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7207-0097

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26565/2220-7929-2024-65-07

Keywords: World War II, Kharkiv region, Nazi war crimes, military tribunal, criminal prosecution, military collaborationism

Abstract

The article sheds light on an issue neglected in both Ukrainian and international historiography — the prosecution of persons involved in Nazi crimes in the Kharkiv region. The source base of the study includes legislative and regulatory documents, thematic collections of documents, and archival criminal cases of former members of the Ukrainian auxiliary police who served with the GFP (secret field police) group 560, security police and SD of the ‘General District of Kharkiv’, and the Ukrainian police battalion under SD command. Despite the differences that existed between the Allies, the prosecution of Nazi war criminals became a key condition for the restoration of peace and establishment of a new world order after the end of World War II. In later years, the growing tensions between the two military-political blocs of NATO and the Warsaw Pact notwithstanding, the issue of bringing to justice persons involved in the bloody crimes of Nazism continued to remain important in international politics. A major step in the cause of punishing the crimes of National Socialism was the adoption by the UN General Assembly of the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. Trials of German citizens involved in mass murder of civilians and prisoners of war in the city of Kharkiv and Kharkiv Oblast mainly took place after the end of the war. Based on the analysis of criminal cases of persons convicted both by the Allies and by Germans courts, it can be stated that few individuals were brought to justice for crimes committed in the region. For the most part, they received minimum prison terms and were punished for other crimes. Most Nazis escaped responsibility altogether. The criminal prosecution of Soviet citizens who participated in massacres of civilian population and prisoners of war in Kharkiv Oblast began immediately after the liberation of the region in 1943 and continued until the end of the 1980s. Collaborators who served in German penal institutions were assiduous executors and accomplices of Nazi crimes. Unlike German citizens, the vast majority of them received a severe punishment. Notably, there was no concept of ‘collaborationism’ in the Soviet criminal code; so, crimes committed by collaborators were classified as ‘treason to the Motherland’. Despite the contradictory nature of the prosecution of Soviet citizens involved in Nazi war crimes, it should be noted that not a single such individual was rehabilitated even in the 1990s. In other words, even by post-Soviet standards, their actions were considered war crimes with no statute of limitations.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Zaporiz'kij oblasti (AU SBU ZO). Arkhivna kryminal'na sprava O. O. Posievina, spr. 20368, t. 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 26, 27, 28, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37. (In Ukrainian)

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Zaporiz'kij oblasti (AU SBU ZO). Obvinitel'noe zaklyuchenie po delu № 24 po obvineniyu Posevina Aleksandra Aleksandrovicha, спр. 20368, 148 ark. (In Ukrainian)

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Kharkivs'kij oblasti (AU SBU KhO). Arkhivna kontrol'no-nahliadova sprava F. P. Hrechyshkina, M. F. Sopel'nyka, spr. 25464, 168 ark. (In Ukrainian)

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Kharkivs'kij oblasti (AU SBU KhO). Arkhivna kontrol'no-nahliadova sprava I. F. Shevtsova, spr. 19228, 31 ark. (In Ukrainian)

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Kharkivs'kij oblasti (AU SBU KhO). Arkhivna kryminal'na sprava F. P. Hrechyshkina, M. F. Sopel'nyka, spr. 25464, 294 ark. (In Ukrainian)

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Kharkivs'kij oblasti (AU SBU KhO). Arkhivna kryminal'na sprava I. F. Shevtsova, spr. 19228, 87 ark. (In Ukrainian)

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Kharkivs'kij oblasti (AU SBU KhO). Arkhivna kryminal'na sprava N. M. Leschyshynoi, spr. 017638, 282 ark. (In Ukrainian)

Arkhiv Upravlinnia Sluzhby bezpeky Ukrainy v Kharkivs'kij oblasti (AU SBU KhO). Arkhivna kryminal'na sprava P. K. Sirenka, H. H. Kobrysieva, L. F. Verezhnikova, S. I. Hulenka, f. 4 (R), op. 2, spr. 34417, t. 1, 2. (In Ukrainian)

Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. 1968, https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocitycrimes/Doc.27_convention%20statutory%20limitations%20warcrimes.pdf. Accessed: 25 Oct. 2023.

Derzhavnyi arkhiv Kharkivs'koi oblasti (DAKhO), f. 2, op. 14, spr. 1. Svodnye vedomosti po uchetu zlodeyanij i po ugonu sovetskix grazhdan v nemeckoe rabstvo i kopii aktov po g. Xar'kovu. Xar'kovskaya oblastnaya komissiya sodejstviya Chrezvychajnoj gosudarstvennoj komissii po ustanovleniyu i rassledovaniyu zlodeyanij nemecko-fashistskix zaxvatchikov i ix soobshhnikov i prichinennogo imi ushherba, 102 ark. (In Russian)

Epifanov, A. E. Otvetstvennost' za voennye prestupleniya, sovershennye na territorii SSSR v period Velikoj Otechestvennoj vojny. Dissertaciya na soiskanie uchenoj stepeni doktora yuridicheskix nauk. Moskva, 2001. (In Russian)

Klee, E. Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich: Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Augsburg, 2005.

Kryminal'nyj kodeks URSR. Kyiv, 1950. (In Ukrainian)

Kudryashov, S., Voisin, V. The early stages of «legal purges» in Soviet Russia (1941–1945). Editions de l'EHESS [EHESS Editions], vol. 49, 2009, pp. 263–296.

Kunce, T. (red.). Vizit Kanclera Adenaue'ra v Moskvu 8–14 sentyabrya1955 g.: Dokumenty i materialy. Moskva, 2020. (In Russian)

Megargee, G. P. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933–1945, vol. II, part B. Bloomington, 2012.

Paul Blobel: Eidesstattliche Erklärung. NS-Archiv. Dokumente zum Nationalsozialismus, https://www.ns-archiv.de/einsatzgruppen/blobel/eidesstattliche-erklaerung-1.php. Accessed: 17 Sept. 2023.

Pro reabilitatsiiu zhertv represij komunistychnoho totalitarnoho rezhymu 1917–1991 rokiv. Zakon Ukrainy vid 17.04.1991 r. № 962-KhII, https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/962-12#Text. Data perehliadu: 30 veresnia 2023. (In Ukrainian)

Prusin, A. «Fascist Criminals to the Gallows!»: The Holocaust and Soviet War Crimes Trials, December 1945-February 1946. Holocaust and Genocide Studies, vоl. 17, no 1, Spring 2003, p. 1–30.

Reabilitaciya: kak e'to bylo. Dokumenty Prezidiuma CK KPSS i drugie materialy, t. 1. Moskva, 2000. (In Russian)

Sbornik zakonov SSSR i Ukazov Prezidiuma Verxovnogo Soveta SSSR (1938 — iyul' 1956 gg.). Moskva, 1956. (In Russian)

Sbornik zakonov SSSR i Ukazov Prezidiuma Verxovnogo Soveta SSSR (1938–1975), t. 3. Moskva, 1975. (In Russian)

Schacherreiter, C. Ein schrecklich normaler Nationalsozialist. Oberösterreichische Nachrichten, 4 Mar. 2014, https://www.nachrichten.at/kultur/Ein-schrecklich-normaler-Natio nalsozialist;art16,1321940. Accessed: 20 Sept. 2023.

Shajkan, V. O. Kolaboratsionizm na terytorii rejkhskomisariatu «Ukraina» i vijs'kovoi zony v roky Druhoi svitovoi vijny. Monohrafiia. Kryvyj Rih, 2005. (In Ukrainian)

Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal Nuremberg, 14 November 1945 – 1 October 1946, vol. 7: Proceedings 5 February 1946 – 19 February 1946. Nuremberg, 1947.

Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under control Council Law No. 10. Nuernberg October 1946 — April 1949, vol. 1. Washington, 1949a.

Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under control Council Law No. 10. Nuernberg October 1946 — April 1949, vol. 4. Washington, 1949b.

Ugolovnyj kodeks RSFSR: Oficial'nyj tekst s izmeneniyami na 1 iyulya 1950 g. i s prilozheniem postatejno-sistematizirovannyx materialov. Moskva, 1950. (In Russian)

Vasyl'iev, V. Zlochyntsi, zhertvy, ochevydtsi. Problemy doslidzhen' nasyl'stva nad tsyvil'nym naselenniam Ukrainy v roky nimets'ko-radians'koi vijny. U zb.: Nasyl'stvo nad tsyvil'nym naselenniam Ukrainy. Dokumenty spetssluzhb. 1941–1944. Kyiv, 2018, s. 20–58. (In Ukrainian)

Vasyl'iev, V. Osoblyvosti istorychnoho kontekstu stvorennia dokumentiv radians'kykh orhaniv derzhbezpeky schodo zlochyniv natsystiv ta ikh soiuznykiv stosovno tsyvil'noho naselennia Ukrainy. U zb.: Nasyl'stvo nad tsyvil'nym naselenniam. Chernihivs'ka oblast'. Dokumenty orhaniv derzhbezpeky. 1941–1943. Kyiv, 2019, s. 4–11. (In Ukrainian)

Vladimircev, N. I., Kokurin, A. I. (red.). NKVD-MVD SSSR v bor'be s banditizmom i vooruzhennym nacionalisticheskim podpol'em na Zapadnoj Ukraine, v Zapadnoj Belorussii i Pribaltike (1939–1956): Sbornik dokumentov. Moskva, 2008. (In Russian)

Yakovliev, V. The Kharkiv Trial of War Criminals (December 15–18, 1943): Basis, International Impact and Historic Significance. Evropský filozofický ahistorický diskurz [European philosophical and historical discourse], vol. 8, issue 1, 2022, p. 32–45. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46340/ephd.2021.8.1.5

Yakovliev, V. Osoblyvosti provedennia Kharkivs'koho pokazovoho sudu (15–18 hrudnia 1943 r.) nad natsysts'kymy voiennymy zlochyntsiamy. Visnyk Kyivs'koho natsional'noho universytetu imeni Tarasa Shevchenka. Istoriia [Bulletin of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. History], vyp. 3 (150), 2021, s. 78–84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728- 2640.2021.150.12 (In Ukrainian)

Yampol'skij, V. P. (red.). Organy gosudarstvennoj bezopasnosti SSSR v Velikoj Otechestvennoj vojne. Sbornik dokumentov, t. 4, kn. 1. Moskva, 2008. (In Russian)