Dmitry Karov arrived in Soviet occupied territory in August 1941. On it, he found people embittered at Stalin and the NKVD, most of them easily agreed to work for Germany. Also actively former Soviet people began to build people's capitalism under the Germans. All this is reminiscent of Yeltsin's Russia in the early 1990s.
Karov (Kandaurov) Dmitry Petrovich (1902-1961) - officer of the Abwehr (1941-1944) and the Armed Forces of the KONR (1945). Left Russia in 1919. Since 1920 - in Paris. He graduated from the Russian gymnasium, university. In the summer of 1940, he left for employment in Germany, worked as a translator at an aircraft engine plant in Hannover. At the end of 1940, he agreed to work in German intelligence agencies until the creation of an independent Russian state. With the outbreak of war with the USSR, he was assigned to a naval intelligence unit. Since December 1941 - in the service in the department Ic of the headquarters of the 18th Army (Army Group North). In the 1950s, an employee of the Institute for the Study of the History and Culture of the USSR (Munich).
Compiled in 1950 the memoirs "Russians in the Service of German Intelligence and Counterintelligence", a typewritten version. For the first time, part of the memoirs is published in the book “Under the Germans” (Encyclopedic Department of the Institute of Philology of the Philological Faculty of St. Petersburg State University). The Interpreter's Blog reproduces part of this diary.
Kingisepp
The detachment went to Russia, closer to the front. I was excited, thinking that now I would get into the real Russia, which I left in 1919. We saw the ditch, and Captain Babel, stopping the car, said: “Here is the border, here is your homeland,” and looked at me expectantly. Later, he told how the Russian officers of the Wehrmacht reacted. One, getting out of the car, began to kiss the ground, kneeling. Another announced that he would spend the night in the forest to listen to Russian nightingales. The third showed patriotism by putting Russian soil into bags in order to send it to Paris. I did not have a character capable of such scenes, and Captain Babel was disappointed with me.
We arrived at the village of Glinka. On the way we met a detachment of Soviet cavalry. He was accompanied by several German artillerymen. They explained to me that they were taking prisoners to the camp. When I asked if they were afraid that the cavalrymen would run away, the artilleryman answered me that the entire detachment had surrendered voluntarily, having previously killed its superiors.
The village of Glinka was Old Believer. I soon became acquainted with all the burgomasters of the district. All of them were elderly, believing in God. Under Soviet rule, they were all persecuted and imprisoned. The entire population was afraid that the Germans would leave and the Soviets would come again.
My first agent was the elderly peasant Semyon. He said that he would work, because he believed that the communists should be destroyed by all possible means, but he did not want to receive money for this, since it was a sin.
A translator familiar to me from Riga created a detachment of Soviet prisoners of war. He said that soldiers do not want to fight for Stalin, but they are afraid of German captivity. The common dream was, having driven the Germans out of Russia, to kill the Stalinists and the Communists, to establish freedom, and most importantly, to destroy the collective farms.
The agents, without exception, were all volunteers and could at any time refuse to work, and in this case they were provided with good places in the rear. The only exceptions were agents who received the task and did not complete it. These were sent to special camps near Koenigsberg, which were called "camps for those who know secret things" and in which the prisoners were treated very well: they received military rations, a lot of cigarettes, there was a library in the camp; prisoners lived 3-4 people in a room and had the opportunity to walk in the garden.
Having crossed the front three times, it was possible to retire to the deep rear. For the most part, people from 30 to 40 years old, brave, but not fond of risking their lives, agreed to this. But all intelligence officers hated the Soviet regime.
A typical example is a woman named Zhenya. She commanded a detachment in Krasnogvardeysk (Gatchina). She was 26 years old, before the war she lived in Leningrad, worked as a sex girl in the NKVD and did a little prostitution. She was sent through the front in early September 1941, she immediately appeared at the Severskaya commandant's office and offered to work as an agent for the Germans. She explained this by the fact that she was terribly tired of life in the USSR with its dullness and boredom, and she was sure that with her good work she would be able to earn her trust, and after the end of the war - a prosperous life abroad. In 1943, Zhenya asked to be released from service, motivating her request with great fatigue, and sent to live in Germany. Her request was fulfilled, and in addition, she received a large cash award Zhenya and now (1950) lives in Germany, has a well-established and profitable lingerie store.
Chudovo
At the beginning of April 1942 I arrived in Chudovo. 10 thousand civilians lived in it. It was run by a chosen Russian burgomaster. A big swindler and speculator, but an intelligent and energetic person, he performed his duties well, in which he was assisted by 6 elected burgomasters who were at the head of the districts. There were Russian police and a fire brigade in Chudovo.
Worst of all lived the intelligentsia of Chudov, who had previously served in Soviet institutions. The population considered them parasites, and no one wanted to help them. For the most part, the intelligentsia was nasty and self-confident, but anti-Soviet minded. They did not want the monarchy, nor did they want Stalin. Lenin and NEP - that was their ideal.
The merchants and artisans lived very well. I was amazed at the ingenuity they displayed. I saw a ladies' dress workshop. Others opened restaurants and tea houses. There were furriers, goldsmiths and silversmiths. All the merchants hated the Soviet government and wanted only freedom of trade. The Soviet officials of the NKVD, with whom I spoke during interrogations, said that after the peasantry, the workers hated Stalin most of all and that the secret police of the NKVD were often killed in factories. Artisans in Chudovo lived well. Watchmakers, shoemakers, tailors were overwhelmed with work.
The clergy who lived in the city were Orthodox and Old Believers. The old believers were universally respected and were well-read and fair people. Orthodox priests, however, were not distinguished by special respect from the population. They didn't impress me either. The priest and the deacon recruited by my agents worked poorly, studied reluctantly, but they constantly demanded remuneration.
Vitebsk
I was transferred here in 1943. At the head of Vitebsk was a Russian burgomaster, a man of about 30 years old. He pretended to be a Belarusian patriot and therefore, in the presence of the Germans, he spoke only Belarusian, and the rest of the time he spoke Russian. He had more than 100 officials, he was also subordinate to the external and criminal police. The Germans did not interfere in the affairs of the police and city self-government, but they did not help in any way, leaving the residents themselves to take care of food, firewood, etc.
Trade flourished surprisingly: shops and stores were everywhere. Entrepreneurial merchants traveled from Vitebsk to Germany, Poland, Austria, while others traveled to the west, buying there goods that they briskly traded at home. In circulation were German marks (real and occupation), Russian rubles (paper and gold - the latter, to my surprise, there were a lot).
There were 2 or 3 hospitals in the city, run due to lack of funds, but with very good doctors, whom the Germans constantly invited for consultations. There were also several very good and expensive private hospitals, which served mainly speculators.
At the main station, always - day and night - a mass of people crowded, and it was a bazaar. Everyone bought and sold. German soldiers on their way home bought food here. And drunken Cossacks from anti-partisan detachments, who had come to rest in the city, walked around. There were porters and cab drivers in front of the station, as well as lively young people offering transportation in German cars belonging to state institutions and standing with their German drivers on neighboring streets waiting for customers (as the police did not fight this phenomenon, they could not do anything: it hurts German drivers loved vodka). Moving a little further from the station, I was struck by the abundance of teahouses and small cellar restaurants. The prices were high, but all these establishments were full of people and everywhere they drank vodka (Polish), moonshine, German beer and Baltic fruit wine. The food in these restaurants was also plentiful.
In Vitebsk there were also brothels, and separately for Germans and Russians. Terrible fights often took place there: the Russians stormed brothels for the Germans. There were cinemas, only films in them were German, but, however, with Russian signatures. There were also two Russian theaters that were very successful. In many cafes and restaurants, dances were held in the evenings.
In addition to the many German soldiers, there were a lot of Russian soldiers in the city. Most of all, the Cossacks, who wore hats, checkers and whips, attracted attention; besides, they were the biggest brawlers. Then, in the city there were people from special detachments of SD - Russians, Latvians, Estonians and Caucasians, who were very well dressed in various costumes, and on their sleeves they had fatal letters in a triangle - SD. These people, known for their cruelty and robberies, were not liked by anyone in the city, and other military men, both Russians and Germans, avoided communicating with them. There were detachments of nationalists, consisting of Kazakhs and especially Tatars. They did not fight much, but more served to protect warehouses.
The Russians, who were assigned to various headquarters, ortskomendatura, etc., were distinguished by the splendor of their uniforms and especially insignia. Their shoulders and collars were filled with silver, which shone especially brightly on sunny days, and their chests were hung with orders that they wore in their natural form, not limited to ribbons on the stocks. Their heads were decorated with either colored caps or hats with a bright top. I have no doubt that they would also be happy to wear checkers, but only Cossacks were allowed to do this.
In Vitebsk then were quartered: 622-625 Cossack battalions, 638 Cossack company, 3-6 / 508th Turkestan supply companies, 4/18 Volga-Tatar construction company, eastern companies - 59th, 639th, 644th , 645th security, 703rd training, 3/608th supply.
There were several newspapers in the city, one of them was Belarusian. The journalists were intelligent people, staunch opponents of communism and Stalin; Soviet agents sometimes killed the most zealous of them.
PS Interpreter's Blog Comment: The life described by Karov in the occupied territories is very reminiscent of the structure of life in Yeltsin's Russia in the early 1990s. Freedom of trade, rabid anti-communism, collaborationism, freedom of speech, and as retribution for it - the murder of journalists, the opening of churches, economic migration to the West and the withdrawal of capital there. For the final similarity, only the occupying troops of some Western power are missing.
Dmitry Karov arrived in Soviet occupied territory in August 1941. On it, he found people embittered at Stalin and the NKVD, most of them easily agreed to work for Germany. Also actively former Soviet people began to build people's capitalism under the Germans. All this is reminiscent of Yeltsin's Russia in the early 1990s.
Karov (Kandaurov) Dmitry Petrovich (1902-1961) - an officer of the Abwehr (1941-1944) and the Armed Forces of the KONR (1945). Left Russia in 1919. Since 1920 - in Paris. He graduated from the Russian gymnasium, university. In the summer of 1940, he left for employment in Germany, worked as a translator at an aircraft engine plant in Hannover. At the end of 1940, he agreed to work in German intelligence agencies until the creation of an independent Russian state. With the outbreak of war with the USSR, he was assigned to a naval intelligence unit. Since December 1941 - in the service in the department Ic of the headquarters of the 18th Army (Army Group North). In the 1950s, an employee of the Institute for the Study of the History and Culture of the USSR (Munich).
Compiled in 1950 the memoirs "Russians in the Service of German Intelligence and Counterintelligence", a typewritten version. For the first time, part of the memoirs is published in the book “Under the Germans” (Encyclopedic Department of the Institute of Philology of the Philological Faculty of St. Petersburg State University). The Interpreter's Blog reproduces part of this diary.
Kingisepp
The detachment went to Russia, closer to the front. I was excited, thinking that now I would get into the real Russia, which I left in 1919. We saw the ditch, and Captain Babel, stopping the car, said: “This is the border, this is your homeland” - and looked at me expectantly. Later, he told how the Russian officers of the Wehrmacht reacted. One, getting out of the car, began to kiss the ground, kneeling. Another announced that he would spend the night in the forest to listen to Russian nightingales. The third showed patriotism by putting Russian soil into bags in order to send it to Paris. I did not have a character capable of such scenes, and Captain Babel was disappointed with me.
We arrived at the village of Glinka. On the way we met a detachment of Soviet cavalry. He was accompanied by several German artillerymen. They explained to me that they were taking prisoners to the camp. When I asked if they were afraid that the cavalrymen would run away, the artilleryman answered me that the entire detachment had surrendered voluntarily, having previously killed its superiors.
The village of Glinka was a Strover village. I soon became acquainted with all the burgomasters of the district. All of them were elderly, believing in God. Under Soviet rule, they were all persecuted and imprisoned. The entire population was afraid that the Germans would leave and the Soviets would come again.
My first agent was the elderly peasant Semyon. He said that he would work, because he believed that the communists should be destroyed by all possible means, but he did not want to receive money for this, since it was a sin.
A translator familiar to me from Riga created a detachment of Soviet prisoners of war. He said that the soldiers did not want to fight for Stalin, but were afraid of German captivity. The common dream was, having driven the Germans out of Russia, to kill the Stalinists and the Communists, to establish freedom, and most importantly, to destroy the collective farms.
The agents, without exception, were all volunteers and could at any time refuse to work, and in this case they were provided with good places in the rear. The only exceptions were agents who received the task and did not complete it. These were sent to special camps near Koenigsberg, which were called "camps for those who know secret things" and in which the prisoners were treated very well: they received military rations, a lot of cigarettes, there was a library in the camp; prisoners lived 3-4 people in a room and had the opportunity to walk in the garden.
Having crossed the front three times, it was possible to retire to the deep rear. For the most part, people from 30 to 40 years old, brave, but not fond of risking their lives, agreed to this. But all intelligence officers hated the Soviet regime.
A typical example is a woman named Zhenya. She commanded a detachment in Krasnogvardeysk (Gatchina). She was 26 years old, before the war she lived in Leningrad, worked as a sex girl in the NKVD and did a little prostitution. She was sent through the front in early September 1941, she immediately appeared at the Severskaya commandant's office and offered to work as an agent for the Germans. She explained this by the fact that she was terribly tired of life in the USSR with its dullness and boredom, and she was sure that with her good work she would be able to earn her trust, and after the end of the war - a prosperous life abroad. In 1943, Zhenya asked to be released from service, motivating her request with great fatigue, and sent to live in Germany. Her request was fulfilled, and in addition, she received a large cash award Zhenya and now (1950) lives in Germany, has a well-established and profitable lingerie store.
Chudovo
At the beginning of April 1942 I arrived in Chudovo. 10 thousand civilians lived in it. It was run by a chosen Russian burgomaster. A big swindler and speculator, but an intelligent and energetic person, he performed his duties well, in which he was assisted by 6 elected burgomasters who were at the head of the districts. There were Russian police and a fire brigade in Chudovo.
Worst of all lived the intelligentsia of Chudov, who had previously served in Soviet institutions. The population considered them parasites, and no one wanted to help them. For the most part, the intelligentsia was nasty and self-confident, but anti-Soviet minded. They did not want the monarchy, nor did they want Stalin. Lenin and NEP - that was their ideal.
The merchants and artisans lived very well. I was amazed at the ingenuity they displayed. I saw a ladies' dress workshop. Others opened restaurants and tea houses. There were furriers, goldsmiths and silversmiths. All the merchants hated the Soviet government and wanted only freedom of trade. The Soviet officials of the NKVD, with whom I spoke during interrogations, said that after the peasantry, the workers hated Stalin most of all and that the secret police of the NKVD were often killed in factories. Artisans in Chudovo lived well. Watchmakers, shoemakers, tailors were overwhelmed with work.
The clergy who lived in the city were Orthodox and Old Believers. The old believers were universally respected and were well-read and fair people. Orthodox priests, however, were not distinguished by special respect from the population. They didn't impress me either. The priest and the deacon recruited by my agents worked poorly, studied reluctantly, but they constantly demanded remuneration.
Vitebsk
I was transferred here in 1943. At the head of Vitebsk was a Russian burgomaster, a man of about 30 years old. He pretended to be a Belarusian patriot and therefore, in the presence of the Germans, he spoke only Belarusian, and the rest of the time he spoke Russian. He had more than 100 officials, he was also subordinate to the external and criminal police. The Germans did not interfere in the affairs of the police and city self-government, but they did not help in any way, leaving the residents themselves to take care of food, firewood, etc.
Trade flourished surprisingly: shops and stores were everywhere. Entrepreneurial merchants traveled from Vitebsk to Germany, Poland, Austria, while others traveled to the west, buying there goods that they briskly traded at home. In circulation were German marks (real and occupation), Russian rubles (paper and gold - the latter, to my surprise, there were a lot).
There were 2 or 3 hospitals in the city, run due to lack of funds, but with very good doctors, whom the Germans constantly invited for consultations. There were also several very good and expensive private hospitals, which served mainly speculators.
At the main station, always - day and night - a mass of people crowded, and it was a bazaar. Everyone bought and sold. German soldiers on their way home bought food here. And drunken Cossacks from anti-partisan detachments, who had come to rest in the city, walked around. There were porters and cab drivers in front of the station, as well as lively young people offering transportation in German cars belonging to state institutions and standing with their German drivers on neighboring streets waiting for customers (as the police did not fight this phenomenon, they could not do anything: it hurts German drivers loved vodka). Moving a little further from the station, I was struck by the abundance of teahouses and small cellar restaurants. The prices were high, but all these establishments were full of people and everywhere they drank vodka (Polish), moonshine, German beer and Baltic fruit wine. The food in these restaurants was also plentiful.
In Vitebsk there were also brothels, and separately for Germans and Russians. Terrible fights often took place there: the Russians stormed brothels for the Germans. There were cinemas, only films in them were German, but, however, with Russian signatures. There were also two Russian theaters that were very successful. In many cafes and restaurants, dances were held in the evenings.
In addition to the many German soldiers, there were a lot of Russian soldiers in the city. Most of all, the Cossacks, who wore hats, checkers and whips, attracted attention; besides, they were the biggest brawlers. Then, in the city there were people from special units of the SD - Russians, Latvians, Estonians and Caucasians, who were very well dressed in various costumes, and on the sleeve they had fatal letters in a triangle - SD. These people, known for their cruelty and robberies, were not liked by anyone in the city, and other military men, both Russians and Germans, avoided communicating with them. There were detachments of nationalists, consisting of Kazakhs and especially Tatars. They did not fight much, but more served to protect warehouses.
The Russians, who were assigned to various headquarters, ortskomendatura, etc., were distinguished by the splendor of their uniforms and especially insignia. Their shoulders and collars were filled with silver, which shone especially brightly on sunny days, and their chests were hung with orders that they wore in their natural form, not limited to ribbons on the stocks. Their heads were decorated with either colored caps or hats with a bright top. I have no doubt that they would also be happy to wear checkers, but only Cossacks were allowed to do this.
In Vitebsk then were stationed: 622-625 Cossack battalions, 638 Cossack company, 3-6/508th Turkestan supply companies, 4/18 Volga-Tatar construction company, eastern companies - 59th, 639th, 644th , 645th security, 703rd training, 3/608th supply.
There were several newspapers in the city, one of them was Belarusian. The journalists were intelligent people, staunch opponents of communism and Stalin; Soviet agents sometimes killed the most zealous of them.
PS: The life described by Karov in the occupied territories is very reminiscent of the structure of life in Yeltsin's Russia in the early 1990s. Freedom of trade, rabid anti-communism, collaborationism, freedom of speech, and as retribution for it - the murder of journalists, the opening of churches, economic migration to the West and the withdrawal of capital there. For the final similarity, only the occupying troops of some Western power are missing.
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Labor and the study of the Law of God, United Europe as the main topic in social science, paid education, talented young people go to study in Europe - during the Great Patriotic War, the Germans planted a new educational system in schools in the occupied Russian territories. Today, the Russian school system almost looks the same as it did under the Germans.
Even educated Russians are still under illusions about how life was arranged in the occupied territories of the USSR in 1941-44. The Interpreter's blog has already debunked many myths on this topic - for example, about the notorious "Ost plan" (which was not official and was a draft document) or about the future of new state entities (Cossack Republic, Georgia, etc.).
The almost complete oblivion of this historical period is understandable: the facts of mass collaborationism of Soviet citizens, the emergence of the beginnings of civil and European society in the occupied territories (the Lokot Republic, the Old Believer Republic of Zuev, the Soviet Republic of Rossono, etc.) and even independent states (Belarusian People's Republic in 1944) - see these and other facts in the footnotes below.
The just published book by I.G. Yermolov “Under the banner of Hitler (Soviet citizens in alliance with the Nazis in the occupied territories of the RSFSR in 19141-44)”, Veche publishing house, 2013, shows many interesting facts about building a new life under the Germans . Today we will give a story from this book about how the educational system functioned in the occupied territories (we emphasize that we are talking only about Russian territories).
The Germans took care of creating educational programs in the occupied territories only towards the end of 1941, when it became clear that the blitzkrieg against the USSR had failed. Thus, the Chief Quartermaster of Army Group North writes in a memo: “Since labor service comes only from the age of 14, young people in cities at the age of 12-14 are practically left to their own devices, idle, speculate and kill time in other ways. This state of affairs is completely unacceptable. It allows the Russians to talk about the destructive system of the Germans in the field of culture, which can create a threat to public order.
When creating local self-government bodies, the department of education was necessarily included in their structure. The primary education program included no more than seven subjects: the Russian language (singing and drawing were also part of it), German, arithmetic, geography, natural science, needlework (for girls) and labor (for boys), physical education. The hourly volume of training was 18 hours per week for students in grade 1, 21 hours for grade 2, 24 hours for grade 3, 26 hours for grade 4.
Particular attention was paid to the study of the German language. After completing the 4th grade, the student had to "be able to communicate in German in everyday life." In singing lessons, only Russian folk songs and church songs were allowed to be sung.
The Germans gave the right to partial autonomy to the regions in introducing this or that subject into the school curriculum. For example, initially the Law of God did not appear in the list of 7 compulsory subjects, but gradually the local self-government itself (that is, without pressure from the Germans) began to include it in the program. For example, by the end of 1942, out of 4 schools in Bryansk, the study of the Law of God was carried out in 3 schools (and in two schools the teachers were women). In the schools of Smolensk, this subject was introduced only in May 1943 at the insistence of the parent committees.
The second most important subject, after German, was history. There was no “unified history textbook” during the occupation, and therefore the Germans compiled manuals for teachers on this subject. They proposed to pay special attention to "the positive aspects of Russia's European orientation" (German tsars, alliances with Germany and other countries against Napoleon, etc.). The resettlement of German colonists to Russia, the liberation of peasants from slavery in 1861, and the role of Christianity in the humanization of Russians were positively assessed. On the other hand, black paint was not spared in relation to Jews and Marxists (although not Marxist socialist movements in Russia - populists, socialist-revolutionaries and even sometimes Trotskyists - were defined by the Germans as positive).
One or two, and sometimes even three lessons outside of class time were allotted in schools for political studies. They were read by the same former Soviet teachers according to manuals, mainly compiled by white émigrés under the supervision of the Germans. The main themes of the classes were as follows. "Germany - the liberator of the Russian land from the Bolshevik yoke", "Russia's path to the United Europe", "Biography of Adolf Hitler", "Race and racial theory".
The manuals explained the basic principles of educational work with students: “To monitor and demand from students a polite attitude towards teachers and parents, towards all elders, especially towards the German command”; “Learn to pray to God through active participation in the morning lines”; “On Thursdays - to teach to reverently treat icons”; “In daily work in the classroom, emphasize the difference in the prosperous, cultural and happy life of workers and peasants in the new Europe and their enslavement in Soviet Russia. To instill love for work, especially handicraft and peasant work, pointing out that in Germany the work of a peasant is honorable.
In textbooks, there was an ideological withdrawal of many words that from now on could no longer appear in official documents. So, the collective farm began to be called a village, a comrade - a citizen, the USSR - Russia, a Soviet person - Russian. The methodologists involved in this were recruited mainly from white émigrés. By the beginning of 1943, the first "European" textbooks appeared, published in Riga - but they were only enough for the northern regions of Russia (Novgorod, Pskov and Leningrad).
Contrary to Soviet propaganda (and Russian propaganda today), which stated that “the invaders did not need educated Slavs,” the situation was the opposite - the Germans paid great attention to schools, as they considered them primarily ideological institutions that trained former Soviet people "new person".
Suffice it to mention that teachers were the first largest group among all workers in the occupied territories. For example, in the Pechepsky district of the Orel region, there were 2,498 workers and employees, of which 216 were teachers, or 8.6% of the total number of workers. This figure (teachers - 7-10% of the employed) was approximately the same in all Russian occupied territories.
Teachers' salaries were small, but there were benefits. So, teachers in Bryansk received 400 rubles a month plus 200 grams of bread a day and another 100 grams for a dependent in the family. They also gave out 100 grams of salt and 200 grams of margarine per month. Once a month - a cubic meter of firewood is free. All kinds of allowances were provided for: for checking notebooks - 10 rubles, for class management - 30 rubles, for school directors 15% of the rate, for knowledge of the German language - 50 rubles. For teachers with 25 years of experience, a 50 percent bonus was provided. There were various kinds of professional competitions - for example, in 1942, 10 teachers from the Lokot Russian Republic were rewarded with a two-week tour to Berlin and Vienna.
Teachers, as the most respected people of that time, were used by Germans and Russian employees at various campaigning and educational events: they read political information to the population, were responsible for organizing demonstrations and holidays. For all this, there were also allowances, and as a result, the majority ran up to 700-800 rubles a month - and this was already more than the heads of police detachments (600 rubles).
The coverage of schoolchildren was almost 100 percent (and this also goes against the propaganda Soviet myth that the Germans did not want to teach the conquered Slavic peoples). Moreover, parents were fined for not attending school by the child. In the Kalinin region, the fine was 100 rubles, in the Lokotsky district 500 rubles. With repeated passes of the child, one of his parents could even end up in prison for 1 month. Schoolchildren-truants were forcibly brought to schools by the police.
School education was paid. For one child, one had to pay 60 rubles a month, for subsequent children in the family - 30 rubles each.
In addition to universal school education (mandatory - 4th grade, optional - further 7th grade), the Germans began to create a system of vocational schools (an analogue of vocational schools and technical schools). For example, on the territory of the Oryol region during the period of occupation, there were 5 such institutions - the Sevsk Pedagogical School, the Unech vocational school, the Sevsk vocational school, the Ponurovsky vocational school and the School of Agronomists. The course of study was designed for three years.
But the Germans considered higher education optional for Russians. More precisely, there were some peculiarities. It was allowed to open an analogue of universities in a very small list of subjects - agriculture and engineering specialties. For example, one of these universities was created on the basis of the Smolensk Agricultural Institute. The enrollment of students there took place in November 1942.
The Germans believed that only those Russians who received a secondary specialized education and at the same time were fluent in German could receive higher education (except for the profession of agronomist and engineer). Such young people were supposed to be sent to study in Germany and the Czech Republic. Naturally, they would then already be considered German intellectuals and, upon returning to their homeland, they would propagate “common European values” by their own example. During the occupation, this practice was applied mainly to Ukrainian youth, from the Russian regions in 1943 only about 30 people were sent to study in Germany. But in the future, with a hypothetical German victory, this system would be fine-tuned. Plans were even known: for example, after 1944, it was supposed to send 20-30 people from the Pskov region to study at German universities every year.
What brief conclusions can be drawn from all this? The Germans generally left the Soviet practice, when the teacher was not only a school worker, but also a petty official - he was used for propaganda, rallies, supervision of unreliable people, etc. This practice is still alive in today's Russia - teachers are used almost everywhere by the authorities during elections (by members of PECs and TECs).
Education was universal, extremely ideological and it was assumed that it should be enough for simple work (in agriculture and in factories, as teachers in schools and in petty administrative work). Religious education played a special role. Education was paid. In general, the present, Putin's Ministry of Education sees the education system in much the same way.
The highest Russian intelligentsia in the occupied territories was supposed to be hereditary - from the families of white emigrants. Capable Russians could also break into this stratum, but only after studying abroad and with the actual rejection of Russianness. It is also similar to what is happening today in Russia, only in the absence of white emigration, top managers and intellectuals must necessarily go through studies in the West and through the adoption of Western thinking and way of life.
Boris Kovalev
Daily life of the population of Russia during the Nazi occupation
To his teachers: N. D. Kozlov, G. L. Sobolev, T. E. Novitskaya, A. Ya. Leikin, the author dedicates this book
Introduction
Man in occupation. Who is he? Man or woman, old man or child - what do they have in common? Without leaving their home, they all ended up in a strange world. This world has a different language and laws. They do not live in it, but survive. This book is about just that.
Of course, a feat distinguishes a person from everyday life. The people who made it are above others. Talking and writing about them, in general, is easy. Over the past decades, a huge number of books have been written about the heroes of the anti-Hitler resistance and partisans. They contain both truth and myths. And it takes a lot of effort to separate one from the other.
You can also write about betrayal, about cooperation with the enemy, about collaborationism. There are many reasons for this collaboration. Someone fiercely hated the Soviet government and dreamed of "repaying the Bolsheviks."
There were people who dreamed of always being "on top". And it is not necessary what kind of regime the country has: red or brown, communist or democratic. "Power for the sake of power" - that's what they aspired to and therefore were ready to serve any regime.
Many aspects of the participation of citizens of the USSR in the war on the side of Nazi Germany were hushed up by the Soviet side. For the initial period of the war, this was quite understandable: it was impossible to undermine the fighting spirit of the Soviet people. Thus, the newspaper Proletarskaya Pravda wrote on July 19, 1941: “With the help of threats, blackmail and the fifth column, with the help of corrupt slaves who were ready to betray their nation for thirty pieces of silver, Hitler was able to carry out his vile intentions in Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia ... Even in Poland, in Yugoslavia and Greece ... internal contradictions between nations and classes and numerous betrayals both at the front and in the rear weakened the strength of resistance to the invaders. But Hitler's predatory machinations will inevitably be smashed to dust now that he treacherously attacked the USSR, a powerful country armed with ... the indestructible friendship of peoples, the unshakable moral and political unity of the people ... ". The well-known writer and publicist Ilya Ehrenburg echoed her: “This war is not a civil war. This is a national war. This is a war for Russia. There is not a single Russian against us. There is not a single Russian who would stand for the Germans.”
In the dictionary of foreign words, the concept of "collaborationist" is explained as follows: "(from French - collaboration - cooperation) - a traitor, a traitor to the motherland, a person who collaborated with the German invaders in the countries they occupied during the Second World War (1939-1945)".
But already during the First World War, this term began to acquire a similar interpretation and was used separately from the word "cooperation", denoting only betrayal and treason. No army acting as an occupier of any country can do without cooperation with the authorities and population of that country. Without such cooperation, the occupation system cannot be viable. It needs translators, specialist administrators, business executives, experts in the political system, local customs, etc. The complex of relationships between them is the essence of collaborationism.
In our country, the term "collaborationism" to refer to people who collaborated in various forms with the Nazi occupation regime began to be used only recently. In Soviet historical science, the words "traitor", "traitor to the motherland", "accomplice" were usually used.
The degree of responsibility of people who in one form or another collaborated with the occupiers, of course, was different. This recognized the leadership of the Soviet resistance even in the initial period of the war. Among the elders and other representatives of the "new Russian administration" were people who took these posts under duress, at the request of their fellow villagers and on the instructions of the Soviet special services.
However, one can hardly call treason the accommodation of enemy soldiers, the provision of any minor services for them (darning of linen, washing, etc.). It is difficult to accuse of anything the people who, under the muzzle of enemy machine guns, were engaged in clearing, repairing and protecting railways and highways.
In Leonid Bykov's talented film "Aty-bats, soldiers were walking ..." one of the characters, Private Glebov, tells the lieutenant that he plowed during the occupation. The following dialogue takes place between them:
“So you worked for the Germans?”
- Yes, they received rations from the Germans.
- Strange, strange. And how many plowmen did you have there?
- Yes, it was...
For yesterday's Soviet schoolboy, Lieutenant Suslin, this is almost a crime. But Glebov, talking about this, is not afraid: “You were not under the Germans. And I was. And not just was. I plowed under them. I'm evil and I'm not afraid of anything.
Having survived the occupation, they joined the Red Army, helped to finish off Nazism with their work. Then these people were forced to write in the questionnaires: "Yes, I was in the occupied territory."
World War II was a tragic ordeal for many millions of people. Death and destruction, hunger and want have become elements of everyday life. All this was especially difficult in the territories occupied by the enemy.
Every person wants to live. Every person wants his family and friends to live. But there are different ways to exist. There is a certain freedom of choice: you can become a member of the resistance movement, and someone will offer their services to a foreign invader.
Under the conditions of the occupation of the western regions of our country, the activities of people who took up arms or offered their intellectual potential to the occupiers should be characterized as treason to the Motherland, both in the criminal law and in the moral sense of this concept.
However, in condemning those people who actually collaborated with the enemy, we must be fully aware of the complexity of the situation of millions of our fellow citizens who found themselves in the occupied territory. After all, everything was here: the shock of the lightning-fast offensive of the Nazi troops, the sophistication and quality of Nazi propaganda, the memory of Soviet repressions of the pre-war decade. In addition, the occupation policy of Germany in relation to the population of Russia was, first of all, the policy of the “whip”, and the territory itself was considered as an agricultural raw material base for the needs of the Reich.
In this book, the author tried to show the side of everyday life of people under Nazi occupation. Some were able to survive it and some weren't. Someone went into the forests with weapons in their hands or helped the partisans, helped not out of fear, but out of conscience, and someone collaborated with the Nazis. But, in spite of everything, we won this war.
Chapter one. From the Rhine to the Yenisei...
The plans of the leadership of the Third Reich regarding the future of Russia. Union Population. New Russian administration. Burgomasters and elders
In the thousand-year history of our fatherland, the events of the Great Patriotic War became one of the most severe trials for it. The peoples inhabiting the country faced a real threat not only of deprivation of statehood, but also of complete physical destruction.
The victory, for which millions of human lives had to be paid, was won only thanks to the indestructible alliance of all the nations and nationalities of the USSR. In the course of hostilities, not only military equipment and the talent of commanders, but also patriotism, internationalism, the honor and dignity of each person played an important role.
In the fight against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union was opposed by one of the most militarized states, whose leaders aspired to world domination. The fate of many peoples and countries depended on the outcome of this battle. The question was being decided: to follow the path of social progress or to be enslaved for a long time, thrown back to the dark times of obscurantism and tyranny.
The Nazi leadership counted on the fact that they would be able to easily split the Soviet society due to the events of the pre-war years: forced collectivization, unjustified mass repressions, conflict between the state and the church. Their plans were not destined to come true.
In the victory won by the Soviet Union over the Nazi invaders in the Great Patriotic War, an important role was played by the genuine unity of all the people at the front, in the rear and in the territory temporarily occupied by the invaders.
Aggression and terror always go side by side. They are inevitable companions. The army of the Nazi Third Reich, conquering for the German population "living space" in the East, brought death and destruction. In the Second World War, cruel and bloody, the Soviet Union suffered the heaviest losses. In the fire of the war, 27 million Soviet people died, the Nazis turned into ruins about 1,700 Soviet cities and towns, 70,000 villages and villages, deprived of shelter about 25 million Soviet citizens.
Current page: 1 (total book has 38 pages) [accessible reading excerpt: 25 pages]
Boris Kovalev
Daily life of the population of Russia during the Nazi occupation
To his teachers: N. D. Kozlov, G. L. Sobolev, T. E. Novitskaya, A. Ya. Leikin, the author dedicates this book
Introduction
Man in occupation. Who is he? Man or woman, old man or child - what do they have in common? Without leaving their home, they all ended up in a strange world. This world has a different language and laws. They do not live in it, but survive. This book is about just that.
Of course, a feat distinguishes a person from everyday life. The people who made it are above others. Talking and writing about them, in general, is easy. Over the past decades, a huge number of books have been written about the heroes of the anti-Hitler resistance and partisans. They contain both truth and myths. And it takes a lot of effort to separate one from the other.
You can also write about betrayal, about cooperation with the enemy, about collaborationism. There are many reasons for this collaboration. Someone fiercely hated the Soviet government and dreamed of "repaying the Bolsheviks."
There were people who dreamed of always being "on top". And it is not necessary what kind of regime the country has: red or brown, communist or democratic. "Power for the sake of power" - that's what they aspired to and therefore were ready to serve any regime.
Many aspects of the participation of citizens of the USSR in the war on the side of Nazi Germany were hushed up by the Soviet side. For the initial period of the war, this was quite understandable: it was impossible to undermine the fighting spirit of the Soviet people. Thus, the newspaper Proletarskaya Pravda wrote on July 19, 1941: “With the help of threats, blackmail and the fifth column, with the help of corrupt slaves who were ready to betray their nation for thirty pieces of silver, Hitler was able to carry out his vile intentions in Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia ... Even in Poland, in Yugoslavia and Greece ... internal contradictions between nations and classes and numerous betrayals both at the front and in the rear weakened the strength of resistance to the invaders. But Hitler's predatory machinations will inevitably be smashed to dust now that he treacherously attacked the USSR, a powerful country armed with ... the indestructible friendship of peoples, the unshakable moral and political unity of the people ... ". The well-known writer and publicist Ilya Ehrenburg echoed her: “This war is not a civil war. This is a national war. This is a war for Russia. There is not a single Russian against us. There is not a single Russian who would stand for the Germans" 1
Ehrenburg I. G. War. M., 2004. S. 131.
In the dictionary of foreign words, the concept of "collaborationist" is explained as follows: "(from French - collaboration - cooperation) - a traitor, a traitor to the motherland, a person who collaborated with the German invaders in the countries they occupied during the Second World War (1939–1945)" 2
Modern dictionary of foreign words. M., 1993. S. 287.
But already during the First World War, this term began to acquire a similar interpretation and was used separately from the word "cooperation", denoting only betrayal and treason. No army acting as an occupier of any country can do without cooperation with the authorities and population of that country. Without such cooperation, the occupation system cannot be viable. It needs translators, specialist administrators, business executives, experts in the political system, local customs, etc. The complex of relationships between them is the essence of collaborationism.
In our country, the term "collaborationism" to refer to people who collaborated in various forms with the Nazi occupation regime began to be used only recently. In Soviet historical science, the words "traitor", "traitor to the motherland", "accomplice" were usually used.
The degree of responsibility of people who in one form or another collaborated with the occupiers, of course, was different. This recognized the leadership of the Soviet resistance even in the initial period of the war. Among the elders and other representatives of the "new Russian administration" were people who took these posts under duress, at the request of their fellow villagers and on the instructions of the Soviet special services.
However, one can hardly call treason the accommodation of enemy soldiers, the provision of any minor services for them (darning of linen, washing, etc.). It is difficult to accuse of anything the people who, under the muzzle of enemy machine guns, were engaged in clearing, repairing and protecting railways and highways.
In Leonid Bykov's talented film "Aty-bats, soldiers were walking ..." one of the characters, Private Glebov, tells the lieutenant that he plowed during the occupation. The following dialogue takes place between them:
“So you worked for the Germans?”
- Yes, they received rations from the Germans.
- Strange, strange. And how many plowmen did you have there?
- Yes, it was...
For yesterday's Soviet schoolboy, Lieutenant Suslin, this is almost a crime. But Glebov, talking about this, is not afraid: “You were not under the Germans. And I was. And not just was. I plowed under them. I'm evil and I'm not afraid of anything.
Having survived the occupation, they joined the Red Army, helped to finish off Nazism with their work. Then these people were forced to write in the questionnaires: "Yes, I was in the occupied territory."
World War II was a tragic ordeal for many millions of people. Death and destruction, hunger and want have become elements of everyday life. All this was especially difficult in the territories occupied by the enemy.
Every person wants to live. Every person wants his family and friends to live. But there are different ways to exist. There is a certain freedom of choice: you can become a member of the resistance movement, and someone will offer their services to a foreign invader.
Under the conditions of the occupation of the western regions of our country, the activities of people who took up arms or offered their intellectual potential to the occupiers should be characterized as treason to the Motherland, both in the criminal law and in the moral sense of this concept.
However, in condemning those people who actually collaborated with the enemy, we must be fully aware of the complexity of the situation of millions of our fellow citizens who found themselves in the occupied territory. After all, everything was here: the shock of the lightning-fast offensive of the Nazi troops, the sophistication and quality of Nazi propaganda, the memory of Soviet repressions of the pre-war decade. In addition, the occupation policy of Germany in relation to the population of Russia was, first of all, the policy of the “whip”, and the territory itself was considered as an agricultural raw material base for the needs of the Reich.
In this book, the author tried to show the side of everyday life of people under Nazi occupation. Some were able to survive it and some weren't. Someone went into the forests with weapons in their hands or helped the partisans, helped not out of fear, but out of conscience, and someone collaborated with the Nazis. But, in spite of everything, we won this war.
Chapter one. From the Rhine to the Yenisei...
The plans of the leadership of the Third Reich regarding the future of Russia. Union Population. New Russian administration. Burgomasters and elders
In the thousand-year history of our fatherland, the events of the Great Patriotic War became one of the most severe trials for it. The peoples inhabiting the country faced a real threat not only of deprivation of statehood, but also of complete physical destruction.
The victory, for which millions of human lives had to be paid, was won only thanks to the indestructible alliance of all the nations and nationalities of the USSR. In the course of hostilities, not only military equipment and the talent of commanders, but also patriotism, internationalism, the honor and dignity of each person played an important role.
In the fight against Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union was opposed by one of the most militarized states, whose leaders aspired to world domination. The fate of many peoples and countries depended on the outcome of this battle. The question was being decided: to follow the path of social progress or to be enslaved for a long time, thrown back to the dark times of obscurantism and tyranny.
The Nazi leadership counted on the fact that they would be able to easily split the Soviet society due to the events of the pre-war years: forced collectivization, unjustified mass repressions, conflict between the state and the church. Their plans were not destined to come true.
In the victory won by the Soviet Union over the Nazi invaders in the Great Patriotic War, an important role was played by the genuine unity of all the people at the front, in the rear and in the territory temporarily occupied by the invaders.
Aggression and terror always go side by side. They are inevitable companions. The army of the Nazi Third Reich, conquering for the German population "living space" in the East, brought death and destruction. In the Second World War, cruel and bloody, the Soviet Union suffered the heaviest losses. In the fire of the war, 27 million Soviet people died, the Nazis turned into ruins about 1,700 Soviet cities and towns, 70,000 villages and villages, deprived of shelter about 25 million Soviet citizens.
From the very first steps on the temporarily occupied territory, the conquerors showed themselves not only as murderers, robbers and terrorists who knew no mercy, but also as sophisticated demagogues.
As early as May 15, 1940, G. Himmler drew up and presented to A. Hitler a memorandum entitled "Some thoughts on the treatment of foreigners in the East." A special institute of "continental-European policy" was created. A. Rosenberg was entrusted with the future management of the continent, numbering about 180 million people.
An important role in the plans for aggression and colonization of the territories captured by the Wehrmacht was assigned to punitive bodies, and primarily the SS. Their leaders, Heydrich and Himmler, actively participated in the development of these plans and the expansion. The most important goal of the future campaign to the East was its German colonization.
The highest body of the Third Reich for the management of the occupied Soviet territory was the Ministry for the Occupied Regions in the East (Eastern Ministry), established by Hitler's decree on November 18, 1941. Alfred Rosenberg, a former subject of the Russian Empire, one of the veterans of the Nazi movement, was at the head of the ministry, Alfred Meyer was his deputy and permanent representative in the occupied territory.
At a meeting at headquarters on July 16, 1941, Hitler justified the need for a new administrative-territorial division in the occupied Soviet territory as follows: “Now we are faced with the task of cutting the territory of this huge pie as we need it, in order to be able to firstly, to dominate it; secondly, to rule it; thirdly, to exploit it. 3
Nuremberg Trials. T. 7. M., 1961. S. 122.
Flirting with the Slavs, putting into practice the propaganda slogan "creating a new Russia - a state free from the Bolsheviks" in the context of the successful implementation of the lightning war plan seemed to the leadership of the Third Reich not only an unaffordable luxury, but also a mistake. But the trained cadres from among the emigrants then began to be actively used in the propaganda services, the police, in the special services and in various divisions of the collaborationist "new Russian administration" in secondary posts.
On October 19, 1941, the chief quartermaster at the command of the 16th Army of the Wehrmacht issued a circular letter "On the list of civilians loyal to Germany." It stated that “the new political division of the Russian population encounters particular difficulties at this stage of the occupation. On political grounds, neither emigrants nor their descendants can be used in the new construction, despite their unambiguously anti-Bolshevik sentiments. 4
War of Germany against the Soviet Union 1941-1945. Berlin, 1994, p. 83.
The changed attitude of the Nazis towards the anti-Bolshevik emigration is largely explained by the recommendations that came from the Goebbels department. Soviet propaganda at the beginning of the war announced the desire of the Nazis to return to Russia "the landowners and capitalists who fled to the West after the revolution." The stake on anti-Soviet elements from among the citizens of the USSR was supposed to show the Russian population the opposite. Also, the occupiers were well aware that people who had lived abroad for almost twenty years and did not know the realities of Soviet society were unlikely to become their effective assistants.
The occupying authorities used a differentiated approach to the population (not least according to the criterion of "racial usefulness"): a certain part was involved in cooperation. All this was aimed at achieving a single goal - the establishment of long-term domination of Germany in Russia.
On January 25, 1942, Alfred Rosenberg gave an interview to the Krakauer Zeitung newspaper, which dealt with "the future of the Eastern Lands."
In this conversation, the Imperial Minister expressed his thoughts on the current and future situation of the European East and, first of all, the Imperial Commissariat of the Eastern Lands. In his opinion, the union of the USSR, Great Britain and the USA, in the event of a victory over Germany, would lead the peoples of Europe to direct physical destruction, the decline of culture and the establishment of a bloody regime. 5
Speech. 1942. February 25.
Consequently, as the pro-Nazi press wrote, all the inhabitants of the "New Europe" should unite in the fight against the "Anglo-American-Soviet danger."
But as for the future of Russia (moreover, this word never sounded in his interview), Rosenberg escaped with a very vague statement: “Until the end of hostilities, it is impossible to finally establish a political form. Here various factors play a role that must be taken into account: the history of individual regions, the traditions of various societies, the behavior of the regions and peoples that are now under German rule, as well as many other points. Our task, and even more so the task of all others, is only to apply ourselves with hard work to the general situation, to mobilize all possible forces in order to ensure the defense of the Eastern regions, and to deliver everything necessary to the German armed forces. The readiness for honest work and the results of it will be a decisive moment in the preparation of the future legal order.”
The territory of the Soviet Union, captured by the Wehrmacht, was subject to both military (operational area) and civil (civil administration area) administration. Special rights were given to Hermann Göring, commissioner for the four-year plan, and Heinrich Himmler, the Reichsführer SS, chief of the German police. The management of the economy in the occupied regions was carried out by the headquarters for economic management Ost. The SS and police services were not limited to the performance of their direct functions, their influence in the occupied territories during the war was constantly increasing. 6
War of Germany against the Soviet Union 1941-1945. C. 80.
At the head of the military administration was the Quartermaster General of the High Command of the Ground Forces. Overall responsibility for civil administration rested with the Imperial Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Regions.
The Soviet regions occupied by German troops were divided by Hitler’s decree of July 17, 1941 into Reichskommissariats, general districts, regions and districts, districts (districts), headed by Reichskommissars, general commissars, Gebietskommissars and district commissars.
The Imperial Commissariat "Muscovy" especially worried the Nazis. It was supposed, according to their calculations, to consist of seven general commissariats: in Moscow, Tula, Gorky, Kazan, Ufa, Sverdlovsk and Kirov. In order for "Muscovy" to occupy as little territory as possible, the Nazis were going to attach a number of regions with a Russian population to neighboring commissariats. So, Novgorod and Smolensk should have belonged to "Ostland" (ie, to the Baltic states); to the commissariat "Ukraine" - Bryansk, Kursk, Voronezh, Krasnodar, Stavropol and Astrakhan.
The invaders wanted the very concept of "Russia" to disappear. Hitler repeatedly stated that the words "Russia", "Russian", "Russian" must be forever destroyed and banned from their use, replacing the terms "Muscovy", "Moscow" 7
Cit. Cited from: Zagorulko M. M., Yudenkov A. F. The collapse of the Oldenburg plan. M., 1980. S. 119.
As the German armed forces advanced in 1941, the entire occupied territory of Russia was divided by the German authorities into three zones.
In the first, the so-called "evacuated zone", 30-50 km deep, directly adjoining the combat area, the administrative regime was the most strict and cruel. All civilians from these areas were forcibly resettled in the German rear. The settlers were accommodated in the houses of local residents or in camps, in non-residential premises, pigsties, sheds. In most cases, they did not receive any food or received the bare minimum. So, in the Chudovsky camp of the Leningrad region in 1942, the settlers were given liquid gruel only once a day. Due to hunger and disease, there was a very high mortality rate in the camps.
Residents were not evicted from the second zone, but they were allowed to appear outside their homes only during daylight hours. Going out into the field for household purposes was allowed only under the escort of German soldiers. The occupiers often created such zones in areas of active operations of partisan detachments and formations.
In the third zone, the general regime established by the Nazis in the occupied territory was preserved.
Starting from the first days of hostilities, administrative functions in the front line were carried out directly by the German military commandant's offices with the help of collaborators: village elders and volost foremen.
More advanced and ramified administrative institutions were created in the rear areas, but not united, however, into a single system. Even with the occupation of the western regions of Russia, the Nazis did not want to create any semblance of a satellite state on this territory.
But at the same time, in an effort to subjugate the population as much as possible, the Nazis created bodies of the so-called “new Russian administration”, in which they attracted people who were ready to cooperate with them. The fascist German invaders were well aware that only with the effective work of local self-government bodies could the potential of the occupied territories be successfully used.
From the summer - autumn of 1941, the process of creating pro-Nazi command structures began in the occupied territories of Russia. Already in the first weeks of the occupation, the Germans without fail organized "congresses of volost and district burgomasters." They checked the staffing of the bodies of the "new Russian administration". Officially, the media announced that the purpose of such meetings is "to develop a procedure for the regular supply of food and fuel to the population, the organization of judicial and administrative authorities, the work of schools, hospitals, veterinary and fire fighting" 8
SAOO. F. R-159. Op. 1. D. 8. L. 23.
In practice, the German officers present at these meetings oriented, first of all, the "new owners of Russian cities and villages" to actively assist in the collection of food for the German army and the fight against the forces of Soviet resistance.
The occupiers had the greatest confidence in people repressed under the Soviet regime. Chekist groups that operated in the winter of 1941-1942 on the territory of the Leningrad Region reported to the Center the following: “The elders are selected from the anti-Soviet element: former merchants, clergy, traitors from among the Finns and Estonians.
In the city of Lyuban, the elders were appointed:
1. Slovtsov M.A. - former chorister of the kliros (mayor of the city).
3. Egorov VN - was in the church twenty.
In the villages of the Krasnogvardeisky district, a former merchant, a former White Guard, an Estonian, a Finn became the elders. 9
Materials of the archival group of the Academy of the FSB of the Russian Federation "State Security Organs of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War". Collection of documents.
In parallel with this, in a number of regions (primarily in the Pskov region, Novgorod region and Bryansk region), the forces of partisans and underground workers at the end of 1941 managed to restore and preserve the organs of Soviet power.
The largest territorial unit created by the invaders was the administrative district. Thus, the Orlovsky and Bryansk districts were organized. The Pskov district had a similar meaning. In Orel, Bryansk, Novgorod and Smolensk, there were city governments, and in Pskov - district government. These institutions were subordinate to the local German military commandant's offices. Councils acted under the leadership of the "mayor", or "Oberburgomaster". Sometimes the occupiers organized "elections of heads of households" of burgomasters (usually from several candidates who could prove that they would faithfully serve the "new order"), but much more often they were simply appointed by the German authorities.
The head of the district administration was directly subordinate to the representative of the German command and received instructions, orders and orders from him. He undertook to inform the Nazis about the mood and situation of the population. To hold any district and city events, they had to obtain permission from the German authorities. This official was the administrative head of all district burgomasters and elders subordinate to him. The apparatus of the district administration was divided into 9 departments. The general department was considered the main department. He was in charge of court, notary, citizenship, registry office, food supply to the population. The functions of the police department included the organization of the police and its structure, fire protection and protection of entertainment enterprises, the address and passport office, and control over citizens' meetings. The third department was in charge of finances and taxes, their collection and calculation. The rest of the divisions were considered secondary. They did not have real power, and the work in them was carried out mainly on paper. These included departments that had the names: “Education, culture, cult”, “Health care, veterinary condition”, “Highway, bridge and road construction”, “Industry and trade”, “Agriculture”, “Forestry and firewood” 10
SAOO. F. R-159. Op. 1. D. 8. L. 19–20 rev.
Administratively, large cities were divided into districts, as a rule, within the old boundaries. In each city district, district councils were created with foremen at the head. The district councils had the following departments: a) administrative, b) housing, c) technical, d) financial.
The heads of departments of the city government were selected by the mayor and, with his characteristics, were submitted for approval to the German military commandant. For the most part, these were people who, to a greater or lesser extent, were offended by the Soviet regime. For example, the historian Vasily Ponomarev, who was repressed in the early 1930s, became mayor of Novgorod. But there were also people who occupied a certain position under the Soviet regime. So, the former active member of the CPSU (b) Gruzinov became the mayor of the city of Feodosia.
The initiative to create a local Russian administration usually came from the Nazi military commandant's offices, which were in dire need of an institution of civil power. For this purpose councils were created in the cities. They were under the direct control of the Nazi military authorities. However, there were exceptions: in Feodosia, local governments created the so-called "initiative group" of former employees of the City Council 11
AUFSBKO. D. 437. L. 158.
But in any case, all officials were compulsorily approved by the German commandants. From 20 to 60 people could work in the apparatus of city government. In cities and villages, representatives of the collaborationist administration occupied the best houses (of course, from those where no German institutions had settled). So, in Pskov, the council was located in a two-story mansion in the city center that was not damaged by the bombing. It had 30 spacious offices for officials, as well as a clinic, a dentist's office, a canteen, a warehouse, a workshop and utility pantries. 12
For the motherland. 1943. March 28.
Quite typical for the occupied territory of Russia was the history of the creation and functioning of the Novgorod city government. Using its example, one can consider not only the main activities of this administrative body, but also give an objective description of the people who worked there.
In August 1941, Novgorod was heavily bombed by the Luftwaffe. Residents tried to escape from Nazi bombs in the basements of their houses or in the suburbs - Kolmovo and Pankovka. The latter were practically not affected, which cannot be said about the center. The ancient St. Sophia Cathedral, built in 1050, was also damaged. The command of the Red Army failed to organize any serious defense of the city, and on August 19, 1941, the Soviet units retreated across the Maly Volkhovets River. The front line stabilized two kilometers from the city. It remained unchanged until January 1944. On the Trade side, directly adjacent to the front line, there were only German soldiers. On the Sofia side, located on the other side of the Volkhov River, the local population continued to live.
The city government was the first to be created in the city occupied by the Germans. Its organizers in August 1941 were Boris Andreevich Filistinsky, Vasily Sergeevich Ponomarev, Alexander Nikolaevich Egunov and Fyodor Ivanovich Morozov. All of them were subjected to various repressions by the Soviet authorities in the 1930s. 13
For the motherland. 1943. March 28.
Having gathered at Filistinsky’s apartment, they learned from the owner that they had received preliminary consent regarding the creation of a “Russian administration”, since he had already spoken with the Germans and they instructed him to pick up reliable people who wanted to help the new authorities. A meeting was organized for them with the German military commandant of Novgorod (an officer with the rank of major), who asked those who came about their biographies, the time they lived in Novgorod, their education and repressions against them by the Soviet authorities.
The German commandant ordered to establish order in the city economy and appointed Ponomarev as the city head, since he was the only resident of Novgorod who came. The members of the newly created council distributed the rest of the duties among themselves. Before leaving the German commandant, all members of the educated city government received special certificates in Russian and German, which stated that "the bearer of this is a Russian administrator approved by the German authorities, and everyone is obliged to assist him."
In the first weeks of the existence of the Novgorod city government, Ponomarev and his assistants were engaged in the selection and hiring of employees, independently sought funds for their maintenance. This problem was solved by establishing a rent and opening a canteen 14
There. L. 86.
Since the autumn of 1941, new taxes were introduced - income, from the yard and for keeping pets. So, for example, each owner of a cow had to hand over 30 liters of milk per month.
The council was located in the former railway club named after. V. I. Lenin. At the end of 1941, on the eve of the first German evacuation, she moved to the basement, as the city was subjected to heavy shelling and bombing by Soviet troops. 15
There. L. 220.
Every morning the mayor was obliged to come to the German commandant with a report on all city affairs, on the mood among the population. The orders received from the German authorities were then communicated by Ponomarev to the rest of the members of the council.
Ponomarev served as mayor of Novgorod until October 1941. It can be assumed that in the conditions of stabilization of the front line, the occupiers decided to use his knowledge, a professional historian and museum worker, with greater benefit for themselves.
In November 1941, Fyodor Ivanovich Morozov became burgomaster. Almost the entire first staff of the council was fired. The new leader formed his "team" on the principle of personal devotion to him. The collaborators who remained out of work, dissatisfied with their resignation, wrote a statement addressed to the German military commandant, in which they accused Morozov and his entourage of abuse of office, illegal enrichment and decay in everyday life.
After this "signal" all the instigators, five people, were summoned to the commandant. The latter, at first scolding them for squabbling, agreed to re-employ someone from the former council to secretly control Morozov and his entourage. These functions were assigned to A.N. Egunov, who combined them with the leadership of the department of public education.
About ten days later, on December 17, 1941, Morozov was killed by a Spanish soldier. This happened under the following circumstances. The municipal government organized the distribution of milk to municipal employees, children and pregnant women - one liter per person. Spanish soldiers also began to come for milk, but since there was not enough of it, it was released to them with great displeasure. On the basis of this there were frequent misunderstandings. One day, when the Spanish soldiers again came for milk, Morozov was in a state of intoxication. Dissatisfied with the fact that because of the Spaniards, the employees of the council were left with little milk, the burgomaster began to quarrel with them. Morozov shouted in Russian, while the Spaniards shouted in their native language. In the course of this skirmish, the burgomaster began to push and lowered a soldier of the "Blue Division" down the stairs. The offended Spaniard pulled out a pistol and killed Morozov with two shots. 16
There. L. 60–60 rev.
The third burgomaster of Novgorod was Dionysius Giovanni, the former director of the experimental station in Bolotnaya, an Italian by nationality. He remained in this position until April 1943. Giovanni, like Ponomarev, signed documents as "professor" 17
There. D. 42015. L. 32.
Since December 1941, the Novgorod city government was located at the Bolotnaya station and became known as the Novgorod district government. Most of the inhabitants of Novgorod were evacuated from the city at the same time, as the Red Army was expected to advance. In the summer of 1942, part of the townspeople returned. The Germans did not prevent the return of those whose houses were on the Sofia side.
The last burgomaster of Novgorod was Nikolai Pavlovich Ivanov. For his work from the German command, he received 68 marks and a working ration. According to the instructions he received from the Germans, he was obliged to: take the entire population of the city under strict control; on the orders of the German commandant's office, expel the population to work for the German army and carry out passportization of the entire adult population of the city 18
There. D. 1/7188. L. 12.
In the summer of 1943, all Novgorodians received German passports. One of the priority tasks set by the occupiers for the city government was to maintain the Novgorod-Leningrad highway in order. Lists of residents who were constantly sent to road work were compiled. People were divided into teams, and the team leaders reported on the work done directly to the Germans. Those who evaded work, the burgomaster had the right to take to the commandant's office and put under arrest.
Under Ivanov, the entire population of the city in November 1943 was evicted beyond the German defense line "Panther" - to the Baltic. N. P. Ivanov turned out to be the only one of the burgomasters of Novgorod who managed to be prosecuted. In August 1945, he was arrested by Soviet state security agencies and sentenced to ten years in the camps. 19
There. L. 181.
