"OTHER/ALIEN": THE IMAGE OF THE JEWS IN THE MEMORIES OF THE UKRAINIAN NEIGHBORS ABOUT THE WORLD WAR II"

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the testimonies of Ukrainian eyewitnesses regarding the history of the Holocaust on the territory of Western Voljynia. Most of the testimonies were recorded within the oral history project "Voices" during 2020–2021. These testimonies reveal a lot of stereotypical views on Jews among Ukrainian peasants. Ever since the seminal debate between D. Goldhagen and K. Browning, many researchers have been discussing the influence of anti-Semitism on the behavior of the non-Jewish population during the Holocaust.

The article demonstrates that many representatives of the Christian population of Volhynia during the Second World War were under the influence of traditional anti-Semitic prejudices and stereotypes. Most of these stereotypes are divided into those that have a socio-economic dimension and those of religious origin. The former had their origins from the ethnic distribution of labor in the region, under which the majority of Ukrainians worked in the agricultural sector, while Jews were artisans, merchants, doctors, lawyers, etc. Despite the fact that in the territory of Western Volhynia, many Jews worked in the agricultural sector and lived in the countryside, Ukrainian peasants still had many stereotypes regarding the "Jewish merchant" who does not like to work, but earns for a living by cunning. Often it happened due to the lack of realizing of the specifics of the trade sphere that gave rise to the idea of the "non-productive" nature of the trade profession among many Ukrainian peasant farmers. It led to the belief that most Jews were "cunning" and made a profit without making much effort, what caused another mythological belief about the fabulous wealth of even apparently poor Jews (many peasants were convinced that they had hidden gold treasures).

Religious stereotypes related to Jews stemmed from Christian culture, in which the belief that Jews were "guilty" of the murder of Jesus Christ had been established since the middle Ages. In this regard, some Ukrainian peasants were inclined to justify the causes of the Holocaust as "punishment" for the thousand-year-old sins of the Jewish ancestors. Considering the fact that most of the narrators belonged to the number of illiterate peasants who had mainly primary education, the modern ideological myths about "Judeo-Bolshevism", which were so zealously spread by Nazi propaganda, were not immanent to the most of them. It is difficult to judge to what extent the traditional anti-Semitic ideas of Ukrainian peasants could influence their behavior during the Holocaust. Most likely, these stereotypes could influence on the inclination of the Jewish neighbors to empathy and their willingness to help. However, this factor hardly had a decisive influence on the social dynamics of the genocide.