“I WAS WORSE THAN A DOG AND ALL THE TIME I ASKED WHY”: THE SITUATION OF JEWS IN MIZOCH DURING THE HOLOCAUST

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the situation of Jews during the Holocaust using the example of the Volyn town of Mizoch. On the basis of historiographical and source studies, using sources that are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, it reconstructs the wanderings and living conditions of Mizoch Jews in 1941–1942. The "solution of the Jewish question" involved not only the killing of the victims, but also their special legal status. Measures of forced registration, identification, wearing special marks, segregation in ghettos, restrictions on food, movement, turned them into objects of humiliation and created the ground for further persecution.

The traditional roles of Jews changed during the Holocaust. In the ghetto, children often became food providers for the family, having the opportunity to come into contact with non-Jewish residents on the "Aryan" side by working for them. The work in and outside the town was not only exhausting but also life-threatening. At forced labor in Zdolbunov, the Jews of Mizoch suffered from unbearable conditions, hunger, and beatings. Sometimes the arbitrariness of the supervisors led to the death of workers. The looting of Jews became one of the means of deprivation of the conditions for existence, because it made it impossible to maintain one's life. During the pogrom in Mizoch, Jews were not only robbed, but also cases of murder and rape were recorded. Local police officers who used their positions for their own material enrichment had the closest contact with the Jews.

The measures taken by the occupiers to follow up the victims of the Holocaust affected the attitude towards them by the non-Jewish residents. The press played an important role in fueling the enmity, which blamed inhabitants of Mizoch for "immeasurable love to Jewery." Jews were turned into social outcasts, so they were outside the social hierarchy. In the system of Nazi genocide, there was no way to resist such a policy.