THE POSTWAR RURAL SPACE OF TRANSCARPATHIA: CONFISCATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROPERTY OF JEWISH HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS, 1944–1945

Abstract

The article analyzes the process and mechanisms of confiscating the property of Holocaust survivors in postwar Transcarpathia in 1944–1945. After the entry of the Red Army and the expulsion of the Hungarian authorities, a system of temporary authorities, the National Committees, was created in the region. These grassroots authorities in rural areas were composed of nonJews, mostly Ukrainians, who were former neighbors of the Jews. The article analyzes the role of these grassroots authorities in the redistribution of Jewish
property. The survivors who returned to their villages at the end of 1944 had no opportunity to influence the fate of their property, as they were not included in the local governments. Further, the role of the highest governing bodies of the quasi-state of Transcarpathian Ukraine in authorizing the distribution of Jewish property is described. Separately, the author draws attention to the phenomenon of looting of Jewish property in the first months after the Red Army’s entry. The author focuses on the reactions of local authorities at various
levels to the spontaneous looting of Jewish property by non-Jews. The article discusses the creation of special commissions that assessed Jewish property.
In addition, various scenarios of redistribution of Jewish property are analyzed. In particular, the leasing of Jewish houses to non-Jews, the sale of property at auctions, and the sale of real estate or the free transfer of property from a survivor to his former neighbor. Auctions for the sale of Jewish houses and other private buildings were widespread in rural areas of postwar Transcarpathia. Special emphasis is placed on the beneficiaries of the process of redistribution of Jewish property and the use of the funds from the sale of Jewish houses. Primarily, Jewish houses were acquired by newly privileged strata of the postwar society of Transcarpathia: volunteers of the Red and Czechoslovak armies and their families, as well as war disabled. At the same time, this process did not have a clearly defined mechanism and was often associated with corruption schemes. The issue of Jewish property led to numerous conflicts in the summer of 1945, both between survivors and non-Jews and between Ukrainians. This resulted in the exodus of a significant number of Jews from the socially close rural environment to the cities and emigration abroad.