Soviet repressions against Nazi accomplices: mercy to the fallen
The topic of repression against traitors and collaborators was raised in the West during the years of the “cold war”, they were considered to be crimes of the “bloody” Stalinist regime. Although then such accusations looked absolutely wild: what should the Kremlin do with them? To reward?
Although in a number of current fragments of the Soviet Union, especially in the Baltic countries and in Ukraine, the Nazi accomplices were turned into “heroes”.
In a series of accusations was the fact that the Cossacks of the 15-th SS corps were extradited to the USSR. Prosecutors did not care about the question that the Cossacks were war criminals who participated in punitive operations on the territory of the USSR and on the territory of Yugoslavia.
It is clear that in the USSR the stories about the “innocent victims of Yalta” - “Vlasovites”, the Cossacks, the policemen, the military personnel of the SS units could not be accepted by the population. Those who saw with their own eyes and personally experienced the Great War were not to be deceived. Traitors from local residents made a significant contribution to the crimes of Nazism.
True, even here, the accusers found an “argument” - they say that real criminals from local residents fled to the West, along with the owners, and innocent people, those who had Germans lodged, gave food and so on, fell under the “millstones” of repression. So, historian B. Sokolov writes: “Tens of millions of our fellow citizens who lived in terrible, inhuman conditions of German oppression for two or three years got out of the fire and into the fire… Many of them, accused of collaboration, went to special settlements and camps ... ".
This information war against our past did not end with the collapse of the USSR, but only intensified. In Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Red Army troops were turned from liberators into invaders. Yes, and in the Russian Federation itself, “de-Stalinization” is in full swing, crimes that he did not commit (such as the Katyn tragedy) are recorded on the USSR, feats are turned into crimes, the necessary social protection measures are turned into “the horrors of the bloody Stalinist regime”.
Meeting of the veterans of the UPA and the SS "Galicia" on the occasion of the anniversary of the creation of the UPA. (Berezhany, 2006).
Basic principles of repression against Nazi accomplices
The first document aimed at combating collaborationism was the order issued by the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) No. 001683 of December 12 of the year 1941 issued after the start of the counteroffensive near Moscow. It was called "On the operational-KGB service of areas liberated from the enemy forces." The duties of the NKVD included: establishing (through partisans, agents, whistleblowers) and the arrest of traitors, traitors, those who were in the service of the invaders and contributed to the conduct of anti-Soviet activities, in the prosecution of party members and civil servants. December 16 The directive of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR was issued, the tasks of the city and district departments of the NKVD in the liberated territories were: to establish order and normal work of all institutions and organizations; the identification and arrest of all those who worked in the administrative bodies of the Nazis, the identification and arrest of accomplices of the Nazis, who contributed to the atrocities; identifying enemy elements, enemy agents left behind by the Nazis, identifying deserters from the Red Army; to work among those who actively communicated with the Gestapo, the police, German officers.
In order to remove a number of ambiguities (for example, whether women who volunteered to “work” in German brothels) were recorded in the “hostile element”, February 18 of the year 1942 was given detailed instructions from the NKVD where it was written who the security officers should work with. It was necessary to establish and register: 1) members of the intelligence, counterintelligence, administrative, police bodies of the Germans; 2) the owners and tenants of the houses where these bodies were located, lived by their employees, their attendants; 3) enemy agents; 4) members of the “local governments” created by the Germans, the police; 5) traitors who assisted in the conduct of punitive activities; 6) members of counter-revolutionary, nationalist organizations, units; 7) members of the gangs created by the Germans for security, punitive, requisitional purposes, to fight partisans and to commit sabotage in the Soviet rear; 8) the owners of underground radio stations, "caches" left by the Germans; 9) members and candidates for the party and the Komsomol, who have been registered with the Germans; 10) women who married Germans; 11) brothel keepers; 12) all those who served in German institutions and enterprises (excluding those who were forcibly mobilized), those who rendered services to the Germans; 13) those who voluntarily left with the Nazis, their family members.
The following categories were immediately arrested: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11. The rest were registered and monitored, but not arrested.
Documents on the activities of the Chekists in the territories liberated by the Red Army say that there were no mass repressions against the residents! Those who committed the most serious crime were arrested, betrayed the Motherland, and only if the evidence was “iron”. For example: for a month of work of security officers in Mozhaisk and its environs, 258 people were arrested (the population in 1939 was only in Mozhaisk - about 12 thousand people). For the entire 1942 year, the repressive bodies (the courts, the Special Meeting, the special departments of the NKVD) condemned about 160 thousand people, a significant part of them for “criminal activity”.
Lviv citizens beat a Jew. Photo №5 from the book of V.Polischuk Evidence of crimes of the OUN and UPA.
Nude Jewish in a crowd of men. Photo №12 on page 233 of the book by V.Polischuk. Evidence of crimes of the OUN and UPA.
Change of principles
The considered principles of the NKVD’s work cannot be called unfair, but already in 1943, the country's leadership considered them unnecessarily cruel. An understanding of the fact that cooperation with the enemy was often a means of survival for Soviet prisoners of war and civilians matured in the Kremlin. An example of such an attitude was the mass transfer of servicemen of the collaborationist units to the side of the Red Army. The "national" soldiers actively fled from the Germans as soon as the opportunity arose.
In 1943, Soviet troops liberated vast territories of southern Russia. The soldiers of the Red Army saw with their own eyes the traces of massacres, destroyed settlements, and therefore often simply shot Nazi accomplices (which was in Justice, but violated the law). So, commander M. Frolov recalled: “When entering the village, I immediately sent a reconnaissance group to the huts, and they caught all the policemen and the headman. The detainees without long conversations were put to the wall and shot. ” Therefore, the Nazi accomplices tried to hide during the passage of the Red Army and returned to the villages and settlements only after the arrival of the NKVD (!) And went to confess.
This was the right decision for the accomplices, the NKVD did not shoot them, at worst they were arrested, tried and sentenced. For example, as of 18 March 1943, in the Stalingrad, Voronezh, Rostov, Oryol regions, Stavropol, Krasnodar Territories, the Ukrainian SSR, Kalmyk, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetian ASSR, only about 30 thousand people were arrested. Mass is not visible. The NKVD left almost all collaborators at large who were not tainted by major crimes. Part even sent to serve in the Red Army - in the penalty part.
ROA.
UPA.
The change in approach is very well traced in numbers: while on 18 March 1943, about 30 thousand people were arrested, by the end of 1943, only 75 thousand people were arrested, although they had liberated territories with several tens of millions of people.
As a result, this change, which has already actually occurred, was recorded legally. The Kremlin, in view of the forcedness of most people entering the service of the Germans, actually granted them forgiveness. 11 September 1943 was issued a joint directive of the NKVD and the NKGB of the USSR. According to the directive, the officers of the collaborationist formations, those rank and file who participated in punitive actions against the civilian population, defectors from the Red Army, burgomasters, major officials, Gestapo and Abwehr, those elders who collaborated with the German counterintelligence were arrested. All the others were sent to test-filtration camps, where they checked, as well as those released from the environment, released prisoners of war. And according to archival documents and data of modern studies, the overwhelming majority of those who got to the filtration camps passed them safely. Acolytes of the invocatory age were generally exempt from checking, although they were registered.
The Kremlin actually equated ordinary accomplices to the "encircling" and released from captivity. In the 1944 year, the Baltic divisions began to en masse to the Red Army, thanks to a directive from 11 September 1943, they almost all managed to avoid the well-deserved punishment. In 1944, a little more than 100 thousand people were arrested throughout the USSR.
Merkulov Vsevolod Nikolaevich. In the period 1941 — 1943. - First Deputy Commissar of Internal Affairs - Head of the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB), Commissioner of State Security 1-rank.
Repatriate collaborators
After the victory in Moscow, they faced a new problem - millions of Union citizens were on the territory of the Third Reich. Most were prisoners of war, forcibly removed by the workers, but there was a certain percentage who voluntarily left with the Germans, fearing retribution for working with the enemy. Someone served in the "national legions" SS divisions. Moscow had to decide what to do with them.
According to archival documents, all the collaborators who were in the zone of occupation of the USSR were sent to test-filtration camps, where they were checked for war crimes. The overwhelming majority of those who fell into these camps were tested successfully and returned to peaceful life. Although even from the identified obvious traitors of the Motherland a minority was arrested. For example, in the Shakhty camp from 1 January to 1 in August 1945: 93 elders passed the test - 86 (92,5%) safely, that is, they were not arrested; police 466, safely - 430 (92,3%); 7 Vlasov, 5 - safely; 286 legionnaires, 284 - safely (99,3%); 1184 served in the German army and the armies of satellites, safely - 963 (81,3%); Other 293 who served in the punitive, administrative bodies, safely - 282 person (96,2%). As a result, 88% accomplices successfully passed the test. In the next 5 months of work of the Shakhty camp, they gave even more surprising results - 99,1% of traitors successfully passed the test. True, at the place of residence of these inspected traitors are not sent. As it is understandable, the locals could have understandable claims against them. They were sent to work in other regions.
Traitors, who were transferred from the American, British and French occupation zones, checked more strictly. Their position was determined by the Resolution of the State Defense Committee No. 9871 from 18 in August 1945 of the Year, the Council of People's Commissars from 21 in December 1945 of the Year and the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 29 in March 1946. From the filtration camps they were sent to a special 6-summer settlement. This decision was a very humane step, according to the law they were supposed to be shot with the confiscation of property.
In total, 1945 people were arrested for treason and aiding in 50708. That is, the tendency to reduce the arrested continued. The number aimed at the special settlement is unknown, but in March 1949 of the year 112882 was taken into account by the special settler in the Vlasov category, not only servicemen of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) were recorded, but also all Nazi collaborators. 1946 traitors were arrested in 32859, 1948 in 23912, 1949 in 19567, 1950 in 16634, 1951 in 14447, 1952. Most of these people are members of the Nazi gangs in the Baltic States and in Western Ukraine.
Review of 5 of hundreds of 4 of the Russian Security Group (Russian Corps), Belgrade, August 1942.
Wehrmacht General Stefon bypasses the formation of soldiers of the Russian Corps, integrated into the Wehrmacht, 1943 year.
In 1994, in Moscow, the All Saints Church (Leningradsky Prospect, 73) appeared in Moscow with a memorial plaque, finally dedicated to "white".
To be continued
Although in a number of current fragments of the Soviet Union, especially in the Baltic countries and in Ukraine, the Nazi accomplices were turned into “heroes”.
In a series of accusations was the fact that the Cossacks of the 15-th SS corps were extradited to the USSR. Prosecutors did not care about the question that the Cossacks were war criminals who participated in punitive operations on the territory of the USSR and on the territory of Yugoslavia.
It is clear that in the USSR the stories about the “innocent victims of Yalta” - “Vlasovites”, the Cossacks, the policemen, the military personnel of the SS units could not be accepted by the population. Those who saw with their own eyes and personally experienced the Great War were not to be deceived. Traitors from local residents made a significant contribution to the crimes of Nazism.
True, even here, the accusers found an “argument” - they say that real criminals from local residents fled to the West, along with the owners, and innocent people, those who had Germans lodged, gave food and so on, fell under the “millstones” of repression. So, historian B. Sokolov writes: “Tens of millions of our fellow citizens who lived in terrible, inhuman conditions of German oppression for two or three years got out of the fire and into the fire… Many of them, accused of collaboration, went to special settlements and camps ... ".
This information war against our past did not end with the collapse of the USSR, but only intensified. In Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Red Army troops were turned from liberators into invaders. Yes, and in the Russian Federation itself, “de-Stalinization” is in full swing, crimes that he did not commit (such as the Katyn tragedy) are recorded on the USSR, feats are turned into crimes, the necessary social protection measures are turned into “the horrors of the bloody Stalinist regime”.
Meeting of the veterans of the UPA and the SS "Galicia" on the occasion of the anniversary of the creation of the UPA. (Berezhany, 2006).
Basic principles of repression against Nazi accomplices
The first document aimed at combating collaborationism was the order issued by the People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (NKVD) No. 001683 of December 12 of the year 1941 issued after the start of the counteroffensive near Moscow. It was called "On the operational-KGB service of areas liberated from the enemy forces." The duties of the NKVD included: establishing (through partisans, agents, whistleblowers) and the arrest of traitors, traitors, those who were in the service of the invaders and contributed to the conduct of anti-Soviet activities, in the prosecution of party members and civil servants. December 16 The directive of the NKVD of the Ukrainian SSR was issued, the tasks of the city and district departments of the NKVD in the liberated territories were: to establish order and normal work of all institutions and organizations; the identification and arrest of all those who worked in the administrative bodies of the Nazis, the identification and arrest of accomplices of the Nazis, who contributed to the atrocities; identifying enemy elements, enemy agents left behind by the Nazis, identifying deserters from the Red Army; to work among those who actively communicated with the Gestapo, the police, German officers.
In order to remove a number of ambiguities (for example, whether women who volunteered to “work” in German brothels) were recorded in the “hostile element”, February 18 of the year 1942 was given detailed instructions from the NKVD where it was written who the security officers should work with. It was necessary to establish and register: 1) members of the intelligence, counterintelligence, administrative, police bodies of the Germans; 2) the owners and tenants of the houses where these bodies were located, lived by their employees, their attendants; 3) enemy agents; 4) members of the “local governments” created by the Germans, the police; 5) traitors who assisted in the conduct of punitive activities; 6) members of counter-revolutionary, nationalist organizations, units; 7) members of the gangs created by the Germans for security, punitive, requisitional purposes, to fight partisans and to commit sabotage in the Soviet rear; 8) the owners of underground radio stations, "caches" left by the Germans; 9) members and candidates for the party and the Komsomol, who have been registered with the Germans; 10) women who married Germans; 11) brothel keepers; 12) all those who served in German institutions and enterprises (excluding those who were forcibly mobilized), those who rendered services to the Germans; 13) those who voluntarily left with the Nazis, their family members.
The following categories were immediately arrested: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11. The rest were registered and monitored, but not arrested.
Documents on the activities of the Chekists in the territories liberated by the Red Army say that there were no mass repressions against the residents! Those who committed the most serious crime were arrested, betrayed the Motherland, and only if the evidence was “iron”. For example: for a month of work of security officers in Mozhaisk and its environs, 258 people were arrested (the population in 1939 was only in Mozhaisk - about 12 thousand people). For the entire 1942 year, the repressive bodies (the courts, the Special Meeting, the special departments of the NKVD) condemned about 160 thousand people, a significant part of them for “criminal activity”.
Lviv citizens beat a Jew. Photo №5 from the book of V.Polischuk Evidence of crimes of the OUN and UPA.
Nude Jewish in a crowd of men. Photo №12 on page 233 of the book by V.Polischuk. Evidence of crimes of the OUN and UPA.
Change of principles
The considered principles of the NKVD’s work cannot be called unfair, but already in 1943, the country's leadership considered them unnecessarily cruel. An understanding of the fact that cooperation with the enemy was often a means of survival for Soviet prisoners of war and civilians matured in the Kremlin. An example of such an attitude was the mass transfer of servicemen of the collaborationist units to the side of the Red Army. The "national" soldiers actively fled from the Germans as soon as the opportunity arose.
In 1943, Soviet troops liberated vast territories of southern Russia. The soldiers of the Red Army saw with their own eyes the traces of massacres, destroyed settlements, and therefore often simply shot Nazi accomplices (which was in Justice, but violated the law). So, commander M. Frolov recalled: “When entering the village, I immediately sent a reconnaissance group to the huts, and they caught all the policemen and the headman. The detainees without long conversations were put to the wall and shot. ” Therefore, the Nazi accomplices tried to hide during the passage of the Red Army and returned to the villages and settlements only after the arrival of the NKVD (!) And went to confess.
This was the right decision for the accomplices, the NKVD did not shoot them, at worst they were arrested, tried and sentenced. For example, as of 18 March 1943, in the Stalingrad, Voronezh, Rostov, Oryol regions, Stavropol, Krasnodar Territories, the Ukrainian SSR, Kalmyk, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetian ASSR, only about 30 thousand people were arrested. Mass is not visible. The NKVD left almost all collaborators at large who were not tainted by major crimes. Part even sent to serve in the Red Army - in the penalty part.
ROA.
UPA.
The change in approach is very well traced in numbers: while on 18 March 1943, about 30 thousand people were arrested, by the end of 1943, only 75 thousand people were arrested, although they had liberated territories with several tens of millions of people.
As a result, this change, which has already actually occurred, was recorded legally. The Kremlin, in view of the forcedness of most people entering the service of the Germans, actually granted them forgiveness. 11 September 1943 was issued a joint directive of the NKVD and the NKGB of the USSR. According to the directive, the officers of the collaborationist formations, those rank and file who participated in punitive actions against the civilian population, defectors from the Red Army, burgomasters, major officials, Gestapo and Abwehr, those elders who collaborated with the German counterintelligence were arrested. All the others were sent to test-filtration camps, where they checked, as well as those released from the environment, released prisoners of war. And according to archival documents and data of modern studies, the overwhelming majority of those who got to the filtration camps passed them safely. Acolytes of the invocatory age were generally exempt from checking, although they were registered.
The Kremlin actually equated ordinary accomplices to the "encircling" and released from captivity. In the 1944 year, the Baltic divisions began to en masse to the Red Army, thanks to a directive from 11 September 1943, they almost all managed to avoid the well-deserved punishment. In 1944, a little more than 100 thousand people were arrested throughout the USSR.
Merkulov Vsevolod Nikolaevich. In the period 1941 — 1943. - First Deputy Commissar of Internal Affairs - Head of the Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB), Commissioner of State Security 1-rank.
Repatriate collaborators
After the victory in Moscow, they faced a new problem - millions of Union citizens were on the territory of the Third Reich. Most were prisoners of war, forcibly removed by the workers, but there was a certain percentage who voluntarily left with the Germans, fearing retribution for working with the enemy. Someone served in the "national legions" SS divisions. Moscow had to decide what to do with them.
According to archival documents, all the collaborators who were in the zone of occupation of the USSR were sent to test-filtration camps, where they were checked for war crimes. The overwhelming majority of those who fell into these camps were tested successfully and returned to peaceful life. Although even from the identified obvious traitors of the Motherland a minority was arrested. For example, in the Shakhty camp from 1 January to 1 in August 1945: 93 elders passed the test - 86 (92,5%) safely, that is, they were not arrested; police 466, safely - 430 (92,3%); 7 Vlasov, 5 - safely; 286 legionnaires, 284 - safely (99,3%); 1184 served in the German army and the armies of satellites, safely - 963 (81,3%); Other 293 who served in the punitive, administrative bodies, safely - 282 person (96,2%). As a result, 88% accomplices successfully passed the test. In the next 5 months of work of the Shakhty camp, they gave even more surprising results - 99,1% of traitors successfully passed the test. True, at the place of residence of these inspected traitors are not sent. As it is understandable, the locals could have understandable claims against them. They were sent to work in other regions.
Traitors, who were transferred from the American, British and French occupation zones, checked more strictly. Their position was determined by the Resolution of the State Defense Committee No. 9871 from 18 in August 1945 of the Year, the Council of People's Commissars from 21 in December 1945 of the Year and the Council of Ministers of the USSR from 29 in March 1946. From the filtration camps they were sent to a special 6-summer settlement. This decision was a very humane step, according to the law they were supposed to be shot with the confiscation of property.
In total, 1945 people were arrested for treason and aiding in 50708. That is, the tendency to reduce the arrested continued. The number aimed at the special settlement is unknown, but in March 1949 of the year 112882 was taken into account by the special settler in the Vlasov category, not only servicemen of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) were recorded, but also all Nazi collaborators. 1946 traitors were arrested in 32859, 1948 in 23912, 1949 in 19567, 1950 in 16634, 1951 in 14447, 1952. Most of these people are members of the Nazi gangs in the Baltic States and in Western Ukraine.
Review of 5 of hundreds of 4 of the Russian Security Group (Russian Corps), Belgrade, August 1942.
Wehrmacht General Stefon bypasses the formation of soldiers of the Russian Corps, integrated into the Wehrmacht, 1943 year.
In 1994, in Moscow, the All Saints Church (Leningradsky Prospect, 73) appeared in Moscow with a memorial plaque, finally dedicated to "white".
To be continued
Information