Ukrainian Nationalists and the Holocaust by John-Paul Himka

Author:John-Paul Himka [John-Paul, Himka,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ibidem
Published: 2021-03-19T16:00:00+00:00

Rafalivka, Volodymyrets, Olyka, Kremenets, and Vyshnivets

Between Lutsk and Rivne are four localities in which OUN perpetrated anti-Jewish violence. On the map, they form a fairly straight line running north-south. They are, from north to south: Rafalivka; Volodymyrets (P Włodzimierzec) in Rivne oblast; Olyka (P Ołyka) in Volhynia oblast; Kremenets (P Krzemieniec), now in Ternopil oblast; and Vyshnivets.

There were few fatalities in Rafalivka, but Jews were beaten and robbed. The Soviets began to withdraw from the town on 4 July, but the Germans, units of the Sixth Army, did not occupy it until mid-July. In the meantime, a Ukrainian administration and its militia took charge.301 We have already seen that in July Banderites came up here from Galicia and organized a militia to help the Germans against Bolsheviks, Poles, and Jews.302 The robbery of Jews by the Ukrainian nationalist militia is mentioned in the Soviet investigation of Oleksandr Sydorchuk, who deserted from the Red Army and joined the militia in Rafalivka in July 1941. Sydorchuk told his interrogator on 3 September 1948: “Yes, I am aware that Ukrainian nationalist bandits at that time robbed citizens of the Jewish nationality in the village of Stara Rafalivka. I did not take part in the robbery. This was in July 1941.”303

The memoirs of Rafalivka Jews in the town’s yizkor book depict the painful trauma they underwent during the Ukrainian nationalist interregnum. Fanya Bas recalled that after the Soviets left and before the Germans arrived, Ukrainians began robbing the Jewish population. “There were Ukrainians who hit Jews and tore babies out of their mothers’ arms and threw them around. We waited for the Germans to come, thinking we would be better off, that there would be some order.”304 Leah Tziger recalled that “riots broke out when the Russians withdrew” from Rafalivka. “Murderers” broke into Jewish homes at night and stole and looted. She specifically recalled the Panasiuk brothers, one of whom we have met earlier, when he joined the militia.305 They broke into some homes and killed a Jewish couple as well as a Jewish man. They also came for her uncle, but he ran away. They chased him but were unsuccessful in their pursuit. “It was a long difficult night. We sat in the dark in utter terror the entire night.”306 Another survivor, Meir Goldverin, wrote:

During the interim, when the Russians left Rafalovka and the Germans had not yet arrived, the Ukrainians took the power in their hands. They started to rob the Jews of Rafalovka, took whatever came to their hands and slowly began to carry out a pogrom....A large mob of Ukrainians came to a Jew’s house to steal. There was no passage to the house due to the large number of Ukrainians who crowded there. An oil lamp stood on the windowsill. The thug smashed the window panes from the outside and took the lamp. A Jew approached him and asked: “Mikita, what are you doing, are not you ashamed of your actions?” The Ukrainian replied—“Shut up dirty Jew.”307

The pharmacist Yaakov Bas wrote a longer account.

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