W cieniu gigantów: pogromy 1941 r. w byłej sowieckiej strefie okupacyjnej : kontekst historyczny, społeczny i kulturowy

ENThe book pertains to the pogroms of 1941 in the former Soviet Union occupation zone in a broad political, historical and cultural context. The last part of this work presents a theoretical framework of the ethnic conflict labeled “pogrom”. This work, of close to five hundred pages, deals with an extensive area of East Central Europe from the Baltic countries, through the Polish eastern border of 1939, up to Northern Bukovina, and Bessarabia. In this vast region, in the summer of 1941, there were numerous pogroms carried out by the local population against the Jews. Therefore, the major part of the work (Part II) addresses these issues. In this section, based on extensive archival documentation - mainly testimonies of the victims but also relating to other material - are presented pogroms in the area. Introductory chapters of this part apply to the initial steps of Operation Barbarossa and the Einsatzgruppen that were allocated for specific tasks in the areas close to the front-line. However, many pogroms took place during the so-called “vacuum of power” after the evacuation of the Red Army yet before the arrival of the German troops. Those pogroms are clear evidence of the rapid degradation of the Jewish population in these areas during the “vacuum of power” when the old political and social structures broke up and when disorder and chaos reigned. After this period, followed by the invasion of German troops and their allies, further massacres took place. Thus, nearly all the bridges between local people and Jews built during hundreds of years were burnt within a few days. In order to properly place the events of 1941 in their historic context, the first part (Part I) of the book presents the situation of Jews during the interwar period in Central and Eastern Europe.Issues such as the political, economic, demographic and the cultural situation are also extensively discussed. One chapter offers a review of selected cases of pogroms since the early twentieth century until 1939. Accordingly, not only pogroms of 1941 are reported, but also other massacres that took place both in wartime and in peacetime. The last chapter in this section presents the period 1939-1941, when as a result of the Ribentropp-Molotov pact and the war in September 1939 the Soviet Union occupied eastern areas of Poland. A similar fate befell other countries of Eastern Europe. The last part of the work (Part III) is a theoretical study on the development of the pogroms, presents a typology of pogroms, discusses factors affecting the development of pogroms, and analyzes phases of the pogrom. Other chapters of the last part deal with the effects of the pogroms and the relationship between the pogroms and the Holocaust. Indeed, this work may contribute to a better understanding of the phenomenon of pogroms in Central and Eastern Europe and may give a new perspective of this occurrence in the context of an ethnic conflict. Theoretical investigation of the pogrom may well become the basis of studies of this phenomenon in a new and interdisciplinary manner.