Kharkov municipal administration documentation, 1941-1944

Kharkov municipal administration documentation, 1941-1944
 
 In the collection there are 13 microfilm reels selected from the Kharkov Region State Archive and handed over to Yad Vashem by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
 
 Most of the documentation consists of statistical reports and lists of the residents of Kharkov registered in the census conducted by the Kharkov municipal administration in December 1941.
 
 The German occupation of the city of Kharkov continued with interruptions from 24 October 1941 to 23 August 1943. From the beginning of the occupation until 09 February 1942, Stadtkommandatur (military authority) under the command of General Erwin Vierow was imposed on the city. The main task of the Stadtkommandatur of Kharkov, according to orders from Headquarters was to solve military problems related to the city. The Stadtkommandatur issued orders and directives to the local Ukrainian administration and supervised the way they were carried out. Headquarters Command 55 served as commander of the city until 03 December 1941, when the fighting was still taking place near the city. However, with the distancing of the front from the city, the responsibility was transferred to the staff of the commander of the periphery, General von Puttkammer.
 
 A new stage in the development of the military administration in Kharkov began 09 February 1942 when Feldkommandatur 787 began to govern the city. In due course, appropriate manpower was recruited and the authority was handed over to the Standortkommandatur as part of the military regime. Due to the special importance of Kharkov, the city was handed over directly to the commander of Military Group "B". The Ordnungspolizei (Orpo-Order Police) also was active in Kharkov. The new authorities drafted Schutzmannschaft (collaborationist auxiliary police battalions of local policemen) to the Order Police, as well as policemen from the local population. Together with the regular police in the city, the Hilfspolizei (the auxiliary police) were also active under the command of the army. Its job was to guard POWs and supervise the flow of traffic. Konyk, a resident of western Ukraine and a member of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) was appointed as commander of the Hilfspolizei. Many police commanders were appointed from among the nationalist Ukrainians from western UIkraine, and regular policemen were recruited from among the POWs, Red Army soldiers and the local Ukrainian young people.
 
 Already in the early days of the occupation, the authorities had begun public executions by hanging of anyone suspected of resistance to the authorities. The Jews were included among the hostages who were executed for any infraction of an order issued by the Germans. In the middle of November 1941, members of the underground blew up five buildings housing various German headquarters and institutions. In retaliation the Germans murdered approximately 1,000 hostages, most of them Jews.
 Based on the census conducted by the municipal administration in December 1941, special yellow lists were prepared, including 10,271 Jews, 75% of whom were the elderly, women and young children.
 Limited food rations were allotted to the population, 40% of which were allotted to the Jews. On 03 November the municipal authority ordered the Jews to select a Judenrat, and Dr. Gurvich, a medical professor, was placed at its head. On 22 November the Ukrainian local authorities forbade the Jews from working in public institutions, ordered them to wear a special armband and concentrated them in one quarter. The Ukrainian authorities also drew the attention of the Germans to the fact that the residents wished to take steps against the Jews. At the same time Sonderkommando 4a under the command of Paul Blobel arrived in the city. In coordination with the municipality it was decided to concentrate the Jews in workers' barracks belonging to the tractor factory. On 14 December 1941 the Jews were commanded to move there within two days. The policemen who supervised the transfer of the Jews to the barracks abused them and looted their property and food. During the transfer the Jews had to sleep outside; many of them froze to death and 305 Jews were murdered.
 
 The ghetto was comprised of 26 barracks without windows or doors, without running water or sewage and without heat. The ghetto was surrounded by barbed wire; there were guards placed around it, and no one was allowed out. Anyone disobeying this order could expect to be punished by death. No food was given, and it was forbidden to buy food. Only women were allowed to draw water from the well for only one hour in the afternoon, and many Jews were forced to drink melted snow. Many Jews were crowded into each of the barracks, and they were forbidden to remove the bodies of the many people who died from starvation and disease. At the same time, the robbery of the Jews continued: they were expected to provide the policemen with warm clothing and even money with which to buy liquor for Christmas.
 On 24 December 1941 the Germans killed 200 emotionally disturbed Jews. On 26 December 1941 registration of Jews who were willing to be sent for forced labor was conducted. The next day, trucks arrived at the ghetto, and the approximately 500 "volunteers" were loaded into them and transported out of the city where they were murdered. By the end of December 1941, an additional 500 Jews had been murdered.
 The ghetto was liquidated between 02 and 08 January 1942. The Jews were marched to Drobitskiy Yar; only the sick and the handicapped were taken there by truck. All the Jews were murdered by the Schupo and buried in two large ditches.
 By the end of 1942, 64 Jews who had been in hiding were caught and murdered in Kharkov.
 
 In 1943 the Red Army attempted to occupy Kharkov twice during the offensives, and on 23 August 1943 the city was finally liberated by the Soviets.
 
 Bibliography
 
 1. Internet website, "Еврейские корни", an article by Yulia Prokop: "Oккупация Харькова";
 
 2. Wikipedia entry: "Немецкая оккупация Харькова" http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%86%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%BA%D1%83%D0%BF%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D1%8F_%D0%A5%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0;
 Дробицкий Яр-http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%91%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%A7%D7%99_%D7%99%D7%90%D7%A8
 
 3. Information Center "Regarding the Holocaust", Yad Vashem, the International School for Holocaust Studies" "Kharkov".