CentralEuropeanHistory43 (2010),85-116. © ConferenceGroupforCentralEuropeanHistoryoftheAmerican HistoricalAssociation doi:10.1017/S0008938909991348 Po...
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CentralEuropeanHistory43 (2010),85-116. © Conference GroupforCentralEuropeanHistoryoftheAmerican Historical Association doi:10.1017/S0008938909991348
in the PolicingtheBoundariesof"Germandom" East:SS EthnicGermanPolicyand Odessa's 1941-1944 'Volksdeutsche," EricC. Steinhart
the morningof October 21, 1941, the custodianof Odessa's Museumof WesternCivilizationsummonedtwenty-three-year-old motherto lead an unusual andhermiddle-aged EugenieAnissimofP weeks tourgroup.Havingfledthebesiegedmetropolis and mostdemanding earlierto theirformerresidencein suburbanOdessa, the two women had in therecently returned to theirbombed-outapartment occupiedcity.Homean old family less,the pairhad soughtrefugewiththe museum'scaretaker, officers ofSS and Wehrmacht withthedelegation friend. Unableto communicate theRussian-speaking who queued foradmission, janitorhoped thatthetwo womenwouldhelpto disarmthemenacingvisitors Volksdeutsche by granting to inspectthe building tour.Althoughostensibly thema German-language forboobytraps,thevisit'struepurposebecameclearas the Germansbegan rugs,and even a goldensaddleintotheirvehicles.At the loadingpaintings, the group'sleader,SS-Obersturmführer conclusionof the tour-cum-robbery, theirexcellent Dr. KlausSiebert,thankedthetwowomenand complimented and her SiebertadvisedAnissimoff German.1Hearingof theirdiresituation, or forsupportat thelocal SS-runVolksdeutsche motherto register Mittelstelle, EthnicGermanLiaisonOffice(hereafter VoMi), bureauin a formermusic Street.2 on Novovlaskaia conservatory thoseoftheUnited inthisarticlearethoseoftheauthorandarenotnecessarily Allviewsexpressed StatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum. in thepublicdomainare withGermanprivacy *Inaccordance law,allpersonalnamesnotalready Dr. MartinDean, R. Browning, I thankDr. PeterBlack,Professor Christopher givenanonymously. fortheirinvaluforCentral Dr. WendyLower,andtheanonymous History European peerreviewers MaterialClaimsagainst ofJewish I amgrateful totheConference on themanuscript. ablecomments the the GermanAcademicExchangeService,the HolocaustEducationalFoundation, Germany, andtheUniUnitedStatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum'sCenterforAdvancedHolocaustStudies, ofHistoryfortheirgeneroussupport. ofNorthCarolinaat ChapelHill'sDepartment versity andRecordsAdministration UnitedStatesNationalArchives AkteKlausSiebert," 1"SS Offizier (hereafter NARA), RecordGroup(hereafter RG) 242, A3343 SSO-135B, 483-551. derFreienundHansestadt vonE.S.,"November12,1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg(here2"Aussage NSG 0589-003, Band5, 725. after Staatsarchiv Landgericht Hamburg), 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft
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the The followingevening,October 22, a Soviettimebomb destroyed in former KomissarRomanianmilitary's Odessa's Narodnyi generalheadquarters Del (NKVD), or Peoples' Commissariat forInternalAffairs, iat Vnutrennikh Romanian forcesunleashedan orgy of violence building.In retaliation, the bytherecenteventsfromventuring against city's Jews.Likelydiscouraged Anissimoff to the office threedayslater.Upon enterVoMi outdoors, proceeded the former music school's Anissimoff casketof foyer, passedtheflag-draped ing of Güldner a theunit'sformer commander, SS-UntersturmführerWalter casualty - whosebodywaslyinginstate.3 After her therecentexplosion paying respects, office.Taking Anissimoff registration proceededto the unit'sVolksdeutsche Siebert's adviceto downplaythefactthatherRussianfather, NikolausAnissihad been a tsarist she usedhermother's maidennameand moff, armyofficer, Beck. As she would do until Beck omitted reference as 1945, registeredEugenie to hertwo-year to a the scientist late 1930s. marriage Jewish during Captivated educated,youngwoman'spolyglotskills,theVoMi's"Volksbytheattractive, deutsche SS-Oberscharführer Erich-Meinert classifier," Claasen,issuedhera Volksidentification and or ethnic German card, hiredheras hisassistant. tumsausweis, Beck's the next four During years responsibilities expandedfromclassifying fortheSS to workingforthe Odessa'sdenizensand servingas an interpreter - and even participating in counterinsurgency VoMi's propagandaapparatus deployments. in Odessa to identify This articlereconstructs local ethnic VoMi efforts such as and to marshal them for future German territorial Beck, Germans, in The article's aims two-fold. it are First, recovers expansion theSovietUnion. theVoMi'sattempts to mobilizelocalVolksdeutsche as a demographic counter- a projectthat Romaniandesignsin southernUkraine claimto long-term it has receivedlittlepreviousscholarly attention. Second,and morecentrally, usesfragmentary wartimeGermandocumentation and therecordsofcriminal in the FederalRepublicof Germanyto probehow the Third investigations to layeritsdemographic Reich struggled plansovertheSovietUnion'smultibetween ethnicrealityat thelocal level.This articlearguesthatthe friction the VoMi's racial fantasiesand Odessa's ethnicmultiplicity moved local Germanofficials to murdereven when doingso felloutsidetheirbailiwick
i Suchasnist': v "50 000 Judenaus Odessa.Tatsachenbericht von WalterVahldieck," Holokost studii' Ukraïni i sviti2, no. 4 (2008): 110. 3"RuSHA AkteWalterGüldner," NARA, RG 242, A3343 RS B5393,2426-2652. AkteErich-Meinert 4"SS Offizier Claasen,"NARA, RG 242,A3343 SSO-129, 11-15. Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 725. "Einbürgerungsantrag EugenieBeck,"NARA, RG Landgericht 242,A3342EWZ50 A037,2110-2132.
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and superiors'ordersdiscouragedthem. Chargedby theirsuperiorswith fromone of theSovietUnion'smost "culling"racially"pure"Volksdeutsche - VoMi officers a that local wouldhamstring cities task reality cosmopolitan ifcounterproductive mechanisms toidentify Odessa'sethnically usedinnovative, classiGermandenizens.Unabletoguardaccessto theVolksgemeinschaft through in local SS officials Odessa emulated their fication, colleagues'genocidalcamin a miniature deathsquadto the countryside bydeploying surrounding paign with theirown Armed catchand murdersuspectedVolksdeutsche imposters. terrorapparatus, Odessa'sVoMi officials their over Volksexploited purview deutschematters to contesttheformalcontroloftheirRomanianallies. ithighcontributions. Thisarticleoffers threeprimary First, historiographical of the understudied dimension to the Soviet a occupation lights previously which to theReichskommissariat on both German Union.6In contrast Ukraine, wartime Odessaandespecially andUkrainian haverecently specialists published, Alexander Dallin'shalf-century-old theVoMi'srolethereremainunderstudied. - stillthe standard workon occupiedOdessaRAND Corporationreport to over the VoMi which unit, city's appearedperipheral consciously glossed in a has focused on the Holocaust Transnistria him.8Recent scholarship in which VoMi office Odessa's Romanian-German played genocidalproject on the area'sRomanianoccupiers. onlya marginalrole- and concentrated suchas Alexander Dallinand in thelate1950sand early1960s,pioneering scholars 6Beginning GeraldReitlingerchartedthe generalcontoursof Germanoccupationpolicyin the Soviet 2nd Rulein Russia,1941-1945: A StudyofOccupation Union.AlexanderDallin,German Policies, TheHouseBuiltonSand:TheConflicts ed. (Boulder,CO: Westview Press,1981).GeraldReitlinger, that inRussia(New York:The VikingPress,1960).Whiletheoverarching narrative Policy ofGerman on the German Dallin and Reitlinger ago remainsviable,recentresearch penneda half-century theThirdReich'sUtopianplansfor occupationoftheSovietUnionhasnuancedandsystematized See, for example,WendyLower'sresearchon Zhytomyr. Wendy occupied Soviet territory. Nazi CivilianRulersandtheHolocaust Lower,'"On HimReststheWeightoftheAdministration': in TheShoahin Ukraine: ed. Ray Brandonand in Zhytomyr," Memorialization, History, Testimony, IN: IndianaUniversity Press,2008), 224-247. WendyLower, WendyLower (Bloomington, Obedience' and the Nazi Implementation of the Holocaustin the Ukraine:A '"Anticipatory ForcesintheGeneralbezirk Case StudyofCentralandPeripheral 1941-1944,"Holocaust Zhytomyr, 16 (2002): 1-22. Genocide Studies 7KarelC. Berkhoff andWendyLowerhaverecently publishedon UkraineunderGermanrule. MA: under Nazi Rule(Cambridge, KarelC. Berkhoff, Harvest ofDespair:LifeandDeathin Ukraine andtheHolocaust in Ukraine HarvardUniversity Press,2004). WendyLower,Nazi EmpireBuilding ofNorthCarolinaPress,2005). (ChapelHill,NC: University Under Alexander Rule,2nded. Dallin,Odessa,1941- 1944:A CaseStudy ofSovietTerritory Foreign Völkls morerecentexamination ofOdessa (Ia§i:CenterforRomanianStudies,1998),278.Ekkehard on otheraspects oftheoccupation. underRomanianrulenotestheVoMi'sroleinthecitybutfocuses Michael und Odessa (1941-1944) (Regensburg:Buchdruckerei EkkehardVölkl, Transnistrien Laßleben),1996. trans. KarenGold,3 1941- 1942: TheRomanian MassMurder Campaigns, JeanAncel,Transnistria, vols.(Tel-Aviv:The Goldstein-Goren DiasporaResearchCenter,2003).Radu Ioanid,TheHolocaust Under theAntonescu 1940-44 (Chicago:Ivan inRomania:TheDestruction ofJewsandGypsies Regime, R. Dee, 2000).
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documensurviving Owing to theirdependenceon theVoMi'sfragmentary tationin Germanand NorthAmericanarchives,specializedstudiesmerely inRomanian-occupied touchon theVoMi'sactivities Sovietterritory andoverlook itsplansforthefuture.10 central to SS Although long-term designson the and a hurdle to between Transnistria's region cooperation occupyingpowers, theVoMi'sviolentand ultimately failedplanto nazifyOdessa'sVolksdeutsche remains a scholarly lacuna. fromrecentresearch on Nazi "Volksdeutsche" Second,drawingon insights in east central this article on policy Europe, updatesexistingscholarship SovietethnicGermansby exploringthepracticeof Nazi ethnicclassification in theSovietUnion.Duringtheearly1980s,MeierBuchsweiler andIngeborg Fleischhauer detailed on Soviet ethnic Germans under published monographs Communistand NationalSocialistrule.11Largelyunaidedby the recordsof thathavesincebecomeavailpostwarGermanandSovietpoliceinvestigations Buchsweiler and Fleischhauers remarkable studiesrecoveredwartime able, GermanpolicytowardSovietVolksdeutsche and underscored the suspicion withwhichGermanofficials treatedareaethnicGermans.More recentstudy ofNazi Volksdeutsche Buchspolicy,particularly byDorisBergen,systematizes weilerand Fleischhauers earlierobservations the tenuousness of by analyzing "Volksdeutsche" as an ethnicclassification for the Third Reich.12 category focusedon Poland,BergenarguesthatGermanofficials populated Empirically the ambiguouscategorybased on theirown predispositions and the Nazi
Blut." Das Rasse-undSiedlungshauptamt 10Isabel Deutsches derSS und Heinemann,"Rasse,Siedlung, dieRassenpolitische Moderne Zeit Wallstein, 2003),420-21. Valdis Neuordnung Europas, (Göttingen: O. Lumans,Himmlers Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle andtheGerman National Minorities of of North CarolinaPress,1993), 244-49. Europe,1933-1945 (Chapel Hill, NC: University undMassenmord. 1941-1942,vol. 1,292-338. AndrejAngrick, Ancel,Transnistria, Besatzungspolitik D indersüdlichen Die Einsatzgruppe 1941- 1943 (Hamburg:Hamburger Edition,2003), Sowjetunion
254-294.
- ein nMeirBuchsweiler, Volksdeutsche inderUkraine amVorabend undBeginn desZweiten Weltkriegs Fall doppelter trans. Ruth Achlama Schriftenreihe des Instituts für Deutsche (Tel-Aviv: Loyalität?, Universität Das Dritte ReichunddieDeutschen Geschichte, Tel-Aviv, 1984). IngeborgFleischhauer, in derSowjetunion, der Vierteljahrshefte Schriftenreihe fürZeitgeschichte Deutsche (Stuttgart: Anstalt, 1983). VerlagsDorisL. Bergen,"The Nazi Conceptof'Volksdeutsche' andtheExacerbation ofAnti-Semitism in EasternEurope,1939-45,"Journal 29, no. 4 (1994): 569-582. Doris ofContemporary History L. Bergen,"The 'Volksdeutschen' ofEastern Europe,WorldWarII, andtheHolocaust:Constructed Real Genocide,"Germany andEastern Identities and Cultural Ethnicity, Europe:Cultural Differences; Yearbook Studies13 (1999): 70-93. Doris L. Bergen,"The Volksdeutsche of Eastern ofEuropean EuropeandtheCollapseoftheNazi Empire,1944-1945,"in TheImpact ofNazism:NewPerspectives on theThirdReichandItsLegacy, ed. Doris L. Bergen,AlanE. Steinweis, and Daniel E. Rogers of NebraskaPress,2003), 101-128. Doris L. Bergen,"The Volks(Lincoln,NE: University deutschenin GermanPropaganda," GermanStudiesReview31, no. 3 (2008): 447-470. Chad s recentstudyof PragueunderNazi ruleyieldssimilarfindings. Chad Carl Bryant, Bryant Prague inBlack:Nazi RuleandCzechNationalism MA: HarvardUniversity Press,2007). (Cambridge,
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needto findthedemographic foundation foritsplannedconquests.13 regime's these to a of Odessa's VoMi thisarticleprobes office, Applying insights study how the SS "made" and "unmade"ethnicGermansin one of the Soviet Union'smostcosmopolitan urbancenters. to growingscholarship this article contributes on theinvolvement of Lastly, in theHolocaust,an areathathasreceivedcomparatively SovietVolksdeutsche In additionto Buchsweiler littlehistorical research. and Fleischhauer's seminal in which address Soviet ethnic German the Holocaust, studies, participation morerecentresearch suchas AndrejAngrick,MartinDean, and by scholars, theroleofindividual ethnicGermansorVolksdeutsche WendyLower,recovers and ethnicGermanwomen, units.14 on area Volksdeutsche, especially Focusing in Odessa,thisarticleprobeshow localVolksdeutsche whomtheSS employed in and periodicallysteeredthe machineryof destruction in participated one locale. *
*
*
inUkraine"themostradicalcolonization LowerhasdubbedGermanambitions The of Europeanconquestand empirebuilding."15 campaignin the history ThirdReich's appetitewas not limitedto German-occupied Ukraine,but - territory hisRomanian extendedintoTransnistria AdolfHitlerhadpromised thatdesignated the allies.16 theAugust12, 1941,agreement Notwithstanding and the a between the Dniester Romanian zone, Bug occupation region to mobilizetheregion's130,000VolksGermanauthorities beganpreparing deutscheas part of a competitive populationpolicy to securelong-term there. Even as Germannegotiators werehashingout the Germaninfluence the had a unit at itsStahnsdorf SS VoMi details, training treaty's begunequipping who deviated notesthat"Nazi officials provedwillingbothto unmakeVolksdeutschen 13Bergen fromprescribed behaviors and to createnew membersof thegroupas neededforcannonfodder ofEasternEuropeand theCollapseof theNazi or otherpurposes." Bergen,"The Volksdeutsche Empire,"104. undMassenmord, 254-294. MartinDean, "SovietEthnicGermans Angrick,Besatzungspolitik ed. and theHolocaustin theReich Commissariat Ukraine,1941-1944,"in TheShoahin Ukraine, BrandonandLower,248-271. WendyLower,"Hitler's'GardenofEden' in Ukraine:Nazi Coloand theHolocaust,1941-44,"in GrayZones:Ambiguity andCompromise in nialism, Volksdeutsche, ed.Jonathan andJohnK. Roth (New York:Berghahn theHolocaust andItsAftermath, Petropoulos Books,2005), 185-204. "'On Him ReststheWeightoftheAdministration,'" 225. 15Lower, 16On Transnistria, see Dallin, Odessa,Î941-1944; Dennis Deletant,"GhettoExperiencein andGenocide Studies 18,no. 1 (2004):1-26; DennisDeleGolta,Transnistria, 1942-1944,"Holocaust and theRomanianSolutionto the'Jewish tant,"Transnistria Problem,'"in TheShoahin Ukraine, undOdessa. ed. BrandonandLower,156-189; andVölkl,Transnistrien AkteMartinAssmann," 17"SSOffizier NARA, RG 242,A3343SSO-019, 21932-50. "Protokol NordrheinWestfalen Staatsarchiv Münster(hereafter doprosa/ M.A.,"June7, 1945,Landesarchiv Nr.2902,30. MartinBroszat,"Das DritteReich unddie rumänische Staatsarchiv Münster), Judenin Gutachten desInstituts fürZeitgeschichte, (Munich:Institut 1958),161. politik," fürZeitgeschichte
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nearBerlin.18 Pursuant to HeinrichHimmler 'sJuly11, 1941,orderthat facility createdthe VoMi's Amt VII, the so-calledSonderkommando R (or Special CommandRussia)was to takechargeof theSovietUnion'sVolksdeutsche in boththeGermanandRomanianoccupationzones.19 R was a departure fromtheVoMi'srecentinstitutional Sonderkommando Prior to the VoMi had relocatedVolksBarbarossa, experience. Operation deutschefromtheBaltic,Volhyniaand Galicia,and Bessarabiaand northern Bukovina.By contrast, HimmlerchargedSonderkommando R withsuccoring in theoccupiedSovietUnion localVolksdeutsche to ensurethattheyremained - to Sovietteras a demographic claim- andin Transnistria as a counterclaim Himmler subordinated Sonderkommando R not to the Second, ritory.20 VoMi's nominallyindependenthierarchy, but directlyto his own SS and Whereasin theReichskommissariat UkraineSonderkompoliceapparatus.21 mandoR reportedto HigherSS and Police LeaderHans-AdolfPriitzmann, in Transnistria the absenceof an SS hierarchy leftSonderkommando R to to it his colonization reportdirectly Himmler, making personal enterprise. theGermanlegationinBucharest informed theRomaniangovernAlthough mentthatitwouldbe sendinga smallSS detachment to aidlocalVolksdeutsche the were neither SS's modest nor WhenSondertemporarily, plans ephemeral.23 kommando R departed suburban Berlinin September 1941forthemulti-week trekto Ukraine,itsinitialconvoyencompassed morethanone hundred carsand trucks.Outfitted withfieldkitchens, radio mobile transmitters, police-band 18"Protokol Nr. 2902,39. doprosa/ M.A.,"Tune7, 1945,Staatsarchiv Münster, 19"SSOffizier AkteWalter Vahldieck," NARA, RG 242,A3343SSO-202B,1900-1971."50 000 vonWalter Holokost i Suchasnist': studii v Ukratni i sviti Vahldieck," JudenausOdessa.Tatsachenbericht 2, no. 4 (2008): 110. zu"Protokol Nr. 2902,55-56. Münster, doprosa/ M.A.,"June7, 1945,Staatsarchiv 2 VoMichiefWernerLorenzasserted to theWestGermanpolice Shortlybeforehisdeath,former thatHimmlerhad removedHoffmeyer fromhischainof commandbeforeSonderkommando Rs totheoccupiedSovietUnion."Vernehmung vonWerner Lorenz," deployment April16,1973,StaatsarchivMünster, Nr. 2787, 102. Althoughtechnically to distancehimself correct,Lorenz'seffort fromSonderkommando R distorted his intimate involvement in the unitduringitsdeployment to the SovietUnion. As the recordsof wartimeBritishsignalsintelligence indicate,Hofftneyer reportedto Lorenzboth in Berlinand in Ukraineon a varietyof issuesrangingfromethnic Germanschoolconstruction to SS personnel "GermanPoliceDecodes: No. 2 Traffic: shortages. Addendato G.P.D. 891 (20.6.42),"August13, 1942,BritishNationalArchives[BNA], HW 16, Piece 46, 1. "GermanPoliceDecodes Nr. 2 Traffic: 10.10.42,"October15, 1942,BNA, HW 16, Piece 36, 1. "GermanPoliceActivities in theSovietUnion,Summary CoveringthePeriodof 1 7, 1942,BNA, HW 16, Piece 6, 9. In April1944,Lorenz August-31st August1942,"September chastised forfailing to keephimabreastoftheSS's hecticevacuationofVolksdeutsche Hoffineyer fromTransnistria. "GermanPoliceDecodes No. 1 Traffic: 18.4.44,"April26, 1944,BNA, HW 16,Piece 40, 3. 22"DerSS-RichterbeimReichsfuhrer-SS undChefderDeutschenPolizeiFeldkommandostelle an denHöhernSS- undPolizeifuhrer Rußland-SüdSS-Obergruppenführer u. GeneralderPolizei Prützmann," August12, 1942,BAL, B 162/2292,134. "Protokoldoprosa/ M.A.," October24, Nr. 2902,95. 1944,Staatsarchiv Münster, 23
1941- Î 942, vol. 1, 300. Ancel, Transnistria,
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offices,medical equipment,and portablerepairshops,the yellow-brown caravanformedan infrastructure to cultivate Germandom's seeds camouflaged in theoccupiedSovietUnion.24 via Lodz, Sonderkommando R reachedKiev in mid-September, Traveling for the Ukraineand nominal its Reichskommissariat establishing headquarters R's Transnistria overallcommandpost for the region.Sonderkommando Dr. from the main and under SS-Obersturmfuhrer detachment unit, separated for Romanian-occupiedterritory.25 Klaus Siebert,departedvia Zhytomyr or Landau,a German-speaking villageroughly Arrivingin Shyrokolanivka, northwest of kilometers Nikolaev,Siebertand his eightysubordinates fifty establishedSonderkommandoR's Transnistrian headquarterslater that fanned out to eighteen month.26 After a briefrefitting, Siebert's staff preassigned in s 230 or areacommands, Odessaand amongTransnistria Bereichkommandos, withRomanianauthorwhichsubsequent villages, agreements Germanophone theSS to governwithalmostcompleteindependence. itiespermitted XXV- the thatSiebertassignedto Odessa'sBereichkommando The staff Sonderkommando R's largestand mostelaborateof his subunits mirrored headAfterthebombingoftheRomanianmilitary hodgepodgecomposition. mentioned above,ErnstGüldnerwasreplacedbySS-Untersturmfuhrer quarters NationalSocialistandan experienced Goerbig,botha longtime Hans-Joachim A memberoftheNSDAP since1929andoftheSS since1938, VoMi officer.28 to theVoMi at thebeginningof thewar. lenthimtemporarily his superiors in 1940, overthe nexttwo years Exceptfora briefstintin theWehrmacht in all of theVoMi'smajor"resettlement" campaignsto Goerbigparticipated Poland. fromeasternEurope to German-occupied relocateVolksdeutsche in him fromhis dutiesregistering Volksdeutsche When the SS reassigned to thenewlyestablished Sonderkommando Poland'sGeneralGovernment R, thethirty-year-old amongtheVoMi'sveterans.29 Goerbignumbered 24 Berlin(hereafter Nr.5,"October13,1941,Bundesarchiv BB), R59/66,148, "Rundanweisung undGebrauchvonSchußwaffen," March "EinheitFeldpostNr. 10528/ Betr.:Munitionsverbrauch Nr. 14 / Betr.:FeierdesTagesdernationalen Erhe14, 1942,BB, R59/66,111. "Rundanweisung 20, 1942,BB, R59/66, 125. bung,"January ^"Protokol doprosa/ M.A.,"June7, 1945, Staatsarchiv Münster,Nr. 2902, 31. "Protokol Münster,Nr. 2902, 112. "Aussagevon H.G.," doprosa/ M.A.," June7, 1945, Staatsarchiv 1, 1962,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12NSG 0589-001, Band2, 91. August 26 "AussagevonE.C.," August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,171. "Copie de pe adresaNr. 67148 Dir politicacatreM.St.M.,"September din11 Sept.1941a Ministerului Afacerilor Sträine 11, 1941, USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 2, Fond2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1081,13. v i Suchasnist': studii vonWalter Holokost 50 000JudenausOdessa.Tatsachenbericht Vahldieck," i sviti2, no. 4 (2008): 110. Ukraïni 28"German Polke Decodes Nr. 2 Traffic: 26.1.43,"February 2, 1943,BNA, HW 16, Piece 37, Part1, 2. ^ "SS Offizier AkteHans-Joachim Goerbig,"NARA, RG 242, A3343 SSO-019A, 64-65. "RuSHA AkteHans-Joachim Goerbig,"NARA, RG 242, A3343 RS B5213, 930-50. "Aussage
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For Goerbig's deputy in Odessa, SS-Unterscharführer Erich-Meinert to a lackluster R provideda jumpstart Claasen,servicewithSonderkommando A career. convinced Nazi who conceded his to the military politicalloyalties WestGermanpoliceeveninthe1960s,ClaasenhadjoinedtheSS DivisionLeibin theinvasionofPolandin Standarte AdolfHitlerin 1934.30Afterparticipating careerended in 1940, when he was woundedin 1939, Claasen'sbattlefield to a dead-endpostingin one oftheSS Germania Arras,France,andtransferred Division'sreservebattalions. Followingfriends'advicethatservicewiththe therein October Claasentransferred VoMi couldbe a ticketto a commission, 1940 and took partin the populationtransfers of ethnicGermansfromthe as one ofhisVolksandBukovina.A "real'Siegfried' Baltic,Bessarabia, -guy,"31 Claasen deutschesubordinates laterdescribedhim,the twenty-five-year-old in east would fast-track his that service the SS career.32 hoped In contrastto theirsuperiors,Bereichkommando XXV's rank-and-file memberswere on averageboth older and less ideologicallycommittedto HerbertKirschstein, NationalSocialism.For example,thirty-seven-year-old who had floatedthroughvariousfood serviceand hoteljobs duringthe himto avoidmilitary WeimarRepublic,joined theVoMi becauseitpermitted nearBerlin'sTiergarten in September service.While managinga restaurant Kirschstein bemoaned a Wehrmacht draft notice to one of his 1941, possible of his a member the VoMi. On patron'srecommendation, regularcustomers, Kirschstein volunteeredfor what he laterdescribedas "the lesserevil." Starvedforpersonnel,the VoMi overlookedthe factthatKirschstein was neithera Nazi Partynor an SS memberand had no experiencewithVolksdeutschematters.34 as WithinweekstheVoMi deployedhim to Transnistria an SS-Unterscharfuhrer.35 AlthoughKirschstein's colleagueslater groused
von H.J.G.,"August1, 1962,Staatsarchiv NSG Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 0589-001, Band2, 102. 30" AussagevonE.M.C.," August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,173. Aussagevon E.E," December15, 1966, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-004, Band 8, 1361. Landgericht thata VoMi careerafforded. Claasencorrectly Along judged the advancement opportunities withotherSS NCOs, Claasen receiveda commissionas an Untersturmführer in early1943. in Bad TÖlz."'Betr.:Ernennung FromAprilto August1944,he trainedat theSS Junkerschule der desRußland-Kommandos desHauptamtes Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle zu Fachfuhrern Angehörigen in SS Offizier AkteFritzDankert," derWaffen-SS' NARA, RG 242, A3343 SSO-135, 1018. "SS AkteErich-Meinert Offizier Claasen,"NARA, RG 242, A3343 SSO-129, 11-13. "Aussagevon E.M.C. ," August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,171. Verantwortliche von E.A.H.K.,"June4, 1962,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Vernehmung Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-001, Band 1, 120. Landgericht 1942VoMi headSonderkommando R's personnel limitations wereso severethatin February in Berlinwarnedthattherewereno availablepersonnel to deployto Ukraine."German quarters PoliceDecodes: 25.2.42,"February 28, 1942,BNA, HW 16, Piece 46, 2. 35 28, 1963,BAL, B162/2301,122. "Aussagevon H.K.,"January
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limitededucation,and about his primitivegraspof Volksdeutsche affairs, withina fewmonthshe was spearheading theunit'sdeath "waiter's manners," squad.36 in Odessaimmediately aftertheRomanianArmyin mid-October Arriving Bereichkommando XXV's staff encountered a once-thriving Black Sea 1941, in that had violent the months. The metropolis undergone changes preceding two-month and evacuation a toll on its local Soviet took city's siege population. In addition tothephysical theSovietgovdamagecausedbymilitary operations, andhumancapitalaswellas muchofthecity'sindustrial ernment hadevacuated - a October Odessa's residents itsportinoperable. rendered 1941, By remaining of merehalfoftheprewar faced dire even before population 600,000 prospects a foodshortage. to fragtheharshwinterof1941-1942 precipitated According to the the NKVD executed a mentary postwartestimony, prior quitting city, theprison. to dynamite numberofethnicGermanmenandattempted nottargeted as a potentially hostilegroup,ethnicGermanssuffered Although under Odessa's new Romanian rulers.Atleastinitially theRomaincreasingly In niansinterred all men of military thisincludedVolksage. manyinstances deutschewho enduredweeksin jail. Moreover,Romaniantroopsplundered as wellas thatof everyoneelseduringthefirst weeks Volksdeutsche property witnesses to theRomanianArmy'smurderous camofoccupation.Front-row paignagainsttheJewsbothin OdessaandthesuburbofDalnik,Volksdeutsche An embattled without hadfewillusions abouttheirnewoverlords.38 population welcomedthe SS's muchotherprospects forrelief,Odessa'sVolksdeutsche neededaid. As one ethnicGermanwomanexplaineda generation later,"The to VoMi shielded[us]fromtheRomanians.We weretherefore verygrateful withRussian theGermansand theVoMi in Odessaand happyto be finished rule."39 R a Trojanhorse Sonderkommando brought AidingOdessa'sVolksdeutsche foritsdemographic XXV's project. The planwassimple:Bereichkommando vonE.M.C.," August6, 1962,BAL,B162/2293,176."AussagevonE.S.,"November 36"Aussage NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 12, 1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 738. 37Dallin,Odessa, 1941-1944, 51. "Aussagevon N.R.," November7, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 706. Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht thepostwarGermantestimony offormer Odessians. 38Reference to Romanianviolencelitters See, forexample,"Aussagevon L.W.,"n.d.,BAL, B162/2291,30-31. 39" LandAussagevon F.E.,"August27, 1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band4, 573. in Transnistria to marshal localethnicMoldovolklnotesthatRomanianauthorities attempted vansin Transnistria as theirowndemographic claimto theterritory. undOdessa, Völkl,Transnistrien Romanianefforts tosuccorareaethnicMoldovansandGermanattempts to 67,70. Not surprisingly, betweenthetwopowers.For example,in an effort underpinareaethnicGermansled to conflict to createhomogeneous ethnicGermancommunities, theSS instructed itsVolksdeutsche auxiliaries in BerezovkaRayon. to drivelocalethnicMoldovansfromtheirhomesin thetownofSyewszenko die gegenÜbergriffe und Eigenmächtigkeiten von SS-Männern, "Auszugaus den Beschwerden,
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achievea staff woulderodeRomanianinfluence byhelpinglocalVolksdeutsche cultural institutions to mobilize economicpositionandbydeveloping dominant officers themforNationalSocialism.As one ofitsformer explainedto interroFront's unitin August from the Ukrainian Second counterintelligence gators R was createdto improvethe lives of [ethnic] 1944, "Sonderkommando ofethnicUkrainians ofthemajority Germansat theexpenseoftheoppression andRussians."41 Thiswas,he noted,"thebasisofHitlerian'politics.'"42 forms.First,SonderkomThe VoMi'said programassumedthreeprimary infrastructure forfeedingthe mandoR established an elaborate, independent of a had Volksdeutsche. The bearer Volkstumsausweis easy access to city's Germanrationcards,redeemableat Odessa's two Volksdeutsche grocery The SS apparandoil andflourmills.43 storesaswellas itsbutcher shop,bakery, ethnicGermancollecOdessaso wellfromSS-administered entlyprovisioned workerto makecratesjust tivefarmsthatit was necessary to hirea full-time XXV's staffsmuggledback to for the foodstuffs that Bereichkommando Germany.44 - particularly and food scarcity Givenwartimeinflation duringthe occuwinter the Volksdeutsche first city's desperatelyneeded VoMi pation's stabilized someafter the victuals. The following summer, supplysituation in the Bucharest were still economic advisors at German what, Embassy grumRomanianadministrators that"in Odessathepricesfor blingto Transnistria's groceries... are two to fivetimesas highas in Bucharest."46 Duringwinter wasso severethatTransnistria's seniorWehrmacht commander, 1941,inflation voiced concernsto his Romanianallies LieutenantGeneralvon Rothkirch, withfood on the aboutthe abilityof Germansoldiersto supplythemselves
dem Gouvernement zurKenntnis wurden," gebracht begangenin den GemeindenTransnistriens, n.d.,USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 2, Fond2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1081,212. 41"Protokol NRW Staatsarchiv 20, 1944,Landesarchiv Münster, doprosa/ A.M.G.,"September Nr. 2902,55. 42Ibid.,56. Nr. 15,"January 15, 1952,BB, R 59/66,127. "AussagevonJ.G." July30, 4J"Rundanweisung 1962, BAL, B 162/2297, 35-36. "Aussagevon E.S.," November 12, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 739. "Aussagevon Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht NSG 0589-004, Band 7, 1268. H.O.," February 1, 1966,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht "Aussagevon E.M.C. ," August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,175. "Aussagevon P.M.,"August29, NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht Land578. "AussagevonW.O.,"January 3, 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-004, Band 7, 1179. "Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 739-40. Landgericht 45Dallin,Odessa,Î94Î-Î944, 135-37, 201. fürWirtschaftsfragen "DeutscheGesandtschaft / an HerrnProfessor / Der Sonderbeauftragte von Transnistrien," July8, 1942,USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel GheorgheAlexianuGouverneur 2, Fond2242,Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1088,180.
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To placatevonRothkirch, Romanianadministrators openmarket.47 arguedthat "withtheevacuationof theJewishpopulation,themarketwill hopefully be was not as optimistic controlled."48 Odessa'sVoMi staff and tookmeasuresto ensurethatitsVolksdeutsche thefoodcrisis. chargesweathered assisted in acquiringapartments the SS Odessa's Volksdeutsche Second, in owned the by city'sJews. Although postwarstatements many previously Volksdeutsche claimedthatthe SS had simply"issued" them apartments, "theunitmerelyhelpedethnicGermans Beck notedthat,in manyinstances had themselves XXV's they procured." Bereichkommando keepapartments efforts to reallocateOdessa'sprimereal estateto the city'sVolksdeutsche dovetailed withRomanianefforts to eliminate thecity's Jews.In mid-February for three homeless Volksdeutsche thecity's Romanian 1942, instance, petitioned to three at our Jewishapartments disposal."51 Perhaps prefect "kindlyplace the processthe VoMi encouragedlocal ethnicGermansto to streamline denouncethefewJewswho remainedin theirapartments afterghettoization in late1941 and early1942.AfterRomanianofficials and deportation arrested with theJews,theSS steppedin to rewardtheethnicGermanwhistleblower Area Volksdeutsche this the deportees'apartment.52 snappedup property so quicklythat in September1942 the SS bent to Romanian pressure and orderedethnicGermansto pay rentfortheirpurloinedapartments to, and to "purchase" their household furnishings from, the Romanian administration.
derDeutschenWehrmacht furTransnistrien la. / An den Zivilgouverneur 47"Verbindungsstab von Transnistrien HerrnMinisterProfessor AlexianuTiraspol,"December25, 1941, USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 2, Fond2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1084,16. an den Kommandanten des Verbindungsstabes der DeutschenWehr"Der Zivilgouverneur machtfürTransnistrien HerrnGeneralleutnant v. Rothkirch und Pantenin Tiraspol," 8, January 1942,USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 2, Fond2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1083,20. 49" AussagevonE.P.,"August23, 1962,BAL, B162/2298,21. Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft "Aussagevon W.B.,"September5, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 627. "Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963,Staatsarchiv Landgericht NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 737. "Aussagevon Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht J.G.,"July30, 1962, BAL, B162/2297,33. "Aussagevon P.M.,"August29, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 582. As Dallin notes, Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht oftensquattedin vacantJewishapartments. Odessa'sresidents Dallin,Odessa,1941-1944, 113. Fetzer/ an denChefderPräfektur, HerrnWiltschensku, "EugenFritz/ HeinrichFetzer/Josef 17, 1942,USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 18,Fond2359,Opis 1,Ed. Hr.42, 13. Odessa,"February 52" Land4, 1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, AussagevonF.F.,"September 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band4, 620-21. In early1942,Romanianauthorities aboutVolksdeutsche begancomplaining acquiringapartder Volksdeutschen Mittelstelle Herrn mentsin Odessa. "Der Gouverneuran Kommandanten in Landau/ Betr.:Eigenmächtige durchV.M. in Oberführer Hoffmeyer Wohnungsrequisitionen Odessa,"January 26, 1942,USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 2, Fond 2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1084, Nr. 67," September8, 1942, BB, R 59/66, 61. Dallin, Odessa,194199. "Rundanweisung 1944,209.
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Third,Odessa'sVoMi unitsoughtto enrichlocal Volksdeutsche by giving themthe personaleffects of murdered to the VoMi's Jews.54Subordinated XXV, (EconomicGroup)ratherthanto Bereichkommando Wirtschaftsgruppe theSS administered a warehousein Odessathatservedas a clearingcenterfor andotherpersonalitemssentbytrainfromPoland'sLublinDistrict. clothing erstwhile Volksdeutsche asserted thattheir Althoughin postwarinterrogations new clothinghad come fromGermandonors,manyfondlyremembered their"goodJewishclothing," someofwhichBereichkommando XXV distrib56 utedto itsVolksdeutsche for in Christmas 1941. employees Beyondproviding forthebasicneedsofethnicGermans in Odessa,theSS ensured thatlocalVolksdeutschesharedin theill-gotten fruits oftheThirdReich'sgenocide. Sonderkommando R also launchedan intenseeffort to nazifylocal ethnic Germans.Owing to its urbaninfrastructure, Odessa soon becamethe node forthe VoMi's educationaland propagandaapparatus in Transnistria. Under the commandof SS-Obersturmfuhrer FritzDankert,a thirty-nine-year-old teacherfromMagdeburg, Sonderkommando R's Sachlichegruppe settheVoMi's educationpolicyforboththe cityand the surrounding Until countryside.57 theSS couldestablish a facility forVolksdeutsche in ruralTransnistria, teachers ethnicGermanVolksschule instructors educationcourses completedcontinuing atOdessa'steachertraining institute. on Mein Alfred RosenRelying Kampfand tomes as instructional Sonderkommando R's curricumaterials, berg's general lumoffered teachers.58 ideologicaleducationforVolksdeutsche in Sonderkommando R established itsownOdessanewspaBeginning 1942,
to trumpetitsefforts {The Germanin Transnistria) per,Der Deutschein Transnistrien
on behalfofthearea'sethnicGermans.59 Assisted byBeckandtwootherVolksdeutschewomen,SS-Sturmbannführer Friedrich a longtimeNazi Hallenberger,
54"German PoliceDecodes Nr. 2 Traffic: 13.2.43,"February 24, 1943,BNA, HW 16,Piece 37, Part1, 2. "Protokoldoprosa/ A.M.G.," September20, 1944, Landesarchiv NRW Staatsarchiv Nr.2902,45. "50 000JudenausOdessa.Tatsachenbericht vonWalter Holokost Münster, Vahldieck," i Suchasnist':studiiv Ukratnii sviti2, no. 4 (2008): 110.
R ""Aussagevon E.P.,"August23, 1962,BAL, B162/2298,21. In 1942, Sonderkommando fromruralTransnistria to guardthewarehouse deployedtheSelbstschutz complexin Odessa."Vervon L.D.," Tulv21, 1962,BAL, B162/2297,51. nehmungsniederschrift 56" LandAussagevonA.B.,"October12,1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band 4, 652. "Aussagevon A.J.,"September3, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 601. "Aussagevon Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht NSG F.F.,"September4, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 0589-002, Band 4, 615. "Aussagevon M.R. ," September 2, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/ 12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 593. "Aussagevon O.G.," October Landgericht NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 19, 1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 688. 57"SSOffizier AkteFritzDankert"NARA, RG 242 / A 3343 / SSO-035, 1001-17. vonSchulmaterial furVolksdeutsche n.d.,NARA, T175/72/2589176. 58"Lieferung Siedlungen," "GermanPoliceActivities in theSovietUnion,Summary CoveringthePeriodof1stMay-30th June1942,"July17, 1942,BNA, HW 16,Piece 6, 12. Dallin,Odessa,1941-1944, 200.
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theregion.60 editedtheweeklythattheSS distributed throughout propagandist, andeven cultural ethnic German marshal the VoMi's work, prowess, Advertising in Transnistrien tea partiesforthe city'sVolksdeutsche women,Der Deutsche localmouthpiece.61 servedas theSS's primary The SS also established a well-equippedculturalcenterforOdessa and its Street46, a in therecently confiscated environs Jewishtheaterat Gretseskaia on Novosel'sXXV's headquarters fewminutes' walkfromBereichkommando Haus(GermanHouse) openeditsdoorsduringa lavishcerkaia.The Deutsches R's head,SS-Oberführer on emony June13, 1942,to whichSonderkommando invited Transnistria's Romanian Governor,Professor Horst Hoffmeyer, The buildingsporteda lecturehall,a cinema(complete GheorgheAlexianu.62 a restaurant, and even an extensive with Volksdeutsche ushers),a library, which were accessibleonly to collection all of record German-language To Volksdeutsche Germanand Volksdeutsche up with the patrons.63 keep of Reich'slatestpropaganda, weeklyscreenings Goerbigpersonally supervised next official newsreel.64 Over the Nazi the Deutsche Wochenschau, Germany's R's choiceconfertwoyears,theDeutschesHaus servedas Sonderkommando flairto and added considerable encelocationforSS andVolksdeutsche meetings R's nazification Sonderkommando project. *
*
*
the questionremains to underpinlocal Volksdeutsche, Giventhe SS's efforts The shouldpartakein theseheadyendeavors? who amongOdessa'sresidents had the VoMi had had little idea. Even somewhat SS, though surprisingly, 60" Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 727-28. "Aussagevon EH.," July24, 1962, Staatsarchiv Landgericht NSG 0589-001, Band 2, 181. "SS Offizier Landgericht Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft AkteFriedrich NARA, RG 242,A3343 SSO 055A,518-62. Hallenberger," efforts Sonderkommando R's welfare wereunderordersto advertise The newspaper's publishers Nr. 75,"November6, 1942,BB, R 59/66,50. on behalfoflocalVolksdeutsche. "Rundanweisung derZeitung'Der Deutschein Nr. 102,"April18,1943,BB, R 59/67,98. "Auswertung "Stabbefehl Transnistrien,'" n.d.,BAL, B162/2289,29-35. BK XXV, Odessa / HerrZivilgouverneur Mittelstelle SS-Sonderkommando 62"Volksdeutsche MinisterProf.AlexianuTiraspol,"June6, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, von Transnistrien Nr. 42," BB, R 59/66, 88. Reel 2, Fond 2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1087, 47. "Rundanweisung und Odessa, 91. Dallin, Odessa, Í 941- 1944, 200. Völkl, Transnistrien
LandvonH.O.," February 1, 1966,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft 63"Aussage NSG 0589-004, Band7, 1266,69. "AussagevonK.O.," November15, 1963,Staatsarchiv gericht NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 762. "Aussagevon Landgericht Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG W.O.," January3, 1965, Staatsarchiv Landgericht Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Nr. Nr. 42," BB, R 59/66, 88. "Rundanweisung 0589-004, Band 7, 1199. "Rundanweisung 67." September 8, 1942,BB, R 59/66,60. LandvonW.O.,"January 3, 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft 64"Aussage gerichtNSG 0589-004, Band7, 1199. Nr. 92,"January 11, 1943,BB, R 59/66,28. 65"Rundanweisung
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extensive ethnicGermansfromearlierpopulationtransfers, practicerelocating it provedunableto conceiveviablelitmustestsfora categoryas slippery as ethnicidentity.Previousexperienceled the SS to use factors thatincluded in an and languageskills,as well as culturaland politicalorientation, ancestry otherwise nebulousschemethatreliedon Gestalt. Priorto theinvasionofthe SovietUnion,theVoMi knew,or at leastthought it knew,an ethnicGerman whenit sawone. 's efforts in March1941,the to codifyclassification criteria DespiteHimmler established fordiscerning individuals ofGermanethnicity methods disintegrated on theothersideoftheSovietfrontier.67 On December28, 1941,Hoffmeyer circulated thefirst of manystaff orderson how to classify Transnistria's Volksdeutschepopulation.Inspiredby,but explicitly the multitiered separatefrom, oftheDeutsche in occuVolksliste usedto classify Volksdeutsche first categories new schema criteria other than piedPoland,Hoffrneyer's jettisoned ancestry.68 Siebertarticulated R developeduniquelysimplified why Sonderkommando Volksdeutsche criteriaforTransnistria a yearlaterin a follow-upstaff order. As he explained: The preconditions forregistering in theformer personsofGermanethnicity fromwhathasbeenexperienced Sovietterritories arenoticeably in different theGermanEasternTerritories. The Volksdeutsche intheSovietUnionwere neverable to participate in politicsbecauseeverypoliticalactivity meant deathor at leastdeportation and exile.The culturalactivity of individuals of Germanethnicity waslikewisestandardized andprescribed bytheSoviet regime.69 The VoMi's realization thatits standard Volksdeutsche identification criteria wereill-suitedforuse in the pre-1939boundariesof the SovietUnion left Sonderkommando R in Transnistria withan ad hoc and dilutedclassification schema. For Sonderkommando remainedespecially R, Odessa's Volksdeutsche Even before in the the SS had thatthesituation concluded suspect. arriving city, ofthecity'sethnicGermans was"catastrophic."70 The originsofthisperception werefour-fold. asprewarOdessahadthehighest ofJewsofany First, proportion Soviet city,the SS suspectedthat earlierinteraction between the city's 66Fora discussion oftheVoMi'spopulationtransfers see Lumans, Barbarossa, priorto operation Himmler's 131-204. Auxiliaries, 67Ibid.,244. Nr. 11/ Betrifrt undRegistrierung allerVolks(sic)namentliche "Rundanweisung Erfassung deutschen in Transnistrien," December28, 1941,BB, R 59/66,132. Nr.89 / Betr.:Stellungsnahme zu demEntwurf desReichskommissars furdie "Rundanweisung UkraineII a-2 vom3.11.42 / Aufnahme derVolksdeutschen inderdeutschen December Volksliste," 15, 1942,BB, R59/66,32-33. vonE.M.C." August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,171. /u"Aussage
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Volksdeutsche and Jews had eroded the racial "purity"of local ethnic Germans.71 affiliated with Second,in ruralTransnistria manyVolksdeutsche theSovietstateor in "mixedmarriages" withlocalJewshad anticipated harsh treatment at the handsof the Germansand had voluntarily evacuatedwith the Red Army.Odessa's two-monthsiege, by contrast,had preventeda similarescape.72Third,unlikeVolksdeutsche in ruralTransnistria, Odessa's ethnicGermanshad avoidedearlierSS efforts to murderwhatit considered "undesirable" elements.Whereasin the Transnistrian raciallyand politically D had murdered countryside Einsatzgruppe perhapshundredsof remaining Volksdeutsche "communists" or membersof "mixedmarriages" withJews, the city'sethnicGermansweresparedthe SS's firstfatalselections.73 Finally, in thefirstdaysof theRomanianoccupation,Sicherheitsdienst (SD) personnel attached totheRomanianSpecialIntelligence Service(SSI) haddistributed provisionalVolksdeutsche identification to papers Odessianswithoutcheckingto see if therecipients metanyof the SS's criteria.Arriving on the SD s heels, - quite literally - these Bereichkommando XXV's staff had to rubberstamp ID cardsto extricate Volksdeutsche fromRomaniancustody.74 In temporary an exceptionally Odessa,the SS thusconfronted suspectlocal Volksdeutsche population. Ratherthanoffering on how to proceed,Sonderkommando R 's guidelines leaders'ordersonlyunderscored theirsuspicionof Odessa'sVolksdeutsche. To Volksdeutsche the SS in Shyrokolanivka "contamination," preventfurther bannedethnicGermansin ruralTransnistria frommigrating to thecity. As forVolksdeutsche Sonderkommando R's leaders alreadyin the metropolis, could onlywringtheirhands.Hoffmeyer's December 1941 guidelines,for orderedBereichkommando XXV notto use Sonderkomexample,explicitly mandoR's new Volksdeutsche classification schemain Odessa.76Barredfrom Sonderkommando R's newVolksdeutsche identification employing guidelines, Bereichkommando XXV's staff developed,underClaasen'sguidance,itsown 71 undOdessa,24. Germanofficials oftenfeared thatcontact withJewsin eastern Völkl,Transnistrien oflocalVolksdeutsche. Europehaddilutedtheracialpurity Bergen,"The Nazi Conceptof'Volks573. deutsche,'" thatsuccessful 72Given Volksdeutsche evacuation aheadofadvancing Germanforces left voluntary littlerecord,muchoftheevidenceforthisflight is circumstantial. bothWestGerman Nevertheless, andSovietpostwartestimony indicatethattheseevacuations occurred.See,forexample,"Protokol doprosa/ FetIvan,"May 29, 1948,USHMM, RG-38.018M,Reel 79, 3765-66. "ZeugenschaftlicheVernehmung vonA.B.,"August21, 1962,BAL, B162/2296,187. undMassenmord, 254-94. Angrick,Besatzungspolitik
vonE.M.C. " August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,174. 74"Aussage 75"Reichsfuhrer-SS Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle beim Zivilgouverneur / Der Verbindungsfuhrer von Transnistrien von Transnistrien / an das Zivilgouvernement Verwaltungsdirektion Tiraspol/ Betr.:Fahrten derVolksdeutschen ohnePassierschein," August3, 1942,USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 2, Fond2242,Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1088,140. Nr. 11/ Betrifrt undRegistrierung allerVolks(sie)namentliche "Rundanweisung Erfassung deutschen in Transnistrien," December28, 1941,BB, R 59/66,137.
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criteriathat,in his words,were "not implemented completely fly-by-night ID theVolksdeutsche Not subjectto theVoMi'sguidelines, systematically." cardsthatClaasendistributed remainedvalid onlyin Odessa. Accordingto R's regulations, Volksdeutsche who registered with the Sonderkommando wereto be reevaluVoMi'sOdessaofficeandthenmovedto ruralTransnistria recordof theirresidencein thecity. While the atedand havea permanent VoMi remainedconvincedthatit could identify ethnicGermansin eastern a even in it and after fashion consideredthe candidates Transnistria, Europe, in Odessaso questionable thecity'sSS personnel thatitfailedto offer anyguidelineson how to proceed. The materialprivilegesthatBereichkommando XXV affordedOdessa's itsracialfantasies Volksdeutsche andtheSS's inability to translate intoan operinvitedmanyOdessiansto applyfora ationaldefinition of a Volksdeutscher Bereichkommando Volks tumsausweis. XXV's staff wasterrified bytheprospect to avoiddeportation As an anonofJewspassingas Volksdeutsche andmurder. 1942 denunciation sent to the VoMi's office Odessa warned, ymousFebruary "In ourcitytherearestillverymanyJewswithGermanandRussianpassports ... Aboveall payattention to cleansingthecity. . . Volksdeutsche . . . becauseat mostfifty ofthemareGermans andtherestareJews." Whiletheinforpercent mantblamedtheJews'German-sounding surnames andaccentsfortheirability thereality wasprobably moreprosaic.AsBereichkomto slipintothecategory, - probably - Romanianauthorities mandoXXV's staff suspected correctly piland sold them to Jewsand othereager feredVolksdeutsche identity papers customerson the black market. Even if the numberof Odessa'sJews a perpetual cloakedas Volksdeutsche remained small,theyconstituted boogeyIn hispostwartestimony, manforlocalSS officials. forexample,Goerbignoted thatwhilemanyVolksdeutsche inhabited Odessa,"sixtypercentofthemwere and evaluating theracial"worth" Jews."81 Experienceidentifying, relocating, of otherVolksdeutsche failed to Bereichkommando XXV's groups provide Odessa's Volksdeutsche. It did, staffwith a viable means of identifying however,equip it witha deep suspicionof local ethnicGermansand a rabid fearofJewish"infiltration." EveniflocalVoMiofficials couldnotfashion a defitoldthemthattheirinitialselections nitionofa Volksdeutscher, theirexperience hadfailed.
vonE.M.C.," August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,174. 77"Aussage Nr. 31,"April7, 1942,BB, R 59/66,103. 78"Rundanweisung 1941- Î942, vol. 1, 1145. 79Ancel, Transnistria,
80" LandAussagevonP.M.,"August29, 1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 583. gericht vonH.J.G.,"August1, 1962,Staatsarchiv Land81"Aussage Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-001, Band2, 98.
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efforts toidentify withtheresults ofitspreliminary Dissatisfied Volksdeutsche, solution:ifitcouldnotfindthe XXV hituponaningenious Bereichkommando city'sethnicGermans,it would simplyhire local employeeswho could. the VoMi's local employsupportstaff, Althoughretainedas administrative women- soon received local Volksdeutsche ees- who wereoverwhelmingly and themore that included interviewing classifying expandedresponsibilities XXV's newspato Bereichkommando who responded than8,000Odessians82 status.83 invitations to applyforVolksdeutsche per,placard,and loudspeaker schemeis unclear,but within When the SS deployedits new classification VolksBeck to beginselecting herservices, Claasenassigned weeksofretaining thecrucialdistinction betweenOdessa'sJewsand deutscheforhim.In drawing latitude.As theVoMi granteditsfemalehelpersconsiderable Volksdeutsche, laterrecounted,"an EdithHerrlich,Beck's successoras Claasen'ssecretary, ofmine,a teachernamedElseA., appliedfora Volkstumsausweis acquaintance 'son'as thelastsyllable ofhersurname fromClaasen.BecauseClaasenconstrued to receive a Volkstumsausweis. theJewish nameending'sohn,'shewasnotgoing curvednose.SinceI knewherparents It wasalsothecasethatshehada slightly She therefore thatshewasnotofJewishancestry. fromtheBaltic,I couldverify while anecdotedemonstrates, Claasenand AsHerrlich's receivedtheID card."84 werepresentduringtheselectionprocess,theunit'sfemale otherSS officials arbiters of"Germanness" theultimate oftenremained Volksdeutsche employees in Odessa. fromthe initialcandidateswho classifiers Recruitingits Volksdeutsche choicein whomto theVoMi had significant appliedfora Volkstumsausweis, In additionto beingwomen,Bereichkomevaluator.85 hireas a Volksdeutsche fita three-point mandoXXV's interpreter-classifiers profile.First,becauseof XXV's interpreters Bereichkommando theirjob's multilingual requirements, had university training, makingthembettereducatedthanmostof frequently theunit'sReich Germanpersonnel.Second,likemanySovietVolksdeutsche, howmany itis impossible to determine XXV's registration 82Absent Bereichkommando records, thatbetween7,580and in Odessa.Völklestimates R identified ethnicGermansSonderkommando Based on withBereichkommando XXV as Volksdeutsche. 9,016 Odessianssuccessfully registered of Volksdeutsche the numbering identitycardsoccasionallyincludedin 1944 ethnicGerman thisestimateappearsplausible.JohannesVolk,forexample,received naturalization applications, number6,686. "Einbürgerungsantrag Volkstumsausweis JohannesVolk,"July25, 1944, NARA, A3342-EWZ50-I075,1298. Accordingto the RussianEmpire's1897 census,Odessawas home undOdessa,88, 24. or 2.6 percentofthecity'spopulation. to 9,900Germans, Völkl,Transnistrien 83" Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Aussagevon H.E.K.," March 18, 1966, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-004, Band 8, 1377. Landgericht Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Aussagevon E.F.,"December15, 1966, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-004, Band 8, 1361. Landgericht Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Aussagevon M.S.," November7, 1963, Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 714. "Aussagevon N.R.," November7, 1963,Staatsarchiv Landgericht NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 707-08. Landgericht Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft
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underSovietrule. And third,despitethe factthatmost theyhad suffered lived in theregionforsometimeand maintained a command had interpreters of the area'sethnictopography, of them retained ties many family to other Volksdeutsche groups. LikeBeck,Claasen'ssecondassistant, thesetrends. Bornin Herrlich, typified Moscowand a longtimelocal resident, thethirty-four-year-old's were parents membersof Riga's BalticGermanbourgeoisie, who movedto Odessa after him therein 1908. Attending her father'sGermanemployertransferred Odessa'sGermanprimaryschool,Herrlichthenstudiedat the short-lived GermanLyceumthattheKaiserreiches occupiersestablished duringtheirbrief controlof thecityat theend ofWorldWarI. WiththeRussianRevolution, civil war, and concomitantclosingof Odessa's Germanschools,Herrlich enrolledin a two-yearpedagogicalcourseat Odessa'sInstitute forLiterature and Languageand embarkedon a teachingcareer.Shortlyaftermarrying in Soviet authorities arrested both her husband and her who died 1930, father, in prisonthefollowing year.Followingherspouseintoexilein Poltava,their new circumstances theirrelationship and she returned to Odessa.They frayed divorcedin 1935. Workingas a teacherin Odessauntilthecity'soccupation in 1941,Herrlichregistered withBereichkommando XXV and "fromitsfirst served on its staff.86 and Herrlich days" Capable,unemployed, embittered, was eagerto helptheVoMi identify thecity'sVolksdeutsche. Retainingmembersof a suspectpopulationto defineitsown limitsproved disastrous forthe amorphouscategory's Bereichkommando XXV's integrity. Volksdeutsche assistants usedtheirnewauthority to helpfellowOdessiansnaviIn additionto misgatetheVoMi'scomplexandlethalclassification quagmire. andvouchingfora candidate's ethniccredentials, Bereichkommando translating XXV's Volksdeutsche selectionguidelinesto helpersdivulgedconfidential applicants. withJewish Volksdeutsche frominsiderinformation on a key spousesprofited XXV's classification criteria. loopholeinBereichkommando Although officially barredbyHofimeyer fromapplying Sonderkommando R's Volksdeutsche classification to Odessa,Claasenandhisstaff didprecisely that.87 procedure eventually Sonderkommando R's personnel were instructions, Accordingto Hoffineyer's to distribute a Volkstumsausweis to Volksdeutsche withtwo "purely"ethnic Germanparentsand to Volksdeutsche who livedwith"a purelyforeignrace or predominately foreignrace individual." In the lattercase, Hoffmeyer EdithHerrlich," June30, 1944,NARA, A3342-EWZ50-C074,128186"Einbiirgerungsantrag 32. Quotedon frame1232. vonE.M.C.," August6, 1962,BAL, B162/2293,174. 87"Aussage Nr. 11/ Betrifrt undRegistrierung allerVolks(sic)namentliche "Rundanweisung Erfassung deutschen in Transnistrien," December28, 1941,BB, R 59/66,132.
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directed hissubordinates "to decideon a casebycasebasis"accordingto their "overallimpression" ofthefamily.89 an When, forexample,the SS orderedBeck's formerEnglishinstructor, Australian-born to his at the VoMi's Odessa Volksdeutscher, register family he askedBeck how to proceed.Apparently denouncedbya localinforoffice, Beck's former teacher feared his wifeandhalf-Jewish son mant, revealing Jewish to the SS. AwarethatJewishrelativeswould doom his application,Beck thathe present hisRussophonewifeas an ethnicRussian.90 Witha suggested race" the man stood a chance of a posigentile"foreign spouse, good presenting tive"overallimpression" attheinterview andreceiving a Volkstumsausweis that wouldshieldhisfamily frommurder. their non-German and even By helping obtainethnicGermanidentity cards,theVoMi'sfemale Jewishacquaintances - the the SS's efforts to helperssabotaged identifyOdessa'sVolksdeutsche themto perform. precisetaskthattheSS had recruited DespitetheSS's dependenceon itsVolksdeutsche interpreters, postwartestithattheywerenotabovesuspicion. in Beck'srapidadvancement monyindicates the VoMi fromClaasen'stranslator to Goerbig'ssecretary to Hoffmeyer's combinedwithher haughtiness towardboth Volksdeutsche and interpreter, SS personnel, Her colleaguesbeganto annoyedhercoworkers.91 low-ranking - now allegedlyan NKVD spreadrumorsaboutherJewishformerhusband childhiddenat herfamily's officerand herhalf-Jewish former summerresiKirschstein tooktheserumorsseriously dencein nearbyLustdorf. enoughto huntfortheimaginary childin suburban OdessawhileGoerbig,Beck'sprotector,wasaway.92 thesereservations, the unit'sfemaleemployeesremained Notwithstanding totheSS forromantic reasons.In contrast toubiquitous casualliaiindispensable sonsbetweenthe unit'sGermanpersonneland local Volksdeutsche women, Odessa'sVoMi administrators maintained relations withtheunit's long-lasting officestaff. Soon afterstarting as his secretary, forexample,Beck begana
89Ibid.,132. "Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 746. Landgericht Land"AussagevonO.G.,"October19,1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band4, 687. "Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003,Band5, 735. Kirschstein confirmed theembellished rumorconcernLandgericht butdeniedsearching forthechild."Verantwortliche von husband, ingBeck'sformer Vernehmung NSG E.A.H.K.,"February 9, 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 0589-003, Band6, 935. 93 inparticular as a womwomen,Kirschstein AmonglocalVolksdeutsche developeda reputation anizer."Aussagevon A.G.," August30, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 588. "Aussagevon O.G.," October19, 1963, Staatsarchiv Landgericht NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 687. Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht
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withthemarriedGoerbig.94 She was not onlyhisfrequent verypublicaffair at at social events Odessa's German Consulate,but she even guest high-level him to official such as the functions, accompanied openingof theDeutsches Haus.95Beck ordereda local jeweler to smeltgold rublesinto two ersatz to Goerbigin 1942. Afterthe Germans weddingringsthatshe presented and manyof theethnicGermansevacuatedOdessain March1944, Goerbig Resettlement tracked BeckdownintheVoMi'sGymnasialstrasse Camp(Umsiedin and whisked her off to a romantic Ostrowo, Poland, getawayin lungslager) where conceived a child.97 after her stint as Claasen's Vienna, they Similarly, the Herrlich a with her head of Sonderassistant, began relationship supervisor, kommando R s accounting SS-Oberscharfuhrer Hans Franck.98 The two office, forBeckdidnotextendtoBereichmarried after thewar.99 Kirschstein s distain Soon after to Transniskommando XXV s otherfemaleinterpreters. deploying triawiththeunit,he begana relationship withIngeborgHirsh,themultilingual of theprewarGermanvice consulto Kichenev(Chi§inau)and sole daughter Reich German secretaryassignedto Bereichkommando XXV When Kirschstein evacuatedOdessa, she was four Hirsch and the still-married monthspregnant.101 Focusedon matters oftheheart,theVoMi'sSS staff over- continued looked- eitherintentionally orunintentionally abusesofitsad hoc identification procedures byitsVolksdeutsche interpreters. womenwho resembled the BalticGermansthat local Althoughretaining hadencountered in earlier Bereichkommando XXV'sstaff reassured assignments theunit'sGermanpersonnel, it also grantedtheVoMi'sfemaleemployees the in the murderous to participate andguide SS's ethnicclassification opportunity atthegrassroots level.Focusingon predominately malelocalauxiliaenterprise haslargely overlooked theimportant riesin theSovietUnion,recentresearch 94" Land3, 1963,Staatsarchiv AussagevonA.J.," September Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 601. gericht 95Photos thatBeckpresented to theHamburgpoliceshowheraccompanying Goerbigto a series ofsocialfunctions I gg.Goerbig attheGermanConsulateandtheDeutschesHaus."Lichtbildmappe NSG 0589-007. Beiakte3. u.a.." Staatsarchiv Hamburg.213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht "Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 751-52. Accordingto wartimedocumentation, SSLandgericht Franck'sdutiesincludedactingas a liaisonto otherGermanunitsin Odessa. Oberscharfuhrer der DeutschenWehrmacht furTransnistrien," "Abschrift / an: Verbindungsstab / Fernspruch April5, 1942,USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 2, Fond2242,Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1085,169. von E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv 97"Aussage Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 728-29. Landgericht fürTransnistrien," "Abschrift derDeutschenWehrmacht / Fernspruch / an: Verbindungsstab April 5, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M, Reel 2, Fond 2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1085, 169. "GermanPoliceDecodes No. 1 Traffic: 22.5.44" Mav 30, 1944,BNA, HW 16,Piece 41, 2. ""Aussage von E. F.,"December15, 1966, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-004, Band 8, 1360. Landgericht 100"RuSHAAkteHerbertKirschstein." NARA, A 3343 RS C5436, 1132,1142,1190. 1132. 101Ibid.,
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Asscholars such rolethatlocalwomenplayedintheNazi occupationregime.102 of Nazi asElizabethHarveyhavenoted,Germanwomenwereimportant agents Germanization plansin the east- a positionthatexpandedtheirfreedomof As Lower'srecent actionbeyondthe ThirdReich's genderedconstraints.103 in women stationed some German this latitude research indicates, permitted women Whilethereis no evidencethatVolksdeutsche theeastto murder.104 XXV killed,theirlanguageskillsandfamiliarity attached to Bereichkommando afforded themexceptionalinputin the SS withOdessa'sethnictopography womenplayeda significant Area Volksdeutsche ethnicclassification process. inneedofaidandVolksdeutsche "authentic" ethnicGermans roleinidentifying as the above examples to face the SS's brutality. Nevertheless, "imposters" female XXV's Bereichkommando demonstrate, helpersused theirinfluence and acquaintances to privilegetheirfriends overethnicGermanclassification underminedtheirSS superiors.Confronted even when doing so willfully Bereichkommando withthe untidyrealitiesof the city'sethnicmultiplicity, withlocal Volksethnic classification efforts its embattled XXV underpinned to underin and it to whom deutsche women, ultimately permitted participate mineitsbroaderdemographic project. *
*
*
fromtherestofthecity'spopulationeither Volksdeutsche Unableto distinguish theVoMi'sOdessaofficeemulated localintermediaries, or through themselves andbeganmurdering R's otherBereichkommandos Sonderkommando racially tumsaus weis. Bereichfor or a Volks Odessians carrying caught applying suspect murder XXV's decisionto solveitsclassification kommando quagmirethrough R's masskillingofJewsin ruralTransnisfromSonderkommando was distinct tria.During the winterof 1941-1942, Romanian occupationauthorities deportedJewshousedin ghettoson Odessa'senvironsto Berezovka.There, marchedtheJewsinto the Romanianforcesand theirUkrainianauxiliaries Slaviclocalpolicein Belarusand Ukraine, ofthepredominantly on thecomplicity 102Focusing BernhardChiari,MartinDean, and DieterPohl,forexample,haveexaminedthecrucialcontriin theSovietUnion.Bernhard Holocaustperpetrators butionofnon-German Chiari,Alltaghinter in Weissrussland 1941-1944 (Düsseldorf: Droste und Widerstand derFront.Besatzung,Kollaboration in theHolocaust:CrimesoftheLocal Policein BeloVerlag,1998), 160-94. Martin Dean, Collaboration
Hilfs1941-44 (New York:St.MartinsPress,2000). DieterPohl,"Ukrainische andUkraine, russia
Nationalsozialisten oderganz normale kräftebeim Mord an denJuden,"in Die TäterderShoah. Fanatische
Wallstein Paul (Göttingen: ed. Gerhard Deutsche?, Verlag,2002),205-24.
Elizabeth Harvey,Womenand theNazi East: Agentsand Witnesses (New Haven, ofGermanization
CT: Yale University Press.2003Ì. 4. and Accomplicesof theHolocaustin Ukraineand the Lower,"FemalePerpetrators 104Wendy of Slavic fortheAdvancement Postwar paper,AmericanAssociation JusticeSystem"(conference PA, November22, 2008). WendyLower,"Socialist Studies,AnnualConvention,Philadelphia, in theGermanDemocratic andTrialsofMale and FemaleNazi Perpetrators Investigations Justice? andGenocide Studies 2010). (Forthcoming Republic,1949-1963,"Holocaust
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oflocalcommandVoMi-controlled On theinitiative surrounding countryside. ersand eventually withBerlin'sblessing, Sonderkommando R's Volksdeutsche some60,000Jewsthrough Selbstschutz (ethnicGermanmilitiaforce)murdered massshooting.105 in theVoMi'scarnagein ruralTransBereichkommando XXV s involvement nistria wastangential. aware of their Odessa'sVoMi Although colleagues'crimes, inthekilling. office lackedboththepersonnel andtheauthority toparticipate AsinitialRomaniandeportations VoMiofficials inruralTransnistria, it surprised isunlikely thatBereichkommando XXV knewaboutthedeportations untilthey werealreadyunderway. rolewas limitedto facilitating Goerbigand his staff's between and Hoffmeyer Alexianuin whichthe two subsequent negotiations discussed While not directly in thekilling,the murdering Jews. implicated murders to Bereichkommando XXV's staff that signaled usingviolenceto overcome local obstaclesto itsVolksdeutsche was now Sonderkommando project R's modusoperandi. Bereichkommando XXV'skillingoperations evolvedfromitsefforts to excise Romanianinfluence fromOdessa'sVolksdeutsche affairs. Priorto discussing the institutional of the VoMi's Odessa death a few on words development squad, in Transnistria Romanian-German relations arein order.At leastinitially, the Romanianoccupiers region's acceptedtheSS'sVolksdeutsche policy.A September 1941 agreement betweenHoffmeyer and Alexianuassignedcontrolover to theSS. Despitesuchaccordsandhigh-level Volksdeutsche matters directivesto cooperatewithRomanianauthorities, local relations betweentheSS andtheRomanianssouredas theformer itsagreements arrogantly overstepped andas thelatter the of In the grasped long-term consequences Germanplans.109 where Romanian-German countryside, agreementsdesignatedGermanat RomanianandGermandocumentation AncelandAngrickhavepro105Looking respectively, videdthemostdetailedexamination oftheVolksdeutsche Selbstschutz 's crimesin Transnistria. See undMassenmord, Ancel,Transnistria, 194Î-Î942, vol. 1, 292-338; and Angrick,Besatzungspolitik 254-94. 106Becktestified thatHoffmeyer membersof Bereichkommando XXV withphotopresented evidenceofSonderkommando R's crimesinruralTransnistria. The photosweretakenalleggraphic R's official edlybySS-Untersturmfìihrer GeorgBauer,Sonderkommando "Aussage photographer. vonE.S.,"November12, 1963,Staatsarchiv NSG Hamburg, Landgericht 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft AkteGeorgBauer,"NARA, RG 242, A 3343 SSO-040, 0589-003, Band 5, 734. "SS Offizier 45324-5. "GermanPolke Decodes Nr. 2 Traffic: 6.10.42,"October10, 1942, BNA, HW 16, Piece 36, 2. 107 thatshe interpreted forHoffineyer withthe AlthoughBeck testified duringhisnegotiations deniedthatthe murderofJewswas a topicof discussion. Romanians,she implausibly "Aussage von E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 734. Akte HorstHoffmeyer," 108"SSOffizier NARA, RG 242, A3343 SSO-109A, 1376-1470. Nr. 2," September 22, 1941,BB, R59/66, 152. "Dienstanweisung Sonderkommando R's leadersexplicitly ordered VoMipersonnel in Odessato avoidantagonizNr. 109,"June22, 1943,BB, R 59/67,57. "Stabsbefehl ingRomanianofficials.
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R's exclusivebailiwicks,the SS could speakinghamletsSonderkommando militiaforcesto deterRomanianmeddling muster andevenengagetheRomain occasionalshootouts.110 nianmilitary While Sonderkommando R and the Romanianoccupationregimecouldagreeaftera fashionon murdering Jews, in theregion. at thelocalleveltheyviedforlong-term influence In Odessa,thisconflict assumeda different, albeitno lessacrimonious form. ThereVoMi'sdozenReich Germanstaff membersadministered thousands of Volksdeutsche a under spreadthroughout major city foreignoccupation. its ethnicGermansgeographically or fielda militia Unable to concentrate Bereichkommando XXV lacked the to deter Romanian interferunit, strength encein itsaffairs, to saynothingofchallenging Romanianauthorities. With the Germansat theirweakestand the Romaniansat theirstrongest, Odessa rodfortensions becamea lightening betweenthetwoalliedpowers. directives Romanianretaliation urgingrestraint, pervasive Despitehigh-level local Volksdeutsche to establish a specialdetachment prompted Goerbig against to contestspecificinstancesof perceivedRomanian meddling. Wellconnected via telephone hotlineattheVoMi'sOdessacommandpost,BereichkommandoXXV's self-styled Section)and responsible Rechtsabteilung (Judicial afforded Volksdeutsche round-the-clock (courtofficer) protecGerichtsqfflzier tion fromthe city'sRomanianoccupiers.113 Assignedto the post,Kirsch- theunit'sself-proclaimed - laterconcededthat stein "gofer"(Dienstmädchen) theseelevatedtitleswerea bitpompousfora one-manoperationhousedin a back roommarkedwitha cardboard Kirschstein nevertheless had his sign.114 Nr. 31," Nr. 4," November8, 1941,BB, R59/66, 150. "Rundanweisung 110"Rundanweisung Nr. 34 / Betr.:Viehaustrieb 1942,"April7, April7, 1942,BB, R 59/66,104. "Rundanweisung andRomanianauthorities 1942,BB, R 59/66,99. It appearsthatclashesbetweentheSelbstschutz feature offoreign rulein Transnistria. Mittelstelle werea perennial "Reichsflihrer-SS Volksdeutsche derVerbindungsflihrer beimZivilgouverneur vonTransnistrien Verwaltungsdirektion / Betr.:FeldimJudetOvidiopoldurchrumänische Soldaten,"October11, 1942,USHMM, RGplünderung 31.004M, Reel 2, Fond 2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1089, 169. "Abschrift," September29, 1942, USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 18, Fond2361, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 70, 244. ntAs Goerbignoted,Bereichkommando to concentrate VolksdeutscheXXV's staff attempted relatedinstitutions neartheSt. Pauli-Kirche. "Aussagevon H.J.G.,"August24, 1962,Staatsarchiv NSG 0589-001, Band2, 499. Hamburg, Landgericht 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft 2"Aussagevon H.J.G.,"August24, 1962, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-001, Band2, 95. "Verantwortliche vonE.A.H.K.,"February Landgericht Vernehmung NSG 0589-003, Band 6, 9, 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 919. "AussagevonP.M.,"August29, 1963,Staatsarchiv LandHamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band 4, 1268-70. von O.G.," October 19, 1963, Staatsarchiv 11J"Aussage Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-002, Band 4, 686. "Aussagevon P.A.,"August1, 1962, BAL, B162/ Landgericht 2297,24. m" Verantwortliche vonE.A.H.K.,"February 9, 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Vernehmung 213/ 12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band6, 923. Kirschstein servedas BereichkomLandgericht untilWalter Valhdieck assumedthepositioninmid-1943andKirschstein mandoXXV'scourtofficer continuedas his assistant. Hamburg,213/12 "Aussagevon H.J.G.,"August1, 1962, Staatsarchiv
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handsfull.As he laternoted,"theRomanianpoliceoftenlookedforan excuse In instances to ripoffVolksdeutsche ID cards,food,andvehicles."115 ofsimple Kirschstein confronted the Romanian robbery, perpetrators directly. attempted As PaulineZimmermann laterrecounted, "Sometimein thesummerof 1942 Romanianofficers to takeawaymyconcertgrandpiano.After I notiattempted its fiedthe [Ethnic]GermanLiaisonOSicc, [Kirschstein] cameand prevented removal.[Kirschstein] admonishedtheRomaniansthattheywerenot to set door footin myapartment again.He thenattacheda signto the apartment that no one was to enter myapartment again."116 indicating forthe continuedRomaniantheftof Volksdeutsche Perhapsin retaliation - possibly Bereichkommando XXV's staff underKirschstein 'ssuperviproperty, sion- reportedly Romanian As a tow-truck local begancarjacking employees. driverforOdessa'sRomanianadministrators to Wehrmacht invescomplained he in March while was a commandeered car 1942, tigators early transporting back to the garageforservice,"he was chasedout of the [tow] truckby Germansoldiers, andthetruckwiththecarattached wasdrivenintotheVolksIn theeventthatOdessa'sRomanianauthdeutsche Mittelstelle 's courtyard."117 on real or trumped-upcharges,Kirschstein oritiesarrestedVolksdeutsche in Romaniancourtproceedings intervened andboastedthathe was evenable to obtainstaysofexecutionforcondemned Volksdeutsche.118 WhetherKirsch- as Beck later noted,he was "a is unclear steinwielded such authority Kirschstein raninterference poser." Be thatasitmay,astheunit'scourtofficer, withRomanianofficials on matters from food to ranging securing shipments
Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-001, Band2, 95. "AussagevonH.K.,"January 28, 1963, Landgericht BAL, B162/2301,121. 115Ibid. vonP.A.,"August1, 1962,BAL, B162/2297,24. Kirschstein circulated a certificate 116"Aussage of ownership Zimmermann 's piano to Odessa'sRomanianoccupiersin May 1942. concerning "Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle BK XXV, Odessa / Bescheinigung," SS-Sonderkommando May 13, 1942,USHMM, RG-31.004M,Reel 18, Fond2359,Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 42, 70. 117When interviewed Claasendeniedhiscommand's byWehrmacht investigators, responsibility forthetheft, and a subsequent searchof theVoMi'smotorpool failedto turnup Feldgendarmerie themissing truck."Verbindungsstab derDeutschenWehrmacht furTransnistrien / an demZivilvon Transnistrien gouverneur / Betr.:WegnahmeeinesLKWs am 7.3.42 durchdeutscheWehrmachtsangehörige," April21, 1944, USHMM, RG 31.004M, Reel 2, Fond 2242, Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1086,45-46. 1^"Verantwortliche vonE.A.H.K.,"June4, 1962,Staatsarchiv Vernehmung Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-001, Band 1, 136. Wartimedocumentation Landgericht suggeststhat in Odessaforseriousoffenses. Romanianmilitary authorities triedVolksdeutsche der "Übersetzung rumänischen Schruftschtücke {sic)" n.d., RG-31.004M, Reel 20, Fond 2361, Opis Is, Ed. Hr. 7, 278. Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 739. Landgericht
POLICING THE BOUNDARIES OF "GERMANDOM"
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use fromthe Romanian housing obtainingbuildingsfor Volksdeutsche administration .120 to distribute ethnicGermanidentifiRealizingin spring1942thattheirefforts cationcardsto onlyOdessa's"real"Volksdeutsche hadfailed, Goerbigandhiscoldecided to Kirschsteins to include leagues expand purview murdering racially Whether consented toBereichkommando suspect applicants.121 Goerbig's superiors XXV'sdecisionto murder or whether thisis another exampleoftheSS s "on the "in decision the east" remains unclear.122 distinct from Sonspot" making Although in thesurrounding derkommando R's massshootings Bereichkomcountryside, mandoXXV'sstaff itslocalinitiatives as a component oftheVoMi'smass presented in ruralTransnistria.As Kirschstein murders embellished in his1944Rasse-und MainOffice) (RuSHA,orRace andResettlement Siedlungshauptamt autobiography, hisdutiesincluded "theliquidation ofJewsin theOdessaarea."124 Atprecisely the timethatthelarge-scale murder ofJewsintheTransnistrian concluded, countryside Bereichkommando XXV'spersonnel Odessians. beganpursuing racially suspect The VoMi'sinitialmurders in Odessatargeted Jewswhohadobtaineda Volkstumsausweis Its first documented illicitly. killingoccurredin earlyMarch1942, after Kirschstein doubled the staff Frieshortly Rechtsabteilung's byrecruiting drichHummel,a twenty-year-old ethnicGermanfromnearbyMichaelsfeld, as his assistant.125 on the lookoutforVolksdeutsche Apparently imposters, Claasen detained"a red-haired,unshaven,mediumsized,Jewish-looking man" when he appearedat the VoMi's officewith a Volkstumsausweis.126 to imprisontheman Aftera briefstaff meeting,GoerbigorderedKirschstein in a temporary basementdetentioncell forinterrogation the nextmorning. themanescapedKirschstein's Overnight flimsy dungeon,onlyto be recaptured was bya VoMi patrolthefollowing day The man'ssubsequent questioning 120" Land4, 1963,Staatsarchiv AussagevonF.F.,"September Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band4, 621. 121Kirschstein testified thatGoerbigauthorized hisactions."Verantwortliche von Vernehmung NSG E.A.H.K.," June4, 1962, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht thatGoerbigwouldhavehad to authorizeKirschstein's 0589-001, Band 1, 141. Beck confirms involvement. "Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 735. Landgericht 8. Lower, Nazi Empire-Building, und Massenmord, 254-294. Angrick,Besatzungspolitik
124"RuSHAAkteHerbertKirschstein," NARA, RG 242, A3343 RS C5436, 1138. Hummel's1944 Wehrmacht forGermancitizenship, he Accordingto Friedrich application fortheWehrmacht in Odessaon March1, 1942."EWZ Wehrmacht AkteFriedrich beganworking auxiliaries received Hummel,"NARA, A3342-EWZ-W-H025,1957.As theVoMi'sVolksdeutsche SS uniforms and provisional ranksin late 1942,theirEWZ filesfrequently refersimplyto Wehrserviceto represent theirtimein grade. machtor Waffen-SS accurately Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band 5, 744. Landgericht Verantwortliche von E.A.H.K.,"June4, 1962,Staatsarchiv Vernehmung Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-001, Band 1, 125. "Verantwortliche von Landgericht Vernehmung
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brutal.As Kirschstein laterdescribed, he frequently duringinterrogations pummeledsuspects withhisfistsand rubberhoses.128 Satisfied thatthemanwas a XXV's staff decidedto murder him. Jew,Bereichkommando and Hummelloadedthemanintoa capOn Goerbig'sorders,Kirschstein himtowhatwouldbecometheunit'spreferred turedSovietstaff carto transport execution site.Although HummelandKirschstein their victim described Jewish asa Russianto concealtheirracialmotives forthekilling fromtheWestGerman "base" as to carrymurdercharges police- motivesconsideredsufficiently the 1960s their during postwartestimony providesthe mostvividaccount of what transpired. As Hummelrecounted,"Kirschstein orderedme to him an on the Russian and to the drive.For this eye keep guard during reasonI was armedwitha Russianpercussion revolver. Kirschstein drovethe carpastOdessa'smaintrainstationand in thedirection of thesanitarium that had housedtheNKVD headquarters to the war. At a side entrance to prior the sanitarium Kirschstein the car." As Kirschstein continued, stopped "Hummel,theRussian,andI gotout.As HummellookedfortheSD shooting pit,I followed[him]withtheRussian.The Russiansensedthathe wasaboutto be shot.As he walkednextto me,he hitme withhisrighthand. . . [and]... I lurchedto theside.As I drewmypistol,theRussianwasalreadythirty to forty I firedat him. . . [and]. . . Hummelheardmyshots. metersawayandrunning. He kneeledon the groundand firedwithhis elbow proppedup. . . . The Russianwas hit ... and fellto the ground.I fireda finalshotin his chest Prior to returningto Bereichkommando XXV's throughhis heart."131
NSG E.A.H.K.," February 9, 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 28, 1963,BAL, B162/2301,126. 0589-003, Band6, 918. "Aussagevon H.K.,"January 128" Verantwortliche vonE.A.H.K.,"February 9, 1965,Staatsarchiv Vernehmung Hamburg, 213/ 12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band6, 930. Landgericht Hummellaterconcededto his interviewers thattheir"Russian"victimwas,in fact,a Jew. NSG 0589-003, Band "Aussagevon F.H.,"May 25, 1964,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht metthecriteria fora murderchargein WestGermany, as 5, 897. AlthoughHummel'sadmission a Canadiancitizenandpermanent resident oftheUnitedStates, he remained beyondthejurisdiction ofGermanauthorities. "CM-1 FileforFriedrich H," 1951,International TracingService(hereafter ITS), DisplacedPersons(hereafter DP) Record Collection,EnvelopeH-1380. While Hamburg concludedthattherewassufficient evidenceto tryKirschstein on fourcountsofmanprosecutors theexpiration ofthestatute oflimitations frombringing slaughter (Totschlag), prosecutors prevented charges."147 JS 35 / 67 / Vfg.,"December21, 1967, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-004, Band 8, 1. Kirschstein's continueddenial of racial Landgericht motivesbehindthekillings dissuadedprosecutors frombringing murder apparently chargesagainst him. 130"147 JS35 / 67 / Vfg.,"December21, 1967,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-004, Band 8, 894. Landgericht vonH.K.,"January bothmenconfirmed 28, 1963,BAL,B162/2301,127.Although '■""Aussage thegeneralpattern of eventsin theirpostwarinterrogations, Hummeldeniedfiringon theman. NSG 0589-003, Band "Aussagevon F.H.,"May 25, 1964,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 5, 896.
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Hummeland Kirschstein took turnsposingwiththe body for headquarters which Kirschstein showed to his friendsand relativesa few photographs, weekslaterwhilehomein Berlinon leaveforEaster.132 returned to Odessain April1942,murderhad By thetimethatKirschstein becomeroutineand appliedalso to womenand children who "had obtained an ID card fraudulently."AlthoughBereichkommando XXV's primary were Volksdeutsche the SS also targets Jewish "imposters," targetedgentiles who attempted tobenefit fromprivileged Volksdeutsche status. After repeatedly a local woman for an ethnic German without arresting impersonating adequate obtainedevidenceof herJewish finally proofto act,forexample,Kirschstein andhadherarrested.134 As RudolfS., a Nationalsozialistisches ancestry KraftfahrNational MotorCorps)memberlentto Bereichkomor Socialist (NSKK, korps I mandoXXV in mid-1942, recounted,"On the day of her interrogation, watchedfroma neighboring room as Kirschstein beat her with a brutally rubbertrungeon. The nextmorning shewasyankedintoa carto be liquidated outsideOdessa. Along withNSKK-Scharfuhrer ErwinNießner,135 I drove behindthemand witnessed Kirschstein murderthewomanthrough a shotto theneck(Genickschuß). Near thesceneof themurdertherewereseverallarge were that filledwithcorpses.The woman'sbody open graves alreadypartially was kickedintoone of thegravesand dousedwithgasolinefroma container thattheyhad broughtalongto incinerate thebodyimmediately. The arrival ofa motorized fieldpolice(Feldgendarmerie) thecrepatrol,however, prevented mation.The members ofthefieldpolicefiredwarningshotsto announcetheir arrivaland yelledto Kirschstein, 'don't shoot,the womanis a Romanian.' Kirschstein As thewoman'sdeath respondedthatit was alreadytoo late."136 demonstrates, posingas ethnicGermanscouldprovedeadlytoJewsand nonJewsalike. To providethe necessary the VoMi's manpowerforexpandedoperations, men. fledglingterrorapparatusrecruitedadditionalyoung Volksdeutsche Amongthe new hireswas Kirschstein's "righthand,"twenty-seven-year-old 1^"Verantwortliche von E.A.H.K.,"June4, 1962,Staatsarchiv Vernehmung Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-001, Band 1, 126. "Aussagevon H.K.," January 28, Landgericht Land1963,BAL, B162/2301,130. "Aussagevon EH.," May25, 1964,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003,Band5, 894. "Betr:Verbrechen gericht gegendieMenschlichkeit. / Beschuldigter: NSG 0589H.K.," April16, 1962,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 006 / Sonderband 1, 3. "Aussagevon R.S." Tanuarv 29, 1963,BAL, B162/2301,130-31. 13"Verantwortliche vonE.A.H.K.,"February 9, 1965,Staatsarchiv Vernehmung Hamburg, 213/ 12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-003, Band6, 921. Landgericht vonR.S.,"January 29, 1963,BAL, B162/2301,132. 134"Aussage 135"SSOffizier AkteErwinNiessner," NARA, RG 242, A3343 SSO-350A,512-13. "German PoliceDecodes Nr. 2 Traffic: 6.10.42,"October10, 1942,BNA, HW 16,Piece 36, 2. "GML Nr. 140,"n.d.,BNA, HW 16,Piece 60, 126. "Aussagevon R.S.," May 9, 1962,Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12Staatsanwaltschaft LandgerichtNSG 0589-001, Band 1, 102.
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Volk.137 As hisVolksdeutsche coworkers notedafter thewar,Volkhad Johannes earneda deservedly "bad reputation" Born in priorto joiningthe unit.138 northof Odessa, Volk Baden, an ethnicGermanenclavesixtykilometers attendedGerman-language schooluntiltheage ofthirteen or fourteen, when he enrolledin a movie projectoroperatorcourse in nearbySelz. After fora traveling cinematroopand in a state-run fruit workingas a projectionist in 1938. Presumably becauseof his store,Volk becameBaden'spostmaster assumedreliability as a stateemployee,Sovietofficials exemptedhim from in the 1941. its of area a few weeks deportation August During sweep D recruitedthe polyglotVolk- one of the area'sfew later,Einsatzgruppe ethnicGermanmen- toserveasaninterpreter. tothetesremaining According of D 's former the time that it reached Sevasmembers, timony Einsatzgruppe by in Volk's unit was the mass Based on Volks topol, takingpart shootings.140 Germannaturalization from he acclimatized to the new 1944, application Nazi order.Not onlydid he listhisreligiousaffiliation in Nazi terminology as "deistic"(gottgläubig), but he also namedhis secondson, born in February fromhisCrimeandeployment to Baden,Volkrelo1942,Adolf.141 Returning catedto Odessain searchofwork. Impressed his track recordas one ofthe by ThirdReich'skillers,Kirschstein recruited Volkforthe VoMi'sterrorapparatus. Clad asan SS-Unterscharfuhrer andarmedwithbotha pistolanda submachinegun,Volkreprised hisroleas one ofNazi Germany's henchmen forthe duration ofOdessa'soccupation.144 Assistedby an experiencedgroupof Volksdeutsche killers,BereichkommandoXXV further its mandate in fall 1942 and overstepped pursuedcriminals in themidstofa breakdown who beganpreying of on thecity'sVolksdeutsche von E.E," December15, 1966, Staatsarchiv 137"Aussage Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft NSG 0589-004,Band8, 1363."AussagevonP.W.G.S.," 9, 1967,Staatsarchiv Landgericht February NSG 0589-004, Band 8, 1389. Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht vonL.L.,"October15,1963,Staatsarchiv Land138"Aussage Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band4, 667. vonJ.V.," 139"Aussage June23, 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft LandgerichtNSG 0589-003, Band 6, 1025-26. to postwar VolkservedwithEinsatzgruppe D 'sEinsatzkommando 1Ib in According testimony vonHJ.E,"July7, 1966,BAL,B 162/1060,2656. "Aussage Sevastopol. "Beschulditenvernehmung von O.H.D.N.," February 19, 1968,BAL, B 162/1062,3190. Volk,"July25, 1944, NARA, A3342-EWZ50-I075,1286. 141"Einbürgerungsantrag Johannes Volk,"July25, 1944,NARA, RG 242 / A3342-EWZ57-U100,1572. "E/G KarteJohannes Volktestified thathe movedto OdessaaroundChristmas 1941. "AussagevonJ.V.," June23, NSG 0589-003,Band6, 1026. 1965,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht ^Ibid., 1027. Volk,"July25, 1944, NARA, A3342-EWZ50-I075,1291. 144"Einbürgerungsantrag Johannes as Baden'spostmaster untilhis 1944 evacuationto Poland,Volk Listinghis wartimeactivities 1949 and ultimately to Canada."CM-1 appliedforDisplacedPersonstatusin February emigrated FileJohannes Volk,"February 24, 1949,International TracingServiceDigitalCollection,United StatesHolocaustMemorialMuseum,IRO "Care andMaintenance" 3.2.1.,79891081Program, 79891083.
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law and order.145 fellunderRomanian Althoughawarethatcriminalmatters its acrimonious conflict with Odessa's Romanian jurisdiction, given occupiers, Bereichkommando XXV'sJudicial Sectiondoubtedthattheirallieswouldtake Resolvedto stampoutcrimesagainst actionagainsttheallegedperpetrators.146 Bereichkommando XXV launcheda punitivecamVolksdeutsche themselves, Odessa's criminals. For paignagainst example,afterhearingthata pairofRussianshad kidnappeda youngVolksdeutsche woman,rapedher,and stolenher and his staff the culprits.147 As Kirschstein clothes,Kirschstein apprehended in thebeginning ... laterrecounted, "sincethetwoofthemrefused to confess I hitthemduringtheinterrogation. WhatI laterfoundout was hair-raising. of Incensedby theiroutrageouscrimes,I drovewiththemto the outskirts Odessa.... At a dip nearthe catacombsI shotbothRussiansfrombehind. The bodies were leftat the entranceto the catacombs."148 Committedto the VoMi's over Odessa's Volksdeutsche Bereichaffairs, sovereignty expanding to toleratecommoncriminals the kommandoXXV refused threatening city's Volksdeutsche. theVoMi'sdetermination to use itsauthority over Perhapsnothingtypifies in Odessa to expanditsinfluence in thecitymorethan affairs Volksdeutsche its 1943 anti-partisan missionagainstSovietforcesin the city'scatacombs. inlengthandwithmorethan160 entrances, Odessa'scatSome200 kilometers theideallairfromwhichSovietagentscouldlauncha sustained acombsprovided thecity'soccupiers.149 underground campaign against Although quasi-dormant in Odessa'scatacombs midSoviet remained a thornin the after 1942, partisans Romanian forces sideofthecity'soccupiersthat onlyperiodically engaged.150 womanappearedat Bereichkommando XXV's When a youngVolksdeutsche commandpostwitha fantastic storyaboutherservicewiththecity'ssubterrato neanfifth column,Goerbigandhiscolleaguespouncedon theopportunity resolveOdessa'spartisan problem. theverypregnant formermedicalschoolstudent As Beck laterrecounted, had conceiveda childwithherRussianhusband,a Red Armylieutenant stationedin the catacombs.In exchangeforprenatalcare forher in Odessa's and workas a double VoMi-runhospital,her husbandagreedto surrender fromShyrokolanivka, withSonderkommando R personnel agent.Reinforced - includingits Volksdeutsche the entirety of Bereichkommando XXV's staff auxiliaries,Hummel and Volk- cordoned off SobornayaPloshad', the und Odessa, 35. 145Völkl,Tmnsnistrien
1^"Verantwortliche von E.A.H.K,"June4, 1962,Staatsarchiv Vernehmung Hamburg,213/12 NSG 0589-001, Band 1, 141. Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht von E.A.H.K," February9, 1965, Staatsarchiv "Verantwortliche Hamburg, Vernehmung NSG 0589-003, Band 6, 131-32. Landgericht 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft lwIbid.,131. 149Dallin, Odessa,1941-1944, 221. 15üIbid.,227.
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surrender. So as not to locationforthe Red Armylieutenant's prearranged of uniformed SS the man the assigned by sight personnel, Goerbig spook thewomanto themeetingpointand to waitwithherfor Beck to accompany her husbandon a parkbench.When the man arrived,theyproceededto of Odessa's XXV's headquarters. Under the supervision Bereichkommando the Soviet officer Oberstleutnant chiefAbwehr Schindler,151 officer, Johannes to used his prearranged radiofrequency and codes to spreadmisinformation hisRed Armysuperiors, who recognizedtheruse. Althoughunsuccessful, the measuresunderscores Bereichkommando XXV's forayinto anti-partisan unit'seffort to use its limitedauthority over Volksdeutsche mattersas an in Odessa. entréeto expandedinfluence terror inserted theSS intothebailiWhiletheVoMi'sLilliputian apparatus to police "Germandom's" wick of Odessa'sRomanianoccupiers,its efforts boundarieswere ineffective. As the VoMi preparedto evacuateOdessa in XXV'sstaff a finalselection March Bereichkommando 1944, implemented early who denied to thatironically Odessians beingVolksdeutsche. attempted punish the evacuation order its local ethnic German through precinct Relaying captains to reportto the city's the VoMi commandedall Volksdeutsche (Obmänner), to Poland.As one oftheevacGermanschoolwiththeirluggageforevacuation "it was madeclearto us thatthosewho did notfollowthe ueeslatertestified, thattheVoMi carried orderwould be shot.". Anecdotalevidencesuggests bakerrefused to separatefrom out itsthreat.155 When Odessa'sVolksdeutsche his ethnically Russianwife and evacuatewith the Germans,for example, Bereichkommando XXV's death squad allegedlygunned him down.156 151 des Herres/ Herres-Personalamt Personalakte fürSchindler, "Oberkommando Johannes," NARA, RG 242,A-3356,Reel 743. Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft "Aussagevon E.S.," November12, 1963, Staatsarchiv Kirschstein confirmed BereichkomNSG 0589-003, Band5, 748-49. Independently Landgericht von E.A.H.K," February9, mandoXXV's anti-partisan mission."Verantwortliche Vernehmung NSG 0589-003, Band 6, 1965, Staatsarchiv Hamburg,213/12 Staatsanwaltschaft Landgericht 927-28. in Odessa'scatacombs wasnotthefirst 153Bereichkommando XXV'scounterinsurgency operation In December1941, theWehrmacht in flushing out partisans. offered their Germaninvolvement - an offer in locatingand capturing Romanianalliestechnical assistance Sovietsubterranean forces thatOdessa'sRomanianadministrators der Deutschen acceptedin early1942. "Verbindungsstab furTransnistrien Abt.Ia / Betr.:ReinigungOdessasvon Partisanen," December17, Wehrmacht 1941,RG-31.004M,Reel 2, Fond2242,Opis 1, Ed. Hr. 1083,130. Daliin,Odessa,1941-Í944, 227. confirms vonJ.G."July30, 1962,BAL, B162/2297,39. Otherpostwartestimony 154"Aussage thisdraconianevacuationorder."Aussagevon L.L.," October15, 1963, Staatsarchiv Hamburg, NSG 0589-002, Band4, 668. Staatsanwaltschaft 213/12 Landgericht 1 5DallinnotesthattheSS's ofethnicGermans fromTransnistria waspartially involunevacuation tary.Dallin,Odessa,1941-1944, 243. Land4, 1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, "AussagevonF.F.,"September 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft gerichtNSG 0589-002, Band 4, 615. "AussagevonJ.G.,"July30, 1962,BAL, B162/2297,40. Anotherwitnesstestified thatthe man mutilatedhis hand to avoid evacuation."Aussagevon
POLICING THE BOUNDARIES OF "GERMANDOM"
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thecity'sdenizens underwho resisted evacuation asVolksdeutsche Threatening minedtheSS'smissionto identify the Odessa'sethnicGermans bydiluting cateand racial Given that ethnic German statusprovided gory's political"purity" withan opportunity to fleethe Sovietadvance,escaping Odessa'sresidents the cityas a Volksdeutscher to manyOdessianswho might provedattractive as such.As the evacueeswereto not otherwise havechosento be identified colonize German-occupied reluctantand oftensuspect Poland,impressing into evacuationtransports threatened the Nazi Volksdeutsche merelyfurther with an ethnic that the VoMi could Confronted reality populationproject. notcontrol, Bereichkommando XXV'sincreased coercionbecameselfsabotage. *
*
*
tenuousness oftheconcept[of'ethnicGerBergenhasnotedthat"theessential contributed to the of anti-semi tisminEastern manness'] production Europe."157 to "make"and Thissametenuousness alsoshapedtheVoMis bloodyattempts in Odessa.The city'sethnicGermaninhabitants "unmake"Volksdeutsche presentedtheSS withtantalizing fora futureGermanoutpostto chalprospects lenge long-termRomanian influencein southernUkraine's entrepôt. inTransnistria, itslargest andmostsophisticated Bereichkommando Dispatching theVoMi attempted to succorOdessa'sVolksdeutsche through specialaccessto and looted and to the food,housing, Jewish property nazify city'sethnicGerman intensive and educational initiatives. residents Nevertheless, through propaganda theSS fearedthatOdessa'sfluidethnicboundaries threatened itsentiredemotheracial"worth"ofthecity'sVolksdeutsche resigraphicprojectbydegrading oftheVolksgemeinschaft in Odessa,theSS, aidedby dents.To identify members but ultimately local Volksdeutsche women,undertookan extensive, failed, fromtheir ethnicclassification campaign.Unable to separateVolksdeutsche fellowOdessiansthroughclassification, the VoMi, again assistedby local ethnicGermans, to frustrate areaRomanianauthorities expandedearlierefforts to murder Volksdeutsche Staffed withpersystematically suspected "imposters." localcriminals andpartisans, sonnelforoperations Odessa'sVoMiofficers against into usedtheirpurviewoverVolksdeutsche affairs to insertGermaninfluence the bailiwickof the city'sRomanianoccupiers.Not only did the VoMi's failto dislodgeRomanianinfluence, butusingcoercionto expandedactivities to dilutefurther the boundariesin retreatthreatened police Germandom's evenreluctant "purity"ofthecity'sethnicGermanpopulation byencouraging to fleewiththeSS. residents NSG 0589L.L.,"October15,1963,Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Landgericht 213/12Staatsanwaltschaft 002,Band4, 668. 570. '"'Bergen,"The Nazi Conceptof'Volksdeutsche,'"
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ofthe a previously understudied dimension to thehistory Beyondrecovering ofVoMi ethnicGerman Germanoccupationof theSovietUnion,an analysis thepracticeof Volksdeutsche underscores classification, policy,and especially orders threebroadertrends.First,disregarding to maintain good superiors' used their relations withtheThirdReich'sRomanianallies,local SS officials to expandGermaninfluence in Odessa overethnicGermanmatters authority when confronted with a local ethnic that Second, reality proved dramatically. to earlierandtortured SS difficult to classify, evenin comparison exceptionally efforts the selected murder as techVolksdeutsche VoMi a registration elsewhere, boundaries"in theeast."Andfinally, niqueto policeGermandom's imaginary welfare Odessa's VoMi unit'srapid evolutionfroma Nazi Volksdeutsche to a to an ethnic classification death unit, squadprovidedopportunities agency, localwomen,to contribute forarearesidents, andparticularly to,andin some to the of destruction at the level. to instances, help guide machinery grassroots Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
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