Alliance For Murder: The Nazi-Ukrainian Nationalist Partnership

By: Sabrin, B. F.

Ukrainian insurgents sided with the Germans after they invaded the Soviet Union, but ended up participating in massacres of Jews rather than front-line service against the Russians.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0962761303
• ISBN13: 9780962761300
• Release Date: October 1991
• Publisher: Hachette Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.0" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Better Title: The Holocaust of West-Podolian Jews

Most of this work rests upon Jewish eyewitness testimonies, not Soviet documents. Contrary to the title, and to the reactions of the negative reviewers who probably haven't read this book, Ukrainian-Nazi collaboration is a secondary issue. The main topic is the fate of the Jews of Tarnopol (Ternopil) and Trembowla (Terebovlia). Some were gassed at Belzec, others were locally shot; a few hid. Excepting those who had been in the USSR, less than 1% of the Jews of those two cities survived the Holocaust. (p. 34, 154). Sabrin is perceptive in realizing that the "resettlement" provisions of GENERALPLAN OST shouldn't be taken literally. It called for the eventual extermination of at least 120-140 million Slavs. (pp. 12-13). Nor is this a bash-Ukrainians work, as there is frequent mention of gentile (including Ukrainian) rescuers of Jews. Elaboration is made of a Polish-Ukrainian family (p. 110, 119-120), and of various Polish rescuers. (p. 27, 208, 219), including the Polish Underground. (p. 128). Nor are Jews exempt from criticism by other Jews. "World Jewry" is fingered for its silence during the Holocaust (p. 33), and the Judenrats are described as institutions whose originally-benevolent members were replaced by entirely self-serving ones. (pp. 26-28). Jewish individuals who showed Germans the hidden bunkers (not at gunpoint, as in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising) are described as scoundrels. (p. 33). Goldfliess touches on the Zydokomuna: "When the Soviet army arrived initially, young leftist Jews came out of hiding; those who had left Hashomer Hatzair and those who belonged to the Communist underground movement that had been banned in Poland...They enlisted in the Red Militia and wanted to help the new regime set up an administration in the towns and cities." (p. 45). A quoted 1938 Ukrainian Nationalist newspaper proclaimed a direct correspondence between the OUN, Hitlerism, and fascism (p. 15), while a 1941 one gave direct ideological support to (not merely tactical cooperation with) Hitler. (p. 225). Back in 1932, a Ukrainian newspaper, META, alluded to the genocidal plans of the OUN: "Ukrainian Nationalism must be prepared to employ every means in the struggle...not excluding mass physical extermination, even if millions of human beings, physical entities, are its victims." (p. 231). The OUN militias killed many Jews and Poles, on their own soon after the 1941 German invasion, and subsequently in collaboration with the Germans. (e. g., pp. 219-222). The OUN-UPA genocide of rural Poles came later. (pp. 138-139). The presence of Jewish physicians in the UPA has been cited as proof that it wasn't anti-Semitic. Actually, Jewish doctors were recruited because there was a shortage of doctors, and, with few exceptions, they were all later murdered. (p. 34, 119, 139).