To find Ukrainians and their stories: E-archives and e-databases as a source for the history of Nazi prisoners at Auschwitz

Abstract

This text is dedicated to the topic, not yet widely researched, of Ukrainians in Auschwitz. It presents newly discovered and previously invisible facts concerning Ukrainian prisoners in Auschwitz and reflects on three questions concerning the history of select Ukrainian regions during the Nazi occupation of 1941-44: the deportation of peasants from the so-called Zakerzonnia region; the possible fate of forced labourers from the Vinnytsia region who worked on the construction of Hitler’s “Werwolf” headquarters; and the problem of correlating the places of capture of Soviet POWs who were imprisoned in Auschwitz in October 1941 with the locations of key battles of the Kyiv offensive of July-September 1941. In all three cases, discoveries were made as a result of work with large e-databases in which data concerning former Auschwitz prisoners are collected. I show how the relevant correlations were observed and report on the documentary basis of the study.