04.04.2013 Views

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - ELTE BTK Történelem Szakos Portál

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

wanted to take revenge for the NKVD‘s crimes and had unleashed their grieve<br />

in pogroms. He puts this explanation in contrast to older interpretations of the<br />

events by insisting on these riots being started before the Germans could<br />

motivate the people to such reactions. 44 He further claims that the riots had<br />

been of anti-communist character whereas one not only has to understand<br />

members of the communist party, but also everyone who had been working<br />

with the Soviets. 45 <strong>The</strong> German troops, according to Bogdan Musial, only took<br />

part in already initiated riots. 46<br />

In fact, one has to look at the events from quite a different angle: When the<br />

Soviet power crashed, and when troops as well as political personal fled, a<br />

vacuum of power appeared of which the local people took advantage. 47 <strong>The</strong>y<br />

wanted revenge for everything they had had to endure during the Soviet<br />

occupation and without hesitation they turned their violence against those who<br />

were the one logical victim. 48 During the years of occupation people adapted to<br />

violence and gained the willingness to use violence themselves, on the other<br />

hand there were also material interests as well as traditional anti-Semitism and<br />

nationalism. 49 <strong>The</strong> victims that were singled out now were in most cases not the<br />

responsible ones, because those had fled eastwards.<br />

Following Dieter Pohl, Bogdan Musial has to be corrected: For once, as I<br />

showed before, the feeling of revenge had its roots in the whole period of Soviet<br />

occupation, and, additionally, the Jews became victims because of their historical<br />

role as such and because they were the weakest parts of society. <strong>The</strong> NKVD‘s<br />

44 MUSIAL, Bogdan: „Konterrevolutionäre Elemente sind zu erschießen” - Die Brutalisierung<br />

des deutsch-sowjetischen Krieges im Sommer 1941. Berlin 2001. 172.<br />

45 MUSIAL, Bogdan: „Konterrevolutionäre Elemente sind zu erschießen” - Die Brutalisierung<br />

des deutsch-sowjetischen Krieges im Sommer 1941. Berlin 2001. 193. For a similar argumentation<br />

see Honigsman, who calls the Jews a scapegoat but who contrary to Musial states that the<br />

population had been motivated by the Germans. 138.<br />

46 Parts of the discussion can be seen here: http://hsozkult.geschichte.hu-berlin.de/rezensionen/id=546<br />

21.3.2009, http://www.zeit.de/2000/36/Opfer_zu_Taetern_gemacht?page=1 21.3.2009, http://library.fes.de/<br />

fulltext/afs/htmrez/80130.htm 21.3.2009, http://h-net.msu.edu /cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=h-soz-ukult&month=0105&week=b&msg=ZHvgkM0ea75Uep<br />

82ym%2B8uA&user=&pw= 21.3.2009. In favor of<br />

Musial one has to admit that he does not take positions similar to those of the German Historikerstreit of the<br />

1980s. He explains, that he solely compares the national-socialist and soviet terror of 1939-1941, but<br />

that he will not deny the singularity of the Holocaust. 220. According to MUSIAL it were not<br />

Soviet crimes who triggered German atrocities, but seeing Soviet cruelties had brutalized the<br />

German soldiers. 221. Compare GROSS 229.: „Life was more dangerous in many respects under<br />

the Soviets than under the Nazis. And, as I have stated before, people at the time compared the<br />

two. Many, including thousands of Jews, came to this very conclusion and voted ‚with their feet.”<br />

47 OVERY, Richard: Russlands Krieg - 1941-1945, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2003. 138.<br />

48 As MUSIAL himself states: „Es kann zwar nicht ausgeschlossen werden, daß es auch ohne<br />

die sowjetischen Verbrechen zu Pogromen gekommen wäre. Aber meines Erachtens ist es<br />

unwahrscheinlich, daß sie ohne den sowjetischen Terror und die Massenmorde derart ausgeufert<br />

wären. […] Sehr oft, um nicht zu sagen meistens, diente der Vorwurf der Kollaboration mit den<br />

Sowjets als Vorwand, um mit allen Juden abzurechnen.” 199.<br />

49 POHL, Dieter: Ukrainische Hilfskräfte beim Mord an den Juden. In: PAUL, Gerhard (Ed.): Die<br />

Täter der Shoah-Fanatische Nationalsozialisten oder ganz normale Deutsche?, Göttingen, 2002. 220.<br />

178

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!