the holocaust and colonialism in ukraine - Apple

12 • THE HOLOCAUST AND COLONIALISM IN UKRAINE
formulation of a state policy of genocide such as the Final Solution rested primarily
with the leadership. As the historian Ian Kershaw succinctly put it, “No Hitler, No
Holocaust.” 46 However, the leadership could pursue such a policy only with the
confidence and knowledge that it was possible. Regional leaders such as Reichenau,
Jeckeln, Blobel, and the networks that they formed with doctors, engineers, and other
professionals demonstrated to superiors that mass murder was possible and even
relatively easy to implement.
On a much broader historical level, the history of Nazi conquest and occupation
of Zhytomyr and the entire Occupied Eastern Territories resembles a European pattern
of imperial conquest, official policies of forced migration or population movement, and
mass destruction of indigenous groups. That being noted, however, it must be stressed
that the Holocaust occurred in what may have been a colonial context in some parts of
the East, but it was neither exclusively nor necessarily a colonial genocide.
Recognizing the Holocaust’s links to other genocides and historical patterns in no way
diminishes its uniqueness. Instead, such a recognition opens up new areas of research
for understanding the particular events of the Holocaust as an outgrowth (not
aberration) of German and European history.