The Chief of the Security Police and Security Police

Berlin,
October 13, 1941

50 copies
-------------
(36th copy)

OPERATIONAL SITUATION REPORT No. 112

................

Einsatzgruppe C

Location: Kiev Bolshevism and Jewry

The population's attitude towards these two problems in the areas of Kiev, Poltava, and Dniepropetrovsk is the same as has been observed elsewhere in the Ukraine. The population rejects Bolshevism almost without exception, since there is practically no family which has not lost one or more members through Bolshevik deportation or killing. Also, the Ukrainians had been free farmers and independent in ancient Russia and have not forgotten that everything was taken from them when forced into the collective farms. The number of Ukrainians who joined the Communist party out of conviction is surprisingly low.

Only the young people who have neither seen nor heard of anything else but Communism and its "successes and achievements" allow themselves to be captivated by the Communist ideology. Yet even in this group one finds few fanatics and really convinced fighters. German propaganda will not have difficulty in promoting a complete change in this attitude. In order to begin the process of such a re-education, and as long as the powerful battle is still fresh in the minds of the Ukrainians, propaganda, lectures, performances, films, radio and periodicals should be introduced.

The Ukrainian rejects Judaism together with Communism, as it was mainly Jews who were officials of the Communist Party. The Ukrainians had the opportunity to discover that practically only the Jews enjoyed the advantages connected with membership in the Communist Party, especially in its leading positions. The population is, however, unaware of real anti-Semitism based on rural and ideological principles. There are no leading personalities and no spiritual impetus within the Ukrainian population to trigger off persecution since all remember the harsh punishments inflicted by the Bolsheviks against anyone who attacked the Jews. For instance, whoever called the Jews "Zhid" (Yid) (which was at that time a curse word) and not "Evrei" (Hebrew), was sent to prison. However, if an impulse comes from any side and should the population be given a free hand, an extensive persecution of the Jews could result.
(The Einsatzgruppen Reports by Yitzak Arad, Shmuel Krakowski and Shmuel Spector, editors. p. 187-8)