When the Germans came were you happy or sad?

 

A lot of people were hoping for liberation from the communists. Ukrainians in the countryside, not in the city, were hoping that the Germans would let them have some self-government. Many of them welcomed the Germans and were hoping for the best.

 

It was in the countryside that the Ukrainians welcomed them with salt and bread –that’s their custom to welcome people. Others said, let the Germans get rid of the communists and then let the British get rid of the Germans. But my parents were more intelligent than that. They felt that no matter how terrible the regime is, you’re governed by your own people, and you don’t know what to expect from someone else.

 

Communist propaganda was telling us about the Jews being exterminated. At that time nobody trusted what the government said, but the communists did know about it and told us. The communists also told about other things but we didn’t know how much to believe. On the other hand, it was a warning that maybe there is some truth to it. Maybe it was exaggerated, but the truth may be there. So we were quite leery and did not welcome the Germans. Most people in the city felt the same way we did.

 

But the Germans were so stupid. They began to tell everyone that the Russians were Asiatic and therefore a lower race and were practically uncivilized morons. And then this is what they did with the Ukrainians — the Nazis would come and they would take all the able-bodied people to send away as slave labor. They would raid markets. This is why my mother never went to a market. They would take everybody over fourteen and older. I was very tall for my age, so the second year my mother was very worried about me too. Your child might go outside to play and you’d never see them again. They would be in Germany working in a factory. They called them Ostarbeiter and they had to wear some armbands and they were like slave labor. They were not totally free. 

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The very same Ukrainian peasants who thought the Germans were going to free them from communists went into the woods and became partisans (guerrilla fighters). They began shooting and bombing and destroying anything to do with the Germans. It helped Germans loose the war. There was a very active Ukrainian underground.

 

Now the Germans also had something to fear. We had only rumors about how the war was proceeding, but it became obvious in the spring of 1943 that the Germans were retreating. As the front line was approaching the anxiety was increasing. Most people did not like the Nazis, but they were also afraid of the Soviets. The Soviets used to say that there were no prisoners of war, only traitors. There was a rumor that everyone that lived under Soviet occupation would be sent to Siberia.