Administration and security personnel of Nazi concentration camps in the occupied territory of Ukraine: Criminal activity 108 and a socio-psychological portrait

The aim of the article is to analyze the activities, social composition and psychological motivation of the administrative and security personnel of the Nazi concentration camps in the occupied territory of Ukraine - the Janowska Concentration Camp in Lviv and Syrets in Kiev. The source base of the research is presented by materials from Russian and foreign archives: State Archive of the Russian Federation (Russia), Yad Vashem Archive (Israel), Archive of the Security Service (Ukraine), Holocaust Memorial Archive (USA). In particular, the testimonies of former prisoners, criminal cases against the administrative and security personnel of the concentration camps convicted in the postwar trials were analyzed. As a result of the research, the author has come to a conclusion that the chief figure in the administration of the concentration camps was the commandant. The official commandants of the concentration camp in Lviv were Gustav Willhaus and Friedrich Warzok. The commandant of the Syretsky Camp in Kiev was Paul Radomsky. All of them not only initiated crimes in the camps, but also took part in the murders. In the article, the author considers the security staff of the concentration camp in Janowska, which was represented by the Dirlewanger Division, as well as by several battalions of "Trawniki". The concentration camp in Kiev was guarded by representatives of the 23rd SD battalion. The author notes that the social portrait of the commandants and guards of the Janowska and Syrets concentration camps coincided with the similar characteristics of the functionaries of other concentration camps in the occupied territory of the Soviet Union. Commandants were middle-aged Nazis, with a low level of education, focused on the unquestioning execution of orders of higher management. The absolute majority of guards were similar to commandants in terms of age and social background. The article emphasizes that among the commandants, functionaries predominated, who tried to carry out orders without thinking about ethical problems. The permission for crimes obtained from the superior leaders allowed them to feel their impunity, or to present themselves completely innocent. The only thing they were worried about was their personal well-being, trying to get the maximum benefit from their position and considering their appointments in the camp hierarchy as promotion. The author comes to a conclusion that guards also used their position to advance their career in the Nazi hierarchy, or at least to improve their existence at the expense of others. The article emphasizes that guards, who received power for the first time in their life, who in fact had the sanction for unlimited terror, used it without thinking about the consequences. Even in cases where the leaders of the camps did not require the use of violence against prisoners, the collaborators showed their own initiative. Moreover, crimes committed within a group turned individual responsibility into a collective one.

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