The Red Army and Jewish Holocaust Survivors in Transcarpathian Ukraine

• In Event: Legacies of WWII and the Holocaust in Ukraine: New Research, Archival Discoveries, and Local Memory

Abstract

The Red Army liberated Transcarpathia in late October 1944, swiftly expelling the German and Hungarian forces. Previously known as Subcarpathian Rus’ when it was part of Czechoslovakia from 1919 to 1939, the region was annexed by the Soviet Union in June 1945. Following the Red Army takeover in 1944, the Soviets established control over newly established local governments on all administrative levels and initiated mass military conscription in the region. The Czech government also attempted mobilization efforts, in spite of the uncertainty over the region’s future political status.

This period coincided with the return of Holocaust survivors to Transcarpathia. Their perceptions of the Red Army varied: some viewed Red Army as liberators, others as oppressors, while some chose to join the Red Army to fight Germans. This study investigates the interactions, tensions, and instances of cooperation between the Red Army personnel and Jewish survivors. By analysing archival materials, memoirs and testimonies from both Jewish survivors and Red Army soldiers, this study aims to explain why, unlike in neighbouring Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, interethnic relations in Transcarpathia did not escalate into open confrontation and violence. Additionally, the study explores the Red Army’s role in shaping these processes.

Author

• Pavlo Khudish, Uzhhorod National U (Ukraine)