M.52.DAKhO - Documentation from the State Archives of the Kharkov Region

M.52.DAKhO - Documentation from the State Archives of the Kharkov Region History of the Archives: The archive was established in 1880 by members of the Historical-Philological Society of the University of Kharkiv, and was called the Historical Archives of Kharkiv. In 1920 the archive received the name, the Central Historical Archives affiliated with the education department of the Kharkiv sub-division. The Regional Historical Archives of Kharkiv was established in 1926, to which documentation was transferred from the Central Historical Archive. In March 1932 the Regional Historical Archives in Kharkiv was established, in which materials from the Regional Historical Archives and the Municipal Archives were concentrated. Following the order given by the NKVD SSSR in June 1940, the archive received the new name, the Regional State Archives in Kharkiv. Starting in March 1941, the collections in the Military-Historical Archives in Kharkov were transferred to the Archives. During the German occupation period the Archives continued its activities after it was evacuated to the city of Zlatoust in the Chelyabinsk region. The Archives renewed its activity in the city of Kharkiv in October 1943 as the State Archives of the Kharkov Region, and was subordinate to the regional office of the NKVD. As of 1958 it was once again called the Regional State Archives in Kharkiv. From June 1960 the archive became subordinate to the Executive Committee of the regional council in Kharkov. In August 1980 its name was changed to the Regional State Archives in Kharkiv. In the early 1990s the collections from the Regional Archive of the Communist Party were transferred to the Archives. Historical background: Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, over 100,000 of the city's Jews departed in the direction of the East. Some of the Jews were evacuated by the authorities, and others escaped on their own initiative. Kharkov fell to the Germans on 23/10/1941. From the start of the German occupation, the Jews were considered as hostages and were executed for the violation of each and every order given by the Germans. According to a census carried out by order of the Germans, the number of Jews in the city was 10,271. However, it can be assumed that not all of the Jews presented themselves to be counted in the census. The general population was allotted small food rations. The Jews, however, were allotted food rations that were only 40% of the norm that was allotted to the general population. The municipal administration ordered the Jews to select a Judenrat on 03/11/1941, which was headed by a Professor of Medicine named Gurevich. In mid-November 1941, members of the anti-German [anti-Nazi] underground exploded five buildings in which the Germans' headquarters and institutions were located. In retaliation, the Germans murdered approximately 1,000 hostages, most of whom were Jews. The local Ukrainian authority instituted a ban on work by Jews in public institutions and obligated the Jews to wear a special armband on 22/11/1941. The Jews were concentrated in one of the city's quarters. The Ukrainian authorities likewise pointed out to the attention of the Germans that the local residents wanted to carry out anti-Jewish measures. At the same time, Sonderkommando 4a arrived to the city under the command of Paul Blobel. In coordination with the municipality, it was decided to concentrate the Jews in the workers' barracks of a machinery factory and a tractor factory. The Jews were ordered on 14/12/1941 to move there within two days. The policemen who escorted the transfer of the Jews to the barracks abused the Jews, including robbing the Jews of their belongings and food. During their transfer, the Jews were forced to sleep outside under the open sky; many of the Jews froze to death, and 305 Jews were murdered. The ghetto consisted of 26 barracks without doors, windows, flowing water, sewage facilities or heating. The ghetto was surrounded by a barbed-wire fence and guards. The Jews were banned from exiting the ghetto, and violators could expect punishment by death. No food was supplied to the ghetto's inmates, and the purchase of food goods was banned. Only women were permitted to draw water from the well, during the course of only one hour in the afternoon. Many of the Jews were forced to drink water from melted snow. All of the barracks were filled with many Jews living in conditions of overcrowding, and there was a ban against the removal of the corpses of the many people who died of starvation and disease. At the same time, the authorities continued the theft of the Jews' property; the Jews were required to supply the policemen with warm clothing and even with money so the policemen could purchase liquor for the Christmas holiday. The Germans murdered approximately 200 mentally ill Jews on 24/12/1941. On 26/12/1941, registration was made of Jews who volunteered without choice to depart for labor in Poltava, Romny and Kremenchug. Trucks arrived to the ghetto the following day and approximately 500 of the volunteers were crowded into the trucks. They were taken outside the city and murdered. By late December 1941, approximately 500 other Jews were murdered. The ghetto was liquidated during 02-08/01/1942. The sick and disabled people were transferred on trucks and the other inmates of the ghetto walked on foot, under the guard of Waffen-SS and Sicherheitsdienst - SD men, to the murder site - to two large trenches prepared in Drobitskii Yar, near the city, where men from the Schutzpolizei (Schupo) murdered the Jews. By late 1942, another 64 Jews in Kharkov were captured and murdered. Included in the collection is documentation of the municipal administration in Kharkiv, 1941-1944; documentation of the municipal Kommandantur in Kharkiv, 1941-1944; documentation of the local office for economy and administration in Kharkiv, 1942-1943; documentation of the administration of neighborhood no. 5 in Kharkiv, 1941-1943.