The German army and National Socialist occupation policies in the occupied areas of the Soviet Union 1941-1943
During the Second World War, with the failure of the German invasion of the Soviet Union to maintain its momentum, large areas of captured Russian territory remained under German Army jurisdiction for the entire duration of the conflict; rather than being turned over to National Socialist civilian administrators. Evidence drawn from the files of two of the military government rear areas (KorOcks) is used in order to consider the institutional response of the Army towards this unanticipated problem. Methodological approaches associated with 'history from below' are combined with orthodox 'history from above' in order to reassess the findings of secondary literature on the topic. Particular consideration is given to primary data which describes the war from the perspective of the German soldiers who conducted policy on the ground. Initially, the controversial historical debate which has developed as to the Wehrmacht's role in the occupied areas is discussed and set against the wider background of the place of the armed forces within the Third Reich. The character and organisation of military government in the Soviet Union is then described so as to indicate the complex and difficult conditions under which the
Schulte, Theo J.
DK Russia. Soviet Union. Former Soviet Republics
The German army and National Socialist occupation policies in the occupied areas of the Soviet Union 1941-1943. During the Second World War, with the failure of the German invasion of the Soviet Union to maintain its momentum, large areas of captured Russian territory remained under German Army jurisdiction for the entire duration of the conflict; rather than being turned over to National Socialist civilian administrators. Evidence drawn from the files of two of the military government rear areas (KorOcks) is used in order to consider the institutional response of the Army towards this unanticipated problem. Methodological approaches associated with 'history from below' are combined with orthodox 'history from above' in order to reassess the findings of secondary literature on the topic. Particular consideration is given to primary data which describes the war from the perspective of the German soldiers who conducted policy on the ground. Initially, the controversial historical debate which has developed as to the Wehrmacht's role in the occupied areas is discussed and set against the wider background of the place of the armed forces within the Third Reich. The character and organisation of military government in the Soviet Union is then described so as to indicate the complex and difficult conditions under which the
german army national_socialist occupation policy occupy area soviet_union second_world_war failure german invasion soviet_union maintain momentum large area capture russian territory remain german army jurisdiction entire duration conflict rather turn national_socialist civilian administrator evidence_drawn file military government rear area use order_consider institutional response army towards unanticipated problem methodological_approach associate history combine orthodox history order reassess finding secondary_literature topic particular consideration_give primary_data describes war perspective german soldier conducted policy ground initially controversial historical_debate develop role occupy area discuss set wider background place arm_force within third_reich character organisation military government soviet_union describe indicate complex difficult condition