Ukrainian Victims of Nazism in WWII

Ukrainian Victims of Nazism: POWs, Ostarbeiters, and Burned Villages

What did Nazi Germany's occupation mean for Ukrainians who were not Jewish? This lecture explores the colonial policies and mass crimes the Nazis committed against millions of Ukrainians during World War II.

📌 Key topics:
– Soviet POWs: Over 3.5 million died in German captivity from hunger, disease, and forced labor
– Ostarbeiters: More than 2 million Ukrainians — many teenagers — were deported to the Reich for forced labor
– Burned villages: Nazi reprisals against suspected partisan support destroyed over 300 Ukrainian villages
– Child labor and Auschwitz: Young Ukrainians, including civilians, ended up in Nazi concentration camps
– Stolen identity: Ukrainians were registered as “Russians” in Nazi documents — a colonial erasure that persists
– Repatriation or punishment? Many survivors returning to the USSR were sent to the GULAG or forced labor battalions

🪙 With testimonies from survivors like Anastasia Gulei and Ihor Malitsky, we see how Nazi and Soviet totalitarianism inflicted trauma on civilians and soldiers alike — and how Ukrainian suffering was later silenced or misattributed.

This lecture sheds light on a neglected chapter in Holocaust and World War II history.

📚 This lecture is part of the course Ukraine: The (Un)finished Second World War — exploring Ukraine in WWII, global conflict, historical narratives, and modern “memory wars” over the “Ukrainian question.” The full course with additional teaching materials and tests is available here:
https://www.udemy.com/course/ukraine-the-unfinished-second-world-war/?srsltid=AfmBOoqrwFcB17zFLVFpLttL_IT942c4rpfa5Anar_RlF9a6XQG2vzjx

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