A new academic publication on Holocaust history in Ukraine
Before and during the retreat of the Wehrmacht 1943/44 Ukraine became an arena of mass violence. Until spring 1944, Wehrmacht units, police, SS and SD began committing mass killings in different manners. As a part of the guerilla-war concept (Bandenkampf) they burned down villages and killed or deported their residents, stole their food and products.
Among others, the book “Ukraine 1944/45. Loyalty and Violence during the turning point of the war” (original: “Loyalitäten und Gewalt im Kontext der Kriegswende”) by the German writer Johannes Spohr deals with various collective and individual reactions of Ukraines population towards the turning point of the war.
Due to various reasons, more and more people changed to the Soviet force in 1943, the author calls this process re-Sovietization.
On the other hand, during this period many Ukrainians joined the Wehrmacht or fled to the west. It was from the very beginning of the war that Ukrainians were drawn to build formations, which supported the occupational force, for example the Ukrainian auxiliary police.
Such formations supported the further polarization of Ukrainian people.
Announcements
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Bulletin «Lessons of the Holocaust», № 1 (85), 2026
Dear colleagues! The fresh issue of information-pedagogical bulletin of UCHS «Lessons of the Holocaust», № 1 (85), January-March, 2026 has been published.
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Seminar “How to Talk About the Holocaust with Schoolchildren” (March 27–29, 2026, Kyiv)
On March 27–29, 2026, Kyiv hosted a methodological seminar How to Talk About the Holocaust with Schoolchildren for graduates of the online course of the same name.
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Filling the Silence: Stories of Survivors of the Babyn Yar shootings
The media outlet Local History has published an essay by one of our researchers, Tetiana Shyshkina, historian and PhD candidate at the University of Hesse. For the Stolpersteine project, she and her sister researched and prepared the biography of Rakhil Kozyra - a deeply personal story.
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Call for Applications: International Seminar ‘The Holocaust as a Starting Point’
The Holocaust as a Starting Point (HSP) program, launched by the Mémorial de la Shoah and partners, supports Holocaust education through international teacher training. Within the “Polish-Ukrainian Dialogue,” the Polish Centre for Education Development (ORE), the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies, and the Mémorial de la Shoah will host two seminars for 45 teachers from Ukraine and Poland.
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Challenges of Today” on the UCHS YouTube Channel
Recordings of the presentations from the XIX Annual Roundtable “Holocaust Commemoration and the Ukrainian Society: Heritage and the Challenges of Today” are now available on the official YouTube channel of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies.
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