• DOI:10.1080/00085006.2011.11092673
• Corpus ID: 159577084

The Lviv Pogrom of 1941: The Germans, Ukrainian Nationalists, and the Carnival Crowd

@article{Himka2011TheLP,
  title={The Lviv Pogrom of 1941: The Germans, Ukrainian Nationalists, and the Carnival Crowd},
  author={John-Paul Himka},
  journal={Canadian Slavonic Papers},
  year={2011},
  volume={53},
  pages={209 - 243}
}

• John-Paul Himka
• Published 1 June 2011
• Sociology
• Canadian Slavonic Papers

Abstract This study examines three actors in the Lviv pogrom of 1 July 1941: the Germans, Ukrainian nationalists, and the urban crowd. It argues that the Germans created the conditions for the outbreak of the pogrom and encouraged it in the first place. They also shot Jews en masse, both during and after the pogrom. The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) set up a short-lived government in Lviv on 30 June headed by a vehement anti-Semite. It simultaneously plastered the city with leaflets encouraging ethnic cleansing. It formed a militia that assumed leadership in the pogrom, arresting Jews for pogrom activities. The militiamen were also present at the execution of Jews. The day after the pogrom they began to work directly for the Einsatzgruppen, again arresting Jews for execution. OUN co-operated in these anti-Jewish actions to curry favour with the Germans, hoping for recognition of a Ukrainian state. OUN’s anti-Semitism facilitated assistance in anti-Jewish violence, but it was not an independent factor in the decision to stage a pogrom. The urban crowd, composed of both Poles and Ukrainians, took advantage of the particular conjuncture of high politics to act out an uninhibited script of robbery, sexual assault, beating, and murder.