The Baltic, Poland, and Occupied U.S.S.R.:

Liquidation of Jews and Persecution and Killing of Slavic Peoples

I. Historical Background

A. Ethnic Diversity

Residents of Durashna shtetl, 1929

Jewish farm, Poland

Sholem Aleichem’s Tevye stories

B. Shifting Political Control

Europe, 1900

Europe, 1937

C. Ideological DiversityD. Conclusion

II. The War

A. Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact

Molotov signs the pact. Moscow, August 23. 1939.

B. Invasion of Poland1. German - September 1,

19392. Soviet - September 17,

1939

German troops breaking through a barrier at the Polish border

Racial Policy on treating the population of occupied Poland

Memorial Service, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw, Sept. 17, 2000

Znachki from labor camps

C. Incorporation of Baltic States into the Soviet Union - 1940

D. German invasion of the Soviet Union - June 1941

III. Reactions to Invasion

A. PolesB. JewsC. Baltic States

D. Soviet Union1. Famine-Terror - 1930-332. Terror - 1934-39

Famine victims

Ukrainians welcome German troops, June 1941

Soviet partisans in Minsk prior to execution by the Nazis

Europe, 1942

IV. Impact of Holocaust &War

A. Human cost

How Many Jews Were Murdered

B. Social dislocationC. Territorial changes

Europe, 1945

V. Historical Evaluation

A. Under Soviet dominationB. Who were the victims?

1. Poles or Jews?

Pawiak Prison Museum

Pawiak Prison Museum

Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, Warsaw

Memorial Tablet dedicated to Janusz Korczak

18 Mila Street

Umschlagplatz Wall Monument

The site of the Ghetto

Warsaw Uprising Monument

Warsaw Uprising Monument

Symbol of the Home Army

Little Insurgent Monument

Warsaw after the Uprising

2. Jews or “victims of fascism”?

Ravine at Babi Yar, 1944

Execution at Babi Yar

Memorial at Babi Yar to “the victims of fascism”

C. Who were the perpetrators?1. Nazis or Nazis and Soviets?

Nazi exhumation of Polish dead at Katyn, 1943

Monument, Warsaw

New memorial at Katyn

Khatyn Memorial

Souvenir pin from Khatyn

2. Just Germans or Germans with the assistance of the local population?

Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland by Jan T. Gross

3. Anyone who resisted the Red Army?

VI. Conclusion