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For many years, the history of Byelorussia under Nazi occupation was written primarily from the perspective of the resistance movement. This movement, a reaction to the brutal occupation policies, was very strong indeed. Still, as the author shows, there existed in Byelorussia a whole web of local institutions and organizations which, some willingly, others with reservations, participated in the implementation of various aspects of occupation policies. The very sensitivity of the topic of collaboration has prevented researchers from approaching it for many years, not least because in the former Soviet territories ideological considerations have played an important role in preserving the topic's "untouchable" status. Focusing on the attitude of German authorities toward the Byelorussians, marked by their anti-Slavic and particularly anti-Byelorussian prejudices on the one hand and the motives of Byelorussian collaborators on the other, the author clearly shows that notwithstanding the postwar trend to marginalize the phenomenon of collaboration or to silence it altogether, the local collaboration in Byelorussia was clearly visible and pervaded all spheres of life under the occupation.
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THE KINGS AND THE PAWNS Studies on War and Genocide General Editors: Omer Bartov, Brown University; A. Dirk Moses, University of Sydney Volume 1 The Massacre in History Edited by Mark Levene and Penny Roberts Volume 2 National Socialist Extermination Policies: Contemporary German Perspectives and Controversies Edited by Ulrich Herbert Volume 3 War of Extermination: The German Military in World War II, 1941/44 Edited by Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann Volume 4 In God’s Name: Genocide and Religion in the Twentieth Century Edited by Omer Bartov and Phyllis Mack Volume 5 Hitler’s War in the East, 1941–1945 Rolf-Dieter Müller and Gerd R. Ueberschär Volume 6 Genocide and Settler Society: Frontier Violence and Stolen Indigenous Children in Australian History Edited by A. Dirk Moses Volume 7 Networks of Nazi Persecution: Bureaucracy, Business, and the Organization of the Holocaust Edited by Gerald D. Feldman and Wolfgang Seibel Volume 8 Gray Zones: Ambiguity and Compromise in the Holocaust and Its Aftermath Edited by Jonathan Petropoulos and John K. Roth Volume 9 Robbery and Restitution: The Conflict over Jewish Property in Europe Edited by M. Dean, C. Goschler and P. Ther Volume 10 Exploitation, Resettlement, Mass Murder: Political and Economic Planning for German Occupation Policy in the Soviet Union, 1940–1941 Alex J. Kay Volume 12 Empire, Colony, Genocide: Conquest, Occupation and Subaltern Resistance in World History Edited by A. Dirk Moses Volume 13 The Train Journey: Transit, Captivity, and Witnessing in the Holocaust Simone Gigliotti Volume 14 The ‘Final Solution’ in Riga: Exploitation and Annihilation, 1941–1944 Andrej Angrick and Peter Klein Volume 15 The Kings and the Pawns: Collaboration in Byelorussia during World War II Leonid Rein THE KINGS AND THE PAWNS Collaboration in Byelorussia during World War II Leonid Rein Berghahn Books New York • Oxford Published in 2011 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com ©2011 Leonid Rein All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed in the United States on acid-free paper. ISBN