Ukrainian reaction to opression.

[Thomas_Anthony_Davies]

I've been encountering many negative opinions concerning Ukrainian agression (in WWII, etc.) and was wondering if anyone had an opinion on the matter. Personal e-mail is great, but I think it would be an interesting topic to discuss. Thanks.

[marina_555]

Hi, I did not quite get your message...
Do you mean that Ukraine was an agressor during the WWII? What do you want to discuss?

[grandma]

Who was the victim of Ukrains???? Russia or Germany????????????

[LiamMcDonald]

Greetings,

Ukraine was at a loss during WWII because the people were torn between the German SS killing anyone with communist ties and the Red Army either in full retreat during the sumer of 42 or advancing in the fall of 43 and killing any German sympathizers. The Cosacks even joined the struggle against the Russians thinking that they would be rewarded with a sovereign country in the event of a German victory. This however was total bull**** as all they would have got was a train ride to Sobibor. The Jews were totally decimated and the peasants slaughtered. The only aggression that I can think of was when the Germans paid Ukrainian sympathizers to help the SS in their systematic killing of the Jews, Gypsies and Communists. But these guys were mostly made up of criminals from the jails.

[Thomas_Anthony_Davies]

There were Ukrainian police forces that aided the German SS in the massacre of Jews in the Ukraine, and as far as I know they were only initially drawn from prisons. As for one good example of these police units 'agression': At Babi Yar the SS were aided by police in that region. Also, there is accounts of Ukrainians leading the SS (under their own intiative) to places where Jewish people were hiding. I'm in no way trying to paint the Ukrainian people as being the 'bad guy' in WWII (I don't I was very clear in my first post...sorry :-]), but there are documented cases of violence, and I was just wondering what the pyschology behind it was.

[grandma]

In every country there was collaboracionist with Nazis. Or Vlasov didn't fight against Russians and kill people in Ukraine, etc.?

[LiamMcDonald]

Very true. Even England and the United States had them.