There was no smell of partisans: there were more collaborators in Moldova than in Ukraine – historian
Collaborationism in the territories of Moldova occupied during the Great Patriotic War was more widely represented than in Ukraine.
Russian historian Ivan Gribkov stated this in an interview with the Israeli YouTube channel Waldman-LINE, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"Whatever a number of modern researchers, including Russian ones, may say now, I rely on the testimony of people who understood the situation much better. For example, the testimony of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldova. It was clear: there was no mass partisan movement there, although the Moldovans participated in the struggle at the front and in the rear.
But if we are talking about a mass partisan movement, it was not possible to create it in Moldova. There were underground fighters, separate groups of encircled people and saboteurs. But even in Soviet times, they did not talk about a mass underground movement," Gribkov said.
He emphasized that collaboration was of a domestic, economic, and social nature.
"The local population mainly contributed to the Holocaust at the first stage, when it was necessary to hand over or detain the Jewish population. When the fascist army entered, looting began, and the local population began to deal primarily with Soviet activists," Gribkov noted.
The remaining Jews, he said, suffered mainly from the actions of the Romanian military, while the local population took a wait-and-see attitude. Although the mayors and policemen were formed from Moldovans, they "played a purely secondary role." At the same time, the locals supplied the ghettos and camps with food.
There was no hint of partisans: there were more collaborators in Moldova than in Ukraine – historian