Religious policy of the Nazis in the occupied Podillia

Abstract

The purpose of the article is is a reproduction based on the analysis of a number of sources of the real picture of religious life in Podillia during the Nazi occupation of the region during World War II, highlighting the problem of the situation of the church and believers in the German occupation zone, revealing the true essence of the occupation authorities' use of religion as an effective mechanism for implementing their own occupation policy.The methodologe of the research is based on a combination of general scientific (chronological, problem-historical, analytical, synthesis, generalization) and special-historical (historical-topological, historical-systemic) methods with the principles of historicism, objectivity, systematicity, scientificity, and verification. Scientific novelty of the work is that, using these methods, based on the publication of a number of little-known archival and other sources, the author reveals the real essence of the religious policy of the Hitlerite invaders in the Ukrainian regions occupied by them, in particular, in Podillia. Conclusions. To implement the occupation policy in the occupied territories of Ukraine (Podillia) in order to strengthen the influence on the local population, the Nazis used the religious factor. The Nazis considered the church an important weapon in the fight against Bolshevism, since the restoration of religion, which was actually illegal in Soviet times, was supposed to demonstrate to the local population the "adherence" of the new government to it. The invaders tried to prove that with their arrival, Ukrainians had gained the religious freedom lost during the communist regime. By legalizing the church, the occupation authorities contributed to its split into the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and the Autonomous Orthodox Church. The struggle between the church camps only played into the hands of the occupation authorities. The occupation authorities also had a biased view and influence on other religious denominations. Relative freedom of religion soon became a thing of the past. Control over religious organizations was noticeably strengthened. During 1941-1944, the religious policy of the occupiers focused on securing the interests of the Third Reich and was one of the most speculative in their propaganda and agitation work. At the same time, the spiritual needs of the population were practically not taken into account.