The Policy of the Romanian Occupation Authorities Towards to Involve the Rural Population of Vinnitsia Region During the World War I

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to cover the policy of Romanian occupation authorities to involve in the cooperation of the Vinnitsia region rural population during the World War II. The formation of relations of the Romanian occupation administration with the local population is shown and the forms of involvement of residents of the region in cooperation are revealed. The methodological basis of the research is a combination of general scientific methods, such as methods of analysis and synthesis, and special-historical methods, in particular historical-typological and historical-systemic methods with the principles of historicism, systematicity and comprehensiveness. The scientific novelty of the article arose that for the first time in Ukrainian historiography an attempt was made to characterize the policy of Romanian occupation authorities to involve in the cooperation of the Vinnychina rural population during the Second World War. The reasons that prompted the local population to take such a step are analyzed and the ways in which the Romanian occupation authorities implemented their policy in the occupied territory are outlined. Conclusions. The fulfillment of the main task of the Romanian occupation administration in Transnistria, in particular Vinnychina, assigned to it by Nazi Germany, the economic exploitation of the region, required the involvement of the local population in this process. It is fair to admit that a certain part of the Ukrainian peasantry cooperated at the initial stage of the Romanian occupation, hoping to improve their lives under the new government and avoid the repressions that took place in the region during Soviet times. Under these circumstances, not all residents of the occupied territories should be defined as conscious collaborators. In implementing the policy of engaging Ukrainian peasants in the Vinnychina region in cooperation, the Romanian occupation authorities relied on propaganda in their actions, using research on the implementation of twenty years of Bolshevik policy in Ukrainian lands, the population's hopes for the revival of Ukrainian life and the formation of a Ukrainian state, and people's desire to survive in the difficult conditions of war. In the occupied areas, the Romanian administration used non-violent (emphasizing the repression of the Bolshevik authorities, actively using propaganda and bribery of the population) and violent (using coercion) methods against the population of Vinnychina.