Critical Analysis of Identification of Jewish Victims Based on the Materials of the Extraordinary State Commission of the U.S.S.R. About Nazi Crimes on the Territory of the District of Galicia

The purpose of the article is to trace the peculiarities of identifi cation of Jewish victims in the documents of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders and Their Accomplices and the Damage They Caused to Citizens, Collective Farms, Public Organizations, State Enterprises and Institutions of the USSR (ChGK) on Holocaust studies in the District of Galicia. A scientifi c novelty of the study lies in the fi rst attempt to investigate the identifi cation of Jewish victims in the materials of the Extraordinary State Commission in the territory that was a part of the District of Galicia. The article identifi es typical ways of describing Nazi crimes against the Jewish population, reveals the relationship between the construction of the myth of the great victory and the activities of the Commission, traces common and different things in the documents at different levels of its work, starting from district departments up to the conclusions of the Republican and All-Union commissions. Practical examples of identifying Jewish victims of Nazis are given. In our study we use historical-comparative and historical-typological methods. We analyze archival materials and draw conclusions about the lack of consideration of Nazi victims on national grounds. Jews were mostly classifi ed as «peaceful Soviet citizens». In no way did the particularly tragic fate of these people stand out in the Commission's reports at the highest levels. In this way, the very memory of the Jewish community was leveled. After all, the absence of a national principle in the study of the Holocaust is the absence of one of the main features of genocide. Jews were persecuted for being Jews, not Soviet citizens. In addition, it should be noted that in the acts of lower level Commissions, such as district ones, there is a national principle. Conclusion. In general, thanks to this study, we can say that the Jewish victims are mostly spoken about among the categories of «peaceful Soviet citizens». Usually they were mentioned in the «mixed style». It means that the word combination Jewish victims appeared just in the one part of the document and there is nothing about that in the other parts. They were mentioned either in the text of the document, or in the conclusions, or in the statistics at the end. Rarely the Jews are spoken about with specifi c clarifi cations of nationality and special destiny. Hardly ever the personalization of the victims existed.