See what "Hivi" is in other dictionaries. "Khivi" or "auxiliary service volunteers. Who are the Khivi in \u200b\u200bthe German army?"

"April wind" Prague uprising Repatriation (Issuance of the Cossacks) Personalities Armed formations National entities The organization

Formation history

Immediately after Germany's attack on the USSR, in various circles both in Germany itself and in the territories it occupied, thoughts began to be expressed about the creation of national military formations from among Soviet citizens, mainly from Karachais, as well as white emigrants. Despite the fact that A. Hitler was against the recruitment of these people to serve in the army, the Wehrmacht command, at its own peril and risk, began to accept these people for service, initially in auxiliary units (especially as translators and saboteurs for dropping into the rear of the Soviet troops) ... Some generals decided to go further and create auxiliary units from such soldiers to fight the partisans.

In accordance with the directive signed by the Chief of the General Staff of the German Ground Forces F. Halder on August 16, 1942, all divisions and units formed from Soviet citizens began to be called "eastern troops", and their servicemen - volunteers. The directive distinguished four groups of "hivi":

The total number of hivi

Since 1941, as the Wehrmacht advanced, the number of "volunteers" has steadily increased. Already in April 1942 there were 200,000 of them, and in July 1943 - already 600,000. To manage these people, a special post of "inspector general of the eastern troops" was created. From October 1943, they were included in the standard staff of the German infantry division: the number of personnel of the German infantry division by state from October 2, 1943 was "10 708 people and 2 005 civilian personnel (auxiliary workers)", under the latter, some researchers today means "hivi" (in relation to the Eastern Front). However, there is still no exact information on this issue.

The infantry division's staff, established on October 2, 1942, provided for the presence of 2,005 "civilians" for 10,708 German personnel, which was about 19% of the total number. In Army Group North, the Khivi units were known as “local military formations” (German. Einwohnerkampfverbande ), in the army group "Center" - as "order service" (German. Ordnungsdienst ), in the army group "South" - as "auxiliary guard units" (German. Hilfswachmannschaften ). In February 1943, the number of these formations was 60-70 thousand people.

As of February 1945, the hivi numbered 600,000 in the ground forces, 50,000 to 60,000 in the Luftwaffe, and 15,000 in the Kriegsmarine.

Check information.

The total number of Soviet citizens and Russian emigrants who passed through the Wehrmacht, SS troops, police and paramilitaries in 1941-45 was, according to some sources, up to 1.2 million people (including the Slavs - up to 700 thousand, representatives of the three Baltic peoples - up to 300 thousand, representatives of the Turkic, Caucasian and other small peoples - up to 200 thousand). About a third of this number are combat formations and units that fought on the fronts of World War II against the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition and in the occupied territories against partisans. These include the formations of the eastern Wehrmacht troops, the SS and the police, as well as the German special services - the Abwehr and the SD. The rest are "auxiliary service volunteers" ("hivi"), personnel of the so-called. individual auxiliary police service and local self-defense units. These categories also partly took part in hostilities and were used to replenish combat units and formations. The maximum one-time number of all categories reached 800-900 thousand people.

It should also be clarified that a significant part of these persons became citizens Soviet Union only in 1939-1940. These are some of the Baltic peoples and residents of the regions of western Belarus and Ukraine.

ROA

To raise the spirits of the volunteers, since April 1943, all Russians serving in Wehrmacht units and units or in independent Russian formations were formally enlisted in the Russian Liberation Army (ROA).

The Germans conducted active propaganda among the prisoners, suggesting that all Khivi, if returned to the USSR, would be repressed. Former servicemen of the Eastern troops spoke about this during interrogations, and this was repeatedly noted in numerous reports of political agencies of all ranks that analyzed the problem of the so-called Vlasovites.

Post-war fate

People who served as "volunteer helpers" were recognized as traitors to the Motherland. Some of them went through camps and exile in the USSR.

In the book of Joachim Hoffman, editor S.I.Drobyazko gives the following information: out of 238 thousand "Vlasovites" (which included not only soldiers and officers of the ROA, but also servicemen of Cossack units and eastern legions), transferred to the disposal of the NKVD by March 1, 1946 , 148 thousand (more than half) received 6 years of special settlement.

Write a review on the article "Hiwi"

Notes (edit)

Chuev S. // Cursed soldiers: Traitors on the side of the III Reich. - M .: Yauza; Eksmo, 2004 .-- 574 p. - (Secrets of the III Reich). - 5100 copies. - ISBN 5-699-05970-9.
Romanko O. V. Muslim legions of the Third Reich: Muslim volunteer formations in the German armed forcesah (1939-1945). Simferopol, 2000.S. 5
Drobyazko S.I., Karashchuk A. Russian Liberation Army. - M .: Eksmo, 2004 .-- S. 7.
Muller-Hillebrand B. Das Heer. 1933-1945. - Frankfurt / M, 1966. - Bd. 3. - S. 135.
Drobyazko S.I., Karashchuk A. Russian Liberation Army. - M .: Eksmo, 2004 .-- S. 3.
Drobyazko S.I. Under the banner of the enemy: Anti-Soviet formations in the German armed forces of 1941-1945. - M .: Eksmo, 2004 .-- S. 339.
Nevzorov B., Abaturov V., Morozov M., Lipatov S., Isaev A. ... RIA-Novosti (May 5, 2008). Retrieved March 17, 2012.
Sergey Drobyazko. ... www.paris2france.com. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
TsAMO. F. 32. Op. 11306, D. 231, L. 356, 358, 361; D. 772.L. 134; F. 208. Op. 2526.D. 5a. L. 443-448; F. 326. Op. 2676, D. 348, L. 4-5; F. 2. Op. 176495.D. 378, L. 76.
V. E. Zvyagintsev Part 13. Payment for betrayal: The crow was ordered to be liquidated //. - Terra, 2006 .-- S. 594 .-- 766 p. - (Two-faced Clio - versions and facts). - ISBN 9785275013092.

Literature and publications

Ordinary men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. - New York: HarperCollins, 1992. (eng.)
Europa unterm Hakenkreuz: Achtbändige Dokumentenedition. - Ergänzungsband 1: Okkupation und Kollaboration (1938-1945). Beiträge zu Konzepten und Praxis der Kollaboration in der deutschen Okkupationspolitik / Hrsg. von Bundesarchiv. - Berlin, Heidelberg, 1994. - ISBN 3-8226-2492-6. (German)
Gdański J. W. Zapomniani żołnierze Hitlera. - Warszawa, 2005. (Polish)

An excerpt characterizing Khivi

“Report to the prince that I lit the bridge,” said the colonel solemnly and cheerfully.
- And if they ask about the loss?
- A trifle! - trumped the colonel, - two hussars are wounded, and one on the spot, - he said with evident joy, unable to resist a happy smile, soundingly chopping off a beautiful word on the spot.

Pursued by a hundred thousandth French army under the command of Bonaparte, met by hostile residents, no longer trusting their allies, lacking food and forced to act outside all foreseeable conditions of war, the Russian thirty-five thousandth army, under the command of Kutuzov, hastily retreated down the Danube where it was overtaken by the enemy, and fighting back with arier-guard deeds, only as far as it was necessary in order to retreat without losing the burden. There were cases at Lambach, Amsteten and Melk; but, in spite of the courage and steadfastness, recognized by the enemy himself, with whom the Russians fought, the consequence of these deeds was only an even faster retreat. The Austrian troops, who escaped captivity at Ulm and joined Kutuzov at Braunau, now separated from the Russian army, and Kutuzov was left only to his weak, exhausted forces. Defending Vienna was out of the question. Instead of an offensive, deeply thought-out, according to the laws of a new science - strategy, war, the plan of which was transferred to Kutuzov during his time in Vienna by the Austrian Hofkriegsrat, the only, almost unattainable goal, now presented to Kutuzov, was that, without destroying the army like Mack under Ulm, join up with the troops marching from Russia.
On October 28, Kutuzov with his army crossed to the left bank of the Danube and for the first time stopped, putting the Danube between himself and the main forces of the French. On the 30th, he attacked the Mortier division on the left bank of the Danube and defeated it. In this case, the trophies were taken for the first time: a banner, guns and two enemy generals. For the first time after a two-week retreat, the Russian troops stopped and after the struggle not only held the battlefield, but drove out the French. Despite the fact that the troops were stripped, emaciated, weakened by one third by the backward, wounded, killed and sick; despite the fact that the sick and wounded were left on the other side of the Danube with a letter from Kutuzov, entrusting them with the enemy's philanthropy; despite the fact that the large hospitals and houses in Krems, turned into infirmaries, could no longer accommodate all the sick and wounded, - despite all this, the stop at Krems and the victory over Mortier significantly raised the spirit of the troops. Throughout the army and in the main apartment there were the most joyful, albeit unfair rumors about the alleged approach of columns from Russia, about some kind of victory won by the Austrians, and about the retreat of the frightened Bonaparte.
Prince Andrew was during the battle with the Austrian General Schmit, who was killed in this case. A horse was wounded under him, and he himself was slightly scratched in the arm by a bullet. As a token of the commander-in-chief's special favor, he was sent with the news of this victory to the Austrian court, which was no longer in Vienna, which was threatened by French troops, but in Brunn. On the night of the battle, agitated but not tired (despite his seemingly weak build, Prince Andrew could bear physical fatigue much better than the most strong people), having arrived on horseback with a report from Dokhturov to Krems to Kutuzov, Prince Andrei was sent by courier to Brunn the same night. Sending by courier, in addition to the awards, meant an important step towards promotion.
The night was dark and starry; the road blackened between the white snow that had fallen the day before, on the day of the battle. Either sorting through the impressions of the past battle, now happily imagining the impression that he would make with the news of victory, remembering the farewell of the commander-in-chief and his comrades, Prince Andrey rode in a mail cart, feeling the feeling of a man who had waited a long time and finally reached the beginning of the desired happiness. As soon as he closed his eyes, the firing of guns and guns was heard in his ears, which merged with the clatter of wheels and the impression of victory. Then he began to imagine that the Russians were fleeing, that he himself had been killed; but he woke up hastily, with happiness, as if he was once again learning that none of this had happened, and that, on the contrary, the French had fled. He again recalled all the details of the victory, his calm courage during the battle and, having calmed down, dozed off ... After the dark starry night, a bright, cheerful morning came. The snow melted in the sun, the horses galloped quickly, and indifferently to the right and to the left passed various new forests, fields, villages.
At one of the stations, he overtook the convoy of Russian wounded. The Russian officer who was driving the transport, lounging on the front cart, was shouting something, scolding the soldier with harsh words. Six or more pale, bandaged and filthy wounded were shaking along the rocky road in long German foreshafts. Some of them spoke (he heard Russian dialect), others ate bread, the heaviest ones silently, with gentle and painful childish sympathy, looked at the courier galloping past them.
Prince Andrey ordered to stop and asked the soldier in what case they were wounded. "The day before yesterday on the Danube," answered the soldier. Prince Andrew took out a purse and gave the soldier three gold pieces.
“At all,” he added, addressing the officer who had approached. - Get well, guys, - he turned to the soldiers, - there is still a lot to do.
- What, Mr. Adjutant, what news? - asked the officer, apparently wanting to talk.
- Good! Forward, - he shouted to the driver and galloped on.
It was already quite dark when Prince Andrew drove into Brunn and saw himself surrounded by high houses, lights of shops, windows of houses and lanterns, beautiful carriages rustling along the pavement and all that atmosphere of a big lively city, which is always so attractive for a military man after a camp. Prince Andrew, despite the fast ride and sleepless night, approaching the palace, felt even more lively than the day before. Only the eyes shone with a feverish brilliance, and thoughts changed with extreme rapidity and clarity. All the details of the battle were vividly presented to him again, no longer vaguely, but definitely, in a condensed presentation, which he made in his imagination to Emperor Franz. The random questions that could be put to him and the answers that he would make to them vividly presented itself to him; he thought that he would be presented to the emperor at once. But at the large entrance of the palace, an official ran out to him and, recognizing him as a courier, escorted him to another entrance.
- From the corridor to the right; there, Euer Hochgeboren, [Your Highness] you will find the aide-de-camp on duty, ”the official told him. - He leads to the Minister of War.
The adjutant on duty, who met Prince Andrew, asked him to wait and went to the minister of war. Five minutes later, the adjutant's wing returned and, bending down especially politely and letting Prince Andrei pass in front of him, led him through the corridor to the office where the Minister of War was studying. The adjutant wing, with his exquisite courtesy, seemed to want to shield himself from the attempts at familiarity of the Russian adjutant. The joyful feeling of Prince Andrey weakened considerably when he approached the door of the Minister of War's office. He felt insulted, and the feeling of insult turned at the same instant, unnoticed by him, into a feeling of contempt, based on nothing. The resourceful mind at the same instant suggested to him the point of view from which he had the right to despise both the adjutant and the minister of war. "It must be very easy for them to gain victories without smelling gunpowder!" he thought. His eyes narrowed contemptuously; he especially slowly entered the office of the Minister of War. This feeling intensified even more when he saw the Minister of War sitting over a large table and for the first two minutes did not pay attention to the newcomer. The Minister of War lowered his bald head with gray temples between two wax candles and read, marking with a pencil, papers. He finished reading without raising his head, while the door opened and footsteps were heard.
“Take this and pass it on,” said the Minister of War to his adjutant, handing over the papers and not paying attention to the courier yet.
Prince Andrey felt that either of all the affairs that occupied the Minister of War, the actions of the Kutuzov army could interest him least of all, or it was necessary to let the Russian courier feel it. But I don't care at all, he thought. The Minister of War moved the rest of the papers, aligned the edges with the edges, and lifted his head. He had an intelligent and characteristic head. But at the same moment as he turned to Prince Andrey, the clever and firm expression of the Minister of War, apparently habitually and deliberately changed: a stupid, feigned, not concealing his pretense, the smile of a man who accepted many petitioners one after another stopped on his face. ...
- From General Field Marshal Kutuzov? - he asked. “Good news, I hope?” Was there a collision with Mortier? Victory? It's time!
He took the dispatch, which was in his name, and began to read it with a sad expression.
- Oh my god! Oh my God! Schmitt! He said in German. - What a misfortune, what a misfortune!
Having run through the dispatch, he put it on the table and looked at Prince Andrey, apparently thinking something.
- Oh, what a misfortune! The matter, you say, is decisive? Mortier is not taken, however. (He thought.) I am very glad that you have brought good news, although the death of Schmitt is a dear price for victory. His Majesty may wish to see you, but not today. Thank you, rest. Be on the way out tomorrow after the parade. However, I'll let you know.
The stupid smile that had vanished during the conversation reappeared on the Minister of War.
- Goodbye, thank you very much. The Emperor will probably wish to see you, ”he repeated, and bowed his head.
When Prince Andrei left the palace, he felt that all the interest and happiness brought to him by the victory had now been left to him and transferred to the indifferent hands of the Minister of War and the courteous adjutant. His whole mentality changed instantly: the battle seemed to him a long-standing, distant memory.

Prince Andrey stayed in Brunne with his acquaintance, the Russian diplomat Bilibin.
- Ah, dear prince, there is no more pleasant guest, - said Bilibin, going out to meet Prince Andrey. - Franz, the prince's things in my bedroom! - he turned to the servant who saw Bolkonsky off. - What, a herald of victory? Perfectly. And I am sitting sick, as you can see.
Prince Andrey, having washed and dressed, went into the luxurious office of the diplomat and sat down to the prepared dinner. Bilibin calmly sat down by the fireplace.
Prince Andrew, not only after his journey, but also after the entire campaign, during which he was deprived of all the comforts of purity and grace of life, experienced a pleasant feeling of relaxation among those luxurious living conditions to which he was accustomed from childhood. In addition, after the Austrian reception, he was pleased to speak, at least not in Russian (they spoke French), but with a Russian man who, he assumed, shared a common Russian disgust (now felt especially vividly) for the Austrians.
Bilibin was a man of about thirty-five, single, of the same company with Prince Andrey. They had known each other back in Petersburg, but got to know each other even better on the last visit of Prince Andrey to Vienna with Kutuzov. As Prince Andrey was a young man promising to go far in the military field, so, and even more, promised Bilibin in the diplomatic one. He was still a young man, but already a middle-aged diplomat, since he began to serve at the age of sixteen, was in Paris, in Copenhagen and now occupied a rather significant position in Vienna. Both the chancellor and our envoy in Vienna knew him and treasured him. He was not one of that large number of diplomats who must have only negative dignities, not do well-known things and speak French in order to be very good diplomats; he was one of those diplomats who love and know how to work, and, despite his laziness, he sometimes spent nights at his desk. He worked equally well, whatever the essence of the job. He was not interested in the question "why?", But the question "how?" What the diplomatic affair consisted of, he didn't care; but to draw up skillfully, neatly and gracefully a circular, memorandum, or report — in this he found great pleasure. Bilibin's merits were valued, in addition to written works, also for his art of addressing and speaking in the highest spheres.
Bilibin loved conversation as much as he loved work, only when the conversation could be gracefully witty. In society, he constantly waited for an opportunity to say something wonderful and entered into a conversation only under these conditions. Bilibin's conversation was constantly peppered with originally witty, complete phrases of common interest.
These phrases were made in Bilibin's internal laboratory, as if on purpose, of a portable nature, so that insignificant secular people could conveniently memorize them and transfer them from living rooms to living rooms. Indeed, les mots de Bilibine se colportaient dans les salons de Vienne, [Bilibin's reviews spread throughout the Viennese drawing rooms] and often influenced so-called important matters.
His thin, emaciated, yellowish face was all covered with large wrinkles, which always seemed as cleanly and diligently washed as fingertips after a bath. The movements of these wrinkles were the main play of his physiognomy. Either his forehead wrinkled in wide folds, his eyebrows rose up, then his eyebrows went down, and large wrinkles formed on his cheeks. Deeply set, small eyes always looked straight and cheerfully.
“Well, now tell us your exploits,” he said.
Bolkonsky in the most modest way, without ever mentioning himself, told the case and the reception of the Minister of War.
- Ils m "ont recu avec ma nouvelle, comme un chien dans un jeu de quilles, [They accepted me with this news, as they accept a dog when it interferes with the game of bowling pins," he concluded.

The terrible anti-Soviet propaganda now being conducted in the countries of the former Soviet empire has long grown intoanti-Russian.Perversion of the meaning and course of the Great Patriotic War is a special cynicism. A major bargaining chip for the revisionists isthe presence of a large number former citizens of the Soviet Union who served in the German army, police and other anti-Soviet formations in 1941-1945.

All of them are unconditionally enlisted in the army"Fighters against the Stalinist regime" , only involuntarily forced to cooperate with the Nazis, and then it pours on the listeners' heads. democratic-liberal nonsense.

In fact, the collaborators, in addition to the administration imposed by the Germans (chiefs, burgomasters), were divided into: 1) police officers, 2) military personnel of the "eastern troops" (construction, combat, security), 3) "auxiliary service volunteers" - "hivi".

If you believe the modern Ukrainian historian O. Romanko, the number of Soviet collaborators during the Second World War was 1.5 million people, of which there were 665-675 thousand hivi.

They were assistants the land army of the Wehrmacht, the air force and the navy, and even the SS troops, although, of course, the largest number of them served in the land forces of the Wehrmacht. They were recruited mainly from prisoners of war, but sometimes from the local population in the occupied territories.

The history of the creation of "hivi" is typical, as is the creation of other formations from Soviet collaborators. German leadershipat the beginning of the invasion, it did not want to rely on any forces within the enslaved country. Later, Hitler admitted that he did not want to create such formations,“Because he feared political conclusions, who could determine the later decision of the fate of the occupied eastern territories. " But life has made its own adjustments, or rather, death of many German soldiers.

Big losses

Until the end of November 1941, about 230 thousand German soldiers of the ground army were killed and another 14 thousand were missing. In total, together with the wounded, the losses of the ground army amounted to 740 thousand people. Replenishment recruited and trained during the same period amounted to only 400 thousand people, i.e. shortage amounted to 340 thousand soldiers in the German army in the east.

The campaign was not over yet, and the Germans began to rake out the soldiers. from wherever possible. By October 22, 1941, the commander of the reserve army had developed a project for the release of 250 thousand people of younger conscription ages for the eastern front by replacing them at their former duty stations with senior conscripts, as well as limitedly fit for military service in combat units. This event was held both on the eastern front and in the west and in the army of the reserve. Another 25 thousand people were recruited by cleaning the rear, primarily the reserve army. I must say that although the active army thus received soldiers - former logisticians rather quickly - they did not need to be taught the military "basics": rifle shooting and other skills, their combat value was much lower than the retired soldiers. Someone was a clerk at the headquarters, someone guarded the warehouse, got fat, weaned from the sense of danger ...It turned out that the former logisticiansdied even faster, and again they needed a replacement. During the winter of 1941-1942. the German army lost many more soldiers. In January 1942, an organization of women "staff assistants" was created to free men, staff clerks, secretaries, typewriter operators in Germany and the occupation forces. So women began to serve in the German army.

The rear also began to shake again - the necessity of the existence of numerous official bodies and institutions was revised, their staffs were checked. The occupying armies in the West, Norway and the Balkans in the spring of 1942 began to withdraw soldiers and replace them with young "green" recruits. All these activities, plus trained recruits in the usual manner, however, did not cover the shortage of soldiers for the summer offensive. As of May 1942, it numbered 450 thousand people, including the soldiers needed for new formations.

Therefore, on the eastern front in the field, field commanders began to slowly to attract Soviet prisoners of war to the simplest irresponsible work ... The first "hivis" appeared in the fall of 1941.

Who could be replaced with "hivi"

First of all, it is necessary to determine what kind of work the Germans could entrust to people in their combat units whothey had little trust, but they badly needed.

In the infantry division of the 1939 model of the so-called. Of the "first wave" (best equipped) had 17,734 people on the staff, including combat troops, rear divisions and divisions, and a field reserve battalion. Theoretically, "Khivi" could serve in a sapper battalion as laborers, or as grooms (artillery was horse-drawn), drivers, repairmen of numerous auto-motor vehicles, translators and other parts of the division.

The table shows the number of horses and non-combat vehicles, i.e. where the hivi's hands could have served.

	Combat units	Rear parts	Reserve battalion	Total in the division
Horses	4505			4842
Horse carts
Cars			not
Trucks
Motorcycles
including motorcycles with a sidecar			not	201

Note: There were few such well-equipped divisions in the Wehrmacht, but it is considered in this article, because there is data on it.

The sapper battalion consisted of 22 officers, 2 officials, 100 non-commissioned officers, 655 privates, a total of 779 people, and eastern assistants could also be crammed here. In total, the number of infantry division supply units that were part of the combat, rear troops and a reserve battalion (artillery ammunition echelons, light parks, food and clothing carts, etc.) consisted of 1695 people, i.e. 9.6% of the total strength of the division.

The tank division of the 1939 model did not have horses, but more auto-moto equipment: 561 cars, 1402 trucks and motorcycles of all types - 1289 pieces. All this equipment had to be repaired and controlled.

Soviet prisoners of war were interspersed into the rear units one by one, in groups,first under the supervision of the Germans, and then independently. The position of the Germans was significantly facilitated by the fact that many prisoners of warwere former Soviet logisticians, caught in the "boilers" in 1941 and 1942. and who knew how to cook porridge, take care of horses, turn the steering wheel, repair equipment. It's no secret that the rear soldiers turned out, in most cases, to be less physically and mentally strong people, they were not always ready to risk their lives. They made up a significant proportion of those captured, while the bravest front-line soldiers died or refused to serve the Germans.

Initially, these assistant prisoners of war did not have an official name - their name was"Our Russians" or "Our Ivans"... Later they were called "hivi"("Hilfswilliger" or abbreviated "Hiwi") - literally translated from German"Ready to help" , but officially - "Auxiliary service volunteers" .

The position of "hivi" in the German army

So, the German commanders began not to send all the prisoners immediately to the rear, but to find out who wanted to work. For most of the prisoners of war, this wasthe only way to avoid death from hunger, cold and disease behind the barbed wire of concentration camps. It was a real chance lose your soul, but save your body.

It is no secret that there was a third category of citizens - ideological,wanting revenge and revenge with their compatriots for themselves and their loved ones. Among the ideological, a large stratum was made up of the so-called. "Nationals" - the Balts, Caucasians and Crimean Tatars, who are hostile not so much to Bolshevism,so much to the Russians, Slavs, on whom the Soviet empire was held. Of the ideological, they formed, in the main, national legions, and, according to the author, as "hivi", i.e. collaborators without weapons, there were few of them.

There was another category of people who wanted to free themselves from the camp, take possession of weapons and run at their own peril and risk to the partisans or back to the Red Army. Initially, many wanted to flee. But only a few succeededthe rest were afraid and soon resigned themselves to their fate as a traitor ... it was a tragedy of people, a tragedy of unwilling traitors.

Perhaps some "ideological" "Khivi" were disappointed in their fate, she was very pitiful, and passed into the category of those who wanted to escape. And the hivi position is reallywas disappointing.

The first "Khivi" were considered by German commanders as a purely temporary need, no state was envisaged - it would have been faster to defeat the Bolsheviks and get rid of these Russians. Therefore, the "eastern volunteers of the auxiliary service" went about in what - in Soviet or civilian clothes, often torn. Some of the German owners made armbands with different inscriptions or seals so that they would not be accidentally shot. It is clear that to dirty, ragged people, former enemies, who recently left the transit camp, and even subhumans,couldn't relate well.

When it became clear by the fall that the victory over the "Jewish-Bolshevik state" would not take place soon, a number of measures were taken for a decisive thrust. On October 1, 1941, a uniform armband with the inscription was introduced for the volunteers of the auxiliary service "hivi""In the service of the German Armed Forces" ("Im Dienst der Deutschen Wehrmacht") or "In the service of the SS troops" , and for women "German Armed Forces" ("Deutsche Wehrmacht ») ... In this case, the manufacturing method and the font were arbitrary. Although in the photographs there are many "hivis" and without bandages.

True, Paul Hausser, the commander of the 2nd SS Panzer Division "Reich", is looking for the fact that once his SS soldiers made fun of "Khivi", the Ukrainian Grigory (as he called himself). And they wrote on the bandage - "Kiss my ass", since Grigory did not understand German. The assistant was sent to chop wood and bring water, and he was caught by the SS-Haupscharführer (in Russian, the foreman) in German uniform with a bandage. The latter did not know about the new trends of hiring subhumans for the service and called out to Gregory, to which he, having said: "Nyx understand - Ukrainian!", Showed him a bandage with a famous inscription. The German boys loved to pin up on subhumans ...

Bandage "hivi" in the Wehrmacht
First, you need to understand an important thing - "hivi" were divided into"Front-line", i.e. in the army and"Rear" at the military commandant's offices. An excerpt from a circular letter from the commander of Land Army B dated 10/03/1942 about "local auxiliary armed forces" makes this quite clear:

Secret!

Com. dry. arm. B Headquarters 3.10.42 g.

No. 9900 x / 42 g

Rel .: local auxiliary forces.

1. In the area of \u200b\u200bthe location of Land Army B, there are the following types of local auxiliary forces:

1) volunteers (hivi);

2) service of order (odi);

3) schutzmanschaft (noise);

4) Police and Defense Community Assistant Teams (Hema).

3. Purpose and tasks:

1) Khivi

a) With the troops - for all service tasks performed by the troops. They accompany the regular troops.

c) At the commandant's offices - to protect and guard railways, bridges and other important military facilities. Commandant's offices tactically place them at the disposal of military units and use them to ensure the safety of these units. They remain in place.

2) Odie. For the safety of the local population and the fulfillment of security tasks

3) Noise (divided into battalions and individual service).

4) Police officers in the communities to help burgomasters and district chiefs in purely community tasks. Defense teams of assistants (gem) are generally used only when gangs appear for local defense or to fight gangs in their area, and usually must be busy with their economic activities.

However, in this document, the tasks of the "Khivi" under the commandant's offices are described inaccurately - the tasks of protection were nevertheless entrusted to the local police, while the "Khivi" were just hard workers. Further will be considered "hivi" in the army.

Consider the document about the hivi, presumably early 1942. The first paragraph speaks of the forced use of Soviet prisoners of war and that this initiative came from a purely bottom-up, i.e. from the field commanders.

"On increasing the attraction of prisoners of war to serve the army."

Proposals were received from individual parts on increasing the use of Russian prisoners of war to serve the army.Our weakened forces require replenishment. The understaffing of troops cannot be replenished only by returning from hospitals. New resources and ways must be foundfor the release of soldiers employed in the rear units of divisions, as well as from convoys front parts for direct useas soldiers at the front.

A significant part of the work in the rear units can be entrusted to prisoners of war. For example: chauffeurs of trucks, transport convoys and carts, workers of bakeries, slaughterhouses, horse breeders, with veterinary companies, etc. In some cases, even for the transportation of ammunition in artillery echelons. A small number of reliable German non-commissioned officers and soldiers are required to guard prisoners of war, with the provision of leadership such energetic officers.

The prisoners of war, finally defeated and close to starvation, will certainly consider themselves happy if they receive at least 2/3 of the ration of a German soldier. And by the conviction of the units, they will tirelessly and diligently carry out the work entrusted to them. This is confirmed by the experience of individual divisions and units.

For use, of course, specially selected prisoners of war must be involved.Asians-demihumans for this purpose should not be attracted.

To report to the subunits whether the soldiers for the front have been released due to the use of prisoners of war, and if so, how many. "

It's funny - the field commanders wanted to deal not with the Soviet Central Asians, but with European peoples, including the Slavs (but they were also mistaken for cattle), but the German elite had already authorized the creation of the so-called. "Eastern legions" from Central Asians and Caucasians. Afterwards, everyone began to be taken to the Khivi. One way or another, most of the "Khivi" consisted of Slavs, Russians.

OKH tried to give a legal basis to the involvement of Soviet people in the ranks of collaborators, but Hitler's refusal followed. Nevertheless, in February 1942, the Fuhrer legalized the already existing formations - "hivi" and rudimentary eastern divisions. But at the same time, he forbade the further expansion of such parts."Because he feared political conclusions that could determine the later decision of the fate of the occupied eastern territories." Those. he wanted to squeeze all the resources out of the USSR and to evict or destroy the peoples at the root. "Khivi" has remained a temporary measure,in case of a quick victory, they should have been disposed of. In 1942, the German armed forces suffered significant losses, but did not achieve victory. To win the sympathy of the population and put an end to the partisans, the German command decided to create a number of military formations from the local population and dress up the minions of the "hivi". To instill "military pride" among the Khivi volunteers, the General Staff of the OKH recommended giving them German uniforms and insignia. In reality, the "volunteers" wore a mixture of Soviet and worn-out German uniforms with a mandatory bandage on their hands. Consider the document of the summer of 1942, in which the German command explains the situation of the Soviet collaborators, though all together: "hivi", volunteers of the eastern troops - construction, anti-partisan, etc.

No. 1. ORDER No. 8000/1942 "REGULATIONS ON THE USE OF LOCAL AUXILIARY FORCES IN THE EAST"

1. Selection. Selection of volunteers from local residents and Russian soldiers (prisoners of war) are led by the battalion commander. Acceptsoath of allegiance to the Fuhrer - battalion headquarters.

2. Usage. Recruiting volunteers has a goalreplace the German soldiers with volunteers. Construction battalions, auxiliary units to fight partisans, etc. are created from volunteers.

3. [...]

4. Guidelines for the treatment of volunteers. Volunteers are coming to usto create better conditions for yourself in the present and future, and therefore it is necessary to create acceptable living conditions for them. To educate them in the spirit of fighters against Bolshevism. Instill in them military pride (by issuing uniforms and insignia). The German soldier should be a model for volunteers. The junior commanders are selected specifically to serve the volunteers.Discourage familiarity. The German soldier must defend his superiority, but at the same time show concern for the volunteers. German-speaking volunteers should be designated as proxies.

5. [...]

6. Clothing and insignia. Volunteers wear their Russian military uniform or civilian clothes with a bandage on their left hand with the inscription "In the service of the German Wehrmacht." In some cases, the old German form is issued. It is not necessary to observe uniformity of form.

7. Monetary content. Volunteers receive support in three categories: 1-30 marks (375 rubles); 2-36 marks (450 rubles); 3-42 marks (525 rubles). Content in the first category can be received by all volunteers, in the second - 20%, in the third - 10% of the total composition of volunteers. Each transfer to the second and third category must be confirmed by a written order of the battalion commander.

8. Food. Volunteers receive food free of charge, in the same amount as the soldiers of the unit.

9. Quarters. Apartments are provided to volunteers free of charge.Volunteers are housed separately from German soldiers. It is advisable to provide their protection, especially in case of a raid by Russian regular units or partisans.

10. [...]

11. Training and weapons. Armament is not always issued to volunteers. It is forbidden to send volunteers to guard warehouses with ammunition and weapons.

12. Vacation. Leave to relatives is authorized only by the battalion commander in a settlement occupied by German troops, and only after verification [...].

Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General of the Ground Forces F. Halder.

Order for the 79th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht:

Order of the commander of the 79th Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht to increase the combat strength.

1) In order to free the German soldiers to participate in battles with weapons in hand, use prisoners of war to the widest extent, who, after verification, can be included in the number of volunteers.

2) I order the enrollment of prisoners of war to the following positions:

half of the actual number of sleds,

half of the actual number of truck drivers,

all positions of shoemakers, tailors and saddlers,

positions of second chefs,

half of the positions of blacksmiths.

3) By 20.2.1943 report:

a) how many prisoners of war have been assigned to each battalion with an indication of execution;

b) how many prisoners of war are still required in accordance with paragraph 2 and for what work;

c) what positions in addition to those specified in paragraph 2 can be replaced by prisoners of war.

4) Each infantry regiment forms 1 sapper company, made up of volunteer prisoners of war.

The strength of each company is 100 people.

From the personnel of the Germans to the companies formed by the regiments. assign: to one Russian company

one sergeant major as company commander;

six squad leaders;

one non-commissioned supply officer;

one accountant;

one clerk.

5) All enrolled prisoners of war should be entered in their units in the lists containing: name and surname, date of birth, last place of residence. personal signs.

6) All enrolled prisoners of war receive a full ration of a German soldier.

Receipt of salary and additional allowance is allowed only after a two-month trial and enrollment in the number of volunteers of auxiliary services. Enrollment is made on the recommendation of the direct chief by the division commander.

7) To all assigned prisoners of war, issue a white armband with the Cross of Lorraine, which is worn on the top of the left sleeve. Auxiliary service volunteers wear an armband with the inscription: "In the service of the German armed forces."

In addition, each should be issued a certificate.

Signed - von Schwerin "

The order of the spring of 1943 is more interesting - after the defeat at Stalingrad, the number of defectors to the side of the Germans decreased, so conditions had to be improved for those who wanted to. The defectors were the best material to form collaborators from them.

No. 2. Order No. Р / 5000/43 "Local auxiliary forces in the East - volunteers"

On the attitude towards the commanders and soldiers of the Red Army who went over to the side of the Germans

1. The large number of officers and soldiers of the Red Army who voluntarily came over to us shows that the officers and soldiers of the Red Army do not want to further pointlessly sacrifice themselves for Soviet power.

All officers and soldiers who honestly give up the fight and voluntarily come to us will be considered asopponents of Soviet power , and they will be treated accordingly. In addition to the previously issued orders, the Main Command of the Ground Forces indicates that any officer, political instructor, junior commander and soldier belonging to the Red Army can voluntarily go to us, singly or in groups.

2. Attitude towards officers and soldiers of the Red Army who voluntarily surrendered:

a) in units, divisions and corps, all those who voluntarily came over to us are immediately separated from the prisoners of war and are well provided with food. Personal belongings (money, valuables, clothing, insignia, etc.) are not taken away;

b) those who voluntarily came over to us receive supplies from military warehouses;

c) those who voluntarily come over to us are removed from the zone of enemy influence, if possible, by motor vehicles, but not on foot; the sick and the wounded are provided with medical assistance.

3. Everyone who voluntarily comes to us receives an identity card and a German passport, and also enjoys the following rights:

a) in places of gathering all those who voluntarily came to us to place in specially adapted premises (heated, illuminated, etc.). The officers should be separated and provided with the necessary amenities (the ability to wash clothes, take a shower, etc.);

b) the supplies should be the same for all volunteers, and if local conditions permit, toilet items (cologne, powder, etc.) and tobacco should be provided;

c) unusable uniforms are immediately replaced;

d) within seven days those who voluntarily came to us have the opportunity to think and join at will to one of the national liberation legions, as well as to remain as volunteers to serve in units of the German army or as workers in the areas of the liberated regions;

e) officers, up to and including the captain, are entitled to one orderly for three people; starting with the major - one orderly for two; starting with the major general - one orderly for one person;

f) volunteers from the local community can also be recruited by issuing magazines, necessary literature, musical instruments, demonstration of films, and it is also required to show their own initiative in this area.

4. All those who voluntarily came over to us after the end of the war are guaranteed a return to their homeland, if they so wish.

Chief of the General Staff, Colonel-General of the Ground Forces K. Zeitzler.

An interesting fact - the defector had to determine in 7 days who he would become - an “eastern” soldier, a worker in a construction battalion, or would remain with the unit that had captured him as a “hivi”. The order does not explain what to do with a defector if he flatly refuses to serve the Germans. According to the author of this article, a concentration camp was waiting for him ...

The use of "hivi" was noticed by the Soviet side as well. On July 13, 1941, leaving the encirclement, the head of the 3rd section of the 10th army, regimental commissar Los, drew up a report in which he said that: “In some cases, these groups (Soviet prisoners of war - approx. Author of the article)used by the Germans for work (building houses, clearing roads, etc.).Command personnel are shot on the spot by any rank of the German army, as soon as it is established that this person belongs to the command personnel. "

In the report of the political administration of the Black Sea Group of the Transcaucasian Front, signed by the deputy head of the Political Administration of the Black Sea Group of Forces L.I. Brezhnev, dated January 8, 1942, indicated:

“… Our prisoners continue to be used as pack workers to deliver ammunition and food to the mountains to German units.

The Red Army soldier of the 2nd company of the 694th regiment of the 383rd regiment, Grebenyuk Ivan, captured by the Germans on July 31, 1942 and captured by our intelligence on November 15, 1942, testified that he saw the corpses of Russian prisoners of war who were killed while bringing food to the Germans to the front positions along the trail, intensively fired upon by our artillery.

This method of using prisoners by the Germans is confirmed in the unsent letter we captured on December 7, Corporal Schleret, a soldier of the 9th company of the 97th regiment of the 46th German infantry division ... "

Germans are changing their attitude towards "subhumans"

The battles on the Kursk Bulge cost the Germans heavy losses that needed to be replenished. In the document of the organizational department of the General Staff in the second half of 1943, measures were provided for the release of soldiers for the army in the east. Again began the cleaning of the rear and the recruitment of "subhumans" to the service on their side. Actually, the Slavic peoples were no longer considered "inferior", especially the front-line soldiers.

According to the plan, reductions in supply units and administrative services provided 120 thousand soldiers, filling a number of positions with women - only 20 thousand soldiers, cleaning up units in search of idlers - 20 thousand soldiers, and, finally, the introduction of "hivi" - 260 thousand soldiers. soldier. I must say that the project was not fully implemented.

On October 2, 1943, the new staffs of units on the eastern front in the active army were approved. Now there were 2005 hivis in the 10708-man infantry division, which was about 15% of the total. In the tank and motorized divisions there were 970 and 776 "hivis", respectively, which was equal to 15% of the total composition. In 1944, the staff of the infantry division was changed, now the "hivi" was 1466 people (1164 in the forward units and 302 in the rear). The share of "hivi" in the SS volunteer infantry division in the front and rear units was 1,125 and 414, respectively, despite the fact that there were more soldiers in the SS division.

In addition to increasing the number of "unwilling helpers", it was decided to improve their existence so that they would not defect. From a purely temporary phenomenon, "hivi" got upon a legal basis. As early as April 29, 1943, the Khivi was officially allowed to wear a German uniform, but without German emblems, buttonholes and shoulder straps.

For "hivi" in 1943, a charter, instructions on rights, duties, allowances, uniforms, service, etc. were issued.

“I continue to wander aimlessly. Four bearded men in brown overcoats caught my eye. They are sawing a tree trunk with a long saw. This is the first time I have seen such a form. I go up to them. Smiling, I ask if everything is all right. Instead of answering, the bearded men stop sawing, straighten up and smile timidly. One of them is a tall guy. The rest are more squat, stocky. I ask two or three questions, but not a word in response. Are they kidding me ?!

Don't you knowit is forbidden to talk to them. They can only be ordered.

Yes, they are silent, as if they swallowed their tongue. What is the use of them in the Wehrmacht?

Wow! - whistled the guy who decided to teach me. “You don’t seem to have smelled gunpowder!” They're Russians, okay? If you happen to get to the front, and you will see one of the Russians in front of you - shoot without hesitation, otherwise you will not see anyone else.

I look at the Russians. They keep cutting. Whack-whack, whack-whack! So this is what they are, our enemies, those who shoot at German soldiers, who are wearing uniforms similar to mine. Why then did they smile at me? "

I was forced to post this article in connection with the discussion of the person of the former soviet general, and subsequently the head of the ROA A. Vlasov, on the pages of the Hydepark: http://gidepark.ru/user/3613970432/poll/48088#since Mr. Evgeny Kuleshov, considered my criticism inconvenient for him and limited my opportunities to discuss this article, this is his right and I think it is incorrect to challenge it.

During the discussion, a number of "our" and "neighboring" fellow citizens raised the question that, like, it's not the point to condemn Vlasov alone, if you look at how many Russians served the Germans faithfully. I know it served, I know a lot, and the reasons I know were different. To educate our guideparks, in this not a simple matter, who they served there, and what the Germans could trust them, I propose an article by an amateur historian, design engineer A. Kuznetsov.

=========================================================================================================

"Hivi" or handymen from the eastern construction division pose for a German photographer

Who are the hivis and why were there so many of them? Who are "CHIVI" and why were there so many of them?

Big losses Large losses of the Wehrmacht

The battles on the Kursk Bulge cost the Germans had large losses that needed to be made up. In the document of the organizational department of the General Staff in the second half of 1943, measures were provided for the release of soldiers for the army in the east. Again began the cleaning of the rear and the recruitment of "subhumans" to the service on their side. Actually, the Slavic peoples were no longer considered "inferior", especially the front-line soldiers.

According to the plan, reductions in supply units and administrative services provided 120 thousand soldiers, replacement of a number of positions with women - only 20 thousand soldiers, cleaning units in search of idlers - 20 thousand soldiers, and, finally, the introduction of "hivi" - 260 thousand soldiers. soldier. I must say that the project was not fully implemented.

In addition to increasing the number of "unwilling helpers", it was decided to improve their existence so that they would not defect. From a purely temporary phenomenon, "hivi" got up on a legal basis. As early as April 29, 1943, the Khivi was officially allowed to wear a German uniform, but without German emblems, buttonholes and shoulder straps.

For "hivi" in 1943, a charter, instructions on rights, duties, allowances, uniforms, service, etc. were issued.

"Khivi" or handymen from the eastern construction division - diggers make a dugout

The older generation knows that Soviet citizens also fought on the side of the Germans during the Great Patriotic War, mostly policemen in the occupied territories. All of them were considered traitors to their country, obvious enemies. And the question of why they survived after the war is still puzzling. A greater resource of information became available to younger people and their attitude towards collaborators is not so unambiguous. Although they perceive their activity only through the written books and photographs, and not through the life and fate of their loved ones, as it was with the elderly. So who were they, these assistants to the Germans? Heroes, victims or traitors? We will try to answer these and a number of other questions in this article.

Who are the hivis?

By the beginning of the war with the USSR, the German military machine knew quite well the socio-economic situation in the country of the Bolsheviks, which gave the generals hope for weak resistance to the Red Army, given its appropriate ideological processing. In the very first days of the invasion, Goebbels' propaganda pounced on the victim's territory with all its might. The work was carried out both in the captured cities and villages, and in the territory of the upcoming military operations. The flight of the Red Army into the interior of the country also worked to strengthen it. In the first months of the war alone, more than a million Red Army soldiers were taken prisoner, as well as almost half a million conscripts who had not yet been officially formed in the Red Army. It should be borne in mind that the Germans seized the territories that were annexed to the USSR in 1939-1940 - the Baltic States, Western Ukraine, Bessarabia. The population of these regions, despite the partial "resettlement" to Siberia, did not really sympathize with the Bolsheviks, and accepted the Germans as liberators.

At the same time, the Wehrmacht, both through losses in manpower and through an expanding front, required more and more new human resources. Thus, the needs of the German army and the presence of Soviet citizens willing to serve in Greater Germany coincided.

Volunteer assistants of the Wehrmacht appeared literally in the first days of the invasion of the USSR. Initially, they were used without any official registration as translators, guides, saboteurs, scouts, informants for the Gestapo, etc. In the future, they began to be used in auxiliary units and subdivisions of sleds, loaders, sappers, and construction workers. They were called Khivi - short for the German Hilfswilliger who wants to help, sometimes called the eastern volunteer helpers - Ost-Hilfswillig. Over time, the German command used this term to refer to all residents of the occupied countries who served in the German army. Both prisoners of war and local residents were recruited to Khivi. Gradually, the Khivi began to be involved in direct participation in hostilities at the front and in operations against partisans, as well as in punitive actions in the occupied territories. Thus, the category of hivi includes both armed units and unarmed formations related to the armed forces. True, many researchers of history understand by hivi only persons employed in household or auxiliary work, which is fundamentally wrong and contradicts German documents, in which two criteria were the key meaning - voluntarily and immigrants from the East.

It is important to emphasize that the Khivi did not include prisoners of war who were used for forced labor in concentration camps, and almost 5 million Ostarbeiters - residents of the occupied territories who were taken to Germany for forced labor. Khivi and forcibly recruited labor from the European occupied countries were not considered, because it was used not in the army, but in production. Volunteers from European countries were enlisted in foreign legions and also had nothing to do with the Khivi, but were considered full-fledged military units.

Despite the fact that Hitler was against the recruitment of "subhumans" to serve in the army, the command of the Wehrmacht, at its own peril and risk, began to accept these people for service. By November 1941, in Army Group Center, combat losses amounted to up to 20% of the personnel. Under these conditions, the command went to the creation of six armed battalions "hivi", called "eastern formations". At the same time, the command of Army Group "South" created "Cossack hundreds" from Soviet prisoners of war. On February 10, 1942, Hitler again issues an order banning further work in this direction, and again the generals violate this order. The main command of the ground forces of the Wehrmacht prescribes to replace in the rear with "eastern volunteers" the units going to the front.

In 1943, the headquarters of the 6th Army of the Nazis developed the "Basic Directions for the Training of Volunteer Assistants." The document stated that the purpose of training and education is to prepare Hilfswilliger as "reliable companions in the fight against Bolshevism."

Hivi status and form

Initially, the Khivi continued to wear Soviet military uniforms, but without Soviet insignia. Gradually, their uniforms were replaced by German uniforms, but with special "oriental" insignia. Sometimes only the armband with the inscription "Im Dienst der Deutschen Wehrmacht" (In the service of the German Wehrmacht) spoke of the Khivi's belonging to the Wehrmacht. The female auxiliary personnel of the Wehrmacht wore armbands with the inscription "Deutsche Wehrmacht". An armband with the inscription "In the service of the SS troops" - "Im Dienst der WaffenSS" - was issued to the Waffen SS volunteers.

Each "hivi" received a full food ration of a German soldier, and after 2 months of probation and enrollment as a "volunteer of the auxiliary service" - also a salary and additional allowance. Khivi was paid in three categories: 30 marks (375 rubles), 36 marks (450 rubles) and 42 marks (525 rubles). All volunteers could receive maintenance in the first category, 20% of the unit's strength in the second, and 10% in the third. Khivi was provided with free housing, but separate from the German soldiers. It was forbidden to send volunteers to guard warehouses with ammunition and weapons. Leave to relatives was authorized only by the battalion commander in a settlement occupied by German troops, and only after verification. In companies, staffed from Khivi, usually numbering 100 people, from the Germans were appointed: a company commander, six squad leaders, a non-commissioned supply officer, an accountant and a clerk. As an identity card, the Khivi received a "Kennbuch" service record book, which was similar in content to a German soldier's record book.

After passing the test line, the hivis took an oath of loyalty to the Fuhrer and signed a special pledge. There was no single form for this document, therefore, different military formations had their own models. Common to all obligations was the use of the Russian language in its writing, so that the signatory was aware of his actions. The Germans, on the other hand, warned the Khivi that getting this document into the NKVD or SMERSH was certain death, in which some of the collaborators blindly believed, and some did not attach importance. Actually, the bureaucratic Germans did not take these attributes seriously, since the Khivi were not officially German military personnel, and any sergeant-major could shoot a Khivi with or without punishment with impunity. The only restraining factor from the extermination of the Khivi was the obligation of the Germans to protect the property of the Reich, which was beneficial, which was the Khivi.

The second-rate Khivi in \u200b\u200bcomparison with the Germans was also emphasized by the system military ranks in support units, and a reward system. So, in July 1942, the Order For Bravery was established for the Eastern peoples. They were awarded to the personnel of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), Cossack regiments, Turkestan battalions, police battalions, Ukrainian security service, etc. Since May 1943, the "eastern" awards were extended to German employees from the police and security formations. The order was awarded to persons who took part in hostilities. The reward was equal in importance to the Iron Cross of the corresponding class. The order had two classes: 1st and 2nd.

For the Khivi who did not take part in the hostilities, the Order of Merit was established. The order, as a rule, was awarded to leaders and other persons of the occupation administrations. The award was equal in importance to the Cross for Military Merit of the corresponding class. The order had two classes: 1st and 2nd.

For the Vlasov army, there were special varieties of these orders, distinguished by an order ribbon. In addition to official awards, military volunteer units were allowed to issue their own regimental memorial signs. For example, a memorial cross was established in the 2nd Siberian Cavalry Regiment.

Number, composition and activity of Khivi

For the recruitment of hivi, the Germans had enormous potential - more than 5 million prisoners of war, incl. 392 thousand officers and 60-80 million population in the occupied territory. According to experts, Germany had about 1.2 - 1.5 million assistants from the Soviet Union, including emigrants from Tsarist Russia, incl. 750-800 thousand Russians, of which 70-80 thousand are Cossacks; 200-250 thousand Ukrainians; 47 thousand Belarusians; 88 thousand Latvians; 69 thousand Estonians; 20 thousand Lithuanians. Representatives of the peoples of Transcaucasia and Central Asia accounted for almost 180 thousand, the North Caucasus - 30 thousand, Georgians - 20 thousand, Armenians - 18 thousand, Azerbaijanis - 35 thousand, Volga Tatars - 40 thousand, Crimean Tatars - 20 thousand. and Kalmyks - 5 thousand. As you can see, the army of collaborators is very international and was not determined by any one or two peoples, as the Soviet propaganda machine later showed us. This army is comparable to the total number of mobilized citizens of Hitler's allies (Italy, Spain, Hungary, Romania, Finland, Croatia, Slovakia) - about 2 million people. In the countries opposing Hitler, his supporters turned out to be much smaller: in Denmark - less than 5 thousand, in France - less than 10 thousand, in Poland - 20 thousand, in Belgium - 38 thousand. Thus, 5% of the draft strength of the Red Army for all the years of the war, fought against their country.

Immediately, we note that in the total number of Khivi we did not include about 400 thousand Soviet citizens, henchmen of the German regime, who served in the occupied territory as wahmans, headmen, burgomasters, officials of administrations, house managers, journalists, priests and so on.

The above figures are not exact or final, since they cannot be a priori. Official Soviet sources, as they studied the topic, the total number of collaborators generally started from 120-150 thousand. As before, so today they try to underestimate the "shameful statistics". Now already 1.2 million people are officially recognized. However, this figure is not final either. As further studies show, it is significantly higher. But while new data are born only in discussions, we will accept the existing ones as truth.

The main source of the formation of the Khivi was Soviet prisoners of war. It is believed that about 950 thousand of them went to the service of the Germans, or every fifth or sixth of those who were captured. It would be a mistake to believe that the "gray mass of soldiers" or ideological opponents, hitherto disguised as commanders in the Red Army, went into the service of the Nazis. Of the 78 generals of the Red Army who were captured, 22 collaborated with the Germans. Only in the ROA served 3 lieutenant generals of the Red Army, 1 divisional commissar, 6 major generals and 3 brigade commanders. Of the total number of Soviet collaborators, about 70 - 80 thousand were officers of the Red Army, every 10-12 was a junior commander.

By the middle of the war, the German armed forces were 15-20% filled with hivis. Thus, the 11th Army of Field Marshal Manstein in the summer of 1942 included 47 thousand volunteers. As part of the 6th Army of Paulus in the winter of 1941-1943. there were 51,780 Russian support personnel and an anti-aircraft artillery battalion manned by Ukrainians. By the end of 1942, each Wehrmacht infantry regiment had one sapper company made up of prisoners of war, which included 10 German instructors. And the states of the infantry division established on October 2, 1943 provided for the presence of 2005 volunteers for 10,708 German personnel, which was about 19% of the total number of the division.

In the rear areas, all German army, police, reconnaissance units, divisional, regiment and corps headquarters, as well as the TODT military construction organization and the occupying administrative bodies, were engaged in the formation of Russian units. Even such non-military "offices" as the scrap metal collection department had them, and the Ministry of Propaganda had teams to protect printing houses.

An idea of \u200b\u200bthe typology of collaborationist units and subunits is given by special registers, the compilation and maintenance of which was the responsibility of the Reich military department and the headquarters of the commander of all eastern troops. So, in the register of November 22, 1943, the following types of eastern (Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and mixed composition) units and subunits are mentioned:

- eastern companies (ost-company);

- Eastern watch companies and platoons;

- Eastern companies and supply columns (heavy and light);

- companies and battalions of convalescent volunteers;

- construction and engineering companies, platoons;

- sapper, pontoon, bridge-building companies and platoons;

- anti-partisan companies, platoons, yagd teams, including jaegers;

- security platoons and companies;

- infantry (rifle) units;

- tank platoons and companies;

- platoons and communications companies;

- horse and cavalry squadrons and units;

- Eastern propaganda companies and platoons (motorized and foot);

- the eastern regimental headquarters of the TsBF special purpose;

- Eastern divisions and headquarters of translators;

- armored trains, sanitary and repair and recovery trains;

- schools (companies and battalions) for training non-commissioned officers;

- eastern reserve, training companies and battalions;

- divisions for the repair of tanks and other equipment;

- reconnaissance platoons, companies, squadrons.

Throughout the war, in addition to numerous auxiliary units, the Khivi served in purely combat army battalions and other military structures. For example, in parts of the SS, about 10 divisions were staffed with "eastern volunteers", in which up to 150 thousand former Soviet citizens served, of which 50 thousand Russians (including almost 35 thousand Cossacks), 40 thousand Latvians, 30 thousand Ukrainians, 20 thousand Estonians, 8 thousand Belarusians, 8 thousand representatives of the Turkic and Caucasian peoples. By the end of the war, the Luftwaffe included 120 thousand former prisoners of war and 22.5 thousand volunteers. 15 thousand hivis served in the Kriegsmarine.

Abwehr groups, 1C (intelligence) departments of German units and formations had their own divisions, formed from collaborators. So, by October 1941, the 1C department of the headquarters of the 18th Army had a Russian volunteer detachment under the command of a former senior lieutenant, holder of the Order of the Red Banner Poletaev and hero of the Finnish campaign, Lieutenant Sushko. By Christmas 1941, the detachment was enlarged to a company, numbering 200 people. In the winter of 1942, this company took part in the defense of the city of Tikhvin.

Most of the eastern battalions, squadrons, batteries, and squadrons were formed as part of each German division on the basis of eastern companies for various purposes. Subsequently, they received the numbering of their divisions. From the spring of 1943, all anti-partisan companies were reduced to the Ost-battalions. As a rule, German officers were appointed as commanders in them, although there were exceptions. By July 1943, there were 78 Ost-battalions. In parallel, many units bore the names of their commanders: "Bischler's yagd-command of eastern hunters", "Frizner's command", "Hansen's east battalion", etc. This was done with the aim of disguising them from the attention of especially zealous military officials, who saw in the existence of the eastern parts a direct violation of the order of the Fuhrer on the inadmissibility of arming "Slavic subhumans".

Cooperation with the enemy was carried out not only on the ground, but also in the air. The 1st Eastern Squadron of the Luftwaffe was created in December 1943 at Moritzfeld. For preliminary preparation, a special camp was created in Suwalki, where former prisoners of war from among the pilots, navigators, and radio operators were tested for suitability. After the end of the check, they were restored to their previous ranks, the oath was taken, and people were included in the squadron. Russian pilots flew PO-2 and outdated German aircraft. The squadron took part in the battles in the Baltic States as part of the Ostland night bomber group. This group also included 3 Estonian and 2 Latvian squadrons. Subsequently, the KONR Air Force was created on the basis of Holters' Russian squadron.

In addition, since the spring of 1944, units of "hivi" for the Luftwaffe, called "assistants of the Luftwaffe" - "Luftwaffeenhilfer", were created. And the Atlantic Wall was guarded by several batteries of 88-mm anti-aircraft guns, the personnel of which consisted in part of young Russian volunteers "Flackhilfer" and former servicemen of the Cossack units of von Renteln.

With various German tank, motorized and infantry units, there were also many "native" formations called "cavalry" or "horse". The Russian 567th reconnaissance squadron of the 56th German tank division operated in the North of Russia. It was formed by G.N. Chavchavadze, a graduate of a German military school, who later received a position at the 1C department of the division headquarters and corps. Already in August 1941, he fought with Soviet units near Lake Ilmen, when the headquarters of the 56th Panzer Corps was surrounded. He took part in heavy battles on the front line near Rzhev, Volokolamsk, Klin. Later, the squadron joined the 1st Division of the Armed Forces of the KONR, and then its remnants, together with the commander, fought a partisan struggle in Slovakia and Galicia.

The German command took care of the creation of special schools for the training of the command staff of Russian volunteer units. In Mariampol (Lithuania), there was the 1st ROA Officers' School for the training of officers and non-commissioned officers and translators under the leadership of the former Colonel of the Red Army V.G. Assberg. Similar courses operated in Bobruisk, Vitebsk, Pskov, Soltsy, Pozarevitsy. For the same purposes, there were reserve ost-battalions and companies. The training was conducted in accordance with German regulations and in the German command language.

Many of the Ost-battalions had a mixed nationality. For example, the 674th battalion, operating on the territory of the Leningrad region, was formed in July 1942 in Volosov from among the former prisoners of war from the camps of Gatchina, Chudov, Rozhdestveno, Volosov, etc. The first company of the battalion was Russian, the 2nd was Ukrainian, 3 -th and 4th of the peoples of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, Tatars. The battalion patrolled the area, guarded the line railroad Gatchina. Kingisepp. Narva and carried out anti-partisan actions on the territory of the Volosovsky district. The battalion companies were deployed in a number of settlements in the region. They went to the neighboring areas for punitive actions. By December 1943, the battalion already numbered 12 companies.

In addition to the Khivi units, there were about 800 independent collaborationist formations in the German troops. As an illustration, we will list the most odious of them:

- Russian People's Liberation Army of the Wehrmacht (ROA). The ROA consisted of 12 security corps, 13 divisions, 30 brigades;

- RONA (Russian People's Liberation Army) - 5 regiments, 18 battalions;

- 1st Russian National Army (RNNA) - 3 regiments, 12 battalions;

- Russian National Army - 2 regiments, 12 battalions;

- Division "Russland";

- SS Division "Galicia" - 9 regiments and 5 battalions;

- Russian Liberation Army of the Congress for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia - 3 divisions, 2 brigades;

- Air Force KONR (Air Corps KONR) - 87 aircraft, 1 air group, 1 regiment;

- 15th Cossack Russian Corps of the SS troops - 3 divisions, 16 regiments;

- 30th SS Grenadier Division (Second Russian);

- Brigade of General A.V. Turkul;

- 1st Russian National SS Brigade "Druzhina" (1st Russian National SS Detachment);

- "Varyag" regiment of Colonel MA Semenov;

- Higher German School for Russian officers;

- Russian detachment of the 9th Army of the Wehrmacht;

- SS Volunteer Regiment "Varyag";

- SS Volunteer Regiment "Desna";

- 1st Eastern Volunteer Regiment, consisting of two battalions - "Berezina" and "Dnepr";

- Eastern battalion "Pripyat";

— separate regiment Colonel Krzhizhanovsky;

- 5th SS assault brigade "Wallonia" at the SS Panzer Division "Viking";

- Russian personnel of the SS Charlemagne division;

- Russian personnel of the SS "Dirlewanger" division.

In addition, the 12th Reserve Corps of the Wehrmacht in various periods included large formations of the eastern troops, such as: the Cossack (Russian) guard corps of 15 regiments; 162nd Training Division of the Ostlegions of 6 regiments; 740th Cossack (Russian) reserve brigade of 6 battalions; Cossack (Russian) Group of the Marching Ataman of 4 regiments; Colonel von Panwitz's Cossack group of 6 regiments; Consolidated Cossack (Russian) division of the field police "Von Schulenburg".

Briefly about " combat path»Some of these formations.

The Russian Liberation Army (ROA) began its formation at the end of 1942, mainly from Soviet prisoners of war, and, according to various sources, numbered from 125 to 140 thousand people. In 1943, all formations of the eastern companies were formally subordinate to the ROA and were required to wear the ROA insignia. The maximum number of such an army was determined at 600-800 thousand hivi. Combat operations in the status of the ROA army began in February 1945 in defensive battles on the river. Oder. Then she fought as part of the Army Group Center. In May 1945, parts of the ROA, together with Czech partisans, took part in the Prague uprising against Germany, effectively liberating Prague even before the approach of the Red Army. After that, most of the military units made their way to the West, and surrendered to the Anglo-American troops, who did not need this rabble, even with the ideas of fighting against Bolshevism. According to the decisions of the Yalta Conference, 2/3 of the Vlasovites were transferred to the law enforcement agencies of the USSR.

The 29th SS Waffen Grenadier Division, formed from RONA units under the command of SS Brigadeführer Bronislav Kaminsky, was distinguished by a special atrocity among the collaborators' formations. Having fought to their hearts content with women and old people in their homeland, units of the division participated in the suppression of the Warsaw and Slovak uprisings, as well as in the fight against partisans outside the Union. In Warsaw, the soldiers of the division were engaged in massive robberies, drunkenness, rape of women, and executions of local residents for more than two weeks. According to Polish researchers, the victims of the Russians were from 15 to 30 thousand Poles and even Germans. Even the General Staff of the Ground Forces was horrified by the atrocities committed by the Khivi, whose chief, Heinz Guderian, turned to Hitler with a request to remove the division from the front. As a result, on the personal order of Hitler, the division was disbanded, and Kaminsky was shot, staging partisan attacks.

The formation of the "Cossack Camp", created in Kirovograd in November 1943 under the leadership of the "marching chieftain" S.V. Pavlova, were replenished with Cossacks from almost all of the South of Russia. Among those who swore allegiance to Hitler were Astrakhan, Kuban, Terek, Ural, Siberian Cossacks. But the overwhelming majority of collaborationists among the Cossacks were still residents of the Don lands.
Only through the Cossack units on the side of Germany in the period from October 1941 to April 1945. 70-80 thousand people passed. By January 1943, 30 Cossack detachments were formed with a total number of about 20 thousand people. In the territories occupied by the Germans, Cossack police battalions were created, the main task of which was to fight the partisans. So, in September 1942, near the village of Pshenichny, Stanichno-Lugansk region, Cossack policemen, together with punitive detachments of the Gestapo, succeeded in defeating a partisan detachment under the command of Ivan Yakovenko. Often the Cossacks acted as overseers of Red Army prisoners of war. Under the German commandant's offices, there were also hundreds of Cossacks who performed police tasks. For example, two such hundreds of Don Cossacks were located in the village of Luganskaya and two more - in Krasnodon. The Cossacks took an active part in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, when the Nazi command awarded many officers with the Iron Crosses for their zeal, which was a very rare occurrence.

Thus, the Cossacks, as under the Tsar-Father, and under Hitler, were zealous not on the battlefield, but more as punitive policemen. When the Germans retreated, the Cossacks covered the retreat and participated in the destruction of about a thousand villages and settlements. After the end of the war, the allied forces detained and transferred to the Soviet zone of occupation a total of 50 thousand Cossacks, along with their families. Most of them received long sentences in the Gulag, and the Cossack elite was banally hanged.

The founder of the "Cossack Camp" also pranced on the Don trotters for a short time. He was killed in June 1944 in Belarus. According to one version, the Belarusian policemen "mistakenly" took for a partisan, according to another - they shot the adjutant, who turned out to be a "sent Cossack" from the NKVD. Posthumously, the German command awarded Pavlov the rank of Major General of the Wehrmacht.

The Russland Division (1st Russian National Army, later the Green Army of Special Purpose) was a military formation operating as part of the Wehrmacht under the leadership of Abwehr officer B. Smyslovsky. It consisted of former emigrants, prisoners of war and defectors from the Red Army. It consisted of 12 intelligence schools for espionage and sabotage activities in the rear of the Red Army and for the fight against partisans. The total number of the division was about 10 thousand people. At the end of the war, the remnants of the division ended up in Liechtenstein, from where most of the Russians emigrated to Argentina.

The 14th SS Infantry (Waffen Grenadier) Division "Galicia" - a military formation recruited from Ukrainian volunteers, in 1943 numbered about 80 thousand people. From the fall of 1943, divisions of the division were used in operations against partisans in Europe. In mid-July 1944, the division of the first set was defeated by the Red Army in the battles near Brody. At the end of September 1944, the division's combat-ready regiments were deployed to suppress the Slovak uprising. At the beginning of 1945, the division was in the Balkans, where it participated in operations against the Yugoslav partisans. In April 1945, the division was formally transformed into the 1st Ukrainian Division of the Ukrainian National Army. In May 1945, parts of the division surrendered to American and British forces. Due to the intervention of the Vatican, which viewed the soldiers of the division as "good Catholics and devoted anti-communists", their status was changed by the British from "prisoners of war" to "surrendered enemy personnel", and they were not extradited to the Soviet Union, unlike most collaborators of other nationalities ...

The 30th Waffen SS Grenadier Division (1st Belarusian) was formed at the end of the war from Belarusian police units. "Distinguished" by brutal anti-partisan operations in Poland. After the war, some of the Khivi, who came from the USSR, were extradited by the NKVD, and some, primarily those who came from the territories that entered the USSR in 1939-1940, remained in Europe.

The Russian corps was organized by Major General M.F. Skorodumov in 1941 and acted mainly against partisans in Serbia and Yugoslavia. During the war years, more than 17 thousand people passed through the corps, of which 11 thousand were White emigrants. In 1944-1945, the corps took part in the battles on the Eastern Front, where it was almost completely defeated. After the end of the war, those who served in the corps emigrated to the USA, Canada, Brazil, Argentina and other countries.

A little about the police recruited by the Germans from Soviet collaborators. It is generally accepted that the Germans recruited policemen from the "ideological" opponents of the Soviet regime, that is, "avengers", but this is a significant simplification of the real picture. Russian anti-Semites, criminals and all kinds of scum, that is, lovers of robbery, willingly went to the policemen, also former NKVD informers, prisoners of war who wanted to escape from concentration camps and were mobilized into the police forcibly under fear of getting into a concentration camp or being sent to work in Germany. There was a small stratum of the intelligentsia. In other words, it was a very motley audience. For many "policemen", service in the occupation authorities was a means of survival and personal enrichment. In addition to special rations, policemen were exempt from taxes and received additional rewards for special "merits", such as the identification and execution of Jews, partisans and underground fighters. For this they were entitled to special awards "for the Eastern peoples." However, the payment to the police for the "service" was very moderate - from 30 to 50 Reichsmarks.

The police, created from collaborators, were divided into civilian and military, respectively, in the area of \u200b\u200bresponsibility of the civilian authorities and the military command. The latter had different names - “ combat squads local residents ”(Einwohnerkampfabteilungen, ESA),“ order service ”(Ordnungsdienst, Odi),“ auxiliary security teams ”(Hilfswachemannschaften, Hiwa), battalions“ Schuma ”(“ Schutzmannschaft-Bataillone ”). Their duties included combing forests in order to find encircled people and partisans, as well as protecting important objects. Numerous security and anti-partisan formations created by the efforts of the local command levels of the Wehrmacht, as a rule, did not have a clear organizational structure or a strict system of subordination and control on the part of the German administration. Their functions were to guard railway stations, bridges, highways, POW camps and other facilities, where they were called upon to replace the German troops needed at the front. As of February 1943, the number of these formations was determined at 60-70 thousand people.

According to eyewitnesses, often the Slavic policemen even surpassed the Germans in cruelty. The most controversial was the service of the Russians in the "secret field police" (Geheim Feldpolizai). These units were motorized and had many machine guns to carry out executions. Service officers arrested persons on the lists of counterintelligence, caught Red Army men, saboteurs and "saboteurs". In addition, the "secret police" chased fugitives who did not want to be hijacked to work in the Reich. Punishers also burned villages along with residents who helped the partisans.

Reasons for collaboration

Until Stalin's death, it was not customary to talk about collaboration. Actually, this term had not yet come into use at that time. More understandable Russian words were used: traitor, enemy's accomplice, defector. That is, the people knew that there were collaborators, that there were a lot of them, that the majority of the population that was in the occupied territory really suffered from their traitors, but they were not officially there. As was not officially recognized, the presence of prisoners of war with Ostarbeiters. And only in the 80s, when a wave of trials swept across the country over the disguised servants of the Germans, a sluggish process of researching this phenomenon began. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of some archives, very unsightly data appeared on the scale of collaboration and the number of collaborators. They began feverishly to search for reasons, to reveal the patterns of the appearance of betrayal, and even to provide an ideological basis for justifying its existence. Below are some of the most common theories of the emergence of collaboration.

But before analyzing the reasons for the generation of collaboration, we will try to classify collaborators into the main components of the group. In the first place, the researchers put the national separatist-minded population, which sought to create their own national state, or at least a privileged province of the Reich. These include the Balts, Asian legionnaires and Galicians. The second place is taken by ideological and stubborn opponents of the regime. There were not so many of them, but with their fanaticism they infected the masses. These included both citizens of the USSR and Russian emigrants.

In third place were citizens offended by the Soviet regime. This category was quite numerous and variegated: from humiliated nobles to Cossacks, from former Nepmen to demoted party officials, from kurkuls and peasants driven into collective farms to the Russian intelligentsia. What follows is the large and multinational category of opportunists who have relied on winners. In 1941 he became a policeman, in 1944 he became partisans. All these four categories deliberately and without pressure, solely for their own benefit, went into the service of the enemy.

The next two categories - prisoners of war and citizens under occupation - had an external cause of pressure in the motives of going over to the side of the enemy. The prisoners of war faced a dilemma of survival - a concentration camp and almost inevitable death, or betrayal and life. It should be noted here that many prisoners of war considered the transition to service to the enemy as a chance to escape from the clutches of the enemy and continue to fight him in any possible way: in the Red Army, in the partisans or underground. There were also quite a few who simply sat out until the end of the war. With regard to the civilian population under occupation, such a categorical choice of life or death did not exist, however, between a comfortable, well-fed life and a half-starved existence, they chose the first.

For each of these six categories of collaborators, there were reasons, or a combination of them, that influenced the decision. However, the general and main reason for all was the absence of a state that exists in the interests of the people. The state represented the interests of the authorities, which, although they left the people, were antagonistic to them. The rest of the reasons are the original ones.

Having roughly defined the categories of collaborators, let's move on to the reasons that prompted them to take the path of betrayal. And so, it is believed that the ideology imposed by the Bolsheviks, belief in Stalin, in communism throughout the world was unnatural and practically useless. Long-term zombification and fooling of the population was at odds with its way of life, imposed by the authorities. The Orthodox faith did not help either. It was more likely to break the natural pattern of thinking - sometimes churches are demolished, sometimes prayers are ordered. Moreover, the number of clergy in the service of the Germans was no less than ordinary citizens. Thus, the population was not ideologically motivated to fight for an alien state, and only the question of the country's survival became a common ideology, which eventually led to victory.

The next reason is the socio-political conditions in the USSR. Total poverty in comparison with pre-revolutionary life, mass repressions, a totalitarian regime with its primitive servants, perversion of morality, merciless exploitation, and so on, so on, have squeezed the spring of people's patience to the limit. She straightened not through protests, but through going over to the side of the enemy.

The ruthless attitude of the military command to the soldiers, combined with the mediocre command, led to endless defeats and became the main supplier of prisoners of war for the Germans. After all, the largest number of those who surrendered was not in 1941, but in 1942, when they had already defended Moscow and learned a little about how to fight.

Recognition in the USSR of its prisoners of war as potential traitors, played an important role in their reluctance to return to the Red Army, and encouraged them to cooperate with the enemy. 30% of prisoners of war who returned to their homeland were accused of aiding the enemy and were serving their sentences in the GULAG system. Even according to official data by military tribunals under Article 58 "treason" in 1941-54. 484 thousand traitors and deserters were convicted, of which more than 150 thousand servicemen were shot. For comparison, the number of such sentences in the Wehrmacht was about 8 thousand, and in France, the Peten part of which went directly into the service of Hitler, about 10 thousand. The statistics of convicted traitors in other European countries is as follows: Denmark - 15 thousand, Norway - 18 thousand, Hungary - 18 thousand, Czechoslovakia - 25 thousand, England - 2 traitors.

A significant part of the immigrants from Western Ukraine, the Baltic States and Bessarabia, annexed to the USSR in 1939-1940 by "fire and sword" hypothetically could not be supporters of the Bolsheviks and it would be foolish to expect a different decision from them.

The criminal element that remained in the occupied territory also served as a considerable reserve for the collaborators. Instead of being evacuated to the East, during the German offensive, criminals were simply released from prisons, while "political" ones were shot right in prisons.

It should also be admitted that a certain proportion of collaborators were simply the dregs of society, from which, as follows from the above, no country or state is insured.

However, there were also deeper historical prerequisites for military collaboration, stretching back from the time of Ivan the Terrible. But this is already a topic for another study.

Thus, there was no phenomenon of mass betrayal by citizens from the territory of the USSR. These were only the consequences of the domestic policy pursued, moreover, predicted by the Germans long before the start of the war. Collaboration in the USSR did not have a pronounced national characteristic. As a percentage of the population, approximately the same number of all peoples and nationalities became traitors. Hence, the accusations of Stalin and his supporters of betraying individual peoples or nationalities are absolutely groundless.

Effectscollaborationism in the USSR

We note right away that, despite the impressive mass of traitors, their activities did not have a significant impact on the course of the war. It affected the fate of those who encountered collaborators much more disastrously. Hundreds of thousands of ruined lives, tens of thousands of Jews handed over to the Germans, thousands of burned down villages, millions driven into slavery - these are all the fruits of their "labor". Moreover, many on their own initiative, and not under duress. Naturally, the attitude towards them, both among the people and in the Red Army, was extremely negative. If in 1941-1942 the Red Army men treated the Khivi without much hatred, then already in 1943, when the liberation of the occupied territory began and the soldiers saw with their own eyes the "deeds" of the traitors, the Vlasovites were not taken prisoner. They were killed at the scene of the battle without trial or investigation, which, in fact, neither the political nor the military command of the Red Army did not oppose. In many ways, the liberated population from the Germans did the same. Only the hiding policemen could count on the mercy of the Red Army. An unenviable fate awaited all the civilians who collaborated with the Germans, few of them fell into the hands of SMERSH or the NKVD - people's revenge did not take long.

An eloquent example of the attitude towards the Vlasovites is the case in Prague with the wounded Khivi, who liberated the city from the Germans, and were abandoned by the ROA units during the retreat to the West. About 600 people were shot right in the hospital without trial, investigation and documenting the event. All Prague residents know about this fact, they even erected a monument to the victims, but the number of those killed was not indicated.

According to the recollections of one of the veterans, during the release of Pillau, a unit of Vlasov, numbering about 500 people, was captured. The battalion commander had to decide what to do with them. Ours were advancing, and fiddling with so many prisoners, exceeding the size of the battalion itself, would mean disrupting the operation. The battalion commander left the platoon at his disposal, and ordered the battalion to move on. Separating about 20 Vlasovites, the platoon shot everyone else. The surviving twenty, at gunpoint, then dragged the corpses into the sea.

Already during the war years, the Soviet leadership was aware of the scale of collaboration in the country and with the beginning of the liberation of the territory from the occupiers, it began to look for the "guilty" on whom the results of their mediocre reign could be blamed. Individual peoples and nationalities were appointed guilty, who were completely declared traitors and subjected to deportation, or rather, forced resettlement to remote regions of the USSR. So, in 1943-1944, the following were subjected to total deportation: Kalmyks, Ingush, Chechens, Karachais, Balkars, Crimean Tatars, Nogays, Meskhetian Turks, Pontic Greeks, Bulgarians, Crimean Gypsies and Kurds. Since both the resettlement itself and the settlement took place in "bestial conditions", many, especially the elderly and children, could not bear it. And although there were three times more collaborators than resettled peoples, the issue of betrayal, long before the end of the war, was put to an end.

After the war, the fate of the surviving Khivi was different. There is no exact quantitative data on this, but it is believed that about 50-60% of them died, since neither the Germans nor the Soviets spared them. About 350-500 thousand remained in the West or dispersed around the world. 238 thousand were investigated by the NKVD, of which 148 thousand were sentenced to various lines, incl. and to special settlements. The top of the ROA, led by Vlasov, was hanged. Some of the traitors scattered across the vast territory of the USSR and managed to deftly hide. And although in 1955 Khrushchev announced an amnesty for the Khivi, they were caught until the end of the 1980s, and only then the special units for the investigation of Nazi crimes were disbanded. However, despite the punishment served and the amnesty, the people never forgave the Khivi's betrayal. And they lived out their days in an atmosphere of universal hatred and contempt. Got this "glory" and their children - schools, including ten years, work at state enterprises, membership in the Komsomol and the party, travel abroad and so on, etc., were closed for them forever.

And finally. So the fate of the hivi is hopelessness or is it betrayal? It would seem a difficult question. But this is only in theory. In practice, it's easier than steamed turnips. The whole set of reasons that prompted to voluntarily go over to the side of the enemy and be directly or indirectly involved in the destruction of their people, their country is nothing more than betrayal, no matter what foreign terms they cover it, no matter what ideology they let down. He was not forgiven by previous generations, and future generations have no right to forgive.

Based on materials from sites: http://www.istorya.ru; https: // mil-history; http://russian7.ru; https://news.rambler.ru; http://argumentua.com; https://aryanssblog.wordpress.com; https://ganelon-3951.livejournal.com; http://www.bibliotekar.ru.

Literature: Aleksandrov K. Russian soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Heroes or traitors. - M .: Yauza, Eksmo, 2005; Kovalev B. N. Collaborationism in Russia in 1941-1945. - Veliky Novgorod: Yaroslav the Wise Novgorod State University, 2009; Drobyazko S.I. Eastern volunteers in the Wehrmacht, police and SS. - AST, 2000.

The form

Initially, the Khivi continued to wear Soviet military uniforms, but without Soviet insignia. Gradually they were outfitted in German uniforms, but with special "eastern" insignia. Sometimes only the armband with the inscription “ Im Dienst der Deutschen Wehrmacht". The female auxiliary personnel of the Wehrmacht wore armbands with the inscription “ Deutsche Wehrmacht».

Each "hivi" received a full food ration of a German soldier, and after 2 months of probation and enrollment as a "volunteer of the auxiliary service" - also a salary and additional allowance.

Actions at the front

Anti-partisan actions

Khivi, members of the anti-partisan formation ( Novgorod region, 1942)

The eastern battalions and companies, as the activity of the partisans increased, increased in number and were more actively used in anti-partisan actions. In June 1942, anti-partisan companies from among the Russian "Khivi" appeared at the headquarters of the divisions. Auxiliary Police Commands (German. Hilfspolizei) were reduced to companies and battalions, received German uniforms and captured weapons, and, having undergone training under the leadership of German officers, turned into full-fledged units that performed various tasks, from protecting objects to punitive operations in partisan areas. These units were named "eastern battalions" and "eastern companies".

The total number of hivi

Since 1941, as the Wehrmacht advanced, the number of "volunteers" has steadily increased. Already in April 1942 there were 200,000 of them, and in July 1943 - already 600,000. To control these people, a special post of "inspector general of the eastern troops" was created. From October 1943, they were included in the standard staff of the German infantry division: the number of personnel of the German infantry division by state from October 2, 1943 was "10 708 people and 2 005 civilian personnel (auxiliary workers)", under the latter, many researchers today means "hivi" (in relation to the Eastern Front).

The infantry division's staff, established on October 2, 1942, provided for 2,005 "volunteers" for 10,708 German personnel, which was about 15% of the total. In Army Group North, the Khivi units were known as “local military formations” (German. Einwohnerkampfverbande), in the army group "Center" - as "order service" (German. Ordnungsdienst ), in the army group "South" - as "auxiliary guard units" (German. Hilfswachmannschaften). In February 1943, the number of these formations was 60-70 thousand people.

As of February 1945, the hivi numbered 600,000 in the ground forces, 50,000 to 60,000 in the Luftwaffe, and 15,000 in the Kriegsmarine.

The total number of Soviet citizens and Russian emigrants in the Wehrmacht, SS troops, police and paramilitary formations was up to 1.2 million people (including the Slavs - up to 700 thousand, representatives of the three Baltic peoples - up to 300 thousand, representatives of the Turkic, Caucasian and other small nations - up to 200 thousand). About a third of this number are military formations and units that fought on the fronts of the Second World War against the armies of the anti-Hitler coalition and in the occupied territories against partisans. These include the formations of the eastern Wehrmacht troops, the SS and the police, as well as the German special services - the Abwehr and the SD. The rest are "auxiliary service volunteers" ("hivi"), personnel of the so-called. individual auxiliary police service and local self-defense units. These categories also partly took part in hostilities and were used to replenish combat units and formations. The maximum one-time number of all categories reached 800-900 thousand people.

It should also be clarified that a significant part of these people became citizens of the Soviet Union only in 1939-1940. These are some of the Baltic peoples and residents of the regions of western Belarus and Ukraine.

ROA

were considered servicemen of the Ukrainian Liberation Army, nominally subordinate to the chairman of the Ukrainian National Committee, General P. Shandruk (attempts to unite them with the ROA met with Shandruk's categorical refusal). Asian legionaries were also considered soldiers of their national (Azerbaijani, Georgian, etc.) armed forces. All Russians from then on had to wear the ROA badge on their left sleeve, which German propaganda, designed for the soldiers of the Red Army, associated with the name of General A.A. Vlasov. Therefore, both during the war and for a long time after it, all who served on the side of the Germans with weapons in their hands, including legionnaires, were called "Vlasovites" in the Soviet Union.

On Western front battalions and regiments were included in the composition of German units and formations. From that moment on, many servicemen who voluntarily joined the eastern formations felt like volunteers, mercenaries, obliged to serve German interests for a piece of bread. Many considered it better for themselves to oppose the Germans or go over to the side of the partisans or the Red Army, than to carry out the order to transfer to the West.

For example, the head of the political department of the Voronezh Front, General S.S.Shatilov, wrote in June 1943 that the resistance of the ROA troops at the front would be conditioned by the fear that the soldiers experience before being punished for treason. And although this circumstance was taken into account in soviet propaganda, many Vlasovites did not believe the promises of the Soviet authorities.

The legionaries and Vlasovites became even more unreliable in 1944, when the liberation of the USSR from enemy troops was almost completely completed, and the Red Army entered the territory of Eastern Europe, and its allies - American, British and Canadian troops - landed in France. During the Allied landings, many battalions of the Eastern forces defending the coast from Holland to Italy fled; some surrendered, some rebelled, destroying their German commanders. The servicemen of the Ukrainian-Belarusian battalions, formed from the former Bukovina kuren, went over to the side of the French partisans.

Post-war fate

People who served as "volunteer helpers" were recognized as traitors to the Motherland. Almost all of them in the USSR went through camps and exile, many (including most of the ROA personnel) were shot.

The Vlasovites, captured at the end of the war, as well as the Cossacks, were shot and cremated by the NKVD on the territory of a metallurgical plant in the Austrian Judenburg.

In the book of Joachim Hoffman, editor S.I.Drobyazko Gives the following information: Of the 238 thousand "Vlasovites" (which included not only soldiers and officers of the ROA, but also Cossack units and eastern legions) transferred to the NKVD by March 1, 1946, 148 thousand (more than half) received 6 years of special settlement.

Notes (edit)

Chuev S. "Khivi" and the Eastern Companies // Damned Soldiers: Traitors on the Side of the Third Reich. - M .: Yauza; Eksmo, 2004 .-- 574 p. - (Secrets of the III Reich). - 5100 copies. - ISBN 5-699-05970-9
Drobyazko S.I., Karashchuk A. Russian Liberation Army. - M .: Eksmo, 2004 .-- S. 7.
Muller-Hillebrand B. Das Heer. 1933-1945. - Frankfurt / M, 1966. - Bd. 3. - S. 135.
Auxiliary Police in the Military Command Zone
Drobyazko S.I., Karashchuk A. Russian Liberation Army. - M .: Eksmo, 2004 .-- S. 3.
Auxiliary Service Volunteers (Hivi)
Drobyazko S.I. Under the banner of the enemy: Anti-Soviet formations in the German armed forces of 1941-1945. - M .: Eksmo, 2004 .-- S. 339.
Nevzorov B., Abaturov V., Morozov M., Lipatov S., Isaev A. "White spots" of military history. RIA-Novosti (May 5, 2008). Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
TsAMO. F. 32. Op. 11306, D. 231, L. 356, 358, 361; D. 772.L. 134; F. 208. Op. 2526.D. 5a. L. 443-448; F. 326. Op. 2676, D. 348, L. 4-5; F. 2. Op. 176495.D. 378, L. 76.
V. E. Zvyagintsev Part 13. Payment for betrayal: The crow is ordered to be liquidated // War on the scales of Themis: war of 1941-1945. in the materials of investigative and judicial cases. - Terra, 2006 .-- S. 594 .-- 766 p. - (Two-faced Clio - versions and facts). -

See what "Hivi" is in other dictionaries. "Khivi" or "auxiliary service volunteers. Who are the Khivi in \u200b\u200bthe German army?"

Formation history

The total number of hivi

ROA

Post-war fate

Write a review on the article "Hiwi"

Notes (edit)

Literature and publications

see also

Links

An excerpt characterizing Khivi

Who could be replaced with "hivi"

Who are the hivis and why were there so many of them? Who are "CHIVI" and why were there so many of them?

Big losses Large losses of the Wehrmacht

Who are the hivis?

Hivi status and form

Number, composition and activity of Khivi

Reasons for collaboration

Effectscollaborationism in the USSR

The form

Actions at the front

Anti-partisan actions

The total number of hivi

ROA

Post-war fate

Notes (edit)