MODERN APPROACHES TO HIGHLIGHTING THE NATURE, CAUSES AND MANIFESTATIONS OF SOVIET COLLABORATIONISM DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR (1939–1945)

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of collaborationism of citizens of the former Soviet Union during the Second World War. The main approaches the coverage and domestic and foreign historiography of the nature, causes and motives of the mass collaborationism of Soviet citizens, which had a decisive influence on their participation, were analyzed: 1) in cooperation with the occupiers in the political, economic, administrative and cultural spheres; 2) participation in the military formations of the Wehrmacht, the SS troops and police of Nazi Germany. Particular attention is paid to the nature of Soviet collaborationism, which, unlike collaborationism in Western European countries, cannot be classified as classical. It is claimed that cooperation with the German occupiers of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Georgians, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Tatars and national minorities is considered collaborationism only in Soviet official historiography and modern Russian Federation. It is proven that the representations of these peoples, who cooperated with the German occupiers and served then did not betray exist in practice. It is shown that according to various estimates, 1.2 million Soviet citizens participated in the field of military collaborationism, that is, the armed struggle against the Stalinist totalitarian regime, while in the civilian field more than 20 million people cooperated with the occupiers. It is stated that the main reasons for the mass collaborationism of Soviet citizens were: 1) the establishment of the brutal Stalinist totalitarian regime in the Soviet Union with its bloody repressions: 2) the introduction of an equally brutal Nazi occupation regime on the captured territory.