SURVIVAL STRATEGIES OF MIZOCH JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST

Abstract

Based on the example of the town of Mizoch in Volhynia, the article attempts to analyze the survival strategies of Jews during the Holocaust, as well as the reasons that influenced the survival during the Nazi genocide. The number of the Jews who survived depended on their position during the Soviet regime, when some of them were deported and sent to the regions of the far North. Drafting to the ranks of the Soviet army and the evacuation of Jews to the East played a special role. Thus, these Jews left the later occupied territory beforehand. However, not all of them managed to survive in the end.
Potential opportunities to save the lives of Jews were provided by escape and evacuation from the occupied territories. However, not everyone could use such a way of survival. Many Jews hesitated to leave the town. The unknown sequences of moving to the eastern territories of the USSR were frightening. Nevertheless, compared to the indicators of other Volhynian towns, quite a lot of Mizoch Jews, 15%, managed to survive due to the evacuation,
After the mass killing, the willingness of local residents to take the risk of hiding Jews was of great importance for the number of the survivors. Often, people who tried to help the Jews gave them food and asked them to leave. However, despite the threat of execution, there were local residents who hid the victims of the Holocaust. At least five nationalities (Ukrainians, Czechs, Poles, Russians, and Germans) were recorded as rescuing the Jews of Mizoch during the Nazi occupation. The Slobodiuk family was among them – Sydir, his wife Yustyna and their daughter Maria, who are the only Mizoch family officially recognized as the Righteous Among the Nations. German engineer Hermann Graebe was also awarded the title of the Righteous Among the Nations for rescuing the victims of the Holocaust, including the Jews of Mizoch.