Antropologia kolaboracji: obraz policji pomocniczej w pamięci mieszkańców wsi północnej Białorusi o okupacji nazistowskiej w latach 1941–1944
Anthropology of Collaborationism: the Image of the Auxiliary Police in the Memory of the Villagers of Northern Belarus during the Nazi Occupation of 1941–1944

Summary/Abstract: The article is devoted to the analysis of the oral history materials which reflect the attitude of the villagers of northern Belarus to the local police during the Nazi occupation. The research shows local people’s interpretation of the motives and reasons for joining the police, evaluation of the activities of collaborators and opinions about their methods of punishment. With the generally negative attitude of the villagers towards the police, the main emphasis within the local rural communities was placed on the specific actions and behaviour of the police towards the local community. Those collaborators who took part in punitive actions and robberies left in the memory features categorically negative («worse than the Germans»). In anthropological terms, such a harsh assessment is based on the absolute rejection of the person, who was «theirs», but went to the side of «others», for violence against fellow residents, neighbours, and even relatives. The research methodology is interdisciplinary and is based on the theoretical and practical approaches to field ethnography, oral history, anthropology of war and microhistory.

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