740.0011 European War 1939/28525: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10 p.m.]
167. American correspondents who recently visited Kharkov state that although the city had been under martial law during the German occupation, the Germans had also attempted to set up a Ukrainian civil government with the assistance of Ukrainian refugees and Ukrainian-speaking Germans brought in for that purpose. The first government was headed by a professor from the Kharkov University but he and many of his colleagues were later shot by the Germans for failure to cooperate satisfactorily. A Ukrainian newspaper was also published but by the end of the German occupation it had dropped all semblance of independence and had become an organ of the occupying authorities. One correspondent said that while the Germans in general did not appear to have done much to win over the civil population the success which their half-hearted effort to arouse Ukrainian nationalist feeling did achieve indicated that this feeling was still very strong and the failure of the German scheme seems to have been caused by the fact that while the Ukrainians were prepared to set up a separate government they were not willing that it be used as an instrument of German exploitation.
The correspondents stated that the Germans had systematically destroyed educational and scientific institutions. They gained the impression during their short visit that many civilians had been killed by the Germans and it was evident that the Russians were already engaged in a purge of those guilty of collaborating with the occupying authorities.44 They were told that the population had been reduced to about 300,000 but they believe that it is actually much less. They were told that 100,000 workers had been sent to Germany.
[Page 513]The railroads, electricity, water, gas and sewage systems were all out of operation and there seemed to be little prospect of their early restoration. Most of the larger buildings had been destroyed and one correspondent expressed the opinion that if Kharkov is typical of cities which have been under German occupation it will be 20 years before European Russia can be fully restored. The Germans appear to have operated very few factories in Kharkov but much equipment was shipped to Germany.