“THE GERMANS WERE ALL AROUND US”: PERCEPTION OF THE ROSTOV-ON-DON’S OCCUPIERS BY LOCAL RESIDENTS

Abstract

This article examines the external and internal characteristics of Wehrmacht and Axis forces stationed in the capital of the Don region during the Great Patriotic War. Using wartime evidence and previously unused memoirs from the post-Soviet period, the facts of the interactions between the invaders and the townspeople were established. The impact on the range of assessments was determined. A three-part chronological analysis model facilitated tracing the evolution of perceptions of representatives of the “New Order” from the moment of “first contact” to their flight. Particular attention is paid to identifying specific communicative and behavioral forms of interaction, and the attitudes of Rostov-on-Don residents toward foreigners are reconstructed at the personal level. Most of the events and phenomena described are associated with the prolonged period of the second occupation. Young Rostov residents exhibit a more subdued image of the “outsider”, while adolescents, young adults, and adults exhibit a predominance of negative traits and emotional vocabulary. A valuable aspect is the inclusion of the immediate environment by city residents in their personal narratives, which to a certain extent explains the causal formation of the image of the occupier. Conclusions were drawn regarding the heterogeneity of the Nazi image among eyewitnesses and the influence of psychological and ideological factors on the preservation and transmission of the enemy’s portrait over time. The potential for further research is associated with expanding the species and geographic scope of the source base.