NATURAL TAXES IN THE SYSTEM OF ECONOMIC EXPLOITATION OF THE LOCAL POPULATION IN THE TERRITORY OF THE REICHSKOMMISSARIAT «UKRAINE» (1941–1944)

Abstract

The publication’s purpose: to analyze the specifics of natural taxes at the Reichskommissariat «Ukraine» during 1941–1944. The methodology of the research is based on the principles of historicism, a systematic approach, a scientific approach, a verifying approach, the author’s objectivity, a moderate narrative constructivism, as well as the use of general scientific (analysis, synthesis, generalization) and special-historical (historical-genetic, historical-typological, historical-system) methods. The scientific novelty is the following: for the first time in Ukrainian historiography,on the basis of the analysis of the previously unknown archival documents and materials, it has been determined the types of natural taxes that were imposed on the local population and production structures in the Reichskommissariat «Ukraine». The reconstruction of the fee system made it possible to clarify in more detail the purpose and tasks of the occupation policy pursued by the administration of the Reichskommissariat «Ukraine» with respect to the local Ukrainian society. Conclusions. The author of the publication found that with the purpose of uninterrupted provision of units of the Wehrmacht, police units and Germany with food and raw materials, the occupation authorities of the Reichskommissariat «Ukraine» developed a set of measures to rob public, state and peasant farms. For this purpose, natural taxes and fees were introduced. The occupation administration did not even look at the economic opportunity of the Ukrainian economy to fulfill the planned volumes of natural supplies, destroying the possibility of an elementary reproduction of resources.