For the entire period of Nazi occupation from August 27, 1941, to September 3, 1943, Shostka’s administration was subject to the rear structures of Wehrmacht represented by officers of the I(V)268 Ortskommandantur in the city. Its small staff of 30-40 solved practically every basic problem of management of the occupied territories in the Shostka, Yampol, and Krolevets districts, working closely with the German economic and security structures. Local government was organized in the city: Kalenik Lysenko was appointed burgomaster, Mikhail Sirota was appointed police chief, head of the labor exchange became Babak. (See intelligence report from the NKVD agent).
Methods of treatment of the local population are seen from the order of Shostka Ortskommandantur No. 268 “On the Prohibition of Beating Locals with Sticks and Whips”. As follows from this document, such practices were commonplace.
A special facility was set up in Shostka to punish the locals who were arrested for various misdemeanors. An accompanying letter from the police of the village of Seredynna Buda from 1942 talks about sending Feodosiy Malyarov and a prisoner of war to the Shostka “concentration camp”. Apparently, the local police chief called a local prison – a concentration camp.
Wehrmacht’s rear protection was secured by a variety of militarized units, including units made of the local population. Recruitment to such units can be seen from the order of Shostka security service to the chief of the village of Sobycheve, ordering him to deliver 10 men between the ages of 18 and 40 for police service (exposition).
A “Ukrainian company” was also stationed in Shostka: a unit formed of Soviet prisoners of war in the Khutir Mikhailovsky camp. The exposition presents photos of the soldiers of this detachment. They were first used to protect the territory of Plant No. 9 and later – in fighting against the guerrillas. The story of this unit is discussed in Ivan Dereyk’s article.
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- Shostkf shutzmans. 1943 (Photo from the Archive of the Security Service of Ukraine) Former Soviet prisoners of war were recruited in the Khutir-Mikhailovsky camp as paramilitary guard of Plant No. 9. Subsequently, they were actively used in combatting guerrillas and punitive actions in the villages of the region.
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- Intelligence report on political and economic situation in occupied Shostka by NKVD agent Petro Victorov. November 1941
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- Order of the Shostka security team to the head of the Sobichevo village to send 10 men aged 18 to 40 for service in the police. December 1942
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- Commandant’s order to village officers in Shostka to collect military equipment and weapons from the whole countryside. 1942
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- Order of Shostka Commandery No. 268 on the prohibition of beating the locals with sticks and whips. June 1942
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- Cover letter to the police of the village of Seredinna-Buda about sending to Shostka concentration camp Feodosia Stepanovich Malyarov to serve the sentence. June, 1942 (State archive of Sumy region)
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- Cover letter to the police of the village of Seredinna-Buda about sending to Shostka concentration camp Feodosia Stepanovich Malyarov to serve the sentence. June, 1942 (State archive of Sumy region)
