I.4/ Entre idéologie et realpolitik

As part of the “Final Solution” in the North Caucasus, the Germans and their local collaborators murdered the entire Ashkenazi Jewish population. This article concentrates on the last six months of 1942. As in other Soviet regions, researchers’ knowledge about the Holocaust in this part of the world is very rich and constantly expanding.The author begins by outlining the main events of WWII and the Holocaust in the North Caucasus, emphasizing that the majority of Jews in the region were refugees. Following the German invasion in June 1941, the Soviets maintained control over the region until a brief but intensely violent period of German occupation. The article explains how the Holocaust took place while also analyzing the Germans’ evolving reactions to the many challenges posed by the area.It concludes by pointing out that the fate of the Ashkenazi Jews in the North Caucasus was primarily the result of the Nazis’ ideology and genocidal practices and, to a lesser extent, the fact that they were largely refugees.Taken as a whole, the Holocaust in the North Caucasus seems to fall between two behavior models the Germans followed with respect to the Jews: ideological hate and the idea that the Jews in the North Caucasus did not belong to the region’s demographical structure, even though the local population interceded on their behalf.