Oleksandr Melnyk
Harvest of Historiography: The Monograph of Karel Berkhoff and
the Problem of Interpreting Sources from the History of
Nazi Occupied Ukraine
In his analysis of the monograph by Karel Berkhoff, the author focuses on the issue of source interpretation, the phenomenon of "collaboration," and the problem of representing the Holocaust in Nazi occupied Ukraine. He also reflects on the relationship between the historian and his/her sources; text and context; as well as extra-scientific determinants of the contemporary historiography. Noting the high scholarly value of Berkhoff s monograph, Melnyk uses primary sources to challenge Berkhoff's claim that in 1941 the majority of Ukraine's population was in the opposition to the Soviet system. He points to Berkhoff's tendency to favor certain types of sources, while marginalizing others. The reviewer reflects on the cognitive limitations of the new brand of totalizing narratives that under the banner of combating "national" historiographies represent entire "societies" in wartime Eastern Europe as co-responsible for the Holocaust and other crimes of the Nazis.