"The Ground Moved:" Reconstructing the Holocaust in Zhytomyr, Ukraine

During the Holocaust, the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine was best known for being a strategic headquarters for Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler. It was the center of the Nazis' imperialist ambitions in Ukraine, exemplified by the brief existence of the "Hegewald" Volkdeutsche colony. However, while existing scholarship has predominantly focused on how the Nazis implemented genocide in this region and their colonialist endeavors, this research seeks to amplify the voices, experiences, and stories of Jews and witnesses, whose experiences have often been overlooked. It aims to provide a social history of the Holocaust in the Zhytomyr region of Ukraine, highlighting issues such as everyday life, gender, survival, and memory. It argues that testimonies from the Holocaust in Zhytomyr provide important social and affective dimensions to understandings of Nazi imperialism and the Holocaust in this region. Ultimately, this project advocates for more extensive research on the Holocaust in Eastern Europe, underscores the importance of integrating this history into Holocaust education, illustrates the significance of affective and social dimensions of the Holocaust, and emphasizes the value of testimony in Holocaust research.