From the Problems of the Occupation of Northern Bukovina by the Soviet Army – Between Reality and Propaganda (April–December 1944)

In April 1944, Soviet forces occupied Bukovina. Partisans were sent to areas designated by the Soviet Military Command to carry out diversionary activities. As a result, the inhabitants of Bukovina experienced hunger, destruction of crops, and forced labor in the construction of trenches for the Soviet army. Soviet civil authorities were restored in every community. Newly appointed guards relayed all orders to the inhabitants and took part in requisitions, arrests, and deportations. One of the first actions of the new administration was to conduct a census, which was necessary to introduce a tax system. Taxes were then set at between 50 and 500 rubles per resident, depending on their wealth. In addition, the local population was subject to taxes in kind (grain, livestock, wool, and dairy products). The Soviets saw the annexation of northern Bukovina as the unification of the great Ukrainian nation into a single Soviet state undergoing continuous socialist development.