Ghosts of War: Nazi Occupation and Its Aftermath in Soviet Belarus

File under: Something is better than nothing. So many of the conclusions in this study of Belarus in the Soviet era are so tentative, that one knows that it's likely to be replaced by something better in the future. Still, if it sounds like I'm damning Exeler with faint praise, I can still appreciate that she's careful not to claim more than she can. As it stands then, the Exeler is trying to tease out how people made the choices that they did in the face of invasion and occupation, even if these were not "choices" at all; just being compelled by events. The big question is why certain people found themselves participating in the Nazi project of genocide against the Jewish community of Belarus, with a sub-question of why so many Soviet show more petty bureaucrats and policemen seemed ready to go along for the ride; fear, indifference, bigotry? At this point we're unlikely to get good answers. show less