Dr. Yuri Radchenko

Professional Background

Dr. Yuri Radchenko is Senior Lecturer and Kandydat istorychnyh nauk (PhD), Kharkiv Collegium Institute of Oriental Studies and International Relations, and Director of Center for Inter-ethic Relations in Eastern Europe (Ukraine). He earned his PhD in Holocaust Studies in December 2012 at Vasil’ Karazin Kharkiv National University. His dissertation is entitled “Nazi Genocide of Ukrainian Jews in the Military-Administered Area, (1941-1943).” Dr. Radchenko speaks Ukrainian and Russian natively, English fluently, and possesses linguistic skills in German, Hebrew, Polish, and Yiddish. He organized the workshop “Ethno-Political Problems of WWII,” Kharkiv, October, 2011 and coordinated the exhibition “The Holocaust by Bullets” for Yahad-In Unum in Kharkiv in October-November, 2011. Dr. Radchenko was a lecturer at the Scientific Seminar about the History of the Holocaust in Ukraine in Yaremscha, Ukraine in August, 2009. While in residence in the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, Dr. Radchenko worked on his project, “Ukrainian Hilfspolizei and the Holocaust in Ukraine: The Case of the Military Administration Zone.”

Dr. Radchenko has several published works to his credit including: “Його чоботи та есесівська форма були забризкані кров ’ю…: таємна польова поліція, поліція безпеки та СД, допоміжна поліція у терорі щодо євреїв Харкова (1941–1943)” in Голокост і сучасність. Студії в Україні і світі (2011), ““We fired all cartridges at them”: Ukrainische Hilfspolizei and the Holocaust on the territory of the Generalbezirk Kharkiv, 1941-1943” in Yad Vashem Studies (2013), “Інструменталізація історії Голокосту в сучасній Україні. Case Study одногонавчального посібника” in Голокост і сучасність. Студії в Україні і світі (2012), “Свідчення через 40 років” in Критика (2013), “Ukrainische Hilfspolizei и Холокост на территории генерал-бецирка Чернигов, 1941–1943 ” in Форум новейшей восточноевропейской истории и культуры (2013).

Fellowship Research

For his L. Dennis and Susan R. Shapiro Fellowship Dr. Radchenko assessed the roles played by local Ukrainian police of Hilfspolizei in the Ukrainian Holocaust, especially in the Military Administered zone of Eastern Ukraine. While it is well known that Ukrainian non-Jews actively participated in the extermination of Jews throughout Ukraine, little is known about how great a role was played by the local police of Eastern Ukraine. Dr. Radchenko investigated this by scouring through the many documents pertaining to this topic in the Museum’s archives including documents from the trials of perpetrators, Soviet archives, special investigations, and interviews with Survivors.

Dr. Radchenko was in residence at the Mandel Center from January 1 to March 31, 2014.