Dolhoruchenko K. Organization and activity of a propaganda special apparatus of Hitler's Germany on the territory of the Reich Commissariat "Ukraine" (on the materials of the special department "Vineta"): historical and legal research

This historical and legal study provides a theoretical generalization and a new solution to the scientific problem of clarifying the organization and functioning of a propaganda special apparatus of Hitler's Germany on the territory of the Reich Commissariat "Ukraine" and the impact of its unit - the special department "Vineta" on the legal consciousness of the occupied territory. Based on the analysis of scientific works and for the first time involved in the scientific circulation of archival materials concerning the researched problems, three main stages of development of historical and legal thought about the subject of research have been singled out, namely: First, preparatory - (after the end of the Second World War - until the mid-1980s) - is marked by separate attempts to comprehend the organization and activities of the Ministry of Education and Propaganda of the Third Reich by Soviet and foreign historians and historians of law; Second (late 1980s – 90s) – the stage of posing by scientists the problem of the influence of the Ministry of Education and propaganda of Hitler's Germany on the population’s consciousness of the occupied territories; Third (2000s - present) - a stage of separation as an independent area of research on the influence of the Ministry of Education and Propaganda of Hitler's Germany, in particular the special department "Vineta", on the legal consciousness of the occupied territories’ population. The author has proved that the main activities of the special unit "Vineta" in the occupied territory of the Reich Commissariat "Ukraine" were special propaganda and information-analytical intelligence ones. The author's definition of these concepts has been formulated. The author has clarified the relationship between the indicators of implementation of the goals and objectives of the special department "Vinetа" and the effectiveness of its advocacy impact on the population under occupation, which is expressed in the following judgments of the author: a) with high efficiency, indicators of the effectiveness of the destructive impact on legal awareness and legally significant behavior of the population of the occupied territories; b) indicators of the effectiveness of the special department "Vineta and the effectiveness of the impact on the population of the occupied territories had a highlighted vector to reduce after the second year of misanthropic conditions of Nazi occupation. It has been established that the indicator of the effectiveness of the implementation of propaganda influence on the population during the occupation depended on objective and subjective factors. The objective ones include the following: the general military situation of the belligerent states on the Eastern Front and the conditions of occupation in which the civilian population was in a particular period; the level of logistic and financial support of the special department "Vignette"; shortage of qualified personnel during the second period of occupation. Subjective factors included the following: the level of training of agents; information product quality; correctness and timeliness of propagandists' choice and use of methods and forms of manipulation of public consciousness; changes in the occupier’s "image" in the public mood of the local population; psychological, mental, social and cultural features by the Ukrainian population's perception of Nazi propaganda. The author has proved that the relative efficiency of propaganda influence on the population under occupation varied from high - with the maximum number of people who went to the ideologically motivated collaboration with the Nazi occupiers and participated in punitive measures, to low - with a minimum number of people among local population, who continued to collaborate with the occupier during the mass deployment of the anti-Hitler Resistance Movement.