though the synagogues remained open, high taxes were imposed on the rabbis. Most communal old people’s homes and orphanages were either nationalised or closed.
Independent activity was conducted only by dispersed cells of Zionist youth organisations such as HaShomer HaTzair, Betar, and Dror. Równe was a capital of HaShomer HaTzair. The local kibbutz Be-minhara took in refugees from the Radom kibbutz Be-hazit (the local halutzim even published three issues of an underground periodical titled Maamakim). In Kovel, the main centre of Dror, was a HeHalutz kibbutz. Most of the ḥalutzim dreamed of fleeing to independent Vilna to look for ways to get to Palestine, an endeavour that often was successful.
The Germans seized Volhynia during the first days after their invasion of the Soviet Union. On 25 June, the German troops reached Dubno, while 28 June marked the fall of Równe. The Nazis reached the former Polish–Soviet border on 1 July. The last town the Wehrmacht detachments seized was Sarny (on 9 July).
The vast majority of Jewish conscripts from Volhynia perished during the defence of Kiev, while the rest were drafted at the turn of October and November to labour battalions along with representatives of other ethnic groups from pre-war Polish territories. The number of Volhynian Jews who managed to escape into the interior of Russia was small. Fragmentary data suggests that inhabitants of localities located further east had much more luck. For instance, as many as 25 and 20 per cent of the Jews managed to flee from Rokitno and Korzec respectively. Generally speaking, the number of Jewish refugees from Volhynia did not exceed 13,000. Only slightly fewer Jews perished in combat, including 3,000–4,000 who died in Równe alone.
On 19 July Volhynia became subordinated to the German military authorities (the same command of the territories south of the front line – rückwärtiges Heeresgebiet Süd – that controlled Galicia), which transferred the region to the civil administration as late as on 1 September. The town of Łuck became the seat of the district commander. Volhynia was the territory of the operation of EG C’s sub-detachments: SK 4a under command of Paul Blodel and EK 5, which on 16 July were eventually subordinated to the Reichskommissar for Ukraine Erich Koch (appointed by Hitler) with a seat in Równe. Beginning in July 1941, Volhynia and Podolia were commanded on his
LVO V AN D SOUTH EASTERN REGIONS [INTRO D U C TION] 397
