Description

This research focuses on inter-ethnic conflict at the micro-level. We look at how state institutions specifically citizenship and nationality policies can construct t inter-ethnic relationships that mitigate tension and build cooperative relationships. Most explanations of low-level inter-ethnic violence assume inter-group animosity as a starting condition and explain the onset of violence through opportunities, manipulative elites, or psychological mechanisms. This study takes one step back in the causal chain of events to look at how states construct and reconstruct base-line feelings of animosity and goodwill between ethnic groups. We take the example of Bessarabia and Transnistria during WWII as a natural experiment. Both territories were part of Tsarist Russia before 1917, but were divided during the inter-war period: Bessarabia under Romanian administration with exclusivist nationality policies, and Transnistria under Soviet administration with inclusivist nationality policies. During WWII, these territories were once again united but the two local non-Jewish populations responded very differently to the Romanian Holocaust: one broadly participated in pogroms and violent attacks against Jews, while the other broadly aided and supported Jews. Our evidence comes from personal interviews we undertook with Jews and non-Jews from Moldova and Ukraine; a survey we conducted in 2006; written testimonies given by Jewish survivors; and state archival material from Romania and the Soviet Union.