Facing East or Facing South? Nazi Rule in the Soviet Muslim Borderlands

Nazi rule in Crimea and the North Caucasus was shaped by two strategic orientations pulling occupation policy in different directions. The “Eastern” vector followed the racial-colonial logic of the Ostkrieg. The “Southern” vector looked beyond the Soviet frontier toward Turkey, Iran, and the wider Muslim world, encouraging a pragmatic and friendly approach to local Muslim communities and, by extension, to other groups. Their interaction produced an occupation regime unlike any other in the occupied Soviet territories. The tension became most visible in Nazi efforts to determine whether groups associated with Jewish ancestry or Judaism (Karaites, Krymchaks, Mountain Jews, and Subbotniks) should be classified as Jews and share their fate during the Shoah. For these groups, the southern dimension created a unique window of survival; yet, the extermination of Ashkenazi Jews remained non-negotiable.