territory was assigned to Ținutul Suceava. The passage of antisemitic laws also came with targeted persecution, including the attempted expulsion of all Jews living in Zelena. This episode ended in 1940, as most of Khotyn was annexed to the Ukrainian SSR during the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina; the core areas of Bessarabia, meanwhile, formed a separate Moldavian SSR. The border between these two Soviet entities was settled on August 2, 1940 (effectively on November 4), when the southern third of Hotin County was recognized as part of the Moldavian SSR. The northern regions, which remained under Ukrainian administration, had a Ukrainian plurality of 41.6%, and were amalgamated with Bukovinian areas into Chernivtsi Oblast. As noted by van Meurs, this arrangement was due to Ukrainian officials using their "political clout", as a "strong Ukrainian involvement" had underpinned the Soviet moves of 1940. Approval was obtained from the Moldavian SSR Premier, Tihon Konstantinov, but not from the Moldovan population. This reportedly contradicted fundamental laws of the Moldavian Autonomous Republic, which were still in place before the passage of a 1941 Constitution. The Soviet annexation occurred after the Great Purge, which had seen Shynkarenko being sidelined by the Soviets and narrowly escaping execution; several Khotyn refugees were shot at that stage by the NKVD, followed by at least 224 new Soviet citizens in 1940–1941. While in Bukovina the NKVD began a purge of Ukrainian elites, many of whom fled with the Romanian Army, Ukrainians around Khotyn appear to have welcomed the change of borders, with reports that Romanian garrisons had been humiliated by civilians during the eviction. Similar incidents occurred in other parts of Bessarabia, and, before 1941, Romanian Army folklore enshrined in public memory the claim that Jews were the main culprits, despite evidence to the contrary. A re-annexation by Romania occurred in 1941, as part of Operation Barbarossa; at the time, Romania was under a dictatorial government led by Davidoglu's former rival, Ion Antonescu. From September 4, 1941, Hotin County was attached to the Romanian Bukovina Governorate. Shortly before this formal reoccupation, Romanian troops in Atachi tried to expel the entire Jewish population from Hotin County into Reichskommissariat Ukraine, a matter which caused tension between them and Nazi Germany. More than 1,000 "slow-moving" Jews where shot by the Einsatzgruppen during the subsequent push-back. All surviving returnees were then expelled into camps in Transnistria Governorate, with many more killed