Sixth Research’s Travel in Russia Research Trip to Russia – N. 6

November 7, 2011 to November 19, 2011

REGION : Rostov’s administration

TOWNS AND VILLAGES STUDIED:  : Novotcherkassk, Starotcherkassk, Volochino, Petrouchino, Taganrog, Guigant, Kroutchenïa Balka, Ekaterinovka, Skossyrskaïa, Morozovsk, Grouzinov, Bolchoïa Martinovka

From October 15 to 29, a Yahad team took a sixth research trip to Russia, the second in the Rostov region.

From a practical and historical point of view, it was a complicated investigation due to various problems, the terrain, and a difficulty locating witnesses. There were large areas to cover as this zone was very sprawling. German archives, like their Soviet counter-parts which covered Nazi crimes perpetuated in this zone, held little information, reinforcing the need for extensive In the region studied, with the exception of large towns like Taganrog, there were few local Jews, and they were quite assimilated. The actions against the Jews were primarily directed at the refugee population, notably from Ukraine. Gradually, starting from several villages, the team was able to find traces of the Jewish refugees as well as the related shootings.

The team attempted, as much as possible, to include all the different groups of victims in the scope of its investigation, which could provide complete historical clarity on the period of occupation.

With the exception of Tagarog, the primary region studied was occupied by the Germans in the summer of 1942 until the winter of 1943. The zone remained under military administration during the entire occupation.

 

The Execution of Jewish Refugees.

Around the town of Salsk, the team worked in several villages where the presence of Jewish refugees was sometimes confirmed by available archives. In these small villages, the Germans In Guigant, the archives described some local Jews who were captured and taken to Salsk never to return. The team met Natalia (b. 1926) who saw two cars arrive with Germans and local police. They forced her Jewish neighbors from the house with some of their belongings and took them to an unknown destination.

In Kroutchonoia Balka, Rulsan (b. 1935), witness of the shooting of one Jew, corroborated the depositions of the Soviet archives. He witnessed the entire scene while hiding behind a bush. The Jew was brought in a wagon near a stable of the kolkhoze. There were three German soldiers and an interpreter. They made him dig a grave and asked him his final wish. He wanted to smoke a cigarette, which the Germans gave him. Afterward, they shot him with a machine gun.

In the village of Ekaterinovka, the team interviewed an exceptional witness: Maria (b. 1930). At the time, she lived in a small neighboring hamlet. In much detail, she described what happened to the Jewish refugees staying in the school. As the hamlet was taken over by a German commando, she was forced into the school with the other inhabitants. There, the Jews were already put in a wagon. In the school’s courtyard were the belongings of the Jews. The executioner made the inhabitants take the objects. Those who refused were beaten. The witness took a beautiful dress. But the Jews shouted, “leave our things alone!” Then, the inhabitants were made to watch the shooting which took place in a ditch near the school. Maria added, “Two Germans took the Jews two at a time in front of the ditch and shot them in the nape of their necks, before kicking them in the ditch.” Today, there was no trace of the hamlet, and no monument memorializing the victims.

Investigation of the Massacres at Taganrog

In Taganrog, the occupation lasted nearly two years, beginning in September ’41. Taganrog was not a Cossack town. The occupation was very violent in a terrifying climate. For several months, the front was at their gates.

Raissa (b. 1928) witnessed various scenes of violence during the occupation. She described how two infants were shot with a revolver in their strollers because their mothers refused to give their hens to the Germans. She also saw men hanged in the plaza and their bodies left for several days to scare the population. She also participated in a number of underground organization in the town, mostly to gather information on the occupiers. For the duration of the war, German soldiers stayed in her house. They trusted her and she took advantage of the opportunity to gather information on the front from their radio.

Still in Taganrog, Galina (b. 1927) received the team even while she was in the hospital. She also took part in an underground organization and responsible for collecting information about the actions of the occupiers. When the Jews were gathered at the main plaza, she went there and there was a row of soldiers patrolling “shoulder to shoulder.” She saw some women who came to distract the guards in order to save the Jewish babies. Galina heard announcements on the loud-speakers giving orders to the Jews. She saw them take their possessions in to the cinema. They came back out without their belongings, forced to get in some trucks, and were taken to Petrouchino where they were shot.

In Petrouchino, under German occupation, according to the archives, around 6,000 people – Jews, Gypsies, Communists – were shot in a ravine extending to the Sea of Azov. In this village, Grigori (b. 1924) was requisitioned to dig pits in the ravine. When he arrived, the shooting stopped, but the victims were still being finished off with a  revolver. Later, he was arrested because he was suspected of being in a resistance group. He was imprisoned and tortured for several days by the local police chief before being released thanks to the backing of the staroste.

Still in Petrochino, Yahad interviewed Anatoli (b. 1930) who was present for several shootings while grazing his cow. Anatoli recalled a scene where the Jews descended into the ravine in a column; they were first shot in groups of 4, but when the other Jews began to resist, the Germans set their dogs on them.

In the same ravine, he also saw the shooting of Gypsies who came from a Gypsy sovkhove, located a few kilometers from Petrouchino. There is no longer any trace of the sovkhove. According to the testimony, the communist victims were brought from the aircraft factory where they were probably taken to the ravine and shot.

The Stalingrad Front, Catalyst of Violence

The Yahad team also investigated the north of the Rostov region, near the extent of the the frontline, This zone is located 200km from Volgograd, former Stalingrad.

In the town of Grouzinov, according to witnesses, during the German rout and when the front was very near, the Germans gathered the inhabitants of the hamlet and shot them. The main targets were the men, but the women and children were elso executed. The team interviewed five witnesses of this massacre. The victims were shot at the edge of the pit which were then filled in with manure. It is highly likely Jewish refugees were some of the victims.

For the city of Morowzovsk, the archives mentiones 250 Jewish victims – locals and refugees. After great difficulty, the team finally found a witness of an execution. Thanks to Youri (b. 1930), the team learned that the Jewish refugees from different areas were gathered for somedays in the kolkhoze stables before being shot in a nearby sandpit. Today, there is a monument, but it is not situated exactly at the pit.

In a nearby sandpit, the communists and others considered enemies by the Germans were also shot for several weeks during the occupation.

It is also worth mentioning the presence of gas trucks which operated in Morozovsk. Sacha (b. 1931) recalled the scene “as if it were yesterday: I saw two Germans exit a metal truck. One of them went to my neighbors’ houses. The other turned a crank between the cab and the back. The first German came back with a Jewish woman and her child. He opened the back of the truck and put the two inside. I saw two men in the back leaning over to look outside, but the Germans quickly closed the metallic doors. The two Germans got in the cabin and the motor started. I heard screaming in the truck and some banging as the victims were hitting the inside of the truck.

To locate the Jewish refugees scattered around, the Germans often used informers. And with the complicity of local police and the staroste appointed by the occupiers, a list of names was composed.

At the end of the trip, Yahad worked in 12 towns and interviewed 32 witnesses.