Wednesday, June 22, 2011

June 22, 1941

On this day 70 years ago, Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union and began the most devastating conflict in recorded history, which accounted for the overwhelming majority of World War II deaths in Europe. About 26.6 million of these deaths, according to demographic calculations, occurred among the population of the Soviet Union. A significant part of Soviet deaths was due to the Nazi invaders’ criminal actions.



Six months after the beginning of the attack, the Nazis’ record of mass murder had taken an enormous leap, as pointed out by German historian Christian Gerlach on page 10 of his book Krieg, Ernährung, Völkermord (my translation):

In order to make this development clear, it may be helpful to distinguish between two phases: had the NS regime suddenly come to an end in May 1941, it would have remained infamous mainly due to the murder of 70,000 sick and disabled in the so-called "euthanasia" action, of several ten thousand Jewish and non-Jewish Poles and of many thousand concentration camp inmates in the German Reich. Towards the end of the year 1941 the number of victims of the German policy of violence had grown by over three million people (not counting Red Army troops killed in combat) – thereof about 900,000 Jews, nine-tenths thereof in the occupied Soviet territories, and about two million Soviet prisoners of war. [Footnote: Further huge number of victims had until then been claimed by the German policy of alleged anti-partisan fighting (at least 100,000 people, mainly in Belorussia, Central Russia and Serbia) and by the hunger blockade against Leningrad with hundreds of thousands of dead.] Only in the course of the year 1942 the Jewish population of Europe became the largest group of victims of German extermination policy.


In his recent book Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg: Front und militärisches Hinterland 1941/42 (p. 789), German historian Christian Hartmann mentions 3 million Soviet prisoners of war who perished in German captivity, 2.4 million murdered Soviet Jews and 500,000 victims of anti-partisan operations. The latter number is also mentioned by Dr. Dieter Pohl, who estimates a total of over one million victims of anti-partisan killings and other murders among the Soviet Union’s non-Jewish civilian population. Pohl’s colleague Jörg Ganzenmüller, whose arguments in this respect I agree with, considers the siege of Leningrad, which claimed about a million civilian victims mostly by starvation, to have been what he calls a "quiet genocide" (Ein stiller Völkermord). The number of civilians that the Nazis caused to starve to death in territory they occupied (as opposed to besieged Leningrad and other Soviet-controlled territory) has not yet been established. In the blog 5 million non-Jewish victims? (Part 2), I assumed that half of about 3 million non-Jewish Soviet civilian deaths in Nazi-occupied territory were directly attributable to the implementation of criminal Nazi occupation and exploitation policies, the balance being collateral victims of the fighting, starvation deaths due to the Soviet scorched-earth policy during the retreats in 1941/42 and civilians killed by irregular forces fighting the occupier.

All told, it seems safe (even conservative, considering other estimates) to assume that a total of about 8 million Soviet non-combatants (civilians and prisoners of war, including both Jews and non-Jews), fell victim to Nazi criminal actions, i.e. were murdered out of hand or caused to die of starvation, disease and exposure.

The photographs linked to hereafter are known or presumed to show some (a diminute fraction, given the limitations of the photographic medium) of the victims of Nazi crimes against inhabitants of the Soviet Union in its borders as of 22 June 1941, i.e. including the Baltic Countries, the territories of former Eastern Poland now belonging to Belarus and Ukraine and the territory of present-day Moldova. They were taken from the Yad Vashem photo archive. The Yad Vashem captions are not always accurate e.g. as concerns the place of events depicted; where I know better or have doubts about the accuracy of a caption, this is pointed out in square brackets after the caption. Needless to say, some of the photos are very graphic and viewing them is thus not recommended for sensitive persons. [Note, 24.04.2018: See updates at the end of the article.]

1 USSR, Man hanged in suspicion of Partisan activity.
2 USSR, A man hanged by the Germans.
3 USSR, Man hanged in suspicion of Partisan activity.
4 Ukraine, Bogoduchov, Hanging of two suspects of Partisan activity by local Gendarmes.
5 USSR, Man hanged in suspicion of Partisan activity.
6 Belorussia, Minsk, Two men and a woman that were hanged by the Germans.
7 USSR, Three men hanged in suspicion of Partisan activity.
8 USSR, Apparently the remains of dead Soviet POWs.
9 USSR, Soviet POWs bringing the body of another POW to burial.
10 USSR, Bodies of dead Soviet POWs in the snow.
11 USSR, Apparently local auxiliaries with a wounded Soviet POW.
12 Russia, Petrovzavodsk, Finnish Soldiers beside bodies of Soviet POWs that were executed, 27/02/1942.
13 Apparently a dead Soviet POW.
14 A mass grave of Soviet POWs.
15 Belorussia, Gubino, Apparently two German soldiers beside the bodies of Soviet POWs.
16 Soviet POWs burying the bodies of their comrades.
17 Belorussia, Orsha, Apparently civilians shot by the Germans.
18 USSR, People hanged by the Germans in suspicion of Partisan activity.
19 USSR, Two men hanged by the German army.
20 Ukraine, Babi Yar, Bodies found in a mass grave by Soviet researchers, 1944. [Probably the Syretsk/Syretzky concentration camp, see the Babi Yar photo album (with the inevitable "Note to our viewers" by Carmelo Lisciotto).]
21 Ukraine, Babi Yar, Bodies found in a mass grave by Soviet researchers, 1944. [Probably the Syretsk/Syretzky concentration camp.]
22 USSR, Hanging of two men by German soldiers.
23 Ukraine, Babi Yar, Bodies found in a mass grave by Soviet researchers, 1944.
24 Ukraine, Babi Yar, Bodies found in a mass grave by Soviet researchers, 1944. [Probably the Syretsk/Syretzky concentration camp.]
25 Ukraine, Babi Yar, Bodies found in a mass grave by Soviet researchers, 1944. [Probably the Syretsk/Syretzky concentration camp.]
26 Ukraine, Babi Yar, Bodies found in a mass grave by Soviet researchers, 1944. [Probably the Syretsk/Syretzky concentration camp.]
27 Ukraine, Babi Yar, Bodies found in a mass grave by Soviet researchers, 1944. [Probably the Syretsk/Syretzky concentration camp.]
28 Russia, Apparently the bodies of Soviet POWs in the Porkhov area.
29 Russia,German soldiers hanging a man in the Porkhov area.
30 USSR, Apparently dead Soviet POWs executed.
31 USSR, Two suspects of Partisan activity that were hanged by the Germans.
32 Ukraine, Bogoduchov, Two suspects of Partisan activity being led to the gallows by Gendarmes.
33 USSR, Bodies of Soviet POW's brought to burial.
34 USSR, Bodies of people shot by the Germans.
35 USSR, Bodies of people shot by the Germans.
36 USSR, A citizen hung by the Germans, seemingly because of suspicion of Partisan activity.
37 Ukraine, Kharkov, People hanged in the street by the Germans in Shavczenka Street, year 1942.
38 Ukraine, Kharkov, Men hanged by the Germans in retaliation for bombing buildings following German occupation, November 1941.
39 Ukraine, Kharkov, Men hanged by the Germans in retaliation for bombing buildings following German occupation, November 1941.
40 Ukraine, Kharkov or Bogodukhov, A pile of burnt bodies that was taken by a German soldier.
41 Ukraine, Kharkov, Man hanged by the Germans, in suspicion of Partisan activity.
42 Ukraine, Kharkov, Civilians hanged by the Germans in retaliation for a terrorist attack on German headquarters, November 1941.
43 Ukraine, Kharkov, Civilians hanged by the Germans in retaliation for a terrorist attack on German headquarters, November 1941.
44 Kharkov, Ukraine, A hanging execution by Ukrainian collaborators and German soldiers, 1942.
45 Babiy Yar, Ukraine, Corpses in a mass grave. [Location is not Babiy Yar but Drobitski Yar near Kharkov.]
46 Bodies of soviet POW's who died in German captivity.
47 Bodies of Soviet POW's who died in German captivity.
48 USSR, Suspects of Partisan activity, hanged by the Germans in the towns square.
49 Gayvoron, USSR, Suspects of Partisan activity, hanged by the Germans in the towns square.
50 Ukraine, Soviet POW's who were murdered by the Germans.
51 USSR, Probably a Soviet POW hauling a dead body on a sled.
52 USSR, German soldiers beside dead bodies.
53 USSR, Execution of civilians by German policemen.
54 USSR, Execution of civilians by German policemen.
55 USSR, Execution of civilians by German policemen.
56 USSR, Partisan hanged by the Germans.
57 USSR, Public hanging in the presents of German soldiers.
58 USSR, Apparently Soviet POW's shot by the Germans.
59 USSR, Apparently bodies of Soviet soldiers who were shot by the Germans.
60 USSR, Execution of civilians by German policemen.
61 Ukraine, Kiew, Man hanged by the Germans.
62 USSR, People hanged by the Germans.
63 USSR, A suspect of Partisan activity hanged by the Germans.
64 USSR, A partisan hanged by the German army.
65 USSR, Two men hanged by the German army.
66 USSR, A partisan hanged by the German army.
67 USSR, Suspects of Partisan activity hanged by the Germans.
68 USSR, Man hanged by the Germans.
69 USSR, Orel, People hung by the Germans in public for sabotage and for refusing to work, February 1942.
70 USSR, Two men hanged by the Germans.
71 USSR, Man hanged for suspicion of Partisan activity.
72 USSR, Dead Soviet soldiers.
73 USSR, Suspects of Partisan activity hanged by the Germans.
74 USSR, public hanging in the presents of German soldiers.
75 Apparently removal of bodies of Soviet POWs.
76 Bodies, seemingly of Soviet POW's.
77 Bodies, seemingly of Soviet POW's.
78 USSR, Man hanged by the Germans.
79 Apparently the bodies of Soviet POWs who died in a German POW camp.
80 USSR, Apparently Soviet POWs in the Porkhov area.
81 Ukraine, Teploye, A woman hanged by the Germans for carrying ammunition in her belongings, 3/11/1941.
82 USSR, Man hanged by the Germans in suspicion of Partisan activity.
83 USSR, Soviet POWs burying bodies of other POWs.
84 USSR, Bodies of civilians executed.
85 USSR, Bodies of civilians executed.
86 USSR, Man hanged by the Germans for looting and hiding abandoned Jewish property.
87 USSR, Man executed by the Germans.
88 USSR, Soviet POW's, presumably, executed.
89 USSR, Bodies of civilians executed.
90 USSR, Bodies of civilians executed.
91 USSR, Bodies of civilians executed.
92 USSR, Hand appearing out of a mass grave.
93 USSR, A Soviet woman soldier that was executed.
94 USSR, Civilians executed.
95 USSR, Apparently Soviet POWs executed.
96 Ukraine, Ten hostages hanged by the Germans.
97 USSR, Two men hanged probably by local collaborators.
98 USSR, Two men hanged Apparently by local collaborators.
99 Ukraine, Hanging of civilians by German soldiers.
100 Ukraine, Ten hostages hanged by the Germans.
101 USSR, man who was hanged after refusing to work.
102 Ukraine, Sumy, Two suspects of Partisan activity hanged by the Germans.
103 Ukraine, Sumy, Two suspects of Partisan activity hanged by the Germans.
104 USSR, men who were hanged after refusing to work.
105 USSR, men who were hanged after refusing to work.
106 Apparently the bodies of Soviet POWs who died in a German POW camp.
107 USSR, Evacation of Soviet POW's who died in German captivity.
108 USSR, Men who were hanged by the Germans near a train station.
109 USSR, Men who were hanged by the Germans near a train station.
110 USSR, Soviet POWs who died in a German captivity.
111 USSR, Two civilians hanged by the Germans.
112 USSR, German soldiers beside men who were hanged after refusing to work.
113 USSR, A suspect in Partisan activity that was hanged.
114 Belorussia, Minsk, Suspects of Partisan activity hanged in public, 1941.
115 Aparently Soviet POWs who died in a German captivity.
116 Presumably, the evacuation of the bodies of Soviet POWs who died in German captivity.
117 USSR, Seemingly Soviet POWs who died in the POW camp.
118 USSR, Man being hanged by the Germans.
119 USSR, An execution site.
120 Russia, Locals beside remains apparently of bodies of dead Soviet POWs- in the Porkhov area.
121 Apparently bodies of dead Soviet POW.
122 Russia, Apparently the bodies of Soviet POWs in the Porkhov area.
123 USSR, Apparently a dead Soviet POW executed.
124 USSR, Dead bodies.
125 USSR, Dead bodies.
126 Apparently the bodies of Soviet POWs who died in a German POW camp.
127 German soldiers standing beside bodies of dead Soviet soldiers.
128 Mass grave of Soviet POWs who died in German captivity.
129 Burial of Soviet POWs who died in German captivity.
130 Rudnya, USSR, An exhumation, after the war.
131 U.S.S.R., Exhumation of victims murdered on 07/04/1943.
132 Krasnodor, Russia, An exhumation by a medical staff, July 1943.
133 Krasnodar, Ukraine, Corpses of Jews murdered by German soldiers.
134 Valmiera, Latvia, Postwar, Corpses after exhumation.
135 Valmiera, Latvia, Postwar, Examination of corpses after exhumation.
136 Valmiera, Latvia, Inspecting corpses after exhumation.
137 Valmiera, Latvia, Postwar, Corpses after exhumation.
138 Lithuania, Exhumation.
139 USSR, exhumation. [Picture rather suggests a POW camp.]
140 Maly Trostenets, Belorussia, Bodies in a mass grave.
141 Maly Trostenets, Belorussia, A Soviet investigation committee inspecting a mass grave, 1944.
142 Maly Trostenets, Minsk, Belorussia, Corpses of Soviets who were murdered in the death camp during the years 1941-1944.
143 Maly Trostenets, Belorussia, A pile of dead bodies in a cremation area.
144 Maly Trostenets, Belorussia, 1944, Corpses of those murdered in the concentration camp.
145 Trostenets, Belorussia, People examining the burnt corpses of Soviets in the death camp.
146 Trostinets, Belorussia, A pile of burnt bodies in a concentration camp, in the Minsk area.
147 Minsk, Belorussia, 1943-1944, Burnt corpses of Soviets near Minsk. [Image is identical with USHMM photo # 71947, captioned "The charred remains of prisoners burned by the Germans before the liberation of the Maly Trostinets concentration camp", included in USHMM photo query Maly Trostinets]
148 Lithuania, Postwar, A corpse in a mass grave.
149 Ponary, Poland, Exhumation of corpses from ditches.
150 Ponary, Vilna, Poland, 1945, Exhumation.151 Ponary, Poland, Corpses of murdered people.
152 Ponary, Poland, Exposed bodies of victims in a mass grave.
153 Ponary, Poland, Three bodies in the sand.
154 Ponary, Poland, Bodies of the victims that were massacred there.
155 Ponary, Poland, Corpses.
156 Ponary, Poland, Corpses hanging on the gallows.
157 Ponary, Poland, Corpses hanging from the gallows.
158 Ponary, Poland, Doctors exhuming corpses.
159 Ponary, Poland, Corpses of Russian POWs.
160 Kalarasz, Rumania, Exhumation of a mass grave.
161 Klooga, Estonia, Soviet soldiers standing next to bodies ready for burning found in the camp after its liberation, 1944.
162 Klooge, Estonia, Bodies in the camp after its liberation by the Soviets.
163 Klogne, Estonia, Bodies of inmates.
164 Klooga, Estonia, 1945, Bodies between logs.
165 Klooga, Estonia, September 1944, Burnt bodies.
166 Klooga, Estonia, Russian soldiers beside burnt bodies, September 1944.
167 Estonia,Klooga, 1944, Bodies in a barrack in the camp, after the liberation.
168 Klooge, Estonia, A pile of bodies ready for cremation.
169 Klooge, Estonia, 1944, Bodies in the camp, after its liberation by the Soviets.
170 Klooga, Estonia, A row of partially charred corpses, with the remains of the camp in the background, September 1944.
171 Klooga, Estonia, Half burned bodies, September 1944.
172 Klooga, Estonia, Survivors beside burnt bodies, September 1944.
173 Klooga, Estonia, Prisoners' bodies the liberation of the camp, 1945.
174 Klooga, Estonia, Corpses of prisoners.
175 Klooga, Estonia, Corpses of prisoners, after liberation.
176 Klooga, Estonia, Corpses of prisoners after liberation.
177 Slonim, Poland, Corpses of Soviets who were murdered by the Germans.
178 USSR, German soldiers preparing for an execution by hanging.
179 Zhitomir, Ukraine, 07/08/1941, Public hanging of Jews accused of connections to the Soviet secret police.
180 Syretsk, Ukraine, Bodies of Jews murdered in the concentration camp. [Picture is probably not from Syretsk concentration camp but from Darnitsa POW camp, also in the Kiev area. See the blog The Atrocities committed by German-Fascists in the USSR (2)]
181 Syretsk, Ukraine, Bodies of murder victims, after the liberation.
182 Kiev, Ukraine, Bodies of Jews on Michailowska Street, 06/11/1943. [Probably not Jews, see the blog The Atrocities committed by German-Fascists in the USSR (2).]
183 Kiev, Ukraine, The bodies of two Jews who were shot during the deportation of the town's Jews to Babi Yar, October 1941.
184 Kiev, Ukraine, The bodies of two Jews who were shot during the deportation of the town's Jews to Babiy Yar, October 1941.
185 Kiev, Ukraine, A Jewish man shot while being deported, October 1941. [Photo probably related to the Babi Yar massacre on 29/30 September 1941. ]
186 Kiev, Ukraine, German soldiers near the corpses of civilians whom they shot due to their partisan activities.
187 USSR, Local woman trying to identify bodies of their relatives.
188 Ravnopol, Russia, The bodies of Sofia Brant and her daughter in the snow, 1942.
189 Vilijampole, Lithuania, Burnt bodies of murder victims in the ghetto, 18/12/1944.
190 Vilna, Poland, Bodies of executed people tied to posts; soldiers in the background.
191 Kamenets Podolskiy, Ukraine, Bodies, August 1941.
192 Kamenets Podolsk, Ukraine, Bodies, August 1941.
193 Kamenets Podolski, Ukraine, A pile of corpses.
194 Tarnopol, Poland, Bodies of Jews, 06/1941.
195 Tarnopol, Poland, Bodies of Jews killed during a pogrom on early July 1941.
196 Tarnopol, Poland, Bodies of Jews, 06-16/07/1941.
197 Mizocz, Poland, Bodies of women and children from Misocz village who were murdered by German policemen and Ukrainian collaborators, October 1942.
198 Misocz, Polnad. The final moments of the lives of the women and children of Misocz who were shot to death during the liquidation of the ghetto, 14/10/1942.
199 Lvov, Poland, Bodies, after a pogrom.
200 Lvov, Ukraine, June 1941, Bodies of Jews who were executed by firing-squad.
201 Proskurov, Ukraine, Bodies of murdered Jewish residents, 1942-1944.
202 Kovno, Lithuania, Bodies of Jews who were murdered by Lithuanian nationalists in Lietukis Garage on 27/06/1941.
203 Kovno, Lithuania, Bodies of Jews burned alive in the ghetto.
204 Kovno, Lithuania, German soldiers and Lithuanians looking at the bodies of the Jews murdered by Lithuanian nationalists in Lietukis Garage on 27/06/1941.
205 Kovno, Lithuania, Bodies of around 70 Jews murdered by Lithuanians.
206 Kovno, Lithuania, Jewish children's corpses in the ghetto 30/08/1944.
207 Kaunas, Lithuania, Corpses.
208 Kovno, Lithuania, German soldiers shooting three citizens on the edge of a pit, 1941.
209 Lithuania, 1941, Bodies of Jews murdered next to the Seventh Fort.
210 Siauliai, Lithuania, Remains of bones in the killing pits in the surrounding forests, Postwar.
211 Latvia, A pile of about 4000 victims' dead bodies. [Probably Soviet POWs.]
212 Stalino, Ukraine, Bodies of men and women.
213 Stalino, Ukraine, Remains of bodies.
214 Stalino, Ukraine, Women with the bodies of their kin, who were murdered by the Germans.
215 Stalino, Ukraine, Remains of corpses inside a cave.
216 Stalino, Ukraine, Corpses that were exhumed from a mine.
217 Stalino, Ukraine, Body of a boy who was shot in the head.
218 Krym, Russia, The bodies of Jews murdered in Kerch, January 1942.
219 Kerch, Ukraine, A Soviet soldier near the bodies of his family members.
220 Kerch, USSR, women who were killed by the Germans in a mass grave, February 1942.
221 Ukraine, Gaysin, Bodies after exhumation. Among them the submitter's grandparents and their three children, March 1944.
222 Vitebsk, Belorussia, Bodies of murdered people.
223 Vitebsk, Belorussia, Corpses of Jews next to a barbed-wire fence.
224 Vitebsk, Belorussia, Corpses of Jews on a street in the ghetto.
225 Vitebsk, Belorussia, Murder victims' corpses.
226 Vitebsk, Belorussia, The corpse of a Jewish man in the ghetto photographed by a German policeman.
227 Bogdanovka, Ukraine, Remains of bodies.
228 Bogdanovka, Ukraine, 1944, Remains of corpses of Soviet citizens who were tortured to death by Romanians and Germans during the Nazi occupation.
229 Bogdanovka, Ukraine, Corpses of Soviet citizens, who were tortured to death by Romanians and Germans during the Nazi occupation.
230 Bogdanovka, Ukraine, Bones.
231 USSR, A pile of dead bodies, probably of Russian captives.
232 Skede, Latvia, A Latvian policeman known as a "kicker" walking along the edge of a mass grave filled with bodies of women and children who had just been executed, 15/12/1942.
233 Liepaja, Latvia, Bones which were found in an exhumation in 1959.
234 Zbaraz, Poland, People standing by a pit filled with the remains of bodies.
235 Bereznigovatoye, Ukraine, The burial of 814 locals who were shot to death on 14/09/1941.
236 Bereznigovatoye, Ukraine, The burial of 814 locals who were shot to death on 14/09/1941.
237 Russia, An execution.
238 USSR, A pile of dead bodies, probably of Russian captives.
239 Riga, Latvia, Corpses.
240 Riga, Latvia, Scattered bones.
241 Smolensk, USSR, Corpses, At the time of liberation. [Possibly an earlier photograph taken by a German soldier.]
242 Smolensk, USSR, Corpses, At the time of liberation. [Possibly an earlier photograph taken by a German soldier.]
243 Smolensk, USSR, A dead woman, At the time of liberation.
244 USSR, 1941, Operation Barbarossa - corpses of local children lying in the snow after they were executed by the German army.
245 Kolomyja, Poland, German policemen next to the corpses of Jews whom they shot to death.
246 Moscow, USSR, Corpses of people hung by the Germans, 19/01/1942. [The location is not Moscow but a town in the Moscow region, presumably Mozhaysk or Wolokolamsk.]
247 Kalinkovichi, Belorussia, Corpses of children, 1943.
248 Lyady, Belorussia, Corpses, 1943.
249 Konstantinovka, Ukraine, Corpses that were exhumed from a mine in the city.
250 Bobruisk, Belorussia, Corpses, probably of Soviet POWs in Dulag 131, winter 1941.
251 Kamenka, Belorussia, Sacks filled with Nazis' victims' bones, before reburial.
252 Bobruysk, Belorussia, A group of people near sacks filled with bones of Nazis' victims, before reburial.
253 Bobruysk, Belorussia, Meir Zeliger near sacks filled with skulls of Nazis' victims, before reburial.
254 Bobruysk, Belorussia, Fencing the massgrave to prevent it's desecration.
255 Bobruysk, Belorussia, A group of men collecting bones of Nazis' victims for the purpose of reburial in a mass grave at the Jewish cemetery.
256 Krasny Bor, Russia, Murder victims' corpses.
257 Autumn 1943, Corpses of Russian Jews who tried to escape from a camp.
258 Russia, A German policeman standing beside corpses.
259 Idritsa, USSR, Corpses in a mass grave.
260 Jekabpils, Latvia, Postwar, Reinterment of the corpses of townspeople who perished in the Holocaust.
261 USSR, 1941, Operation Barbarossa - the corpses of fifteen local youths hanged by the German army.
262 Utena, 1945, Russian soldiers and local men beside corpses, before their reburial.
263 Utena, Lithuania, Human bones that were taken out of their graves and brought by family members for burial at the site, after the war.
264 Nadworna, Poland, German soldiers standing next to two corpses hanging on a pole.
265 Skalat, Poland, A Soviet committee during the exhumation of the corpses of those murdered by the Germans on 20/04/1944.
266 Rostow, Russia, Winter 1943, The Gestapo jail courtyard.
267 Resse, Lithuania, November 1944, The exhumation of corpses of Jews murdered at the site.
268 Russia, 1955, Sacks filled with bones before burial in a mass grave. [Another caption of same photo: Chausy, Belorussia, Transport of bags filled with bones to burial in mass graves, 1941.]
269 Chausy, Belorussia, Bags filled with bones, in an open mass grave, 1941. [Another caption of same photo: Russia, 1955, Sacks filled with bones in a mass grave. ]
270 Grozovo, Belorussia, Coffins containing bones of Jews murdered in March 1943.
271 Kuziai, Lithuania, 1974, Bones and shoes.
272 Celo Dobroye, Ukraine, Postwar, Exhumation of bones from a mass grave for reburial.
273 Celo Dobroye, Ukraine, 1961, A ceremony marking the reburial of bones in a mass grave.
274 Kornitz, Poland, Jews transporting a cart laden with sacks of bones of murdered Jews for burial in a mass grave. [Kornitz is probably Kurenets, Belarus.]
275 Iwje, Poland, An exhumation.
276 Iwje, Poland, People standing around a mass grave of local Jews, during an exhumation.
277 Yeloviki, Belorussia, A group of people at the rims of a pit during reburial of Nazis' victims.
278 Belorussia, The body of a young woman shot in the head.
279 Balti, Romania, Jews who were shot to death by a unit of the Einsatzgruppen in July, 1941.
280 Polowce, Poland, Bodies of prisoners who had been shot, aligned in rows in the snow.
281 Chernovtsy, Russia, 1944, A mass grave of Soviet citizens shot by the Germans. [The place is probably Chernivtsi, Ukraine.]
282 Zelechow, Poland, Bodies of Soviet citizens who were shot to death in 1944. [The place is probably Zolochiv, Ukraine, Polish: Złoczów. According to Klee and Dreßen, »Gott mit uns«. Der deutsche Vernichtungskrieg im Osten 1941-1945, the photo was found in the archives of the Gestapo in Złoczów (spelled "Zloczew" by the authors).]
283 Ukraine, People searching for bodies of loved ones among the bodies of citizens who were shot to death, after the liberation.
284 Dubossary, Ukraine, Members of Einsatzgruppe D shooting Jews, 14/09/1941.
285 Drohobycz, Poland, Removing corpses in a truck.
286 Vinnitsa, Ukraine, An SS man shooting a man's head over a mass grave, probably 1941.
287 Einsatzgruppen soldiers shooting Jews who are in a ditch.
288 Uruczje, Belorussia, Members of a Soviet invesigation committeeinvestigating a mass grave.
289 Janowska, Poland, corpses of inmates killed shortly before the liberation. [The corpses seem to be older than that.]

Events at some of the places shown in the above photographs are mentioned in several articles on this blog site, including the following (blogs listed by alphabetical order of place mentions, starting with Babi Yar and ending with Zolochiv/Złoczów):

• Series That's why it is denial, not revisionism., parts III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX (1), IX (3), IX(4)
Vasily Grossman's Letters and Notebooks
How Many Perpetrators in the USSR? - Part One: Overview
How Many Perpetrators in the USSR? - Part Four: Ukraine 1941
How Many Perpetrators in the USSR? - Part Five: Ukraine 1942
How Many Perpetrators in the USSR? - Part Eight: Baltic States
How Many Perpetrators in the USSR? - Part Nine: Denier Deceit
One might think that …
Wehrmacht Complicity in the Holocaust in Ukraine
The Atrocities committed by German-Fascists in the USSR (2)
"... otherwise you’ll think that I’m bloodthirsty"
Mass Graves in the Polesie
The Atrocities committed by German-Fascists in the USSR (1)
Drobitski Yar
Neither the Soviets nor the Poles have found any mass graves with even only a few thousand bodies …
More Misrepresentations from Graf: Lithuania
«Evidence for the Presence of "Gassed" Jews in the Occupied Eastern Territories» (3, 2)
French Military Witness in Kaunas (Kovno)
Belzec Mass Graves and Archaeology: My Response to Carlo Mattogno (4,1)
More «Evidence for the Presence of "Gassed" Jews in the Occupied Eastern Territories» (2)
Human Remains Seen By American Journalists at Klooga and Babi Yar
Galicia
Belzec Mass Graves and Archaeology: My Response to Carlo Mattogno (5,2)
Thomas Dalton responds to Roberto Muehlenkamp and Andrew Mathis (2)
«Evidence for the Presence of "Gassed" Jews in the Occupied Eastern Territories» (3, 3)
More «Evidence for the Presence of "Gassed" Jews in the Occupied Eastern Territories» (1)
"Thereafter Kube had shown the Italians a gas chamber in which the killing of the Jews was allegedly carried out."
Austrian Gas Vans Trial
Thomas Kues and Isak Grünberg
Photographic Evidence of Mass Shootings: 1. Sdolbunov
Kudos to Mr. Wilfried Heink
Nazi crimes in Soviet footage
The Road to Vyazma
Photographic Evidence of Mass Shootings: 2. Ponary
Photos from the German East
Notes from a Transit Camp
Liepaja (Part 1)
Liepaja (Part 2)
What it was like

[Edited on 26.04.2012 to replace broken links.]

[Update, 04.03.2013: Regarding photos nos. 191 to 193, see the blog The Kamenets-Podolsky Massacre.]

[Update, 17.12.2016: The direct links are no longer active, and the Internet Archive has saved only some of them. The images can be retrieved via the Yad Vashem photo archive's search engine by checking the fields "Title" and "Photos Archive" and introducing the photo's caption (e.g. "USSR, Man hanged in suspicion of Partisan activity.") in the "Search for" field (captions of Kamenets-Podolsky photos were changed to "USSR, dead bodies in a mass grave.", see the blog The Kamenets-Podolsky Massacre). A slide show featuring the photos in this list is available on Youtube.]

[Update, 24.04.2018:

1. All broken links to photos in the Yad Vashem photo archive were removed. Readers wishing to see photographs with the listed or similar captions can insert the respective listed caption in Yad Vashem’s new photo archive search mask. For instance, inserting "Rudnya, USSR, An exhumation, after the war" in the search mask yields two photos with this caption. Further information about each photo can be obtained by clicking on it.

2. Many of the photos previous linked to in this article are now in the Yad Vashem online collection 451 photographs on CD. The photographs, mainly from German sources, were collected during the war by "The Extraordinary State Commission for Determination and Investigation of Nazi and Their Collaborators' Atrocities in the USSR".

3. The photos previously captioned by Yad Vashem as pertaining to the Kamenets-Podolsky Massacre are now under this link.

4. Regarding the Ponary mass graves and photos on the sites of the The Ghetto Fighters' House and Yad Vashem, reference is made to the series "Mattogno on the Mass Graves at Ponary" (Part 1,Part 2, Part 3, Part 4).]

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