| Vinnytsia massacre | |
|---|---|
| Part of theGreat Purge | |
 | |
 | |
| Location | 49°08′N28°17′E / 49.14°N 28.29°E /49.14; 28.29 Vinnytsia,Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Date | 1937–1938 |
| Target | Political prisoners[citation needed], ethnicPoles[citation needed] |
Attack type | Summary executions |
| Deaths | over 9,000[1] |
| Perpetrators | NKVD |
TheVinnytsia massacre was the mass execution of over 9,000 people in theUkrainian town ofVinnytsia by theSoviet secret policeNKVD during theGreat Purge in 1937–1938, whichNazi Germany discovered during its occupation of Ukraine in 1943.[2] The investigation of the site first conducted by the internationalKatyn Commission coincided with the discovery of a similar mass murder site of Polishprisoners of war inKatyn. Among the 679 dead identified by the Germans in 1943, there were also a certain number of Russians and 28 Poles. Nazi propaganda invoked mention of the massacre to illustrate communist terror by theSoviet Union.
Most of the victims buried at Vinnytsia were killed using.22 calibre bullets fired into the back of the neck.[3][better source needed] Due to the small calibre of the bullet, most victims were shot twice, and at least 78 of them were shot three times; 395 of the victims found there had their skulls broken in addition to traces of gunshot trauma.[3][better source needed] Almost all men whose remains were excavated had their hands tied. Older women were dressed in some form of clothing, whereas younger victims were buried naked.[3][better source needed]
The executions were clandestine; the families were not informed of their relatives' fate. Personal belongings, documents and trial documentation were not preserved and instead were buried in a separate pit not far from the mass graves.[3][better source needed]
The first examinations of the exhumed bodies were made by doctors such as professorGerhard Schrader of theUniversity of Halle-Wittenberg, docent Doroshenko of Vinnytsia, and professor Malinin ofKrasnodar, respectively. The excavations started in May 1943 at three locations: the fruit orchard in the west, the central cemetery, and the People's Park. Most of the bodies were found in the fruit orchard (5,644 bodies). Altogether, 91 mass graves were discovered at the three locations, and 9,432 bodies were exhumed; 149 of them were women. The excavations at the People's Park were not finished, though many more bodies were thought to be buried there.[4][non-primary source needed]
After a preliminary investigation conducted by Professor Schrader's team, two teams of medical examiners were invited—one international and the other made up of 13 experts from universities inNazi Germany. An international commission of experts inanatomy andforensic pathology were brought in from 11 countries inEurope, predominantly from Nazi Germany's allied or occupied states. They were:[5][non-primary source needed][6][better source needed]
The group visited the mass graves between July 13 and July 15, 1943. The Nazi German commission completed its report on July 29, 1943. Both commissions determined that almost all of the victims were executed by two shots in the back of the head between 1937 and 1938.[8][better source needed]
468 bodies were identified by people of Vinnytsia and the surroundings; the other 202 were identified on the basis of documents and evidence found in the graves. Most bodies that were identified this way were Ukrainians; there were also 28 bodies that were identified as ethnicPoles.[9][non-primary source needed]
Besides the original group of thirteen, several other delegations visited the sites in mid-1943. Among them were politicians and other officials fromKingdom of Bulgaria,Occupied Denmark,Occupied Greece,Republic of Finland, andKingdom of Sweden.[10][non-primary source needed] Photos and results of the investigation were published in many countries in Europe, and were used by Nazi Germany in the propaganda war against the Soviet Union.[2]
Most of the bodies were reburied[2] after a burial service led bymetropolit Vissarion ofOdessa. The service was also attended by many other Orthodox bishops and foreign church officials.[11][non-primary source needed]
Around the time of the reburials, funds were raised to erect a temporary obelisk with the inscription "Victims ofStalinism are buried here". After the Soviets retook Vinnytsia in March 1944, authorities rededicated the monument to victims of fascism,[2] finally completely removing it and creating an entertainment park in its place.[citation needed] In the last ten years[when?] a new monument has been constructed at the burial site in the park; it only refers to "Victims of Totalitarianism".[8][failed verification] During Soviet times, information about the massacre was disseminated and investigated by theUkrainian diaspora in the West. The mass murder in Vinnytsia returned as a critical topic in Ukraine in 1988.[2]
NKVD massacres | ||
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