Murder Story of Nikopol Jews at the Nikopol Railway Station

November 19, 1941 Operational Situation Report USSR No. 135 Einsatzgruppe C ...Since October 5, 1941, Einsatzkommando 6 has been busy in the district of the Dnieper Bend. Apart from [covering] extensive rural districts, the following towns, all of a defintely industrial character and densely populated, were dealt with ... Nikopol (60,000 inhabitants).

From the testimony of fomer member of Schutzpolizei in Nikopol Bruno P., May 22, 1973 ... I had to participate in such shooting operations a total of 5-6 times but always as part of a squad that cordonned off the area. I myself never had to shoot.... The shooting squads for all the operations in which I took part were made up of [members] of the SD or the SS.... Actually I saw only SD members carrying out shootings. At this and other execution sites SD commanders ... would approach one of our commanders and give them the requisite orders. Thereupon, we in turn received our assignments from our police chiefs. The assignment for the inner and outer cordon posts was, in every case, [basically] the same. Sometimes it was to prevent people escaping, in other cases outsiders were to be kept away.... In regard to the question about the nature of the execution sites I would say that the pits into which the victims were shot were old anti-tank trenches. In no case did I notice that they were freshly dug pits. The victims had to stand by themselves at the edge of the trench. The various SD-marksmen stood mererly a few centimeters away from them and fired a machine-gun bullet into the back of their heads. The victims fell forward into the trench. Each time the same number of victims stood at the edge of the trench as there were SD-marksmen. The victims who were to be shot next were standing right at the execution site and could see exactly how it [the shooting] was being carried out. I still wonder today how the waiting victims could have remained so quiet. I do not have any recollection of cries of pain or pleas for mercy. Some of the victims were praying....

From the testimony of Herbert M., former liaison officer of the local commandant of Nikopol, July 15, 1974: ...At a somewhat later time, approximately between December 1941 and February 1942...all the Jews of the town [Nikopol] had to appear in the courtyard of the commandant's office. They were gathered ... in the courtyard. At this time an SS-Sonderkommando unit was in Nikopol. To my knowledge this Sonderkommando was not stationed in Nikopol. It was ordered to Nikopol. Feldgendarmerie Major Mensing and his men were, apparently, also assigned to this so-called Jewish action to cordon off [the execution location].... To my knowledge several hundred Jews were taken together. They were taken from the courtyard, supposedly to be taken somewhere else. In retrospect I know from what I heard that all of these Jews were shot at a former Russian anti-tank trench near the town. This was confirmed for me when I subsequently saw a truck with items of clothing being driven into the yard of the commandant's office. That could only have been items of clothing that had belonged to the Jewish victims. I also know from what people said that the Jews were forced to undress at the shooting site....