Murder Story of Komsomolskoye Jews at the Peremoga Collective Farm

…the Commission… carried out the excavation of a grave on the territory of the Peremoga kolkhoz in a ravine to the right of the road to Volchinets. The following was established: The grave was found on the basis of testimonies since no surface signs had been discovered. The grave is 8 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 3 meters deep. The grave contains 92 bodies of men, women and children…. All the bodies are without overcoats and shoes, most are naked. No personal belongings or valuables were found, thus, indicating that the victims were robbed before being killed. The heads of some of the bodies of the women and children are wrapped in kerchiefs and do not reveal any traumatic wounds, which indicates that they were buried alive. The bodies have various kinds of wounds, such as gunshots in the back of the head, [or] forehead… The killing was carried out at close range [or] at point-blank range… The edges of the wounds are not even, the bodies have broken bones of arms and legs, which proves that the victims were tortured before being killed….

…The second shooting was perpetrated on August 8, 1942 in the field of the Peremoga collective farm on the left side of the road [leading] to Volchinets village, in a ravine…. On the morning of August 8 our camp was encircled by gendarmerie [members] and all the Jews, except for 12 of us skilled workers, were taken under guard to be shot. In response to our request gendarmerie [members] left one woman, Frida Mezhericher, to take care of us. The entire population was forced to strip naked before being shot. The people were shot in the following way: on orders from the gendarmes the people lay down in the pit next to each other alive and were then shot from above from submachine-guns. When the first ones were shot another layer of living people was forced to lie above them and then were shot in turn. The shooting was carried out by gendarmes who came from Kalinovka. About 80 people were shot in the second shooting….