Murder Story of Znamenka Jews at the Znamenka Radio Station

In accordance with the loyalty oath he took [to the German occupation authorizes] Kravchenko personally participated in the shooting of Soviet civilians. During the fall of 1941 in the forest, near the Znamenka town radio station, 49 innocent Jewish civilians were shot…The witness Ivan Stasenko testified: In the fall of 1942 [sic] I was living on Trudovaya Street and from there I witnessed the following: betrayers of the Motherland, [local] policemen, together with Germans, were guarding a group of 42-48 Soviet civilians, Jews. I was standing at the gate to my house and saw perfectly well the police convoying the Jews 25 -30 meters from me. All the policemen were armed and had their weapons ready to fire. About six Germans followed the policemen. The Jewish civilians were trudging ahead of the police. There were children, women, and men among the civilians. Many of them were half naked. [illlegible] and the children were crying. They were taken from Krasniy Street toward the radio station located not far from the Cherniy Forest, about 500 – 600 meters from my house. After some time I heard shots fired and hysterical crying from the children, women, and men. About half an hour later the policemen were on their way back…. While they were passing my house, I heard their conversation and I am quoting word for word what Kravchenko said: "[The Jews] begged for mercy. And I did show mercy. Grishka begged to be shot first before his family. I shot them all at once from a submachine-gun."