Murder story of Smela Jews in the Prison Courtyard in Smela

…[F]rom the first days of the occupation of the city of Smela the German-Fascist occupiers engaged in the mass annihilation of innocent Soviet civilians, that was accompanied by abuse, torture, and humiliation…the victims of the Fascist massacre were herded into the prison building that was located in the city center, on [the local] Red Square… The shootings were carried out in the prison yard… On the order of investigating agencies, the commission carried out an inspection of the prison yard, where nine pits were found to contain the bodies of people who had been shot to death… Digging up of the pits revealed that the shooting of several people a day had been carried out over a period of time; after which [i.e., the shootings] the bodies were covered by a thin layer of earth, and then shootings were carried out again and again [and the bodies] were covered by earth. In that way several layers of bodies piled up in the pit. Based on the circumstances of the case and on the deliberations of physicians, the commission arrived at the conclusion that the annihilation of the Soviet civilians by the German monsters and their accomplices was carried out in the following way: Almost daily the county chief Scheck [sic] [apparently the chief of the county rural police] arrived at the prison, bringing with him a list of people to be shot, and he handed this list to Kovalenko [the prison warden] to carry out [the shooting]. The civilians who were to be shot were taken from their cells one by one, stripped naked, and then taken to the yard by a reinforced contingent of police guards headed directly by Scheck and Kovalenko. In the yard the prisoner was taken to a pit and one of the executioners shot him in the back of the head, after which the mortally wounded victim fell into the pit. Then the next [prisoner] was taken out and this continued until the list was finished. If after he fell into the pit the victim was still moving in agony, additional shots were fired at his head. The commission determined that shooting was carried out with various weapons: rifles, sub-machine guns, pistols, etc. and that explosive bullets were used. After the shooting the bodies in the pit were covered by a thin layer of earth and the next day shootings again were carried out at the same pit. This went on until the pit was completely filled and then the prisoners were forced to dig another pit…. Among those who were shot were Jews….

…As a result of the examination that was carried out of the bodies of Soviet civilians who were murdered during the occupation of the city of Smela by German-Fascist troops the forensic commission arrived at following conclusion: 1. The killing of the Soviet civilians was carried out in the following way: by shooting in the back of the head of the person, who fell into the pit right after the shot was fired. 2. The shooting was carried out at close range, sometimes at point-blank range; this is confirmed by the fact that 37 out of the 94 bodies examined show a complete breaking of the bones of the neuro-cranium and of the facial skeleton, with the result that the medulla fell out. The possibility of the use of explosive bullets cannot be ruled out. 3. The variety of the nature of the injuries allows us to assume that the shooting was carried out with various weapons, such as rifles, sub-machine guns, and pistols. This also indicates that a number of people participated in the shooting….