Murder story of Volchansk Jews in the Volchansk Forests

…In the trenches in forests nos. 1 and 2 in the town of Volchansk, the Committee discovered and exhumed… [the bodies of] peaceful residents of Volchansk, the Kharkov District, who were tortured to death and buried alive…, including 40 elderly people, women and children….

…[F]rom July 27, 1942, to the present day, I have been working as a watchman in the Volchansk coniferous forest.… When I started working, I did not observe any German activities in this forest. I did frequently hear pistol shots, but did not attach any significance to them. Afterward, rumors began to circulate among the population, that German Gestapo [officers] were shooting Soviet citizens in this coniferous forest. I became curious, and personally saw the Germans shoot peaceful residents on several occasions. The shootings usually took place at 3-4 AM, sometimes later.… I was able to watch the proceedings from a distance of about 200-300 meters. Furthermore, the shootings would typically take place at dawn, so the visibility was very poor.… The [bodies] of the victims were thrown into ditches and anti-tank trenches and covered with earth.… The victims' burial sites… are located in forest no. 1… I would like to add that there is a brick cabin near the shooting site. There, the people about to be shot would be forced to strip down and subjected to abuse. From there, they would be taken out to be shot. After the shooting, a vehicle would drive up to this cabin and take away the clothes.… They shot mostly groups of 10-20 people….