Archive/File: camps/aktion.reinhard/treblinka savenko.001 Last-Modified: 1994/10/07 Source: The United States Department of Justice RECORD Of Interrogation of Witness City of Simferopol 5 January 1978 On instructions from the Procuratorate of the USSR concerning the request for legal assistance in the case of Federenko, F.D. made by the organs of Justice of the USA, and in accordance with the requirements of Articles 85, 167 and 170 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Ukrainian SSR, First Deputy Procurator of the Crimean Region Kuptsov interrogated in his office in the capacity of witness Savenko, Yakov Kliment'yevich, born in 1915, native of the village of Novo-Grigor'yevka, Pologskiy district, Zaprozh'ye Region, Ukrainian national, citizen of the USSR, having a 7-grade education, a manual worker, residing in the village of Svetloye, Dzhankoy District, Crimean Region. Witness Savenko Ya.K. was informed of his duties and he was warned of criminal responsibility encurred accoding to Art. 179 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code for avoiding to testify or according to Article 178 for knowingly giving false testimony. Before the beginning of the interrogation the witness declared that he wished to testify in the Russian language in which he is fluent. When told to relate everything he knew concerning the circumstances in connection with which he was called up for interrogation witness Savenko Ya.K. testified as follows: On the second day after the treacherous attack of Hitlerite Germany on the Soviet Union I was called up for duty in the Red Army and sent to the front. I was drafted from my permanent residence in the village of Svetloya in Dzhankoy district where I worked as a driver. The military unit in which I was in August 1941 was caught in a German encirclement to the west of the city of Zhitomir, near the village of Vysokaya Pech'. Finding ourselves in a hopeless situation, I as well as other Red Army men fell prisoners. The Germans drove the prisoners to the edge of the city of Zhitomir and three or four days later sent them on trucks to the city of Rovno, where we were kept in camps for prisoners of war for about two weeks. Then the prisoners were sent by railroad to the Polish city of Chelm, to a large concentration camp. From the conversations of those around me, I knew that this camp contained up to 100 thousand prisoners. When we were still trying to escape from the encirclement I had become acquainted with Dorofeyev Nikolay, Stoletniy Grigoriy, Prokhorenko Kirill and Fedorenko Fedor. They all came from the Dzhankoy district in the Crimean Region. My fellow-countrymen all served in the army as drivers, which brought us closer together and we tried to keep together, especially since we were prisoners. In the Chelm camp, the prisoners were made to building housing and various constructions for the need of the camp. We lived in barracks dug into the ground, like mud huts. Inside it was cold and damp. The prisoners were fed very poorly, and therefore many died of hunger. Everyday the bodies of dead war prisoners were removed from the camp in carts to the neighboring forest where they were buried. In very late autumn 1941 or at the beginning of the winter of 1942, I do not remember precisely, some men in military uniform and some in civilian clothes came to the camp and started to pick out those prisoners who looked more healthy. I looked very ill, was thin and worn out because of illness, and therefore I was not taken. All my fellow-countrymen, that is Fedorenko, Stoletniy, Dorofeyev and Prokhorenko fell into the number of prisoners picked out. I did not wish to become separated from them and as soon as I found a good occasion, I ran over and stood in one line with them. None of the Germans noticed this. We were soon put into trucks and sent to the small town of Trawniki. Meanwhile nobody explained to us where we were being taken and our consent was not asked. We, the prisoners, decided that we were being taken to work. Actually we were brought to the Trawniki camp where guards were trained. This camp was being constantly complemented by new war prisoners and those who had completed their training were sent to guard camps, to escort trains and to perform various types of work. In Trawniki, as I was by specialization a driver, and a mechanic, I was assigned to construction work and my fellow-countrymen were trained to become wachmen, or guards. I also was considered to be a guard. We were all given a black German uniform. Our trousers were inserted into our boots or hung free; we wore black field jackets with grey collars and cuffs. Our overcoats were black as were our forage caps that had a button in front. Those who were part of worker's crews were not given weapons. In addition there were also drill teams, in which the guards were given rifles of various models: German, Polish, French. All the guards pledged loyalty. This was done as follows: We were called in groups of several men to the headquarters where we signed some sort of paper written in German. I do not remember its content. QUESTION: What can you say of Fedorenko Fedor during the period you were with him in the German camps? ANSWER: Fedorenko Fedor was at first together with the Crimean fellow-countrymen previously mentioned and in the Trawniki camp he was placed in the drill team in which he was trained to be a guard and wore arms. Subsequently he was sent to guard some sort of concentration camp. Once in the fall of 1942, some 500-600 people of Jewish nationality were driven from nearby populated places into the Trawniki camp and were locked up in a place that was not large enough for them and where they were apparently suffocating because noise and screams came from the place. This place was guarded by the wachman guards. Several days later a train came to fetch the prisoners. Somebody told me that Fedor Fedorenko had arrived with the train. Together with two other war prisoners I went to see Fedorenko. The train consisted of several freight cars in the center of which was a passenger car in which the guards were quartered. Fedorenko was in this car. He was in the uniform I have described before and had a rifle. His mood was good. Fedorenko told me that he worked in the Treblinka death camp and had come here to get Jews. Fedorenko said nothing concrete about the Treblinka camp and about his work and I did not ask because I understood that the Germans exterminated people in this camp. He invited us into his car and we sat there for several minutes and then Fedorenko discovered that he had lost his wallet, with money in it and began to accuse me. I declared that I had not taken his wallet, and was offended and left. My companions also left with me. On the way back one of them told me that it was he who had picked up the wallet belonging to Fedorenko in the railroad car and showed me its contents. It contained three thousand zloty. I wondered where he could have obtained so much money and decided that Fedorenko had stolen it from the Jews because he could not have earned such a sum with honest work. In general Fedorenko was remarkable for being of an uncommunicative nature yet at the same time always out to make some profit and did not miss an opportunity to acquire something. I did not meet Fedorenko again after this incident, because I was sent from Trawniki to Lublin to work in the garage of the "SS" troops and the police. From there I fled to a Polish guerrilla detachment. After the end of the war I met Dorofeyev, Prokhorev and Stoletniy, but did not happen to meet Fedorenko. I heard from Stoletniy that Fedorenko now resides in the USA. I know nothing more of him. QUESTION: Describe the appearance of Fedorenko Fedor. Could you identify him on a photograph? ANSWER: So far as I remember, Fedorenko was tall, about 180-185cm. I remember this well, because I am 180cm tall, and he was slightly taller. As to age he must be a few years older than I am. In 1942 he was 35-36 years old. Fedorenko's hair was dark brown, he has a large nose. I also remember that he had long hands. At the present moment I cannot say with certainty that I can identify Fedorenko on a photograph. The interrogation was started at 10. a.m. and competed at 1 p.m. The record has been read to me upon my request, the testimony is written down correctly from my words, I have no additions and no corrections to make. First Deputy Procurator of the Crimean Region V.M. Kuptsov The copy is true Chief of the USSR Procuratorate's Office G.M. Shvydak
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