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Subject: Einsatzgruppen: Operational Situation Report: USSR No.24
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Einsatzgruppe C
Location: Zviahel (Novograd - Volynski)

I. General Situation on Arrival

Before leaving, the Bolsheviks, together with the Jews, murdered several
Ukrainians; as an excuse, they used the attempted Ukrainian uprising of June
25, 1941, which tried to free their prisoners.

According to reliable information, about 20,000 Ukrainians have disappeared
>from  Lvov, 80% of them belonging to the intelligentsia.

The prisons in Lvov were crammed with the bodies of murdered Ukrainians.
According to a moderate estimate, in Lvov alone 3-4,000 persons were either
killed or deported.

In Dobromil, 82 dead bodies were found, 4 of them Jews. The latter were
former Bolshevik informers who had been killed because of their complicity
in this act. Near Dobromil an obsolete salt mine pit was discovered. It was
completely filled in with dead bodies. In the immediate neighborhood, there
is a 6 x 15m mass grave. The number of those murdered in the Dobromil area
is estimated to be approximately several hundred.

In Sambor on June 26, 1941, about 400 Ukrainians were shot by the
Bolsheviks. An additional 120 persons were murdered on June 27, 1941. The
remaining prisoners succeeded in overpowering the Soviet guards, and fled.
Concerning their numbers it should be noted that Sambor has a total of
26,000 inhabitants, among them 12,000 Poles, 10,000 Jews, and 4,000
Ukrainians.

As early as 1939, a larger number of Ukrainians was shot, and 1,500
Ukrainians as well as 500 poles were deported to the east.

Russians and Jews committed these murders in very cruel ways. Bestial
mutilations were daily occurrences. Breasts of women and genitals of men
were cut off. Jews have also nailed children to the wall and then murdered
them. Killing was carried out by shots in the back of the neck. Hand
grenades were frequently used for these murders.

In Dobromil, women and men were killed with blows by a hammer used to stun
cattle before slaughter.

In many cases, the prisoners must have been tortured cruelly; bones were
broken, etc. In Sambor, the prisoners were gagged and thus prevented from
screaming during torture and murder. The Jews, some of whom also held
official positions, in addition to their economic supremacy, and who served
in the entire Bolshevik police, were always partners in these atrocities.

Finally, it was established that seven [German] pilots who had been captured
were murdered. Three of them were found in a Russian military hospital where
they had been murdered in bed by shots in the abdomen.

This atrocity apparently stems from a Russian instruction to 'exterminate'
all German pilots and parachutists.

II. Behavior of the Ukrainian population.

In the first hours after the Bolshevik withdrawal, the Ukrainians displayed
commendable activity against the Jews.

For example, the Dobromil synagogue was set fire and 50 Jews were killed by
the enraged crowd at Sambor.

Maltreating them, the Lvov inhabitants rounded up about 1,000 Jews and took
them to the GPU prison which has been occupied by the Wehrmacht.

III. Measures of the Einsatzgruppe

Approximately 7,000 Jews were rounded up and shot by the Security Police in
retaliation for inhuman atrocities.

73 men were found to be functionaries and spies of the NKVD and were
likewise shot.

40 men were liquidated on the basis of well-founded denunciations made by
the inhabitants. Mainly Jews between 20 and 40 years of age were rounded up,
artisans and specialists being set aside as far as possible. Apart from
these executions in Lvov, reprisal measures were carried out at other places
also: 132 Jews, for instance, were shot in Dobromil.

Since 32 Ukrainians had been murdered in Yavorov, 15 Jews were liquidated in
retaliation.

EK 4a

Moved from Cracow via Zamosc to Sokal and from there into the Lutsk
district.

Among the civilian prisoners found at Sokal, 17 were discovered to be
Communist functionaries, agents and snipers, and were executed on June 28,
1941.

With the help of the Ukrainian militia, another 117 active Communists and
agents of the NKVD were found on June 29 and executed the same day.

With the assistance of reliable Ukrainians, residents of Sokal, 183 Jewish
Communists were also caught. They were liquidated on June 30.

Furthermore, Horokhov details the discovery of 7 Communist functionaries on
June 30 who were shot on the spot.

An advance unit dispatched to Lutsk on June 27 found the larger part of the
town in flames. According to information from the town commander, only Jews
can be held responsible for the arson. Prior to their withdrawal, the
Bolsheviks shot 2,800 of the 4,000 Ukrainians imprisoned in the Lutsk
prison. According to the statement of 19 Ukrainians who survived the
slaughter with more or less serious injuries, the Jews again played a
decisive part in the arrests and shooting. In the town itself everything was
still in wild confusion. All shops were looted by the population. After the
arrival of the Einsatzkommando all available men were sent to assist the
town commander. They succeeded at least in safeguarding the extensive food
supplies.

Afterwards the official buildings were systematically searched. Other
investigations were started to find the Jews and Communists responsible for
the arson and the looting.

300 Jews and 20 looters were arrested and shot on June 30.

On July 2 the corpses of 10 German Wehrmacht soldiers were found. In
retaliation, 1160 Jews were shot by the Ukrainians with the help of one
platoon of the police and one platoon of the infantry.

Finally, 50 Polish agents and informers were discovered who were liquidated
also.

The methodical searches carried out everywhere by the Einsatzkommando before
the arrival of the intelligence units and the Secret Military Police were
also successful. Thus, it was possible to find on June 28 lists of agents
and other important documents in three party buildings as well as in the
bank after safes had been forced open.

On July 1, 1941, the offices of the Russian District Military Headquarters
were searched and all files secured which, among other matters, contained
secret instructions relating to mobilization.

Moreover, important material, including, among other things, records
relating to Russian agents in various countries, was discovered in the
buildings of the Lutsk Soviet authorities as well as in different Communist
centers after the safes had been forced open.

Einsatzkommando 4b is at work at present in the Tarnopol area. It is planned
to have the Kommando proceed to Proskurov.

Of the 54 Poles and Jews who had been working as agents for the NKVD, 8
persons, two of them Jewish women, were arrested and executed, the remainder
apparently having taken to their heels.

At Tarnopol 10 [German] soldiers were also found among the murdered in the
prison, 1 of them a lieutenant of the air force, 6 pilots and 3 soldiers of
the mountain troops. Of the Jews assigned to disinter the corpses, about 180
were slain, some in the prison courtyard, some in the streets. Moreover,
Jewish residences were destroyed by members of the Waffen-SS with hand
grenades, and then set on fire.

According to the statements of Ukrainians, the number of German members of
the Wehrmacht murdered by the Russians is estimated to be much greater.

Reliable Ukrainian circles ventured to say that numerous Ukrainians serving
with the Russian army would like to desert immediately. But, like the
Russians, time and again, they had been impressed by the fact that they
would be shot on the spot by the Germans if they were taken prisoners of
war; thus, they had refrained from deserting from sheer fright. Furthermore,
the Russians are said to have ordered the complete destruction of all crops
in case of a retreat to former Russian territory. They also asked the
farmers to retreat with the troops for, otherwise, they would likewise be
shot by the Germans.

This being the situation, Ukrainian circles suggest a large-scale leaflet
propaganda campaign directed at Ukrainian soldiers and peasants. Apparently,
such a propaganda campaign has not yet begun. At any rate, nothing of this
kind has become known at Tarnopol.

A Kommando of the Group Staff participated in an action in Zlochev on July
7, 1942, which had only been superficially purged earlier by Einsatzkommando
4b when it passed through the town. In the NKVD office essential secret
documents were seized which were already sealed and ready to be sent off.

The investigations at Zlochev proved that the Russians, prior to their
withdrawal, arrested and murdered indiscriminately a total of 700
Ukrainians, but nevertheless, included the entire [local]Ukrainian
intelligentsia. By order od the Wehrmacht, the militia retaliated by
arresting and shooting several hundred Jews. The number of the Jews
liquidated may run to about 300-500.

Repeatedly it could be observed that Politruks [party members] who had
escaped raided villages at nighttime for food.

The influence of the Bandera group is very strong in Zlochev. A
revolutionary Ukrainian administration has been established there which
welcomes the Germans as there allies with posters and leaflets.

At Rocsicau (1) three saboteurs were arrested who had cut a Wehrmacht
telephone line leading to the forward German lines; they had then passed
information on to the Russian troops. As a result, German soldiers have been
made prisoners of war by the Russians.

These Communist saboteurs were likewise shot.


(1) Probably Rozhisshche in Volhynia

                              Work Cited

The Einsatzgruppen Reports. ed. Yitzak Arad, Shmuel Krakowski, Shmuel
Spector. New York: Holocaust Library. 1989. pp. 29 - 33.

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