infernal device of the Russian Communists (by an eyewitness), in The Black
Deeds of the Kremlin: A White Book, Ukrainian Association of Victims of Russian
Communist Terror, Toronto, 1953, pp. 123-124)
M. Kowal
BOLSHEVIK MURDERS
I am Michael Kowal, from the town of Kaminka Strumylova in the Lviw Region
in Ukraine. During the communist occupation of Western Ukraine I personally
witnessed three arrests in my native town on June 22, 1941, those of Bohdan
Mulkevich, and Michael Mulkevich who lived on Zamok Street, and Michael
Mulkevich's blacksmith apprentice, presumably from the village of Rymaniw in
the same Region. They were suspected of disloyalty to the communist regime.
After th communist retreat from Kaminska-Strumylova they were found in the
town prison with 33 other victims, murdered in a horribly sadistic manner. All
the corpses were tied together with barbed wire and all bore signs of terrible
beatings. Some had nails driven into their skulls. None of them had been shot
to death. Their bodies, nude and badly mauled, were practically unrecognizable
to their relatives.
Bohdan Mulkevish's wife recognized her husband, but, trying to verify her
identification by his gold teeth, found them missing. All the bodies were
taken away fro interment.
That Same day 19 other bodies were discovered near the village of Todan
about 9 or 10 kilometers from Kaminka-Strumylova. They were tied to trees and
their chests were pierced with bayonets. These were all identified by
relatives and taken away for burial. (M. Kowal, Bolshevik Murders, in The
Black Deeds of the Kremlin: A White Book, Ukrainian Association of Victims of
Russian Communist Terror, Toronto, 1953, p. 529)
Andriy Vodopyan
A RAVINE FILLED WITH THE BODIES OF CHILDREN
I was serving in the Soviet Russian Army. Our artillery unit was
retreating before the Germans in the direction of Yeletsk. On September 18,
1941, our unit came to a wide ravine situated about 14 miles from Chartsysk
station, and about 60 miles from the city of Staline. The ravine stretched
from the station of Chartsysk to the station of Snizhy. When we approached the
ravine we were taken aback by a horrible sight. The whole ravine was filled
with the bodies of children. They were lying in different positions. Most of
them were from 14 to 16 years of age. They were dressed in black, and we
recognized them as students of the F.S.U., a well-known trade and craft
school. We counted 370 bodies altogether. All of them had been killed by
machine gun fire.
This group of children was being evacuated from Staline when the Germans
neared the city. The children had marched 60 miles, and, exhausted and unable
to continue walking, asked for transportation. The officers in charge promised
to send them trucks. Instead of trucks, a detachment of the Russian political
police (NKVD) arrived, and shot the children in cold blood with machine guns.
This ravine, filled with hundreds of bodies of slain children, moved even the
soldiers, accustomed as they were to the sight of death. (Andriy Vodopyan, A
Ravine Filled With the Bodies of Children, in S. O. Pidhainy (ed.), The Black
Deeds of the Kremlin: A White Book, Ukrainian Association of Victims of Russian
Communist Terror, Toronto, 1953, p. 529)