by Yuri Borodin
[RedStar] The whole truth about the Nazi genocide against civilians during the Battle of Stalingrad will soon be made public.
In the Volgograd region, preparations are underway for the publication of a historical trial with evidence of mass violence by the Nazi invaders against the local population.
During the extended meeting of the bureau of the Volgograd regional organization of the All-Russian public organization of veterans (pensioners) of war, labor, the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies, an invitation was made to the veteran community to take part in work important for the restoration of historical justice: the creation of a series of books and television films about the course of the unique historical process recognition of the genocide of civilians by the Nazis and their collaborators in the period 1942–1943. in Stalingrad.
Not long before this, a trial was held in the Volgograd Regional Court, recognizing the actions of the Nazi invaders during the Battle of Stalingrad as genocide of the peoples of the Soviet Union.
In order to continue the large-scale work to preserve the historical truth and preserve historical memory, it was decided to present the materials of this unique trial in information materials in the format of a series of books and television programs, making them as accessible as possible not only to residents of the region, but also to the entire country.
The administration of the Volgograd region and personally the governor Andrei Bocharov supported the statement of the prosecutor of the Volgograd region to recognize as genocide the established and newly discovered crimes committed during the Great Patriotic War on the territory of the Stalingrad region by the Nazi invaders and their accomplices against civilians. The charge was brought on behalf of the Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Krasnov in order to protect the national interests of the country, the legitimate rights and interests of an indefinite circle of people (relatives of the victims), as well as subsequently bringing to the attention of the world community information about the victims of the invaders and punitive forces during that war period, restoring historical justice.
The meeting participants referred to the UN Convention of December 8, 1948, which decided to consider as genocide actions whose purpose is to destroy any national, ethnic or racial group, in particular the forcible transfer of children from one human group to another.
The regional prosecutor's office cited claims by Adolf Hitler and his supporters that the East Slavic peoples were not capable of creating their own statehood. “The Russians were declared the most inferior of all Slavic peoples within the framework of this worldview,” noted the supervisory agency.
From the first days of the Battle of Stalingrad, German troops destroyed populated areas, killed the local population and prisoners of war, and plundered farms. There was talk of widespread labor conscription, the deportation of the population for forced labor, and the use of people as human shields.
As an example, the court cited the looting of an orphanage for children with disabilities and the extermination of the guests. At the meeting, they also studied eyewitness accounts of the events in the prisoner of war camp located in the village of Alekseevka, Gorodishchensky district, Stalingrad region. The latter claimed that for two months the prisoners were fed exclusively with rotten horse meat and given tainted water to drink.
“The distribution of “lunches” took place in combination with beatings and executions. When prisoners of war fell, their bodies were torn by dogs, with which the fascist barbarians came to restore “order.” Having deprived the prisoners of even such a diet over time, the Nazis forced them to eat their dead and murdered fellow citizens,” the prosecutor told the court.
The case consists of 14 volumes. Among the evidence collected with the help of the Russian FSB and the prosecutor's office are archival certificates, eyewitness accounts, interrogation reports of prisoners of war, official documents and data from search teams. Documents and research presented by employees of the “Battle of Stalingrad” panorama museum were attached to the case. Only those documents that have legal force are collected. While working with the archive, new evidence of the barbarity of the occupiers was discovered.
During the hearings, witnesses, historians and social activists spoke. More than 200 pieces of evidence of the genocide of the Soviet people were presented by the Russian FSB. The consideration of a number of materials took place behind closed doors - only persons authorized to work with secret documents had the right to examine the facts provided.
The Volgograd Regional Court made the final decision on the 81st anniversary of the barbaric bombing of Stalingrad. This is one of the most tragic dates in the history of the Volga stronghold, the country and the world. As a result of the air attack, 40,000 civilians were killed and another 150,000 were injured. The entire infrastructure of the city was completely destroyed.
The fact of genocide was recognized against at least 350,000 people during the Battle of Stalingrad. Of these - 131,000 civilians and at least 95,000 prisoners of war, at least 73,000 people forcibly removed, at least 1,980 people subjected to violence and torture
It is very important that the historical decision was made when direct witnesses of those events are still alive - our veterans, people who experienced the atrocities of the Nazis, Germans and their allies, accomplices and traitors.
One of the witnesses of those terrible events is Volgograd resident Tamara Kolbasina. Her father went to the front, and her mother and four children lived in trenches and makeshift bomb shelters, trying to survive in inhumane conditions under continuous bombing.
"I was 10 years old. But I remember everything from beginning to end, how I had to live here, in Stalingrad. Hundreds of thousands of bombs fell on our land. August 23, 1942 is the darkest day in our lives. The city was destroyed. There is nowhere to live, nothing to eat or drink... How many people died, how many were mutilated... We are glad about the court decision, we must somehow, at least morally, punish the barbarians for their atrocities, - said Tamara Vasilyevna, recalling the sorrows and horrors that bring the actions of modern fascists and Nazis.
Valentina Drobkova met the war in her native Stalingrad at the age of six. The Nazis took away her childhood and her father. Now Valentina Petrovna is 88 years old. Only the memories of the August 1942 raid are still as clear.
“From morning until evening, until seven o’clock, the planes flew and flew. At seven o'clock the bombing seemed to stop a little - we crawled out of the trenches. There was a continuous glow over the city - you couldn’t see the sky, everything was in fire and smoke,” says Valentina Drobkova, a child of Stalingrad.
Together with her mother, three-year-old brother and ten-year-old sister, Valya lived in a cellar not far from the Red October plant. Every day I saw burning spots of oil on the Volga. The river was frightening, but at the same time it remained the only hope for salvation.
“On the Volga there was a sunken barge with salt and wheat. This is what we ate. Water, of course, there was not water there, but blood. I wanted to cross to the left bank. We never succeeded,” recalls Valentina Drobkova.
The father was a sailor. He went to the front in July 1941 and went missing. Each raid threatened to be the last - and the mother always hugged the children tightly to her. Miraculously, all four managed to survive. Many trials befell this family even after the end of the Battle of Stalingrad.
“And how I wanted some bread. It used to be that you would come to school and they would give you a piece of bread, you would pinch it, but you would want to bring it to your mother, so that your mother would eat it too. We did not eat this bread to our fill. There was no childhood. I wanted the doll so badly: you wrapped the sweatshirt, found a flap, covered it - and it was like the doll was being nursed. And my brother turns over the stool, it’s like he’s driving a car,” the woman shares her memories.
During one of the air raids on the city of Goering's vultures, Albert Mashkov, who was only six years old at the time, was wounded in the shoulder. Now he has taken part in the genocide hearings to tell the truth about those events.
And Tamara Chebanenko told the court how the Germans took personal belongings from civilians. Anything that was of any value had to be hidden and buried in the ground. Tamara's older sister was killed by a German sniper when, together with other townspeople, she tried to get warm clothes from a cache before the arrival of cold weather.
The war took away the childhood of millions of children. And the attention of our contemporaries to these terrible pages of history gives us hope that future generations will remember at what cost the Victory was achieved.
As a result of the shelling, the Stalingrad factories were destroyed: tractor, "Barricades", "Red October", as well as the city water supply and almost the entire housing stock. The prosecutor of the Volgograd region Denis Kostenko stated that the amount of material damage caused to the Stalingrad region by the Nazi invaders exceeds 17 trillion rubles. Moreover, this amount is incomplete.
Crimes against humanity have no statute of limitations. The fact of genocide in Stalingrad has been recognized against at least 350,000 people. Of these - 131,000 civilians and at least 95,000 prisoners of war, at least 73,000 people forcibly removed, at least 1980 people subjected to violence and torture.
Evidence of the genocide of the Soviet people during the war was presented at an exhibition organized in Volgograd, the stands of which were installed in front of the building of the Battle of Stalingrad panorama museum and in Victory Park at the foot of Mamayev Kurgan. The exhibition is called “The Science of Hate: Evidence of the Atrocities of the Nazi Occupiers” and is intended to tell about how representatives of enlightened Europe behaved on our soil.
The stands display photographs, newspaper articles of those years, and documents. The exhibition is divided into themes. In addition, museum exhibitions operate in regional cultural institutions. There you can see archival photos, letters and other evidence from local residents, newspaper clippings, reports of established atrocities, atrocities and destruction of cultural and economic values during the enemy occupation.