More than 16,000 persons, most of them Jews, were massacred by the German occupation authorities in the city of Rovno which was recently retaken by the Russian Army, it was announced over the radio here today.
The Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee today revealed that the entire Jewish population of the Ukrainian town of Shpola were massacred by the Germans after being confined without food for three days in several small cellars. After being stripped of their clothing the men, women and children were lined up before large trenches, which some of their number were forced to dig, and were machine gunned.
The Rovno massacre lasted for three consecutive days, the broadcast said, quoting testimony signed by the vicar of the Rovno Cathedral and by other persons who witnessed the executions. The victims, who included women and children, were driven by Gestapo units to the main square of the city and from there taken to the outskirts and shot.
“Many of these people awaited execution for nearly two days unclothed and without shoes. The fascists forced them to fill in the pits already crowded with corpses. The Germans threw people into them alive and then threw hand grenades at them,” the broadcast reported.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
