Fourteen thousand Jews were killed in Kharkov during the Nazi occupation of the city and thousands more died of starvation, it is reported today by a special correspondent of Izvestia, the official organ of the Soviet Government.
The correspondent writes: “One day an edict was posted in all streets of the city ordering all Jews to move into barracks in District No. 13 and forbidding them from appearing in any other part of the city. Violation of this order would be punishable by death, the announcement stated. It added that non-Jews caught; fraternizing with Jews would be similarly punished. Of the Jews who were forced to live in these barracks about 14,000 were shot during the time the Germans held the city. When the Nazis realized that they would be forced to flee from Kharkov they tried to eradicate all traces of their bloody acts and burnt down the barracks as well as a Gestapo prison.”
The Izvestia correspondent reports further that all during the occupation most of the population was denied food. Bread cards were given only to those who worked for the Nazis. He estimates that about 70,000 persons – Jews and non-Jews perished from starvation.
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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.
