Eighty years after the Holocaust, Russian authorities have uncovered a mass grave containing the remains of 61 bodies, including 11 children, in the Ukrainian city of Henichesk, located in the Kherson district, which came under Russian occupation in 2022.
"This is an anti-tank trench that was dug at the beginning of World War II to defend against the Germans. However, the Germans approached from the other side of Henichesk, and this trench became the execution site for many, most of whom were Jews," said a representative of Russia's Investigative Committee, which is overseeing the archaeological excavations at the site.
Russian television channel Vesti Crimea reported that the work is part of a genocide investigation being conducted by the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation. The remains are being carefully exhumed for subsequent genetic testing.
The channel's footage showed workers meticulously removing human bones from the ground. "Nearly two meters of soil were removed here with an excavator. The rest is done manually, removing about a meter of soil, clay and decayed matter before using brushes for finer work," explained Yevgeny Lemiakin, a student volunteer assisting with the excavation.
Archival records suggest that this burial site may contain up to a thousand bodies. In 1939, Henichesk had a Jewish population of 947, down from 4,786 in 1910. During World War I, many Jewish refugees arrived in the city.
According to social activist Alex Tanzer, a son of Holocaust survivors, approximately 300 Jews from Henichesk were murdered during the Holocaust. However, the number of Jews in the city fluctuated due to the influx of refugees and the transfer of Jews from other areas by the Germans.