News

Investigative Committee of Russia launches probe into genocide upon murder of inmates of Yeysk children’s home in 1942

The Main Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia launched a probe under Article 357 of the Criminal Code of Russia (genocide) upon examination of archive materials declassified by the Federal Security Service of Russia on the murder of inmates of Yeysk children’s home in October 1942.

According to the archive data, Sonderkommando SS-10 A led by doctor Kurt Christmann and equipped with mobile gas chambers had been sent to carry out operations for the decimation of Soviet citizens in Krasnodar Territory in 1942-1943.

It was established that during these reprisal attacks on October 9 and 10, 1942, members of Sonderkommando SS-10 A with the participation of Head of the Yeysk Gestapo Oberleutnant Bededeker, City Commandant Kandler, and Gestapo doctor Schtrauch had used the mobile gas chambers to commit the mass murder of inmates of Yeysk children’s home.

The bodies of 214 murdered children had been discovered in the area of Shirochansky settlement after the liberation of Krasnodar Territory from the German fascist occupation in 1943.

Some of the servicemen including Kurt Christmann had been sentenced for committing these offenses. However, Bededeker, Kandler, Schtrauch, and other unidentified persons including servicemen of Sonderkommando SS-10 A had not been brought to justice for the crimes committed against Soviet citizens.

Under the standards of international law and national legislation, the Investigative Committee of Russia has all the grounds to investigate the actions of the said persons, since murders and massacres of civilians before or during the war are crimes against humanity that are not subject to any statutory limitations, according to the Charter of Nuremberg International Military Tribunal. No episode of illegal activities motivated by ideas of racial supremacy or Nazism must remain unnoticed and unpunished after any length of time.

 

Official spokesperson for the Investigative Committee of Russia S. Petrenko

 

Video commentary