The Consolidated Act dated 14 December 1944, from the Vysokoye region, first introduces the investigational committee:
We, the undersigned, the District Commission to identify and investigate the atrocities committed by the Nazi occupiers and their accomplices in Vysokoye -- Brest region, consisting of:
Chairman of the Commission Adam Petrovich Fomicheva;
Members: Nikolai Vladimirovich Senkina, Tarasov A. Constantine, Ivan Grushevskogo Trifonovich, Archpriest of the Vysokoye Orthodox Church. Sergei Alexandrovich Dyukova; doctor of the Vysokoye city hospital Ivan Kazimirovich Babitsky
Next, a brief summary of the events under investigation:
[We]
have determined the facts as follows:
German fascist invaders and their collaborators during the period of temporary occupation of the 22nd June 1941 through the end of July 1944: On the territory of Vysokoe and surrounding areas, they committed a series of crimes, characterized by mass and isolated [individual] shootings of civilians, Soviet prisoners of war, women and children.
Criminal acts were not limited to shootings: the perpetrators used the most refined methods of cruel treatment and torture.
Finally, the evidence used:
Our determinations are on the basis of evidence produced by excavation, photography of mass graves, of personal documents of the victims, the record of numerous witnesses and victims, as well as the inspection of many mass and single graves.
Notes: Act: the original Russian word, акт, probably derives from the Latin acta: a record of something done, in this case, an investigation. Vysokoye region: At one time, under Russian government, Vysokoye was the seat of an administrative area within the Brest region. The extent is not known, but this report implies it ranged south to include Volchin and eastward as far as Chernavchitsy, north of the city of Brest.
This material is from Page 1 of 5 of the original, in handwritten Russian. |
