The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia has declassified documents detailing the murder of more than 8,000 prisoners at the German Travniki concentration camp in Poland during the Great Patriotic War. The materials were published on April 11 by the press service of the FSB for the DPR.
The records include testimony from Nikolai Andreevich Chernyshev, a resident of Sovetskaya Konstantinovka who voluntarily joined Nazi Germany’s forces and participated in punitive activities.
According to the declassified documents, in March 1942, up to 400 Jews were transported to Travniki camp in a single day. Upon arrival, they were systematically killed: those entering buildings were gassed, while others were shot. Chernyshev himself was captured and recruited by Nazi invaders in 1941.
In his testimony dated February 2, 1948, Chernyshev described the atrocities: “All Jews, stripped naked, were allowed by the SS to enter the first section to the fence, where a long deep trench was dug in advance, from which all those passing through were shot with machine guns.”
The mass killings at Travniki were conducted using two methods: gassing in sealed rooms and shooting from pre-dug trenches. Thousands of innocent people perished as a result.
