The Jews are shot - what now for their children?

20th August 1941: German Army Chaplains' report horrific treatment of children

It had happened before in Bila Tserkva. In August 1919, two gangs instigated a pogrom against the Jewish community in the town. 150 Jews were killed, 300 injured, and 12 houses were burnt to the ground. “Jewish orphans (parents were killed during the pogrom) in an asylum for refugees in Bila Tserkva.”

WARNING: Contains disturbing material

The work of the Einsatzgruppen was continuing apace as they followed the German army through Russia. Their method of operating was gradually evolving - at first the murder of Jews had been concentrated on men of influence, then all men, then women began to be included as a matter of course.¹ Then a problem arose - if they murdered the men and women, what were they supposed to do with the children?

In the town of Bila Tserkva ( also spelt Blelaya Taerkov, Belaya Tserkov ) in the Ukraine they had murdered the men and women, shooting them on the rifle ranges of a local barracks. This left behind the children. Around ninety young children were kept locked up in an old building without food or water whilst the Germans tried to decide what to do with them.

This was just one incident amongst the multitude of other horrific crimes being perpetrated in the East. Probably no record would have been kept of the incident until the children's distress became known to a local Wehrmacht unit, the 295th Infantry Division. Men from this unit complained to their chaplains. The matter came to the attention of the Roman Catholic army chaplain who visited the house …