Tatarka common graves

Tatarka common graves
LocationTatarka [uk], near Odesa
Coordinates46°25′29″N 30°36′54″E / 46.42472°N 30.61500°E / 46.42472; 30.61500
Victimsbetween 3,500 and 5,000

The Tatarka common graves were mass graves discovered in April–August 1943, during World War II, by Axis-allied Romanian troops occupying Transnistria, on a lot of 1,000 m2 (11,000 sq ft) in Tatarka, now Prylymanske [uk], in Odesa Raion, near Odesa. Some 42 separate common graves of several dozen bodies each were identified, containing between 3,500 and 5,000 bodies, of which 516 were exhumed, studied, and buried in a cemetery before the region became a front line. The commission set up by the Romanian authorities to investigate these graves reported that among the dead were persons arrested in the Moldavian ASSR in 1938–1940 and in Bessarabia and northern Bukovina in 1940–1941.[1][2]: 262  [3]: 46–47 [4]: 252 

Excavation of the Tatarka site was resumed in 2021. After the discovery of new documents from the Romanian archives by an Odesa-based historian, Oleksandr Babich, further 29 mass graves were found.[5] The graves contain the remains of between 5,000 and 8,000 people executed by the NKVD.[6]

  1. ^ Roncea, Victor (30 December 2006). "Un Katyn românesc: Crimele uitate ale comunismului" [A Romanian Katyn: The Forgotten Crimes of Communism]. Ziua (in Romanian). Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  2. ^ Guštin, Damijan (1997). "Katyn v tisku na Slovenskem 1943–1945" [Katyn in the Press in Slovakia, 1943–1945]. Prispevki za novejšo zgodovino (in Slovak). 37: 257–272.
  3. ^ Bakar, Bülent (2015). "TÜRK BASININDA KATYN OLAYI: İKİNCİ DÜNYA SAVAŞI'NDA KAYIP POLONYALI SUBAYLAR" [Katyn Event in the Turkish Press: Lost Polish Officers during World War II]. Marmara Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi (in Turkish). 2 (1): 37–60.
  4. ^ Dulgheru, Valeriu. Basarabia răstignită [Crucified Bessarabia] (in Romanian). Vol. 13.
  5. ^ "Mass Graves Of Stalin's Great Purge Victims Found In Ukraine". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. August 24, 2021. Retrieved August 25, 2021.
  6. ^ "Stalin-era mass grave found in Ukraine". BBC News. 2021-08-26. Retrieved 2021-08-31.