Murder story of Stary Krym Jews in the Darin-Kale Ravine

... By questioning and by observing the site we, the undersigned, … have identified on the outskirts of Staryi Krym the burial sites of victims of the German-Fascist terror … civilians and prisoners of war between 1941-1944. The burial sites are located as follows: 1. At a ravine outside the town, ten meters from the ruins of the slaughterhouse, according to the testimonies of… [where] in 1941 [sic] about 105 Jews from Staryi Krim and nearby villages were shot to death. There is no grave at the burial site. After the shooting the bodies… in the ravine were haphazardly covered with earth….

... Raisa Gershun, who was born in 1878 and was Jewish, was working as a doctor's assistant with me for 12 years at a health clinic. Before the German occupation I advised her to leave, but she stayed in Koktebel village. In November 1941, under the German administration, the whole population was registered and the Jews had to wear white armbands on their sleeves as a distinguishing mark. Raisa too wore an armband and suffered because of it. On December 22, 1941 she, along some other Jews, … was taken by cart to Staryi Krym, guarded by the policeman Peter Stamov … there all the Jews were shot to death. On January 13, 1942, ... Orlov (the husband of Orlova [who was a Jew and was shot to death in December] met [members of] his family on January 13, at 10 a.m. His daughter told him to come [and take them] since they would be allowed to go home at 2 p.m. He came at 2 p. m, but they were already gone. They had all been shot to death. Orlov (who is Russian) told me about this on January 15. After his family was shot to death, he suffered greatly. He almost went mad....

I knew Vera Kanson, who was about 30 years old and a teacher in Karagoz village, since her arrival here for work. … She arrived here on August 21 and was working here at the local school. Kanson was a Jew, but she concealed her Jewish identity… . Kanson stayed in the village under the German occupation. The school was closed. When she learned the Germans were killing Jews, Kanson destroyed all her documents, but these documents were required for all civilians. In order to get an internal passport, she went to Staryi Krym several times, but each time she returned without a document. Sometimes, on her way back home, she would drop in and saying with tears: "Nikitovoha, I don't have the strength to go for the documents, I just reach the town and turn back. I am afraid since I think that people know that I am Jewish and will catch me." Thus, she didn't obtain the document. She used to come to see me every day and …until the last day of her life she lived in fear of being shot to death, if not today then tomorrow. On December 25, 1941, when my daughter Valya, who was 11, was walking along the street, she saw a cart in which Kanson was sitting, guarded by the policeman Viktor Ingnatyev … This was in the morning, at 7….