Dem'ianiv Laz
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The forensic medical
experts who worked
on the excavations.
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EYEWITNESSES ACCUSE
�All those who were going to the forest for wood heard shots. Everywhere at the edges of the forest stood guards, who were not allowing anyone in to go in. They were bringing people who had been shot in Stanyslaviv prison to those unfortunates who had been shot in the forest. In the morning on the road leading to the forest our peasants saw fresh blood. Blood was dripping from the cars that were transporting the bodies of the dead �People said that the condemned are forced to dig their own common graves��
(From the testimony of Hryhorii Fedyk).
�A tractor hummed for three days, and they were shooting people to its sound. They were also bringing prisoners who had been shot in Stanyslaviv prison to the forest. My house stands on the edge near the road to Dem'ianiv Laz. That's why every morning I would see the entire narrow road sprinkled with blood��
(From the testimony of Bohdan Vintoniak).
�During the German occupation we learned that there were so-me graves in the forest. The newspaper published [an announce-ment] about this, and we, children, were the first to run and see what they were digging up there. I will never forget it as long as I live! The first to be dug up was a woman with a child in her arms. Even in death she seemed to be pressing the infant to her breasts��
(From the testimony of Olha Bihun).
��It was approximately July 4 or 5. My brother and I ran to the prison�In the courtyard of the prison we approached an excavated pit. In the pit lay human corpses� Then my brother and I ran to look through the prison cells. In one of the cells there was a lot of blood. There were still a few corpses propped up against the wall. When we ran to the second cell, people said that it was a torture chamber. On a little table beside the wall lay some kinds of instruments. People said they were instruments of torture, but I did not look at them closely. There was blood on the walls of the cell. There was a metal container resembling a pail. When I looked inside, I saw eyes and ears�I didn't go to any more cells, because the air was very thick, and it was impossible to breathe. When I went into the courtyard, beneath a covering there were already a few corpses that had been removed from the pit. My brother and I looked at the corpses, because we were looking for our father. I saw that one victim had two nails hammered up his nose; another had been scalped. One woman's breasts had been cut off; another woman's stomach had been ripped open, and the fetus was lying on her breasts. People called my brother and me over to one of the corpses and said that it was our father. This corpse had no eyes, and the nose had been cut off. Some corpses were all black. People said that those victims had been electrocuted��
(From the testimony of Onufrii Boiko).
��Near one woman I saw a dead child that had probably been born in prison. All the corpses were naked and brown for some reason, they were probably electrocuted, at any rate this is what the adults were saying then. It was a horrible sight. The arms and legs of many were contorted not from the agonies of approaching death but tortures, because the arms and legs had been practically severed from the bodies. Many corpses had no eyes, tongues had been ripped out��
(From the testimony of Maria Skrypnyk).
(From the testimony of Hryhorii Fedyk).
�A tractor hummed for three days, and they were shooting people to its sound. They were also bringing prisoners who had been shot in Stanyslaviv prison to the forest. My house stands on the edge near the road to Dem'ianiv Laz. That's why every morning I would see the entire narrow road sprinkled with blood��
(From the testimony of Bohdan Vintoniak).
�During the German occupation we learned that there were so-me graves in the forest. The newspaper published [an announce-ment] about this, and we, children, were the first to run and see what they were digging up there. I will never forget it as long as I live! The first to be dug up was a woman with a child in her arms. Even in death she seemed to be pressing the infant to her breasts��
(From the testimony of Olha Bihun).
��It was approximately July 4 or 5. My brother and I ran to the prison�In the courtyard of the prison we approached an excavated pit. In the pit lay human corpses� Then my brother and I ran to look through the prison cells. In one of the cells there was a lot of blood. There were still a few corpses propped up against the wall. When we ran to the second cell, people said that it was a torture chamber. On a little table beside the wall lay some kinds of instruments. People said they were instruments of torture, but I did not look at them closely. There was blood on the walls of the cell. There was a metal container resembling a pail. When I looked inside, I saw eyes and ears�I didn't go to any more cells, because the air was very thick, and it was impossible to breathe. When I went into the courtyard, beneath a covering there were already a few corpses that had been removed from the pit. My brother and I looked at the corpses, because we were looking for our father. I saw that one victim had two nails hammered up his nose; another had been scalped. One woman's breasts had been cut off; another woman's stomach had been ripped open, and the fetus was lying on her breasts. People called my brother and me over to one of the corpses and said that it was our father. This corpse had no eyes, and the nose had been cut off. Some corpses were all black. People said that those victims had been electrocuted��
(From the testimony of Onufrii Boiko).
��Near one woman I saw a dead child that had probably been born in prison. All the corpses were naked and brown for some reason, they were probably electrocuted, at any rate this is what the adults were saying then. It was a horrible sight. The arms and legs of many were contorted not from the agonies of approaching death but tortures, because the arms and legs had been practically severed from the bodies. Many corpses had no eyes, tongues had been ripped out��
(From the testimony of Maria Skrypnyk).