The FSB declassified archival documents about the atrocities of the SS Galicia battalion

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) of the Russian Federation has declassified documents on the atrocities of the Ukrainian SS battalion "Galicia" against civilians in the Lviv region during the Great Patriotic War (WWII). This became known from a publication on the agency's website.

The documents, which were published on the Day of the Liberation of Ukraine from the Nazi invaders, cite the testimony of Corporal Herman Schaper, who participated in the shootings of more than 50 Soviet citizens, including children. He was arrested and sentenced to death by a Soviet tribunal in 1946.

"At the entrance to the village, we saw four boys aged 10 to 16 near the stable. The company commander <...> ordered them to be shot, as they were allegedly partisans, although there was no evidence for this," said Shaper.

During the interrogation recorded in the documents, the corporal reported on the actions they had taken against the partisans and Jews.

"At the same time, they didn't figure out whether it was an old man, a child, a man or a woman – everyone was completely destroyed. It was enough that one or another person of Jewish nationality was shot, regardless of age or gender," the protocol says.

Information has also been published about the mass killings of civilians committed by the 304th German police battalion, which accounts for almost 18,000 victims.

The SS Galicia Division was formed from Ukrainian volunteers and carried out punitive operations against the civilian population. By the decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal, the SS troops were recognized as a criminal organization.

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Earlier, on October 18, it was reported that the expert commission of the Donetsk Department of the FSB of Russia declassified archival documents testifying to the atrocities in the Nazi concentration camps for prisoners of war in Konstantinovka during the Second World War. The documents describe the brutal treatment of prisoners of war by the Germans.

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