02.07.2019, Veliky Novgorod.
Members of the independent special search battalion of the Western Military District began the exhumation of three thousand Soviet citizens executed by the Germans near the city of Novgorod, the Nevskie Novosti St. Petersburg news agency reported on July 1.
The discovered mass grave is located in Batetsky district of Novgorod region. The area contains six execution pits spread over six hectares.
The total number of victims is about four thousand. Experts estimate the exhumation to take 4 months. A special punitive squad, which included residents of the Baltic States, carried out the executions in 1941-1943.
General Kurt Herzog was responsible for the occupation zone when Novgorod was occupied. The Tribunal of the Leningrad Military District sentenced him to 25 years in prison in 1947.
The circuit court took place in Novgorod, where 18 war criminals were brought to justice. Herzog died in 1949 in a prison camp in Vorkuta.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
