Prototype for the Permanent Death Camps in Poland
Prototype for the Permanent Death Camps in Poland A naked prisoner is led to an execution site, possibly at Ponary, where others either have been shot already or forced to lie face down prior to being shot. The first executions at the Vilna killing site at Ponary took place on the 8 July 1941 one hundred Jews at a time were brought from the city to Ponary, to a waiting zone. Here in what had been a popular holiday resort for Vilna Jewry, they were ordered to undress and to hand over whatever money or valuables they had with them. They were then marched naked, in single file, in groups of ten or twenty at a time, holding hands to the edge of the pits dug by the Soviet Army to store fuel. They were then shot down by rifle fire, after they had fallen into the pit, no attempt was made to see if they were all dead. If anyone moved another shot was fired. The bodies were then covered from above, with a thin layer of sand and the next group of naked prisoners led from the waiting area to...