Eyewitness Account of the Nazi Occupation in the South of Ukraine: Diary of a Kherson Resident

1 The Story of the Diary

On March 31, 1944, Captain of Justice G.V. Shliamar, a military investigator of the Military Prosecutor’s Office of Military Unit 28,226 (a member of the local ChGK), examined a diary containing records about the start of Nazi occupation of Kherson, which had been submitted to the Military Prosecutor’s Office. The diary is in Russian and written throughout the summer and early fall of 1941. The author’s name remains unknown, but its content reveals that the diary was written by an elderly man who had worked as an accountant at a local pasta factory before the occupation. The author lived with his family in the city’s historic district named Zabalka.

At some point, the diary ended up in the collection of ChGK records at the SARF, and remained unknown to the public for a long time. No copy of it was found in the commission collection at the local level at the SAKO.^[6] Therefore, this document is a proof of the substantial differences between the contents of local archives, specifically in Kherson, and those in Moscow.

The diary could not be published under the Soviets because of the author’s criticism of the Soviet government during the period of Nazi occupation. Indeed, it seems that the author was lucky to remain anonymous and avoid a post-war investigation.

A copy of the diary from the SARF is stored in Collection RG-22.002M of the USHMM.^[7] It is a graph-ruled pocket notebook with handwritten text in Russian. The 137 pages contain records from July 5 to September 15, 1941. While some words are illegible, the overall readability is good. An adapted and abridged^[8] English translation with the essence retained is published here. Some text elements, such as date formats have been unified for convenience.

2 Post Scriptum

The preparations for this publication began in 2021, exactly 80 years after the Nazis had invaded Kherson. On February 24, 2022, the Russian army launched a full-scale invasion on Ukraine. Military units assembled in the South entered Kherson from the temporarily occupied territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The Russian army established control over the city on March 2, after weeklong skirmishes approaching the city. Over the nine months that followed, Kherson was under Russian occupation until its liberation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on November 11, 2022. The retreating Russian troops caused severe damage to the city’s infrastructure leaving the citizens on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe: lacking electricity, water and heating. For some city and oblast residents, this has been the second time living under occupation since the Second World War. Readers of the 80-year-old diary will encounter similar thoughts and descriptions of events that has troubled and continue to trouble modern-day residents of Kherson.

There is another important aspect that links the past events to the present: specifically the way that Russia has turned the memory of the Second World War into a tool used against Ukraine. Russia did this by falsifying and mythologizing the past and using historically familiar wording and expressions in contemporary hate speeches against a neighboring country. Therefore, I hope that the publication of this diary will contribute to a critical perspective that could prove relevant in solving existing, and preventing further political crises.

I dedicate this work to Kherson residents who survived the occupation of 2022, preserved and protected the Ukrainian identity of the city risking their own safety; to defenders of Ukraine; as well as in memory of the victims of this criminal war.

3 Diary of a Kherson Resident

1941

July 5. On 5, 1941, factory bosses sent me to a military enlistment office at the invitation of a conscription officer. From there, I was sent to the assembly point (the school that I had left 41 years ago). They are forming the 3rd labor battalion.

July 6. A long train with wounded people arrived in Kherson yesterday.

The line of people surrendering their radios is ending.

We got a clear dismissal at the assembly point of the military enlistment office.

Svetlana went to a pioneer camp.

July 14. In the evening, a big steam locomotive (the one hauling the Crimean-Caucasus train number 6) delivered 1500 wounded people to Kherson.

July 20. On Sunday, I went to Oleshky to visit Svetlana at the pioneer camp. She is happy with everything.^[9]

Ukrmakarontrest^[10] has ended up in Kharkiv, according to a telegram received from the Kharkiv post office on July 20.

July 21. Money transfers regardless of distance:

• Up to 30.00 – 60 kopecks.

• 30 to 50 – 1.00 ruble.

• 50 to 100 – 2 rubles.

2 kopecks for each subsequent whole or a fraction of a ruble (over 10 rubles).

In addition to the fees mentioned above, an extra fee is charged for transfers by telegraph:

• Up to 100 – 5.50 rubles.

• Over 100 to 300 – 8.00 rubles.

• Over 300 to 500 – 10.50 rubles.

• Over 500 – 15.50 rubles.

July 23. An ARS^[11] caught me at 17:45 p.m. while I was on my way home from work. I waited it out at the post office.

July 24.There was an air raid siren on the night of July 24.

During the day on July 24, there was a combat air raid siren (I was off work because I had worked on my day off earlier).

News coming from Odesa is very unfortunate, and there are “refugees” in Kherson.

July 25. On the morning of July 25, an air raid siren (a false alarm) caught me on my way to work.

On Saturday, July 19, 1941, Ludmila^[12] sent a telegram to Galina in Khabarovsk.^[13]

There was another air raid siren on July 25, which was another false alarm, apparently. One more – third – air raid alarm was sounded while I was on my way home from work. I waited it out by the library.

On July 25, we received a letter from Galina in Khabarovsk, which had been mailed on July 4.

July 26. On July 26, there was an air raid siren while I was on my way to work.

July 29. The pioneer camp administration disbanded the camp today ahead of time.

Svetlana received a baptism by fire, so to speak: a German vulture^[14] fired upon the steamship halfway from Tsiurupinsk (Oleshky) to Kherson.

August 1. All this time, on a daily basis, several times a day, as if on schedule, vultures appear in the skies above Kherson. They show up unimpeded and leave just as unimpeded.

Apparently, something is going on not that far away from us.

Only a blind person would be oblivious to the refugees, military units, and sort of caravans showing up here.

What comes next?

A slight change happened today: they appear to have succeeded in shooting down or forcing to land an enemy aircraft. My wife says that she was at the airfield and even saw two German bandits, young and about her height, who were shooting at civilians. Where is their culture?

August 2. After all, this saying is true: the appetite comes with eating. This is along the lines of cheating. It is been just a few days since Nesterenko snatched a day’s earnings. Today, Nesterenko is back with his deceit: some claqueurs^[15] were sent ahead with an offer to force workers to work on a day off without pay, while the do-gooders would release only commercial bread on sale.

Lots and lots of young people are being transported from somewhere to somewhere else through Kherson, apparently. I have been seeing them go past the factory: from the direction of the railway station passing to the direction of the Dnipro for the third day already.

Many refugees are also arriving: judging by their appearance and papers, they come from Bessarabia.^[16]

I was quite surprised to hear rumors that reached me yesterday about “our” plane that was shot down or forced to land yesterday.

August 3. Either I did not pay attention, or there was no air raid siren today.

And there is no Zhytomyr theater of operations anymore…

Allegedly, a landing party landed 3 km away, and the KGB functionaries’ families have been already escorted out of Kherson…

While our bootlickers are each putting away a loaf of bread into their desk drawers, the people can’t find any bread, either in the morning, or during the day. The family managed to secure one kilo only towards the evening today.

August 5. The tide of refugees keeps rising. The Mykolayiv train keeps spewing out more and more people (natives of Odesa) every day. The Danilevskiys and Polyashenkos are not sending anything yet: neither any of theirs nor anything from theirs, and we don’t know anything about ours. (This implies that the author’s family had no news from their friends or relatives who lived in neighboring cities – Y.K.)

August 7. These air raid sirens have become a mundane occurrence and seem to have stopped producing an impact. Moreover, I never hear them: apparently, the schedule has changed.

The rumor going around in Kherson has it that Odesa has been entirely destroyed, while the rumor in Snihurivka has it that Kherson has been razed to the ground. A. Davidenko – an Odesa native, who just arrived here – says that Odesa has not been bombarded since July 28, and advised us to stop minding all the exaggerations. What about the waves of refugees that arrived in Kherson? Where did they end up next?

No, refugees are “running”. Every day thousands of them hurry past the factory.

The factory has a new director, Baklanov starting tomorrow. Meanwhile, Lemeshko has put on a military uniform and is loitering around town just as he previously used to loiter around on factory grounds.

August 8. An air raid siren was sounded at night, and there have been three instances already since morning.

My wife keeps asking: “What are the rumors at the factory regarding the evacuation?” I have not heard anything from anybody to this effect yet, except that they are fixing a horse-drawn cart in the middle of the factory courtyard. However, it is missing two wheels – Otrishchenko put them to some other use.

Gorokhovskaya presented a clearance issued by the military commandant authorizing her to proceed to the city of Syzran.

And Parashchenko had it even better: “got paid” and “quit”. Of course, Nesterenko himself authorized the payout, but the funds were released by Barenbaum, who went over my head.

But I am nothing but blessed innocence. According to Ludmila, the savvy ones sold all their possessions back on June 23, and have relocated to Chelyabinsk, and half her coworkers have also moved to Kuibyshev and Saratov. And what have we waited here for and what lies in store for us?

Neiner is already smuggling out bags of sweepings^[17] … as if he owns the place.

August 9. Yesterday, one of the counter workers bought a suitcase, and today Lemeshko sent a citizen from somewhere to the factory to collect 200 bags.

A sense of dismay has set in all around. It is perfectly clear that whoever leaves will have a lucky fate. What about us, the elderly?

A new phenomenon: Veigner got Nesterenko himself to pay her an advance. The woman is a genius!

Parashchenko issued a raincoat and a blanket under the guise of “protective clothing” to Nesterenko, who absconded.

Yesterday, and even today there is discernible movement of a military unit with three cannons. What does the upcoming day have in store for us?

At home, I heard a rumor that allegedly Budyonny^[18] himself visited Kherson yesterday, and allegedly, personally prosecuted (shot dead) those runaways who had decided to abscond from here with government funds (either the chief accountant of Leskop,^[19] or some other scoundrels).

Yet today, the State Bank^[20] not only refused to release funds for the factory but also refused to let in any customers. If we live to see tomorrow, we will know what is going to happen…

There have been no bread deliveries to the grocery store near me for 2 days, and we are without bread today.

August 12. It is quite apparent that the Germans are near Kherson.

While the flow of refugees may have decreased, the numbers of retreating troops have increased substantially.

Air raid sirens are sounded more frequently here, probably because of the moonlit nights.

There is also a new kind of “line” at the door of the State Bank, consisting of accountants in need of funds for the salaries of manual and non-manual workers. Keeping people outside is a despicable thing to do, not to mention the fact that they have to have dozens of various proper IDs to make it difficult for spies.

Today, as many as five aircrafts flew over Kherson. I think I heard four different sounds, but I could not make out what kinds they were and which planes they belonged to, even though I waited them out in the street, under a tree.

While previously I had seen young men (probably hospital workers) transport two comrades to the cemetery in makeshift coffins, today I saw they were already making do without coffins: the deceased was wrapped in a bedsheet and hauled away on a cart by a coachman and a guide, and that’s all the respects he got!

And, how will us, old-timers be sent away into oblivion and by whom? Indeed, the pleasures of the mighty are the tears of the poor.

Today, the first list of the women to be laid off arrived at the accounting office.

Six bags of flour sweepings were rolled out into the courtyard to feed the horses, but people are saying that “they” will divide them up among themselves. Apparently, this is because the snake is slithering around it, and her daddy is waiting outside the factory with a bag. (The author of the diary disparagingly describes the behavior of one of his colleagues and her father, who wanted to get more flour – Y.K.)

August 13. Yesterday, four trucks were loaded full of victims, among others.

A bomb was intended for a steamship in the process of taking “artisans” aboard, but landed in the middle of a street outside the river cooperative, where many people were lining up for bread, as usual.

I watched the traffic up and down the street from the factory gate. One would think it is not a strategic retreat but a panicked exodus.

Apparently, there is no work force or material.

But where are those public speakers who assured the people that they?…

• 10 p.m.

August 13. What could it mean? I came to the telegraph room to send a telegram to Galina and … nobody, nothing … the hall was empty, the personnel room was unmanned and empty, but the lights were on in both rooms.

I risked going upstairs and ran into army men. This means that the telegraph had been evacuated.

August 14. A wonderful morning with an aroma of flowers. Today is the “Honey Feast of the Savior”.^[21]

The entire neighborhood of Zabalka is in the streets. They are already retreating every which way, through all the roads and streets. But where? The Dnipro is ahead!

The locals feared they would see the Germans here towards the evening, but a neighbor who came home at night (he had been outside Nova Odesa) denied this possibility.

The radio is now silent and stopped feeding us songs and marches by Russian composers.

There is nobody at Selelectro^[22] except for two guys burning the paperwork.

Everything is in place at the pasta factory, but there is no work.

Doubt.

Uncertainty. And yet, potential bandits are already keeping watch outside the factory.

There are horrible tales of the Grain Silo and the Bread Factory having been robbed. Meanwhile, the factory still has flour in addition to food supplies.

There are also robbers among the factory staff, who are hounding the so-called director.

I signed a receipt for 30 kilos of sweepings and 12.5 kilos of pasta. I had a hard time carrying them home (in two hands), but somehow I made it.

I witnessed the looting of stores and the arson of a warehouse where they had been receiving the radios.

Still, why are so many sailors running away, both in vehicles and on foot?

There is no water.

There is no electricity.

The nighttime prowlers have already appeared.^[23]

Robberies are on the rise, which is perfectly understandable because the coppers are gone.^[24]

There are no authorities whatsoever. When the cat’s away, the mice will play.^[25]

Yesterday, I saw women giving scraps of food to Red Army soldiers who looked like they hadn’t eaten for six days.

The flow of retreating forces ebbed towards the night.

Only yesterday, the women expected our city to be occupied by Germans, while today they say that Mykolayiv has not been occupied, yet.

After a squadron of 18 planes flew over Kherson (in the direction of Antonivka) yesterday, there has not been a peep since.

Eerie.

There is no telegraph.

There is no radio.

There is no mail.

There is no water.

There is no electricity.

There is no bread. This looks like the fulfillment of the proverbial promise: we will kindle a global fire to spite all the bourgeoisie.^[26]

It is disgusting that firefighter crews with their two fire trucks also absconded. And who is to put out the fire?

August 15. I brought the cash ledger in order and presented the cash balance to the director, who ordered me to burn, burn, burn. And what will we do afterwards? We will start from scratch! And when, pray tell?

I have to admit that if the factory hadn’t delivered flour for [Voyter], I would not have received it either.

All bread was also looted yesterday. How will the people live without bread now?…

It looks like the military commandant has appeared and even provided security for the factory.

Since noon, the retreating forces have started coming from every which way again, this time with foot soldiers and wounded troops.

Something has also been burning intensely and for a long time near what seems to be the cracker plant…

Half of August has elapsed, and I am sort of satisfied, partly with the money and partly with produce. But what next? Whose worker am I? What is my position?

It could well be the truth what my wife has been saying since yesterday: allegedly orders were passed down from higher-ups to stop retreating and not abandon Kherson. Tap water just started running and rumor has it that we would also have electricity.

Overall, the Bolsheviks of Kherson properly soiled their pants. They managed to prevent the repetition of the October pogrom of 1905, and had liquidated their supplies in advance (seeing that they decided to run away).

August 16. Morning of August 16. This morning is just as wonderful as all the previous days. Eerie silence. For the first time, some of the family members slept undressed; the way one is meant to spend the night.

Meanwhile, there is no information from anywhere.

A rumor reached us from somewhere that an order had been issued to resume work.

The forces still continue to retreat both, in vehicles and on foot. Many troops are resting along the street, washing up, and women are feeding them scraps of food.

The same horror show is all over town.

Also at the factory: begin to work. Start by taking stock of the produce.

Veigner is away. Davidenko is away. Kravtsov passed away yesterday.

Meanwhile, Chokas and Voykov got patched up well …

But here’s the thing: my legs refuse to perform their duties. This shameful disorder affected them in the first place.

And where are the Kherson authorities after all?

Who is ruling and managing us? At the moment, today?

At long last, I received Order No. 1 from the new garrison chief, Captain 3rd Rank Balanirev.

Accordingly, 4 tons of flour were collected today for what seems to be the government bread order.

Two tons of goods have been released to feed the troops.

Other news: the radio has been restored and the previous lies have returned.

I walked to the bread factory before dusk. It is all there. I couldn’t tell if inside it was operating, but the lights were on.

The population has no electricity.

Stacks of timber and railroad ties were burning during the day near Koshevaya. Apparently, some boys had set them on fire (there is no recourse against them), and even though the fire happened by the river at the water’s edge, there was nobody around to put it out.

Women were running down there, looking for boat hooks.

Military units are assessing the damage and resting along footpaths, in the streets, in many places all over Zabalka. They also set up camp in the parks of the Roman Catholic church and are destroying the plants unapologetically.

August 17. Glorious morning. Eerie silence. Streets are empty.

I forgot it was Sunday and trotted to the factory.

Steamships have gathered in the city, but the foot traffic of lone Red Army troopers and sailors (many of them already without their rifles), and individual trucks continue.

Janitors have stirred back to life and are cleaning debris off the sidewalks.

I saw people gathering by a store in Suvorovskaya Street (laundry and toilet soap were on sale there, later).

People were also crowding by two windows at the collective farm market only to walk away from those windows disappointedly.

Word has it that many unattended farm animals are wandering in the steppe: horses, cows, pigs. Some of them were abandoned by the army, while others were set free by the slaughterhouse management before setting the buildings on fire.

There are several women at the factory, but the much-needed dough mixers, pourers, and loaders are missing.

I made a stop at my father’s place.

On my way home, I saw retreating heavy artillery, which left a heavy impression.

I saw that the post office was open, but… my disappointment was profound: they accept letters and telegrams addressed only to recipients in Oleshky, Hopri,^[27] and Skadovsk.

The first rumor is that last night the Germans attempted an assault on Nikopol with 35 tanks (in order to make way for troops on motorcycles), but the attack was allegedly repelled and they are still 50 km away from Mykolayiv.

The second rumor is that a major battle is underway outside Dnipropetrovsk. If that is the case, then the retreat to the “river crossing” would make sense.

My wife and I went to Suvorovskaya and bought some bread in the evening.

August 18. The most wonderful morning and horrible rumors say that the Germans have occupied Mykolayiv, Kryvyi Rih, etc. (allegedly, it was reported on the radio), and that the retreating Bolsheviks are taking men with them, which is why all the men here have gone into hiding.

I chanced upon a news agency report about the Soviet troops having abandoned Mykolayiv and Kryvyi Rih: the shipyards of Mykolayiv have been blown up.

Is father right in saying that our sector will be under German occupation after all? And, in his opinion, this will hardly be worse than what we have had here recently!

And yet, father’s opinion is not new today, since workers had said things along the same lines much earlier.

People are loitering at the factory, but there is no production going on.

They took a delivery of bread and distributed it “in lieu of salaries”.

Consumer goods ready for delivery were looted at the railway station.

I did not have a chance to read the German proclamations air-dropped on August 13, but it seems that there has been no bombardment since then.

I was quite surprised to see Noskov (Head of Financial Department) here yesterday and Meylikh (Head of Urban Planning Department) today, and Noskov wasn’t even carrying his revolver pistol.

But what happened to Odesa? Who will tell? And when?

Some stores are open for business liquidating the remaining stocks.

Here’s a work idea: go up and down the streets and collect not just tin cans but also parts of machinery, vehicles and even tractors.

August 19. Is the war really necessary on such days with such weather? The crops have just been harvested, so let’s live like human beings!

I didn’t make it to the factory because I ran into Dakhnovskiy and others, who said that there was nothing at the factory, and cannons were deployed in the square in anticipation of a battle.

I didn’t hear anything, but my family members are all concerned because of a gunfire (9:45 a.m.). Something was set on fire around 9 a.m., either tanks beyond the Military [district]^[28] or the confectionery factory. The radio is broadcasting an Avarian “lezghinka” dance tune; the commentator speaks Ukrainian, apparently out of Kyiv. He says that the Germans are already near Arestanka.^[29]

Explosions, explosions.

There are already several rising plumes of smoke (the weather is windless).

From the front yard, we saw some of the sailors going down Kachelnaya Street.

A cannon rolled by, but it had a protective sheath on its muzzle.

Meanwhile, women are walking out of town loaded with bags and baskets.

It looks like tap water is about to end. It runs as if a soul is about to leave the body.^[30]

Someone finally managed to catch the radio signal and said that the Germans occupied … Kuibyshevo, and I misheard it as Vinnytsia.

By 7 p.m., the first act of the Kherson tragedy was over: the city was occupied by the Germans.

We survived a horrible half a day. So far, we have not suffered any physical or material harm, but the worst it yet to come, it seems.

Towards the evening, fires on the bank of the Dnipro were flaming on a large scale (by Kherson standards).

It seems that nothing has been damaged by fire in Koshevaya Street. A steamship is on fire in the Dnipro.

August 20. The night was calm.

What next?

The first thing has already started: they are walking in twos and nosing about. They keep coming all day long. For now, they are seizing gramophones and records all over the place, both in town and in Zabalka. Of course, they are doing it arbitrarily because the commandant’s order says nothing about this.

I walked into town. Apparently, the telegraph was blown up and so was the telephone station. Zagotzerno went up in flames.^[31]

The pasta factory is intact. And everything inside it is intact. Our security guards are in place, but the Germans looked for something at the head office – so I was told at the guardhouse.

August 21. Thursday. I came to the factory in the morning.

Heeding the German command’s notice calling upon people to be ready for work, some people have gathered, but nobody knows anything. The director as such was missing. And how could we commence work when there were no windows? Even now, there is an artillery battery next to the factory, which fires from time to time. An original state of a complete lack of information and uncertainty!

Bread is not released for sale, and there is no market whatsoever.

The Germans did not burn the Soviet money. However, the mandatory Deutsche Mark equals ten Soviet rubles.

The “tourists” (German soldiers. – Y.K.) have already begun their work. While gramophones are still being looted all over town, today they were after vinegar in Zabalka.

August 22. Friday.

The same uncertainty, the same lack of information.

It is unimaginable what the Germans turned the city’s mini-parks and gardens into, and I used to consider the Germans to be the most cultured nation.

Some new units have appeared, and later a unit on bicycles rolled in. Indeed, the Bolsheviks have a very hard time fighting against this equipment, and also the way they run things. It is obvious that the German marshals know their business well and probably spend little time wagging their tongues.

Kherson has really vile whores (and not only Kherson). The Germans barely overnighted, and there they are right on cue: it must be that they have impatiently waited for their units to arrive.

In general, the Russian people deserve contempt. Today, I purposely spent 3–4 h in the shadow near the wine cellar of Ukrsadvinotrest,^[32] from where the Germans were removing wine, and I saw all manner of voluntary humiliation and groveling. All this just to get to the wine cellar and wine. This is where a burst of machine gun fire would be appropriate.

Locusts like good food: today they were after not just canned food but also apricots, and other fruit, such as apples.

Some more rumors are swirling around: a bomb flew in today from somewhere and allegedly ricocheted into the bank. Apparently, there are casualties. Also, there is some shelling outside city limits: either at Mykolayiv or from Mykolayiv – it is hard to make sense of these rumors. There was also even a mention of partisans.

It would be interesting to place the two proclamations of the German Commander-in-Chief that I know of in front of the Germans and ask them: What has been done of the things promised in the proclamations, and what is being done of what had been promised?

I also wonder: What is it that the Germans could not find in Kherson? What wasn’t left for them here?

I forgot to mention that we have running water since yesterday.

Electricity supply is out of the question: there are lots of torn wires all over the city.

August 23. Where do the Germans get so much work force and so much material?

Today, truck-mounted pontoons arrived.

A lot of steam-powered vehicles. And those horses!

The people keep cleaning out the grocery stores. The newly arrived Germans consider it their duty to open the stores, and the people promptly show up.

They say that the Germans started building a crossing on the Dnipro and that we should eventually expect an artillery battle because of this.

Indeed, bombs started flying at dusk from the direction of what looks like Oleshky: so-called “ours” were shelling first the city and then Zabalka, and almost exclusively my neighborhood. An avid collector could find plenty of shrapnel fragments in my street.

The Germans have reached Kherson after two months into the war. How much farther ahead will they advance and up to what point?

And will the population ever be rid of the banters of war?

It is been ten days since Kherson lost the pace of life, its certainty, and purposefulness. There is no market, no bread, no basic goods, or necessities. Nobody is doing anything. Some people are looting stores while others are looking for wine. But what should an honest man do?

August 24. Sunday. A luxurious morning. It is quiet for now.

Despite the “danger”, people continue to haul things out of the city in bags, and somebody started taking the kiosks apart in the area of Koshevaya Street.

The shelling is getting more frequent. Our “basement dwellers” (the author refers to his relatives and neighbors who were hiding in the basements of private houses during the bombardment of the city. – Y.K.)no longer come out, so Anna^[33] has to deliver food to them.

It turns out that people came across some wheat somewhere.

Rumors about bread appearing in the city have reached us, but bombs are also exploding, and it seems as if Soviet planes are flying above the city (noon). Svetlana came home running after 2 p.m. and shouted: “Close the shutters. Two Soviet warships have arrived and will start shelling”. Indeed, Soviet bombs started pounding the city again, and then Zabalka and my neighborhood of all places.

Things got quiet in the evening.

August 25. Monday. It was still dark when Anna shot out of bed: “Get dressed right away. Bombs are exploding all around us.” She escorted me down into the basement to join the Sorokins.

I climbed out of there at dawn. A downpour began in the morning with incessant bolts of lightning.

It is been two days since I last made it past the gate.

It is day 6 of Germans in Kherson. This is, so to speak, a new era or a new calendar for us.

Yesterday they stole a cow in my neighborhood. I saw it from my front yard.

Apparently, they know a thing or two about commodities: apart from gramophones and records, they are also after watches and cigarette holders. I personally saw many of them carry brand-new small rugs and beach blankets; those were most likely to serve as bedsheets and tablecloths.

(2 p.m.) Anna heard somewhere that people were leaving the city with bread. I jumped up and ran … but not too far. I didn’t see anybody with any bread, but I did see them going door to door and escorting men away (for labor?)

There have been no aerial attacks in my neighborhood for a couple of days. Earlier they were rummaging for fresh fruit. People have not seen any ripe grapes yet, but the Germans already managed to pick them while passing through the agricultural commune.

I had to pick apples ahead of its time.

It seems that the Germans started shooting towards the evening.

August 26. Tuesday. Everything is calm in nature. The days are passing, while our torment continues.

It seems like the Germans were shelling the other side from here, towards the evening.

I was about to walk into town, but after opening the gate, I saw a truck and a few “guests” (German soldiers.-Y.K.) in my street, who were going door-to-door collecting eggs and chickens, probably for the wounded.

The word has it that the Soviet bombardment of Zabalka caused both, material damage, and wounded and killed many. Between the rock and the hard place. What for? Who can say? Who will answer?

Explosions in my neighborhood were repeatedly heard during the day. And it seems Anna saw a Soviet plane dropping bombs on our unfortunate Zabalka.

Who is better, after all: the Bolsheviks or the Fascists?

The local women looted heaps of goods during the pogrom and begin to fear searches. And if they have a falling out, they will start ratting each other out.

August 27, 1941. Wednesday. At 11 p.m., Anna got me all upset and ordered me to descend into the basement. But since the gate was locked (or I couldn’t open it), I stumbled back home and fell asleep.

At dawn, it seems like a Soviet plane was flying, dropping bombs, and shooting with a machine gun. Then Anna claims to have witnessed an aerial combat between a Soviet and two German planes. A rumor later reached us that the Germans had shot down the Soviet plane.

They continue to fish men out of apartments. They have not reached me.

Somewhere not far away, massive looting is going on, while the old Japanese man (a circus magician) was shot dead while resisting the requisitioning.

I have not been able to make it to town for four days now. Anna keeps scaring me with talk of bombs, and the air raids are keeping me inside. And I don’t even know whether the factory still exists, and what is going on there and how. And how are we to keep on living?

Interesting fact: the Ukrainians will be left where they are, the Russians will be deported beyond the Urals, and other ethnicities will be deported to their place of birth.

Meanwhile, Kulik is a master of composure. He is sitting by the main entrance under any circumstances and will not budge: there is no escaping fate.

August 28 (1941). Thursday. Anna says that a lot of mayhem occurred during the night, but she refrained from waking me up; come what may!

Heavy rain since morning. Not for long.

One “guest” (noticeably drunk) got lost, rummaged through all boxes and walked away with 2–3 trifles. After checking my passport, he stated that I did not have to show up at the commandant’s office.

Another “guest” in the street included me in the group of detainees to be escorted. They had been waiting at the street corner until the escort guard released me. He later released all the others and ordered them to report at the commandant’s office on specific days.

A strange rumor has reached us about announcements air-dropped by a Soviet plane, inviting all of us to evacuate from Kherson to a distance of at least 35 km away, because they, allegedly, intended to destroy the Germans and Kherson.

While this will not destroy the Germans, the prospects appear bad for us. And courtesy of whom?

August 29. Friday. The weather is still magnificent, and the rest is the same: air raids, bombs, projectiles (Kolodeznaya Street).

I made a secret run to my factory and back. I saw a lot of destruction. I saw “badges” on Jews.^[34]

In the afternoon, I read the orders: 1) on the institution of German time, 2) on the execution of 100 Jews and 10 Bolsheviks – for cutting a wire and for something else (they did not elaborate), with an invitation to refrain from doing anything like this.

So beware, Hanka:^[35] somebody can be up to some mischief somewhere, while an innocent one can receive a bullet for this despite never even having dreamt of doing it.

I saw two Germans on horseback in Kuzni^[36] leading a cow into town.

Dozens of planes flew uninterrupted to the other side.

August 30. Saturday. Anna tells me about some mayhem in the flood plain area in our direction (neighborhood). Apparently, somebody was mounting an offensive.

Explosions seem to be coming from the direction of Zabalka – Koshevaya.

It is my 7th day staying at home and not venturing out anywhere. Things seemed to quiet down so I broke out of the front yard and ran into town to read all the orders. Some kind of city governance is in place, and even a tax was announced, but where are the food items? After all, there have been no merchants as such for a long time.

Afanasiy Evgenyevich is not in the apartment. I ran into a factory guard, who says it had been hit by five bombs. He says that the destruction is quite serious.

Bombs started exploding and I ran back home. Someone on the other side enjoys bombing the unfortunate Zabalka neighborhood, hitting almost the same spot near me, while there are no Germans here, whatsoever.

Late in the evening a bomb exploded somewhere near the school. I was lying in the front yard and I was even blinded for a moment.

August 31. Sunday. Same story: wonderful weather and the same bombs landing in my neighborhood all around us.

It would be good if our horror ended with this attack! It is high time: my nerves can’t take it anymore.

Things were quiet for a few hours during the day, and bomb explosions resumed afterwards. Something was burning by the edge of the water in the Komintern Shipyard.

September 1. Monday. It seems that the night was quiet, and the morning is also quiet. There is news that the Germans allegedly have sunk the steamship that was sailing up and down the Konka River and firing from there at the city and Zabalka. Allegedly, it was done by sailors who had too much to drink.

They say that the shelling of the city has started again.

News came at noon. Several horse-drawn carts delivered tomatoes to a grocery store nearby. They are getting into the swing of things!

Explosions were intense in the afternoon. It seems like the Germans were firing. Something was burning near the Potiomkinskiy Island.

September 2. Tuesday. It seems that the night was quiet. It rained at dawn. Things seem to be quiet in the morning. I stand corrected: there were two air raids during the night, each one with bombardment.

I ran to the factory. There is major destruction at the factory and around it. Nothing definitive.

Traffic is even more limited: from 6:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.

There was an aerial attack with bombardment overnight (our “basement dwellers” risked spending the night in the house).

September 3. Wednesday. I walked to the factory and ran into Nesterenko. The factory will be difficult to rebuild even with imported materials. As he put it, we need to look for a solution and come up with something. I didn’t see Kravtsov and did not look for him because explosions started and I ran back home. I saw a hanged partisan in the collective farm market. They say there are other gallows all over Kherson…

It rained and got colder.

Today is the 19th day of my unemployment and transience. What next?

A rumor circulated in the evening: “the Reds will be shelling our neighborhood”, and literally, minutes later explosions started … from the side of the Germans in the direction of Hopri … Anna went down to the “basement dwellers” for the night for the first time, but Mikhail stayed with me.

September 4. Thursday. The night was calm. Both sides have been quiet since the morning.

I walked to the factory. It turns out that at 3 a.m. the Red artillery was heavily shelling the city and the area of the factory.

Yesterday, I was lucky to run back home because something caught fire in the city later, and today there are many destroyed buildings in Katolicheskaya Street.

Bombs of the Reds were still dropping on the city, albeit infrequently. There are casualties. The Buseviches’ daughter was wounded.

For the third time, I have heard the Reds’ proclamations urging the citizens to abandon Kherson by 8 p.m., because they promised to raze the city to the ground. Is that actually so? One way or another, this does not make things any easier for defenseless people.

September 5. Friday. The night was uneventful. I walked to the factory, but there is no point in going there.

An oil workers’ town in the Dnipro is on fire after shelling from the direction of Hopri.

Kherson has a City Administration,^[37] a people’s militia (Ukrainian),^[38] and they already have a “slammer”.^[39]

In the latter half of the day, so many missiles were fired at our district alone, opposite the Potiomkinskiy Island.

And the Germans are keeping quiet!

September 6. Saturday. Anna says that there was an air raid during the night.

I submitted the register of occupants to the militia.

For the second time, the Germans have executed 100 Jewish men and 10 Jewish women “for continuing ties with the Reds”.

Word has it that whoever applies for a job gets a food ration.

I looked at the canteen menu.

September 7. Sunday. Anna says that an air raid happened at night with bombardment. There are casualties in Lomonosovska Street.

I walked into town before the evening. The Jews are resettling into a district reserved for them.

The printing house operates for 8 h with a 1 h break. On Saturdays, it operates for 6 h with a half-hour break.

September 8. Monday. There was an air raid with bombardment at night, somewhere far away: either beyond the railway station, or in the Military District. Or, maybe somewhere else, for what I saw can be attributed to the fact that the Germans occupied Oleshky yesterday, and not Hopri today. Anna claims to have seen a motorboat from her attic going this way or that way.

For some reason Anna spent the night in the front yard.

September 9. In the morning, I ran into town and fetched a kilo of bread for 1 ruble.

German bulletins claim that Leningrad is surrounded, and so is Odesa.

The printing house is printing new registers of occupants, and cards for them.

Anna is surprised at the explosions, albeit they are far away: missiles are landing in the city from what seems to be Hopri.

F.I. Lozinskiy is already at work, close to (–being able to get hold of – Y.K.) bread.

I have heard many times now, that prisoners are being transported to the city. From the other side, most likely turncoats. Allegedly, they are surrendering because they don’t want to fight (don’t know for what and for whom).

By the way, I have not heard a single hint that the Bolsheviks are being missed, while grudges against them are plentiful. It is as if the people have adapted to all the changes, and don’t even think about the situation changing, and are skeptical about any assistance from England and America.

September 10. Wednesday. Anna spent the night in the front yard, after all. Some explosions were also heard today. It seems the Germans were firing at the other side.

Today, we also got a kilo of bread despite the fact that I came late.

But what will happen next with work? Not a peep from the factory! Tomorrow I will definitely go to the City Administration.

September 11. Thursday. This night Anna stayed outside, after all.

Why did she ask about Perekop the other night?

Today, as I lined up for bread, I was told that nine bombs had exploded by the shore near the bathhouse yesterday. From where?

Apart from me, Ludmila and Svetlana managed to get bread.

Today is my granddaughter’s 6th birthday, and she asked for a present.

September 12. Friday. We could not get any bread today. The Germans have seized the baked goods.

For that matter, today is a day of failures.

Organized work at the factory began with people handpicked by Kravtsov. There is no head office, and Nesterenko works at the City Administration, possibly in charge of the factory. I don’t know for sure yet.

I got a vague idea about the job center from Strokach. In short, I stayed at home, while my family members were applying for jobs. They are now also saying that the Germans have started arriving here to fill jobs at the liberated enterprises, and the Russians will be watching them.

September 13. Saturday. Today, there is no bread near the post office, and there will not be any tomorrow. Lozinskiy was right when he said that we would be jobless and without bread.

Strokach is a coward: he would not help me get into the City Administration. The job center opens on Monday.

It was only today that I noticed that two flags were flying atop the City Administration: the German one and the Ukrainian one.

I heard that the commandant’s office was issuing passes for those going to Odesa.

I heard that people have already started coming to Kherson from Aleshki and Hopri.

Other news: one week after Kherson was occupied, the Germans claimed that the Japanese had advanced and occupied Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, etc.

German sailors have appeared in Kherson. From where?

September 14. Sunday. During the day, on our way to my father’s place, Anna and I unexpectedly bought some bread.

Father is upset: the Germans barge in, and steal grapes and whatever else is there.

Anna says that explosions have been going off far away all day long today. It seems that a battle is underway on the approaches to Hopri, or beyond Hopri.

There is a large heap of unsorted letters (many of them unsealed and discarded without envelopes) in one of the post office rooms. Were they sent out of Kherson or within Kherson?

Seltzer^[40] water is sold for 5 kopecks a glass.

Today I came across a … German cemetery with nine tombs dated between August 23 and September 9.

September 15. Monday. Sasha Fed showed up yesterday. He got more than his fair share of grief until he made it to Kherson (among prisoners of war assembled in Mayachka).

He showed up in the morning with D.G. Nasider. He says that so far nothing is working solidly, but he is still keeping me in his memory. I am afraid this will not be the case, but we’ll see.

It looked like two Soviet planes flew past (I saw them) and two bombs were dropped; I later saw two houses on fire (near Northern Vorstadt street), where the ghetto is now.^[41]