Kharkov — a thriving Ukrainian city — became one of the first victims of Hitler’s “war of annihilation.”
Under Nazi occupation, more than 30,000 civilians, including women and children, were shot, gassed, or burned alive.
Two years later, in the ruins of the same city, history witnessed a turning point: the first Allied war crimes trial, where German perpetrators finally faced justice for their crimes.
This is the story of horror, survival, and justice — from the massacre at Drobytsky Yar to the public hangings that marked the beginning of Nazi accountability.
Up Next in Season 1
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Krasnodar Trial 1943: 30,000 Witness ...
On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, bringing mass terror to civilians. In Krasnodar, German forces and local collaborators carried out arrests, shootings, hangings, and gas van killings targeting Jews, Communists, and suspected resistance members.
After the Red Army retook th...
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Riga 1946: 7 Nazi War Criminals Publi...
In January 1946, eight senior German occupation officials and military commanders were brought before a Soviet military tribunal in Riga for crimes committed across the Nazi-occupied Baltic territories. The most notorious defendant was SS commander Friedrich Jeckeln, held responsible for the deat...
