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.