CONDITIONS IN KHARKOV

Waikato Times, Volume 131, Issue 21758, 18 June 1942, Page 3

CONDITIONS IN KHARKOV

UNDER GERMAN RULE

HUNGER AND EXECUTIONS

(United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) (Received June 18, 11 a.m.) MOSCOW, June 17 Russians who escaped from the city have given a grim picture of German .’ule in Kharkov, reports the Tass Agency. Whole blocks of houses are in ruins. The best buildings have been converted into barracks and brothels. The water supply does not function and electricity is prohibited for lighting. The bodies of persons who have died from starvation are daily removed to the outskirts of the city. Ragged and emaciated citizens rummage the garbage dumps for food. Attempts to escape from the city are punished by death. Executions of citizens, including women, children and old men, are carried out almost daily. When the Germans hanged over fifty persons at one time in Dzerzhinsky Square they broadcast light music and military marches. The bodies of a woman and her baby were left hanging for several days with a poster announcing: Hanged for being a guerilla,” pinned to the woman’s body. Crimes Against Poland Mr Anthony Eden, in the House of Commons, said the Government had been informed of the crimes committed by Germany against Poland. He reiterated the Prime Minister’s statement that retribution for such crimes must henceforward take its place among the major purposes of the war.