On 21 July, citizens of Minsk are machine-gunned by a group of Einsatzkommandos, after refusing to collaborate with the Germans.

 On 21 July, citizens of Minsk are machine-gunned by a group of Einsatzkommandos, after refusing to collaborate with the Germans.

Located in Belorussia, Minsk is home to as many as 80.000 Jews, in a city of only 300.000. 

Within hours after its capture on June 28th, the Germans ordered the city's male population to register, after which they separated the Jews from the non-Jewish citizens. 2.000 of the 'Jewish intelligentsia' were then marched off to a nearby wood and shot.

A 'Judenrat' (Jewish council) was appointed and then tasked with registering the entire city's Jewish population. 

By the 15th of July, all Jews of Minsk were registered and forced to wear a yellow Star of David and a few days later, plans for the establishment of the Minsk Ghetto were completed.

 An area of 34 streets is chosen to be the new home for the 80.000 Jews of Minsk, as well as the ones living in the surrounding areas. 

Each person is allotted a mere 1.5 square metres of living space in the wooden cottages of the new ghetto, excluding children.

The Jews are subject to constant harassment by the Germans. Today, a group of 45 Jews is picked and forced to dig their own graves. 

But instead of shooting the Jews themselves, the Germans force 30 Belorussians to bury them alive. 

The Belorussians refuse to cooperate in the gruesome murder, upon which the Germans line up all of them and mow them down using a machine gun.

The horrific murders taking place in Minsk are just one of many happening throughout the area of the German advance and the Soviet retreat. 

From Tallinn to Odessa, and from Białystok to Smolensk, the killing, plundering and burning of villages and cities have become the new daily reality of life for the millions caught in the crossfire.