VELIZH, SMOLENSK OBLAST, SOVIET UNION (RUSSIA) – OCTOBER 14, 1941 On June 22, 1941, Hitler broke the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, and as part of Operation Barbarossa, launched an attack on the USSR. Before the Nazi German armies were stopped near the outskirts of Moscow, they had been relatively successful in their campaign – advancing quickly and capturing millions of Soviet citizens.
Alongside the Red Army, partisans resisted as well. Former Red Army soldiers, civilians, and Communist Party members carried out sabotage, destroyed railway lines, ambushed convoys, and reported the positions of Nazi troops. Moscow itself called on the population to take up partisan action.
The Nazis showed no mercy toward them. All captured partisans were executed publicly, with the intention of instilling fear and suppressing any desire for resistance among the people. That is the story behind the footage of two women and two men hanging from gallows, their hands tied behind their backs, in the middle of a busy square. Beside them stands a sign written in both German and Russian: “This is how partisans are punished.”
