European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 8 the stars and stripes sunday August 21,1988 soviet Forest s grisly secret unearthed discovery of Graves Fis historical holes. _ 1 j 1 a. 4 to t 11 i ii by the Baltimore Sun Moscow daily Between 1937 and 1941, villagers living at the Edge of the for est North of Minsk watched the trucks de liver prisoners to the fenced All hours of Day and night they heard the screaming the sobbing an the gunshots. They asked no questions. Later during the privation of world War ii the villagers pulled apart the 10 foot Fence for firewood. The Forest encroached and the area became a favorite weekend picnic spot for residents of the byelorussian last May did the grisly secret of the Kurapaty Woods begin to be revealed when a group of historians and archaeologists started to question elderly witnesses and to unearth human concluded that thousands of the victims of Josef v. Stalin s massive Ter ror were shot and buried there and that the killing stopped Only when Adolf hit Ler s troops crossed the soviet Border and the executioners were forced to lengthy investigative report of two historians was published in june in the journal of the belorussian writers Union illustrated with a photograph of a pile of human Bones and skulls. The Story reached a far wider audience when it was summarized wednesday in Moscow Kurapaty Woods Story stands out by virtue of its grim detail and Large scale in the continuing Cascade of articles about stalinism to appear since Mikhail. Gorbachev lifted the ban on such discussions about two years Western historians have numbered those who were executed or died in Stalin s Camps Well into the Mil Lions most of the new crop of official soviet writings about the terror speak i general terms about no earlier report in the soviet press has been so graphic As the belorussian historians article which is comparable to the fran Kest accounts of Hitler s death Camps. The authors Zeanon Poznyak andya Gen Shmyga lev found a number of elderly witnesses of the killings. The wit Nesses had peered through the Fence and watched Security police shoot prisoner Sand Bury them in layers separated by about a foot of whole Village was terrified one former resident recalled. We could sleep at night for five years because of the witnesses said that in the first half of 1937, executions took place at three scheduled times each Day morning 2 p.m., and evening. Starting later that year How Ever the killings started in the afternoon and continued All night Long in an Are illuminated by truck headlights. At the end of the War witnesses said soldiers returned to the area dug up Man of the bodies and disposed of them making an exact count of the victims the soldiers left undisturbed the Bot Tom layer of victims and the archaeologists have already found the remains of More than 500 people along with a Wallet coins shoes and officials have appointed a commission to investigate the executions at Kurapaty Woods and the Republic prosecutor has opened a criminal investigation. Moscow news drily remarked ahead is work in the archives of the ministry of internal affairs and the Kab successors of the a kid peo ple s commissariat of internal affair which was responsible for the killings. After the article was published in the belorussian journal More than 3,000 peo ple gathered in Kurapaty Woods for a four hour memorial meeting dedicated to Sta Lin s victims Moscow news discovery at Kurapaty Woods is Likely to increase pressure on soviet authorities to re investigate the killing of More than 4,000 polish officers who were buried in mass Graves in the Katyn Forest. The Forest is near Smolensk about 200 Miles from historians Long ago concluded that the 4,000 Katyn victims were Shotin 1940 by a kid Security troops from Smolensk and Minsk probably including some of the same ones involved in the Kurapaty killings. To Date soviet authorities have stuck to the finding of a soviet commission during world War i that German troops were responsible. On May 28, radio Moscow s English language service questioned the veracity of the official version of the massacre a Katyn and hinted that the soviets might be preparing to accept the blame. But when the hint was reported widely in the West radio Moscow claimed the report had been distorted and misinterpreted. Polish intellectuals had hoped Gorba Chev might revise the official Story of Katyn during his visit to Poland in Katyn Issue however remains on the Agenda of a joint commission of soviet and polish historians to investigate Blank spots in relations Between the two coun tries. That commission is now Likely to con Sider the Kurapaty findings before coming to a conclusion about Katyn. Beached Meg Mouth a rare Meg Mouth shark that beached itself twice in Australia is examined after its death by a fish Ery worker. The shark s Mouth lights up to attract fish while feeding on the Ocean floor at Depths of up to 1,000 feet. 2 men conquer Arctic waterway in record voyage Toronto a two Canadian men in an 18-foot Sailboat completed a voyage that has eluded Arctic explorers for hundreds of years but it took them three Summers to do it the Toronto Globe and mail reported Friday. It said Jeffrey Mclnnis a business College student and photographer Michael Beedell arrived wednesday in Pond Inlet on Baffin Island becoming the first explorers to sail through the icy Northwest passage in a Craft powered Only by the , 25, and Beedell 32, began their 2,480 mile West to East journey three years ago at Inuvik on the Beaufort sea according to the report. They reported they covered up to 100 Miles a Day sailing in a yellow two men said they completed their trip on their 100th Day of sailing after spending the Winters i Southern Canada. They brought their boat the perception into Pond Inlet and were met by friends relatives and sponsors of the $123,000 adventure. It was an Opportunity to experience How the Early explorers travelled through the Arctic which was on the environment s terms Mclnnis said in a Telephone inter reported encounters with Arctic animals including 1,500 Beluga whales in a Bay near the Northern tip of Somerset Island. He whales entertained them with their chirping grunting belching burping and said he and Beedell often were numb from the cold As fierce winds and freezing Spray washed Over the exposed , there were times when you were cursing and wishing you would never see ice again but it s some thing that s absolutely a Beautiful sight he said. World today sea entered earthquake rocks Island of Taiwan Taipei Taiwan a a Strong earthquake entered off the coast of Taiwan Shook the Island Early saturday but there were no reports of casual ties or damage the Central weather Bureau said. The earthquake struck at 2 10 . And registered 6.7 on the Richter scale the Bureau epicentre was at sea some 65 Miles South East of the coastal City of Ilan in Eastern Taiwan. The tremor was Felt in the capital Taipei where residents reported their houses Shook violently the Bureau Richter scale measures ground motion As recorded on seismographs. An earthquake of magnitude 6 can cause severe damage in a populated area. Bangladesh floods leave 4 dead 50,000 homeless Dhaka Bangladesh a Roods in Northwestern Bangladesh have killed four people and left at least 50,000 people homeless officials said saturday. The four drowned Friday when their boat Cap sized while sailing to a Relief Center for the homeless about 75 Miles from the capital of Dhaka officials. The homeless in two districts Are being housed in Relief centers and school buildings or staying on highways the officials said. The official Bangladesh san bad songs Thanes Agency Padma River was about 22 inches above flood stage. The Northwestern re Gion has been drenched since annual Monsoon Rains began in july. Scientists to study bloodstained Vest worn by Charles i London a Scotland Yard s forensic scientists plan to study the Vest worn by Kin Charles i at his execution in 1649 to see if they can determine his blood group and any other information about the beheaded Monarch a museum official said Friday. Kay Staniland of the museum of London knitted silk Vest owned by the museum still bears stains and was tested in the 1950s, when human matter was found. She said she hoped More advanced testing methods used now might determine More. The Vest was removed from the body by the King physician whose family kept it until 1898, when it was sold at an auction. It is part of an exhibition at London s banqueting House the site of the execution and it is to be sent to Scotland Yard Headquarters of the metropolitan police when the exhibition finishes in the autumn Staniland said. Peter Martin a Deputy director of the metropol Itan police Laboratory said there was no guarantee the tests would find anything conclusive. Unless somebody had been keeping such blood stains under Ideal conditions Over a very Long Tim and a lot of information was known about them you cannot verify it he said. Charles came into conflict with parliament Assoon As he took the throne in 1625 and repeatedly dissolved the body ruling without parliament for 11 years. He declared War on parliament in 1642, but surrendered in 1646. He conspired to launch a scottish invasion escaped imprisonment briefly but was taken into Cus Tody. After the invasion failed he was tried an beheaded Jan. 30, 1649
