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NKVD prisoner massacres in Lviv
Mass murder of prisoners in Lviv prisons / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The NKVD prison massacres in Lviv were a mass murder of prisoners held in Lviv prisons and detention centers, carried out by Soviet NKVD and NKGB officers in the last days of June 1941.
NKVD prisoner massacres in Lviv | |
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![]() Corpses of the victims in the courtyard of the prison on Łącki Street | |
Location | Lviv, Poland (under the Soviet occupation) |
Coordinates | 49°50′31.20″N 24°01′55.19″E |
Date | June 1941 |
Attack type | execution by firing squad |
Victims | 3,500–7,000 |
Perpetrator | NKVD |
Following the German invasion of the Soviet Union, People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Lavrentiy Beria issued an order to execute all political prisoners held in the western regions of the Soviet Union who could not be evacuated further into the country. In line with this order, Soviet security officers murdered between 3,500 and 7,000 people in Lviv's prisons – Brygidki, the prison on Łącki Street, the prison in Zamarstyniv [pl], and their branches. Among the victims were Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews, including some women and minors. This was the largest and most notorious crime committed during the so-called NKVD prisoner massacres in the summer of 1941.
After Wehrmacht units entered Lviv, the local population, inspired by the Germans, organized a several-day pogrom against the Jewish population, who, according to the Żydokomuna stereotype, were identified with the Soviet regime and its crimes. The massacre in Lviv's prisons was also widely publicized by Nazi propaganda and served the Germans as a pretext for carrying out mass executions of Jews.