In 1941, Vitya Cherevichkin was shot by the Germans when they learned that he was hiding pigeons in his shed.

 


In 1941, Vitya Cherevichkin was shot by the Germans when they learned that he was hiding pigeons in his shed.

The Nazi command issued an order to destroy all pigeons, as it was believed that the birds could be used to send messages.


Vitya hid the birds for a week, but was seen releasing some pigeons. He was captured, interrogated and accused of aiding the Red Army. On the same day the Germans were knocked out of the city by a successful counter-offensive by units of the South-Western Front.


A photograph of the murdered Vitya Cherevichkin holding a pigeon, taken by Soviet photojournalist M.V. Alpert, was among the photographic evidence at the Nuremberg trials that exposed Nazism for crimes against humanity.


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