Berlin is investigating war crimes committed by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Witness accounts by Ukrainian refugees are crucial, regardless of whether the perpetrators will eventually be tried in Germany or elsewhere.
Protesters in Berlin have spoken out against the war in UkraineImage: Annette Riedl/dpa/picture alliance
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"We barricaded the windows with bricks when we heard shelling nearby," said Tetjana Kun, remembering the start of the Russian invasion. Six months later, the 65-year old is a refugee in Berlin, tearfully recounting the days of the occupation of Bucha near Kyiv.
"One day — I think it was March 10 — I saw through a crack in the window a convoy of cars driving down the street with white flags and a sign that read 'children,'" she said. The next day, she ventured into the city for the first time in weeks as the convoy had raised her hopes of evacuation. But what Kun saw shocked her. "The convoy I had seen the day before was completely shot to pieces," she said.
Tetjana Kun still vividly remembers what she saw in BuchaImage: Privat
She recalls seeing overturned cars, engines, wheels with burnt tires, pillows, blankets and children's clothes full of holes, backpacks and suitcases everywhere. "There was a lot of blood on the cars," she said. A Russian soldier standing at a roadblock came over and she asked what had happened to the convoy. He told her they'd shot at them "because they didn't know who was in the cars," she said.
Hundreds of eyewitness reports
Until her escape on March 19, Kun witnessed many crimes being committed by the Russian occupiers, crimes that soon afterwards shocked the entire world when the Ukrainian army liberated Bucha in early April.
Julia Gneuss of the Department of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure at the University of Potsdam believes Kun should definitely tell German officials what she saw. "Investigations in connection with war crimes in Ukraine are structural investigation procedures," the lawyer told DW, adding that information is first gathered to "get as detailed a puzzle as possible."
Tied up and shot dead: Bodies strewn in the streets of BuchaImage: Zohra Bensemra/REUTERS
In June, the German parliament approved financing additional staff to investigate alleged war crimes committed by the Russian army in Ukraine. The Office of the Attorney General, which is coordinating the investigation, said it would gather "all evidence of war crimes." Law enforcement agencies have already received hundreds of statements from Ukrainian refugees indicating war crimes, the Attorney General's office has said.
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Conviction in Germany unlikely
Given there are about 1 million refugees in the country, it's hard to say whether hundreds of testimonies can be considered a success. Kun, for instance, has yet to testify to German authorities. "I don't know who to turn to. And how should I testify? I don't know the language," she said.
In an effort to facilitate access, the Federal Criminal Police Office has had brochures distributed among refugees that explain that people can testify at any police station in Germany, and that they can fill out questionnaires in Ukrainian. Based on those documents, the authorities decide whether to speak to the witness, through an interpreter if necessary.
As recently as 20 years ago, Germany added the principles of international humanitarian law to its own legislation. That means anyone responsible for war crimes, no matter where they were committed, can be sentenced by a German court. War crimes include attacks by soldiers on the civilian population and civilian infrastructure like residential areas, hospitals, train stations and schools, but also the murder and torture of civilians or prisoners of war, extrajudicial executions, rape and the use of weapons prohibited by international conventions like cluster bombs and chemical weapons.
Trials in the absence of the accused are not provided for by law in Germany, however. In order to convict Russians responsible for the atrocities in Bucha, they would have to be in Germany, which is not a very likely scenario. So how significant are the German investigations under those circumstances?
Snapshots from an embattled Ukraine
A photo exhibition titled "The New Abnormal" at the Museum Deichtorhallen in Hamburg tells of the horrors of war and the will to resist.
Image: Oksana Parafeniuk
Civilian arms training
This photo was taken on February 6, 2022, near Kyiv, less than two weeks before the Russians invaded. Even though Western countries didn't expect Russia to attack the Ukrainian capital, civilians were nevertheless already training with wooden makeshift weapons in case of emergency. Photographer Oksana Parafeniuk captured her countrymen's will to resist on celluloid.
Image: Oksana Parafeniuk
Standing by their homeland
On February 24, photographer Mykhaylo Palinchak was roused from sleep by the wailing of sirens in Kyiv, and shortly thereafter he heard an explosion nearby. "Since then we have been living in a new world," he says. His photos show hand grenades, destroyed houses, and how his countrymen stand by their homeland more than ever. This woman has the outline of Ukraine tattooed on her arm.
Image: Mykhaylo Palinchak
It started at 5 a.m.
"War is the worst offshoot of humanity. No film, no book, no photo can convey this horror," says photographer Lisa Bukreieva. "When the Russians invaded, my sense of time changed. It's just a long-drawn-out horror." In this photo, she captured the time when the war began for her.
Image: Lisa Bukreieva
The citizens of Kyiv, part 1
After the Russian army invaded Ukraine, Kyiv transformed into another city, says Alexander Chekmenev. Many people fled, and the 52-year-old also sent his family to safety abroad. He himself stayed in his home country, using his Pentax camera to document the lives of Kyiv citizens in wartime — including this Ukrainian woman fighting the invaders.
Image: Alexander Chekmenev
The citizens of Kyiv, part 2
Air-raid shelters, first-aid centers and field kitchens sprang up all over the Ukrainian capital. There, Chekmenev photographed ordinary people who had never been in the spotlight: "I wanted to show their dignity. This country belongs to the people, and I want to show my respect to each of them," says the internationally renowned photographer.
Image: Alexander Chekmenev
Traces of the present
In his series of photographs, Pavlo Dorohoi has captured life in wartime in his hometown of Kharkiv. Many people have holed themselves up in the metro station to escape the hail of bombs. People are trying to turn this place into a temporary home. "They have brought rugs, blankets and other things and staked out their personal spae," Dorohoi says.
Image: Pavlo Dorohoi
Bucha: The place of horror
Kyiv architect and photographer Nazar Furyk has photographed places devastated by Russian troops — including the town of Bucha, which became synonymous with many atrocities. How can one go on living in such a place, Furyk wonders. How do people deal with this experience, which is deeply etched in the collective memory of the Ukrainian population?
Image: Nazar Furyk
Snapshots: Diary from Kyiv, part 1
Photographer and video artist Mila Teshaieva has kept a diary since the start of the war. She has recorded everything: From the panicked flight in the initial days before the missiles to the crimes against humanity that have since been unearthed. Her online diaries also include photos, like this one.
Image: Mila Teshaieva
Snapshots: Diary from Kyiv, part 2
Mila Teshaieva has reported a lot about the despair that the war has brought upon the people. But she also describes the Ukrainians' unity and their unbroken will to resist. In her hometown of Kyiv, people are trying to protect not only themselves, but also their monuments: a symbol of their national identity.
Image: Mila Teshaieva
Documenting the war
Vladyslav Krasnoshchok is actually a dentist, but has devoted himself to art for years. Now he drives through his devastated homeland and shoots pictures of burning cars, broken bridges and tanks. "I take pictures, I hear gunshots, I run back to the car. Adrenaline," he writes. He always develops his films immediately — who knows if there will be an opportunity to take more photos.
Image: Vladyslav Krasnoshchok
Mutilated
"Living with the fear of being hurt by people": That's what designer Sasha Kurmaz has called his series of pictures. Violence has been part of human history from the very beginning, he says. And he is not optimistic that this will soon change. However, he does not want to give up the individual fight for a better world.
Image: Sasha Kurmaz
A safe haven?
Elena Subach titled this photo "Chairs." A chair and a few drinks in the city of Uzhgorod in western Ukraine symbolize safety for people fleeing from here across the border to foreign countries. "Almost every man took a photo of his wife and children before saying goodbye to them," Subach says. "I have never seen so much love and so much pain at the same time."
Image: Elena Subach
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Basically, the Germany authorities don't want the country to be a safe haven for international law criminals, said Julia Gneuss. And if a suspect would be caught elsewhere in Europe, Germany could then provide the witness accounts to help convict war criminals there.
Mass murders and looting
Kun saw armed Russian soldiers threaten and rob locals in Bucha. "Once a tank stopped by a butcher's in the center of town. The soldiers got out and started shooting in different directions while others took away the loot. They shot at the surrounding windows, perhaps to make sure no one was taking pictures or filming," she said.
Her worst memory, however, is from Yablunska Street on the southern outskirts of the city, the area where Kun was born and spent her childhood. She saw entire families shot dead in their own gardens.
"There were not only dead bodies on the street, but also dead dogs — they even shot dogs," Kun said. According to city authorities, more than 400 civilians were killed in Bucha.
