3 Nazi criminals who lived in the USSR after World War II

1. Antonina Makarova

"It was my job," is how former Red Army nurse Antonina Makarova described how she machine-gunned Soviet citizens.

Makarova was captured in Fall 1941, but escaped almost immediately. She wandered through the forests for a long time, until she found herself in the so-called ‘Lokot Republic’ – a self-governing entity in an occupied territory of Oryol Region and governed by a collaborationist administration.

Makarova liked it there. She became close to the leadership of the ‘republic’, participated in drinking parties and even dabbled in prostitution. Later, she was given a machine gun and asked to execute Jews and captured partisans.

Local government officials, as well as German and Hungarian officers, gathered to watch ‘Tonka the Machine Gunner’ carry out executions. "I didn't know those I was shooting. They didn't know me. So, I wasn't ashamed in front of them…" she declared. She would finish off any survivors point blank with a pistol.

After the liberation of Oryol Region, the remains of 1,500 people were discovered in a ravine in Lokotka. A manhunt was launched for the criminal, but she was never found.

The executioner was only discovered by chance in 1976. They were checking the background of an officer planning to go abroad. He had a sister named Antonina Ginzburg, a garment factory worker and respected war veteran. She turned out to be the same ‘Tonka the Machine Gunner’.

During interrogation, the killer behaved completely calmly: She was confident that, given the statute of limitations, her prison sentence would not be long. However, the court ruled otherwise. Her involvement in the murders of 1,500 people could not be proven, but it was determined that 168 of them were executed from a ravine near the Lokot prison.

On August 11, 1979, she was executed by firing squad.

2. Vasily Meleshko

How a Nazi executioner lived peacefully in the USSR after World War II

At the beginning of the war, Junior Lieutenant Vasily Meleshko commanded a platoon in a machine-gun battalion. He was captured, defected to the enemy and resumed command of the platoon – this time, in a battalion of the German auxiliary police (‘Schutzmannschaft’).

The battalion performed security duties in occupied Kiev, then was transferred to Byelorussia to fight partisans. Meleshko and his fellow soldiers were responsible for dozens of burned villages and hundreds of murdered civilians.

One of these villages was the infamous Khatyn. In retaliation for an ambush organized by partisans, the punitive forces completely burned the village and killed 149 residents, including 75 children.

In 1944, the battalion was sent to France to fight local partisans. It was to them that Meleshko defected, keeping quiet about his own atrocities. He also kept quiet about them in the USSR, where he ended up after the war. There, he was imprisoned on charges of collaborationism, but was released in 1955 under an amnesty. The former punitive force found work as an agronomist in Rostov Region.

Meleshko's misdeeds were only discovered in the mid-1970s. A photograph of the chief agronomist appeared in a regional newspaper and that's how he was identified.

On December 22, 1975, the 58-year-old war criminal was executed by firing squad.

3. Grigory Vasyura

Meleshko's fellow soldier in the 118th Schutzmannschaft Battalion managed to evade justice for much longer.

He followed a similar path. He was captured early in the war, agreed to collaborate and ended up in the secret police. He participated in dozens of punitive actions, including the destruction of Khatyn and, after the war, skillfully concealed these heinous facts.

Then, Vasiura was sentenced as a collaborator to 25 years in a labor camp, but was released under an amnesty in 1955. He found work at a state farm, where he soon became a manager.

Everyone feared the former punitive officer at work: He was known for his unbridled cruelty and would beat his subordinates for the slightest offense. In 1984, he was awarded the ‘Veteran of Labor’ medal.

Vasiura also positioned himself as a war veteran and often spoke to young people about his "heroic past". In 1985, he demanded the commemorative ‘Order of the Patriotic War’ – and this proved his undoing. An investigation revealed the true nature of the criminal and, in November 1986, he was arrested.

During the investigation, Vasyura wriggled, trying to justify himself and shift the blame onto his fellow soldiers. When it became clear there was no point in hiding any longer, he emotionally cried out: "Yes, I burned your Khatyn!"

On October 2, 1987, the 72-year-old war criminal was executed by firing squad.