Signed: H. Jankuhn
Captain in the SS
For the correctness of this copy
SS Leader
Copy I
Special Command Jankuhn, 16284
Command Post Division, Std., August 13, 1943
To the personal Staff of the Reich Fuehrer of SS
Office of the SS "Ancestral Heritage" Research Organization, Berlin
Regarding the destruction of the museum in Charkow in the spring of 1943.
Through the interrogation of Prof. Hornung, the curator of the museum in Dnjipropetrowsk, chosen by the Special Purpose Staff and on the basis of information that was supplied by the commander of the F.K.V. of the secret police and of the security service, the following could be brought to light concerning the fate of the museum of prehistoric art in Charkow in the spring of 1943.
In 1941/42 the museum of prehistoric art in Charkow was re-established anew in the main street of the city, the Sumskaja, by a captain, who for this purpose had been given a furlough. The exhibition is said to have been good and well arranged. Besides collections of prehistoric character there were to be found in the museum articles referring to folklore. When, during the winter campaigns of the months of February and March, the Special Service Staff R.R. left the city without having done the least for the saving of the collections. Merely a Gothic sword and a gold-plated handle are said to have been taken along by one SS unit. Since the salvaging of the piece was not effected through the Security Service Command in Charkow, it must be assumed that a unit of the II SS armored corps took this gorgeous weapon along.
After the retreat of the German troops, the museum was destroyed, apparently by explosion of fire. The Ukrainian collections stored there were destroyed almost completely.
Recent excavations undertaken in the ruins of the building have yielded only insignificant pieces of the material formerly stored there.
Thus one of the most important museums of Russia with collections of great cultural value was given over to destruction through the agencies of the German civil administration.