Lviv, June 1941 Up to four thousand prisoners were shot by the NKVD in the prison on Lontskogo (an internal prison of the NKVD). This photo was taken by the Nazis and later used as propaganda material for the eastern territories. The Germans entered Lviv early in the morning on June 30, 1941. The Red Army was retreating, the city couldn’t defend itself, and the local NKVD decided to shoot them; the decision was supported by the orders of V.N. Merkulov #2445/M (Head of the NKGB) dated June 23 and L.P. Beria dated June 24 June. These shootings, which began on June 22, continued until the 28th. 108 prisoners sentenced to death were the first to be shot. The bodies were taken away by trucks and buried in special places, some of them are still being found today. Before the arrival of the Germans, Chekists threw unburied bodies in the basements and courtyards of prisons. In total, over four thousand prisoners were shot in Lviv up to June 28.