When a shrine was turned to ashes

The Holy Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra. Modern times. Photo: open sources

On November 3, 1941, the Assumption Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra was blown up by the Nazis.

Before the destruction, under the direction of Reichskommissar Erich Koch, a large-scale removal of the cathedral’s valuables was carried out. The explosion was organized to conceal evidence of this looting.

Today, a version is often circulated that the cathedral was destroyed by Soviet partisans who had infiltrated the city. According to this claim, the supposed goal was an assassination attempt on visiting Slovak president Jozef Tiso, who had left the Lavra two hours earlier than expected.

However, this version collapses under the fact that the explosion was filmed by the Germans themselves and included in their official newsreel. In the mid-1990s, the footage was discovered in a private archive in Oberhausen and sent to Kyiv with the help of Dr. Wolfgang Eichwede, director of the Research Center for Eastern Europe at the University of Bremen, who was involved in issues of restitution. The German authorities had been informed in advance of the explosion and allowed their cameraman to choose a safe, advantageous position for filming.

Recently uncovered archival documents and memoirs confirm that the Germans themselves admitted their responsibility for the destruction of the cathedral. This is attested by the testimonies and confessions of several Nazi officials and officers: Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments; Kurt Rosenfelder, head of the Department for Religious Policy at the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories; Friedrich Heyer, a Wehrmacht officer and ordained Protestant pastor; and SS Obergruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, who directly oversaw the demolition.

P.S. For the version concerning the alleged involvement of underground fighters led by Ivan Kudra, see the commentary. German archival records, including the confessions of top Nazi officials – Speer, Rosenfelder, Heyer, and Jeckeln – bear witness that this monstrous act was planned and carried out by the Germans themselves.

The photos below feature the moment of the Assumption Cathedral’s explosion, November 3, 1941 – footage from a special German newsreel.

Read also