Terrible fate of Petri Davydov

“The prisoners of war were not subjected to violence. The guards communicated with them in a comradely manner, and there was a special instruction that no one was allowed to offend them, even verbally." That were assured by witnesses, obtained from Russia, to trial regarding the burning alive of Antti Marjoniemi, when they told about the fates of the prisoners in war after the Battle in Kimasozero Village. In order to convince the court that the charges against Antikainen were unfounded, one of witnesses, due to his previous position well acquainted with the conditions of detention of prisoners of war in Russia, explained: “No coercive measures were applied to prisoners of war. It is forbidden in our country.”

In any case, it can be proved that the Reds, such as Antikainen, the Finnish communists and Red Guards who fled the country, murdered many prisoners of war during the struggle for freedom of the White Sea Karelia.

Shortly before the White troops in the summer of 1919 captured Polovina Village, which was occupied by the Finnish Red Guards under the command of Sevelius, a graduate of the Helsinki Lyceum, a couple of scouts were sent to the Village. They succeeded to get to the Village. There, however, one of them, Petri Davidov, a young native of Syamozero, fell into the hands of the Reds. His comrade, who was hiding in a barn, heard loud cries of pain from the Village. At night, he succeeded to creep out of the Village under the cover of darkness.

When the Whites conquered the Village on June 13, the residents were quick to tell that the Reds a little earlier had killed a man in the Village, whose meat they then cooked and ate. The villagers also saw the place in a nearby swamp where the body of this man was buried. The grave was opened and the mutilated remains of Petri Davidov were found.

Examination of the body revealed that both legs of Petri Davidov had been broken at the knees and that the flesh of the thighs and calves had been cut off. The body was skinned to the hips. The middle part of the body was dissected so that the viscera were visible. Davidov had apparently was torn to pieces as he hung upside down by his tied legs, because he had had his lips pierced and blood had leaked from the puncture wound in his chest towards his shoulder. There were deep traces of rope on his ankles.

Two photos of the body were taken, which we cannot publish due to its creepiness.

The villagers' stories about the fate of Peter Davydov were confirmed by two other ways. In the battle of Polovina Village, was captured by the Whites a Finnish Red Guard, jeweler Karppanen, who said during the interrogation that “guys ate soup of butcher^*”, but he himself refused to eat it. In addition, a letter from Polovina Village, dated by June, was found in the pocket of a young Red Guard who had fallen in battle and had not yet had time to send it.

We reproduce this letter here:

“Now I will try to write a bit about this wilderness, since I have a time. Here, at the front-line, the food is bad, always hunger, a lot of work. On duty one day, other day is free, butchers are pressing, climbing directly into mouth. One of our team was killed last night. We also killed a couple of butchers and, in addition, ate butcher’s meat, which was ordinary meat, but don’t need to tell everyone about it. There are such stupid forests here you will not see anything until the butchers are under your nose.

I received your letter and thank you for that letter, if you can send any letter with someone, then send it.

Don’t want to write anymore, because I’m tired.

Goodbye now and all the best.

Greetings,
H.”

The murder of Petri Davidov was not the only one. Others also can be irrefutably proven. This murder is unique by its horror only.

Uusi Suomi -newspaper no 136
May 21, 1936