I’ve read many depositions, but Friedrich’s held my attention because he explains in concrete detail how he had the grave dug. The measurements were transmitted to him over the phone; his only responsibility, it seems, was to select the site for the murder. “I got the order to have a large hole, eighty meters [ninety yards] long, four meters [thirteen feet] wide, and three meters [ten feet] deep, dug before six in the morning. The location was my choice. With the help of the chief of the Voronovo rayon,12 I sent messengers to neighboring villages to conscript the Poles, ‘every last one.’
