Description

The Fântâna Albă massacre took place on 1 April 1941 in Northern Bukovina when up to 3,000 civilians were killed by Soviet Border Troops as they attempted to cross the border from the Soviet Union to Romania near the village of Fântâna Albă, now Staryi Vovchynets in Chernivtsi Oblast, Ukraine. Although according to Soviet official reports, no more than 44 civilians were killed, but local witnesses assert a much higher toll, stating that survivors were tortured, killed, or buried in mass graves. Others were taken away to be tortured and killed at the hands of the NKVD, the Soviet secret police. Some sources have referred to the massacre as "the Romanian Katyn".