 Krasnodar was the site of the first World War II war crimes trial, convened by Soviet authorities in July 1943. A Russian city of 500,000 inhabitants, Krasnodar was occupied by the Germans on August 8, 1942 and liberated February 13, 1943. During the six months of German occupation, thousands of the city s inhabitants were murdered, beginning with and including every member of the Jewish community. Meticulously combining German and Soviet newsreel footage with the testimony of eyewitnesses and war crimes defendants, this landmark film tells the story of the 6 month Nazi reign of terror, the trial against 11 Russian collaborators, and their public execution on July 18, 1943.