Alexei’s office at 55 Poslediny was the only building in Starigorsk left standing after the Great Patriotic War. Other than this history, the building was altogether unremarkable—two stories, white bricks, drafty windows. It alone had survived the blitz in 1941. Soon thereafter its basement and lower level had served as a holding area for the Jews of Starigorsk, who were eventually trucked in groups from the building to a nearby marsh where they were unloaded in shallow water and machine gunned by four Germans with MG 34s. - Excerpt