By Sara Orlos Fernandes
A wreck is a reminder: three women and a child died in this car, which was shot at by Russian soldiers.
They wanted to flee the war – and were murdered by Russian soldiers. Now their shot-up getaway vehicle is parked on Kurfürstendamm – as a reminder of the Butscha massacre.
Bucha’s war crimes caused horror around the world. Among the victims: Tamila Mishchenko (53), her daughter Hanna (14) and two other women who tried to flee the occupied city in Ukraine on March 5. But they encountered Russian armored personnel carriers and were killed. After the soldiers attacked, they burned to death in their getaway car, a dark blue VW T4.
On March 5, Tamila Mishchenko and her daughter Hanna were murdered by Russian soldiers Photo: Private
“I called morning and evening,” reports Yevgeniy Mishchenk, the surviving son of 53-year-old Tamila. “But there was no connection. The vehicle could not be found for a long time, it was completely burned out.”
The “Testament of Bucha” exhibition commemorates the victims of the massacre. District Councilor Oliver Schruoffeneger (60, Greens) and Andrij Melnyk (46), the outgoing Ambassador of Ukraine, opened the installation on George-Grosz-Platz on Kurfürstendamm yesterday.
Tamila Mishchenko (53) and her 14-year-old daughter Hanna died in this vehicle Photo: Siegfried Purschke
“The war has been raging for almost half a year,” says Melnyk. “The wave of empathy and solidarity is still there, but less noticeable. The car should be a reminder, a testament and a legacy that the brutality of this war has not diminished.”
Andriy Melnyk (46) on Monday at the memorial on George-Grosz-Platz Photo: Siegfried Purschke
The vehicle will be parked on the Kudamm for three weeks. “After that, we plan to take it to Zurich and Budapest,” says Andriy Radnyuk (43), one of the initiators.