Poison on the lips of children : rumors and reality in discussions on the Holocaust in Rostov-on-Don (USSR) and beyond

This article examines rumors about a liquid poison used by parts of the Einsatzgruppen to kill Jewish children in the Soviet Union, specifically by applying poison to their lips. Accounts of poisoning are preserved in Russian-language archival documents and continue to circulate in Russia up to the present. Yet these accounts are often challenged by other archival sources, which focus on the use of gas vans in mass killings. Taking events in the Southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don as a starting point, the article traces accounts of poisoning and asks how we should understand these accounts and what role rumors played during the Holocaust in the Soviet Union.