" Ioan Halip , Grigore Tatarcu and Alexandru Ivanov , from Bessarabia and Bukovina , currently living in Odessa , have recognized at the place among the bodies their relatives deported by NKVD after the occupation . " " The Commission to examine the corpses and determining the circumstances in which the victims died has determined that the victims were generally shot in the back of the head from a very short distance . The age of the executions is estimated at 2-3 years , the clothes were characteristic to those of inhabitants of Bessarabia and Bukovina . " On 6 August 1943 , the legal doctor Alexandru Birkle , a Romanian members of the commission that studied the remains found at Katyn , presented a " Provisional medico-legal report on the investigations at Tatarka " . In his commission , there also were members C. Chirila , subdirector of Health in the Romanian Government of Transnistria ; and one representative each from the mayor office of Odessa , from the Romanian Gendarms unit of Transnistria , and from the University of Odessa . According to the report , 42 common graves were discovered , and signs of 10-20 others . In each grave , around 80 corpses were found . A total of approximately 3,500 corpses lie in the 42 graves , and the total number is estimated at 5,000 . Only 516 corpses were exhumed so far , and of these 486 were already examined medico-legally with the following conclusions :
Katyn
Katyn massacre
Tatarka common graves