The commission set up by the Romanian authorities to investigate these graves reported that among the dead were persons arrested in the Moldavian ASSR in 1938–1940 and in Bessarabia and northern Bukovina in 1940–1941.
From spring until June 1943, in Tatarka, a group of specialists from Odessa searched a lot of land of 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft), where a big number of bodies was allegedly found.
The group included Dr. K. Shapochkin, deputy chief of the Medical-Sanitar Direction of the Government of Transnistria, N. I. Grubianu, the administrator of the disinfection section, docent I.
[1] In early May, the Romanian authorities organized a visit by foreign officials (including the Italian consul), who were shown the corpses discovered in the Tatarka mass graves.
[7] A Romanian intelligence report from 1 June 1943, signed by lieutenant-colonel Traian Borcescu stated that "On the lot called Spolka, situated 7 km (4.3 mi) from the rail line Odessa–Ovidiopol, between the suburb Tatarka [of Odessa] and the airfield, common graves of NKVD victims were found.
"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.