War and the Last Days

The beginning of the Great Patriotic War was met by D. Kharms with a feeling of complete hopelessness. The events then unfolded quickly and tragically.

August 23 — arrested by officers of the UNKVD of the Leningrad Region. The arrest warrant stated that "Yuvachev-Kharms D.I. spreads slanderous and defeatist sentiments in his circle, attempting to incite panic and dissatisfaction with the Soviet Government among the population."

August 25 — interrogated in the case. During the interrogation, he feigned a mental disorder, which led to the decision to appoint a psychiatric examination.

September 2 — transferred for examination to the psychiatric ward at Prison No. 2, located at Arsenal Embankment, 9.

September 10 — the commission issued a conclusion: "...Yuvachev-Kharms Daniil Ivanovich suffers from a mental disorder in the form of schizophrenia. The illness is longstanding, prognosis unfavorable. As a mentally ill person, Yuvachev-Kharms is not responsible for the act he is accused of, i.e., he is insane and subject to treatment in a psychiatric hospital."

October 22 — transferred from the hospital back to prison.

November 26 — witness A.M. Oranzhireeva was interrogated in Kharms' case, fully confirming the charges.

December 7 — the military tribunal of the Leningrad Military District ruled: "Given that according to the forensic psychiatric examination dated 10/IX-41, the accused Yuvachev-Kharms is recognized as mentally ill and insane in the charge against him, but due to the nature of the crime committed, he is dangerous to society, guided by Article II of the Criminal Code of the RSFSR, Yuvachev-Kharms is to be sent to a psychiatric hospital until his recovery, and the case is to be returned to the 1st Special Department of the UNKVD of the Leningrad Region."

Mid-December — placed in the psychiatric ward of the prison hospital at the "Kresty" prison.

February 2, 1942 — Kharms died in the prison hospital.

He was buried at the Piskaryovskoye Cemetery in a mass grave.

After the news of Kharms' arrest, Yakov Druskin managed to save most of his archive. He came with M. Malich to the bombed-out house, gathered the manuscripts into a suitcase, and moved them to his brother's apartment. For a starving resident of the besieged city, this was a real feat. Druskin kept his friend's archive for many years, holding on to the hope that Kharms might have miraculously survived.

Source: http://www.d-harms.ru/library/kobrinskiy-daniil-harms11.html