Chapter XXV: Part II: of this case (11)

“When the Red Army entered Kerch, in January 1942, the
Baguerovsko trench was investigated. It was discovered that this
trench—1 kilometer in length, 4 meters in width, and 2 meters
in depth—was filled to overflowing with bodies of women,
children, old men, and boys and girls in their teens. Near the
trench were frozen pools of blood. Children’s caps, toys,
ribbons, torn-off buttons, gloves, milk bottles, and rubber
comforters, small shoes, galoshes, together with torn-off hands,
feet, and other parts of human bodies were lying nearby.
Everything was spattered with blood and brains.

“The fascist savages shot down the defenseless population with
dum-dum bullets. Near the edge of the trench lay the mutilated
body of a young woman. In her arms was a baby carefully wrapped
up in a white lace cover. Next to this woman lay an 8-year-old
girl and a boy of 5, killed with dum-dum bullets. Their hands
still gripped the mother’s dress.”

The circumstances of the executions are confirmed by the statements of numerous witnesses who were lucky enough to escape unharmed from the open grave. I am going to quote two statements. Twenty-year-old Anatol Ignatievich Bondarenko, now a soldier in the Red Army, states:

“When we were brought up to the antitank trench and lined up
alongside this fearful grave, we still believed that we had been
fetched in order to fill in the trench with earth or to dig new
ones. We did not think we had been brought there to be shot, but
when we heard the first shots from the automatic guns trained on
us, I realized we were about to be murdered. I immediately
hurled myself into the trench and hid between two corpses. Thus,
unharmed and half fainting, I lay nearly until the evening.
While lying in the trench I heard several of the wounded call to
the gendarmes shooting them, ‘Finish me off, blackguard!’ ‘You
missed me, scoundrel! Shoot again!’ Then, when the Germans went
off to dinner, an inhabitant of my village called out from the
trench, ‘Get up, those of you who are still alive.’ I got up and
the two of us began to drag out the living from underneath the
corpses. I was covered with blood. A light mist hung over the
trench—steam arising from the rapidly-congealing mass of dead
bodies, from the pools of blood, and from the last breath of the
dying. We dragged out Theodor Naoumenko and my father, but my
father had been killed outright by a dum-dum bullet in the
heart. Late at night I reached the house of some friends in the
Village of Baguerovsko and stayed with them until the arrival of
the Red Army.”

Witness A. Kamenev stated:

“The chauffeur stopped the car behind the airdrome, and we saw
Germans shooting people near the trench. We were dragged out of
the car and pushed toward the trench in batches of 10. My son
and I were among the first 10. We reached the trench. We were
lined up facing it, and the Germans began their preparations to
shoot us in the nape of the neck. My son turned to them and
shouted, ‘Why are you shooting the peaceful population?’ But the
shots rang out and my son instantly jumped into the trench. I
threw myself in after him. Dead bodies began to fall upon me in
the trench. About 3 p.m. an 11-year-old boy stood up from among
the pile of corpses and began to call, ‘Little fathers, those of
you who are still alive, get up. The Germans have gone.’ I was
afraid to do so, since I thought that the boy was shouting by
order of the policeman. The boy called out a second time, and
then my son answered him. He stood up and asked, ‘Dad, are you
alive?’ I could not say anything and merely nodded. My son and
the other boy dragged me out from under the bodies. We saw some
others who were still alive and who were shouting, ‘Help us.’
Some were wounded. All the time, while I had been lying in the
trench, under the bodies of the dead, I could hear the shrieks
and wails of the women and children. The Germans had started
shooting old men, women, and children after shooting us.”

I interrupt the quotation here. Although the subsequent text does deal with many other appalling atrocities committed by the Germans, it is, in substance, analogous to the passages which I have already read into the record, relating to crimes perpetrated by the Germans in the town of Kerch. I would, however, invite the Tribunal’s attention to the part referring to the ill-treatment of children. On the whole, these crimes are highly characteristic of the German fascist terror. I quote:

“The German barbarians, in their atrocious ill-treatment of the
Soviet people, did not even spare the children. A school
teacher, M. N. Kolessnikova, stated that the Germans killed a
13-year-old boy for taking an old car tire and trying to swim in
it while bathing in the sea.

“The following incident happened, according to the testimony of
E. N. Sapelnikova:

“Maria Bondarenko, who lived in the village of Adjimushkaya, in
an attempt to save her three children from starvation, appealed
to some Germans working in the kitchen, for a little food. They
poured some thin gruel into a small bowl. The Bondarenko family
ate it greedily. A few hours later the mother and all three
children were dead. The fascist henchmen had poisoned them.

“It has been ascertained from the testimony of N. H. Shoumilova
that in July a German officer shot a 6-year-old boy merely
because he was singing a Soviet song in the streets of the town.

“Practically all summer long the dead body of a 9-year-old boy
dangled in the ‘Sacco and Vanzetti’ garden; the child had been
hanged for plucking some apricots from a tree.”

Here I end my quotation from the report on the town of Kerch.

In my statement I have dwelt on the example of Kerch not because the atrocities committed by the Hitlerites in this town were on a particularly large scale or because they stood out, by reason of their cruelty, among the other crimes perpetrated by the Germans—the documents relevant to these latter crimes are at our disposal. Certainly not. On the contrary, I have quoted the report of the Extraordinary State Commission only because it gives a detailed and objective record of Hitlerite military crimes committed against peaceful citizens of one of the many towns which, as a result of a monstrous war unleashed by the German fascist criminals, were doomed to become the victims of a terrorist regime. Such atrocities were perpetrated by the Hitlerites in all the temporarily occupied cities of the Soviet Union.

In confirmation of this statement I now turn to a document of a general nature, which has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51 (Document Number USSR-51) but parts of which have not yet been read into the record. I am referring to the note of the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. M. Molotov, of 27 April 1942. In their introduction to this note, the Soviet Government made the following statement—I start my quotation from Paragraph 2 of the reverse side of the Russian text, Paragraph 3 after the heading of the document book. There you will find the following remarks:

“Fresh information and documents are being submitted to the
Soviet Government to the effect that the Hitlerite invaders are
carrying on a wholesale looting of the Soviet population and do
not shrink from any crimes and acts of cruelty or violence on
the territories which they temporarily occupied or which they
still continue to occupy. The Soviet Government have already
declared that these atrocities do not represent accidental
excesses perpetrated by single undisciplined military units or
by individual German officers or men. The Soviet Government are
now in possession of documents recently seized in the staffs of
routed German formations, which prove that the carnage and
atrocities committed by the fascist German Army were perpetrated
in accordance with carefully elaborated plans issued by the
German Government, in pursuance of orders from the German High
Command.”

I omit the subsequent parts and continue with Section V of the note. The Tribunal will find the passage which I am about to quote on Page 8 of the document book, Column 1 of the text, Paragraph 5.

I should like to add a few introductory words to the quotation. It is quite evident from the text of this note how the orders of the Reich leadership concerning the establishment of a regime of terror were executed, in the occupied territories, by the various commissioners of the occupied territories, by the Gauleiter, and by the commanders of German military units. I quote the beginning of Section V of this note—Page 8 of your document book, Column 1, Paragraph 5:

“The inhuman cruelty which the Hitlerite clique—begotten in
violence and against the will of the German people—displayed
against the inhabitants of the European countries temporarily
occupied by the German Army was multiplied a hundredfold by the
enemy forces after their invasion of the Soviet Union.

“The carnage to which the Hitlerites exposed the peaceful
population of the Soviet Union has far overshadowed the most
bloodstained pages of the annals of mankind, as well as of the
current world war, and fully reveals the bloodthirsty and
criminal plans of the fascists, aimed at the extermination of
the Russian, Ukrainian, Bielorussian, and other nationals of the
Soviet Union.

“These monstrous fascist plans inspired the orders and
instructions of the German High Command for the extermination of
the peaceful Soviet citizens.

“Thus, for instance, the instructions of the German Supreme
Command, entitled, ‘Treatment of the Civilian Population and of
Enemy Prisoners of War,’ reads to the effect that officers are
responsible that the treatment of the civilian population be
absolutely merciless, and commands that ‘force be used against
the entire mass of the population.’ The instructions issued by
the German High Command as a directive for the occupational
authorities on Bielorussian territory read as follows:

“‘All hostile behavior on the part of the population toward the
German Armed Forces and their organizations will be punished by
death. Whosoever shelters Red Army soldiers or partisans will be
punished by death. If the partisan cannot be found, hostages
must be taken from among the population.’”

THE PRESIDENT: What is the exhibit number of what you are reading now? What is the U.S.S.R. number of what you are reading now?

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: This document was submitted as Exhibit Number USSR-51. It is one of the notes of the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs, Molotov, dated 27 April 1942. All together, four notes have been submitted to the Tribunal under this number. The beginning of the note which I am now quoting is on Page 4 of your document book. The quotation which I am now reading into the record is on Page 8 of your document book.

THE PRESIDENT: It is thought that this is part of the document you read yesterday. Are you sure that it is not?

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: No, Mr. President. Yesterday I read into the record a note dated 6 January 1942, and the note which I am quoting now is dated 27 April.

Have I your permission to continue?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: “‘These hostages must be hanged if the
guilty parties or their accomplices are not found within 24
hours. During the following 24 hours, double the number of
hostages will be hanged on the same spot.’

“Point 7 of Order Number 431/41 of the German commandant of the
town of Feodosia, Captain Eberhard, states:

“‘During an alarm every citizen appearing on the street must be
shot. Groups of citizens who appear must be surrounded and
mercilessly shot. Leaders and inciters are to be publicly
hanged.’

“In a directive addressed to the 260th German Infantry Division,
concerning the treatment of the civilian population, it is
pointed out to the individual officers that ‘sufficient severity
is not being applied everywhere.’

“Orders posted by the occupants in the Soviet towns and villages
announce the death penalty for the most varied reasons: For
being on the streets after 1700 hours; for offering lodging for
the night to strangers; for not handing over Red Army soldiers
to the authorities; for failing to hand over property; for
attempting to put out a fire in an inhabited spot intended to be
burned down; for travelling from one inhabited spot to another;
for refusing to do forced labor; and so on.”

I continue this quotation on Page 8, reverse side of the second column of the text, Paragraph 2:

“The German fascist High Command not only tolerates but actually
orders the murder of women and children. Organized infanticide
in some of the orders is presented as a means for fighting the
partisan movement. Thus, an order of the commander of the 254th
German Division, Lieutenant General Von Beschnitz, dated 2
December 1941, considers the fact that ‘old people, women, and
children of all ages’ move about behind the German lines as
proof of ‘careless good nature,’ and orders the shooting without
warning of ‘every civilian person regardless of age or sex
approaching our front lines.’ It also orders that the ‘mayors be
made responsible for reporting immediately the appearance of any
unknown persons, and especially of children, to the local
Kommandantur’ and to ‘shoot immediately any person suspected of
espionage.’”

Some data regarding the directives received from the Reich authorities by the fascist authorities in the temporarily occupied territories are also contained in the note. I quote from Page 9 of your document book, Paragraph 3, Column 1 of the text:

“Some of the crimes of the German occupiers committed by them
during the very first weeks of their piratical attack on the
U.S.S.R., and their savage extermination of the civilian
population of Bielorussia, the Ukraine, and the Baltic Soviet
republics, have only now been documentarily established. Thus,
when units of the Red Army in the district of the town of
Toropetz, in January 1942, smashed a German SS cavalry brigade,
among the documents captured was found a report of the 1st
Cavalry Regiment of this brigade concerning the ‘pacification’
by this unit of the Starobinsk district in Bielorussia. The
commander of the regiment reports that besides taking 239
prisoners a detachment of his regiment has also shot 6,504
peaceful civilians. The report further states that the
detachment acted in pursuance of Order Number 42 issued to the
regiment, dated 27 July 1941. The commander of the 2d Regiment
of this brigade, Von Magill, states, in his ‘Report Concerning
the Execution of Repressive Operations on the River Pripet
between 27 July and 11 August 1941,’ the following:

“‘We drove the women and children into the swamp, but that did
not produce the desired result, since the swamp was not deep
enough for them to drown. One can usually feel bottom (possibly
sand) at a depth of 1 meter.’

“In the same headquarters a telegram, Number 37, was found, sent
by the commander of the SS Cavalry Brigade.”

THE PRESIDENT: Shall we adjourn now for 10 minutes?

[_A recess was taken._]

MARSHAL: May it please the Court, regarding the Defendant Hess, he will be absent until further notice on account of illness.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I continue the quotation:

“In the same headquarters there was discovered a telegram,
Number 37, from the commander of the Cavalry Brigade, an
SS-Standartenführer, to a cavalry unit of the above-mentioned 2d
Cavalry Regiment, dated 2 August 1941. It mentioned that the
Reichsführer of the SS and the Police, Himmler, considers the
number of the exterminated peaceful civilians far too
insignificant; and it points out that ‘it is necessary to take
radical measures’ and ‘the unit commanders conduct the
operations too mildly.’ He also orders to report every day on
the number of people shot.”

In this connection we cannot abstain from mentioning the criminal activities of the Defendant Rosenberg in carrying out the general instructions of the Reich leadership for establishing a regime of terror in the Occupied Eastern Territories or rather, if we wish to be more accurate, for issuing, in his capacity as chief author of these instructions, a series of laws in Ostland—this, as we know, was the name given to the occupied regions of the Baltic States—while similar orders and instructions of a terroristic nature were also issued by high-ranking officials of the fascist administration set up by Rosenberg.

I submit to the Tribunal Exhibit Number USSR-39 (Document Number USSR-39), the report of the Extraordinary Commission on the atrocities of the German fascist invaders in the territory of the Estonian S.S.R. I quote an excerpt which Your Honors will find on Page 232 of the document book in the first column of the text, Paragraph 3. It begins as follows:

“On 17 July 1941 Hitler issued a decree turning over the
legislative powers of the territory of Estonia to Reich Minister
Rosenberg, who later turned over this legislative power to the
German district authorities.

“Despotism was introduced into Estonia and the peaceful
population subjected to brutal terrorism. Reich Minister
Rosenberg, the Reich Commissioner for the Baltic regions, Lose,
and the Commissioner General of Estonia, Litzmann, completely
deprived the Estonian people of all political rights. On the
basis of Hitler’s decree of 17 July 1941, Reich Minister
Rosenberg promulgated, on 17 February 1942, a special law for
people of non-Germanic nationality, providing capital punishment
for the slightest resistance against Germanization and for any
act of violence against people of German nationality.

“For workers and employees of Estonian origin the occupants
introduced corporal punishment. On 20 February 1942 an official
of the railroad administration in Riga, Walk, sent the following
telegram to the administration of the Estonian railroads:

“‘Every violation of discipline on the part of a native
employee, especially absenteeism, being late for work, coming
drunk to work, disobeying orders, and so forth, shall from now
on be punished with the utmost severity: (a) For the first
offense, 15 strokes with a lash on the bare body; (b) if the
offense is repeated, 20 strokes with a lash on the bare body.’

“On 12 January 1942 Reich Minister Rosenberg established
‘special courts,’ consisting of a police officer, as president,
and two subordinate policemen. The procedural rules were
determined by this court at its own discretion. These ‘courts’
pronounced death sentences with confiscation of property. No
other penalty was ever decreed. No appeal against the sentences
was admitted. In addition to the ‘courts’ established by
Rosenberg, death sentences were pronounced by the German
political police, and these sentences were carried out on the
very same day.

“For the examination of criminal and civilian cases,
Commissioner General Litzmann introduced local courts. Judges,
prosecutors, investigating magistrates, notary publics [notaries
public], and lawyers—all, without exception, were personally
appointed by Litzmann.”

I end the quotation.

I further submit to the Tribunal, as our Exhibit Number USSR-18 (Document Number USSR-18), a photostat of a plain-spoken terroristic order of the German military authorities, and I beg Your Honors to accept this document as a relevant part of the evidence. This is an order of the German town commander of the city of Pskov. The Tribunal will find the text of this order on Page 235 of the document book. It is evident from this document that the peaceful civilian population was even forbidden to appear on the highways of their own locality. Any peaceful citizens seen there by the German soldiers were to be shot. I quote the text of the document, beginning with Paragraph 3:

“Therefore, I order:

“1. All members of the civilian population, regardless of age or
sex, seen on or in the vicinity of railroad tracks are to be
considered as bandits and shot as such. Excepted, of course, are
the labor units under guard.

“2. All people mentioned in the first paragraph who cross the
fields are to be shot.

“3. All persons mentioned in Paragraph 1 who are found on the
roads at night or at dawn are to be shot.

“4. Persons mentioned in Paragraph 1, if found on the roads
during the daytime, are subject to arrest and the most detailed
examination.”

Such were the terroristic decrees and orders based upon the so-called Leadership Principle that were issued by high-ranking officials and representatives of the military authorities of the fascist German Government. But the right of relentless reprisals against the peaceful populations was not confined to them only; any local Kommandantur, any commander of a small unit, and, finally, any soldier of Hitler’s army acquired the right of reprisal against the peaceful population of the occupied regions.

I shall now submit to the Tribunal several documents which will reveal how the Hitlerite criminals invariably made the most of this right, introducing into the crimes perpetrated against the Soviet people the cruel devices of base and evil creatures who had been granted the right of mocking and murdering with impunity. I submit to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-9 (Document Number USSR-9), a report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the atrocities perpetrated by the German fascist occupiers in the city of Kiev. The Tribunal will find the passage in question on Page 238 of the document file, Paragraph 5 of Column 1 of the text. I quote:

“The German executioners, from the very first days of their
occupation of Kiev, carried out a wholesale slaughter of the
population by torture, shooting, hanging, and poisoning by gas
in the murder vans. People were seized in the streets and shot
either in large batches or singly. Announcements of the
shootings were posted in order to intimidate the population.”

I shall interrupt my quotation at this point, and I ask the Tribunal to accept in evidence photostats of several of these posters. Partial mention has already been made of them in the report of the Extraordinary State Commission. From among their number, I would request the Tribunal to accept in evidence the photostat of one such poster, which I submit as Exhibit Number USSR-290 (Document Number USSR-290). The text reads as follows—I ask the Tribunal to excuse me if the translation is, perhaps, slightly incorrect, since the original text is in Ukrainian. I am a Russian, I understand the meaning of the Ukrainian text, but the translation might possibly not be quite correct in every detail. A translation will be made. Here is the text:

“As a reprisal for an act of sabotage, 100 inhabitants of the
city of Kiev were shot this day. Let this be a warning.

“Every inhabitant of Kiev is co-responsible for every act of
sabotage.

“Kiev, 22 October 1941; The Town Commandant.”

Under Exhibit Number USSR-291 (Document Number USSR-291)—the Tribunal will find the text on Page 243 of the document book—I submit a photostat of the following poster, signed by the commandant of the city of Kiev. I quote the text:

“Means of communication—telephone and telegraph wires—have
been damaged in Kiev. Since the saboteurs could not be found,
400 men have been shot in the city.

“This should serve as a warning to the population, and once
again I demand that all suspects be immediately reported to the
German troops or the German police in order that the criminals
may be adequately punished.

“Signed: Eberhard, Major General and City Commandant, Kiev; 29
November 1941.”

As Exhibit Number USSR-333 (Document Number USSR-333), I submit a photostat of the third and last poster in Kiev. The Tribunal will find the text of this poster on Page 242 of the document book at the disposal of the Tribunal. I quote:

“Repeated cases of arson and sabotage in Kiev force me to resort
to extreme measures. Consequently, 300 inhabitants of Kiev will
be shot today. For every new case of arson or sabotage, several
times this number will be shot. Every inhabitant of Kiev is
obliged to report any suspects to the German police. I shall
maintain order and calm in Kiev by all measures at my disposal
and under any circumstances.

“Kiev, 2 November 1941; Eberhard, Major General and City
Commandant.”

I refer to another document which has not even been partially read into the record. I refer to Exhibit Number USSR-63 (Document Number USSR-63) of the Commissar of the Djerjinski District Council of the city of Stalingrad. I invite the Tribunal’s attention to the fact that this official act, which was drawn up by the members of the local Soviet authorities and the community of the Djerjinski District of Stalingrad, was approved by the Extraordinary State Commission under the signature of a member of the commission, Academician Trainin, and of other persons. The members of the Tribunal will find the act in question on Page 222 of the document book, Column 1 of the text.

I shall begin the quotation of the report of the commission, which investigated the territory of the Djerjinski District of Stalingrad after the rout of the Germans at Stalingrad. This report contains information regarding the announcements posted in the streets of Stalingrad by the German Kommandantur and concerning the results of these posters. I begin my quotation on Page 222 of the document book in the possession of the members of the Tribunal, in Column 1 of the text, last paragraph:

“. . . the military Kommandantur sowed death everywhere. It
posted announcements in the streets, threatening death by
shooting at every step. For instance, the following announcement
was posted up in Aral Street: ‘Death to him who passes here.’ On
the corner of Nevskaya and Medveditzkaya Streets: ‘Right of way
forbidden to Russians; for violation of this order—death.’

“As a matter of fact, the Germans shot the citizens at every
step: Hundreds of graves along the streets of the Djerjinski
District of the city of Stalingrad bear witness to the shooting.
The bodies of those who were tortured, shot, or hanged in the
Kommandantur proper were at first thrown into a pit near the
building of the Kommandantur. After the invaders had been thrown
out, there were found 31 corpses in this pit. When the pit was
full, the corpses were brought to the cemetery 2 kilometers away
from the Kommandantur. At the cemetery there was another pit, 6
meters deep, 40 meters long, and 12 meters wide.

“After the invaders had been thrown out, 516 corpses of Soviet
citizens were found in this grave, including the bodies of 50
children who had been tortured to death, shot, or hanged in the
building of the Kommandantur and in other places. An examination
of the bodies on 25 March 1943 established that the Hitlerites
had savagely tortured the Soviet people before murdering them.
In addition to the bodies of the children, the corpses of 323
women, 69 old men, and 74 younger men were discovered. One
hundred and forty-one corpses bore traces of wounds inflicted by
firearms in the head and on the chests; 92 corpses had marks on
their necks which showed that they had been hanged. All the
other bodies were mutilated and bore traces of torture. One
hundred and thirty victims, women and girls, had their arms
twisted behind their backs and tied with wire, and 18 of the
corpses had their breasts cut off, some had their ears, fingers,
and toes chopped off, and the majority showed traces of burns on
their bodies.

“An examination of these corpses revealed that 21 women died of
torture and wounds and that the remainder had been first
tortured and then shot.

“Even the corpses of children were mutilated. Some had their
small fingers cut off, their buttocks chopped up, their eyes
gouged out.”

I now cease to quote from this document, and, in compliance with the wishes of the Tribunal to the effect that not details but instances testifying to some new data in the system of the Hitler terror be reported, I omit three pages of the report and turn to the following section on the presentation of evidence: “On Tortures Inflicted by the Hitlerites in the Course of Interrogation.”

In general, tortures were officially provided for and sanctioned by the Hitlerites. I present to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-11 (Document Number USSR-11), one of the documents testifying to the fact that tortures were sanctioned officially. This document is an official guide for concentration camps, “The Concentration Camp Statutes,” published in Berlin in 1941. You will find the excerpt I am quoting on Page 244 of the document book in your possession. Section 3 of the instructions, for instance, entitled, “Corporal Punishment,” states:

“Between 5 and 25 strokes are permitted on the loins and
buttocks. The number of strokes is to be determined by the camp
commandant and is to be entered in the corresponding space in
the directives governing punishment.”

I should have liked to refer to one more document, but, as it already has been presented to the Tribunal, in compliance with the Tribunal’s instructions, I will omit this document—it was presented as Document L-89—and continue.

Official formulas to be used in “especially severe interrogations” or, rather, interrogations with application of torture, were issued by the corresponding German police departments. I submit it to the Tribunal and would request them to accept in evidence an original formula of such an “especially severe interrogation.” I submit it as Exhibit Number USSR-254 (Document Number USSR-254). It represents an appendix to the report of the Yugoslav Government. This form, as is evident from the certificate attached to it, was seized from the German archives by units of the Yugoslav Army. I shall not describe this form in my own words but shall quote the report of the Yugoslav Government on Page 21 of the document, from the last paragraph at the bottom of the page. The Tribunal will find this passage on Page 256 of the document book, in the last paragraph. I begin the quotation:

“In order to give a clearer description of the savage cruelty in
carrying out this plan of extermination, we submit to the
Tribunal another original document which was seized in the
German archives in Yugoslavia. It is a blank form for the
so-called ‘especially severe interrogations’ of the victims of
the Nazi criminals. Such interrogations were conducted in
Slovenia by the Security Police and the SD.

“On the first page of the form the police office suggests
submitting one particular person to an ‘especially severe
interrogation.’ On the second page the competent officer of the
SS agrees to such an interrogation. The answer to the
question—what this special ‘severe interrogation’ consisted
of—is found in the following instructions of this form:

“The especially severe interrogation should consist of. . . .
Minutes of the interrogation should be kept. A doctor may (or
may not) be asked to be present.

“The mention of the doctor and of his presence at the
interrogation leaves no doubt at all that the person
interrogated was to be physically tortured. The fact that
printed instructions existed for these interrogations obviously
suggests a wholesale resort to such criminal methods.”

The Reichsführer SS clearly foresaw cases of attempted suicide by persons under suspicion. The SS leader therefore not only permitted but even ordered the prisoners to be tied hand and foot or shackled in chains. I submit to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-298 (Document Number USSR-298), a photostat of a directive of the Chief of the German Police, Number 202/43, of 1 June 1943. The document is certified by the Extraordinary State Commission, and I quote the text of the document. The document is dated 1 June 1943. I quote only the text:

“Subject: Prevention of Escape during Interrogations.

“In order to prevent escape during interrogations in all cases
where, owing to circumstances or the importance of the prisoner,
there exists an increased possibility of escape or of an attempt
to commit suicide, I order the hands and feet of the arrested
person to be bound in such a way that escape is impossible.
Rings and chains should be used if available.”

I have not submitted the official directives of the German central police authorities to the Tribunal merely to prove that the German officials provided for the application of torture and torment during interrogations. This fact is well known and calls for no special evidence. But I am submitting a document, in the possession of the Soviet Prosecution, which will show how far tortures to which arrested persons were subjected in the police cells exceeded even the instructions issued by the criminals and the officially sanctioned forms of torture.

I submit to the Tribunal Exhibit Number USSR-1 (Document Number USSR-1), which is a report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the crimes of the German fascist aggressors in the region of Stavropol. The investigation of these crimes was conducted under the leadership of the eminent academician and Russian author, the late Alexei Nikolaievitch Tolstoy. The Tribunal will find this document on Page 272 of the document book. I begin my quotation from the first paragraph. Academician A. N. Tolstoy, as the Tribunal will doubtless remember, was a member of the Extraordinary State Commission. I begin the quotation:

“Tortures and torments, exceptional in their cruelty, were
applied to the Soviet citizens on the premises of the Gestapo.
Thus, for instance, Citizen Phillip Akimovitch Kovalchuk, born
in 1891 and an inhabitant of the town of Pyatigorsk, was
arrested on 27 October 1942 in his own apartment, beaten
unconscious, taken to the Gestapo, and thrown into one of the
cells. Twenty-four hours later the Gestapo began to torture him;
he was interrogated and beaten at night only. For the
interrogation he was put in a separate torture chamber equipped
with special devices for torture, such as chains with handcuffs
for shackling both hands and feet. These chains were fastened to
the cement floor of the chamber. To begin with, the prisoners
were stripped to the skin and laid on the floor. Then their
hands and feet were shackled. Citizen Kovalchuk was subjected to
this form of torture. When in chains, he was completely unable
to move. He lay on his stomach and in this position was lashed
with rubber truncheons for 16 days.

“Apart from these inhuman forms of torture, the Gestapo also
resorted to the following: A wide board was placed on the back
of the shackled prisoner, and blows were struck on this board
with heavy dumbbells. As a result of these blows, the prisoner
bled from the nose, mouth, and ears and lost consciousness.

“The torture chamber of the Gestapo was so constructed that
while one prisoner was being tortured the prisoners awaiting
their turn in the neighboring cell could watch the torture and
ill-treatment.

“After the torture, the unconscious prisoner would be thrown on
one side, while the next victim of the Gestapo would be forcibly
dragged in from the neighboring cell, shackled, and tortured in
the same fashion.

“The torture chambers were always covered with blood. The board
placed on the back of the prisoners was also soaked in it. The
rubber cudgels used for beating the prisoners were red with
blood.

“The arrested Soviet people, doomed to be shot after unspeakable
torture and beatings, were dragged into trucks, driven out of
town, and there shot.”

I omit two paragraphs and continue my quotation:

“Witness Barbara Ivanovna Tchaika, born in 1912, domiciled in
Number 31, Djerjinskaya Street (Apartment Number 3), states that
during her incarceration in the prison of the Gestapo she had
been subjected to incredible torture by the Chief of the
Gestapo, Captain Wintz. Witness B. I. Tchaika said on this
subject:

“‘I was subjected to ill-treatment and torture by the Chief of
the Gestapo, the German, Captain Wintz. He summoned me to the
torture chamber once for an interrogation. There were four
tables in the cell, wooden grills on the floor, and two basins
of water in which leather thongs had been placed. Two rings were
attached to the ceiling, with ropes drawn through them, from
which the prisoners were suspended during the time of their
torment. By order of Captain Wintz I was laid on the table by
the Gestapo men, stripped, and beaten severely with leather
thongs. I was beaten twice. In all I received 75 strokes of the
lash; my kidneys were almost torn out and I lost eight of my
teeth.’”

What occurred in the torture chambers of Stavropol was no exception at all. The same misdeeds were perpetrated everywhere. In confirmation I will refer to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission regarding the depredations and atrocities committed by the German fascist aggressors in the city of Kiev. That is Exhibit USSR-9 (Document Number USSR-9). The Tribunal will find this document on Page 238 of the document book, Paragraph 2 from the top, Column 2. I begin the quotation:

“Murders were often preceded by sadistic torture. The
Archimandrite Valerian testified that the fascists beat sick and
feeble people till they were half-dead, poured water over them
when the temperature was below zero, and finally shot them in
the torture chamber of the German police, established in the
Kievo-Petchersk Abbey.”

I invite the attention of the Tribunal to the fact that the Kievo-Petchersk Abbey is one of the most ancient architectural monuments in the Soviet Union. It is a specially cherished cultural treasure, very dear to the heart of the Soviet citizens as a tangible memory of the far distant past. The torture chamber of the police had been purposely established in the Abbey. The Tribunal will learn of its eventual fate from the subsequent reports of my colleagues.

When the city of Odessa was under the rule of the fascist invaders, interrogations were accompanied by tortures of an exceptionally cruel nature. I refer to a testimony contained in the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, entitled, “On the Atrocities Committed by the German and Romanian Invaders in the City of Odessa and in the Territory of the Odessa Regions.”

I submit this document to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-47 (Document Number USSR-47) and request that it be accepted as irrefutable evidence in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter. I shall quote this document, which is on Page 282 of your document book, Paragraph 4, Line 10. It contains the testimony of Paul Krapyvny, producer of news reels. I quote this passage from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, Page 282:

“The interrogator had a voltage control switch on the table, and
whenever the person interrogated did not answer the question as
the examiner wished, the dial of the voltage control would be
mercilessly turned to increase the voltage; the body of the
person interrogated would begin to tremble and his eyes to
protrude from their sockets.

“The person interrogated, with his hands tied behind his back,
would be hoisted up to the ceiling . . . where he would be spun
round and round. After having been rotated 200 times in one
direction, the victim, still suspended on the cord, would begin
to turn at an insane speed in the opposite direction. At that
particular moment the executioners would beat him on both sides
with rubber truncheons. The man became unconscious both from the
insane speed of the rotation and from the beating.”

I refer to the document already presented by my colleague, Colonel Pokrovsky, Exhibit Number USSR-41 (Document Number USSR-41), which is a communication of the Extraordinary State Commission on the crimes committed by the German fascist invaders in the territory of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. I shall quote from this document, beginning on Page 286 on the reverse side of the document book, Paragraph 2, Column 2 of the text. I begin the quotation:

“In the camps and prisons the German executioners subjected
prisoners to ill-treatment, torture, and shooting. In the
central prison the internees were beaten and tortured. Day and
night shrieks and groans were heard in the torture chambers.
Every day from 30 to 35 people died as a result of the tortures.
Whoever survived the ill-treatment and torture would return to
his cell absolutely unrecognizable, burned to the bone, with
parts of his body torn to pieces. No medical aid was given to
the tortured.”

The Hitlerites subjected Soviet citizens to ill-treatment and torture in every town of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Your Honors will find analogous statements in the text of every communication of the Extraordinary State Commission. I shall not delay the Tribunal by quoting any further excerpts, I consider the evidence already presented as sufficient.

I shall now proceed to the next section of my report: murder of hostages.

I shall make a few introductory remarks.

One of the most shameful crimes perpetrated by the Hitlerites in Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia was the use everywhere by the German fascists of the bestial system of taking hostages. This system was introduced by the Hitlerites into all the countries that fell as victims of their aggression. The German criminals resorted to particularly ruthless methods when murdering hostages in Eastern Europe. In introducing the hostage-seizing system the Hitlerites violated every law and custom of warfare.

However, it is difficult to speak of the murder of hostages where the Soviet Union is concerned, since the crimes committed by the Hitlerites everywhere in the temporarily occupied territories of the U.S.S.R. go beyond even this criminal practice of taking hostages. To a great extent the same remarks apply to Poland and particularly to Yugoslavia. Here the Hitlerites, under the pretext of the hostage-seizing system, were really perpetrating immeasurably greater war crimes, whose ultimate aim was the extermination of entire nations.

I shall now present some brief data from documents concerning the different countries of Eastern Europe.

I submit an extract from the report of the Government of the Polish Republic. The Tribunal will find the passage quoted on Page 128 of the document book, Paragraph 6. I begin the quotation:

“a) One of the most disgraceful features of the Hitlerite
occupation of Poland was the introduction of the hostage-seizing
system. Collective responsibility, payment of collective fines,
and the bartering of human life were considered to be the best
methods for enslaving the Polish people.

“b) Here are some typical cases of mass reprisals; they
illustrate the methods employed by the German occupants.

“c) In November 1939 an unknown person set fire to a barn filled
with grain on the outskirts of Nove Miasto Lubavske. The barn
was the property of a German. As a result of this action, a
certain SS-Standartenführer, Sperling, received an order from
the higher authorities to resort to reprisals. A number of Poles
from among the most prominent citizens were arrested. Out of
those, 15 were selected and publicly shot by SS soldiers. Among
the victims were the two brothers Jankovsky, one a lawyer, the
other a priest, the tailor Malkovsky, the blacksmith Zemny,
Major of the Army Reserve Vona, the son of an innkeeper, the
publisher of a newspaper, and a priest, Bronislav Dembenovsky.

“d) In October 1939 the German authorities captured a certain
number of Poles in the city of Inovrozlav and imprisoned them as
hostages. They were brought to the prison courtyard, where they
were unmercifully flogged and shot, one by one. Altogether, 70
men were killed, including the city mayor and his deputy. Among
the victims were the most prominent citizens of the town.”

I omit the next sentence. I quote further:

“e) On 7 March 1941 the film star, Igo Sym, who considered
himself as being of German nationality and who was in charge of
the German theaters in Warsaw, was murdered in his own
apartment. Although the murderers were never found, the Governor
of Warsaw, Fischer, said that Sym was murdered by the Poles and
ordered the arrest of a large number of hostages. He also closed
the theaters and imposed a curfew on the Polish population. The
hostages were taken in order to secure the arrest of the
murderers. About 200 people were arrested, including teachers,
priests, physicians, lawyers, and actors. The population of
Warsaw was given 3 days to find Sym’s murderers. After the
expiration of the 3 days, the killers still remaining unknown,
17 hostages were executed, among them Professor Kopetz, his son,
and Professor Zakrzhevsky.”

I conclude this quotation from the report of the Polish Government and ask the Tribunal’s permission to refer to a short excerpt from the report of the Czechoslovakian Government. There is one part I would like to read into the record. Your Honors will find it on Page 141 of the document book. I begin the quotation:

“Even before the beginning of the war, thousands of Czech
patriots and especially Catholic and Protestant clergymen,
lawyers, doctors, teachers, and so on, were arrested.
Furthermore, in every district lists were drawn up of persons
who were subject to arrest as hostages at the first sign of any
breach of ‘public order and security.’ At first these were only
threats. In 1940 Karl Frank announced, in a speech to the
leaders of the Movement of National Unity, that 2,000 Czech
hostages, interned in concentration camps, would be shot if
prominent Czech statesmen refused to sign the declaration of
loyalty. Sometime after the attempt on Heydrich’s life, many of
these hostages were executed.

“Threats of reprisals against directors of factories in case of
some hitch in the work at the factory were a typical method of
Nazi terrorism. Thus, in 1939 the Gestapo summoned all the
directors as well as the managers of warehouses belonging to
various industrial firms and informed them that they would be
shot in case of a strike. On leaving they had to sign the
following declaration: I am aware of the fact that I would be
shot immediately should my factory cease working without a
justifiable reason.’

“In the same way, school teachers were held responsible for the
loyal behavior of their pupils. Many teachers were arrested only
because the pupils in their schools were caught writing
anti-German slogans or reading forbidden books.”

I now interrupt the quotation from the report of the Government of the Czechoslovakian Republic, and I begin to read the section recording the killings of hostages in Yugoslavia.

I shall just say a few words by way of introduction. These criminal murders of the peaceful population developed on their own particular lines in Yugoslavia. As a matter of fact, it is impossible at this point to speak of the execution of hostages, although the Hitlerites constantly make use of this term in their official documents, which will be presented to the Tribunal at a later date.

Truth to tell, under the alleged killing of hostages, the Hitlerite criminals were realizing, on an enormous scale, the regime of terroristic extermination of the peaceful citizens not only for crimes which somebody or other had committed, but also for crimes which, to Hitler’s way of thinking, might be committed.

I submit the document that confirms this fact. It contains excerpts from the report of the Yugoslav Government, which Your Honors will find on Page 259 in the document book in their possession, Paragraph 1. I begin the quotation:

“The murder of hostages was one of those methods which were used
by military authorities and the Reich Government on an
incredible scale for the mass extermination of the Yugoslav
population.

“The Yugoslav State Commission for the investigation of War
Crimes has at its disposal an innumerable quantity of concrete
details and original evidence taken from the German archives. We
submit only a very limited number of such details and evidence,
which are, however, sufficient proof that the killing of
hostages was merely an item in the common plan in the systematic
Nazi crime.”

Further, the report of the Yugoslav Government quotes an order of the commander of the so-called Group West, General Brauner. I quote the following excerpt:

“In regions captured by partisans, the seizure of hostages from
all strata of the population remains in force as the only really
successful means of intimidation.”

To confirm the vast scale of the crimes of the Hitlerites in connection with the murder of hostages, the Yugoslav Government presents to the Tribunal six documents, which I now submit to Your Honors, and I ask for them to be incorporated into the record as evidence. I submit the following documents to the Tribunal:

Firstly, under Exhibit Number USSR-261 (Document Number USSR-261), a certified photostat of a poster of the commanding general and Commander-in-Chief of Serbia, dated 25 December 1942, in which he announces the shooting of 50 hostages. Secondly, as Exhibit Number USSR-319 (Document Number USSR-319), a certified photostat of a poster of the same commanding general, dated 19 February 1943, in which he announces the shooting of 400 hostages, which was carried out in Belgrade on the same date. Thirdly, as Exhibit Number USSR-320 (Document Number USSR-320), a certified photostat of a poster of the regional Kommandantur in Pozarevatz, dated 3 April 1943, announcing the shooting of 75 hostages. Fourthly, as Exhibit Number USSR-321 (Document Number USSR-321), a certified photostat of a poster of the same regional Kommandantur of Pozarevatz, dated 16 April 1943, announcing the shooting of 30 hostages. Fifthly, a certified copy of a poster of the military commandant of Belgrade, dated 14 October 1943, in which he announces the shooting of 100 hostages. I submit this document as Exhibit Number USSR-322 (Document Number USSR-322).

I continue my quotation from the report of the Yugoslav Government:

“Planned and systematic murder of hostages is revealed by the
following testimonies, collected by the Yugoslav State
Commission for the investigation of war crimes on the basis of
confiscated German archives and data found in the archives. The
testimonies refer to Serbia only:

“Four hundred and fifty hostages were shot on 3 October 1941 in
Belgrade; 200 hostages were shot on 17 October 1941, in
Belgrade; 50 hostages were shot on 27 October 1941, in Belgrade;
100 hostages were shot on 3 November 1941, in Belgrade.

“Further testimonies show the terrible increasing number of
these crimes at that time:

“Ten hostages shot on 12 December 1942, in Kraguevatz; 10
hostages shot on 12 December 1942, in Krusevatz; 30 hostages
shot on 15 December 1942, in Brush; 50 hostages shot on 17
December 1942, in Petrovatz; 10 hostages shot on 20 December
1942, in Brush; 50 hostages shot on 25 December 1942, in
Petrovatz; 10 hostages shot on 26 December 1942, in Brush; 250
hostages shot on 26 December 1942, in Petrovatz; 25 hostages
shot on 27 December 1942, in Krusevatz.”

One really could, I think, agree with the statement of the Yugoslav Government that such figures could be cited _ad infinitum_. I continue my quotation:

“The shooting of hostages was, as a rule, conducted in a most
barbaric fashion. The victims were mostly forced to stand one
behind the other in batches, waiting their turn and witnessing
the execution of the preceding batch. In this manner the batches
were one after another exterminated.”

I shall submit further to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-205 (Document Number USSR-205), the report of the police administration of the quisling administration of Milan Nedich. It mentions the shooting, on 11 December 1941 in Leskovatz, of 310 hostages, of whom 293 were Gypsies. I continue to quote the report of the Yugoslav Government:

“By an examination of the site and an interrogation of the
Gypsies by the regional administration investigating war crimes
in Leskovatz, the methods were established by which this
shooting was carried out.”

Before reading the excerpt, I submit to the Tribunal the document which was referred to by the Government of the Yugoslav Republic, as Exhibit Number USSR-226 (Document Number USSR-226), and request it be incorporated as evidence. In the report of the Yugoslav Government, the following lines of this document are quoted:

“On 11 December 1941, from 0600 hours to 1600 hours, the Germans
transported the arrested hostages in their trucks in batches of
about 20 persons each. All of them had their hands bound. They
were taken to the foot of the Mountain of Hisar. From there they
were driven on foot across the mountain . . . and then made to
stand in ranks near recently dug graves, were shot, and then
thrown into the graves.”

THE PRESIDENT: I think this will be a good time to break off.

Colonel Smirnov, the Tribunal appreciates the efforts that you have made to leave out unnecessary detail and to cut down the length of your address, and it hopes that during the adjournment you will continue your efforts in that direction.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Certainly, Mr. President.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 18 February 1946 at 1000 hours._]

SIXTY-FIRST DAY
Monday, 18 February 1946

_Morning Session_

THE PRESIDENT: I have an announcement to make, and I make it in this order, in the form of paragraphs.

Paragraph 1: The Tribunal cannot accept Paragraph 1 of the Prosecution’s motion, as to the evidence of the defendants, dated 11 February 1946, but directs that, in complying with Article 24(d) of the Charter, counsel for the defendants shall confine their evidence to what is required for meeting the charges in the Indictment.

The Tribunal will announce later their decision with regard to Paragraphs 2 to 5 of the Prosecution’s motion.

Paragraph 2: With regard to the naming of witnesses, _et cetera_, by the Defense under Article 24(d) of the Charter, which is referred to in Paragraph 1 of Dr. Stahmer’s memorandum to the Tribunal, dated 4 February 1946, the Tribunal makes the following order: