Chapter XXIX: Part II: of this case (15)

Next there is the testimony of one of such agents, the traitor Rastorguev. I omit this quotation.

To conclude the presentation of evidence relative to this matter, I shall only quote a few excerpts from the findings of the medical experts of epidemical diseases. The Tribunal will find it on the back of Page 454, second column of the text. This is Page 274 of the Russian text. I begin the quotation:

“(a) The German authorities placed together in concentration
camps both the healthy and the typhus-stricken Soviet citizens.

“(b) In order to expedite the dissemination of typhus in the
camps, the Germans used to transfer the typhus patients from one
camp to another.

“(c) On many occasions when typhus patients refused to go into
the camp, the German authorities used force.

“(d) German aggressors used to move typhus patients from
hospitals into the camps and mixed them with the healthy camp
inmates.”

And the last paragraph:

“(e) The infecting of the Soviet population with typhus began in
second half of February and was practiced to the middle of
March.”

The result of it was mass infection of the people interned in the camp, and the members of the Tribunal will find proof of this in the next paragraph where it is said that the Red Army Command sent 4,052 Soviet citizens to the hospitals, among them 2,370 children below 13 years of age, all liberated just from one hamlet of Ozarichi, in the Poless region.

I omit those sections of my presentation where I wanted to give concrete information as to the terrible conditions under which the inmates of these concentration camps had to live, and I pass to Page 277 of my statement where I deal with concentration camps of the “usual type.”

I quote short excerpts only from the report of the Yugoslav Government dealing with Camp Banyitza, near Belgrade, from which it is evident that the Yugoslavian camp, so far as bestial conditions are concerned, was quite identical with the camps in other countries of Eastern Europe. The members of the Tribunal will find this passage on Page 263 of the document book, second paragraph. I quote the third paragraph of this document:

“Camp Banyitza, near Belgrade was established by the German
occupational authorities as far back as June 1941. From the
captured documents of this camp it is evident that 23,637
inmates were registered there. However, from the testimony of
the surviving witnesses, especially the employees of the
quisling authorities who worked in this camp, it was possible to
establish that in reality a much greater number of victims
passed through this camp.”

I omit the next paragraph and continue my quotation:

“The witness Monchilo Demyanóvich”—or Demyánovich, I don’t know
where to put the accent—“at the end of 1943 participated in
burning corpses of the victims from Camp Banyitza.”

I omit the following part of the paragraph and continue my quotation:

“At the interrogation on 7 February 1945, he testified before
the Yugoslav State Commission that during the period of his work
there, he counted 68,000 corpses.”

I omit further five pages of the report, as the information contained therein is well known to the Tribunal. I pass to Page 283 of the Russian text. I present to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-193 (Document USSR-193) an excerpt from an official register of the hospital at Camp Saimyshte, near Belgrade.

The report of the Yugoslav Government justly states that this hospital reminds one more of a camp chapel, where the bodies of the dead were brought for the last rites. On some days—I beg the Tribunal to refer to the entry Number 1070—there were delivered the bodies of tens and hundreds of people who had died of starvation. For instance, under the entry note 1070 are listed 87 corpses delivered to the hospital. Under Number 1272, 122 bodies are noted, under Number 2041 there were 112 bodies delivered. I don’t consider that these figures need any comment to illustrate the camp regime, especially as far as living conditions of the inmates are concerned.

In the camps in the territory of the U.S.S.R. temporarily occupied by Germans, the living conditions of the inmates at all camps were of extreme grimness.

I quote a short excerpt from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union on the crimes in the Lithuanian S.S.R. I begin the quotation:

“In the territories of the Lithuanian S.S.R., the Hitlerites
exterminated in great numbers not only the local population but
also people who were driven here from the Orlov, Smolensk,
Vitebsk, and Leningrad regions. From the summer of 1943 to June
1944, 200,000 people passed through the camp for the evacuated
population near the town of Alitous.”

You will see this camp in the movie document which will be presented today.

I omit the next part of the quotation and I read two paragraphs further down:

“Due to the filthy living conditions, the unbelievable crowding,
lack of water, starvation, disease, and mass shootings, about
60,000 Soviet citizens perished during 14 months in this camp.”

I omit the two next pages of the text and I quote from Page 288 of the report. It is mentioned here that for the families of Red Army soldiers special concentration camps were set up in the territories of the Lithuanian S.S.R. The following order was posted in this camp:

“For expressing displeasure with German authorities and for
violation of the camp regime the Soviet people shall be shot
without trial, jailed, or sent on forced labor for life to
Germany.”

I omit one paragraph and continue:

“A German woman in command of four such camps, Elisabeth
Zeeling, frequently announced to the inmates, ‘You are my
slaves; I shall punish you in any way I want.’”

I refer further to the report of the State Extraordinary Commission relative to the crimes in the city of Kiev. This report describes murders in the camps which will be also shown in the films today. I quote only one quotation from this report, which shows the methods of extermination of people in the Syretzk Camp. I quote Page 289, Paragraph 3, of the Russian text:

“Radomsky and Rieder used all kinds of devices for the
extermination of Soviet citizens. For instance, they invented
the following method of murder: Several Soviet prisoners would
be forced to climb a tree and others had to saw it down. The
prisoners would fall together with the tree and be killed.”

Further, I quote a short excerpt from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on crimes in the Estonian S.S.R. This excerpt describes the very severe regime in the Estonian camps. I quote the last paragraph on Page 90:

“Daily in the camp there were public floggings of the inmates on
a bench especially built for this purpose. Besides this, for the
smallest offense people were kept without any food for 2 days;
or, in the coldest weather, they were forced to stand tied to a
post for 2 or 3 hours. Not only the SS guards but also the
administration of the camp and the German physicians took part
in torturing the internees. The German doctor, Botmann,
personally beat two inmates, Dr. Salkinson and Dr. Tzetzov.
Besides this, Dr. Botmann systematically poisoned sick inmates,
injecting the poison (evipan) under their skin. The medical
attendant Unterscharführer Gent killed 23 elderly inmates with
an ax. The witness I. M. Ranter testified, ‘In February 1944 two
children were born in the camp at Kloga. Both of them were
thrown alive into the furnace of the crematorium and burned.’”

I interrupt my quotation, as I consider that the regime in these concentration camps has already been sufficiently described. I pass on to the presentation of evidence on the camps of extermination, the so-called “Vernichtungslager.” Numerous proofs on this subject have already been presented to the Tribunal and therefore I shall limit myself to the presentation of evidence which is connected with the documentary films which are to be shown to the Tribunal today. I consider that the Tribunal has had enough proof of the fact that citizens of all European countries were exterminated in concentration camps. People both from Western Europe and from the countries of Eastern Europe were brought into these camps. This is shown not only by official reports on these camps, but also from a board with names of inmates of one of the camp’s sections which Your Honors can find in the album of documents on Auschwitz. The citizenry of all European countries may be found.

A special technique was used in the extermination of the people and in connection with this I draw the attention of Your Honors to one fact, which I especially investigated when I was analyzing the materials relating to concentration camps. I decided to ascertain the number of individual firms in the German fascist state engaged in building crematoria for the concentration camps.

I shall present to the Tribunal the evidence that in fascist Germany there were at least three special firms engaged in building crematoria and crematorium installations for concentration camps. This testifies to the scale of the crimes committed in these camps. I omit the text from Pages 295 to 303. I begin the presentation of evidence relating to this section. I ask the Tribunal to refer to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the crimes of German fascist invaders in Auschwitz. I quote the documents, which are on Page 353 in the document book of the Tribunal, and which are quoted in the text of the report. I begin the quotation:

“Construction of new vast crematoria was entrusted to the German
firm of Topf and Sons of Erfurt, which immediately began to
build four powerful crematoria and gas chambers in Birkenau.
Berlin demanded with impatience that the construction be
expedited and all work completed by the beginning of 1943.

“In the office records of the Auschwitz Camp there was
discovered a voluminous correspondence between the
administration of the camp and the firm of Topf and Sons. Among
them the following letters:

“‘I. A. Topf and Sons, Erfurt; 12 February 1943.

“‘To Central Construction Office of SS and Police, Auschwitz.

“‘Subject: Crematoria 2 and 3 for the camp for prisoners of war.

“‘We acknowledge receipt of your wire of 10 February, as
follows:

“‘We again acknowledge receipt of your order for five triple
furnaces, including two electric lifts for raising the corpses
and one emergency lift. A practical installation for stoking
coal was also ordered and one for transporting the ashes. You
are to deliver the complete installation for Crematorium Number
3. You are expected to take steps to ensure the immediate
dispatch of all the machines complete with parts.’”

I omit the next document which deals with “bathhouses for special purposes” (gas chambers), and present to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-64 (Document Number USSR-64), a document which is appended to the report of the Yugoslav Government. This is a certified photostat of a document externally having all the official character of a business document from a “sound business firm.” The name of the firm is Didier-Werke. The subject of the correspondence—the construction of crematoria “designed for a large camp in Belgrade.” The document presented by me characterized the firm Didier as a firm with considerable experience in construction of crematoria for concentration camps and which advertised itself as a firm that understood the demands of its clients. For placing the bodies into the furnace, the firm designed a special conveyer with a two-wheeled shaft. The firm claimed that it could fill this order much better than any other firms, and asked for a small advance, to draw up draft plans for the construction of a crematorium in the camp.

I quote a few short excerpts from this document—the first two paragraphs:

“With reference to your son’s visit and his conversation with
our expert, Herr Storl, we note that the Belgrade SS unit
intends to build a crematorium for a large camp and that you
have received instructions to design and construct the building
in collaboration with local architects.”

I interrupt my quotation and I shall quote one more excerpt:

“For putting the bodies into the furnace, we suggest simply a
metal fork moving on cylinders.

“Each furnace will have an oven measuring only 600 millimeters
in breadth and 450 millimeters in height, as coffins will not be
used. For transporting the corpses from the storage point to the
furnaces we suggest using light carts on wheels and we enclose
diagrams of these drawn to scale.”

I interrupt my quotation here and I present to the Tribunal Exhibit Number USSR-225 (Document Number USSR-225). This document will be brought to you presently, Mr. President. May I refer to it? It will be presented to you within a few minutes.

I submit the new document as Exhibit Number USSR-225; it deals also with the construction of those crematoria for concentration camps in Belgrade and contains the correspondence of the firm Kori, G.m.b.H. This is a well-known firm, which considered that even every business letter must be ended with “Heil Hitler!” As its clients were well known to it, the firm Kori once again inquired whether “two furnaces would be sufficient.” The firm, among other things, mentioned that it had already built four furnaces for Dachau and five for Lublin; it emphasized that its technically perfected furnaces gave full satisfaction in practice. I quote a very short excerpt of this document which the Tribunal will find on Page 471 in Volume II of the document book. I quote the first paragraph; this is Page 38, first paragraph of the text:

“Following our verbal discussion regarding the delivery of a
crematorium installation of simple construction, we suggest our
perfected coal-burning furnaces for crematoria which have
hitherto given full satisfaction.

“We suggest two crematoria furnaces for the building planned,
but we advise you to make further inquiries to make sure that
two ovens will be sufficient for your requirements.”

I omit the next paragraph and continue the quotation:

“The area required for the furnaces, including space for the
stokers and other personnel, is shown by the attached diagram.
Sketch J. Number 8998 shows an installation with two furnaces.
Sketch J. Number 9122 shows the arrangement of four furnaces in
the construction projected for Dachau. A further sketch, J.
Number 9080, shows the Lublin installation with 5 crematoria
furnaces and two built-in compartments for stoking.”

I omit the next part of the document. The ending is very typical:

“Awaiting your further news, we will be at your service. Heil
Hitler! C. H. Kori, G.m.b.H.”

And so we have established that the design and construction of the crematoria ovens for German concentration camps. . . .

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know, as they have not these letters before them, to whom they were addressed.

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: This letter, Mr. President, was addressed to the SS units in Belgrade. These documents were taken by the Yugoslav Government. The SS units in Belgrade considered that the methods of extermination practiced in Bandetz and Saimyshte, which I have already described to the Tribunal, were not adequate and they decided to perfect them. For this purpose they started building, or rather they designed the construction of crematoria in the concentration camps. This was the subject of the lively business correspondence between the SS police and the SS units in Belgrade and the German firms, part of which I have just presented to you.

THE PRESIDENT: Were the other letters that you referred to also addressed to SS units?

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Yes, Mr. President, they were also addressed to the SS units. The first letter, addressed to the administration of the Auschwitz Camp was from the firm Topf and Sons.

I shall now present to the Tribunal evidence of the fact that besides the stationary crematoria, there existed also movable crematoria. The Tribunal already knows about the movable gas chambers. These were “murder vans.” There were also created transportable crematoria. An SS member, Paul Waldmann, testifies to their existence. He was one of the participants in the crime perpetrated by the German fascists when 840,000 Russian prisoners of war in Sachsenhausen were annihilated at one time. The Exhibit Number USSR-52 (Document Number USSR-52) on Auschwitz has already been presented to the Court. I quote that particular extract from the testimony of an SS member, Waldmann, which mentions the mass execution in Sachsenhausen:

“The war prisoners murdered in this way were cremated in four
movable crematoria, which were transported on car trailers.”

I omit the next two pages of my report which deals with gas chambers and crematoria. I think the Tribunal already has a clear idea of this question. But I ask the Tribunal to pay attention to the repugnant methods introduced by the German fascists for industrial utilization of corpses. Further I shall present to the Tribunal evidence which would testify to even more repulsive utilization of the corpses. Now I shall quote from a report on Auschwitz, which the Tribunal will find on Page 353, reverse side, of the document book. Beside this I ask the Tribunal to refer to the Auschwitz album, where on Pages 34, 35, and 36 they will see the photographs of 7 tons of hair which was taken from dead women, packed for shipment to Germany. I begin the quotation:

“From 1943 the Germans, in order to utilize the bones which were
not burned, started to grind them and sell them to the firm
Strem for the manufacture of superphosphates. In the camp there
were found bills of lading, addressed to the firm Strem, of 112
tons and 600 kilograms of bone meal from human corpses. The
Germans also used for industrial purposes hair shorn from women
who were doomed for extermination.”

I omit the next pages of my statement and I want to draw the Tribunal’s attention to the findings of a commission of technical experts which the Tribunal will find on Page 65, reverse side, of the document book, Paragraph 2.

Special research took place in the gas chambers. On the basis of exact chemical reactions it was established that poisoning in gas chambers was done by means of hydrocyanic acid, Cyclone A and Cyclone B, and also carbon-monoxide.

I quote one paragraph from the findings of the technical experts’ commission:

“Technical and medical-chemical analysis of the gas chambers in
the concentration camps in Maidanek”—that is on Page 319 of the
document, third paragraph—“confirms and proves that all those
chambers, especially the first, second, third, and fourth, were
designed and used for systematic and mass extermination of
people by means of poisonous gases, such as hydrocyanic acid and
carbon-monoxide.”

I omit the following extracts of my statement which describe the regime in the camps of Auschwitz and Maidanek. I consider that the Tribunal has already a very clear idea of this. Part of the people were sent immediately to their death in gas chambers, while the one-fifth or one-sixth which was left in the camp were subjected to starvation and killed afterwards. I had the intention of presenting many documents and excerpts from documents which confirm this fact; but to save time, I omit them, and pass on to Page 324 of my statement. I mention this for the convenience of the interpreters. I quote several facts which deal with cynical and repugnant plundering of inmates who were killed in Maidanek and Auschwitz. I ask the Tribunal to refer simultaneously with the text I am going to present to the Auschwitz album, where on Page 27 you will see a picture of suitcases, which were the property of the inmates; on Page 28 suitcases with labels of different countries and on Page 39 a colossal warehouse of children’s clothes; the same on Page 33.

The document which had not been presented in time, Your Honor, is the correspondence with the Kori firm—now presented to the Tribunal. I ask to be excused for the delay. I quote only that particular part of the report on Auschwitz, which the Tribunal will find on Page 325, on the reverse side, of the document book, where there is stated what was discovered by the commission at the warehouses of this camp. I quote one paragraph; this is on Page 325, second paragraph:

“On the grounds of the Auschwitz Camp there were 35 special
warehouses for sorting and packing the belongings and clothes.
Before the retreat under the pressure of the Red Army, 29 of
these warehouses were burned with the things stored in them. In
the remaining six were discovered:

“1. Men’s clothes and underwear, 348,820 sets; 2. female clothes
and underwear, 836,255 sets; 3. women’s footwear, 5,525 pairs;
4. men’s footwear, 38,000 pairs; 5. rugs and carpets, 13,964
pieces.”

I omit the following two paragraphs and I quote . . . .

THE PRESIDENT: It is time to adjourn.

[_The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours._]

_Afternoon Session_

MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Your Honors, the same picture of organized plundering of the murdered persons was ascertained by the commission during the investigation of Maidanek. I will not quote in full this part of the communiqué of the Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission, and will quote only one excerpt of the general economic administration of the SS which is contained in the communiqué of the Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission, and which the Tribunal will find on the back of Page 66 of the document book, first column of the text, third paragraph. I begin the quotation:

“To all commandants of the concentration camps:

“According to a statement received from the Reich Security Main
Office, parcels of clothing were sent from the concentration
camps mainly to the Gestapo administration in Brünn and in some
there were bullet holes and blood stains on the articles. Some
of the parcels were damaged, so that outsiders could see what
was inside them.

“As the Reich Security Main Office will in the near future issue
regulations concerning the utilization of articles of property
belonging to the deceased inmates, the sending of these articles
is to cease immediately until definite regulations have been
issued as to the disposal of property belonging to internees who
have been put to death.

“Signed: Glücks, SS Brigadeführer and major general of the SS.”

I pass on to the presentation of evidence, depicting the scale of the crimes committed.

In only two camps of death the criminals exterminated 5½ million people. In proof of this I quote the conclusions of the Extraordinary State Commission for Auschwitz. I will quote only a short excerpt. It is preceded by a detailed calculation. The Tribunal will find this reference on Page 356 of the document book, second column of the text, fourth paragraph. I begin the quotation:

“However, employing rectified coefficients for the part-time use
of the crematorium ovens and for the periods when they stood
empty, the technical expert commission has ascertained that
during the period of time that the Auschwitz Camp existed the
German butchers exterminated in this camp not less than 4
million citizens of the U.S.S.R., Poland, France, Yugoslavia,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Holland, Belgium,
and other countries.”

I quote the corresponding passages from the Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission’s report on Maidanek. The Tribunal will find this quotation on Page 66, reverse side, of the document book, second column of the text, Paragraph 6. I begin the quotation:

“The Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission has ascertained that
during the 4 years’ existence of the extermination camp at
Maidanek the Hitlerite hangmen, following the direct order of
their criminal government, exterminated by mass shooting and
mass killing in gas chambers approximately 1.5 million persons:
Soviet prisoners of war, prisoners of war of the former Polish
Army, and nationals of various countries—Poles, Frenchmen,
Italians, Belgians, Dutch, Czechs, Serbs, Greeks, Croats, and a
great number of Jews.”

With this document I conclude that section of my statement which concerns the concentration camps and pass on to the last section entitled, “Concealment of Traces of Crimes.”

During the period of their temporary military successes, the German fascist criminals did not bother themselves very much with concealing the trace of their crimes. They did not even consider it necessary to camouflage the burial grounds in which they hurled the bodies of the murdered persons after the shootings.

But after the defeat suffered by the Hitlerite war machine at Stalingrad, the situation changed. Fearing retaliation, the criminals began to take urgent measures to conceal the traces of their crimes. Where possible, they burned the corpses. Where this could not be done, the burial grounds were carefully camouflaged with moss or green foliage. The earth which covered the graves of those shot was smoothed out with special machines and with caterpillar tractors.

However, the main method adopted by the German fascist criminals for camouflaging their crimes was the burning of the corpses. The ashes from the burned bodies were strewn over the fields. The bones which had not been calcinated were crushed in special machines and mixed with manure for the preparation of fertilizers. In large camps the crushed bones of the victims were sold to the German firms to be transformed into superphosphates.

As proof of the enormous scale of the Hitlerites’ criminal activity directed toward concealing the traces of their crimes, I shall submit to the Tribunal a series of documents. I will refer, first of all, to the communiqué of the Polish-Soviet Extraordinary State Commission on Maidanek. This document was submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-29 (Document Number USSR-29). The part of the communiqué to which I refer will be found by the Tribunal on Page 65 of the document book, on the other side, Column 2 of the text, last paragraph. In order to save time, I will allow myself to summarize the contents of this document:

In the beginning of 1942 two ovens for the burning of corpses were built:

“As there were a great many corpses, the Germans, in 1942, began
building, and by autumn of 1943 had concluded, the building of
powerful crematoria consisting of five ovens. These ovens burned
unceasingly. The temperature in these ovens could reach 1,500
degrees Celsius. In order to be able to put as many bodies as
possible into the ovens, the corpses were dissected and the
limbs hacked off.”

I omit the next paragraphs and beg the Tribunal to pay attention to the passage which is three paragraphs further down.

The ovens in the crematories proved to be inadequate, so the Germans were compelled to resort to special primitive cremation installations which had been made in the following way—I begin the quotation by Paragraph 1, Page 334 of the text:

“On rails or on automobile frames which served as grates planks
were placed. Corpses were laid on the planks, then more planks,
and again corpses. Five hundred to 1,000 corpses were piled on
one pyre. All that was covered with gasoline and ignited.”

I quote a short excerpt which ascertains the scale of criminal actions taken to conceal the trace of these crimes, Page 336, first paragraph:

“The commission has ascertained that in the ovens of the
crematoria alone more than 600,000 corpses were burned. More
than 300,000 corpses were burned on the gigantic pyres in the
Krempetz Woods; more than 80,000 corpses were burned in the two
old ovens; not less than 400,000 corpses were burned on pyres in
the camp itself, near the crematoria.”

As a proof of these same circumstances, that is to say, of the scale of the criminal activity of the Hitlerites in concealing the traces of their crimes, I refer now to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union for the town of Minsk. The members of the Tribunal will find this quotation on the back of Page 215, second column of the text, Paragraph 4. I quote a short excerpt:

“In the Blagovtschchina Woods 34 ditch graves were discovered,
camouflaged with evergreen branches. Some of the graves reached
a length of 50 meters. During a partial excavation of five of
these graves, corpses and a layer of ashes 50 centimeters or 1
meter thick was discovered at a depth of 3 meters. Near the
graves the commission discovered a great number of small human
bones, hair, false teeth, and numerous small personal articles.
The investigation has ascertained that the fascist exterminated
here up to 150,000 persons.

“At a distance of 450 meters from the former hamlet of
Petrashkevichi eight ditch graves have been discovered. Their
size is 21 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 5 meters deep. Before
every ditch grave there are enormous piles of ashes, remainders
of the burned corpses.”

I omit the next page and in proof of this same circumstances I am now referring to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission concerning the crimes of the German fascist invaders in the Lvov region. This document has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-6. I quote a very short excerpt from this document. The part which I will quote will be found by the members of the Tribunal on Page 164, on the reverse side, second column of the text, Paragraph 5:

“Upon the order of Reich Minister Himmler and of Major General
of Police Katzmann, special measures for exhuming and burning
the corpses of murdered, peaceful citizens, Soviet prisoners of
war, and citizens of foreign countries were carried out in June
1943. In Lvov the Germans created a special Sonderkommando
Number 1005 composed of 126 men. The chief of this Kommando was
Hauptsturmbannführer Scherlack; his assistant,
Hauptsturmbannführer Rauch. The duty of this Sonderkommando was
to exhume and burn the corpses of the civilians and prisoners of
war who had been liquidated by the Germans.”

I dwell on this extract, and I would beg the Tribunal to remember this number, “Sonderkommando Number 1005.” This Kommando was the prototype of similar Sonderkommandos created by the Germans. Later, the Sonderkommandos created for this task received the numbers of 1005-A, 1005-B, _et cetera_.

I terminate the quotation with the conclusion of the medical-legal experts. I quote the last paragraph on Page 340 of the text:

“Thus the Hitlerite murderers adopted in the territory of the
Lvov region the same methods for concealing their crimes which
they employed earlier in connection with the murder of Polish
officers in the Katyn Forest.

“The expert commission ascertained full similarity of method in
camouflaging the graves in Lissenitzach Forest with those used
to camouflage the graves of the Polish officers killed by the
Germans at Katyn.

“To extend the experiments in exterminating people, cremating
corpses, and camouflaging the crimes, the Germans set up in
Lvov, in the Yanov Camp, a special school for the preparation of
qualified cadre. The commandants of the camps of Lublin, Warsaw,
Kraków, and other cities attended this school. The chief of the
Sonderkommando Number 1005, Scherlack, taught the commandants on
the spot how to organize the exhumation of the corpses from the
graves, how to pile them on stacks, burn them, how to scatter
the ashes, to crush the bones, to fill up the ditches, and how
to plant trees and brush wood on the graves as camouflage.”

I now refer to a document which has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-61, which is the report of the examination in the town of Lvov of the special machine for the crushing of bones. This record may be found by the members of the Tribunal on Page 473 of the document book. As I have very little time left at my disposal, I shall only quote very short excerpts. I quote Paragraph I, on Page 342:

“The machine for crushing bones was mounted on a special
carriage on the platform of a trailer. It is easily
transportable by automobiles or other means of transportation
without dismounting.”

I omit the next paragraph, and shall read one more short extract:

“The machine will function in any spot and does not require
additional adaptation. It can be transported by automobile or
any other vehicle.

“A machine of these dimensions can produce 3 cubic meters of
calcinated bone powder during 1 hour.”

I omit the next four pages of the report, and submit to the Tribunal as evidence the original record of the interrogation of Gerhard Adametz (Exhibit USSR-80, Document Number USSR-80), taken by an American army lieutenant, Patrick McMahon. Gerhard Adametz was interrogated under oath. I dwell especially on this document, which has been put kindly at our disposal by our American colleagues, because Adametz’ testimony, to use a legal term, in some points corroborates our own evidential material. The testimony is very lengthy, and I will limit myself to a few short quotations.

Gerhard Adametz was a member of Sonderkommando 1005-B. I draw the attention of the Tribunal again to the fact that the first Sonderkommando was simply 1005; this one is Sonderkommando 1005-B. The excerpt which I shall quote from the testimony of Gerhard Adametz will be found by the members of the Tribunal on Page 480 of the document book, beginning with the second paragraph. Gerhard Adametz said that, together with 40 other members of the Schutzpolizei, he left Dniepropetrovsk and was sent to Kiev. I remind the Tribunal of the name of Baybe-yar, which the Tribunal has already heard. I begin to quote the testimony of Adametz, Page 347:

“Our Leutnant Winter reported about our column to Oberleutnant
Hanisch, who was the Zugführer of the Schutzpolizei of Group
1005-A. The place smelled of corpses. We felt faint, stopped our
noses, and tried not to breathe. Oberleutnant Hanisch addressed
us. I remember the following excerpts:

“‘You have come to the place where you are to serve and support
your comrades. You already smell an odor coming from the church
behind us. We must all get used to this, and you must all do
your duties. We will have to guard internees and do so very
strictly. Everything that takes place here is the secret affair
of the Reich. Everyone of you answers with his head if ever an
internee under his guard succeeds in escaping; besides this, he
will be subjected to a special regime. The same fate awaits
anyone who lets out anything or is careless in his
correspondence.’”

I omit the next sentence and continue the quotation:

“After this speech of Oberleutnant Hanisch, we were led out so
as to acquaint ourselves with the place where we were to serve.
We left the cemetery and were brought to an adjoining field. The
road which crossed this field was guarded on both sides by
policemen, who chased away all those who tried to approach it.
In the field we saw about 100 internees resting from work. The
legs of each internee were in chains of about 75 centimeters
long. The internees were dressed in civilian clothes.”

I omit the next part of the paragraph and continue the quotation:

“The work of the internees consisted, as we found out later, of
exhuming corpses which were buried here in two common graves,
transporting them, piling them up in two enormous piles, and
burning them. It is difficult to estimate; however, I believe
that on this spot were buried from 40,000 to 45,000 corpses. One
antitank ditch served as a grave and was partially filled with
corpses. This ditch was 100 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 4
to 5 meters deep.”

I interrupt my quotation, and continue with the last paragraph of the text:

“On the day of our arrival, about 10 September 1943, there were
three or four small piles of corpses on the field.”

It is interesting to note what this fascist expert in the burning of corpses understood by the words “small piles.” I continue the quotation:

“Every such pile consisted of about 700 corpses. It was about 7
meters long, 4 meters wide, and 2 meters high.”

I interrupt my quotation and continue from the next page:

“Here and in other places I observed the following methods which
were employed (burning of corpses):

“With the aid of iron hooks, the corpses were dragged to certain
spots and then piled on a wooden platform. Then the whole pile
of corpses was surrounded with logs, petroleum was poured on and
ignited.

“We, the policemen of detachment 1005-B, were then led back to
the cemetery to the church. However, not one of us could eat
because of the terrible smell and because of all we had seen.”

Although further on the text is very interesting, I have to leave it out in order to save time and continue the quotation from Page 351, second paragraph. I quote this excerpt, as in the report of the Kiev Extraordinary State Commission I already had the honor to report to the Tribunal about statements of internees who had fled from these Kommandos.

Adametz’ testimony gives full confirmation of this episode. I shall only read a short quotation:

“About 29 September 1943 at 4:15 a.m. during dense fog, about 30
internees escaped. They tore off their foot chains, rushed out
of their barracks with shouts, and ran away in different
directions. Six of them were shot; because of the dense fog the
others succeeded in escaping.”

I interrupt my quotation. I beg the Tribunal to pay attention to the fact that as soon as the work of burning corpses was completed the internees were murdered. In proof of this I quote the following excerpt from Adametz’ statement, Page 352, second paragraph of the text:

“In other places where I also served as guard, the internees
were murdered after their work (exhuming and burning of corpses)
had been concluded. For this purpose they were brought in groups
or individually, under the escort of the policemen chosen for
this purpose, to a spot designated by the SD. The police were
afterwards sent back to bring along more internees. Then the
members of the SD forced the internees to lie, face down, on a
wooden platform, and immediately shot them in the nape of the
neck. The internees in many cases obeyed this order without
resistance and lay down next to their comrades who already had
been shot.”

I draw the attention of the Tribunal to the further career of the Sonderkommando. You will find information on this subject in the same record. This Sonderkommandant served in Kryvoy Rog, in Nikolaev, at Voznessensk, and in Riga. That is to say, it crossed my country nearly from the extreme south to the Baltic countries; a distance of thousands of kilometers. Everywhere it carried out the same work. In confirmation of this I will quote only a short excerpt regarding the last stage on the Kommando’s work in Riga—Page 357 of the statement. I begin the quotation, “We members of Kommando 1005-B received an order to go to several newly built barracks which were situated about 250 meters from six or seven mass graves.” I quote this passage, as Bikerneksky Forest will be shown in the documentary film:

“The latter were situated about 4 kilometers from the suburbs of
Riga in the Bikern Forest”—in the record the name of the
Bikerneksky Forest was spelled wrong—“there were about 10 or 12
thousand. A fresh group of 50 or 60 internees was brought there,
and in the middle of June 1944 work began (the exhumation and
burning of corpses) in the same way as I described at the
beginning. This work was completed by the end of July 1944. I
believe that at that period the front was only about 300
kilometers away. These 10,000 to 12,000 corpses were those of
men, women, and children of all ages and had been buried about 2
years ago.”

I remind Your Honors, that the extract from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission which I quoted mentioned the date of the shooting as 1942, and this proves that these two testimonies concur with each other once again. I continue the quotation:

“The policemen believed that these people had been shot by the
SS. However, this was only a supposition. This fresh group of 50
to 60 internees was murdered at the end of July 1944.”

I omit the following part of the document and will only quote the conclusion of Gerhard Adametz’ record, Page 359, Paragraph 4:

“Afterwards, we were of the opinion that the Nazis were actually
afraid that the mass graves would be discovered by the advancing
Russians and that these monstrous mass killings would become
known to the civilized world. I believe that about 100,000
corpses were exhumed from mass graves by the SD, serving with
the Sonderkommandos 1005-A and 1005-B. I believe that similar
Kommandos also were engaged on the same work, but I do not know
how many. If I had thought or known that I would ever be
compelled to carry out this dirty and degrading work I would
have emigrated somewhere.”

I omit the last part; the record concludes with the text of the oath and the signature of Gerhard Adametz.

Before submitting to the Tribunal the other evidence of another crime of the Hitlerites, I beg the Tribunal to allow me to make a few introductory remarks. The murder of several million people was carried out by the German fascist out of motives dictated by their mankind-hating, cannibal theories of racism and of the “right of masters” to exterminate peoples. All these murders were planned in cold blood. All these crimes, unprecedented in scale, were carried out at exact dates set for this purpose. Moreover, as I showed many times before, a special technique was invented for the mass killings and for the concealment of the traces of their crimes.

But, besides this, there is another characteristic in the many crimes committed by the German fascists which makes them even more detestable. In many cases, the Germans, having killed their victims, did not stop here, but made the corpses objects of jeers and mockery. Mockery of the dead bodies of victims was common practice in all extermination camps. I remind the Tribunal that the bones which had not been calcinated were sold by the German fascists to the firm Strem. The hair of the murdered women was cut off, packed in sacks, pressed and sent to Germany.

Among the same crimes are those on which I shall now submit evidence. On numerous occasions, I have already pointed out that the principal method used to cover up the traces was to burn the corpses, but the same base, rationalized SS technical minds which created gas chambers and murder vans, began devising such methods of complete annihilation of human bodies, which would not only conceal the traces of their crimes, but also serve in the manufacturing of certain products.

In the Danzig Anatomic Institute semi-industrial experiments in the production of soap from human bodies and the tanning of human skin for industrial purposes were carried out. I submit to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-197 (Document Number USSR-197), the testimony of one of the direct participants in the production of soap from human fat. It is the testimony of Sigmund Mazur, who was a laboratory assistant at the Danzig Anatomic Institute.

I omit two pages of the statement and turn to Page 363. I begin the quotation—it is rather long, but I think I shall have the necessary time for the presentation of the evidence, and I beg to draw the attention of Your Honors to this quotation:

“Q: ‘Tell us how the soap was made out of human fat at the
Danzig Anatomic Institute.’

“A: ‘In the courtyard of the Anatomic Institute a one-story
stone building of three rooms was built during the summer of
1943. This building was erected for the utilization of human
bodies and for the boiling of bones. This was officially
announced by Professor Spanner. This laboratory was called a
laboratory for the fabrication of skeletons, the burning of meat
and unnecessary bones. But already during the winter of 1943-44
Professor Spanner ordered us to collect human fat, and not to
throw it away. This order was given to Reichert and Borkmann.

“‘In February 1944 Professor Spanner gave me the recipe for the
preparation of soap from human fat. According to this recipe 5
kilos of human fat are mixed with 10 liters of water and 500 or
1,000 grams of caustic soda. All this is boiled 2 or 3 hours and
then cooled. The soap floats to the surface while the water and
other sediment remain at the bottom. A bit of salt and soda is
added to this mixture. Then fresh water is added, and the
mixture again boiled 2 or 3 hours. After having cooled the soap
is poured into molds.’”

I will present to the Tribunal these molds into which the soap was poured. Further I shall prove that this half-finished sample of human soap was really found in Danzig.

“The soap had an unpleasant odor. In order to destroy this
disagreeable odor, Benzolaldehyd was added.”

I omit the next part of the quotation, which explains from where they received this preparation. This is of no importance at this stage, and I continue the quotation on Page 364, Paragraph 4:

“The fat of the human bodies was collected by Borkmann and
Reichert. I boiled the soap out of the bodies of women and men.
The process of boiling alone took several days—from 3 to 7.
During two manufacturing processes, in which I directly
participated, more than 25 kilograms of soap were produced. The
amount of human fat necessary for these two processes was 70 to
80 kilograms collected from some 40 bodies. The finished soap
then went to Professor Spanner, who kept it personally.

“The work for the production of soap from human bodies has, as
far as I know, also interested Hitler’s Government. The Anatomic
Institute was visited by the Minister of Education, Rust; the
Reichsgesundheitsführer, Doctor Conti; the Gauleiter of Danzig,
Albert Forster; as well as professors from other medical
institutes.

“I used this human soap for my personal needs, for toilet and
for laundering. For myself I took 4 kilograms of this soap.”

I omit one paragraph and continue the quotation.

“Reichert, Borkmann, Von Bargen, and our chief professor,
Spanner, also personally used this soap.”

I omit the following paragraphs and conclude the quotation on Page 365, from where I shall read one paragraph which concerns the industrial utilization of human skin:

“In the same way as for human fat, Professor Spanner ordered us
to collect human skin, which after having been cleaned of fat
was treated by certain chemical products. The work on human skin
was carried out under the direction of the chief assistant, Von
Bargen and Professor Spanner himself. The ‘finished’ skin was
packed in boxes and used for special purposes which I don’t
know.”

I now submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-196 (Document Number USSR-196), the copy of the recipe for soap produced from the corpses of the executed. I will not dwell on this recipe which is identical to that which has already been described in Mazur’s testimony. But the proof of the fact that this recipe is correct, Your Honors, can be found in Mazur’s record, which has already been submitted to the Tribunal under Document Number USSR-197. I will not quote this record. In order to prove that the record of Mazur’s interrogation corresponds to reality, I shall now submit to the Tribunal two documents which have been kindly put at our disposal. They are records of sworn statements by two British prisoners of war; in particular that of John Henry Witton, a soldier of the Royal Sussex Regiment. The document is submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-264 (Document Number USSR-264). The members of the Tribunal will find this quotation in Paragraph 5, Page 495, of the document book. I quote a very short excerpt from this record, if the necessary time is granted to me. This is Page 367. I quote:

“The corpses arrived at an average of seven to eight per day.
All of them had been beheaded and were naked. They arrived
sometimes in a Red Cross wagon containing five to six corpses in
a wooden case and sometimes in a small truck which contained
three to four corpses.”

I omit the next sentence.

“The corpses were unloaded as quickly as possible and taken down
into the cellar, which was entered from a side door in the main
entrance hall of the Institute.”

I omit the next sentence.

“They were then put into large metal containers where they were
then left for approximately 4 months.”

I omit the next three sentences and continue the quotation:

“Owing to the preservative mixture in which they were stored,
this tissue came away from the bones very easily. The tissue was
then put into a boiler about the size of a small kitchen
table. . . . After boiling the liquid it was put into white
trays about twice the size of a sheet of foolscap and about 3
centimeters deep.”—These were the basins which I have already
shown the Tribunal—“Approximately 3 to 4 trayfuls per day were
obtained from the machine.”

This witness himself did not witness the application of the soap, but I am submitting to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-272 (Document Number USSR-272), the written testimony of a British citizen, William Anderson Neely, a corporal of the Royal Signals. The members of the Tribunal will find this excerpt on Page 498 of the document book, Volume 2. I begin the quotation:

“The corpses arrived at an average rate of 2 to 3 per day. All
of them were naked and most of them had been beheaded.”

I interrupt the quotation—I omit two paragraphs and continue the quotation:

“A machine for the manufacture of soap was completed some time
in March or April 1944. The British prisoners of war had
constructed the building in which it was housed in June 1942.
The machine itself was installed by a civilian firm from Danzig
by the name of AJRD. It consisted, as far as I remember, of an
electrically heated tank in which bones of the corpses were
mixed with some acid and melted down.

“This process of melting down took about 24 hours. The fatty
portions of the corpses and particularly those of females were
put into a crude enamel tank, heated by a couple of bunsen
burners. Some acid was also used in this process.

“I think it was caustic soda. When boiling had been completed,
the mixture was allowed to cool and then cut into blocks for
microscopic examination.”

I continue the quotation from the following paragraph:

“I cannot estimate the quantity produced, but I saw it used by
Danzigers in cleaning tables in the dissecting rooms. They all
told me it was excellent soap for this purpose.”

I submit half-finished and some finished soap. (Exhibit USSR-393) Here you shall see a small piece of finished soap, which from the exterior, after lying about a few months, reminds you of ordinary household soap. I give it over to the Tribunal. Beside this I now submit to the Tribunal the samples of semi-tanned human skin (Exhibit USSR-394). The samples which I now submit prove that the process of manufacturing soap was already completely worked out by the Institute of Danzig; as to the skin it still looks like a semi-finished product. The skin which resembles most the leather used in manufacture is the one you see on top at the left. So one can consider that the experiments on the industrial fabrication of soap from human fats were quite completed in the Danzig Institute. Experiments on tanning of human skin were still incomplete and only the victorious advance of the Red Army put an end to this new crime of the Nazis.

Gentlemen, I have now to submit to you only one more piece of evidence, which is the last among the proofs concerning war crimes against the peaceful population presented by the U.S.S.R. Prosecution. Besides, certain witnesses may arrive here from the Soviet Union who may testify concerning the points which I have submitted. I will beg the permission of the Tribunal to examine these witnesses after the presentation of further evidence is finished.

Before submitting my last proof, I beg the Tribunal to allow me to make a few conclusive remarks.

The lengthy list of crimes against the peaceful inhabitants of the temporarily occupied areas of the U.S.S.R., Czechoslovakia, Poland, Yugoslavia, and Greece cannot be exhausted even in the most detailed statement. One can only point out a few very typical cases of cruelties, of base and systematic methods adopted by the major criminals who had conceived these crimes, as well as those who executed these crimes. Those who are now in the dock have freed from “the chimera of so-called conscience” hundreds of thousands and millions of criminals. They educated these criminals and created for them an atmosphere of impunity and drove their bloodthirsty hounds against peaceful citizens. They mocked at human conscience and self-respect. But those who were poisoned in murder vans and gas chambers, those who were torn to shreds, those whose bodies were burned in the ovens of crematoria and whose ashes were strewn to the winds, appeal to the conscience of the world. Now we cannot yet name, or even number, many of the burial places where millions of innocent people were vilely murdered. But on the damp walls of the gas chambers, in the places of the shootings, in the forts of death, on the stones and casemates of the prisons, we can still read brief messages of the doomed, full of agony, calling for retribution. Let the living ones remember these voices of the victims of German fascist terror, who before dying appealed to the conscience of the world for justice and for retribution.