Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

“‘It is understood that not a single German official will assist
in the development of Polish cultural life in any way
whatsoever.’

“The sole purpose which was to be followed, in the words of the
circular, was to ‘satisfy the primitive demands for
entertainment and amusement, all the more as this was a question
of diverting as far as possible the attention of the
intellectual circles from conspiracy or political debates which
encouraged the development of an anti-German feeling.’”

I skip the last paragraph and pass on to the next page:

“Looting, spoliation, and carrying away of works of art,
libraries, and collections from Poland.”

The excerpts are on Pages 207 and 208 of the document book.

“On 13 December 1939 the Gauleiter of the Warthegau issued an
order that all public and private libraries and collections in
the incorporated territories were to be registered. Upon
completion of registration, libraries and book collections were
confiscated and transported to the ‘Buchsammelstelle.’ There
special experts carried out a selection. The final destination
was either Berlin or the newly constituted State Library
(Staatsbibliothek) in Posen. Books which were considered
unsuitable were sold, destroyed, or thrown away as waste paper.

“The best and largest libraries of the country were victims of
the organized looting in the Government General. Among them were
the university libraries in Kraków and Warsaw. One of the best,
though not the largest, was the library of the Polish
Parliament. It consisted of about 38,000 volumes and 3,500
periodical publications. On 15 and 16 November 1939 the main
part of this library was transported to Berlin and Breslau.
Ancient documents, such as, for instance, a collection of
parchments—the property of the central archives—were also
seized.

“The Diocesan Archives in Pelilin, containing 12th century
documents, were burned in the furnaces of a sugar refinery.

“The first art treasure removed from Poland was the well-known
altar of Veit Stoss from the Kraków Cathedral. It was taken to
Germany on 16 December 1939. The Defendant Frank issued a decree
concerning the confiscation of works of art.”

I skip a few paragraphs and pass on to the last paragraph on Page 221:

“Three valuable pictures were removed from the galleries of the
Czartoryski in Sieniawa. Frank seized and kept them until 17
January 1945, and then transferred them to Silesia, and thence,
as his personal property, to Bavaria.”

National monuments:

“In the process of destroying everything that was connected with
Polish history and culture, many monuments and works of art were
destroyed and demolished.

“The monument of the eminent Polish King, Boleslaw, the Valiant,
in Gniezno, was first wound round with ropes and chains with a
view to throwing it off its pedestal. After an unsuccessful
attempt, acetylene was used: the head was cut off and the
pedestal broken in pieces. The same fate befell the monument of
the Sacred Heart in Posen, the monuments to Chopin, the poet
Slowacki, the composer Moniuszko, the Polish national hero
Kósciuszko, President Wilson, the greatest Polish poet
Mickiewicz, and many others.”

To the report of the Polish Government is attached a list of public libraries, museums, books and other collections sacrificed to plunder and looting. These lists of objects are available on Pages 254 and 255 of the document book. In the first list we find the names of 30 libraries and in the second 21 museums and collections of works of art which were plundered and destroyed. I shall not read these lists in full, but shall mention only some of the museums and collections which were a subject of national pride and constituted the treasure of the Polish State.

The following objects became the booty of the fascist vandals: The treasure house of the Wawelski Cathedral in Kraków, the Potocki Collection in Jablonna, the Czartoryski Museum in Kraków, the National Museum in Kraków, the Museum of Religious Art in Warsaw, the State Numismatic Collections in Warsaw, the Palace of King Stanislaw-August in the Lazienkowski Park, the Palace of King Jan Sobieski in Willanow, the collection of Count Tarnowski in Sukhaya, the Religious Museum in Posen, and many others.

The Hitlerite invaders also plundered monasteries, churches, and cathedrals. On Page 43 of the report of the Polish Government, corresponding to Page 223 of the document book, there are final notes by the Polish Primate, Cardinal Hlond. They concern a written communication from Cardinal Hlond to Pope Pius XII. I shall read into the record only two paragraphs of these concluding notes. I quote:

“Monasteries have been methodically suppressed, as well as their
flourishing institutions for education, press, social welfare,
charity, and care of the sick. Their houses and institutions
have been seized by the army of the Nazi Party.

“Then the invaders confiscated or sequestrated the patrimony of
the Church, considering themselves the owners of this property.
The cathedrals, the episcopal palaces, the seminaries, the
canons’ residence, the revenues and endowments of episcopates
and chapters, the funds of the seminaries, all were pillaged by
the invaders.”

I omit the end of Page 29 and pass on to Page 30: Yugoslavia.

The destruction of the national culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia was carried out by the Hitlerites by various means and methods. I shall not, Your Honors, enumerate them in detail. These means and methods are already known.

In Yugoslavia the same thing occurred as in Poland and Czechoslovakia. We need only stress that, in the destruction of the culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia, the German fascist occupants showed great ingenuity and utilized the vast experiences acquired in other countries occupied by them. The system of destruction of the national culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia starts with attack and pillage and ends with mass murder, camps, and the ovens of the crematories.

In the report of the Jugoslav Government, presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-36, there are quoted a large number of facts and documents which establish, without any possibility of doubt, the criminal deeds of the defendants. But even these numerous facts quoted in the report do not exhaust all the crimes committed by the Hitlerites. The report of the Yugoslav Government quotes only typical cases as examples. I shall cite a few excerpts from this report. These excerpts, Your Honors, are on Page 303 of the document book. I quote:

“Immediately after the invasion of Slovenia, the Germans started
to fulfill their plans, thought out long beforehand, to
germanize the ‘annexed’ territories of Slovenia.”

And further, on Page 307:

“The occupiers closed all the schools in Slovenia, exiled all
the Slovene teachers, destroyed all Slovene libraries and books,
and forbade the use of the Slovene language, which was
considered as an act of sabotage.”

The German barbarians destroyed and plundered not only schools and libraries, they also destroyed universities and broadcasting stations, cultural establishments, and sanatoria. On Page 23 of the report, corresponding to Page 278 of the document book, we find, for instance, the following facts concerning Belgrade. I quote:

“Without any military need, the Germans premeditatively
destroyed and burned a great number of public buildings and
cultural institutions, such as the New University, the People’s
University ‘Koloraz,’ the first high school for boys, the second
high school for girls, the ancient royal palace, the
broadcasting station, the Russian Home of Culture, the
sanatorium of Dr. Jivkovich, and so forth. In the university
building valuable and highly important collections of scientific
works and research matter were destroyed.”

As is established by the report of the Jugoslav State Commission, which is Document Number J-39(a), and which I submit under Exhibit Number 364, Page 313(a) of our document book—the Hitlerites razed to the ground the National Library in Belgrade and burned hundreds of thousands of books and manuscripts, which constituted the basic stock of Serbian culture. They completely destroyed 71 and partially destroyed 41 scientific institutes and laboratories of Belgrade University. They razed to the ground the State Academy of Art, and they burned and looted thousands of schools.

I omit the end of Page 31 and pass on to Page 32. Your Honors will find this passage on Page 303 of the document book.

During the 4 years of German domination, the people of Yugoslavia experienced great sufferings and sorrow. The Germans looted the economic wealth of the country and caused great material damage. But the damage they caused to the culture of the people of Yugoslavia was even greater.

In concluding this chapter of my report, I consider it essential, Your Honors, to quote yet another excerpt from the diary of the Defendant Frank. I have in mind the calico-bound volume of the diary entitled, “Conferences of the Leaders of Departments of 1939-1940,” which contains an entry regarding the conference of the departmental leaders of 19 January 1940 in Kraków. This excerpt is on Page 169 of the document book. I read:

“On 15 September 1939, I was entrusted with the administration
of the conquered eastern territories, and received a special
order pitilessly to devastate this district regarding it as a
combat zone and a prize of war, and to reduce its economic,
social, cultural, and political structure to a heap of ruins.”

To this statement of Frank’s, we need only add that the Defendant Frank zealously performed this task in Poland and that the Reich, Gau, and other leaders acted with equal zeal in the occupied territories of the U.S.S.R., Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.

I am now going to present, Your Honors, proof of crimes committed by the defendants against the culture of the peoples of the Soviet Union.

We have heard in this court what brutality was used and on how vast a scale the Hitlerites conducted the destruction and spoliation of the cultural wealth of the peoples of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia. The crimes perpetrated by the Hitlerite conspirators in the occupied territories of the U.S.S.R. were graver still. The criminal organization, known as the Hitler Government, aimed not only at plundering the people of the Soviet Union, at destroying their towns and villages, and at extirpating the culture of the peoples of the U.S.S.R., but also at enslaving the people of the Soviet Union and of transforming our native country into a fascist colony of serfs.

In the second part of my statement I have proved how the destruction of the cultural monuments of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. was planned and perpetrated.

In the note of the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov, dated 27 April 1942, which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51(3) (Document Number USSR-51(3)), documents and facts are quoted which establish beyond dispute that the destruction of historic and cultural monuments and the vile mockery of national feelings, beliefs, and convictions constituted a part of the monstrous plan evolved and put into practice by the Hitlerite Government, which strove to liquidate the national culture of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. Later I shall refer again to this document, but at present I wish, with your permission, to read into the record the following excerpt which is on Page 321 of your document book. I omit the first and quote the second paragraph:

“The desecration and destruction of historical and cultural
memorials in occupied Soviet territories, as well as the
devastation of the numerous cultural establishments set up by
the Soviet authorities, are a part of the monstrously senseless
plan conceived and pursued by the Hitlerite Government which
strives to liquidate Russian national culture and the national
cultures of the peoples of the Soviet Union, forcibly to
germanize the Russian, Ukrainian, Bielorussian, Lithuanian,
Latvian, Estonian and other peoples of the U.S.S.R.

“In Order Number 0973/41, General Hodt, commander of the German
17th Army, demands that his subordinates thoroughly assimilate
that misanthropic notion so typical of the thick-skulled
fascists, that the ‘sound feeling of vengeance and repulsion
towards everything Russian should not be suppressed among the
men but, on the contrary, encouraged in every way.’”

True to their custom of destroying universally recognized cultural valuables, the Hitlerites everywhere on the Soviet territory occupied by them, devastated and mostly burned libraries, from the small club and school libraries up to and including the most valuable collections of manuscripts and books, containing unique bibliographical valuables.

I omit a paragraph and continue the quotation:

“The Hitlerites looted and then set on fire the famous Borodino
Museum, the historical exhibits of which related to the struggle
against the armies of Napoleon in 1812, particularly dear to the
Russian people. The invaders looted and set fire to the Pushkin
House Museum in the hamlet of Polotnyany Zavod.

“In Kaluga the Hitlerites assiduously destroyed the exhibits in
the house-museum in which the eminent Russian scientist K. E.
Tsiolkovsky, whose services in the field of aeronautics enjoy
world-wide fame, lived and worked.

“The fascist vandals used Tsiolkovsky’s portrait as a target for
revolver practice. Extremely valuable models of dirigibles,
together with plans and instruments, were trampled underfoot.
One of the museum rooms was turned into a hen coop and the
furniture burned. One of the oldest agricultural institutions in
the U.S.S.R., the Shatilov selection station in the Orel
district, was destroyed by the invaders, who blew up and
consigned to the flames 55 buildings of this station, including
the agrochemical and other laboratories, the museum, the library
containing 40,000 volumes, the school, and other buildings. Even
greater frenzy was shown by the Hitlerites when looting the
cultural institutions and historical monuments of the Ukraine
and of Bielorussia.”

I omit two paragraphs and pass on to the last paragraph of this quotation:

“There was no limit to the desecration by the Hitlerite vandals
of the monuments and homes representing Ukrainian history,
culture, and art. Suffice to mention, as an example of the
constant attempts to humiliate the national dignity of the
Ukrainian people, that after plundering the Korolenko Library in
Kharkov, the occupiers used the books as paving stones for the
muddy street in order to facilitate the passage of German motor
vehicles.”

The German vandals treated with particular hatred these cultural monuments which were most dear to the Soviet people. I shall quote several instances:

The Hitlerites plundered Yasnaya Polyana, where one of the greatest writers, Leo Tolstoy, was born, lived, and worked.

They plundered and despoiled the house where the great Russian composer, Tschaikovsky, lived and worked. In this house Tschaikovsky created the world-famous operas _Eugen Onegin_ and _The Queen of Spades_.

In Taganrog they destroyed the house where the great Russian writer Chekhov lived; in Tikhvin they destroyed the residence of the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov.

As evidence, Your Honors, I shall read into the record an excerpt from the note of Foreign Commissar Molotov, dated 6 January 1942. This document has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number 51(2). This excerpt is on Page 317 of the document book. I quote:

“For a period of 6 weeks, the Germans occupied the world-famous
property of Yasnaya Polyana where Leo Tolstoy, one of the
greatest geniuses of mankind, was born, lived, and created. This
glorious memorial to Russian culture was wrecked, profaned, and
finally set on fire by the Nazi vandals. The grave of the great
writer was desecrated by the invaders. Irreplaceable relics
relating to the life and work of Leo Tolstoy, including rare
manuscripts, books, and paintings, were either plundered by the
German soldiers or thrown away and destroyed. A German officer
named Schwartz, in reply to a request of one of the museum’s
staff collaborators to stop using the personal furniture and
books of the great writer for firewood and to use wood available
for this purpose, answered, ‘We don’t need firewood; we shall
burn everything connected with the name of your Tolstoy.’

“When the town of Klin was liberated by the Soviet troops on 15
December, it was ascertained that the house in which P. I.
Tschaikovsky, the great Russian composer, had lived and worked
and which the Soviet State had turned into a museum, had been
wrecked and plundered by fascist officers and soldiers. In the
museum building proper, the Germans set up a garage for
motorcycles, heating this garage with manuscripts, books,
furniture, and other museum exhibits, part of which had in any
case been stolen by the German invaders. In doing this, the Nazi
officers knew perfectly well that they were defiling one of the
finest monuments of Russian culture.

“During the occupation of the town of Istra, the German troops
established an ammunition dump in the famous ancient Russian
monastery known as the New Jerusalem Monastery, founded as far
back as 1654. The New Jerusalem Monastery was an outstanding
historical and religious monument of the Russian people and was
known as one of the most beautiful specimens of religious
architecture. This did not, however, prevent the German fascist
vandals from blowing up their ammunition dump in the New
Jerusalem Monastery on their retreat from Istra, thereby
reducing this irreplaceable monument of Russian church history
to a heap of ruins.”

I omit the next paragraph and close this quotation.

Acting upon directions of the German Military Command, the Hitlerites destroyed and annihilated the cultural-historic monuments of the Russian people connected with the life and work of the great Russian poet, Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin.

The report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union, the original copy of which is now submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-40 (Exhibit Number USSR-40), reads as follows:

“To preserve the cultural and historical memorials of the
Russian people connected with the life and creations of the
gifted Russian poet and genius, Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin,
the Soviet Government, on 17 March 1922, declared the poet’s
estate at Mikhailovskoye, as well as his tomb at the monastery
of Svyatogorsky and the neighboring villages of Trigorskoye,
Gorodischtsche, and Voronitch, a state reservation.

“The Pushkin reservation, and especially the poet’s estate at
Mikhailovskoye, was very dear to the Russian people. Here
Pushkin finished the third and created the fourth, fifth, and
sixth chapters of _Eugen Onegin_. Here, too, he finished his
poem _Gypsies_, and wrote the drama _Boris Godunov_, as well as
a large number of epic and lyrical poems.

“In July 1941 the Hitlerites forced their way into the Pushkin
reservation. For 3 years they made themselves at home there,
ruined everything, and destroyed the Pushkin memorials.”

I shall omit the beginning of Page 1 of the report.

“The plundering of the museum had already begun in August 1941.”

I shall also omit the next paragraph. I read on:

“In the autumn of 1943 the commander of the Pushkin Military
Kommandantur, Treibholz, urged Director K. V. Afanassiev to
prepare for the evacuation of all the museum valuables. All
these valuables were packed into cases by the German
authorities, loaded into trucks, and sent to Germany.”

I omit the next paragraph and read on:

“At the end of February 1944 the Germans turned Mikhailovskoye
into a military objective and into one of the strongpoints of
the German defense. The park area was dug up for combat and
communication trenches; shelters were constructed. The cottage
of Pushkin’s nurse was taken to pieces and next to it, and
partly on its former site, the Germans constructed a large
dugout, protected by five layers of timber. The Germans built a
similar dugout near the former museum building.

“Prior to their retreat from Mikhailovskoye, the Germans
completed the destruction and desecration of the Pushkin estate.
The house-museum erected on the foundation of Pushkin’s former
residence was burned down by the Germans and nothing remained
but a heap of ruins. The marble plate of the Pushkin monument
was smashed to pieces and thrown onto the pile of ashes. Of the
other two houses standing at the entrance to the Mikhailovskoye
estate, one was burned down by the Germans, the other severely
damaged. The German vandals put three bullets into the large
portrait of Pushkin hanging in an archway at the entrance to the
Mikhailovskoye park; then they destroyed the archway.

“After their retreat from Mikhailovskoye, the fascists bombarded
the village with mine throwers and artillery fire. The wooden
stairs leading to the River Soret were destroyed by German
mines. The old lime trees of the circular alley leading to the
house were broken down; the giant elm tree in front of the house
was damaged by shell fire and splinters.”

I omit the end of this page and pass on to Page 41 of the report:

“In the village of Voronitch the wooden church was burned down
which dated back to Pushkin’s times and where Pushkin had a
requiem sung on 7 April 1825 to commemorate the death of the
great English poet, Byron. The churchyard near the church where
V. P. Hannibal, one of Pushkin’s relatives, and the priest,
Rayevsky, close friend of the poet, lay buried, was
criss-crossed by trenches, mined, and devastated. The historical
aspect of the reservation, in which the Russian people saw a
symbol of Pushkin, was disfigured beyond all recognition by the
Germans.

“The sacrileges perpetrated by the Germans against the national
sanctuaries of the Russian people are best demonstrated by the
desecration of Pushkin’s tomb. In an attempt to save the Pushkin
reservation from destruction, the units of the Red Army did not
defend this district, but withdrew to Novorzhev. Nevertheless,
on 2 July 1941 the Germans bombarded the monastery of
Svyatiye-Gory, at the adjoining walls of which is Pushkin’s
tomb.

“In March 1943, long before the battle line approached the
Pushkinskiye hills, the Germans began the systematical
demolition of the Svyatiye-Gory monastery.”

I omit the rest of this page, and I pass on to Page 42:

“The poet’s tomb was found completely covered with refuse. Both
stairways leading down to the grave were destroyed. The platform
surrounding the grave was covered with refuse, rubble, wooden
fragments of icons, and pieces of sheet metal.”

I omit a paragraph and quote further:

“The marble balustrade surrounding the platform was damaged by
fragments of artillery shells and by bullets. The monument
itself inclined at an angle of 10 to 12 degrees eastwards, as a
result of a landslide following the shelling, and of the shocks
caused by the explosions of German mines.

“The invaders knew perfectly well that, on entering the
Pushkinskiye hills, the officers and soldiers of the Red Army
would first of all visit the grave of the poet, and therefore
converted it into a trap for the patriots. Approximately 3,000
mines were discovered and removed from the grounds of the
monastery and its vicinity by the engineers of the Soviet
Army. . . .”

The destruction of works of art and architecture in the towns of Pavlovsk, Tzarskoe-Selo, and Peterhof, figure among the worst anti-cultural crimes of the Hitlerites. The magnificent monuments of art and architecture in these towns, which had been turned into “museum towns,” are known throughout the civilized world. These art and architectural monuments were created in the course of 2 centuries. They commemorated a whole series of outstanding events in Russian history.

Celebrated Russian and foreign architects, sculptors, and artists created masterpieces which were kept in these “museum towns” and, together with valuable masterpieces of Russian and foreign art, they had been blown up, burned, robbed, or destroyed by the fascist vandals.

I read into the record Exhibit Number USSR-49 (Document Number USSR-49) which includes a statement of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union dated 3 September 1944. The excerpts which I shall quote, Your Honors, are on Pages 330-332 of the document book.

I omit the end of Page 43 and the whole of Page 44 of this statement, and begin my quotation in the middle of Page 45:

“At the time the German invaders broke into Petrodvoretz (in
Peterhof) there still remained, after the evacuation, 34,214
museum exhibits (pictures, works of art, and sculptures), as
well as 11,700 extremely valuable books from the palace
libraries. The ground floor rooms of the Ekaterininsky and
Alexandrovsky Palaces in the town of Pushkin contained assorted
furniture suites of Russian and French workmanship of the middle
of the 18th century, 600 items of artistic porcelain of the late
19th and 20th centuries, as well as a large number of marble
busts, small sculptures, and about 35,000 volumes from the
palace libraries.

“On the basis of documentary materials, the statements and
testimony of eyewitnesses, the evidence of German prisoners of
war and as a result of careful investigation, it has been
established that: Breaking into Petrodvoretz on 23 September
1941, the German invaders immediately proceeded to loot the
treasures of the palace-museums and in the course of several
months removed the contents of these palaces.

“From the Big, Marly, Monplaisir, and Cottage Palaces, they
looted and removed to Germany some 34,000 museum exhibits, among
them 4,950 unique items of furniture of Italian, English,
French, and Russian workmanship from the periods of Catherine
the Great, Alexander I, and Nicholas I, as well as many rare
sets of porcelain of foreign and Russian manufacture of the 18th
and 19th centuries. The German barbarians stripped the walls of
the palace rooms of the silks, Gobelin tapestries, and other
decorative materials which adorned them.

“In November 1941 the Germans removed the bronze statue of
Samson, the work of the sculptor Koslovsky, and took it away.
Having looted the museum treasures, the Hitlerites set fire to
the Big Palace, created by the famous and gifted architect
Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

“Upon their withdrawal from Petrodvoretz”—I have skipped a
paragraph—“the Germans wrecked the Marly Palace by
delayed-action mines. This palace contained very delicate
carvings and stucco moldings. The Germans wrecked the Monplaisir
Palace of Peter the Great. They destroyed all the wooden parts
of the pavilion and of the galleries, the interior decorations
of the study, the bedroom and the Chinese room.

“During their occupation, they turned the central parts of the
palace, that is, the most valuable from the historical and
artistic viewpoint, into bunkers. They turned the western
pavilion of the palace into a stable and a latrine. In the
premises of the Assembly Building the Germans tore up the floor,
sawed through the beams, destroyed the doors and windowframes,
and stripped the panelling off the ceiling.”

I skip one paragraph and quote the last one on this page:

“In the northern part of the park, in the so-called Alexander
Park, they blew up the villa of Nicholas II, completely
destroyed the frame cottage which served as billet for officers,
the Alexander gates, the pavilions of the Adam fountain, the
pylons of the main gates of the upper park and the Rose
Pavilion.”

I skip one paragraph on Page 47:

“The Germans wrecked the fountain system of the Petrodvoretz
parks. They damaged the entire pipe-line system for feeding the
fountains, a system extending from the dam of the Rose Pavilion
to the upper park.

“After the occupation of New Petrodvoretz, units of the 291st
German Infantry Division, using heavy artillery fire, completely
destroyed the famous English Palace at Old Petrodvoretz, built
on the orders of Catherine II by the architect Quarenghi. The
Germans fired 9,000 rounds of heavy artillery shells into the
palace; together with the Palace they destroyed the picturesque
English park and all the park pavilions.”

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal has appreciated the successful efforts which the other members of the Soviet Delegation have made to shorten their addresses, and they would be glad if you could possibly summarize some of the details with which you have to deal in the matter of destruction and spoliation and perhaps omit some of the details.

That is all for this morning.

[_The Tribunal recessed until 1400 hours._]

_Afternoon Session_

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: The looting and destruction of historical and artistic palaces in the town of Pushkin (Tzarskoe-Selo) was carried out with malice aforesight by order of the highest German authorities.

I omit the end of Page 47 and the beginning of Page 48:

“A considerable part of the Catherine Palace was burned down by
the Germans. The famous ceremonial halls, 300 meters long and
designed by Rastrelli, perished in the flames. The famous
antechambers”—waiting rooms—“decorated by Rastrelli were
likewise ruined.”

I omit one paragraph and continue:

“The Great Hall—outstanding creation of the genius of
Rastrelli—presented a terrible spectacle. The unique ceilings,
work of Torelli, Giordano, Brullov, and other famous Italian and
Russian masters, were destroyed.”

I omit another paragraph.

“Equally ruined and pillaged was the Palace Church, one of
Rastrelli’s masterpieces, famous for the exquisite workmanship
of the interior decoration.”

I omit one more paragraph.

“In January 1944 the retreating German invaders prepared the
complete destruction of all that was left of the Catherine
Palace and adjoining buildings. For this purpose, on the ground
floor of the remaining part of the palace, as well as under the
Cameron Gallery, 11 large delayed-action aerial bombs were laid,
weighing from 1 to 3 tons.

“In Pushkin the Hitlerite bandits destroyed the Alexander
Palace, constructed at the end of the 18th century by the famous
architect Giacomo Quarenghi.”

I omit a paragraph.

“All the museum furniture, stored in the basements of the
Catherine and Alexander Palaces, items of artistic porcelain,
and books from the palace libraries were sent to Germany.

“The famous painted ceiling, ‘Feast of the Gods on Olympus,’ in
the main hall of the Hermitage pavilion was removed and shipped
to Germany.”

I omit two paragraphs:

“Great destructions were caused by the Hitlerites in the
magnificent Pushkin parks, where thousands of age-old trees were
cut down.

“Ribbentrop’s special purpose battalion and the Kommandos Staff
Rosenberg shipped to Germany from the Pavlovsky Palace extremely
valuable palace furniture, designed by Veronikhin and by the
greatest masters of the 18th century.”

I omit the end of Page 49 and the beginning of Page 50 of the report.

“During their retreat the fascist invaders set fire to the
Paul’s Palace. The greater part of the palace building was
entirely burned down.”

I omit the next two paragraphs and quote the last paragraph, which concludes this document:

“The Extraordinary State Commission established that the
destruction of art monuments in Petrodvoretz, Pushkin, and
Pavlovsk was carried out by the officers and soldiers of the
German Army on the direct instructions of the German Government
and the High Command.”

Many large towns were destroyed by the German fascist invaders in the occupied U.S.S.R. territories. But they destroyed with particular ruthlessness the ancient Russian cities containing monuments of ancient Russian art. I quote as an example the destruction of the cities of Novgorod, Pskov, and Smolensk. Novgorod and Pskov belong to these historical centers where the Russian people laid the foundation of their state; here, in the course of centuries flourished a highly developed and individual culture. It left a rich heritage which constitutes a valuable possession of our people. Thanks to the survival of numerous monuments of ecclesiastic and civil architecture, murals, paintings, sculpture, and handicraft, Novgorod and Pskov were rightly considered the seat of Russian history.

The Hitlerite barbarians destroyed, in Novgorod, many valuable monuments of Russian and foreign art of the 11th and 12th centuries. They not only destroyed the monuments but they reduced the entire city to a heap of ruins.

By way of proof, I shall read into the record some excerpts from the document presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-50. You will, Your Honors, find these excerpts on Pages 333 and 334 of the document book. I read:

“The ancient Russian city of Novgorod was reduced to a heap of
ruins by the German fascist invaders. They destroyed the
historical monuments and dismantled some of them for use in the
construction of defense fortifications. . . .

“The German fascist vandals destroyed and obliterated, in
Novgorod, the greatest monuments of ancient Russian art. The
fascists destroyed the vaults and walls of the Saint George
Cathedral tower of the Yuryev Monastery. This cathedral was
built in the early part of the 12th century, was decorated by
12th century frescoes.

“The Cathedral of Saint Sophia, built in the 11th century, was
one of the oldest monuments of Russian architecture and an
outstanding monument of world art. The Germans destroyed the
cathedral building. . . .

“The Hitlerites robbed the cathedral entirely of all its
interior decorations; they carried off all the icons from the
iconostasis and the ancient chandeliers, including one which
belonged to Boris Godunov. . . .

“The Church of the Annunciation on the Arkage, dating back to
the 12th century, was converted by the fascists into a fortified
position and barracks.”

I omit one paragraph.

“The Church of the Assumption on Volotov Field, a monument of
Novgorod architecture of the 14th-15th centuries, was turned by
the Germans into a heap of stones and bricks.”

I omit one sentence.

“The Church of the Transfiguration of our Lord, in Ilyin Street,
was destroyed. It was one of the finest specimens of Novgorod
architecture of the 14th century, particularly famed for its
frescoes, painted in the same period by the great Byzantine
master, Theofan, the Greek.”

I omit the rest of this page and pass on to Page 54, of my report.

“Over 2 years of Hitlerite rule in Novgorod brought about the
ruin of many other wonderful, ancient monuments of Russian
architecture. . . . By order of the commanding general of the
18th German Army, Generaloberst Lindemann, the German barbarians
dismantled and prepared for removal to Germany the monument to
‘a thousand years of Russia.’ This monument was erected in the
Kremlin Square in 1862 and represented, in artistic images, the
main stages of the development of our native land up to the
sixties of the 19th century. . . .

“The Hitler barbarians dismantled the monument and smashed the
statuary. They did not, however, succeed in shipping it off and
melting down the metal.”

Citizen Youri Nikolaievich Dimitriev, in his affidavit, gives a very detailed account of the barbarous destruction by the Germans of the monuments of ancient Russian art in the cities of Novgorod and Pskov. Dimitriev, since 1937, was the custodian of the Ancient Russian Art Section of the Russian State Museum in Leningrad. He began the study of the historical monuments of Novgorod and Pskov in 1926. As a great expert in this particular sphere of art, he was asked by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union to participate in the investigation of the crimes of the German fascist invaders.

I submit to the Tribunal the original of Dimitriev’s depositions, duly certified, in accordance with legal procedure in the U.S.S.R., as Document Number USSR-312 (Exhibit Number USSR-312). You will find it, Your Honors, on Pages 335 and 347 in your document book. In submitting his affidavit, I shall omit facts already known to the Tribunal from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission previously read into the record. I quote only a few short excerpts which will be found on Pages 336 and 339. Mr. Dimitriev stated as follows—I read:

“The greater part of Novgorod is razed to the ground; only a few
districts were left by the Germans and even these were in ruins.
Pskov was also left in ruins by the Germans; during their
retreat they blew up the buildings and monuments. Of 88
buildings of historical and artistic value in Novgorod only two
buildings are without grave damages. . . . Only a few isolated
monuments in Pskov were left undamaged.

“In Novgorod and Pskov the Germans deliberately destroyed
monuments of historical and artistic value.”

And further:

“The German Army, while destroying and damaging monuments of
historical and artistic value, plundered and carried off works
of art and valuable objects which formed part of, or were
contained in, these monuments.

“At the same time the German troops profaned and desecrated
several ecclesiastical monuments of historic and artistic value
in Novgorod and Pskov.”

Day by day for 26 months, the Hitlerites systematically destroyed one of the most ancient Russian cities, Smolensk.

The Soviet Prosecution has presented to the Tribunal a document as Document Number USSR-56, containing the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union. I shall not quote this document; but I shall only refer to it and endeavor, in my own words, to emphasize the fundamental points of this document, dealing with the reported theme now.

In Smolensk, the German fascist invaders plundered and destroyed the most valuable collections in the museums. They desecrated and burned down ancient monuments; they destroyed schools and institutes, libraries, and sanatoriums. The report also mentions the fact that in April 1943, the Germans needed rubble to pave the roads. For this purpose, they blew up the intermediate school. The Germans burned down all the libraries of the city and 22 schools; 646,000 volumes perished in the library fires.

I now pass on to Page 57 of my report:

“Prior to the German occupation Smolensk contained four museums
with extremely valuable collections.

“The museum of art possessed most valuable collections,
primarily of Russian historic-artistic, historic-sociological,
ethnographic, and other valuables: paintings, icons, bronzes,
porcelains, metal castings, and textiles. These collections were
of international value and had been exhibited in France. The
invaders destroyed the museums and took the most valuable
exhibits to Germany.”

I shall quote only one last paragraph on Page 57:

“The Einsatzstab Rosenberg for the confiscation and exportation
of valuables from the occupied regions of the East had a special
branch in Smolensk, headed by Dr. Norling, the organizer for the
plunder of museums and historical monuments.”

Such are some of the numerous facts of the crimes committed by the fascist barbarians. They demonstrate how the criminal schemes of the Hitlerite conspirators were actually materialized.

It is known how mercilessly the German fascist invaders carried out the economic plunder of the Ukrainian people. But destruction and plunder of Ukrainian cultural and historical treasures played no lesser part in the plans of the Hitlerite conspirators, and was carried out with the same savage zeal. In accordance with their criminal plans for the enslavement of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people, the Hitlerite conspirators endeavored to annihilate its culture. From the very first days of their invasion of the Ukraine the Hitlerites, in execution of their criminal designs, embarked upon the systematic destruction of schools, higher educational institutions, scientific establishments, museums, libraries, clubs, and theaters.

The historical and cultural treasures in the cities of Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, in the Provinces of Stalino and Rovno, and many other larger and smaller cities, were subjected to plunder and destruction.

From the document presented by the Soviet Prosecution under Document Number USSR-32, containing the sentence pronounced by the military tribunal of the 4th Ukrainian Front between 15-18 December 1943, it is evident that the German fascist armies of Kharkov, in the Province of Kharkov, acting on direct instructions of Hitler’s Government, burned, plundered, and destroyed the material and cultural treasures of the Soviet people. These excerpts, Your Honors, you will find on Page 359 in your document book.

I now proceed to the evidence of crimes committed by the Hitlerites in the capital of the Ukrainian Republic, Kiev. I quote one paragraph of the document presented by the Soviet Prosecution under Document Number USSR-248. You will find it on Page 363 of your document book. It is an extract from the records of the Extraordinary State Commission “about the destruction and plunder by the fascist aggressors of Kiev’s Psychiatric Hospital.” Among other destructions they—I quote:

“. . . burned the archives of the institute, priceless from a
scientific point of view, destroyed the magnificent hospital
library of 20,000 volumes, plundered the especially protected
and priceless monument of the 11th century—the famous Cathedral
of Saint Cyryl situated in the institute grounds.”

I next pass on to several excerpts from the Extraordinary State Commission’s report which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-9 (Document Number USSR-9). The excerpts quoted are on Pages 365-366 of the document book:

“Before the German invasion, Kiev possessed 150 secondary and
elementary schools. Of this number, 77 schools were used by the
Germans as military barracks. Nine served as warehouses and
workshops, two were occupied by military staffs and eight were
turned into stables. During their retreat from Kiev, the German
barbarians destroyed 140 schools.”

I omit the next paragraph.

“The German invaders stole more than 4 million volumes from the
book stocks of the Kiev libraries. From the library of the
Ukrainian S.S.R. Academy of Science alone the Hitlerites sent to
Germany over 320,000 various valuable and unique books,
magazines, and manuscripts.”

I beg Your Honors to note that Dr. Förster, SS Obersturmführer, who served in the special purpose battalion, established on the initiative of the Defendant Ribbentrop and acting under his orders, testified to the plunder of the library of the Ukrainian S.S.R., Academy of Science, in his deposition of 10 November 1942, which I have already read into the record.

I omit one paragraph and pass on to a further reading from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission:

“On 5 September 1943 the Germans burned and blew up one of the
most ancient centers of Ukrainian culture, the T. G. Shevtchenko
State University in Kiev, founded in 1834. In the fire perished
the greatest of cultural treasures which for centuries had
represented the scientific and educational bases on which the
work of the university was founded; perished, the priceless
documents from the historical archives of ancient manuscripts;
perished, the library containing over 1,300,000 books;
destroyed, the zoological museum of the university with over 2
million exhibits, together with a whole series of other
museums. . . .

“. . . The German occupiers also destroyed other institutions of
higher learning in Kiev; they burned and looted the majority of
the medical institutions.

“In Kiev the fascist barbarians burned down the building of the
Red Army Dramatic Theater . . . , the Theatrical Institute, the
Academy of Music, where the instruments were burned together
with the very wealthy library and all the equipment; they blew
up the beautiful circus building; they burned down, with its
entire equipment, the M. Gorki Theater for Juvenile Audiences;
they destroyed the Jewish theater. . . .

“In the Museum of Western European and Eastern Art only some
large canvases were left; the robbers had not had time to remove
them from the high walls of the stairway shafts. From the Museum
of Russian Art the Hitlerites carried off, together with all the
other exhibits, a collection of Russian icons of inestimable
value. They looted the Museum of Ukrainian Art; only 1,900
exhibits of the National Art Section of this museum were left of
the original 41,000.”

I omit the remainder of this page and pass to Page 62 of my report:

“The Hitlerites plundered the T. G. Shevtchenko Museum and the
historical museum. They looted the greatest monument to the Slav
peoples—the Cathedral of Saint Sophia—from which they removed
14 12th century frescoes.”

I omit one paragraph.

“By order of the German Command the troops plundered, blew up,
and destroyed a very ancient cultural monument—the
Kievo-Pecherskaya Abbey. . . .

“The Uspenski Cathedral, built in 1075-89 by the order of Grand
Duke Svjatoslav, with murals painted in 1897 by the famous
painter V. V. Vereshchiagin, was blown up by the Germans on 3
November 1941.”

I omit the remainder of Page 62 and pass on to Page 63 of the report:

“We cannot gaze without sorrow”—states Nicholas, Metropolitan
of Kiev and Galicia, and member of the Extraordinary State
Commission—“on the heaps of rubble of the Uspenski Cathedral,
founded in the 11th century by the genius of its immortal
builders. The explosions formed several huge craters in the area
surrounding the cathedral, and, beholding them, it would appear
that the very earth had shuddered at the sight of the atrocities
committed by those who no longer had a right to be called human
beings. It was as if a terrible hurricane had passed over the
abbey, overturning everything, scattering and destroying the
mighty buildings of the abbey. For over 2 years Kiev lay
shackled in the German chains. Hitler’s executioners brought
death to Kiev, together with ruins, famine, and executions. In
time all this will pass from the near present to the far distant
past; but never will the people of Russia and the Ukraine, or
honest men all the world over, forget these crimes.”

Mr. President, may I dwell on two more documents?

The first, Document Number 035-PS, is entitled, “A Brief Report on Security Measures of the Chief Labor Group in the Ukraine during the Withdrawal of the Armed Forces.” It was presented to the Tribunal by our American colleagues on 18 December 1945. A characteristic peculiarity of this document is that it openly testifies to the looting. It is quite clear to all that reference is made to a gang of robbers, although the Hitlerites still persist in referring to robbery as work. They shipped the most valuable exhibits of the Ukrainian Museum to Germany as “miscellaneous textiles.”

The report begins with the description of the creation of safe quarters for the Einsatzstab establishments, a purpose for which the inhabitants of an entire district were thrown out of their quarters. There then follows, in this document, a list of booty removed from the plundered museums of Kharkov and Kiev, from archives, and even from private libraries.

I shall quote one brief excerpt only from this document, dealing with the contents of the Ukrainian and the prehistorical museum of Kiev. You will find this excerpt on Page 368 of the document book. I quote:

“October 1943, materials of the Ukrainian museum in Kiev.

“On the basis of the general evacuation orders of the city
commissioner, the following were sorted out by us and loaded for
shipment to Kraków:

“Miscellaneous textiles; collections of valuable embroidery
patterns; collections of brocades; numerous wooden utensils, _et
cetera_.

“Moreover, a large part of the prehistoric museum was carried
away.”

The second, Document Number 1109-PS of 17 June 1944, is headed, “Note for the Director of Operation Group P4,” and is addressed to Von Milde-Schreden. I shall quote it completely because it is really a short excerpt which you will find on Page 369 of the document book:

“2. The removal of cultural property.

“A great deal of material from museums, archives, institutions,
and other cultural establishments was in an orderly manner
removed from Kiev in the autumn of 1943.

“These actions to safeguard the material were carried out by
Einsatzstab RR, as well as by the individual directors of
institutes, _et cetera_, at the instigation of the Reich
Commissioner.”

Here, Your Honors, I would point out that Einsatzstab Rosenberg in some documents is also referred to as the “Task Staff RR.” These initials stand for Reichsleiter Rosenberg.

“At first, a great deal of the property that was to be evacuated
was taken only to the areas of the rear; later on, this material
was forwarded to the Reich. When the undersigned, towards the
end of September, received the order from the cultural division
of the Reich Commissioner to take out of Kiev the remaining
cultural effects, the materials most valuable from a cultural
point of view had already been removed. During October some 40
carloads of cultural effects were shipped to the Reich. In this
case it was chiefly a question of valuables which belonged to
the research institutions of the national research center of the
Ukraine. These institutions, at present, are continuing their
work in the Reich and are being directed in such a manner that
at any given moment they can be brought back to the Ukraine. The
cultural values which could not be promptly safeguarded incurred
plunder. In this case, however, it was always a question of less
valuable material, as the essential assets had been removed in
an orderly manner.

“In October 1943 factories, workshops, plants, and other
equipment were removed from Kiev by the order of the town
commander, but where it was taken, I do not know.”

This letter ends with the following sentence:

“At the time the Soviets entered the city there was nothing
valuable, in this respect, left in the city.”

May it please Your Honors, from the documents submitted by the Soviet Prosecution, the Tribunal has already learned about the criminal conspiracy between Hitler and Antonescu. As a reward for supplying Germany with cannon fodder, oil, wheat, cattle, _et cetera_, Antonescu’s criminal clique received from Hitler’s Government authorization to plunder the civilian population between the Bug and the Dniester. German and Romanian invaders plundered and destroyed many objects of cultural value, health resorts, and medical institutions in Odessa. The Hitlerites also plundered on their own account, as well as in co-operation with Antonescu’s clique. To prove this, I shall now read into the record a few excerpts from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union, presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-47 (Document Number USSR-47). These excerpts are taken from Page 372 of your document book. I omit one paragraph and begin to quote from the penultimate paragraph on this page of my report:

“The German Military Command plundered the museums of Odessa,
carrying away hundreds of unique objects.”

Further, I here omit two paragraphs and quote the last line of Page 66:

“According to a plan, drawn up in advance, the German fascist
invaders . . . blew up or burned 2,290 of the largest buildings
of architectural, artistic, and historical value. Included in
these were the house of A. S. Pushkin . . . the Saban barracks,
built in 1827, and others, representing in themselves valuable
monuments to the material culture of the beginning of the 19th
century.

“In Odessa the German-Romanian invaders destroyed: The first
hospital for contagious diseases, the second district hospital,
the somatological hospital, the psychiatric hospital, and two
children’s hospitals, a children’s polyclinic, seven infant
consulting centers, 55 day nurseries, two maternity homes, one
dispensary, one leprosarium, six polyclinics, and research
institutions for the study of tuberculosis, for studying
conditions in spas and others. They destroyed 29 sanatoria
located around Odessa.”

The Hitlerites committed crimes on an exceptionally large scale in the Stalino Province. I omit the rest of this page and pass to Page 68 of my report. The report of the Extraordinary State Commission, presented by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit Number USSR-2 (Document Number USSR-2), relates an enormous number of facts. I shall not quote all of those, Your Honors; but I shall confine myself only to several excerpts from the above-mentioned document which have not yet been read into the record by my colleagues. They can be found on Pages 374 and 375 in your document book. I quote:

“During their retreat from Stalino, the Hitlerites completely
destroyed . . . 113 schools, 62 kindergartens, 390 shops, the
winter and summer theaters, the Palace of the Pioneers, the
radio theater, the Museum of the Revolution, the picture gallery
and the Dzerjinsky Club of the city.

“Special Engineer detachments went from school to school,
pouring incendiary liquid over them and setting them on fire.
Such Soviet people who tried to extinguish the fires were
immediately shot by the fascist scoundrels. . . .

“Exceptionally severe damages were caused by the invaders to the
medical establishments of the city.”

I omit three paragraphs of the report, and I quote the penultimate paragraph on this page:

“The Medical Institute, a model scientific establishment for
2,000 students, was destroyed on the orders of Oberfeldarzt
Roll, chief medical officer of Belindorf, and the chief medical
officer of Kuchendorf.

“Of a total of 600,000 books on science and art, 530,000 volumes
were burned by the Hitlerites. . . .

“In the town of Makeyewka the German fascist invaders blew up
and burned down the city theater, seating 1,000 persons; the
circus, seating 1,500 persons; 49 schools, 20 day nurseries, and
44 kindergarten schools. By order of the Town Commander, Vogler,
35,000 volumes from the central Gorky library were destroyed on
a pyre.”

I shall not enumerate all the cities. These facts were mentioned in a document which, according to Article 21 of the Charter, provides irrefutable evidence. In agreement with the rulings of the Tribunal, this document will not be read into the record in full. I must, however, draw your attention to the fact that in all industrial towns of the Province of Stalino the Hitlerites burned down schools, theaters, day nurseries, hospitals, and even churches. Thus in the town of Gorlovka:

“. . . they destroyed 32 schools, attended by some 21,649
children, burned down the town hospital, five polyclinics, a
church, and the Palace of Culture. . . .

“In the city of Konstantinovka the occupational authorities blew
up and burned down all the 25 city schools, two cinemas, the
central city library with 35,000 volumes, the Pioneers’ Club,
the children’s technical center, the city hospital, and the day
nurseries.

“Before their retreat from Mariupol the German occupational
authorities burned down all the 68 schools of the city, 17
kindergarten schools . . . and the Palace of the Pioneers.”

I shall now quote a few excerpts from the document presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR 45 (Document Number USSR-45). These excerpts are found on Page 378 of your document book. The document deals with the Hitlerite crimes in Rovno and the region of Rovno. The city of Rovno was of special importance. It was the residence of Reich Minister Erich Koch, the closest collaborator of the Defendant Rosenberg. Numerous conferences of the Hitlerite leaders for elaborating their plan for the enslavement of the Ukrainian people took place in this city. The above-mentioned report of the Extraordinary State Commission established the following facts:

“The Hitlerites, on the Ukrainian territory they had seized,
endeavored to establish a regime of slavery and serfdom and to
annihilate the Ukrainian sovereignty and culture. . . .