Chapter V: Front Matter (5)

“The considerable material in possession of the Extraordinary
State Commission, based on documents, testimonies of witnesses,
and personal inspection by members of the commission, and their
acquaintance with conditions prevailing in various cultural and
educational establishments on Ukrainian territory liberated by
the Red Army, leaves no doubt that the German fascist barbarians
had for their aim the destruction of Ukrainian culture and the
extermination of the best representatives of Ukrainian art and
science who had fallen into their hands.”

I omit two paragraphs, and I quote the penultimate paragraph on this page:

“The German fascist aggressors closed down nearly all the
cultural and educational establishments in Rovno. On 30 November
1941 the closing down of schools in the General Commissariat of
Volhynia and Podolia was officially announced in the newspaper
_Volyn_.”

I omit the end of Page 70, and I quote the last paragraph of this document on Page 71 of my report:

“The fact that all these crimes were committed in the residence
of the former Reich Commissioner for the Ukraine, Erich Koch,
serves as additional proof that all the crimes of the Hitlerite
bandits were perpetrated in execution of a plan for the
extermination of the Soviet people and the devastation of the
Soviet territories temporarily occupied by the Hitlerites, a
plan conceived and executed by the Hitlerite Government.”

In Section 5 of his opening statement, General Rudenko, Chief Prosecutor for the U.S.S.R., quoted an extract from a letter of the Commissioner General for Bielorussia, Kube, addressed to the Defendant Rosenberg.

This document is a typewritten letter, signed in ink by Kube. It has several notations in pencil, evidently by the hand of Rosenberg; and it has a stamp, “Ministerial Bureau,” and is dated 3 October 1941. This document, identified as Document Number 1099-PS, I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-374 in evidence of the enormous proportions assumed by the plundering of historical treasures, carried out everywhere by the Hitlerites.

With your permission I shall now take the liberty of quoting some additional extracts from this document, which discloses the fact that not only were the plundered treasures sent to Germany but that they had also been stolen by individual generals of Hitler’s Army. Kube’s letter reveals at the same time the existence of a previously elaborated plan for the plunder of the cultural treasures in Leningrad, Moscow, and the Ukraine. The vandalism of the Hitlerites reached such proportions that even Kube, that hangman of the Bielorussian people, was roused to indignation. He was afraid of allowing a profitable deal to slip through his hands and sought compensation from Rosenberg. I quote the second paragraph from the beginning of the letter:

“Minsk possessed a large and, in part, a very valuable
collection of art treasures and paintings which have now been
removed almost in their entirety from the city. By order of
Reichsführer SS, Reichsleiter Heinrich Himmler, most of the
paintings, some still during my term of office, were packed by
the SS and sent to the Reich. They are worth several millions
which were withdrawn from the general district of White
Ruthenia. The paintings were supposedly sent to Linz and to
Königsberg in East Prussia. I beg to have this valuable
collection—as far as it is not needed in the Reich—placed once
more at the disposal of the general district of White Ruthenia
or, in any case, to place the monetary value of these
collections with the Ministry for the Occupied Eastern
Territories.”

Kube, as well as the Defendant Rosenberg, was of the opinion that he had the right to monopolize the stolen treasures and complained—I quote the second part of the second paragraph of this letter:

“General Stubenrauch has taken a valuable part of this
collection and has carried it off to the area of military
operations. Sonderführer, whose names have not yet been reported
to me, have carried off three truckloads (without receipt) of
furniture, paintings, and objects of art.”

Having, along with other fascist leaders, robbed the people of Bielorussia, and taken a direct part in the mass ill-treatment and extermination of the Soviet population, Kube hypocritically declared—I quote the last paragraph of this letter:

“Bielorussia, already poor in itself, has suffered heavy losses
through these actions.”

And Kube recommended to Rosenberg—I quote:

“I hope that experts will be appointed beforehand to prevent
such happenings in Leningrad and Moscow, as well as in some of
the ancient Ukrainian cultural centers.”

That was the ultimate goal of their ideas. It is now universally known what meaning the Hitlerites attached to the word “measures” when applied to the occupied territories. It meant a regime of bloody terror and violence, of unrestricted plunder, and arbitrariness.

On breaking into Minsk, capital of the Bielorussian Republic, the German fascist invaders attempted to destroy the culture of the Bielorussian people and to turn the Bielorussians into obedient German slaves. As has been established by a special investigation, the Hitlerite military authorities, acting on direct orders from the German Government, ruthlessly destroyed scientific research institutes and schools, theaters and clubs, hospitals and polyclinics, kindergartens and day nurseries.

I am reading into the record an excerpt from the document which was presented by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit Number USSR-38 (Document Number USSR-38).

“For 3 years the German fascist invaders in Minsk set out to
destroy, systematically, the scientific research institutes,
institutions of higher education, libraries, museums,
institutions of the academy of science, theaters, and clubs.

“The Lenin library in Minsk was a foundation more than 20 years
old. In 1932 the work was completed by the construction of a
special new building with a large and well-equipped depository
for storing books. From this library the Germans carried off to
Berlin and Königsberg 1½ million extremely valuable books on the
history of Bielorussia. . . .”

I omit the end of Page 73 of my report.

“In their attempt to eradicate the culture of the Bielorussian
people, the German fascist invaders destroyed every cultural and
educational institution in Minsk. . . . The libraries of the
Academy of Science, containing 30,000 volumes, of the State
University, of the Polytechnical Institute, and the
medico-scientific library and the public library of the city, A.
S. Pushkin, were carried away to Germany.

“The Hitlerites destroyed the Bielorussian State University
together with the Zoological, the Geological, and Mineralogical,
the Historical, and Archaeological Museums as well as the
Medical Institute with all its clinics. They also demolished the
Academy of Sciences with its nine institutes.”

I omit the remainder of this paragraph.

“They destroyed the State Art Gallery and carried away to
Germany paintings and sculptures by Russian and Bielorussian
masters. . . . They plundered the Bielorussian State Theater of
Opera and Ballet, the First Bielorussian Dramatic Theater, the
House of National Creative Art, together with the houses of the
unions of writers, artists, and composers.

“In Minsk the fascists destroyed 47 schools, 24 kindergarten
schools, the Palace of the Pioneers, 2 lying-in hospitals, 3
children’s hospitals, 5 municipal polyclinics, 27 nurseries, and
4 children’s welfare centers; the Institution of Infant and
Maternity Welfare was reduced to a heap of ruins.”

The Prosecution has at its disposal Document Number 076-PS which is a report entitled, “On Minsk Libraries,” by a German private first class, Abel. This private had investigated all the libraries in Minsk and stated in his report that nearly all of them had been destroyed.

I present this report as Exhibit Number USSR-375 (Document Number USSR-375). I consider, Mr. President, that it will be quite sufficient to read into the record individual excerpts from this report. There is no need to read the report in its entirety. It is stated, on Page 75 of my report, that:

“The Lenin library was the central library of Bielorussia. It is
difficult to estimate the number of volumes, but the number of
books is approximately 5 millions. . . . The depositories for
storing books present a desolate picture. . . .”

I omit two paragraphs of my report, and I quote further:

“The library of the Polytechnical Institute in the basement of
the left wing, as well as a great number of laboratories, were
devastated beyond hope and left in complete disorder.”

The report concludes with the following sentence, which I quote:

“The purpose of this report”—wrote the German private—“can be
achieved only if submitted to the Supreme Command and when the
command will issue the necessary orders plainly forbidding the
German soldier from behaving like a barbarian.”

But such orders never followed and never could follow, since fascism and barbarism are inseparable; fascism, in fact, means barbarism.

THE PRESIDENT: What were you proposing to do after the adjournment this afternoon?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: After the recess I shall present several written documents pertaining to the destruction of cultural valuables in the Lithuanian, Estonian, and Latvian Republics and later, with the permission of the Tribunal, I should like to present a documentary film, so that at the close of the session all presentation of evidence would be completed and my report finished.

THE PRESIDENT: How long will the film take?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: The presentation of the documentary film will take about 30 to 35 minutes.

THE PRESIDENT: Do you not think that after the vast amount of damage and spoliation to which you have drawn our attention in some detail it would be sufficient if you were to summarize by telling us the countries in which similar spoliation had taken place? It is difficult to assimilate all this vast amount of detail.

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I have in mind, Mr. President, to present to the Tribunal a document which will serve as a summary and in which all the general totals will be given.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well. We will adjourn now for 10 minutes.

[_A recess was taken._]

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I wish to draw the attention of the Tribunal for a few minutes to the fact that before presenting the conclusion of this document I should like to read into the record a German document referring to the subject.

Having occupied the Lithuanian, Estonian, and Latvian Soviet Republics, the German fascist invaders attempted to reduce the Soviet Baltic provinces to the status of a German colony and to enslave the people of these republics. This criminal design of the Hitlerite Government found its full expression in universal plunder, general ruin, violence, degradation, and in the mass murder of old men, women, and children.

In order to germanize the people of the Lithuanian, Estonian, and Latvian Soviet Socialist Republics, the Hitlerites destroyed, by all possible means, the culture of the peoples of these republics. I skip the remainder of Pages 76, 77, and 78, and from Page 79 I quote one paragraph only:

“The capital of Soviet Latvia, Riga, was declared by the
occupational authorities as the capital of ‘Ostland’ (Eastern
Territory) and the seat of Staff Rosenberg.”

In the documents presented to the Tribunal by the Soviet Prosecution as Document Number USSR-7, Document Number USSR-39, and Document Number USSR-41, there are a number of facts which do not and cannot exhaust the crimes perpetrated by the German fascist invaders in the Soviet Baltic provinces. Among the monstrous crimes against the peoples of the Baltic provinces, the Defendant Rosenberg, the former Reich Minister, played a major part.

I read from Page 81. Even at the time when it was quite evident that the downfall of fascist Germany was fast approaching, when the hour of just and stern retribution was facing the Hitler criminals, the Defendant Rosenberg still continued in his plundering. As late as the end of August 1944, Rosenberg organized and executed the plundering of cultural resources in Riga and Reval, in Dorpat, and in a number of towns in the Estonian Republic.

I draw the attention of the Tribunal to Document Number 161-PS, dated 23 August 1944, entitled “Assignment” and signed by Rosenberg’s Chief of Staff, Utikal. This document is submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-376 (Document Number USSR-376), which Your Honors will find on Page 400 of the document book. I quote:

“Order. On 21 August 1944, Reichsleiter Alfred Rosenberg
requested Haupteinsatzführer Friedrich Schueller from the
Einsatzstab RR to report on the possibilities still existing for
the evacuation of cultural treasures from the eastern
territories. On the basis of this report the Reichsleiter has
ruled that the most precious cultural riches of the Ostland
could still be removed by his staff, insofar as this can be done
without interfering with the interests of the fighting forces.
The Reichsleiter specified the following cultural objects as
having particular value:

“From Riga—the city archives, the state archives (the major
part of these were in Edwahlen);

“From Reval—the city archives, the Estonian Literary Society,
and small collections from Schwarzhäupterhaus, the town hall,
Evangelical Lutheran consistory, and Nicolas’ Church.

“From Dorpat—the university library; collections evacuated to
Estonian estates—Jerlep, Wodja, Weissenstein, and Lachmes.

“Haupteinsatzführer Schueller, in his capacity as acting
director of the main working group of the Einsatzstab RR, is
commissioned with the carrying out of the removal and shipment.

“He is advised to maintain special contact with Army Group North
in order to co-ordinate the execution of this mission of the
Reichsleiter, with the transportation requirements of the field
forces.

“Utikal, chief of Einsatzstab”

I should like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to another peculiar circumstance. In this case, too, the looting was carried out by Rosenberg together with the High Command, and as late as the fall of 1944, “future chiefs” of Staff Rosenberg were selected.

An analysis of all these circumstances permits us categorically to reassert that the destruction and looting of cultural valuables was inspired, directed, and executed by a central organization, and that this central organization was the criminal Hitler Government and the High Command, the representatives of which, in the persons of all the defendants in this Trial, should suffer punishment in accordance with Article 6 of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal.

May it please Your Honors, when we deal with a system of wholesale destruction and plunder, it is impossible, and scarcely necessary, to enumerate all the facts, even if these facts are, _per se_, of great importance. In the occupied territories of the Soviet Union the Hitlerites carried out precisely such a system of wholesale and manifold destruction and plunder of cultural treasures of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. At this moment it is not yet possible to draw up an exhaustive balance of the defendants’ crimes.

But I shall, with the permission of the Tribunal, submit a document containing data which, although only of a preliminary nature, are absolutely accurate and bear witness to the tremendous damage inflicted by the Hitlerites.

I have in view the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union, submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-35 (Document Number USSR-35). This document is on Pages 404 and 405 of your document book. From this I shall only quote individual excerpts concerning the subject which I am presenting and which have not yet been read into the record:

“Destruction of Cultural-Social Institutions, Public
Organizations, and Co-operatives.

“The German plunderers destroyed various establishments, clubs,
stadia, rest homes, and sanatoria belonging to consumer and
industrial co-operatives, trade unions, and other public
organizations . . . in the occupied territory of the U.S.S.R.
They destroyed over 87,000 industrial buildings belonging to
co-operatives, trade unions, and other social organizations;
10,000 residential buildings and 1,839 cultural and social
institutions. They carried off to Germany about 8,000,000
books. . . .

“Of the property of the trade unions the German invaders
completely destroyed 120 sanatoria and 150 rest homes in which
over 3 million workers, engineers, technicians, and other
employees spent their annual rest leave. Of this total figure
they destroyed, in the Crimea 59 sanatoria and rest homes. . .
in the spas of the Caucasus 32 sanatoria and rest homes; in the
Leningrad area 33 sanatoria and rest homes; in the Ukraine 88
sanatoria and rest homes.

“The German fascist invaders destroyed the buildings of 46
pioneer camps and children’s convalescent institutions belonging
to the trade unions. They destroyed 189 clubs and palaces of
culture.”

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

“In the territory of the Soviet Union which was occupied by the
Germans, at the beginning of 1941, there were 82,000 elementary
and secondary schools with 15 million pupils. All the secondary
schools possessed libraries, each with from 2,000 to 25,000
volumes; many schools possessed auditoria for physics,
chemistry, biology, and others. . . .

“The German fascist invaders burned, destroyed, and plundered
these schools with their entire property and equipment. . . .”

I omit the end of this paragraph.

“The German fascist invaders entirely or partially destroyed 334
colleges at which 233,000 students were studying; they removed
to Germany the equipment of the laboratories and lecture rooms
together with the exhibits, unique of their kind, from the
collections of the universities, institutes, and libraries.

“Great damage was inflicted on the medical colleges. . . .

“The occupants destroyed or looted 137 pedagogical institutions
and teachers’ colleges. . . . They removed historical material
and ancient manuscripts from special libraries, and stole or
destroyed over 100 million volumes in the public libraries.”

I omit the next paragraph:

“They destroyed, on the whole, 605 scientific research
institutes.”

I omit the end of Page 85 of my report and the first paragraph of Page 86.

“Enormous damage was inflicted by the Germans on the medical
establishments of the Soviet Union. They destroyed or plundered
6,000 hospitals, 33,000 polyclinics, dispensaries, and
out-patient departments, 976 sanatoria and 656 rest homes.”

I omit the next three paragraphs.

“Destruction of Museums and Historical Monuments.

“In the occupied territories the German fascist invaders
destroyed 427 out of a total of 992 museums of the Soviet
Union.”

I omit the end of this page and quote the beginning of Page 87 of the report:

“The Germans also destroyed the museum of the peasant poet S. D.
Drozhzhin, in the village of Zavidovo, the museum of the
people’s poet I. S. Nikitin, in Voronezh, and the museum of the
famous Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, at Novogrudka in the
Bielorussian S.S.R. At Alagir they burned the manuscript of the
national singer Osetij Kosta Khetagurov.

“The German fascist invaders destroyed 44,000 theaters, clubs,
and so-called ‘Red corners.’”

Now with the permission of the Tribunal, I should like to submit a documentary film and a certificate testifying to the documentary character of this film. The film is entitled, “Destruction of Art and Museums of National Culture perpetrated by the Germans on the Territory of the U.S.S.R.” This film and the documents testifying to the documentary nature of these reels are submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-98 (Document Number USSR-98). In this film, besides documentary photographs taken between 1941-45, there are also extracts made in 1908, showing Yasnaya Polyana and Leo Tolstoy. Subsequent photographs show what the German invaders did to this cultural relic of the Soviet people.

May I proceed with the presentation of the film, Your Honor?

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, of course.

[_Moving pictures were then shown._]

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I must dwell, Your Honors, on one more category of crimes committed by the Hitlerites—the spoliation and destruction of churches, convents, and other places of religious worship.

By destroying monasteries, churches, mosques, and synagogues and robbing their property, the German invaders sadistically mocked the religious feelings of the people. These blasphemous crimes assumed a general appearance in all the territories which were under German rule. Soldiers and officers organized bloody orgies in places of worship, kept horses and dogs in the churches, donned the church vestments, and made sleeping bunks out of the icons.

I shall not trespass on your time by reading all the numerous documents at the disposal of the Soviet Prosecution, and shall merely dwell on some of these, in particular on the documentary photographs, an album of which I present to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-99 (Document Number USSR-99).

With your permission, I should like to read a few more documents and particularly a short extract from the document which has already been presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51(3) (Document Number USSR-51(3)). You can find this extract in your document book on the back of Page 321. I quote:

“The Hitlerite invaders do not spare the religious sentiments of
the believing section of the Soviet population either. They have
burned, looted, blown up, and desecrated hundreds of churches on
Soviet territory, including several irreplaceable monuments of
ancient church architecture.”

I omit two paragraphs, and I quote the next one:

“The priest Amvrosy Ivanov writes from the village of
Iklinskoye, in the Moscow region:

“‘Before the arrival of the Germans the church was in complete
order. A German officer ordered me to take everything out of the
church. . . . At night troops arrived, occupied the church,
brought in their horses. . . . Then they began to smash and
break everything in the church and to build bunks. They threw
out everything: the altar, the holy gates and banners, and the
holy shroud. In a word, the church was turned into a robbers’
den.’”

I omit the remaining part of Page 88, and I read Page 89 of the report:

“In the village of Gosteshevo, the Germans plundered the church,
broke up the holy banners, threw the books about, robbed the
Reverend Mikhail Strakhov and carried him off with them to
another district. In the village of Kholm, near Mozhaisk, the
Germans robbed and beat up the 82-year-old local priest. In
retreating from Mozhaisk, the Germans blew up the Church of the
Ascension, the Church of the Holy Trinity, and the Cathedral of
Nicholas, the miracle worker. As a rule, before retreating, the
Germans would drive part of the population of the villages
destroyed by fire into the churches, lock them up, and then set
fire to these churches.”

I am now reading into the record a short excerpt from Exhibit Number USSR-312 (Document Number USSR-312), submitted to the Tribunal:

“In a north side-altar of the Znamensky Cathedral, the Germans
set up a latrine for the soldiers living in the crypt of the
cathedral.

“The Church of the Prophet Elijah on the Slavna was transformed
into a stable.

“Stables were built in the following Pskov churches:
Bogoyavlenie on Zapskovie, Kozma and Demian on the Gremiatchy
Hill, Constantine and Helen, and in the Church of Saint John the
Evangelist.”

The document which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-279 (Document Number USSR-279) describes facts of blasphemous mockery which took place in the town of Gjatsk where the churches were transformed by the Germans into stables and warehouses. In the Church of the Annunciation the Germans set up a slaughterhouse for horned cattle.

The document which I am now presenting to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-246 (Document Number USSR-246) is a report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union and contains general data relating to the churches, chapels, and other institutions of religious worship which have been destroyed or damaged. This document states:

“The German fascist invaders completely destroyed or partly
damaged 1,670 churches, 69 chapels, 237 Roman Catholic churches,
four mosques, 532 synagogues, and 254 other buildings for
religious worship.”

Your Honors will find in the document, submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-35 (Document Number USSR-35), these general data on the subject. I will not burden the Tribunal’s attention by reading the document into the record in full, but I should like to quote a few very short excerpts from it. I quote:

“The material responsibility by the Germans cannot make complete
amends for the destruction of ecclesiastical buildings, and of
the most ancient historical monuments; the majority of these can
never be restored.”

Omitting the remainder of the page, as well as the first four paragraphs of Page 91 of the report, I read the last paragraph of this page:

“Many churches, historical monuments of antiquity, were
destroyed by the German invaders in Bielorussia. Thus, in the
city of Vitebsk, they destroyed the Church of the Nativity, an
interesting monument of Bielorussian architecture of the 12th
century. They completely destroyed the wooden Apostle and Saint
Nicholas Churches, built in the 18th century.

“Almost irreparable damage was done to the
Voskresenko-Zaruchjevsky Church, built in the 18th century. This
church was an interesting example of the Bielorussian classic
style of architecture. In the same area, in the city of Vitebsk,
the Germans destroyed a Roman Catholic church built in the 18th
century. . . .

“In the town of Dyesna, of the Polotsk region, the Germans
burned a Roman Catholic church founded in the 17th century,
after plundering its property.

“Timoschel Rudolf, German garrison commandant of the town of
Rozhnyatov, in the Stanislav region, used three synagogues for
barracks and later on destroyed the buildings after plundering
the property contained therein.”

I omit the next paragraph.

“Before destroying buildings of various religious cults the
Germans plundered and destroyed all their equipment. A great
number of icons and church decorations were removed from
ecclesiastical buildings to Germany.

“The Joseph-Volokalamsky Monastery was plundered and the ancient
shrouds of the monastery, together with the personal belongings
of Joseph Volotsky, founder of the monastery, have
disappeared. . . .

“In 1941 German soldiers and officers stole from the Staritzki
Church all the vessels, altar crosses, crowns, miters, and
tabernacles.

“In the town Dokshitza, in the Polotsk region, the Germans
looted and took away all the property of the local mosque. The
same fate was shared by nearly all the churches in the
territories occupied by the Germans.

“Everywhere the Germans plundered Orthodox and Catholic
churches, synagogues, mosques, and other buildings of religious
worship.”

The Hitlerite conspirators not only actually plundered, tortured, and murdered, but they also strove to humiliate the believers morally and to rob them of their spiritual treasures.

Such, Your Honors, is the conclusive evidence concerning the crimes against culture, committed by Rosenberg, Frank, Göring, Ribbentrop, Keitel, and the other participants in the conspiracy. The crimes of the defendants against culture are terrible indeed in their consequences. Even though it be possible, by a tremendous effort, to rebuild the cities and villages destroyed by the Hitlerites, even though it be possible to restore the factories and plants blown up or burned down by them, mankind has lost for all time the irreplaceable art treasures which the Hitlerites so ruthlessly destroyed, as it has lost forever the millions of human beings sent to their death in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Babye-yar, or Kerch.

Having inherited the savage hatred of all mankind from the dim ages of the past, the modern Huns have far surpassed, in cruelty and vandalism, the darkest pages of history. While arrogantly challenging the future of mankind, they trampled under foot the finest heritage of mankind’s past. Themselves without faith or ideals, they sacrilegiously destroyed both the churches and the relics of the saints.

But in this unparalleled struggle between culture and obscurantism, between civilization and barbarism, culture and civilization prevailed. The Hitlerite conspirators who had aspired to world domination, who had dreamed of destroying the culture of the Slavs and of all other nations, now stand in the defendants’ dock. May a just punishment be theirs.

THE PRESIDENT: Will you continue until 5 o’clock?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: As you wish, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes; will you go on until 5 o’clock?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I should only like to ask for a few minutes’ interval in order to collect some documents. It will literally take only a few moments.

THE PRESIDENT: It would be hardly worth while if you want a short interval. We shall stop at 5 o’clock.

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: It would perhaps be more convenient to begin again at 1000 hours tomorrow.

THE PRESIDENT: Then we will adjourn now.

[_The Tribunal adjourned until 22 February 1946 at 1000 hours._]

SIXTY-FIFTH DAY
Friday, 22 February 1946

_Morning Session_

MARSHAL: May it please the Court: The Defendant Fritzsche will be absent until further notice on account of illness.

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: May it please Your Honors, may I begin the submission of evidence to prove the charge that the defendants are guilty of the destruction of towns and villages and of the perpetration of other kinds of destruction. This charge is laid down in Section C of Count Three of the Indictment.

We shall present evidence proving that the destruction of cities and towns was brought about neither by the hazards of war nor by military expediencies. We shall submit evidence that this deliberate destruction was carried out in accordance with the thoroughly elaborated plans of the Hitlerite Government and orders of the German military command; that the destruction of towns and cities, of industry and transportation was an integral part of the conspiracy which aimed at enslaving the peoples of Europe and other countries, and establishing a world hegemony of Hitlerite Germany.

Wherever the German fascist invaders appeared, they brought death and destruction. In the flames of the fires were lost the most valuable machines devised by the genius of mankind; factories and dwellings giving work and shelter to millions were blown up. People themselves perished, especially old men, women, and children, left without a roof over their heads or any means of existence.

With particular ruthlessness the Hitlerites annihilated and destroyed the towns and cities in the territories of the Soviet Union which they temporarily occupied, where, acting on direct orders of the German High Command, they created a desert zone.

As proof, I read into the record an excerpt from the document which had been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51(2) (Document Number USSR-51(2)). This excerpt the Members of the Tribunal will find on Page 3 of the document book. I quote:

“An order recently seized near the town of Verkhovye, Orel
region, issued to the 512th German Infantry Regiment and signed
by Colonel Schittnig, stated with unparalleled brazenness:

“‘A zone which, in view of the circumstances, is to be
evacuated, upon withdrawal of the troops should present a desert
zone. In order to carry out a complete destruction, all the
houses shall be burned. To this end they should first be filled
with straw, particularly stone houses. Structures of stone are
to be blown up, particularly cellars. Measures for the creation
of desert zones . . . are to be prepared beforehand and carried
out ruthlessly and in their entirety.’”

So runs the order to the 512th German Infantry Regiment.

“In razing our towns and villages, the German command demands of
its troops that a desert zone be created in all Soviet
localities from which the invaders are successfully expelled by
the Red Army.”

This order to the 512th Regiment, which is mentioned in the document I just quoted, is submitted as Exhibit Number USSR-168 (Document Number USSR-168).

THE PRESIDENT: Do you know the date of it?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: The date of this order is 10 December 1941. From this document it is clear that the German military command underwrote a ruthless and complete destruction of inhabited localities and that this destruction was planned and prepared in advance.

A large number of documents and facts concerning this question are in the possession of the Soviet Prosecution. I shall limit myself to reading into the record an excerpt from the verdict of the regional military court in the case of the German war criminals Lieutenant General Bernhardt and Major General Hamann. I submit this verdict to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-90 (Document Number USSR-90).

The military court established that the generals, Bernhardt and Hamann, had acted in accordance with the common plans and directives of the High Command of the German Army and that they—I quote a short excerpt from the verdict which Your Honors will find on Pages 24 and 25 of the document book:

“. . . had carried out a planned destruction of towns and
inhabited localities, determined in advance, along with the
destruction of industrial buildings, hospitals, sanatoria,
educational institutions, museums, and other cultural
educational institutions, as well as dwellings. The latter were
blown up without any previous warning to the Soviet citizens
living in them, with the result that people as well perished.”

As in the case of the destruction of inhabited localities, plants, and factories, power-stations and mines were also destroyed with premeditation.

For confirmation I shall draw the attention of the Tribunal to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union which was submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-2 (Document Number USSR-2). This document is on Page 28 of the document book.

In this report is quoted the secret directive of the leader of the department of economics (Wirtschaftsoffizier) of Army Group South of 2 September 1943, under Number 1/313/43, which ordered army leaders and leaders of the economics detachments to carry out a thorough annihilation of industrial institutions, emphasizing particularly that “. . . the destruction must be carried out not at the last moment when the troops may be engaged in combat or in retreat, but ahead of time.”

The note by V. M. Molotov, the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R. of 27 April 1942, deals with the orders of the German Supreme Command and with the manner in which these orders were executed. This note was submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51(3) (Document Number USSR-51(3)).

I shall now quote several excerpts from Part II of the note just mentioned, which is entitled, “The Devastation of Cities and Towns,” excerpts which were not read into the record before. These excerpts will be found on Pages 6, the reverse side, and 7 of the document book which is in the hands of the Tribunal. I read:

“By direct order of its High Command the German fascist Army has
subjected Soviet towns and villages to unparalleled devastation
upon seizure and in the course of the army’s occupation.”

I omit the end of Page 4 and the beginning of Page 5 of my report.

THE PRESIDENT: I do not think you ought to omit the first four lines of Page 5.

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I omitted it inasmuch as I read this document into the record yesterday, but if the Tribunal wishes—I shall gladly do it.

THE PRESIDENT: If you read it yesterday, do not read it again. I do not remember. Was it read yesterday?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Yes, I read this into the record yesterday.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well.

I am told that—and I think—that you did not read those lines “from 10 October 1941” at the top of Page 5. I think you had better read them. I am referring to the order of 10 October 1941, which is set out in your exposé.

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: This is the excerpt from the order given to the 6th German Army, on 10 October 1941, signed by Von Reichenau. This document is presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-12 (Document Number USSR-12). I quote:

“The troops have an interest in extinguishing fires only
inasmuch as military quarters have to be conserved. Otherwise
the disappearance . . . also of buildings, is within the limits
of the fight of extermination.

“At the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942 the German command
issued a number of orders instructing German army units to
destroy, in the course of their retreat under the pressure of
the Red Army, everything that had remained unscathed during the
occupation. Thousands of villages and hamlets, whole city
blocks, and even entire cities are reduced to ashes, blown up,
or razed to the ground by the retreating German fascist army.
The organized destruction of Soviet towns and villages has
become a special branch of the criminal activity of the German
invaders on Soviet territory; special instructions and detailed
orders of the German command are devoted to methods of
devastating Soviet populated centers; special detachments,
trained in this criminal profession, are set up for this
purpose. Here are some of the many facts which are at the
disposal of the Soviet Government:”

Once again I refer to the order addressed to the 512th Infantry Regiment already presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-168 (Document Number USSR-168).

“This order . . . is an exposition, consisting of seven typed
pages of the most precisely detailed plan for the methodical
destruction of village after village, from 10 December to 14
December inclusive, in the regiment’s area. This order, which
follows a model used throughout the German Army, states:

“‘Preparations for the destruction of populated centers must be
carried out in such a way that:

“‘(a) No suspicions whatever be aroused among the civilian
population prior to its announcement;

“‘(b) The destruction should begin and be carried out in a
single blow at the appointed time. On the day in question
particularly strict watch must be kept to see that no civilians
leave this place, especially after the destruction has been
announced.’

“An order of the commander of the 98th German Infantry Division,
dated 24 December 1941, after listing 16 Soviet villages
designated to be burned down, states:

“‘Available stocks of hay, straw, foodstuffs, _et cetera_, are
to be burned. All the stoves in dwelling houses are to be
wrecked by placing hand grenades in them, thus making further
use of them impossible. This order under no circumstances is to
fall into the hands of the enemy.’”

The following order of 3 January 1942, issued by Hitler, is of the same nature. The order states:

“‘Cling to every populated center; do not retreat a single step;
defend yourself to the last soldier, to the last grenade. That
is the requirement of the present moment. Every point occupied
by us must be turned into a base, which must not be surrendered
under any circumstances, even if outflanked by the enemy. If,
however, the given point must be abandoned on superior orders,
it is imperative that everything be razed to the ground, the
stoves blown up. . . .

“‘(Signed): Adolf Hitler.’

“Hitler felt no embarrassment about publicly admitting that the
devastation of Soviet towns and villages was carried out by his
Army. In his speech. . .”

THE PRESIDENT: That order of 3 January 1942, signed by Hitler, is that in the official Soviet State report? Where did it come from?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: This order is incorporated in the note of People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs Molotov. I quote an excerpt from it, a document which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51(3).

THE PRESIDENT: That is Mr. Molotov’s report?

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Yes, this is a note of the Foreign Commissar, Molotov.

THE PRESIDENT: All right.

MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: “. . . In his speech of 30 January
1942, Hitler stated:

“‘In those places where the Russians have succeeded in making a
break-through and where they thought that they would once again
be in possession of populated centers, these populated centers
no longer exist; they are but a heap of ruins.’”

While retreating from the Kuban under the thrust of the Red Army, the German High Command worked out a detailed plan of operations which bore the code name of “Movement Krimhild,” and a considerable part of this plan, a whole section, in fact, is devoted to the demolition plan. I omit one paragraph of my report.

This plan is mentioned in a two-page secret document transmitted by telegraph to the chiefs of the higher staffs. The document is signed by Hitler and has the following heading on the first page: “Top secret (A) 2371; 17 copies.” The document which we submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-115 is the 17th copy of the Hitler order. This document is listed as Document Number C-177; in your document book it is contained on Pages 31 to 33. I shall read into the record the second point of this document:

“2. Demolitions in case of retreat.

“(a) All structures, quartering facilities, roads,
constructions, dams, _et cetera_, which may be useful to the
adversary have to be thoroughly destroyed.

“(b) All railroads and field railways are to be either removed
or completely destroyed.

“(c) All constructed corduroy roads must be torn up and rendered
useless.

“(d) All oil wells in the Kuban bridgehead must be entirely
destroyed.

“(e) The harbor of Novorossiysk will be so demolished and
obstructed as to render it useless to the Russian fleet for a
long time.

“(f) Extensive sowing of mines, delayed-action mines, _et
cetera_, also come under the heading of destruction.

“(g) The enemy must take over a completely useless,
uninhabitable desert land where mine detonation will occur for
months hence.”

Many other documents bear witness of similar orders, but I want to draw the attention of the Tribunal to just two of them. I refer to an entry in the diary of the Defendant Frank which dealt with this subject in particular, as well as a directive issued by the commanding general of 118th German Jäger Division which operated in Yugoslavia.

In Frank’s diary, which has already been submitted to the Tribunal, there is the following entry for 17 April 1944, contained in the volume which was started on 1 March 1944 and ended on 31 May 1944, entitled, “The Business Meeting at Kraków on 12 April 1944.” Your Honors will find the quotation on Page 45 of the document book. I read:

“It is important that the troops be given an order to leave only
scorched earth to the Russians. In cases when it becomes
necessary to withdraw from a certain area, no distinction should
be made between the territory of the Government General and any
other territory.”

May I remind the Tribunal that according to Exhibit Number USSR-132 (Document Number USSR-132), which is a secret instruction issued to the 118th German Jäger Division with the signature of Major General Kübler and was captured in June 1944 by units of the Yugoslav People’s Liberation Army, the troops were to treat the population “ruthlessly with cruel firmness” and to destroy the inhabited localities which were abandoned.

May it please Your Honors, in concluding this part of my report I deem it necessary to draw your attention to another circumstance. The destruction of peaceful towns and villages was not only planned, not only carried out deliberately and with exceptional ruthlessness, but was executed by special detachments created by the German High Command for that very purpose. By way of evidence I shall quote several excerpts not yet read into the record from official Soviet Government documents.

In the note of 27 April 1942 is stated—I quote an excerpt which is on Page 9 of your document book:

“The special detachments set up by the German Command for the
purpose of setting fire to Soviet populated centers and for the
mass extermination of the civilian population during the retreat
of the Hitlerite Army, are perpetrating their sanguinary deeds
with the cold-bloodedness of professional criminals. Thus, for
instance before their retreat from the village of
Bolshekrepinskaya, Rostov region, the Germans sent down the
streets of the village special flame-throwing machines which
burned 1,167 buildings, one after the other. The large,
flourishing village was turned into flaming bonfires which
consumed the dwellings, the hospital, the school, and various
other public buildings. At the same time machine gunners,
without any warning, shot at inhabitants who approached their
burning houses; some of the residents were bound, sprayed with
gasoline and thrown into the burning buildings.”

I omit part of Page 9 of my report and pass on to the next, to the last paragraph on that page of my report. The report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-46 (Document Number USSR-46) states:

“In their insane fury against the Soviet people, which was
caused by defeats suffered at the front, the commanding general
of the 2d German Panzer Army, General Schmidt, and the commander
of the Orel administrative region and military commander of that
city, Major General Hamann, had created special demolition
commandos for the destruction of towns, villages, and collective
farms of the Orel region. These commandos, plunderers, and
arsonists destroyed everything in the path of their retreat.
They destroyed cultural monuments and works of art of the
Russian people, burned down cities, towns, and villages.”

In the document submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-279 (Document Number USSR-279), the following facts are described—I read:

“In Viazma and Gjatsk, the commanding generals—Major General
Merker of the 35th Infantry Division, Major General Schäfer of
the 252d Infantry Division, and Major General Roppert of the 7th
Infantry Division—organized special incendiary and demolition
commandos to set on fire and blow up dwellings, schools,
theaters, clubs, museums, libraries, hospitals, churches,
stores, and industrial plants, so that only ashes and ruins
would be left in the wake of their retreat.”

In the document which is presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-2 (Document Number USSR-2) there are several depositions of German prisoners of war. I shall quote one of these depositions. I read at the end of the page:

“Herman Verholtz, a private first class, from the 597th Infantry
Regiment of the 306th Division of the German Army, deposes as
follows:

“‘As a member of a demolition squad I took part in setting fire
to and blowing up government buildings and dwellings on First
Line, the main street of Stalino. My job was to place the
explosives, which I then ignited and thus blew up the buildings.
Altogether I participated in the demolition of five large houses
and in the burning of several others.’”

Your Honors, one could go on with the same kind of quotations. I repeat that scores of them are contained in the documents and depositions which we presented to the Tribunal, but I consider that there is no necessity to do that. What has already been read into the record permits us to conclude that the premeditated and deliberate devastations which were carried out by the Hitlerites in the occupied territories were really a system and not individual acts, and that those devastations were not perpetrated only at the hand of individual officers and soldiers of the German Army, but that these devastations were carried out on the orders of the German Supreme Command. Therefore, I omit Page 11 of my report, and I begin with Page 12.

In the criminal plans of the fascist conspirators, the devastation of the capitals of the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Poland occupied a particular place. Among these plans the destruction of Moscow and Leningrad received special attention.

Intoxicated by the first military successes, the Hitlerites elaborated insane plans for the destruction of the greatest cultural and industrial centers dear to the Soviet people. For this purpose they prepared special task forces. They even hurried to advertise their “decision” to refuse the capitulation of the cities which never even took place.

It is necessary to note that such expressions as “raze to the ground” or “wipe from the face of the earth” were used quite frequently by the Hitlerite conspirators. These were not only threats but criminal acts as well. As we shall see from the subsequent presentation, in some places they did succeed in razing flourishing towns and villages to the ground.

I omit one paragraph of my report.

I shall now present two documents which reveal the intentions of the Hitlerite conspirators.

The first document is a secret directive of the naval staff, numbered I-a 1601/41, dated 22 September 1941. It is entitled, “The Future of the City of Petersburg.” (Document Number C-124, Exhibit Number USSR-113). Therefore, as we are in possession of the original of this document, which was distributed in several copies, I believe that it does not have to be read into the record. With your permission, Mr. President, I shall remind the Tribunal of the contents of this directive. In this directive it is stated, “The Führer has decided to wipe the city of Petersburg from the face of the earth,” that it is planned to blockade the city securely, to subject it to artillery bombardment of all calibers, and by means of constant bombing from the air to raze Leningrad to the ground. It is also decreed in the order that should there be a request for capitulation, such request should be turned down by the Germans. Finally, it is stated in this document that this directive emanates not only from the naval staff, but also from the OKW.

I omit Page 13 of my report and begin with the last paragraph of the page.

The second document, bearing the number Document C-123, presented to the Court as Exhibit Number USSR-114, is also a top secret order of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, dated 7 October 1941, Number 44/1675/41, and signed by the Defendant Jodl. This document, Your Honors, is to be found on Pages 69 and 70 in the document book. I read into the record the text of this document, or rather a few excerpts from this letter on Page 14 of my presentation. I read the first paragraph of the letter:

“The Führer has again decided that a capitulation of Leningrad
or, later, of Moscow is not to be accepted even if it is offered
by the enemy.”

And further the last but one paragraph of this page:

“Therefore, no German soldier is to enter these cities. By our
fire we must force all who try to leave the city through our
lines to turn back. The exodus of the population through the
smaller, unguarded gaps toward the interior of Russia is only to
be welcomed. Before the cities are taken, they are to be
weakened by artillery fire and air attacks, and their population
should be caused to flee.

“We cannot take the responsibility of endangering our soldiers’
lives in order to save Russian cities from fire, nor that of
feeding the population of these cities at the expense of the
German homeland. . . .

“All commanding officers shall be informed of this will of the
Führer.”

The Hitlerite conspirators began to put their criminal ideas about the destruction of Leningrad into effect with unprecedented ferocity. In the report of the Leningrad city commission for the investigation of the atrocities of the German fascist invaders, the monstrous crimes of the Hitlerites are described in detail.

This document had been presented to the Court as Exhibit Number USSR-85. I shall read into the record only a general summary of the data presented on Page 1 of the report, which is on Page 71 of the document book. I read:

“As a result of the barbarous activities of the German fascist
invaders in Leningrad and its suburbs, 8,961 household and
annexed buildings, sheds, baths, _et cetera_, with a total
volume of 5,192,427 cubic meters were completely destroyed, and
5,869 buildings with a total volume of 14,308,288 cubic meters
were partially destroyed. Completely destroyed were 20,627
dwellings, with a total volume of 25,429,780 cubic meters, and
8,788 buildings, with a total volume of 10,081,035 cubic meters
were partially demolished. Six buildings dedicated to religious
cults were completely, and 66 such buildings partially,
destroyed. The Hitlerites destroyed, ruined, and damaged various
kinds of institutions valued at more than 718 million rubles, as
well as more than 1,043 million rubles’ worth of industrial
equipment and agricultural machinery and implements.”

This document establishes that the Hitlerites bombed and shelled, methodically and according to plan, day and night, streets, dwelling houses, theaters, museums, hospitals, kindergartens, military hospitals, schools, institutes, and streetcars, and ruined most valuable monuments of culture and art. Many thousands of bombs and shells hammered the historical buildings of Leningrad, and at its quays, gardens, and parks.

I omit the end of Page 16.

In conclusion, I shall permit myself to quote one of the many German depositions which are quoted in the document, namely paragraph 4 on Page 14. Your Honors will find this deposition I am quoting on Page 84 of the document book. I quote:

“Sergeant Fritz Köpke, commanding Number 2 gun of the 2d battery
of the 2d Detachment of the 910th Artillery Regiment stated:

“‘For the bombardment of Leningrad, there was in the batteries a
special stock of munitions supplied over and above the limit to
an unlimited amount. . . .

“‘All the gun crews know that the bombardments of Leningrad were
aimed at ruining the town and annihilating its civilian
population. They therefore regarded with irony the bulletins of
the German Supreme Command which spoke of shelling the “military
objectives” of Leningrad.’”

The Hitlerite conspirators aimed at the complete destruction of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade.

I remind you of Document Number 1746-PS, presented to the Tribunal on 7 December 1945; it is an order by Hitler, dated 27 March 1941, dealing with the attack on Yugoslavia. It is known that this order, entitled “Instruction Number 25,” gives in detail the military strategy for the attack and, besides, decrees that all the Yugoslav Air Force ground installations and the city of Belgrade shall be destroyed by means of continuous day and night air raids.

I omit the first paragraph of Page 18 of my report, inasmuch as the facts which are mentioned in this paragraph have been read into the record on 11 February. I shall read a few excerpts from Pages 22 and 23 of the official report of the Yugoslav Government. This corresponds to Pages 111 and 112 in your document book. I read:

“The planned and systematic execution of these crimes, based on
the orders of the Government of the Reich and of the OKW, is
confirmed by the fact that the destruction of inhabited
localities and of the population did not cease even at the time
of the retreat of the German troops from Yugoslavia.