dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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 ReichsFuehrer 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 They are worth several millions which were withdrawn from the general district of White Ruthenia.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 Konigsberg 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. SonderFuehrer, 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.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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 Konigsberg 1 1/2 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.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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....
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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 HaupteinsatzFuehrer 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 Schwarzhaupterhaus, the town hall, Evangelical Lutheran consistory, and Nicolas' Church; "From Dorpat -- the university library; collections evacuated to Estonian estates -- Jerlep, Wodja, Weissenstein, and Lachmes. "HaupteinsatzFuehrer 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.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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.... 21 Feb. 46. "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....
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: They removed historical material and ancient manuscripts from special libraries, and stole or destroyed over 100 million volumes in the public libraries." "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.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: 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.