dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Rascher." I would like to remind the Tribunal that this special interest of Dr. Rascher in the Auschwitz Camp -- I remind the Tribunal that Auschwitz was the central section of the camp situated near the town of Oswieczim -- was not accidental. In Auschwitz cruel experiments on live persons were carried out on a scale greatly exceeding all that was done in Dachau or other concentration camps of the Reich. Our Exhibit Number USSR-8 (Document Number USSR-8) has already been added to the file of the case. It is the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union on the monstrous crimes of the German Government in Oswieczim. The introductory part of this report contains the following excerpt, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 196 of the document book. I read one paragraph only: "Special hospitals, surgical blocks, histological laboratories, and other departments were set up in the camp. But they were intended not for the treatment but for the extermination of people. Here German professors and doctors carried out mass experiments on men, women, and children who were in perfectly good health. They carried out experiments on sterilization of women, on castration of men, experiments on children, artificial infection with cancer, typhus, and malaria, of masses of people who were afterward subjected to observation. They tested the action of poisonous substances on living persons." I would like to stress that experiments on the sterilization and castration of women and men were carried out on a particularly large scale. Whole blocks in the camp were especially designated for experiments using particularly effective methods of sterilization and castration. I will read two short excerpts from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, Which the Tribunal will find on the back of Page 196 of the document book, Paragraph 5. I quote: "Experiments on women were carried out in the hospital blocks of the Oswieczim Camp.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Up to four hundred women were detained simultaneously in Block 10 of the camp, and experiments on sterilization were carried out on them by means of X-rays and subsequent removal of the ovaries, experiments in engrafting cancer in the neck of the uterus and forced abortion, and on testing countermeasures against injuries to the uterus by X-ray." I omit three sentences and proceed with the quotation: "1n Block 21" -- that is another block, the women's block was Number 10 -- "mass experiments on castration of men were carried out for the purpose of studying the possibility of sterilization by X-ray. The castration itself was carried out some time later after the X-ray process. These experiments on X-raying and castration were carried out by Professor Schumann and Dr. Dering. It frequently happened that after treatment by X-ray, one or both testicles of the subject were removed for examination." I beg the Tribunal to allow me, in order to show the extent of these experiments, to read short excerpts from the testimony of the Dutch Doctor De Vind. It is contained in the Exhibit Number USSR-52 (Document Number USSR-52) already presented to the Court. I will not read the testimony in full but will just quote the statistics, which the Tribunal may find on the back of Page 203 of the document book, last paragraph, first column. I repeat that these numbers refer only to one block, Block 10. The following women were interned in this block: "Fifty women of different nationalities who arrived in March 1943; 100 Greek women who arrived in March 1943; 110 Belgian women who arrived in April 1943; 50 French women who arrived in July 1943; 40 Dutch women who arrived in August 1943; 100 Dutch women who arrived on 15 September 1943; and 100 Dutch women who arrived one week later; and finally 12 Polish women." I will quote a further excerpt from the statement of the Dutch Doctor De Vind, which has also been submitted previously to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-52 (Document Number USSR-52).
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I quote that part of the statement in which he speaks of experiments carried out by a certain Professor Schumann on 15 young girls. Your Honors will find this excerpt on Page 204 of the document book, first column of the text, third paragraph: "Professor Schumann (a German). These experiments were carried out on 15 girls of 17 to 18 years of age, including Shimmi Bella, from Salonika (Greece) and Buena Dora, from Salonika (Greece). Only a few of them survived; but unfortunately they are still in the German hands, and we have consequently no objective data on these brutal experiments. However, the following has been established beyond doubt: The girls were placed between two plates within the field of ultra-short waves; one electrode was placed on the abdomen and the other on the buttocks. The focus of the rays was directed on the ovaries which were consequently burned out. As a result of the irregular dosage, serious burns appeared on the abdomen and on the buttocks. One girl died of these terrible sufferings; the other girls were sent to Birkenau to the medical unit or to working Commandos. "A month later they were returned to Oswieczim, where they were subjected to two operations for checking the results; one, longitudinal, the other, a horizontal incision. The reproductive organs were removed for study. As a result of the destruction of hormones, the girls completely changed in appearance and resembled old women." With this I end the quotation. Experiments on sterilization of women and castration of men were carried out in Oswieczim on a mass scale beginning in 1942, and some time after the sterilization the men were castrated for a special study of the tissues. You can find a confirmation of this fact in the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union on Oswieczim, where numerous statements of individual internees who underwent such operations have been quoted. The Tribunal will find the excerpt which I wish to read on Page 197 of the document book, second paragraph, second column of the text.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I quote two paragraphs: "Valigura, who was subjected to such experiments, stated: " 'A few days after I had been brought to Birkenau, I believe it was in the first days of December 1942, all the young men from 18 to 30 years of age were sterilized by X-raying the scrotum. I myself was among those sterilized. Eleven months later, that is to say, on the 1st of November 1943, I was castrated. Together with me on that same day 200 men were sterilized.' "Witness David Sures, from the town of Salonika (Greece), stated the following: " 'Toward July 1943 I myself and 10 other Greeks were placed on some kind of list and sent to Birkenau. There we were stripped and subjected to sterilization by X-rays. A month later we were summoned to a central section of the camp where all those sterilized underwent an operation of castration.' " I believe that it was not by accident that the experiments on people began with sterilization and castration. This was a quite natural result of the theories of German fascism, interested in lowering the birthrate of those people whom they considered to be vanquished. It was a part of Hitler's depopulation technique; and in confirmation of this I would now like to quote a very short excerpt from Rauschning's book, The Voice of Destruction , which has already been submitted to the Tribunal. This extract has not yet been read into the record, and the Tribunal will find it on Page 207 of the document book. Hitler said to Rauschning: "And by 'destruction' I do not necessarily mean extermination of these people -- I shall simply take systematic measures to prevent their procreation." I skip the next three sentences and quote one more sentence: "There are many means by which a systematic and comparatively painless extinction of undesirable races can be attained, at any rate without blood being shed." This excerpt is on Page 137 of the original book. Sterilization and castration became a criminal practice of the Hitlerites in the occupied territories in Eastern Europe.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I beg the Tribunal's permission to draw its attention to two of these documents.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Smirnov, perhaps that would be a convenient time to break off. The Tribunal would like to know how long you think you will take before you conclude your statement.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I believe, Mr. President, that I will finish the presentation of evidence today. I would like the Tribunal to allow me to question three more witnesses today and I still have about one hour of reading. But it is very difficult for me to determine the time exactly, as that sometimes depends on other factors, known to you, which may force me to change my intentions.
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for 10 minutes. [A recess was taken.]
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I ask the permission of the Tribunal to draw its attention to two very short German documents, which are submitted under Exhibit Number USSR-400 (Document Number USSR-400) in photostats certified by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union. They are two communications from Lieutenant Frank, head of a Security Police division, regarding the conditions under which a gypsy woman, Lucia Strasdinsch had the right to reside in the town of Libau. "It has been decided that the Gypsy Lucia Strasdinsch will be allowed to take up residence here again only on the condition that she submits to being sterilized. She is to be informed accordingly and a report on the result is to be rendered to this office. "Frank, Lieutenant, Security Police and O. C. Security Police Station." The second document is a memorandum from the Prefecture of Libau, H. Grauds, to the head of the Security, Police Post. The text: "I herewith return your letter of 10 December 1941 regarding the sterilization of the Gypsy Lucia Strasdinsch and beg to report that this person was sterilized in the local hospital on 9 January 1942. Pertinent letter Number 850 of 12. 1. 42 from the hospital is attached." In order to show the extent of the experiments which were performed on live persons, I would ask Your Honors to turn to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on Oswieczim. The extract which I should like to quote, the members of the Tribunal may find on Page 197 of the book of documents, first column, second paragraph. It is stated there that a statistical report by the commandant of the camp has been discovered in the archives of the camp. This report is signed by the deputy commander of the camp, Sella.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: It has a column under the heading, "Internees designated for experiments." This column reads as follows: "Women subject to experiments: on 15 May 1944 -- 400, on 15 June 413, on 19 June -- 348, and so on." I would like to conclude this chapter on experiments on live persons, by the following: I would like to quote the memorandum of the judicial and medical report, an excerpt of which is in the report on Oswieczim Camp. The members of the Tribunal may fine the passage which I should like to quote on Page 197 of the document book, first column, Paragraph 5. I omit the part which refer to sterilization and castration because I think that this question has been sufficiently elucidated. I will quote only Points 4, 6, and 7 or the memorandum, indicating that in Oswieczim: "Researches were carried out with various chemical preparations of German firms. According to the testimony of one German physician, Dr. Valentin Erwin, there was a case where the representatives of the chemical industry of Germany, a gynecologist, Glauber, from Konigshutte, and a chemist, Gebel, bought from the administration of the camp 150 women for such experiments." I omit Point 5 and I quote Point 6: "Experiments on men by applying irritant chemical substances on the skin of the calf in order to create ulcers and phlegmons. "7) A series of other experiments -- artificial infection with malaria, artificial insemination, and so forth." I omit the next three pages of my statement which give the particulars of these experiments. I would like only to draw the attention of the Tribunal to other crimes perpetrated by the German doctors and, in particular, to the extermination of patients in mental hospitals. I am not going to quote all the examples which the Tribunal will find in the report of the Extraordinary State Commission but will dwell on one crime only, which was perpetrated in the town of Kiev.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I quote a paragraph from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the town of Kiev, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 212 of the document book, first column, Paragraph 6: "On 14 October 1941 an SS detachment under the leadership of the German garrison physician Rikowsky, entered the mental hospital. The Hitlerites drove 300 patients into one building, kept them there without food and water, and then shot them in a gully of the Kirilov wood. The remaining patients were exterminated on 7 January, 27 March, and 17 October 1942." In the subsequent part of the Extraordinary State Commission's report a statement is quoted, a statement made by Professor Kapustianski, by a woman doctor Dzevaltovska, and the nurse Troepolska. I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-249 (Document Number USSR-249) the photostat of this testimony, and I request that it be included in the files of the case as evidence. I am quoting some of the extracts from this document: "During the German occupation of the city of Kiev, the Kiev Psychiatric Clinic had to experience tragic days, which culminated in the complete ruin and destruction of the hospital. A crime was committed against the unfortunate mentally sick people, the like of which had not been known in history up to this time." I omit the next part and I quote further on: "In the course of the years 1941-42, 800 patients were killed." I omit the next two paragraphs and I read on: "On 7 January 1942 the Gestapo came to the hospital. They posted guards everywhere in the grounds of the hospital. To enter or leave the hospital was forbidden. A representative of the Gestapo requested the selection of the incurably sick people to be sent to Zhitomir." I skip the next sentence. "What was in store for the sick people was carefully concealed from the medical staff. After that, special cars arrived at the hospital. The sick people were pushed into them, some 60 to 70 persons into each car. Everyone could see these atrocities which were perpetrated in front of the ward windows.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The patients were pushed into the cars and murdered there. Their corpses were thrown out on the spot. This awful deed went on for two days, during which 365 patients were exterminated. The patients who had not completely lost their minds soon realized the truth. There were heart-rending scenes. Thus, a young girl, patient Y, in spite of all of the efforts of the doctor, understood that death was awaiting her. She came out of the ward, embraced the doctor, and quietly asked him, 'Is this the end?' Pale as death, she went to the car and, refusing any assistance, climbed inside. The entire staff was told that any criticism or any expression of displeasure would be completely out of place and would be regarded as sabotage." I shall quote one more sentence from this report: "It is a characteristic detail that these murders -- unprecedented by their abomination -- were committed on Christmas Day, when Christmas trees were being distributed to the German soldiers; and the inscription 'God is with us' sparkled on the belts of the executioners." Herewith I end my quotation. I think it possible to omit the following four pages of my speech because they deal with similar cases of the murder of mental patients in other parts of the country. Similar methods were used for these murders as those used in Kiev. I will request the Tribunal to accept as evidence the photostats of three German documents, certified by the Extraordinary State Commission, which testify to the fact that special standard forms of documents were worked out for the report on the murder of the insane by the German fascists. I submit these documents. The first document is submitted as Exhibit Number USSR-397 (Document Number USSR-397.) The members of the Tribunal may find it on Page 218 of the document book. I am quoting the text of the document: "To the Registrar's office in the Town of Riga:" I omit the next paragraph.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: "I hereby certify that 368 incurably insane patients, whose names appear on the annexed list, died on 29 January 1942."  -- Signed -- "Kirste, SS SturmbannFuehrer." The second document is submitted as Exhibit Number USSR-410 (Document Number USSR-410). This is a report of the head of the Security Police and SD in Latvia, Number 357/42g, dated 28 May 1942. I am quoting the one paragraph from this document: "I hereby certify that 243 incurably insane patients, whose names appear on the enclosed list, died on 14 April 1942." --  Signed -- "Kirste, SS SturmbannFuehrer." The third document is submitted as Exhibit Number USSR-398 (Document Number USSR-398). This is a report by the head of the Security Police and SD, Latvia, dated 15 March 1943. I will read into the record the one paragraph of this document: "I hereby certify that 98 incurably insane patients, whose names appear on the enclosed list, died on 22 October 1942."  -- Signed -- "Kirste, SS SturmbannFuehrer." I think I can also omit the next one and a half pages of my statement; but I would request the Tribunal to accept as evidence the following document without reading it, as proof of the experiments carried out on live persons. I submit as Exhibit Number USSR-406 (Document Number USSR-406) the data about the experiments carried out in another camp, the Ravensbruck Camp. It contains the results of the investigation by the Polish State Commission. The photographs contained therein are very characteristic and I need not comment on them. I would now request the Tribunal's permission to summon as witness a Polish woman, Shmaglevskaya, to have her testify regarding only one question, the attitude of the German fascists toward the children in the concentration camps. Would the President permit the calling of this witness?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, certainly. [The witness, Shmaglevskaya , took the stand.]
THE PRESIDENT: Will you first of all tell me your name?
SEVERINA SHMAGLEVSKAYA (Witness): Severina Shmaglevskaya.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you repeat this oath after me: I hereby swear before God -- the Almighty -- that I will speak before the Tribunal nothing but the truth -- concealing nothing that is known to me -- so help me God, Amen. [The witness repeated the oath.]
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell me, Witness, were you an internee of Oswieczim Camp?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: During what period of time were you in the camp of Oswieczim?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: From 7 October 1942 to January 1945.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Do you have any proof that you were an internee of this camp?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: I have the number which was tattooed on my arm, right here.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: That is what the Oswieczim inmates call the "visiting cards"?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell me, please, Witness, were you an eyewitness of German SS men's attitude toward children?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Will you please tell the Tribunal about this?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: I could tell about the children who were born in the concentration camp, about the children who were brought to the concentration camp with the Jewish transports and who were taken directly to the crematories, as well as about those children who were brought to concentration camps and there interned. Already in December 1942 when I went to work about 10 kilometers from Birkenau...
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Excuse me. May I interrupt you? Then, you were in the Birkenau section of the camp?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: Yes, I was in the Camp Birkenau, which is a part of the Oswieczim Camp, which was called Oswieczim Number 2.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please go on.
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: I noticed then a woman in the last month of pregnancy. It was obvious from her appearance. This woman, together with the others, had to walk 10 kilometers to the place of work and there she toiled the whole day, shovel in hands, digging trenches. She was already ill and she asked the German superintendent, a civilian, for permission to rest. He refused, laughed at her, and together with another SS man, started beating her. He scrutinized her work very strictly. Such was the situation of all the women who were pregnant. And only during the very last minutes were they permitted to stay away from work. The newborn children, if Jewish, were immediately put to death.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Pardon me, Witness, what do you mean by "were immediately put to death"? When was it?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: They were immediately taken away from their mother.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: When the transport arrived?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: No, I am speaking of the children who were born in the concentration camps. A few minutes after delivery the child was taken from the mother, who never saw it again. After a few days the mother had to return to work. In 1942 there were no special blocks in the camp for the children. At the beginning of 1943, when they started to tattoo the internees, the children born in the concentration camps were also branded. The number was tattooed on their legs.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Why on the leg?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: Because the child is very small and there was not enough room on their tiny arms for the number, which contained five digits. The children did not have special numbers but bore the same numbers as the grown-ups; that is to say, they were given serial numbers. The children were placed in a special block and after a few weeks, sometimes after a month, they were taken away from the camp.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Where to?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: We were never able to find out where these children were taken. They were taken away all the time this camp existed; that is to say, in 1943 and 1944. The last convoy of children left the camp in January 1945. These were not only Polish children, because, as you know, in Birkenau there were women from all over Europe. Even today we don't know whether these children are alive. I should like, in the name of all the women of Europe who became mothers in concentration camps, to ask the Germans today, "Where are these children?"
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell me, Witness, did you yourself see the children being taken to gas chambers?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: I worked very close to the railway which led to the crematory. Sometimes in the morning I passed near the building the Germans used as a latrine, and from there I could secretly watch the transport. I saw many children among the Jews brought to the concentration camp. Sometimes a family had several children. The Tribunal is probably aware of the fact that in front of the crematory they were all sorted out.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Selection was made by the doctors?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: Not always by doctors; sometimes by SS men.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: And doctors with them?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: Yes, sometimes, by doctors, too. During such a sorting, the youngest and the healthiest Jewish women in very small numbers entered the camp. Women carrying children in their arms or in carriages, or those who had larger children, were sent into the crematory together with their children. The children were separated from their parents in front of the crematory and were led separately into gas chambers. At that time, when the greatest number of Jews were exterminated in the gas chambers, an order was issued that the children were to be thrown into the crematory ovens or the crematory ditches without previous asphyxiation with gas.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: How should we understand that? Were they thrown into the ovens alive or were they killed by other means before they were burned?
SHMAGLEVSKAYA: The children were thrown in alive. Their cries could be heard all over the camp. It is hard to say how many there were.