dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The departure of transports -- consisting of 1,000 to 2,000 persons -- from the village of Sawadki to the extermination camp and the extermination of the arrivals lasted until 2 o'clock. "The cars loaded with Jews arrived in the camp and stopped before the mansion. A representative of the Sonderkommando made a short speech to the new arrivals. He assured them that they there going to work in the East. He promised them just treatment by the authorities and adequate food and, at the same time, instructed them to take a bath before leaving, while their clothing was disinfected. From the courtyard the Jews were then brought to a big warm room on the second floor of the mansion. There they had to undress, and, clad in underclothes only, they went downstairs, passed through a corridor with signs such as 'To the medical officer' and 'To the bath' on the walls. The arrow which showed the way 'To the bath' pointed toward the exit. The Germans told the Jews who came out into the yard that they would go to the bath in a closed car; and, true enough, a large car was brought up to this door so that the Jews coming out of the house found themselves on a ladder leading straight inside the car. The loading of the Jews into the car lasted a very short time. Police were on guard in the corridor and near the car. With blows and shouts they forced the Jews to enter the car, stunning them, so that they could not attempt any resistance. When all the Jews were piled inside the car, the doors were carefully locked, and the chauffeur switched on the motor, so that those in the car were poisoned by the exhaust gas." I consider it unnecessary to quote that part of the report which testifies that the car in question was the "murder van" already well known to the Court. I will just quote one sentence from Page 10 of this document, Paragraph 3: "Thus, at least 340,000 men, women, and children, from newborn babies to aged persons, were exterminated in Helmno." I believe that I can end here that part of my statement which concerns the secret exterminating centers.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: And now I pass on to the part of my statement dealing with religious persecutions. In the Soviet Union as well as in the occupied countries of Eastern Europe, the German fascist criminals brought shame upon themselves by their mockery of the religious feelings and faith of the people, by persecuting and murdering the priesthood of all religious creeds. In proof of this I shall read a few excerpts from the pertinent reports of the various governments. On Page 70 of the Russian text, which corresponds to Page 80 of the document book, we find the description of the persecution of the Czech Orthodox Church by the German fascist criminals. I quote only one paragraph: "The hardest blow was directed against the Czech Orthodox Church. The Orthodox parishes in Czechoslovakia were ordered by the Berlin Ministry for Church Affairs to leave the jurisdiction of Belgrade and Constantinople dioceses and to become subordinate to the Berlin bishop. The Czech Bishop Gorazd was executed together with two other priests of the Orthodox Church. By a special order of the Protector Daluege, issued in September 1942, the Orthodox Church of Serbian-Constantinople jurisdiction was dissolved on Czech territory, its religious activity forbidden, and its property confiscated." On Page 69 of the same report, which corresponds to Page 79 of the document book, in the last paragraph, there is a description of the persecutions of the Czech National Church, which was persecuted by the German fascists, according to the report, "Just because of its name, because of its sympathy for the Hus movement, the democratic constitution, and because of the role it played in founding the Czech Republic." The Czech national church in Slovakia was prohibited and its property confiscated by the Germans in 1940. The Protestant church in Czechoslovakia was also persecuted. The excerpt which I would like to read may be found on Page 80 of the document book, Paragraph 2: "The Protestant churches were deprived of the freedom to preach the Gospel.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The German Secret State Police watched carefully to see that the clergy observed the restrictions imposed on it. Nazi censorship went so far as to prohibit the singing of hymns which praised God for liberating the nation from the enemy. Some passages from the Bible were not allowed to be read in public at all. The Nazis strongly opposed the promulgation of certain Christian doctrines, especially those which proclaimed the equality of all men before God, the universal character of Christ's Church, the Hebraic origins of the Gospel, et cetera . Any reference to Hus, Ziska, the Hussites, and their achievements, as well as to Masaryk and his doctrines, were strictly forbidden. Even religious text books were confiscated. Church leaders were especially persecuted. Scores of ministers were thrown into concentration camps, among them the general secretary of the Christian Student Movement in Czechoslovakia. One of the assistants of their president was executed." On Page 68 of this report we find information as to the persecution of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia. This excerpt is on Page 79 of the document book, second paragraph. I quote a short excerpt: "In the territory annexed to Germany after the Munich Pact a number of Czech priests were robbed of their property and expelled.... Pilgrimages to national shrines were prohibited in 1939. "At the outbreak of the war 437 Catholic priests were among the thousands of Czech patriots arrested and sent to concentration camps as hostages. Venerable church dignitaries were dragged to concentration camps in Germany. It was a common thing to see on the road near the concentration camps a priest, dressed in rags, exhausted, pulling a cart, and behind him a youth in the SS uniform, whip in hand." The believers and clergy in Poland also suffered most ruthless persecution.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I quote short excerpts from the Polish Government report, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 10 of the document book: "By January 1941 about 700 priests were killed; 3,000 were in prisons or in concentration camps." The persecution of the clergy began immediately after the capture of Polish territory by the Germans, according to Page 42 of the Polish report: "The day after the occupation of Warsaw the Germans arrested some 330 priests.... In Krakow the closest collaborators of Archbishop Sapieha were arrested and sent to Germany. The Reverend Canon Czeplicki, 75 years of age, and his assistant were executed in November 1939." The report of the Polish Government quotes the following words of Cardinal Hlond: "The clergy were persecuted very violently. Those who were permitted to stay were subjected to humiliation, were paralyzed in the exercise of their pastoral duties and were stripped of parochial benefices and of all their rights. They were entirely at the mercy of the Gestapo.... It is like the Apocalyptic vision of the Fides Depopulata ." On the territory of the Soviet Union the persecution of religion and clergy took the form of sacrilegious desecration of churches, destruction of shrines connected with the patriotic feelings of the Russian people, and the murder of priests. I beg the Tribunal to call the witness of the Soviet Prosecution, the Archdean of the churches of the City of Leningrad, the Very Reverend Nikolai Ivanovitch Lomakin. [The witness Lomakin took the stand.]
THE PRESIDENT: Would you tell me your name?
THE VERY REVEREND NIKOLAI IVANOVITCH LOMAKIN (Witness): Nikolai Ivanovitch Lomakin.
THE PRESIDENT: Is it the practice for you to take an oath before giving evidence or not?
LOMAKIN: I am an Orthodox priest.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you take the oath?
LOMAKIN: I belong to the Orthodox Church, and when I entered the priesthood in 1917 I took the oath to tell the truth all my life. This oath I remember even to the present day.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. You can sit, if you wish.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please tell us, Witness, are you the Archdean of the Churches of the City of Leningrad? Does that mean that all the churches in that city are subordinate to you?
LOMAKIN: Yes, all the churches are directly subordinate to me. I am obliged to visit them periodically to inspect their condition and the life of the parish. I must then make my report to His Grace the Metropolitan.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The churches of the Leningrad region were also under your authority?
LOMAKIN: They are not subordinated to me at the present time, but during the siege of Leningrad by the Germans and the occupation of the Leningrad region they were under my authority.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: After the liberation of the Leningrad region from the German occupation, were you obliged to visit and inspect the churches throughout the region on the request of the Patriarch?
LOMAKIN: Not by request of the Patriarch, but by request of the Metropolitan Alexei, who was then at the head of the Leningrad Eparchy.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please speak more slowly.
LOMAKIN: Not by request of Patriarch Alexei -- the Patriarch was then Sergei -- but by request of Metropolitan Alexei, who administered the Eparchy and later became Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please tell us, Witness, where were you during the siege of Leningrad?
LOMAKIN: I was all the time in Leningrad.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: If I am not mistaken, you were decorated with the medal "For the Defense of Leningrad"?
LOMAKIN: Yes, on my birthday I was awarded this high government medal for my participation in the heroic defense of Leningrad.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell us, Witness, at the beginning of the siege of Leningrad, at which church did you officiate?
LOMAKIN: At the beginning of the siege I was in charge of the Georgievsky Cemetery -- I was rector of the church of the cemetery of St. Nicholas.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: It was, therefore, a cemetery church?
LOMAKIN: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Maybe you will be able to relate to the Tribunal the observations you made during your office in this church?
LOMAKIN: Yes, of course.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Will you please.
LOMAKIN: In 1941 and at the beginning of 1942 I was rector of the cemetery church, and I witnessed certain tragic scenes which I should like to relate in detail to the Tribunal. A few days after the treacherous attack on the Soviet Union by Hitlerite Germany I witnessed the rapid increase of masses for the dead. The dead were mostly children, women, and old people -- victims of the air raids on the city by German planes -- peaceful citizens of our town. Before the war the number of dead varied from 30 to 50 persons a day, but during the war this number rose quickly to several hundred a day. It was physically impossible to bring the bodies inside the church. Long rows of boxes and coffins with remnants of the victims stood outside the church; the horribly mutilated bodies of Leningrad's peaceful citizens -- victims of barbarous air raids of the German planes. Side by side with the increasing number of funeral masses for the deceased, there grew up the practice of saying the so-called requiems in absence. The faithful could not bring to the church the bodies of their relatives or friends, as they lay buried under the ruins and the debris of the houses destroyed by the Germans. The church was each day surrounded by masses of coffins -- 100, 200 coffins - over which one priest used to sing a funeral service. Forgive me -- it is difficult for me to speak of all this, for as the Tribunal already knows, I lived through the whole siege. I, myself, was dying of hunger. I saw the terrible, uninterrupted air raids of the German planes. I was hurt several times. In the winter of 1941-42 the situation of besieged Leningrad was particularly terrible. The ceaseless air raids of the Luftwaffe, the shelling of the city, the lack of light, of water, of transportation, of sewerage in the city, and finally the terrible starvation -- from all this, the peaceful citizens of the town suffered privations unique in the history of mankind. They were indeed heroes, who suffered for their country, these innocent, peaceful citizens.
LOMAKIN: Together with all that I have just told you, I could describe other terrible scenes which I witnessed during the period when I was the rector of this cemetery church. The cemetery was very often bombed by German planes. Please imagine the scene when people who have found eternal rest -- their coffins, bodies, bones, skulls -- all this is thrown out on the ground. Tombstones and crosses lay scattered in disorder, and people who had just suffered the loss of their kin, had to suffer once more seeing the huge craters made by bombs sometimes on the very spot where they had just buried their relatives or friends, had to suffer once more, knowing that they had no peace.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell us, Witness, during the period of hunger, in what proportion did the number of burial services at this cemetery church increase?
LOMAKIN: I have already said that as a result of the terrible conditions imposed by the siege, as a result of the nonstop air raids, as a result of the shelling of the city, the number of burial services reached an incredible figure -- up to several thousand a day. I would especially like to relate to the Tribunal the facts which I observed on 7 February 1942. A month earlier, quite exhausted by hunger and the long walk from my house which I had to the church every day, I fell ill. Two of my assistant priests replaced me. On 7 February, on the Parents' Saturday before the beginning of Lent I came for the first time since my illness to my church. A horrifying picture was before my eyes. The church was surrounded by piles of bodies, some of which even blocked the entrance. These piles numbered from 30 to 100 bodies. They were not only at the church door, but also around the church. I witnessed people, exhausted from starvation, who, in their desire to bring the bodies of their relatives to the cemetery, would fall down themselves and die on the spot beside the body. Such scenes I witnessed quite frequently.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Witness, will you please answer the following question: What damage was done to the Leningrad churches?
LOMAKIN: Your Honors, as I have already reported to you, my duty as Archdean of these churches was to observe from time to time the condition of the churches in the city and to report in detail to the metropolitan. The following were my personal observations and impressions: The Church of the Resurrection on Griboiedov Canal, which is a very remarkable artistic was very seriously damaged by shelling from the German enemy. The domes were destroyed, the roofs pierced by shells, numerous frescos were either partly damaged or entirely destroyed. The Holy Trinity Cathedral in the Ismailovskaya Fortress, a memorial ornamented by beautiful artistic friezes commemorating the heroic siege of Izmailovskaya Fortress, svas severely damaged by systematic shelling and bombing by the Germans. The roof was broken in. All the sculpture was broken; only a few fragments remained.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell us, Witness, how many churches were destroyed and how many were severely damaged in Leningrad?
LOMAKIN: The Church of the Serafimov Cemetery was almost completely destroyed by artillery fire; this church was not only hit by shells, but great damage was caused to it by air raids. The Luftwaffe caused great damage to churches. I must first of all mention two churches which suffered most from the Leningrad siege. To begin with, the Church of Prince Vladimir, where, by the way, I have the honor of officiating at the present time. In 1942 from February until the first of July, I was rector of this church; and I should like to acquaint Your Honors with the following very interesting but terrible incident which occurred on Easter Eve of 1942. On Easter Saturday, at 5 p.m. Moscow time, the Luftwaffe carried out a mass raid over the city. At 5:30 two bombs fell on the southwestern part of the Church of Prince Vladimir. The faithful were at that moment waiting to approach the picture of our Lords interment. There was an enormous mass of faithful, who wished to fulfill their Christian duty. I saw some 30 persons lying wounded in the portico and in different places about the church. They lay helpless for some time, until we could give them medical aid. It was a scene of utter confusion. People who had had no time to enter the church tried to run away and hide in the air-raid ditches while the others who had entered scattered in terror against the walls of the church, awaiting death. The concussion of the bombs was so heavy that for some period of time there was a constant fall of shattered glass, mortar, and pieces of stucco. When I came down from a room on the second floor, I was quite astounded by the scene before me. People flocked around me: "Little father, are you alive? Little father, how can we understand this? How can we believe what was said about the Germans -- that they believe in God, that they love Christ, that they will not harm those who believe in God?
LOMAKIN: Where is their faith then, if they can shoot about like this on Easter eve?" I must add that the air raid lasted right through the night until Easter morning; this night of love, this night of Christian joy, the Resurrection Night, was turned by the Germans into a night of blood, a night of destruction, and a night of suffering for innocent people. Two or three days passed. In the Church of Prince Vladimir -- it was obvious to me, as rector -- and in other churches and cemeteries the victims of the Luftwaffe Easter raid appeared: women, children, and aged...
MR. COUNSELLORSMIRNOV: Tell us, Witness, you also visited the Leningrad region to verify the condition of the churches. Were you not a witness to...
TEE PRESIDENT: Colonel Smirnov, if your examination is going on, I think perhaps we'd better adjourn now for 10 minutes. [A recess was taken.]
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Nelte, can you let the Tribunal know what your wishes are about General Westhoff and Wielen?
DR. NELTE: In reply to the suggestion by the Court, as to calling the witnesses Westhoff and Wielen, I should like to make the following statement after discussion with my colleagues: First, we abstain from calling both witnesses at this stage of the proceedings provided that the Prosecution also abstains at present from reading out Documents RF-1450 and USSR-413 at this stage of the Trial. Second, I call General Westhoff as witness; and I gather, from the Court's suggestion, that this witness has been allowed.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, certainly. Mr. Roberts, could Sir David attend here in the course of a short time, do you think?
MR. ROBERTS: He is at the Chief Prosecutors' meeting now, but I can get him in a few moments if there is a question which I couldn't answer on his behalf.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think perhaps it will be best if he were here. It is only a question, really, as to whether the document should be read.
MR. ROBERTS: Well, I am told the meeting has just ended. I didn't quite get what Your Lordship said.
THE PRESIDENT: I said that the question was whether the document is to be read by the Prosecution. Dr. Nelte, as I understand it, was suggesting that perhaps the Prosecution would forego their right to read the document.
MR. ROBERTS: My Lord, speaking for myself, I feel quite certain that so far as the British Delegation is concerned we should not forego reading that document. We do put it forward, or our Russian colleagues put it forward, as a very cold-blooded murder of brave men; and we are most anxious that the document should be read.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
DR. NELTE: Mr. President, I have not made it a condition that the documents should not be submitted at all, but only at this stage of the proceedings.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but you see, the Prosecution want it read as part of the Prosecution case. If it is postponed until your case begins, it will not be read as part of the Prosecution case.
DR. NELTE: I think that the Prosecution, when cross-examining the witness, could present the documents they want to submit now.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, we can't get Wielen over here tomorrow, and the case of the Prosecution, we hope, will close tomorrow.
DR. NELTE: Yes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Therefore, the document must be read tomorrow. We will then get General Westhoff and Wielen over for you at any time that is convenient to you.
DR. NELTE: I think the Prosecution has reserved the right to adduce, at any time during the proceedings, other charges and documents. This follows from the Indictment. It therefore seems to me that the Prosecution, without prejudice to its case, could postpone the presentation of this charge until I have examined the witness.
GENERAL RUDENKO: I should like to add something to what my colleague, Mr. Roberts, has said. The point is that the document presented to the Tribunal was put at our disposal by the British Delegation and was submitted by us in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter. This document, being an irrefutable proof, can be read into the record or not, in accordance with the decision of the Tribunal of 17 December 1945. If the Defense, as Sir David already stated this morning, intends to oppose this document by summoning witnesses, it is their right. This is what I wanted to add to Mr. Roberts' statement.
MR. ROBERTS: Perhaps Your Lordship would allow me to add one thing. The Tribunal has ruled that this document is admissible, and it has been admitted, as I understand; and therefore, I would submit that it ought to be read as part of the Prosecution case, or perhaps it might be equally convenient after the discussion on organizations.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, yes, I see that Sir David has just come into court. Sir David, I think the view the Tribunal take is that it is a matter for the Prosecution to decide when they put in this document; and if they wish to put it in now, or as Mr. Roberts suggested, after the argument on organizations, they are at liberty to do so. Then these witnesses can be called at a later stage when the defendants' counsel wish them to be called.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: My Lord, I entirely agree with what I am told Mr. Roberts has put forward. We consider that this document ought to be put in as part of the case for the Prosecution. If it will be of any assistance to counsel for the defendants, I shall be glad to take up the matter of the time that shall be fixed, after the organizations; but the reading of the document certainly should be part of the Prosecution's case.
THE PRESIDENT: The document may be read, then, at the end of the Prosecution's case.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: Yes. May I apologize to the Tribunal for being absent. There was other business, connected with the Trial, in which I was engaged.
THE PRESIDENT: Certainly. Then, Dr. Nelte, the Tribunal would like you to let us know when you wish those witnesses called, so that we can communicate with London in order that the witness, Wielen, may be brought over here.