dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Some had had their hands and fingers cut off, their eyes gouged out, and their stomachs ripped open."' I now omit one paragraph and continue: "The commission discovered, on the execution ground, 55 graves covering a total area of 2,885 square meters." I quote one more paragraph from this communication: "In the forest of Dreilin, 5 to 7 kilometers east of Riga, along the highway to Luban, the Germans shot over 13,000 peaceful citizens and prisoners of war. The witness, W. S. Ganus, testified: " 'As from August 1944 the Germans organized excavation crews to open up the graves, and all through the week bodies were burned. The forest was surrounded by German guards armed with machine guns. On and after 20 August black, closed cars filled with citizens, among whom were women and children-so-called "refugees"-began to arrive; they were shot and their bodies burned immediately. I had hidden in the bushes and watched this fearful scene. The screams of the victims were terrible. I heard shouts of `'Murderers," `'Hangmen" and the children crying, "Mama, don't leave me." The bullets of the murderers stopped the screams."' I conclude this document because it now contains only analogous facts. I wish to invite the Tribunal's attention to the fact that 38,000 people were shot in this forest. I further request the Tribunal to refer to a document already presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-47, which is the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union on crimes committed by the German and Romanian invaders in Odessa and the region of Odessa. I shall refer to two very brief excerpts of this report. Your Honors will find one of the excerpts I wish to quote on Page 283, Volume II of the document book, first column of the text, Paragraph 5. I begin: "On 21 December 1941 the Romanian gendarmes proceeded to execute the internees in the camp. The internees were brought, under guard, to a half-ruined building on the outskirts of the forest. There they were forced to kneel by the ravine; then they were shot.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: From the edge of the ravine those who were killed-and often those who were only wounded-fell to the foot of the ravine, where a gigantic fire of straw, reeds, and wood had been built. The smaller children were thrown alive into this fire by the executioners. The burning of the corpses went on for 24 hours on end." Here I interrupt my quotation, since details of these crimes will follow later, and I refer the members of the Tribunal to Page 283 of the document book, Paragraph 3, Column 2, containing a complete summary of the data available: "According to the preliminary figures, as established by the commission, the Germano-Romanian occupiers shot, tortured to death, and burned, in Odessa and the region of Odessa, up to 200,000 people." In confirmation of the fact that during the mass executions, the so-called "actions," the German criminals buried people who were still alive, I submit to the Tribunal, under Exhibit Number USSR-37 (Document Number USSR-37), a report of the Extraordinary State Commission, dated 24 June 1943. I quote the act, which the members of the Tribunal will find on Page 359, in Volume II of the document book. The place that I refer to will be found on Page 362 of the document book: "While excavating the pit at the foot of Chalk Hill (Mielovaya Gora) in the town of Kupiansk, 71 bodies were discovered, including the bodies of 62 men, eight women, and one infant. All the victims were unshod and some of them were quite naked." I pass to the quotation of Paragraph 4, Page 362: "The Commission notes that there were many whose wounds were not fatal; they had evidently been thrown into the pit and buried alive.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: This has also been confirmed by citizens who passed near the pit soon after the shooting; they saw the ground stirring and heard dull groans emanating from the grave." ~ In confirmation of this fact, I would request the Tribunal to read into the record the original minutes, taken from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, on the interrogation of the witness, Vassilievitch Joseph Ivanovitch, examined by the public prosecutor of the city of Stanislav at the request of the Extraordinary State Commission. We submit this document as Exhibit USSR-346 (Document Number USSR-346). I shall quote only two paragraphs from the minutes of this interrogation: "In the beginning of 1943 we burned People there in the cemetery, to which firewood was brought for this purpose. There were cases where women and children were thrown alive into the pits and there buried. "One woman-I do not know her name-begged an officer not to shoot her, and he gave her his word that she would not be shot. He even said, 'I give you my word as an officer that you will not be shot.' After the shooting of the group to which this woman belonged, this officer himself took her by the hand, threw her alive into the pit, and she was buried alive." Thus, in one whole series of cases, the victims were purposely buried alive in order to add extra cruelty to the misdeeds of the criminals. In other cases this was due to the fact that the Germans did not even consider it necessary to verify whether the people to be liquidated were dead or not. An investigation of the data on the exhumation of these bodies, when the German fascists no longer had the time to destroy the traces of their crime by burning them, shows that towards the end of 1941 and in 1942 the criminals did not particularly attempt to camouflage the execution grounds-and this despite the instructions, already known to the Tribunal, issued by fascist headquarters on the camouflaging of execution grounds and keeping secret the socalled executions.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I am of the opinion that this can be explained only by the fact that the Germans, in spite of some set-backs, were convinced of their final victory, and that, therefore, they hoped that their deeds would not be punished. I refer to the document already presented with other documents to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-2(a), a report of the Extraordinary Commission of the Soviet Union on atrocities committed by the German fascist invaders in the region of Stalinsk. There we find a report of the medical-legal expert commission on the atrocities committed by the German fascist invaders in the alabaster quarries near the city of Artemovsk, in the Stalinsk district. I shall quote only a brief excerpt from this document. I shall omit the greater part of the indictments. In the document book, Page 366, fifth paragraph, of the first column of the text, Your Honors will find the following: "Two kilometers to the east of the city of Artemovsk, in the tunnel of the quarry of the alabaster works, 400 meters from the entrance, there is a small opening walled up with bricks. When the bricks were removed a continuation of the tunnel was discovered. This was a narrow passage rising steeply, having at the end a broad, oval cavern, 20 meters in length, 30 meters in width, and 3 to 4 meters in height. "The entire cavern was filled with dead bodies and only a small area at the entrance and a narrow strip in the center were free of corpses. The bodies were closely pressed one against the other, with their backs turned to the entrance to the cavern. "This is typical because it shows the customary German routine of shooting in the nape of the neck. "The corpses were wedged so tightly that, at first glance, it appeared as though there was just one solid mass of intertwined bodies. The last layers had been heaped on the first, which were then closely pressed to the walls of the cavern." ~ I omit the two following pages of the report, and I merely quote the conclusion of the legal-medical expert commission.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: You will find this on Page 366, Volume II, second column of the text, Paragraph 15: "According to the testimony of the inhabitants of Artemovsk, on 9 February 1942 several thousand people were driven into the abandoned alabaster quarries, carrying their small household possessions and food. "As and when the cavern fined up, the people were shot either when standing or kneeling down; then another batch would be driven in and shot down on the corpses of the first batch; the corpses of the victims were piled one on top of another. Some people tried to flee from the impending murder, trampled one another down, and died in agony." I further omit three pages of my presentation and continue on Page 209. During the period of the mass executions the German fascist criminals elaborated a definite technique for the execution of their crimes. I would like to mention some of the most typical methods employed, because the Tribunal will realize, on hearing individual instances, how criminally this technique of atrocities was perfected by the Germans and how increasingly cynical was the premeditation of these monstrous crimes.- In confirmation of my statement, I should like to present some documents to the Tribunal
THE PRESIDENT: We shall have to break off now. It is 4 o'clock The Tribunal would be glad to know how much longer your presentation will be.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I shall finish my presentation of evidence tomorrow. [The Tribunal adjourned until 19 February 1946 at 1000 hours.]
THE PRESIDENT: I have an announcement to make. The Defense motion for a recess cannot be granted. When a recess at Christmas was decided upon, the Tribunal informed the Defense Counsel that no further recess would be granted. As Counsel for the Prosecution has pointed out, Defense Counsel have already had several months in which to prepare their defenses to a case which depends principally upon documents in the German language, written by the defendants themselves or their associates. They have also had constant assistance from the Tribunal and the Prosecution in connection with documentary evidence and witnesses. The Tribunal has observed that many of the Defense Counsel have already found it possible, quite properly, to absent themselves from court, and the Tribunal sees no reason why some of the time which must elapse for the conclusion of the case for the Prosecution should not be utilized in preparation of their defenses out of court. The Tribunal therefore decides that, at the conclusion of the Prosecution's case against the individual defendants, the argument on the groups or organizations alleged to be criminal shall take place and that thereafter applications for documents and witnesses by those defendants whose witnesses and documents have not already been decided upon shall be heard in open session. In this way several days will be occupied in which many of the Defense Counsel can be absent from court and they can prepare their defenses out of court. That is all. You may continue, Colonel.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Your Honor, you asked me yesterday who, in January 1942, was the chief of the military economy and armament department of the German Army. I could not answer yesterday but today I can report to you that General of the Infantry Thomas held this position. As to the second question which you put to me, that is, what measures were taken in regard to the correspondence connected with the report of Major Roesler, I requested information from Moscow, where this correspondence is kept. There are only excerpts from this correspondence in the archives, the rest of the correspondence is in another archive. We requested information from this archive and as soon as the latest disposition of this correspondence is ascertained, I will immediately report to the Tribunal. This will take about a day or two. Before continuing my statement, I wish to remark that today I should conclude the presentation of all the evidence concerned with my statement. I have to submit a considerable number of documents, and therefore my statement will be rather fragmentary. I will not dwell on particulars and will endeavor not to repeat what has already been said by the prosecutors of other countries. This will render my statement somewhat piecemeal, for which I must beg your indulgence. I will now proceed with my statement. The legal-medical expert's report, drawn up in the city of Smolensk, has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-48 (Document Number USSR-48). It was signed by a member of the Extraordinary State Commission for the Soviet Union, President of the Medical Academy and eminent Soviet physician, Academician Burdenko, by the principal legal-medical expert of the Ministry for Health, Dr. Prozorovsky, and other experts. In addition to the final conclusions which have already been presented by my colleague, Colonel Pokrovsky, I now submit to the Tribunal the actual record of these experts' investigation. From this the Tribunal will be able to judge, not only the final conclusion but also the methods used for this investigation.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The Tribunal can see for themselves the detailed description of each burial ground investigated by experts, as well as the detailed examination of the corpses exhumed from the ditches. I will not repeat those parts of the account which have already been partially quoted by Colonel Pokrovsky. Therefore I omit four pages of my statement and pass on to Page 213. The part which I wish to quote now Your Honors win find on Page 377 of the document book, Volume II, Paragraph 2 of the page. The experts describe a typical scene of a burial site of the German victims in 1941 and the beginning of 1942. I quote: "The ditches from which the corpses were exhumed were not common burial grounds. The corpses were not laid out in a row, one next to the other, but layer upon layer, a solid mass of women's and men's bodies heaped together in confusion. In this mass of corpses some were bent or half bent, some were lying on their faces, on their sides, or on their backs, some were on their knees, with faces down or up, with legs and arms interlinked. It was impossible to separate the, corpses before they were exhumed from the ditch." However, this chaotic manner of burial of the corpses appears to characterize only the mass burials of victims of the first mass shootings which were carried out toward the end of 1941 and the beginning of 1942. During subsequent exhumations the legal-medical experts discovered very many burial grounds where the corpses were laid down in orderly fashion, layer on layer. A typical scene of such a burial ground the Tribunal can find in the album regarding the Lvov Camp. On Page 15 of this album there is a picture of a burial ground of the later period. The bodies are lying in regular layers, and this can be explained by...
THE PRESIDENT: Which album is this?
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: It is the album which concerns the Lvov Camp, Your Honor. It was submitted to the Tribunal yesterday. The picture I am talking about is on Page 15 of the album. It is a photograph which was discovered in the Gestapo headquarters at Lvov. The reason that impelled this regular disposition of bodies will become clear to the Tribunal from an excerpt of the Extraordinary State Commission's report on atrocities.
THE PRESIDENT: Is this a photograph of the bodies as they lay in the trench or after they had been moved?
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: No, it is a photograph taken by some Gestapo official, Your Honor, and was discovered in the archives of the Lvov Gestapo. If you will look at this picture, you will see that the corpses are lying almost in regular rows on the spot of this mass-shooting. What was the reason for this regular laying out of the corpses? The Tribunal will find the answer to this on Page 290 of the document book, second column of the text, Paragraph 8. This is a report of the Extraordinary State Commission on atrocities committed by the German fascist invaders in the city and region of Rovno. I quote: "The witness Karpuk, a worker on a German farm near Belaya Street, testified: " 'Several times I saw how the Hitlerites exterminated Soviet citizens, Ukrainians, Russians, Poles, and Jews. This took place usually in the following manner: The German butchers brought the doomed people to the place of execution, forced them to dig a ditch, ordered them to undress, and to lie down in the ditch, face downward. The Hitlerites fired at the back of the necks of the victims with automatic pistols. Then another group of people lay down on top of the bodies of those shot and were finished off in the same manner, and then a third row, and so on, until the ditch was filled. Then they poured quicklime over the corpses and covered them with earth"' One can judge how widespread was this infamous and cruel method of mass execution from an excerpt concerning the executions in Maidanek. I quote from a Soviet-Polish communiqué already presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-29 (Document Number USSR-29). The Tribunal will find this on Page 65 of the document book, first column of the text, Paragraph 14. I begin the quotation: "On 3 November 1943, 18,400 people were shot in the camp; 8,400 came from the camp itself, and 10,000 were herded there from the city and other camps." I omit the next sentence. "The shootings started early in the morning and ceased late in the evening. The SS brought the people, stripped naked, to the ditches in groups of 50 or 100 men.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: They were packed into the bottom of the ditch face down and shot with automatic rifles. Then a new group of people were piled on the corpses and shot in the same manner; and so on until the pits were full." I especially concerned myself with determining the exact date when this method was used for the first time. "According to Soviet documents this started in the second half of 1942. But in general, it may be stated that similar methods of shooting were already adopted by the German police detachments in Poland in 1939. Thanks to the kindness of our British colleagues, I submit to the Tribunal a document which was received by our delegation from the British Prosecution. It is a photostat of the document-the original is in the archives of the British Delegation and I think I am safe in saying that if the Tribunal requires the original copy, it can be presented. The authenticity of the information which is contained in this correspondence cannot be questioned. It is a German report taken from the archives of Hitler's aide-de-camp. I quote one place, which the Tribunal may find on Page 391 of the document book, second volume, Paragraph 2, (Document USSR-342). The German staff doctors considered it necessary to report to Hitler about these shootings because "since these shootings were done publicly, enemy propaganda may derive much material...." Out of this correspondence I quote a short excerpt from the record of Corporal Paul Kluge's interrogation. Paul Kluge belonged to a medical detachment stationed in Shwetz. He heard that a shooting of Poles would take place on Sunday, 8 October 1939, in the Jewish cemetery. Out of curiosity he decided to visit the place of execution. I quote only that part of his interrogation which relates the manner of shooting. The Tribunal will find this quotation on Page 393 of the document book, second volume, second paragraph (Document Number USSR-42).
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I start the quotation: "We were already of the opinion that we were the victims of silly rumors and had returned to our barracks, when suddenly a large bus full of women and children drove into the cemetery. We returned to the cemetery. Then we saw a party consisting of a woman with three children, aged from 3 to 8 years, led to an open grave about 2 meters wide and 8 meters long. The woman was forced to descend into this grave and took the youngest child with her in her arms. Two men, members of the punitive expedition, handed the other two children to her. The woman was forced to lie, face down, in the grave and beside her three children, in the same manner, on her left. After that, four men of the detachment also climbed down into the grave, aimed their guns so that the barrels were about 30 centimeters away from the napes of their necks. Thus they shot the woman and her three children. "Then the chief of the detachment called on me to help fill in the grave. I obeyed this order and, being quite near, I could see the next party of women and children being shot in the same manner as were the first. "In all, there were nine or ten groups of women and children, all shot in the same way, four at a time in the same grave." We can therefore see that this method of mass shooting is of very early origin. I omit the next page of the report as it contains the minutes of another interrogation with similar information, and submit to the Tribunal proof of other, even more cruel methods of mass shootings which the Hitlerite criminals invented, beginning with 1943 and continuing to the end of the war. The Hitlerite criminals, beginning with 1943, began to adopt different methods to cover the traces of their crimes, in particular, to burn the bodies. It has been proved by documents that the Hitlerites compelled their victims, first to prepare the kindlings and logs, then to lie down on these wood piles. Then the first group was shot.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The next party of condemned persons brought logs, laid them down on the layer of corpses) and then lay down themselves on these logs and were then executed. I beg Your Honors to turn to the album concerning the Auschwitz Camp, where the pictures of another camp, Kloga, are also included. You will find there a typical example of this cruel manner of shooting. In order to prove this, I turn to a document which has In order to shorten any quotation from the Extraordinary Commission's report on Leningrad-although, being a citizen of Leningrad myself, I would like the Court to have an accurate picture of the sufferings endured by the great city as a result of the German fascist terror-I wit quote only general data regarding the German destruction and crimes in the city of Leningrad. The Tribunal will find this quotation on Page 345 of the document book, second volume. I begin the quotation: "During the 900-day siege of Leningrad, when the German fascist invaders were in possession of its suburbs, they perpetrated countless atrocities on the peaceful civilians. "The Germans dropped on Leningrad 107,000 demolition and incendiary bombs and 150,000 heavy artillery shells. Every minute throughout the siege each Leningrad resident was in the same danger as if he had been on a field of battle. Every instant he was threatened with death or mutilation. Bombing and artillery fire killed a total of 16,747 and wounded 33,782 persons." I interrupt my quotation, omit the next page of my statement, and beg the Tribunal to notice Page 347 of the second volume of the document book, an excerpt from the diary of the German artillery men who shelled Leningrad. These notes are most crucial and cruel I will now give figures of persons who died of hunger in Leningrad in the terrible winter of 1941-1942.