dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: In this directive it is stated, "The Fuehrer has decided to wipe the city of Petersburg from the face of the earth," that it is planned to blockade the city securely, to subject it to artillery bombardment of all calibers, and by means of constant bombing from the air to raze Leningrad to the ground. It is also decreed in the order that should there be a request for capitulation, such request should be turned down by the Germans. Finally, it is stated in this document that this directive emanates not only from the naval staff, but also from the OKW. I omit Page 13 of my report and begin with the last paragraph of the page. The second document, bearing the number Document C-123, presented to the Court as Exhibit Number USSR-114, is also a top secret order of the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, dated 7 October 1941, Number 44/1675/41, and signed by the Defendant Jodl. This document, Your Honors, is to be found on Pages 69 and 70 in the document book. I read into the record the text of this document, or rather a few excerpts from this letter on Page 14 of my presentation. I read the first paragraph of the letter: "The Fuehrer has again decided that a capitulation of Leningrad or, later, of Moscow is not to be accepted even if it is offered by the enemy." And further the last but one paragraph of this page: "Therefore, no German soldier is to enter these cities. By our fire we must force all who try to leave the city through our lines to turn back. The exodus of the population through the smaller, unguarded gaps toward the interior of Russia is only to be welcomed. Before the cities are taken, they are to be weakened by artillery fire and air attacks, and their population should be caused to flee. "We cannot take the responsibility of endangering our soldiers' lives in order to save Russian cities from fire, nor that of feeding the population of these cities at the expense of the German homeland....
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: "All commanding officers shall be informed of this will of the Fuehrer." The Hitlerite conspirators began to put their criminal ideas about the destruction of Leningrad into effect with unprecedented ferocity. In the report of the Leningrad city commission for the investigation of the atrocities of the German fascist invaders, the monstrous crimes of the Hitlerites are described in detail. This document had been presented to the Court as Exhibit Number USSR-85. I shall read into the record only a general summary of the data presented on Page 1 of the report, which is on Page 71 of the document book. I read: "As a result of the barbarous activities of the German fascist invaders in Leningrad and its suburbs, 8,961 household and annexed buildings, sheds, baths, et cetera , with a total volume of 5,192,427 cubic meters were completely destroyed, and 5,869 buildings with a total volume of 14,308,288 cubic meters were partially destroyed. Completely destroyed were 20,627 dwellings, with a total volume of 25,429,780 cubic meters, and 8,788 buildings, with a total volume of 10,081,035 cubic meters were partially demolished. Six buildings dedicated to religious cults were completely, and 66 such buildings partially, destroyed. The Hitlerites destroyed, ruined, and damaged various kinds of institutions valued at more than 718 million rubles, as well as more than 1,043 million rubles' worth of industrial equipment and agricultural machinery and implements." This document establishes that the Hitlerites bombed and shelled, methodically and according to plan, day and night, streets, dwelling houses, theaters, museums, hospitals, kindergartens, military hospitals, schools, institutes, and streetcars, and ruined most valuable monuments of culture and art. Many thousands of bombs and shells hammered the historical buildings of Leningrad, and at its quays, gardens, and parks. I omit the end of Page 16. In conclusion, I shall permit myself to quote one of the many German depositions which are quoted in the document, namely Paragraph 4 on Page 14.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Your Honors will find this deposition I am quoting on Page 84 of the document book. I quote: "Sergeant Fritz Kopke, commanding Number 2 gun of the 2d battery of the 2d Detachment of the 910th Artillery Regiment stated: " 'For the bombardment of Leningrad, there was in the batteries a special stock of munitions supplied over and above the limit to an unlimited amount.... " 'All the gun crews know that the bombardments of Leningrad were aimed at ruining the town and annihilating its civilian population. They therefore regarded with irony the bulletins of the German Supreme Command which spoke of shelling the "military objectives" of Leningrad.' " The Hitlerite conspirators aimed at the complete destruction of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade. I remind you of Document Number 1746-PS, presented to the Tribunal on 7 December 1945; it is an order by Hitler, dated 27 March 1941, dealing with the attack on Yugoslavia. It is known that this order, entitled "Instruction Number 25," gives in detail the military strategy for the attack and, besides, decrees that all the Yugoslav Air Force ground installations and the city of Belgrade shall be destroyed by means of continuous day and night air raids. I omit the first paragraph of Page 18 of my report, inasmuch as the facts which are mentioned in this paragraph have been read into the record on 11 February. I shall read a few excerpts from Pages 22 and 23 of the official report of The Yugoslav Government. This corresponds to Pages 111 and 112 in your document book. I read: "The planned and systematic execution of these crimes, based on the orders of the Government of the Reich and of the OKW, is confirmed by the fact that the destruction of inhabited localities and of the population did not cease even at the time of the retreat of the German troops from Yugoslavia. "Typical for thousands of such cases is the destruction of Belgrade and extermination of its citizens in October 1944. "The fights for the liberation of Belgrade lasted from 15 to 20 October 1944.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Even before the fighting started, the Germans prepared a plan for the systematic destruction of the city. They sent into the city a large number of specially trained units whose duties consisted of mining houses and killing the population. Though, because of the swift advance of the Red Army and of the Yugoslav National Liberation Forces, they failed to carry out their task as ordered by the German commanders, they succeeded in destroying a large number of houses in the southern part of the city and in killing a considerable number of its inhabitants. "To a still greater extent, this happened in the northern part of the city, on the Rivers Sava and Danube. The Germans went from house to house, herded the inhabitants, unclothed and unshod, into the streets, sprayed inflammable chemical explosives into every apartment, and set fire to all the buildings. If a house happened to be made of a very solid material, they mined it. They fired at the inhabitants, killing defenseless people; in several large houses the inhabitants were locked in and were destroyed by fire and by mine explosions. The entire damage thus caused in the city of Belgrade totals the sum of 1,127,129,069 diners at prewar value." Thus, the destruction of Belgrade was prescribed by Hitler's order of 27 March 1941 and was carried out on direct orders of the Defendant Goering; in October 1944 it was carried out by the same methods as those employed by the Hitlerites in the occupied territories of the U.S.S.R. I shall now present evidence of the intentional and unexampled destruction by the Hitlerites of the capital of the Polish nation, Warsaw. I shall quote three documents which reveal the criminal intentions of the fascist conspirators to raze this city. As the first document, Exhibit Number USSR-128 (Document Number USSR-128), I present to the Tribunal a telegram Number 13265, addressed to the Defendant Frank, and signed by the Governor of the Warsaw District, Dr. Fischer. This document can be found on Page 148 of the document book.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I read into the record the text of this telegram: "To the Governor General and Reich Minister, Dr. Frank, at Krakow. "Warsaw, Number 13265; 11. X.44; 10.40, HE. "Subject: New Policy with Regard to Poland. "As a result of the visit of SS ObergruppenFuehrer Von dem Bach to the ReichsFuehrer SS, I wish to inform you of the following: ". . . 2) ObergruppenFuehrer Von dem Bach again received an order to pacify Warsaw -- that is, to raze Warsaw to the ground while the war is still on, if there is nothing against this from the military point of view (construction of fortresses). Prior to destruction, all raw materials, textiles, and furniture should be taken out of Warsaw. The main role in performing this task should be assumed by the civilian administration. "I am informing you of these facts because this new order of the Fuehrer regarding the destruction of Warsaw is of the greatest importance for the future policy toward Poland. "The Governor of the Warsaw District, temporarily at Sochaczew, signed: Dr. Fischer." Von dem Bach, mentioned in the telegram just read into the record, is already known to you, Your Honors; he testified in the afternoon session of the Tribunal on 7 January. How SS ObergruppenFuehrer Von dem Bach carried out Hitler's order regarding the destruction of Warsaw can be seen from the written evidence given by him on oath on 28 January 1946, during his interrogation by the Public Prosecutor of the Polish Republic, M. Savitzky. I present to the Court the original record of the interrogation in German, duly signed by Von dem Bach. I shall read two extracts from this record... [Dr. Seidl approached the lectern.]
THE PRESIDENT: We will hear the objection.
DR. ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Frank): I object to the reading of the interrogation of the witness Von dem Bach-Zelewski. The witness was heard before the Court, and it would have been possible at that time to hear the witness about the matter of the interrogation right here before the Court. Should the Soviet Prosecution not wish to forgo the presentation of this material, then I request that the witness, Von dem Bach-Zelewski, who is still here in Nuremberg, be summoned before the Tribunal again, so that the Defense may have an opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
THE PRESIDENT: General Raginsky, do you want to say anything?
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Mr. President, this record of the interrogation of Von dem Bach-Zelewski was given under oath, and it was presented to the Soviet Delegation by the representatives of the Polish Government. The record of the interrogation is formulated according to the laws of procedure and was given under oath. Therefore, we consider it imperative and possible to present it to the Tribunal without calling Von dem Bach-Zelewski for a second interrogation before the Tribunal. If the Tribunal decides that the testimony of Bach-Zelewski cannot be read into the record without his being called again before the Tribunal, then, in the interests of expediting the Trial, and in order not to protract the presentation of our evidence, we agree not to read this testimony into the record inasmuch as evidence regarding these facts is contained in other documents which I shall later present to the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: May I ask you then, General: If the evidence given before the Polish Commission is the same as the evidence which Bach-Zelewski gave in court, it would be cumulative; if it is different, then surely the defendants' counsel ought to have the opportunity of cross-examining him upon it.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: The testimony which was given by Bach-Zelewski to the prosecutor of the Polish Republic is supplementary. Bach-Zelewski was not examined before the Tribunal about the devastations.
THE PRESIDENT: General Raginsky, the Tribunal understood you to say that you would be prepared to withdraw this evidence in view of the fact that the witness had given evidence already and the Tribunal considers that that is the proper course to take. So then the evidence will be withdrawn and struck from the record so far as it has been put on the record. I think this would be a good time to adjourn. [A recess was taken.]
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: As a result of the decision of the Tribunal, I exclude Page 21 from my report and pass on to Page 22. I shall read into the record an extract from the diary of the Defendant Frank, which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-223 (Document Number USSR-223). This extract is on Page 45 of the document book. I have in mind the file which was begun on 1 August 1944 and brought to 14 December 1944, entitled "Diary," where there is a note which mentions the contents of a telegram sent by Frank to Reich Minister Lammers. I read -- on 5 August 1944: "The Governor General sends the following telegram to Reich Minister Dr. Lammers: " '. . . The city of Warsaw is, for the most part, engulfed in flames. Burning of the houses is the surest way to rob the insurgents of any shelter.... " 'After this uprising and its suppression, Warsaw will justly be committed to its deserved fate of being completely destroyed.' " These documents prove, thus, that the fascist conspirators set for themselves the aim of razing to the ground the capital of the Polish State, Warsaw, and that the Defendant Frank played an active part in this crime. In all the territories of the U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia, Poland, Greece, and Czechoslovakia which they occupied, the German fascist invaders systematically destroyed inhabited localities according to plan, under the pretense of fighting the partisans. Punitive expeditions, detachments, and commandos, specially detailed by the German military command, burned down and blew up tens of thousands of villages, hamlets, and other inhabited localities. I skip a paragraph of my report. From the numerous documents in the possession of the Soviet Prosecution I shall quote, as examples, a few which are typical and which characterize the whole system developed by the Hitlerites.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: The report of Captain Kasper, a company commander, dated 27 September 1942 and entitled, "Conclusive Report on the Results of the Punitive Expedition Carried out in the Village of Borisovka from 22 to 26 September 1942," starts as follows: "Tasks: Company 9 must destroy the band-infested village of Borisovka." This document has been presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-119 (Document Number USSR-119). I omit the beginning of Page 42 of my report. In January 1942, in the Rezeknes district of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic, the Germans destroyed the village of Audrini with its entire population, ostensibly for having aided members of the Red Army. In the towns of Latvia a notice to this effect was posted by the chief of the German State Security Police in Latvia, SS ObersturmbannFuehrer Strauch, in German, Latvian, and Russian. I present to the Tribunal a certified photostatic copy of this notice as Exhibit Number USSR-262 (Document Number USSR-262), and I read into the record an excerpt from this document. This excerpt is on Page 158: "The commander of the Security Police in Latvia hereby announces the following: ". . .2) The inhabitants of the village of Audrini, in the Rezeknes district, concealed members of the Red Army for over one-quarter of a year, armed them, and assisted them in every way in their anti-government activities.... "As punishment I ordered the following: "a) That the village of Audrini be wiped from the face of the earth." The Hitlerites widely practiced punitive expeditions in the occupied districts of the Leningrad region. As can be seen from a verdict of the military tribunal of the Leningrad Military District, which is submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-91 (Document Number USSR-91), the Hitlerites burned down, in February 1944, 10 inhabited localities in the Dedovitch, Pozherevitz, and Ostrov districts. The Hitlerite punitive expeditions also burned 22 Feb. go down the villages of Strashevo and Zapolye in the Plyuss district, and the villages of Bolshye, Lyady, Ludoni, and others.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Numerous punitive detachments, acting on the orders of the German Supreme Command, burned down many hundreds of inhabited localities in the Yugoslav territory. I refer, as evidence, to the third section of the report of the Yugoslav State Commission for establishment of the crimes of the German invaders, which has been presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-36, and also to the special memorandum of the Yugoslav State Commission, numbered 2697 (45) and signed by Professor Nedelkovitsch, which I present to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-309. This document is on Pages 165 to 167 of the document book. In these documents we find a number of fact concerning the burning and destruction of villages and hamlets by the special punitive expeditions of the Hitlerites. As examples, the localities of Zagnezdye, Udora, Mechkovatz, Marsich, Grashniza Rudnika, Krupnya, Rastovach, Orakh, Grabovica, Drachich, Lozinda, and many others can be named. Whole districts of Yugoslavia were completely devastated after the Germans had been there. I also present to the Tribunal the original copy of a notice by the so-called Commander-in-Chief of Serbia, which I beg the Tribunal to accept as evidence as Exhibit Number USSR-200 (Document Number USSR-200). This notice was captured in Serbia by troops of the Yugoslav Army of Liberation, which fact is duly certified by the Yugoslav State Commission in Belgrade. I read into the record only one paragraph: "The Commander-in-Chief of Serbia announces: The village of Skela has been burned and razed to the ground." German punitive detachments also destroyed inhabited localities in Poland. As evidence I submit to the Tribunal Exhibit Number USSR-368 (Document Number USSR-368), which is an affidavit of the Plenipotentiary of the Polish Government, Dr. Stefan Kurovsky. This affidavit is an appendix to the report of the Polish Government and is on Page 169 of your document book.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: This document ascertains that in the spring of 1943 in the territory of Zamoisk, Bilgoraisk, Khrubeshovsk, and Krasnitzk the Germans burned down a number of inhabited localities under the orders of the SS leader, Globocznik; and in February 1944 five villages were destroyed in the Krasnitzk district with the help of the air force. The Germans burned and razed to the ground a considerable number of inhabited localities in Greece. As examples we shall name the settlements of Amelofito, Kliston, Kizonia, Ano-Kerzilion, and Kato-Kerzilion in the Salonika district, and the settlements of Mesovunos and Selli in the Korzani district, and others. I present to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-103 (Document Number USSR-103), certified photostatic copies of three telegraphic reports of the 164th German Infantry Division to the Chief of Staff of the 12th Army. These reports, Your Honors, are on Page 170 of your document book. Each of these reports consists of nine to ten lines. They are uniform in type and standardized. But these short official documents reveal in essence the monstrous system generally employed by the Hitlerites in the territories occupied by them. I shall read into the record one of these reports. I read: "18 October 1941; to the Chief of Staff of the 12th Army, Athens. "Daily report. "1. The villages of Ano-Kerzilion and Kato-Kerzilion (75 kilometers east of Salonika on the mouth of the Struma) which had been ascertained to be the base of a considerable guerrilla band in this area, were razed to the ground by troops of the division on 17 October. The male inhabitants between 16 and 60 years of age -- (totalling 207 persons) -- were shot, women and children evacuated. "2. No other special incidents." Surely, there is no need for a comment regarding this document. I should also like to refer to the official report of the Greek Government, which is presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-379 (Document Number UK-82).
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: On pages 29 and 30 of the report, which correspond to Page 207 of your document book, we find numerous facts concerning the burning and destruction of villages on the Island of Crete. Thus, the villages of Skiki, Prassi, and Kanados were completely burned down in retaliation for the murder of some German parachutists carried out by the employees of the local police at the time of the attack on the Island of Crete. Certain villages were demolished by the Germans for the sole reason that they were in the partisans' zone of operations. It is stated in the report that 1,600 out of 6,500 villages were completely or partially demolished. It should also be noted that the Germans intentionally bombed undefended towns and caused heavy damage to 23 Greek towns, among which the towns of Yanina, Arta, Preveza, Tukkala, Larissa, and Canea were almost completely destroyed. This is mentioned on Page 21 of the report of the Greek Government. It is on Page 190 of your document book. Your Honors, the whole world knows about the Hitlerites' crimes at Lidice. The 10th of June 1942 was the last day of Lidice and of its inhabitants. The fascist barbarians left irrefutable evidence of their monstrous crime. They made a film of the annihilation of Lidice, and we are able to show this evidence to the Tribunal. Upon orders from the Czechoslovak Government, a special investigation was carried out which established that the filming of the tragedy of Lidice was entrusted by the so-called Protector to an adviser on Photography of the NSDAP, one Franz Treml, and was carried out by him in conjunction with Miroslav Wagner. Among the documents which we present to the Tribunal are photographs of the operators who filmed the phases of the destruction of Lidice. I present these documents to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-370 (Document Number USSR-370). I should like to remark, Your Honors, that this film is a German documentary film. It was filmed a few years ago. The technical state of this reel is not very satisfactory, and therefore when we present it, there may be a few defects.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I beg the indulgence of the Tribunal beforehand and request permission to show this film. [Moving pictures were then shown.]