dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: the date on which the sentence was put into effect. "(2) In matters not covered by the above, the summary court of the Security Police will decide upon its procedure after proper consideration. "Paragraph 6. "Sentences passed by the summary court of the Security Police will be put into effect without delay. "Paragraph 7. "In cases where an offense against Paragraphs 1 and 2 of this decree also constitutes a further offense which must be dealt with by the summary court, only those paragraphs of this decree are applicable which relate to procedure. "Paragraph 8. "This decree will come into force on 10 October 1943. "Krakow, 2 October 1943; The Governor General, Frank." In this manner, Point 1 of the first paragraph established one single punishment, that is, death, for practically any action of a "non-German," regardless of whether such action was classified by the German overlords as constituting a breach of law or a violation of an administrative order. The same punishment was to be administered for any attempt at similar actions in which the police officials could include practically any actions or expressions of a suspected person-Paragraph 2 of the above-quoted document. The defendant was deprived of any procedural rights and guarantees. The document which, in accordance with Paragraph 5, was to take the place of the court verdict was, as is evident from the series of questions which had to be recorded in writing, actually for the purpose of registering individual cases of summary justice and not for the purpose of finding justifiable bases for the application of punishment. Every possibility of cessation or appeal to the higher authorities was excluded. The verdict was to be carried out immediately. And finally, even the "court" procedure itself, founded on Frank's directives, was actually merely a mockery of justice.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The court- and it seems to me the word "court" should be in quotation marks- consisted of three officials of the same SD which kept arresting innocent people on the streets of Polish towns and organizing wanton mass shootings of hostages. How justified are the conclusions which are made by me on the basis of the aforementioned document, you will see from the text of another document submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-332 (Document Number USSR-332). In the document file which is being submitted to the Court, is contained the original copy of the minutes of interrogation of the attorney, Stefan Korbonski. It also contains a translation of the document into Russian, which was certified by the members of the Polish Delegation. Stefan Korbonski lives in Warsaw and, according to information received from the Polish Delegation, should the Tribunal consider it necessary to call Korbonski for cross-examination, he can be brought to the Tribunal session. I shall take the liberty to express in my own words the introductory part of the document. After having been sworn in Warsaw on 31 October 1945, Stefan Korbonski, who is a lawyer, was interrogated and testified that he was one of the leaders of resistance among the Polish people against the German invaders. This place can be found in the first paragraph of the text of the minutes. In the second half of the minutes the Tribunal will find a place in the document book on Page 98-and it goes on to Page 102-where Stefan Korbonski speaks of exactly the same directives of Frank's which were read into the record by me just now. In Paragraph 1 of the interrogation minutes he states that in the beginning of October 1943 the Germans posted on the walls of the houses in Warsaw and other cities of the Government General the text of that particular order which was read into the record by me. I continue the quotation to the end, omitting the first part on Page 99 in the document book which is in the possession of the Tribunal, because it seems to me that this document is very characteristic.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I begin the quotation: "Soon after the publication of this decree and quite independently from the increasing number of executions performed by the Germans in secret in what used to be the Warsaw ghetto, in the Warsaw jail, which was called Paviac, the Germans began to introduce public executions, that is, shooting of whole groups of Poles ranging from 20 to 200 persons in each. "These public executions were performed in various districts of the city, in streets opened to normal traffic, which were surrounded by the Gestapo guards immediately before the actual executions, so that the Polish population caught within the surrounding district would have to watch the executions either in the streets, or from the windows of the houses situated right behind the backs of the Gestapo men. "During these executions the Germans shot either people from the Paviac jail where they were confined after their arrest during raids in the streets, or people caught immediately before the actual execution. The number of these public executions, as well as the number of persons executed each time, kept increasing until it reached 200 persons who had to be shot at every execution. These executions continued until the very beginning of the Warsaw insurrection. "At first the Germans transported the Poles to the place of execution in covered trucks. They were clad in civilian clothes, and sometimes their hands were tied behind their backs. However, as the victims thus brought to the place of execution usually shouted, 'Down with Hitler,' 'Long live Poland,' 'Down with the Germans,' and similar things, the Germans took steps to prevent the possibility of any such disturbances and began to fill their mouths with cement, or seal their lips with adhesive tape. The victims were brought from the Paviac clad in shirts, or in clothes made out of paper. "I often received information from our underground organization through our agents who were working in the Paviac jail, that shortly before the execution the Germans usually performed operations on the condemned.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: They bled them and injected various chemical substances to cause physical weakness, thus preventing any attempts at escape or at resistance. "This was the reason why the condemned were brought to the place of execution pale, weak, and apathetic, and barely able to stand on their feet. But even so, they acted as heroes and never begged for mercy. "The bodies of those who were shot were loaded into trucks by other prisoners and were taken to a former ghetto, where they were usually burned. The prisoners whose duty it was to transport and to burn the corpses were mostly those confined in the Paviac prison. It was their steady assignment. "The Polish population immediately covered with flowers the blood spots which were left on the ground. Lighted candles were placed where the corpses previously had lain, and crosses and ikons were hung on the surrounding walls. During the night members of the underground organizations would put an inscription in lacquer on the walls, such as 'Glory to Heroes,' 'Glory to those who perished for the fatherland,' and so forth. "When the Germans noticed these inscriptions they arrested all those who happened to be on the spot and led them to the Paviac prison. Sometimes the Germans shot at groups of people kneeling and praying at the execution spots. Such an incident took place on Senator Street where several people were shot at and quite a few were wounded. "After each public execution the Germans would put on the walls of houses lists of the names of those who were just executed; the names of hostages who would be shot in case the German regulations were not obeyed were given below. "In Warsaw alone the Germans shot several thousand Poles by means of these public executions. This does not include the victims who were shot in other towns. In the Krak6w district several thousand men were similarly shot." Thus was put into action Hans Frank's directive which was already submitted by me to the Tribunal. In the light of Korbonski's testimony it becomes clear why, on 16 December 1943, there appears in Frank's diary...
THE PRESIDENT: Shouldn't that be 1942?
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The 16th of December 1943, Mr. President. One minute-I shall check that.
THE PRESIDENT: It reads "1942" in our document.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Your Honor, evidently the translator put the wrong date into the text before you. I repeat that, in accordance with the text in my possession, this statement was made by Frank on 16 December 1943 at a government meeting in Krak6w. If you will permit me I shall again verify the text of the quotation.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, in our statement of the document itself it is translated as 16 December 1942. Evidently it is wrong in one place or the other.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: In the testimony itself, in Paragraph 1, Korbonski mentions that in the beginning of December 1943 the Germans posted these lists on the walls of the houses. If the Tribunal will refer to the original of the document it will find "at the beginning of December 1943."
THE PRESIDENT: I see, it is 1943. It was wrongly translated in the first place.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Yes, 1943. May I continue?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Thank you, Sir. I shall speak of the change in the procedure of the executions. It was on the Polish territory that the criminal code introducing special rights for the ' master race" and Draconic laws for the other nations whom the fascist "masters" considered completely vanquished) was put into practice for the first time. The report of the Polish Government which had already been submitted to the International Military Tribunal by my colleagues as irrefutable evidence in accordance with Article 21 of the Charter gives a brief description of the regime of lawlessness and despotism which reigned in occupied Poland under the guise of special legislation. To characterize this legislation I shall take the liberty, if Your Honors please, to refer to two excerpts from the report of the Government of the Polish Republic, which has already been presented to the Tribunal by my colleagues as Exhibit Number USSR-93 (Document Number USSR-93). I shall first read into the record a paragraph which will be found on Page 110 in the document file in possession of the Tribunal, the section dealing with "Germanization of the Polish Law." It is the fourth paragraph after the heading, and I shall quote only two paragraphs of this section: "In the Government General the machinery of justice was changed particularly by a decree of 26 October 1939. It bears the signature of Frank. (Encl. 2) "Polish courts became subjected to supervision of German courts established in the Government General. Their jurisdiction, heavily curtailed, was confined to those cases only for which the German courts had no competence. New ideas of law were introduced. Punishment could be inflicted by intuition, the accused deprived of the right to choose a counsel and to appeal. "German law was introduced, and Polish law germanized." I omit the entire section of the report which deals with this subject and continue the quotation on Page 51 of The Russian text.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The Tribunal will find it on Page 129 in the document book in the third paragraph of the text under "Judicial Murders." That is Page 129, the third paragraph of the text. I begin the quotation: "a) On 4 December 1941, Goering, Frick, and Lammers signed a decree referred to above which virtually outlawed all Poles and Jews in the incorporated Polish territories. The decree made Poles and Jews a different and second-rank group of citizens. It meant that Poles and Jews were obliged to obey the Reich unconditionally; but on the other hand, as second-class citizens they were not entitled to the protection given by law to others." I omit one paragraph and I continue the quotation of the part which deals with the application of death sentences. It begins this way: "Death sentences could be passed in the following cases: "1. For removing or publicly damaging posters set up by the German authorities. "2. For acts of violence against members of the German forces. "3. For lowering the dignity of the Reich or harming its interests. "4. For damaging furniture to be used by the German authorities. "5. For damaging things intended for the work or public order. "6. For causing disobedience to regulations and orders issued by German authorities-and several other cases which in fact justified imprisonment for a short period at the most." I shall omit one passage and I shall limit my quotation to the following two paragraphs: "b) No Pole"-stated the official Nazi instruction-"was allowed to approach a German woman to stain the noble blood of the Herrenvolk. Those who dared to do it or even those who did not get beyond the stage of attempting to do so, were inevitably facing death. But it was not only a court but the German court which was called upon to pass sentence in these cases. It was found superfluous to arrange trials-a simple order of the police proved sufficient to deprive people of.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: their life." I conclude this quotation and pass on to a subject which in my opinion is very correctly referred to as the "Judicial Terror of the German Fascists in Czechoslovakia" in the report of the Czechoslovak Government. In this country we can systematically follow the ever-increasing destruction by the Hitlerites of all the accepted moral and legal standards. The report of the Czechoslovak Government, already submitted to the Tribunal by my colleagues as Exhibit Number USSR-60, describes this process in detail, beginning with these-called "people's courts," up to the organization of the so-called "Standgerichte." I do not know what would be a correct translation of this term, so I shall use the term "Standgerichte" throughout. They are already familiar to us as organs of the Nazi arbitrary rule in Poland. This process of the deterioration or rather collapse of the entire judicial system under the fascist rule is described in the report in great detail; I shall quote only a few short excerpts. I shall begin my quotation on Page 162 of the document book in the possession of the Tribunal, the last paragraph. I begin: "The power to proclaim a state of emergency was applied not later than 28 September 1941. In accordance with a decree issued on the same date and signed by Heydrich, a state of civil emergency was proclaimed in the 'Oberlandrat' district in Prague; and, a few days later, in the remaining parts of the protectorate. 'Standgerichte,' which were set up immediately, were active during the entire period and pronounced 778 death sentences. All were executed and 1,000 people were turned over to the Gestapo, that is, sent to concentration camps." I omit the end of the paragraph, and I quote the following paragraph: "The only directive as to the administration, organization, and rules of procedure at the Standgerichte is contained in the decree of 27 September 1941." I omit the rest of the paragraph and I continue the quotation on Page 163, fifth paragraph of the book of documents.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: "The decree does not indicate as to who may fill the position of judge in Standgerichte, whether the judges should be professional people or laymen, and whether the sentences are to be pronounced by a jury or by the judge alone. The decree merely states Standgerichte may be set up by the Reich Protector; he is competent to choose people who are to perform the duties of a judge." I omit the rest and continue the quotation on Page 163 of the book of documents, the last paragraph: "On the basis of the information that we have at hand at present the judges at the Standgerichte were professional judges only in exceptional cases. "The most important attribute was political reliability. This is the reason why the judges were, one could almost say without exception, members and executives of the NSDAP or other National Socialist organizations; that is, people who with rare exceptions, possessed not the slightest knowledge of law and had no experience in criminal trials." I omit the following excerpts and continue the quotation on Page 166 of the document book, at the beginning of the last paragraph; from there I go on to Page 167: "Standgerichte were never held publicly. Inasmuch as the public was excluded from the preliminary investigations of the Standgerichte, the very existence of this tribunal increased the feeling of insecurity under the prevalent law. There was no appeal against sentences passed by Standgerichte. The records of the investigations of the Standgerichte contain only lists of names of the judges, defendants, and witnesses as well as descriptions of the crimes and the dates of the sentences (Section 4, Paragraph 2, of the decree). Directives permitting and even encouraging such meager records can have only one aim-to prevent any control and to keep secret everything that took place during the investigation, thus covering up all the traces of what had been done.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: "According to Section 4, Paragraph 1, of the directive, the Standgerichte could only pass death sentences or turn over the defendants to the Gestapo." I omit the following paragraphs containing certain general comments on the same matter and continue my quotation on Page 168, the first paragraph: "Sentences passed by the Standgerichte must be carried out immediately. (Section 4, Paragraph 3, of the decree). Numerous IS Feb. 46 examples demonstrate that this brutal National Socialist legislation was never toned down. At the end of the so-called trial, it was left to the judges to decide whether the condemned should be shot or hanged. (Section 4, Paragraph 3, of the decree). The condemned person was not granted even a short respite to prepare for death. There was not even a question in the decree about a reprieve. In any case, the brutal haste with which the sentence was carried out, made any reprieve impossible." I conclude this excerpt, as well as the entire section devoted to the terrorist legislation of the Hitlerites in Czechoslovakia, with a quotation from Page 169, the fourth line from the top, and further. It is stated there: "It is quite evident that the Standgerichte did not possess the characteristics which, in accordance with the general opinion, are those of a tribunal and that the trials of the Standgerichte in reality violated all the principles which should be observed in the legislations of all civilized people. Standgerichte cannot be called tribunals and its court examination cannot be called a trial and a decision. I think the proper term would be 'verdict.' "The executions resulting from the verdicts of the Standgerichte differ in no way from executions performed without trial. They should be classified as murders. "It is impossible to find in the regulations which determined the methods of procedure of the Standgerichte even a trace of humanity.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: For instance, the rule which imposed immediate execution and accorded practically no time to the condemned to prepare for death, is a form o f cruelty which, just as the entire institution of the Standgerichte, had as its aim the terrorization of the population." I shall conclude the quotation with this excerpt, and I shall take the liberty of remarking that the institution of the Standgerichte did not countermand or exclude simple police sentences passed by means of a procedure similar to the one which was established by Frank in Poland. It seems to me that all the laws which were cited by me above testify to the fact that the Hitlerites tried to turn the legislation, intended to punish crimes, into one which commits crimes. This is the sole purpose why their "laws" were created. If Your Honors please, I shall now turn to the terroristic laws and directives of Hitlerite criminals which were issued for the civilian population of the Soviet Union. Having started the criminal war against the U.S.S.R., the German fascist gang of bandits considered even these laws and "legal" principles especially created for the justification of their crimes, insufficient. Most of these documents had already been submitted to the Tribunal and I shall confine myself to some very brief quotations. With the Tribunal's permission I shall read only three lines from a previously submitted document. I am referring to Document Number L-221 submitted to the Tribunal by the United States Prosecution. It contains a brusque reply made by Hitler to Goering at a meeting on 16 July 1941. The Tribunal will find the place on Page 189 in the document file in the first paragraph, first line.
THE PRESIDENT: That document has been read already.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Yes, Your Honor. I shall take the liberty of quoting only three lines of this document.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, go on; but I think that the rest of the page which you are reading is all comments, and you could go straight on to the next document. Read these three lines and then I think you will find...
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: This is not quite correct, but I shall now quote those three lines. Hitler said, "The gigantic territory must be quieted as soon as possible." I am quoting from the next sentence, where Hitler said, "The best way to attain this objective is to shoot everyone, even those who only cast an ugly look." I am citing these lines because they are the "Leitmotiv" which passes in all the directives and orders of Hitlerites.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, what I am suggesting to you is that the rest of the page which you are now passing in our translation is quite unnecessary to read and you can go straight on, at any rate, to the directive of Keitel of the 16th of September 1941.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: All right, Mr. President. May I continue?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I quote a directive of Keitel. This directive was submitted to the Tribunal by the United States Prosecution under Document Number C-148 (Exhibit Number USA-555). I quote, on Page 190 of your document book, Paragraph 3, Line 4. "One must bear in mind that human life in the countries concerned is often of no value whatever, and that intimidating reaction is only possible in the form of application of extraordinary hardness." I am further presenting to the Tribunal a photostat of the document which was already submitted as Document Number 459-PS. shall not quote a single excerpt from it; but I shall take the liberty to remind the Tribunal that point 6 of this document states that any sort of resistance will be broken, not by means of juridical punishment, but if the occupying authorities will succeed in instilling in the population a fear which is the only thing capable, as it is said in the directive, "of depriving the population of any will to resist." I take the liberty to confirm this by quoting very briefly just two lines from the directive of the Commander of the 6th Army, General Field Marshal Von Reichenau, which was already presented to the Tribunal by my colleague as Exhibit Number USSR-12 (Document Number USSR-12). The Tribunal will find it on Page 194 of the document book, Line 19 from the top. It is said there, "The fear of German countermeasures must be stronger than the threats from Bolshevist remnants still wandering around." I wanted to read into the record one document which bears the seal of the pseudo-legal argumentation of Hans Frank and which is so characteristic of his ordinances and directives. It has been pointed out that this document had already been presented to the Tribunal and I do not wish to retain the attention of the Tribunal on a document which had already been read during a Tribunal session. I am referring to the circular order of the Reich Security Main Of lice, Number 567-42-176, dated 5 November 1942.