dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Where this could not be done, the burial grounds were carefully camouflaged with moss or green foliage. The earth which covered the graves of those shot was smoothed out with special machines and with caterpillar tractors. However, the main method adopted by the German fascist criminals for camouflaging their crimes was the burning of the corpses. The ashes from the burned bodies were strewn over the fields. The bones which had not been calcinated were crushed in special machines and mixed with manure for the preparation of fertilizers. In large camps the crushed bones of the victims were sold to the German firms to be transformed into superphosphates. As proof of the enormous scale of the Hitlerites' criminal activity directed toward concealing the traces of their crimes, I shall submit to the Tribunal a series of documents. I will refer, first of all, to the communiqué of the Polish-Soviet Extraordinary State Commission on Maidanek. This document was submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-29 (Document Number USSR-29). The part of the communiqué to which I refer will be found by the Tribunal on Page 65 of the document book, on the other side, Column 2 of the text, last paragraph. In order to save time, I will allow myself to summarize the contents of this document: In the beginning of 1942 two ovens for the burning of corpses were built: "As there were a great many corpses, the Germans, in 1942, began building, and by autumn of 1943 had concluded, the building of powerful crematoria consisting of five ovens. These ovens burned unceasingly. The temperature in these ovens could reach 1,500 degrees Celsius. In order to be able to put as many bodies as possible into the ovens, the corpses were dissected and the limbs hacked off." I omit the next paragraphs and beg the Tribunal to pay attention to the passage which is three paragraphs further down.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The ovens in the crematories proved to be inadequate, so the Germans were compelled to resort to special primitive cremation installations which had been made in the following way-I begin the quotation by Paragraph 1, Page 334 of the text: "On rails or on automobile frames which served as grates planks were placed. Corpses were laid on the planks, then more planks, and again corpses. Five hundred to 1,000 corpses were piled on one pyre. All that was covered with gasoline and ignited." I quote a short excerpt which ascertains the scale of criminal actions taken to conceal the trace of these crimes, Page 336, first paragraph: "The commission has ascertained that in the ovens of the crematoria alone more than 600,000 corpses were burned. More than 300,000 corpses were burned on the gigantic pyres in the Krempetz Woods; more than 80,000 corpses were burned in the two old ovens; not less than 400,000 corpses were burned on pyres in the camp itself, near the crematoria." As a proof of these same circumstances, that is to say, of the scale of the criminal activity of the Hitlerites in concealing the traces of their crimes, I refer now to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union for the town of Minsk. The members of the Tribunal will find this quotation on the back of Page 215, second column of the text, Paragraph 4. I quote a short excerpt: "In the Blagovtschchina Woods 34 ditch graves were discovered, camouflaged with evergreen branches. Some of the graves reached a length of 50 meters. During a partial excavation of five of these graves, corpses and a layer of ashes 50 centimeters or 1 meter thick was discovered at a depth of 3 meters. Near the graves the commission discovered a great number of small human bones, hair, false teeth, and numerous small personal articles. The investigation has ascertained that the fascist exterminated here up to 150,000 persons. "At a distance of 450 meters from the former hamlet of Petrashkevichi eight ditch graves have been discovered.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Their size is 21 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 5 meters deep. Before every ditch grave there are enormous piles of ashes, remainders of the burned corpses." I omit the next page and in proof of this same circumstances I am now referring to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission concerning the crimes of the German fascist invaders in the Lvov region. This document has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-6. I quote a very short excerpt from this document. The part which I will quote will be found by the members of the Tribunal on Page 164, on the reverse side, second column of the text, Paragraph 5: "Upon the order of Reich Minister Himmler and of Major General of Police Katzmann, special measures for exhuming and burning the corpses of murdered, peaceful citizens, Soviet prisoners of war, and citizens of foreign countries were carried out in June 1943. In Lvov the Germans created a special Sonderkommando Number 1005 composed of 126 men. The chief of this Kommando was Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Scherlack; his assistant, Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Rauch. The duty of this Sonderkommando was to exhume and burn the corpses of the civilians and prisoners of war who had been liquidated by the Germans." I dwell on this extract, and I would beg the Tribunal to remember this number, "Sonderkommando Number 1005." This Kommando was the prototype of similar Sonderkommandos created by the Germans. Later, the Sonderkommandos created for this task received the numbers of 1005-A, 1005-B, et cetera. I terminate the quotation with the conclusion of the medicallegal experts. I quote the last paragraph on Page 340 of the text: "Thus the Hitlerite murderers adopted in the territory of the Lvov region the same methods for concealing their crimes which they employed earlier in connection with the murder of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: "The expert commission ascertained full similarity of method in camouflaging the graves in Lissenitzach Forest with those used to camouflage the graves of the Polish officers killed by the Germans at Katyn. "To extend the experiments in exterminating people, cremating corpses, and camouflaging the crimes, the Germans set up in Lvov, in the Yanov Camp, a special school for the preparation of qualified cadre. The commandants of the camps of Lublin, Warsaw, Krakow, and other cities attended this school. The chief of the Sonderkommando Number 1005, 19 Feb. 4C Scherlack, taught the commandants on the spot how to organize the exhumation of the corpses from the graves, how to pile them on stacks, burn them, how to scatter the ashes, to crush the bones, to fill up the ditches, and how to plant trees and brush wood on the graves as camouflage." I now refer to a document which has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-61, which is the report of the examination in the town of Lvov of the special machine for the crushing of bones. This record may be found by the members of the Tribunal on Page 473 of the document book. As I have very little time left at my disposal, I shall only quote very short excerpts. I quote Paragraph I, on Page 342: "The machine for crushing bones was mounted on a special carriage on the platform of a trailer. It is easily transportable by automobiles or other means of transportation without dismounting." I omit the next paragraph, and shall read one more short extract: "The machine will function in any spot and does not require additional adaptation. It can be transported by automobile or any other vehicle. "A machine of these dimensions can produce 3 cubic meters of calcinated bone powder during 1 hour." I omit the next four pages of the report, and submit to the Tribunal as evidence the original record of the interrogation of Gerhard Adametz (Exhibit USSR-80, Document Number USSR-80), taken by an American army lieutenant, Patrick McMahon. Gerhard Adametz was interrogated under oath.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I dwell especially on this document, which has been put kindly at our disposal by our American colleagues, because Adametz' testimony, to use a legal term, in some points corroborates our own evidential material. The testimony is very lengthy, and I will limit myself to a few short quotations. . Gerhard Adametz was a member of Sonderkommando 1005-B. I draw the attention of the Tribunal again to the fact that the first Sonderkommando was simply 1005; this one is Sonderkommando 1005-B. The excerpt which I shall quote from the testimony of Gerhard Adametz will be found by the members of the Tribunal on Page 480 of the document book, beginning with the second paragraph. Gerhard Adametz said that, together with 40 other members of the Schutzpolizei, he left Dniepropetrovsk and was sent to Kiev. I remind the Tribunal of the name of Baybe-yar, which the Tribunal has already heard. I begin to quote the testimony of Adametz, Page 347: "Our Leutnant Winter reported about our column to Oberleutnant Hanisch, who was the ZugFuehrer of the Schutzpolizei of Group 1005-A. The place smelled of corpses. We felt faint, stopped our noses, and tried not to breathe. Oberleutnant Hanisch addressed us. I remember the following excerpts: "'You have come to the place where you are to serve and support your comrades. You already smell an odor coming from the church behind us. We must all get used to this, and you must all do your duties. We will have to guard internees and do so very strictly. Everything that takes place here is the secret affair of the Reich. Everyone of you answers with his head if ever an internee under his guard succeeds in escaping; besides this, he will be subjected to a special regime. The same fate awaits anyone who lets out anything or is careless in his correspondence."' I omit the next sentence and continue the quotation: "After this speech of Oberleutnant Hanisch, we were led out so as to acquaint ourselves with the place where we were to serve. We left the cemetery and were brought to an adjoining field.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: The road which crossed this field was guarded on both sides by policemen, who chased away all those who tried to approach it. In the field we saw about 100 internees resting from work. The legs of each internee were in chains of about 75 centimeters long. The internees were dressed in civilian clothes." I omit the next part of the paragraph and continue the quotation: "The work of the internees consisted, as we found out later, of exhuming corpses which were buried here in two common graves, transporting them, piling them up in two enormous piles, and burning them. It is difficult to estimate; however, I believe that on this spot were buried from 40,000 to 45,000 corpses. One antitank ditch served as a grave and was partially filled with corpses. This ditch was 100 meters long, 10 meters wide, and 4 to 5 meters deep." I interrupt my quotation, and continue with the last paragraph of the text: "On the day of our arrival, about 10 September 1943, there were three or four small piles of corpses on the field." It is interesting to note what this fascist expert in the burning of corpses understood by the words "small piles." I continue the quotation: "Every such pile consisted of about 700 corpses. It was about 7 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 2 meters high." I interrupt my quotation and continue from the next page: "Here and in other places I observed the following methods which were employed (burning of corpses): "With the aid of iron hooks, the corpses were dragged to certain spots and then piled on a wooden platform. Then the whole pile of corpses was surrounded with logs, petroleum was poured on and ignited. "We, the policemen of detachment 1005-B, were then led back to the cemetery to the church. However, not one of us could eat because of the terrible smell and because of all we had seen." Although further on the text is very interesting, I have to leave it out in order to save time and continue the quotation from Page 351, second paragraph.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I quote this excerpt, as in the report of the Kiev Extraordinary State Commission I already had the honor to report to the Tribunal about statements of internees who had fled from these Kommandos. Adametz' testimony gives full confirmation of this episode. I shall only read a short quotation: "About 29 September 1943 at 4:15 a.m. during dense fog, about 30 internees escaped. They tore off their foot chains, rushed out of their barracks with shouts, and ran away in different directions. Six of them were shot; because of the dense fog the others succeeded in escaping." I interrupt my quotation. I beg the Tribunal to pay attention to the fact that as soon as the work of burning corpses was completed the internees were murdered. In proof of this I quote the following excerpt from Adametz' statement, Page 352, second paragraph of the text: "In other places where I also served as guard, the internees were murdered after their work (exhuming and burning of corpses) had been concluded. For this purpose they were brought in groups or individually, under the escort of the policemen chosen for this purpose, to a spot designated by the SD. The police were afterwards sent back to bring along more internees. Then the members of the SD forced the internees to lie, face down, on a wooden platform, and immediately shot them in the nape of the neck. The internees in many cases obeyed this order without resistance and lay down next to their comrades who already had been shot." I draw the attention of the Tribunal to the further career of the Sonderkommando. You will find information on this subject in the same record. This Sonderkommandant served in Kryvoy Hog, in Nikolaev, at Voznessensk, and in Riga. That is to say, it crossed my country nearly from the extreme south to the Baltic countries; a distance of thousands of kilometers. Everywhere it carried out the same work. In confirmation of this I will quote only a short excerpt regarding the last stage on the Kommando's work in Riga-Page 357 of the statement.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I begin the quotation, 'five members of Kommando 1005-B received an order to go to several newly built barracks which were situated about 250 meters from six or seven mass graves." I quote this passage, as Bikerneksky Forest will be shown in the documentary film: "The latter were situated about 4 kilometers from the suburbs of Riga in the Bikern Forest"-in the record the name of the Bikerneksky Forest was spelled wrong-"there were about 10 or 12 thousand. A fresh group of 50 or 60 internees was brought there, and in the middle of June 1944 work began (the exhumation and burning of corpses) in the same way as I described at the beginning. This work was completed by the end of July 1944. I believe that at that period the front was only about 300 kilometers away. These 10,000 to 12,000 corpses were those of men, women, and children of all ages and had been buried about 2 years ago." I remind Your Honors, that the extract from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission which I quoted mentioned the date of the shooting as 1942, and this proves that these two testimonies concur with each other once again. I continue the quotation: "The policemen believed that these people had been shot by the SS. However, this was only a supposition. This fresh group of 50 to 60 internees was murdered at the end of July 1944." I omit the following part of the document and will only quote the conclusion of Gerhard Adametz' record, Page 359, Paragraph 4: "Afterwards, we were of the opinion that the Nazis were actually afraid that the mass graves would be discovered by the advancing Russians and that these monstrous mass killings would become known to the civilized world. I believe that about 100,000 corpses were exhumed from mass graves by the SD, serving with the Sonderkommandos 1005-A and 1005-B. I believe that similar Kommandos also were engaged on the same work, but I do not know how many.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: If I had thought or known that I would ever be compelled to carry out this dirty and degrading work I would have emigrated somewhere." I omit the last part; the record concludes with the text of the oath and the signature of Gerhard Adametz. Before submitting to the Tribunal the other evidence of another crime of the Hitlerites, I beg the Tribunal to allow me to make a few introductory remarks. The murder of several million people was carried out by the German fascist out of motives dictated by their mankind-hating, cannibal theories of racism and of the "right of masters" to exterminate peoples. All these murders were planned in cold blood. All these crimes, unprecedented in scale, were carried out at exact dates set for this purpose. Moreover, as I showed many times before, a special technique was invented for the mass killings and for the concealment of the traces of their crimes. But, besides this, there is another characteristic in the many crimes committed by the German fascists which makes them even more detestable. In many cases, the Germans, having killed their victims, did not stop here, but made the corpses objects of jeers and mockery. Mockery of the dead bodies of victims was common practice in all extermination camps. I remind the Tribunal that the bones which had not been calcinated were sold by the German fascists to the firm Strem. The hair of the murdered women was cut off, packed in sacks, pressed and sent to Germany. Among the same crimes are those on which I shall now submit evidence. On numerous occasions, I have already pointed out that the principal method used to cover up the traces was to burn the corpses, but the same base, rationalized SS technical minds which created gas chambers and murder vans, began devising such methods of complete annihilation of human bodies, which would not only conceal the traces of their crimes, but also serve in the manufacturing of certain products.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: In the Danzig Anatomic Institute semi-industrial experiments in the production of soap from human bodies and the tanning of human skin for industrial purposes were carried out. I, submit to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-197 (Document Number USSR-197), the testimony of one of the direct participants in the production of soap from human fat. It is the testimony of Sigmund Mazur, who was a laboratory assistant at the Danzig Anatomic Institute. I omit two pages of the statement and turn to Page 363. I begin the quotation-it is rather long, but I think I shall have the necessary time for the presentation of the evidence, and I beg to draw the attention of Your Honors to this quotation: "Q: 'Tell us how the soap was made out of human fat at the Danzig Anatomic Institute.' "A: 'In the courtyard of the Anatomic Institute a one-story stone building of three rooms was built during the summer of 1943. This building was erected for the- utilization of human bodies and for the boiling of bones. This was officially announced by Professor Spanner. This laboratory was called a laboratory for the fabrication of skeletons, the burning of meat and unnecessary bones. But already during the winter of 1943-44 Professor Spanner ordered us to collect human fat, and not to throw it away. This order was given to Reichert and Borkmann. " 'In February 1944 Professor Spanner gave me the recipe for the preparation of soap from human fat. According to this recipe 5 kilos of human fat are mixed with 10 liters of water and 500 or 1,000 grams of caustic soda. All this is boiled 2 or 3 hours and then cooled. The soap floats to the surface while the water and other sediment remain at the bottom. A bit of salt and soda is added to this mixture. Then fresh water is added, and the mixture again boiled 2 or 3 hours. After having cooled the soap is poured into molds.' " I will present to the Tribunal these molds into which the soap was poured. Further I shall prove that this half-finished sample of human soap was really found in Danzig. "The soap had an unpleasant odor.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: In order to destroy this disagreeable odor, Benzolaldehyd was added." I omit the next part of the quotation, which explains from where they received this preparation. This is of no importance at this stage, and I continue the quotation on Page 364, Paragraph 4: "The fat of the human bodies was collected by Borkmann and Reichert. I boiled the soap out of the bodies of women and men. The process of boiling alone took several days- from 3 to 7. During two manufacturing processes, in which I directly participated, more than 25 kilograms of soap were produced. The amount of human fat necessary for these two processes was 70 to 80 kilograms collected from some 40 bodies. The finished soap then went to Professor Spanner, who kept it personally. "The work for the production of soap from human bodies has, as far as I know, also interested Hitler's Government. The Anatomic Institute was visited by the Minister of Education, Rust; the Reichsgesundheitsfuehrer, Doctor Conti; the Gauleiter of Danzig, Albert Forster; as well as professors from other medical institutes. "I used this human soap for my personal needs, for toilet and for laundering. For myself I took 4 kilograms of this soap." I omit one paragraph and continue the quotation. "Reichert, Borkmann, Von Bargen, and our chief professor, Spanner, also personally used this soap." I omit the following paragraphs and conclude the quotation on Page 365, from where I shall read one paragraph which concerns the industrial utilization of human skin: "In the same way as for human fat, Professor Spanner ordered us to collect human skin, which after having been cleaned of fat was treated by certain chemical products. The work on human skin was carried out under the direction of the chief assistant, Von Bargen and Professor Spanner himself. The 'finished' skin was packed in boxes and used for special purposes which I don't know." I now submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-196 (Document Number USSR-196), the copy of the recipe for soap produced from the corpses of the executed.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I will not dwell on this recipe which is identical to that which has already been described in Mazur's testimony. But the proof of the fact that this recipe is correct, Your Honors, can be found in Mazur's record, which has already been submitted to the Tribunal under Document Number USSR-197. I will not quote this record. In order to prove that the record of Mazur's interrogation corresponds to reality, I shall now submit to the Tribunal two documents which have been kindly put at our disposal They are records of sworn statements by two British prisoners of war; in particular that of John Henry Witton, a soldier of the Royal Sussex Regiment. The document is submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-264 (Document Number USSR-264). The members of the Tribunal will find this quotation in Paragraph 5, Page 495, of the document book. I quote a very short excerpt from this record, if the necessary time is granted to me. This is Page 367. I quote: "The corpses arrived at an average of seven to eight per day. All of them had been beheaded and were naked. They arrived sometimes in a Red Cross wagon containing five to six corpses in a wooden case and sometimes in a small truck which contained three to four corpses." I omit the next sentence. "The corpses were unloaded as quickly as possible and taken down into the cellar, which was entered from a side door in the main entrance hall of the Institute." I omit the next sentence. "They were then put into large metal containers where they were then left for approximately 4 months." I omit the next three sentences and continue the quotation: "Owing to the preservative mixture in which they were stored, this tissue came away from the bones very easily. The tissue was then put into a boiler about the size of a small kitchen table....