dtufail/nuremberg-trials-corpus huggingface dataset:
GEN. ZORYA: It is Goebbels' speech in Munich, published on 19 October 1942 in the main organ of the Nazi Party, the Volkischer Beobachter, South German edition. The text of this speech is presented to the Military Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-250 (Document Number USSR-250). That is on Page 205 in the document book. In his address Goebbels said: "Over and above that, we have captured the most important grain, coal, and iron ore producing regions of the Soviet Union. What the enemy has lost we now possess. And since what the enemy lacks has come to us, it is, according to Adam Riese, of double value. While in the past we were a people without space, this is today no longer the case. Today we have only to give a shape to this space conquered by our soldiers, to organize it, and render it useful to us; and this requires a certain period of time. But if the English were to contend that we have lost the war because we have lost time, then this contention will only prove how completely they have misunderstood the entire situation. Time only works against these who have no space and no raw materials. If we make use of our time to organize the space we have conquered, then time will work not against us, but for us." Your Honors, that which Goebbels, the Defendants Ribbentrop, and Rosenberg said about exploiting the space captured by the soldiers, took on, at the OKW, the shape of plans for further aggression. In this respect the following document-which I now submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-336 (Document Number USSR-336)-is of interest and I ask you to accept this as evidence. This document is a letter from the Staff of the German Navy to the commanding generals of Groups West, North, and South. This document was discovered in German archives by the Allied troops. The letter, which you will find on Page 209 in the document book, is entitled, "Objectives for the Further Conduct of War upon the Termination of the Campaign in the East." It is numbered 1385/41 and is dated 8 August 1941.
GEN. ZORYA: In those days the fascist conspirators considered that victory over the Soviet Union was really only a question of time; and they, therefore, planned for further aggression. This letter which I am about to quote begins with the following words: "The Naval Operations Staff has just received the draft about further intentions on termination of the campaign in the East. "The following declarations describe these intentions in broad lines and are only intended for the personal information of the commanding generals and the Chiefs of Staff." There follows Part 2, Paragraph P. the eight subparagraphs of which detail the plans to be carried out on the termination of the campaign in the East. I omit, Your Honors, the first two subparagraphs dealing with the tasks of the so-called pacification of the Occupied Eastern Territories and with the assignment to other fronts of troops which had become available. Subparagraph 3 details the intentions of the fascist conspirators in North Africa. I quote: "Strengthening of the Armed Forces in North Africa with a view to rendering possible the capture of Tobruk. In order to guarantee the passage of necessary transports according to plan, attacks by the German Air Force on Malta should be resumed. "Provided that weather conditions cause no delay and the service of transports is assured as planned, it can be assumed that the campaign against Tobruk will begin in mid-September." In August 1941 the Hitlerites intended, with the aid of fascist Spain, to seize Gibraltar during the same year. Subparagraph 4 of Part 2 of the letter just submitted to you envisaged that: "Plan Felix, that is, the seizure of Gibraltar with the active participation of Spain, must be executed in 1941." The Hitlerites planned the execution of an attack against Syria and Palestine in the direction of Egypt.
GEN. ZORYA: Subparagraph 5 of the above-mentioned letter states as follows: "If, once the termination of the campaign in the East has been made known, we succeed in bringing Turkey to our side, an attack on Syria and Palestine in the direction of Egypt is foreseen after a minimum period of 85 days for the preparation of the necessary forces and a preliminary securing of the Chersonese passes and an improvement of Anatolian transportation routes through Turkey, with German help." Two subparagraphs later, we find, in the same letter, in Subparagraph 8, a possible variation of this plan: "If, even after the defeat of Soviet Russia, it would still prove impossible to bring Turkey over to our side, a southward thrust through Anatolia would have to be carried out against her will." Your Honors, in the plans of fascist aggression Egypt played a large part. It is mentioned in Subparagraphs 6 and 7 of Part 2 of the letter quoted. Subparagraph 6 mentions-I quote word for word: "An attack on Egypt from Cyrenaica, after the fall of Tobruk could probably not be carried out before the end of 1941 or the beginning of 1942." Subparagraph 7 stated: "If the collapse of Soviet Russia creates the necessary conditions, an advance by a motorized expeditionary force through Transcaucasia, in the direction of the Persian Gulf, and in the direction of Iraq, Syria, and Egypt is envisaged. "Because of weather conditions, this attack will only become possible at the beginning of 1942." This document, which I have just presented to the Tribunal, shows the turn of events intended by the fascist conspirators had the Red Army not put an end to their aggression. The fascist aggressors hoped to destroy the Soviet Union in a lightning war, to seize her wealth, to subjugate the Soviet people, and, by these means, to open for themselves the road to world domination. ~ Now, Your Honors, I have come to the end of my presentation.
GEN. ZORYA: In concluding the presentation of documentary evidence regarding the aggression of the fascist conspirators against the Soviet Union, may I ask the Tribunal's permission to sum up briefly as follows: 1. The criminal intent of attacking the U.S.S.R. for the purpose of plundering the Soviet Union and exploiting its riches for purposes of further German aggression was conceived by the fascist conspirators long before the actual launching of the attack. 2. The military preparations for the attack on the Soviet Union were conducted by the fascist criminals for at least a year and embraced not only Germany, but also satellite countries, particularly Romania, Finland, and Hungary. plunder of the Soviet Union, and the wresting of its territories, was planned long before the attack on the Soviet Union. Fortunately for an nations in the world, the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics, the Soviet people, and their Red Army completely overthrew all the fiendish plans of the fascist aggressors. The Red Army not only withstood and stopped the fascist aggression; but, together with the armies of its allies, brought Hitler Germany to complete catastrophe and the fascist war criminals to the dock. I thus end my presentation, Your Honors.
COL. POKROVSKY: Your Honors, my task today is to present to you material on the "Criminal Violation of the Laws and Customs of War in the Treatment of Prisoners of War." Before beginning the presentation of evidence relative to the overwhelming guilt of the defendants in regard to the persons who were captured by the German Army, I consider it essential to make a few brief remarks. As early as the end of the last century, the Hague Convention of 1899 established certain rules regulating the rights and responsibilities of belligerents in regard to prisoners of war. In pursuance of the provisions of the 1899 Convention , a number of states drew up the necessary instructions concerning the treatment of prisoners of war. I would like to cite three or four sentences taken from such instructions: "The exclusive aim of the prisoner ship is to prevent the further participation of prisoners in the war. "A State may do everything necessary for the holding of prisoners, but nothing more.... "Prisoners of war may be employed to perform moderate work in conformity with their social position.... "In any case, such work must not be detrimental to health and must not be of a humiliating nature. It must not contribute directly to military operations against the native country of the prisoners.... "Prisoners of war lose their freedom but retain their rights. In other words, military confinement is not an act of mercy on the part of the captor, but the right of disarmed persons." It may surprise you to learn that the instructions cited are those issued by the German General Staff in Volume 18 of the circular published in 1902. The principle of humane treatment of prisoners and wounded servicemen was further developed in the Hague Convention of 1907 and the Geneva Convention of 1929. Germany's adherence to these conventions was definitely reflected in the German law regarding wartime courts-martial. I have in mind, particularly, the German law of 17 August 1938, and, in particular, Part "e", Articles 73 and 75, which contain direct reference to the Convention of 1929.
COL. POKROVSKY: That was at a time when Hitlerite Germany had already begun the execution of her aggressive plans. As the Tribunal will remember, the 23rd Article of the Hague Convention of 1907 states, "...it is forbidden...to kill or wound an enemy who, having laid down his arms and possessing no means of defense, has unconditionally surrendered." It cannot be said that the brief code of the laws of war, which was, in fact, drawn up at The Hague and Geneva, encompassed the whole range of questions relating to the laws of war. The authors of these documents had, therefore, inserted the following proviso, and I will cite this excerpt: "Until the opportunity presents itself of issuing a more complete code of the laws of war, the High Contracting Parties"- and I would remind the Tribunal that Germany was one of those contracting parties-"consider it appropriate to affirm that, in cases not provided for in the rules established by them, the population and the belligerents remain safeguarded by The principles of international law insofar as these principles ensue from the customs, laws of hum anity, and dictates of public conscience in force between civilized nations." I should like to emphasize that in the appendix to the Convention on the Laws and Customs of Land War (Second Peace Conference, 1907), Article 4 of Chapter 2, concerning prisoners of war, states as follows and you, Sir, will find the quotation on Page 4 of the document book, where it is underlined with red pencil: "Prisoners of war remain in the custody of the enemy government and not of the individuals or troops which had captured ' them. "They must be treated humanely.
COL. POKROVSKY: "All their personal belongings except arms, horses, and military papers, will remain in their possession." It may, therefore, be considered definitely established that the governments of a number of states, including Germany, had unconditionally recognized their obligations to insure conditions under which prisoners of war should not suffer from arbitrary actions on the part of members of the Armed Forces of any state. The natural conclusion presents itself that in cases of violations of this obligation, the responsibility for any crime against a prisoner of war and especially for a definite system of crimes against the dignity, person, health, and life of prisoners of war, must fall on the government of the country which had signed the Convention. In the light of the facts which I shall submit to you, on the basis of irrefutable documents, Germany's solemn undertakings in regard to prisoners of war will appear to be nothing but unparalleled and cynical mockery of the very conception of treaties, laws, culture, and humanity. I present to the Court, as our Exhibit Number USSR-51 (Document Number USSR-51), a note submitted by Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov, People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R., dated 25 November 1941, concerning the outrageous atrocities committed by the German authorities against Soviet prisoners of war; and I quote several extracts from this note, which you will find on Page 5 of the document presented to you: "The Soviet Government is in possession of numerous facts testifying to the systematic outrages and atrocities committed by the German authorities against Red Army soldiers and against commanders of the Red Army. Lately these facts have become particularly numerous and have positively cried to high heaven, thereby revealing once again the German war machine and the German Government as a gang of bandits who utterly ignored all codes of international law and all laws of human ethics.
COL. POKROVSKY: "The Soviet Military Command is aware of numerous cases of the subjection of captured Red Army men, the majority of them wounded, to savage torture, ill-usage, and murder at the hands of the German Military Command and German military units. Captured Red Army men are tortured with bars of red-hot iron; their eyes are gouged out, their feet, hands, fingers, ears, and noses are hacked off, their stomachs ripped open, and they are tied to tanks and torn asunder. Enormities and shameful crimes of this sort are committed by German fascist officers and men along the whole front, wherever they may be and wherever men and commanders of the Red Army fall into their hands. "For example, in the Ukrainian S.S.R., on the Island of Khortitsa, on the Dnieper, after the German troops were forced to retreat by the Red Army, the bodies of captured Red Army soldiers who had been tortured by the Germans were found. The prisoners' hands had been cut off, their eyes gouged out, their stomachs ripped open. In a southwesterly direction, in the village of Repki in the Ukraine, after the Germans had retreated from the positions they had occupied, the bodies of Battalion Commander Bobrov, Political Officer Pyatigorsky, and two privates were found. Their arms and legs had been nailed to stakes, and on their bodies five-pointed stars had been cut with red-hot knives. The faces of the dead men were cut and burnt. Near these bodies was found the body of a Red Army man whom the Germans had captured the previous day. His feet were burnt and his ears were cut off. When our units captured the village of Kholmy, on the Northwestern front, the mutilated bodies of Red Army men were found. One of these had been thrown into a bonfire. This was Private Adrei Ossipov of the Kazak S.S.R. At Greigovo Station (Ukrainian S.S.R.), German units captured a small group of Red Army men and kept them without food or drink for several days. A number of the prisoners had their ears slashed off, eyes gouged out, and hands cut off, after which they had been run through with bayonets.
COL. POKROVSKY: In July of this year, at Schumilino Station, German units captured a group of severely wounded Red Army men and put them to death on the spot. In the same month, in the vicinity of the town of Borisov, (Bielorussian S.S.R.), the Hitlerites captured 70 severely wounded Red Army men and poisoned them all with arsenic. In August, near the township of Zabolotye, the Germans captured 17 severely wounded Red Army men on the battlefield.. For 3 days they gave them no food. The 17 men, their wounds still bleeding, were then tied to telegraph posts, as a result of which three of them died. The remaining 14 were saved from certain death by the timely arrival of a Soviet tank unit commanded by Senior Lieutenant Rybin. In the village of Lagutino, in the vicinity of Bryansk, the Germans tied a Red Army man to two tanks and tore him to pieces. At a point west of Bryansk, not far from the Collective Farm, 'Red October,' 11 charred bodies of men and officers of the Red Army captured by the fascists were found. The arms and back of one of these Red Army men bore traces of torture with a red-hot iron rod. "There are a number of cases on record where the German Command has driven captured Red Army men in front of their advancing columns, during an attack, on pain of shooting. Such cases in particular have been registered in the vicinity of the Vybor State Farm, in the Leningrad region; in the vicinity of Yelna, in the Smolensk region, in the Gomel region of the Bielorussian S.S.R.; in the Poltava region of the Ukrainian S.S.R., and in a number of other places. "Wounded and sick Red Army men in hospitals which fell into the hands of the German invaders were also systematically subjected to outrageous indignities, torture, and savage illusage. On innumerable occasions defenseless sick and wounded Red Army men in hospitals have been bayonetted or shot by the fascist fiends on the spot. Thus, at Malaya Rudaya, in the Smolensk Region, fascist German units captured a Soviet field hospital and shot the wounded Red Army men, and the male and female hospital attendants.
COL. POKROVSKY: Among the victims were Privates Shalamov and Asimov and Lieutenant Dileyev, who were wounded, and Verya Boiko, a 17 year-old hospital attendant, and others. "There have been numerous cases of the abuse and violation of woman's honor when female hospital nurses and hospital workers fell into the hands of the Hitlerite invaders." There are many similar facts in the same note. Then it continues: "Marauding is rife among the men and officers of the Hitler army. When the cold winter weather sets in, marauding assumes a mass character, the Hitlerite robbers stopping at nothing in their quest of war clothing. They not only strip warm clothes end boots from the dead bodies of Soviet soldiers; but divest wounded men of literally all their warm clothing- felt boots, boots, socks, jerseys, quilted jackets, and warm caps- leaving them stark naked. They did not even stop at taking the women's warm clothing from killed or wounded hospital nurses. "Red Army prisoners were starved to death; they were left without food for weeks or issued infinitesimal rations of moldy bread or rotten potatoes. Depriving the Soviet prisoners of war of food, the Hitlerites compelled them to rake the garbage cans for remnants of food which the German soldiers had thrown out or, as happened in a number of camps, including the camp at the hamlet of Malaya Korma (Bielorussian S.S.R.), they fling the carcasses of horses over the barbed wire fence to the Soviet prisoners of war. In the Vitebsk camp, in Bielorussia, the Red Army prisoners received almost no food at all for 4 months. When a group of Red Army prisoners sent to the German Command a written request for food to keep them alive, a German officer inquired as to who wrote the statement. Five Red Army men who affirmed that they had written it were shot on the spot. "Similar cases of unbridled tyranny and brutality are to be observed in other camps, Shitkiv, Demyan, and others.
COL. POKROVSKY: "The German authorities and the German Government have established a savage regime in the camps for Soviet prisoners of war, with the object of mass extermination of Soviet prisoners of war. The German High Command and the Ministry of Food and Agriculture have issued a regulation establishing a food ration for Soviet prisoners of war far inferior in quantity and quality to that for prisoners of war of other countries. For instance, this ration consists of 6,000 grams of bread and 400 grams of meat per month, which dooms the Soviet prisoners of war to a painful death from starvation. "While enforcing this disgraceful and obviously unlawful regime for Soviet prisoners of war with inhuman cruelty, the German Government is doing its utmost to conceal from the public the regulation it issued on this question. Thus, in reply to an inquiry made by the Soviet Government, the Swedish Government stated that the information concerning the aforesaid regulation of the German Government published in the European and American press was correct, but that the text of this regulation had not been published and was therefore not available." The regulation which had not been available for the Swedish Government in the autumn of 1941 has now become available for the International Military Tribunal. I assume that a very important circumstance is that these regulations were distributed through two channels: The High Command and the Nazi Party. In such a way, the extermination by starvation of the Soviet prisoners of war captured by the Germans had been planned and carried out both by the German High Command and by the Nazi Party. I present to the Court these documents which were not available some time ago, as a heavy load on the scale of the Prosecution. On Page 17, Your Honor, you will find the document which has been cited by me. It bears the Document Number D-225 (Exhibit Number USSR-349): "High Command of the Army, Army Equipment and the Commander-in-Chief of the Replacement Training Army. "Berlin, 6 August 1941. "Subject: Food ration of Soviet prisoners of war.
COL. POKROVSKY: "The Soviet Union did not subscribe to the agreement of 27 July 1929, concerning the treatment of prisoners of war. Consequently we are not obliged to supply Soviet prisoners of war with food corresponding in quantity or quality to the requirements of this regulation. Taking the general food situation into consideration, the following rations for Soviet prisoners of war were established, which rations were considered adequate according to medical findings: "The ration in the camps for the prisoners of war (not employed on essential work) amounted to: "1. Bread, 6 kilograms; meat, 400 grams; fat, 440 grams; sugar, 600 grams, for 28 days. "2. For prisoners doing special work: Bread, 9 kilograms; meat, 600 grams; fat, 520 grams; sugar, 900 grams, for 28 days." A similar regulation, headed, "Food Ration for Soviet Prisoners of War," was sent as secret information by the Chancellery of the Nazi Party on 17 December 1941. I shall quote only one sentence from that Party directive, which you will find on Page 18 of the document book: "An open discussion of the question regarding the food supply of the prisoners of war either orally or in writing is forbidden because of the possibility of enemy propaganda." Furthermore, the authors of the document emphasize that there is no danger of any substantial deterioration of the food supply of "our German people." I consider that the hint is sufficiently clear. The document was distributed to the High Command of the Army, to the commands of corps areas, to the military authorities in Bohemia and Moravia, and to military commissioners in a number of cities. The fascist conspirators established particularly low rations for men of the Red Army. On the basis of their own estimates the monthly ration for Soviet prisoners of war was 42 percent in regard to fats, 66 percent in regard to sugar and bread and 0 percent in regard to meat, as compared with the amount of food provided for prisoners of war from other armies fighting against Germany. Moreover, there was a special note in the directive itself.