"The Naval War Staff has just received the draft of the Fuehrer's directives concerning further intentions on termination of the campaign in the East.
"The following propositions give a general outline of these intentions and are intended for the personal information of the Commanding Generals and their Chiefs of Staff." detail the plans to be carried out on the termination of the campaign in the East. so-called "pacification" of the occupied Eastern territories and with the assignment to other fronts of troops which had become available. in North Africa. I quote:
"Sufficient strengthening of armed forces in North Africa to make the capture of Tobruk possible. In order to permit the passage ofnecessary transports, attacks by the German air force on Malta must be resumed.
"Provided the weather conditions do not cause delay and the shuttle service of transports is assured, it can be counted on that the campaign against Tobruk will begin as soon as the middle of September." seize Gibraltar during the same year.
Sub-paragraph 4 of Part 2 of the same letter envisaged that:
"Plan 'Felix', i.e., the seizure of Gibraltar with the active participation of Spain, must executed still in 1941." Palestine in the direction of Egypt. Sub-paragraph 5 of the above mentioned letter states as follows:
"If, after the obvious termination of the campaign in the East, we succeed in bringing Turkey to our side, an attack on Syria and Palestine in the direction of Egypt is foreseen after a minimum preparation of the necessary forces lasting 85 days, and the preliminary securing of the Caucasian passes and the improvement of transportation conditions in Anatolia, Turkey, with German help."
Two sub-paragraphs later we find, in the same letter, in sub-paragraph 8, the following version of this plan:
"If, even after the defeat of Soviet Russia, Turkey should not side with us, an attack through Anatolia in a southerly direction will be carried out against her will."
In the plans of fascist aggression Egypt played a large part. It is mentioned in sub-paragraphs 6 and 7 of Part 2 of the quoted letter.
Subparagraph 6 mentions:
"An attack on Egypt from Cyrenaica, after the fall of Tobruk. Presumably this attack cannot be carried out before the end of 1941 or the beginning of 1942."
Sub-paragraph 7 stated that:
"If the collapse of Soviet Russia creates the necessary conditions, an advance by a motorized expeditionary force through Trans-Caucasia in the direction of the Persian Gulf, Iran, Syria, Egypt, is envisaged.
"Because of weather conditions, this attack Will become possible only at the beginning of 1942." turn of events intended by the fascist conspirators, should the Red Army not have stopped their aggression. 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 presentation. 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 USSR 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 the satellite countries, particularly Roumania, Finland, and Hungary.
3. The execution of the criminal designs of the fascist aggression consisting of the extermination of the peaceful population, plunder of the Soviet Union, and the wresting of its territories, was planned long before the attack on the Soviet Union.
of the Soviet Socialist Republics, the Soviet people, and its 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 thearmies of its allies, brought Hitler Germany to complete catastrophe and the fascist war criminals to the dock.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: May it please the Tribunal, my task today is to present before you materials on the count of Criminal Violation of the Laws and Customs of War in the Treatment of Prisoners of War. whelmning guilt of the defendants in regard to the persons who became prisoners of war of the Germany army, I consider it essential to make a few brief remarks. established certain rules regulating the rights and responsibilities of the belligerents in regard to prisoners of war. In pursuance of the provisions of the Convention of 1899, 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 military plan 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 on act of mercy on the part of the captor, but the right of a disarmed person."
issued by the German General Staff, which were published in 1902, three years after the Hague Convention. men was further developed in the Hague Convention of 1907, and the Geneva Convention of 1929.
Germany's adherence to these conventions found some reflection in the German Law regarding war-time court-martials in military courts. I have in mind, particularly, the German Law of 17 August 1938, and, in particular, section "e", paragraphs 73 and 75, which contain direct reference to the Convention of 1929. That was at a time when Hitlerite Germany had already begun the execution of her aggressive plans. of 1907 states....
"It is forbidden to kill or wound an enemy why, having laid down his arms and possessing no means of defense, has unconditionally surrendered.' 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 humanity, and dictates of public conscience in force between civilized nations." the Laws and Customs of Land War -- Second Peace Conference, 1907, -Article 4 of Chapter 2 concerning prisoners of warstates as follows, and you 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 state and not of the individuals or troops which had captured them.
"They must be treated humanely.
"All their personal belongings, except arms, horses and military papers, will remain in their possession." 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. 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. on the basis of irrefutable documents, Germany's solemn undertakings in regard to prisoners of war will appear to be nothing but cynical mockery of the very conception of treaties, laws, culture and humanity.
I present to the Court as our Exhibit No. USSR-51, a Note submitted by V.M. Molotov, People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, 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 documentpresented to you:
"The Soviet Government is in possession of numerous facts testifying to the systematic outrages and atrocities committed by the German authorities against prisoners of war, privates and commanders of the Red Army.
Lately these facts have become particularly numerous and have assumed a particularly glaring character, thereby once again revealing the German war machine and the German Government as a gang of bandits who utterly ignore all codes of international law and all laws of human ethics.
"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 death 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 Germanfascist 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 SSR, 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 men 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 the southwestern 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 Pyatigorski, and two privates were found. Their arms and logs 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 day before. His feet were burnt and his ears were cut off. When our units captured the village of Kholmy, Northwestern Front, the mutilated bodies of Red Army men were found. One of these had been thrown into a bonfire. This was Private Andrei Ossipov of the Razakh SSR.
"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 cars slashed off, eyes gouged out and hands cut off, after which they had been run through with bayonets. 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 some month, in the vicinity of the town of Borisov, Byelorussion 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 three 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 Ribin. 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 Krasni Oktyabr Collective Farm, 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 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 Vybori State Farm, in the Leningrad Region; in the vicinity of Yelna, in the smolensk Region; in the Gomel Region of the Byelorussian 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 fall into the hands of the German invaders are also systematically subjected to outrageous indignities, torture, and savage ill usage. 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 Rudnya, in the Smolensk Region, fascistGerman units captured a Soviet field hospital and shot the wounded Red Army men, and the male and female hospital attendants. Among the victims were privates Shalamov and Azimov and Lieutenant Dileyev, who were wounded and Varya Boiko, a seventeen-year old nurse, and others.
"There have been numerous cases of the abuse and violation of woman's honour when female hospital nurses and ambulance workers fell into the hands of the Hitlerite invaders."
There are many similar facts in the some Note. Then it continues:
"Marauding is rife among the men and officers of the Hitler army. When the cold winter weather set in, marauding assumed a mass character, the Hitlerite robbers stopping at nothing in their quest of war clothing. They not only strip warm clothes and 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 than stark naked. They put on themselves everything even women's warm clothing taken from killed or wounded hospital nurses.
"Red Army men prisoners are starved to death; they are left without food for weeks or issued infinitesimal rations of mouldy bread or rotten potatoes. Depriving the Soviet war prisoners of food, the Hitlerites compel them to rake the garbage cans for remnants of food which the German soldiers have thrown out or, as happened in a number of camps, including the one at Malaya Korma, Byelorussian SSR, they fling the carcasses of horses over the barbed wire fence to the Soviet prisoners of war. In the Vitebsk camp, in Byelorussia, the Red Army prisoners received almost no food for four 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, Shitkov, Demyan and others.
"The German authorities and the German Government have established a savage regime in the camps for Soviet prisoners of war with the object of exterminating the Soviet prisoners of war on masse. 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. 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." autumn of 1941 has now become available for the International Military Tribunal. distributed in two channels: the High Command and the channel of the Fascist 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 Fascist Party. time ago as a heavy load on the scale of the Prosecution. On page 17, your Honors, you will find the document which has been cited by me. It boars the number 225-D:
"High Command of Berlin, "Subject:
Food ration of the Soviet prisoners of war.
"The Soviet Union did not join the regulation regarding the regime for prisoners of war. According to that we are not obliged to supply Soviet prisoners of war with food either equal in quantity or in quality to the requirement of the regulation. Taking into consideration the general situation, the following rations for the Soviet prisoners of war were established.
"The ration in the camps for the prisoners of war (for those people fulfiling not a very important work) dated 6 July 1941:
Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 kg.
Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400 Gr.
Fat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 440 Gr.
Sugar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 Gr. "For the prisoners doing special work:
For 28 Days:
Bread . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Kg.
Meat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 600 Gr.
Fat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 Gr.
Sugar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900 Gr."
A similar regulation headed "Food Ration for the Soviet Prisoners of war" was sent as Secret information by the fascist party chancery on 17 December 1941. will find on page 18 of the Document Book:
"An open discussion of the question regarding the food supply of the prisoners of war orally or in publication is excluded because of the possibility of the hostile propaganda."
substantial deterioration of the food supply of "our German people." I submit that the hint is sufficiently clear. The document was distributed to the High Command of the Army, to the Commands of Corps Areas, to military authorities in Bohemia and Moravia, to military commissioners in a number of cities. of the Red Army. On the basis of their own estimates the monthly ration for Soviet prisoners of war was 42% in regard to fats, 66% in regard to sugar and bread and 0% 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. You will find the special note on page 19 of the Document Book.
"If the ration for non-Soviet prisoners of war is reduced, the ration for Soviet prisoners of war must be lowered accordingly." an adult person, more often than not existed only on paper.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Pokrovsky, I don't think it matters very much, but when you said "0 per cent" in regard to meat, when you were dealing with the percentages, was that correct, because in setting out the amount of food which they were allowed or were supposed to be allowed, there was 400 grams of meat for ordinary men and 600 grams of meat for other men doing special work, and I don't see how 600 grams can be 0 per cent of the ration allowed to other non-Soviet prisoners.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: You are quite right, sir. I have the same figure; here, but there is no, contradiction here at all. I am reporting to the Tribunal now that there were several directives, and the first one seems to be the best one for the Soviet prisoners of war. That states that 400 grams of meat was the ration. The next directive, which established the percentage of food supply for the Soviet prisoners of war and others, shows O per cent.
the prisoners of war, in that case the Soviet prisoners wouldn't receive any meat at all.
THE PRESIDENT: I see. Then you say that the words "on the basis of their own estimates" are referring to some estimates other than the estimate which you give. It doesn't matter about that, but I understand you to say that there are other estimates which show they didn't give them anything.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: You are quite right, sir. question. That is No. USSR-177. You will find it on page 21 of your Document Book. This is a record of a conference of the Ministry of Supply under the direction of State Secretary Bakke and Ministerial Director Moritz. The document is dated November 24, 1941, 1630 hours. Among those who took part in the conference were representatives of various departments, in particular General Reineke -- probably the Tribunal remembers that it was Reineke who headed that particular phase of the work which dealt with the prisoners of war -- and Ministerial Director Mansfeld. The subject under discussion was the supply of Russian prisoners of war and civilian workers. I quote:
" I. Types of Food "Attempts to produce special bread for Russians have shown that the most useful mixture is 50% rye bran, 20% residue of sugar beet, 20% cellulose flour and 10% flour made out of straw and leaves.
"Meat which usually is not used for food can never satisfy sufficient] the demand for meat; Russians must, therefore, be supplied with horse meat and with meat which is little suitable for food and which is today issued in double quantities on ration cards.
"The present technique of the production of fat is such that there are no longer any unsuitable fats; the Russians should, therefore, receive good edible fats."
These words of mockery can hardly pass unnoticed. Russian prisoners of war, who had been receiving "meat which usually is not used for food", were now to receive on their starvation rations only "meat which is today issued in double quantities on ration cards", and instead of fats they were to get certain substances which can be used for food only due to "the present tech nique of the production of fat."
And these products are called "good edible fats."
The second part of the document is entitled "Rations." I quote. The part being cited by me is on pages 21 and 22 in your document book.
"Since there is great discrepancy between the estimates of the experts of the Reich Ministry of Health and those of the Central Medical Department of the Army concerning the necessary calory value of foodstuffs, the final determining of rations will be done in the course of the week by a narrower circle of experts, the Ministry of Supply. The soup made of flour during seven days as rations will be for Russians who do not work in the camp.
"III. The number of Russians whom the Reich Ministry of Supply can supply with food."
I should note here that this sentence means "The number of Russians which the Reich Ministry of Supply can supply with food is being ascertained now."
"State Secretary Bakke was noncommital in answer to persistent questioning by General Reineke and Ministerial Director Mansfeld." note in pencil: "It is requested to clear up the matter of the rations because State Secretary Bakke is, apparently, becoming irrational." The signature is illegible. arguments that were going on. You see, it is shown here in the data that there is considerable discrepancy between the estimates of the Reich Ministry of Health and the Central Medical Department, a great discrepancy. to my questions that almost all prisoners of war who died of starvation in the Dachau Camp were men of the Red Army. I shall submit evidence showing that the Dachau Camp was not an exception in that Respect.
On 27 April 1942 People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR was forced to submit a new note. I present this note as our exhibit under No. USSR-51. you will find the place I am referring to on page 13 in your document book where it is marked with red pencil for your convenience.
"The Soviet Government how has at its disposal many hundreds of new documents confirming the nefarious crimes committed against Soviet war prisoners, dealt with in the Note of the Government of the USSR dated 25 November 1941.
"It has been incontrovertibly established that the German Command, desiring to take revenge for the defeats inflicted on its army in the last few months, has everywhere introduced the practice of physical extermination of Soviet war prisoners.
"Along the entire length of the front, from the Arctic to the Black Sea, bodies of slain Soviet war prisoners and tortured war prisoners have been discovered. In almost every case these corpses bear traces of horrible torture, which preceded murder. In dugouts from which Red Army troops have driven the Germans, in fortifications, and also in populated centers, Are found bodies of Soviet prisoners who have been murdered after savage torture. Facts like the following, recorded in affidavits signed by eye witnesses, are being uncovered with increasing frequency. On march 2 and 6, 1942, on the Crimean front, in the district of Hill 66,3, village of Jantora, the bodies of 9 Red Army men who had been taken prisoner were found so brutally tortured by the Fascists that only 2 of the corpses could be identified. The nails had been drawn from the fingers of the tortured war prisoners, their eyes had been gouged out, and the right breast of one corpse had been completely cut out; there were traces of torture by fire, numerous knife wounds, and broken jaws.
"In Feodosia scores of bodies of tortured Azerbaijanian Red Army men were found. Among them were Ismail-Zadch Jafarov, whose eyes had been gouged out and ears slashed off by the Hitlerites; Kuli-Zadch Alibekov, whose arms had been dislocated by the Hitlerites, after which he had been bayonetted; Corporal Ali ogly Islom-Mahmed, whose stomach had been ripped open by the Hitlerites; Mustafa ogly Asherov, who had been bound to a post with wire and died of his wounds in this position."
And then, in the same note, is cited:
"In the village of Krasnaperovo, Smolensk region, attacking units of the Red Army found 29 stripped dead bodies of captive Red Army men and officers, none of whom had a single bullet wound.
All the prisoners had been knifed to death. In the same district, in the village of Babevo, the Hitlerites placed 58 captive Red Army men and two women ambulance-workers in a haystack and then set fire to the hay.
When the people who had been doomed to be burned to death attempted to escape from the flames, the Germans shot them.
"In the village of Kuloshovka, the Germans captured 16 severely wounded men and officers, stripped the prisoners, tore the dressings from their wounds, tormented them with hunger, stabbed them with bayonets, broke their arms, tore open their wounds, and subjected them to other tortures, after which those who were still alive were locked up in a house, which was then set on fire.
"In the village of Strenevo Kalinin region, the Germans locked 50 wounded captive Red Army men in a school building and burnt them to death.
"In the town of Velokelamsk the invaders forbade Red Army men who had been locked on the fifth floor of House No. 316 Proleterskeja Ulitsa to leave the house when a fire broke out. Those who attempted to leave or to jump from the windows were shot. 60 prisoners perished in the flames or were killed by bullets.
"In the village of Papovka, Tula Region, the Germans drove 140 captive Red Army men into a barn and set fire to it. Twenty-five perished in the flames. Six kilometers from Pegostye Station, in the Leningrad Region, the Germans, in the course of their retreat, under pressure of the Red Army troops, used explosive bullets to kill over 150 Soviet war prisoners after frightful beatings and savage torture. On most of the bodies the ears had been slashed off, the eyes gouged out, and the fingers chopped off, while several had had one or both hands hacked off and their tongues torn out. Stars had been cut out on the backs of three Red Army men. Not long before the liberation of the town of Kondrovo, Smolensk region, by units of the Red Army in December 1941, the Germans executed over 200 Red Army prisoners of war whom they had taken through the city, naked and barefoot, to the outskirts, shooting on the spot those who were exhausted and unable to walk any further, as well as those local citizens who gave them bread on their way through the city."
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for ten minutes.
(Whereupon a recess was taken.)
the Nazi conspirators did their best; inventing new and ever newer methods of exterminating people. The note states:
"Of late a number of new cases have been established in which the German Command made use of Soviet war prisoners for clearing mined fields, and for other hazardous work. Thus, in the district of the villages of Bolshaja and Malaja Vloya, for four days the Germans drove scores of prisoners lined up in close ranks back and forth over a mined field. Every day several prisoners were blown to pieces by mines. Provision is made for this method of killing prisoners in the orders of the German command." Order No.109 to the 203rd Infantry Regiment states:
"General Field Marshal Rundstedt, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, has ordered that with a view to sparing German blood, the search for mines and the clearing of mined fields be done, apart from the military operations by Russian prisoners. This refers to German mines as well." as something possible, but is proclaimed as obligatory to all the soldiers of the German Army.
The Peoples' Commissar refers to the following documents issued by the German Command, stressing the fact that this looting done in wintertime doomed the Red Army men to death by freezing.
"An order of the Staff of the 88th Regiment of the 34th German Infantry Division headed "Situation With Respect to Uniforms" imposed, "Boots should be removed from Russian war prisoners without hesitation." That this order is not an accidental one is seen from the fact that even before the perfidious attack on the USSR the German Command provided for recourse to this system of supplying its troops. a circular was found numbered 121/4 and dated June 6, 1941, bearing the heading "On the Principles of Supply in the East." This circular states on page 8: "You must not count on being furnished clothing. Therefore it is particularly important to remove serviceable footwear from war prisoners and to make immediate use of all suitable clothing, underwear, socks, etc."
Soviet war prisoners, deprived them of food, condemned them to slow starvation, and in some cases used poisoned food. Soviet authorities have in their possession Order No.202 of the staff of the above mentioned 88th Regiment, which states:
"The carcasses of horses will serve as food for Russian war prisoners. Such points where the carcasses of horses are dumped are distinguished by signs. They can be found along the highways in Malo-Yaroslavets and in the villages of Romanovo and Byeloussovo."
Order No. 166/41 to the 60th Motorized Infantry Division is quite outspoken in demanding the mass murder of Soviet war prisoners. This order states: "Russian soldiers and junior commanders are extremely brave in battle. Even small isolated units always undertake an attack. In this connection a humane attitude towards the prisoners is not permissible. The destruction of the enemy by fire or by cold weapon must be continued until he is rendered completely harmless....." prisoners, under No. 1/3058, contain the following instructions: "At the slightest sign of insubordination energetic and direct action must be taken, and arms must be used ruthlessly. Sticks, canes, and whips must not be used. Leniency, even towards an obedient and hard-working prisoner, only shows weakness and must not be indulged in." (From point 2.) "At work the distance to the prisoner must always be such as to permit of immediate recourse to arms." (From point 3.).
All this proved to be insufficient. The Order of the High Command of the German Army dated 14 January, 1942, and issued in the name of Hitler as Commander-in-Chief, states -- paragraph 2:
"All leniency or humaneness with regard to war prisoners is strictly condemned. A German soldier must always make his prisoner feel his superiority. Every delay in resorting to arms against a war prisoner harbors danger.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Army expects these directions will be fully carried out."
"The Soviet Government continues to receive reliable information on the condition of captive Red Army men in the German-occupied territories of the USSR as well as in the German rear and in the German-occupied European countries. This information testifies to the further deterioration of the regime instituted for captive Red Army men, and that they are particularly badly off in comparison with the war prisoners of other countries. It further testifies to the dying of Soviet war prisoners of starvation and illness, to heinous indignities and bloody cruelty systematically applied to the Red Army men by the Hitlerite authorities who have long since violated the most elementary requirements of international law and human ethics." cruelty perpetrated by the German-Fascist gangsters against the Soviet war prisoners exceed the atrocities of Tschingiss-Han, Batys, and Mamai. "The Soviet Government, true to the principles of humaneness and respect for its international obligations, has no intention, even in the given circumstances, of applying retaliatory repressive measures against German war prisoners, and continues as hitherto to observe the obligations undertake by the Soviet Union with regard to the regime for war prisoners specified by the Hague Convention of 1907, which was likewise signed but so perfidiously violated in every one of its points by Germany." prisoners. The authors of the document, on one hand, by a series of new facts have added to the number of atrocities committed by the conspirators against the Soviet war prisoners; and on the other hand they have confirmed that the Soviet Command is true to the principles of humaneness in its attitude towards the German war prisoners. secrets of Hitler's archives. Along with a large number of documents that raise the curtain on the criminal plans of the conspirators, we have also obtained a wide opportunity of interrogating living witnesses.
A whole series of questions become finally clear as the witnesses' depositions are being cross-checked with the documentary archives. Much now evidence has also been received by us on the subject of the crimes against the prisoners of war. exterminating the Soviet prisoners of war appeared as of April 27, 1942, in the official communication of Molotov, People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs in the USSR. and was planned in advance of the aggressive war against the Soviet Union. The Tribunal will see that the regime for war prisoners was really a sum total of divers methods of their extermination. Let us turn to the testimony of the witnesses. October 31, 1945, testified -- I submit to the Court as our No. 341 -
"Prior to the beginning of the offensive against Russia, the I do not recall the exact date of the meeting.
I do not know used in the war against the West."
quoted from was on page twenty-four.
"Investigating Officer: What else did he say?
"Witness: He said that the struggle between Russian and Germany is a struggle between races. He said that since the Russians were not signatories to the Hague Convention the treatment of their prisoners of war does not have to follow the articles of the Convention."