That is not counting victims who were shot in other towns.
In the Cracow District several thousand men were similarly shot."
In this manner Hans Frank's directive, which I have already, submitted to the Court, was realized in life.
It becomes clear from Korbonski's testimony why, on the 16th of December, 1943, there appears in Frank's-
THE PRESIDENT: Shouldn't that be 1942?
COLONEL SMINOV: The 16th of December, 1943, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: It reads "1942" in our document.
COLONEL SMINOV: My Lord, evidently the translation is wrong.
of December, 1943, the government meeting in Cracow took place.
May I check it ones again from the text?
THE PRESIDENT: "Well, in our statement of the document it is translated as 16 December, 1942. It is wrong in one place or the other.
COLONEL SMINOV: In the testimony itself, in paragraph 1, Korbonski mentions that in the beginning of October, 1943, the Germans -- and so on. That is in the testimony itself. If the Tribunal will refer to the original of the document you will find, in paragraph 1, "at the beginning of October 1943."
THE PRESIDENT: I see; it is 1943. It was wrongly translated in the first place.
COLONEL SMINOV: Yes, 1943.
May I continue?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COLONEL SMINOV: Thank you, sir. the right of the "Waster Race" and the lack of right for the subject peoples or for the peoples whom the fascist "Master Race" already conquered was first applied. please, to refer to two short excerpts from the report of the Government of the Polish Republic, which has already been presented to this honorable Court by my colleagues as USSR 93. be found on page 110 in the document file, the section dealing with Germanization of 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 mechanics of justice were especially changed by the decree of October 26, 1939. It bears Frank's signature.
"Polish law courts were subordinated to German law courts, which had been established within the Government General. They could only judge such cases in which the German law courts were not competent. New principles of law became valid. Penalties were imposed according to intuition; the defendant was robbed of his right to choose a defense counsellor and of the right to appeal.
German law was introduced and Polish law was Germanized." report, and I shall continue to quote at page 51 of the Russian text. The Court will find it on page 129 in the document book, the third paragraph of the text entitled "Legal Murders." That is page 129, the third paragraph, under the heading "Legal Murders'." I shall quote only a few excerpts from it:
"On the 4th of December, 1941, Goering, Frick and Lammers signed a decree which put all Poles and Jaws within the annexed territories outside of the law. The decree made Poles and Jews into a different and second-class group of citizens. According to the sense of this decree, Poles and Jews were forced to render unconditional obedience to the German Reich, but on the other hand they had, as second-class citizens, no right for the protection of the laws as other citizens enjoyed this right." which deals with death sentences. It begins this way:
"Death sentences were also permissible in the following cases:
"1. Removal or public damage of posters placed by German authorities.
"2. Acts of ciolence committed against members of the armed forces.
"3. Insult of the Reich's prestige or honor, or violation of her interests.
"4. Damage of property belonging to German authorities.
"5. Damage of objects destined for public works.
"6. Attempted disobedience to directions and orders published by German authorities, and some other cases, which would really only justify a sentence of a short time in jail."
I shall omit one passage and I shall limit my quotation to this:
"The Poles were forbidden, in accordance with the official directives of the Nazis, to have relations with Germans, so that the noble blood of Herrenvolk would not be dishonored. Whoever would'attempt to do this, of course, took his life in his own hands. But not only the court, the German law court had to impose judgment in these cases. It was considered as unnecessary to start a long law suit. A common order by the police was enough to rob people of their lives." the report of the Czechoslovak Government, is referred to as the "Judicial Terror". It seems to me that "Legal Terror" is the correct term. on the, part of the Hitlerites of all the accepted moral and legal forms of conduct. The report of the Czechoslovak Government, already submitted to the Tribunal by my colleagues as USSR Exhibit No. 60, narrates in detail this process, beginning with the so-called people's courts, and ending with the organization of the so-called Standgerichte. I really do not know how to translate this property, so I use this term "Standgerichte", familiar to us already from this picture of the Nazi arbitrary activities in Poland. is narrated in the report in too great a detail, so therefore I shall use only a few short excerpts. I shall begin my quotation on page 162 of the document book, the last paragraph. I begin:
"The granting of the power to proclaim a state of civil emergency was already applied on the 28th of September, 1941. Through a decree published the same date, which was signed, by Heydrich, a state of civil emergency was proclaimed for the territory of the Oberlandrat Prague, and, a few days later, for most of the remaining parts of the protectorate.
"Standgerichte, which were set up immediately, were active during the entire period, and they proclaimed 778 death sentences. All were executed, and 1,000 people were turned over to the Gestapo, that is, to concentration camps."
I omit the end of the paragraph, and I quote the following paragraph:
"The only directive as to who may take ever positions of judges in the Standgerichte is really in the decree of the 28th of September, 1941."
graph. I begin this way:
"The decree does not indicate as to who may take over the position of judge in the Standgerichte, whethr the judges should be professional people or laymen, and whether the sentences are to be decided by a jury or only by a judge. The decree merely stated: 'Standgerichte may be set up by the Reichs Protektor; he is competent to choose people who are to carry out the duties of the office of a judge.'" last paragraph:
"Referring to the information that we have at hand so far, on the basis of this information the judges in the Standgerichte were professional judges only in exceptional cases. As a rule, the most important attribute was political reliability. That is the reason why judges were, one could almost say without exception, members and executives of the NSDAP or other National Socialist organizations; that is, people who, with some exceptions, possessed not the slightest knowledge of law, and had no experience in criminal trials." at page 166 of the document book, at the beginning ofthe last paragraph, and I will then go on to page 167:
"Standgerichte were never held publicly. Inasmuch as the public was excluded from the pre-trial investigations, the very existence of this tribunal increased the doubts of safety. There was no appeal against sentences passed by Standgerichte. The record of the investigation and the trial contained only the list of the names of judges, of the defendants, and the witnesses, and also the nature of the crime and the date of the sentence. That is Part 4, paragraph 2 of the decree.
"The establishment of such courts which render such meager information has only one purpose in mind, and that is to prevent any sort of control and to keep in silence everything which took place in the trial, so that all traces of everything done was covered.
"According to paragraph 4, Standgerichte could only pass the death sentence or turn over thedefendants to the secret Gestapo." general comments on the same matter, and I shall continue my quotation at page 169, the first paragraph:
"Sentences passed by the Standgerichte must be carried out immediately. (Part 4, Paragraph 3 of the decree). Many examples have demonstrated that this brutal National Socialistic legislation was never carried out in milder form. 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). One did not grant to the condemned person even a short reprieve in order to prepare for death. A pardon was not even taken into consideration, in the decree. In any case, it would have been impossible in view of the brutal haste with which the sentence of the summary courts was carried out." to theterroristic legal laws in Czechoslovakia, with a quotation from page 169, the fourth line from the top, and further:
"It is quite evident that the summary court cannot be considered as tribunal, which, in accordance, with general opinion, should be characteristic of a tribunal; and also, that the procedures of the trials of the Standgerichte were really in violation of all the principles of all the laws of all civilized people. Standgerichte cannot be really called a tribunal, and its trial procedure cannot be called really a trial and trial sentence. I think the proper term would be verdict.
"The executions, conducted as the carrying out of verdicts of summary courts, differ in no way from other executions without trial. They must be classified as murders.
"It is impossible to find, in the regulations which determined the methods ofprocedure of the Standgerichte, even a trace of humaneness. For instance, the regulation which sets but that the sentences orthe verdicts shall be carried out immediately, and the fact that it does not give to the condemned even the smallest reprieve to prepare for his death, is really a form of brutality which, like the institute of Standgerichte as a whole, was meant to serve the purpose of terrorizing the population."
the liberty of remarking that the institution of Standgerichte did not exclude all sorts of condemnations by the police, by a simple procedure which was established by Frank in Poland. mony, were laws which should be punishable as crimes. and specifically for this purpose the so-called laws were created. laws and directives of Hitlerite criminals regarding the civilian population of the Soviet Union.
Fascist gang of bandits considered these laws and "legal" principles, especially created for the justification for thier crimes insufficient.
I would, of course, with the Tribunal's permission like to read to the Tribunal three lines of the document previously presented to the Tribunal. I am referring to Document L-221, which was submitted to the Tribunal by the American prosecution. This is Hitler's reply which was thrown at Goering at the conference of the 16th of 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.
COLONEL SMINOV: Yes, Your Honor. I shall take the liberty of quoting only three lines of this document with your permission, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, go on, but I think that the rest of the page which you are reading is all comments and you can go straight on to the next document. Read the three lines.
COLONEL SMINOV: I would like to cite to the Court those three lines.
Hitler said: "The gigantic territory must, of course, be pacified as soon as possible." I am quoting on account of the next sentence, Your Honor. Hitler said: "The best way to attain this objective was to shoot anybody who simply casts one ugly look." directives and orders, special laws of Hitlerites in USSR.
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.
COLONELSMINOV: All right, sir.
THE PRESIDENT: It has been read already.
COLONEL SIMINOV? May I continue:
THE PRESIDENT: Yes
COLONEL SMINOV: I quote a directive of Keitel regarding the communist movement, which is dated September 16, 1941. This directive was submitted to the Tribunal by the American prosecution as US Exhibit P-96. I quote, on page page 190 of your document book, paragraph 3, line 4."One must bear in mind that human life in the countries which it concerns is of no value whatever, and that intimidating reaction is only possible in the form of application of extraordinary cruelty."
already been presented as 459-PS, which I shall not quote a single line of, but I shall take the liberty to remind the Tribunal that paragraph 6 of this document mentions that any sort of resistance should be broken, not by any legal point of punishment, but the occupying authorities will instill in the population that fear which is the only one that is capable, as it is said in the directive, to deprive the population of any will for resistance. two lines from the directive of theCommander of the Sixth Army, General Field Marshal von Reichenau, which was approved by Hitler, and which was already presented to the Honored Court by my colleague as USSR Exhibit 12. The Court will find it on page 194 in the document book, line 19 from the top. There are two lines which I want to quote now. It is said there:
"The fear of German counter-measures must be stronger than the threat of the Bolshevist remnants still wandering around." pseudo-legal documentation and which is so characteristic of the ordinances and directives of Hans Frank, but it develops that this document has already been presented to the Court, and I don't consider it possible to retain the attention of the Tribunal to read into the record the document which has already been read to the Honorable Tribunal. I am referring to the circular order of Chief Office of the State Security No. 567 (42-176), dated November 5, 1942. It develops that this document has already been presented by the American colleagues and it was presented under the Exhibit No. L-316. I just want to remind the Honorable Tribunal that this document mentioned that even the principles which should be used for evaluation of activities of non-Germans should be altogether different. Any actions of a non-German should be construction not in the light of justice but exclusively in the light of general preventive ness. I think that this document is well known to the Tribunal and I shall not quote it.
followed upon the steps of the aggressors' troops, the civilian population was abandoned to the arbitrary will of the specially trained and cruel bestial representatives of German Fascist's police forces. ment which was already presented to the Court, No. 447-PS, to quote only one line of this document, which the Tribunal will find on page 197, first paragraph after the title "The Origins of the Operations". It is set out there by special authority of the Reichsferhrer of the SS, and it is also stated: "Within the scope of these problems the Reichsfuehrer of the SS shall act independently and under his own responsibility."
It is well known what the Reichsferhrer SS really was. From many statements of Himmler's, I shall limit myself only to one quotation which really is quite characteristic since it is a directive to the responsible officials of the SS subordinate to Himmler and high executives. at Poznan, Himmler said --this document was submitted to the Tribunal by the American prosecution as US Exhinit No. 1919-PS and it was read into the record on the 19th of December 1945. I shall only quote six lines from page 23 of the photostat of this document. The Court will find the six lines on page 201 in the document book presented to the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal feels that if the document has already been read, it should not be read again.
COLONEL SMINOV: It seems to me that this particular place was not read into the record, Mr. President. The document was presented on the 19th of October 1945, but this particular excerpt which I wanted to quote, it seems to me, was not ready into the record at that session.
THE PRESIDENT: Of course, if you verified that and can state that with certainty, then you may certainly read it.
COLONEL SMINOV: I looked through the shorthand minutes and transcript and I could not find this; so it seems to me that it was not read into the record and, inasmuch as this document was presented by my American colleagues, that is the reason why I want to limit myself to quote only six lines out of this document.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, you better go on and quote it because these interruptions take a very long time.
COLONEL SMINOV: "Whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only in so far as we need them as slaves for our culture. Otherwise it is of no interest to me. Whether 10,000 Russian females fall down from exhaustion while digging an anti-tank ditch interests me only in so far as the anti-tank ditch for Germany is finished." that the legalization of mass murders and extermination of the peaceful population of the Soviet Union, which were carried out by the Army for the purpose of terrorization, were introduced by Hitler and his clique as early as May 13, 1941, that is over one month before the beginning of the war.
It is at this time that I refer to the well-known directive, Keitel's order about the "Application of military jurisdiction and procedure in the Area Barbarossa and special military measures." This document was read by the American prosecution on January 7, 1946. I shall not quote from this document inasmuch as the document has been read by the Tribunal, and I merely take the liberty to remind the Tribunal that this directive stated that it was not necessary to be sure of the guilt; that it was sufficient to have a suspicion in order to execute a person. A system was officially established of joint responsibility for a crime. Furthermore, it was also stated that the ones that were suspected were to be exterminated in any case. I refer to paragraph 5 of the directive. document only as a special privilege and only in the territories which were considered to be "sufficiently pacified."
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now.
(Whereupon at 1250 hours the hearing of the Tribunal adjourned to reconvene at 1400 hours.)
COLONEL SMIRNOV: In accordance with your orders, Mr. President, I skip to the next document, which I want to stress, which was already submitted to the Tribunal, such as Document 625-P.
THE PRESIDENT: The English translation is not coming through.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I continue? I go over to the next document which was already submitted to the Tribunal yesterday by my colleague, Colonel Pokrovsky.
THE PRESIDENT: It still isn't coming through.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I was speaking formerly, Mr. President, that according to your instructions I skipped documents which were already submitted to the Tribunal and go over to a document which was submitted to the Tribunal yesterday by my colleague, Colonel Pokrovsky, as USSR Exhibit 3. It is the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, entitled "The directives and orders of the Hitlerite Government and the German Military Command on the Annihilation of the Soviet people." of this document concerning the execution of mass killings, "so-called executions" in camps where civilians and prisoners of war were interned. The first part was already written in the record. I skip it and go over to other parts of this report, concerning the organization by the German Fascist Commanders from the very first days of the war with the Soviet Union, of so-called Sonderkommandos, special commandos. kommandos in the camps, the prisoners of war on the side and civilians on the other. I quote this part as the Sonderkommando acquired a terrible name among the civilian population, as it is one of the most cruel and most brutal organizations created by German Fascism for the extermination of the people.
I beg the Tribunal to allow me to refer to page 207 of the document book, first column of the text. henchmen, still before the attack on the USSR, had compiled lists and data concerning leading Soviet personalities according to the bloodthirsty plans, who were supposed to be exterminated. In this way they prepared an investigation book, German investigation book, which list is for ascertaining the addresses of the people, which were supposed to help the Hitler murderers in the extermination of the leading people of the USSR.
In the document Appendix No.2 the operational order No.8 of the chiefs of the SP and the SD, dated "Berlin, 17 July 1941", signed by Heydrich who then acted as Himmler's deputy; my Lord, it is on page 80 of the English translation and mentions however that the lists and directories are insufficient and emphasizes in particular that the initiative of the murderers should not be hampered. The document states; "It is impossible to lend any assistance to the commandos in the execution of their work. The'German information directory', the 'Lists to ascertain the whereabouts of people', the 'special information directories for the USSR' will only be useful in a few cases. The 'special information directory for the USSR' is incomplete because it contains only an insignificant number of Soviet Russians who must be considered dangerous elements."
I skip a paragraph and continue. "For the carrying out of their crimes the German aggressors organized in German territory, in the so-called Polish Government General and in occupied Soviet territory, so-called 'special commandos.'" the document, sixth paragraph, second column of the text; in Appendix No.1, to the operational order No. 14, of the SP and SD, marked "Secret, of state importance, copy No.15" and dated 29 October 1941. We see how the special commandos were formed:
out in accordance with the agreement reached between the Chief of the SP and SD and the OKW, dated 7 October 1941. The unit will act on the basis of special powers and independently and according to the general directives issued them within the frame work of the camp regime. It is evident that the unit will keep in close contact with the camp commander and the officers of the counter intelligence division." document book, first paragraph. The Tribunal will see on what a great scale these organizations, the Sonderkommandos, were organized in the town of Krasnogardeisk: it is a little town near Leningrad: and to the town of Nikolaov. 1941, about the organization of the special commandos was sent to the special units in Krasnogardeisk, Smolensk, Kiev, Nikolajev and -- "for information" -- Riga, Mogiliev and Krivolrog. It must also be pointed out that the Hitlerites during their attacks on Moscow organized in Smolensk the "Moscow special operation unit", the task of which was the mass annihilation of the Moscow population.
The tasks of the "special operational unit" are outlined in the operational orders which are attached to the decree No.8 of the Chiefs of the SP and the SD, dated Berlin 17 July 1941, which under the pretext of "examining the civilians and suspicious prisoners of war captured on the east front" point out that "special circumstances of the eastern campaign make special measures necessary which they must take upon their own responsibility without regard to bureaucratic or administrative influences." lines which I have already outlined. extermination of peaceful citizens of the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe. I have already submitted to the Tribunal several documents depicting the nature of the Hitlerite criminals. These were special massacres and crimes.
However, it was evident that it was not sufficient to create these vile charters. One had to ascertain that by committing the crime, the criminals should feel themselves irresponsible. In order to fulfil the envisaged crimes in all its aspects, it was necessary to create for the criminals the atmsophere of lawless irresponsibility. into the record by the American Prosecution which is entitled "Orders Concerning the Application of Martial Law and Special Measures in the Barbarossa Area." I think that the contents of this document may be recalled by the Tribunal, and without this text one cannot understand the mass extermination of the population on the Soviet territory. I will allow myself only to outline that the order signed by Keitel was fulfilled upon the order of Hitler, and was accepted by all the soldiers and officers of the German Fascist army on a personal order of Hitler; and as a confirmation of the deductions which the German Fascists made out of these orders of Keitel, I will allow myself to refer to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the Crimes of the German Fascists in the town of Minsk.
I submit to the Tribunal this Document as USSR Exhibit 338. This document contains excerpts from the testimony of Captain Julius Reichhof, the chairman of the military tribunal of the 267th German Rifle Division. I beg the Tribunal to turn to this document which is on page 217 of the document book, first column of the text. I quote according to the report. I quote the testimony of Reichhof.
"For actions committed against the Soviet population, the Germans could not be put to trial by a military tribunal according to an order by Hitler. This can only be done by the commander of the unit if he considers it necessary. According to the same order of Hitler, a German army officer had even more far-reaching rights. He could handle the extermination of the Russian population according to his own opinion. The commanders have the unlimited right to use punitive action against the civilian population; such as, the burning of entire villages and towns, taking away of food and livestock from the population, the deportation of Soviet citizens to Germany for work.
"Hitler's order was distributed to every single soldier of the German army on the day before the beginning of the attack on the Soviet Union. According to Hitler's order, the German soldiers under the leadership of of officers committed a number of atrocities." But even that wasn't enough for the Hitlerite leadership. In 1942, a very sharp instruction confirmed that, without any exceptions whatsoever, no crimes of German Fascist military personnel perpetrated against peaceful inhabitants of the Soviet Union should ever be punished. Reich and military leadership particularly emphasized that the crimes should be left unpunished, unconditionally, even if the victims of these atrocities, no matter how perpetrated, happened to be women and children.
THE PRESIDENT: What was the reference to what you called "sharp instruction"?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I will directly present it to the Tribunal. I will submit to the Tribunal this directive as USSR Exhibit 16. It is a photostatic copy of the document. The Tribunal will find the text of this directive on page 219 of the document book. This directive is signed by Keitel and entitled "The Struggle with Bandits." The document is dated December 16, 1942. I will quote this document nearly in full, starting with the title.
"Very Secret.
"The Fuehrer has reports that individual members of the Wehrmacht who took part in the struggle against the bandits..." Tribunal that the conception of "bandits" was with the Hitlerites attributed to all parts of the Soviet population. I will therefore not dwell on the description of this term. I continue the quotation: I skip one paragraph. Page 219 of the document book:
"If this fight against the bandits will not be led with every means of cruelty the forces actually at its disposal, it will undoubtedly be insufficient to clean up this place. The troops are therefore in their right and obligated to use in this fight without limitation, every means against women and children if it leads to success."
I beg the Tribunal to allow me to stress that they mentioned "every means against women and children."
"Considerations of any kind are a crime against the German people and the soldiers on the front who have to bear the consequences of the partisan plots and who can have no understanding whatsoever for any kind of consideration of the partisans or their cohorts.
"Those regulations must be also in force for the use of the combatting of partisans in the East.
"2. No German who is engaged in the fighting of partisans can be punished by disciplinary action or by court martial on account of his behavior in the fight against the partisans and their cohorts. The commanding officers of the troops engaged in fighting the partisans are responsible for:
that all officers instruct in the most urgent manner the units which are subordinated to them about these regulations, that their legal advisers receive immediate notice of this order, no sentences be confirmed which oppose this ordern. Signed Keitel." the first two Counts of the Indictment; hitherto, the documents which I have submitted to the Tribunal were to prove three facts:
1. The major war criminals directly incited very wide steata of the personnel of the German Fascist armed forces to perpetrate the greatest war crimes against a peaceful population.
2. The Hitlerite leadership, through special education, created large contingents of criminals for the effective execution of their plans for extermination.
3. Setting free of the lowest instincts of the perpetrators of the crimes and the creation of conditions with complete impunity for the criminal In the occupied territory of the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe, the Hitlerites committed crimes against peaceful populations which neither in their scope nor in the cynicism and cruelty of the manner and actions of the organizers and perpetrators have any precedence in world history. and methods of these crimes committed by the German Fascists.
I would like to show what Keitel's conception of pacification meant in the lives of peaceful people. the appearance of German Fascist authorities, regardless of whether they were military or civilian authorities, in the territories of the USSR and other countries of eastern Europe. forms, was started first of all with those who were considered by the Fascists as the most dangerous and most capable of offering resistance.
In confirmation of this, I refer to a document which I have already presented to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 36, report of the Extraordinary State Commission in the Territory of the Lvow Region." The Tribunal will find this quotation, to which I am referring, on page 68 of the document book, first column of the text, last paragraph:
"The Gestapo detachments even before the seizure of Lvow, had at their disposal, following the orders of the German Government, lists of most prominent representatives of the intelligentsia predestined to annihilation. Immediately after the seizure of Lvow, massacres and executions began. The Gestapo men arrested: A member of the Union of Soviet Authors, writer of numerous works of literature, Professor Thaddeus Boi-Yelensky; Professor of the Medical Institute, Roman Renzky; University Dean, Professor of Forensic Medicine, Vladimir Seradsky; Doctor of Judicial Science, Roman Longsham-de-Berye, together with his three sons; Professor Thaddeus Ostrovsky; Professor Jan Grek; Professor of Surgery, Heinrich Hilrovich . . ." arrested in Lvow. I skip the list of familiar names and continue with the quotation.
"F.B.Groer, Professor of the Medical Institute at Lvow, who, by accident escaped death, has told the Commissions:"
"When I was arrested at midnight on July 3, 1941, and placed in the tr I found there already Professors Crek, Boi-Yelensky, and others. We were brought to the house of "theological College of Agamovich". While we were led along the corridor, Gestapo people jeered us. They hit us with rifle butts, pulled our hair, and beat us on the head. Later on, I saw how, from the dormitory of the Theological College of Agamovich the Germans led under convey five professors;four of them were carrying the blood spattered body of the son of Professor Rouff, who was killed by the German: at the interrogation. The young Rouff was also a specialist. This whole group of professors, under the escort, went in the direction of the Cadetsky Height. In 15 or 20 minutes I heard a rifle-burst from the direc where the professors were led.
With a view to humiliating human dignity, the Germans used the most refined methods of torture against these men of science, and then shot them. B.O. Galtsman, who lived in the city of Lvow, has testified before the Special Commission that he himself saw how, in July 1941, "20 people were brought by the SS into the courtyard of House No. 8, on Artshevsky Street, among them professors, lawyers, and physicians. One of them I know by name, Doctor of Judicial Science Kreps. Among them were 5-6 women. The SS forced them to wash the stairs on the seven entrances to the four-story house with their tongues and lips. After these stairways were washed, the same people were forced to collect garbage in the courtyard with their lips. All garbage had to be transferred to one place in the courtyard."
I skip the end of this quotation and continue:
"The Fascist invaders carefully concelaed facts concerning the extermination of the intelligentsia. To repeated requests of their relative and friends for information as to the fate of these men of science, the Germans replied, "No information."
"In Autumn of 1943, on the order of Reichsminister of Germany Himmler, to Hitlerites burned the bodies of the professors who were shot. Former internees of the Yanovsky Camp, Mendel and Corn, who carried out the exhumation of the bodies, have told the Commission the following:
"In the night of October 5, 1943, between Cadetsky and Boulesky Streets, upon the order of one of the Gestapo men, we opened the pit from which we lifted 36 bodies. This was done under the light of projectors and by the orders of the Gestapo. We burned all these corpses.
"While lifting the corpses from the pit we found the documents of Professor Ostrovsky, of the Doctor of Natural Science Otegek and Professor of the Politechnical Institute Kasimir Bartel.
"It was established by the investigation that in the course of the first few months of occupation the Germans have arrested or killed over seventy of the most prominent men of science, techniques, and arts in the City of Lvow.