local organizations and representatives of the intelligensia were the victims of Fascist terror. In the above I was referring only to thefact that the Fascist terror was directed against these people in the very first place. the fact that it was administered by the German Fascist leaders and carried out by the executioners as terror in general. down, that the Defendant Keitel declared any actions against women and children is not subject to punishment either by criminal or disciplinary procedure. constitute the appendix to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on German Atrocities in the City of Kerch. submitted to the Tribunal but was not read into the record. It is document USSR Exhibit 63, which is a report of the Extraordinary Commission for the Investigation of Crimes in the town of Kerch. Two words of introduction. The town of Kerch was a comparatively small town. Many hundreds of kilometers separated it from Lvow. They reached Kerch only in November, and in January 1942 the Germans were already thrown out of the city by units of the Red Army. Germans did not last more than two months. But here are the crimes which were committed by the German Fascists in this city. I quote. I will greatly summarize the text. The Tribunal will find this part on page 227 of the document book, second column, fifth paragraph:
"After capturing the city in November 1941, the Hitlerites immediately issued an order which stated, as follows:
"The inhabitants of Kerch are ordered to deliver to the German Commandant all food supplies at the disposal of or possessed by any family. For non-delivery the owner will be shot.
"The next Order Number 2 -- the municipal government ordered all inhabitants to register at once all chickens, roosters, ducks, turkeys, geese, sheep, cows, calves, and cattle. The owners of fowl were strictly prohibited from using the fowl and the cattle for their own needs without the permission of the German Commandant. After these orders were issued a wholesale search of all apartments and houses had begun.
"The Hitlerites were behaving rowdily. For each kilogram of beans or flour found in excess, the head of the family was shot.
"The monstrous atrocities in the city by the Germans began by poisoning 245 children of school age."
"According to the order of the German Commandant, all school children were ordered to come to the school at a fixed time. After they arrived, 250 children, with their school books, were sent out of town to the factory school, allegedly for a walk. There the hungry and cold children were offered hot coffee with cakes, which were poisoned. Those children who didn't get coffee the German orderly called to the dispensary and smeared their lips with quick-acting poison.
"In a few minutes all the children were dead. Then the school children of the older classes were transported in trucks and shut down with machine guns at eight miles distance from the town. The bodies of the poisoned children were transported there later. There was a very long anti-tank ditch in which they were buried.
"On the evening of the 28th of November 1941, an order, Number 4, of the Gestapo was hung up in town, according to which the inhabitants who had previously been registered at the Gestapo were to present themselves on the 29th of November between 8:00 O'clock and 12:
00 o'clock noon at the Sennaya Square, with three days stock of food. All men and women were to present themselves without regard to their age or state of health. These who did not present themselves were threatened with public shooting. These who presented themselves at the Square on the 29th of November were persuaded that they were summoned in order to be sent to work. At 12:00 o'clock noon, over 7,000 people assembled in the Square. There were young boys, young girls, children of all ages, aged men, and pregnant women. They were all of them transferred to the town prison by the Gestapo men.
"This fiendish extermination through treachery of the peaceful population done in the prison was carried out by the Germans according to a plan of the Gestapo formulated beforehand.
"First of all, the internees were ordered to hand over the keys of their flats and to designate the exact addresses to the commandant of the prison. Then all valuables were taken away from the arrested people, including watches, rings and ornaments.
"Notwithstanding the cold, boots, pants, shoes, costumes and coats were taken off all those who had been put into prison. Many womer and young girls were separated from the rest of the internees by the Fascists, shut up in separate cells, where the unfortunate creatures were subjected to specially refined torture. They were raped. Their dresses were cut off. Their stomachs were ripped open, and their feet, hands, were cut off, and their eyes torn out.
"After the Germans had been expelled from Kerch on the 30th of December 1941, the Red Army men discovered in the yard of the prison a formless mass of tortured and unrecognizable naked women's bodies, tortured by the Fascists.
"As a cite for the mass execution the Hitlerites chose an anti-tank ditch near the village of Baguerovo where, during several days, entire families of condemned were transported to the place of execution in trucks and cars.
"After the Red Army entered Kerch in January 1942 when the Baguerovo ditch was investigated, it was discovered that it stretched out for a distance of 1 kilometer in length, 4 meters in width, and 2 meters in depth, and was over-filled with bodies of women, children, old men, and young people. Near the ditch were frozen pools of blood. Children's caps, toys, ribbons, torn-off buttons, gloves, milk bottles with nipples, little shoes, galoshes, with tornoff hands and feet, were lying nearby. All this was spattered with blood and brains.
"The Fascist fiends shot the defenseless population with explosive bullets.
2 Near the rim of the ditch lay the body of a tortured young woman. In her arms was a baby wrapped up carefully in a shite cape. Next to this woman lay an eight-year old firl and a 12-year old boy, killed with explosive bullets Their hands gripped the dress of their mother."
numerous witnesses who were lucky enough to escape from this death ditch. I will quote two statements: states:
"Then we were brought to the anti-tank ditch and lined up near this terrible tomb, we still believed that we had been brought here in order to fill in the ditch with earth or to dig new trenches. We did not believe that we had been brought to be shot, but when we heard the first shots out of the automatic weapons aimed at us, I understood that we were being shot. I instantly threw myself into the ditch and hid between two dead bodies. Thus, unharmed, in a half fainting condition, I lay there practically until the evening.
"Whilst lying in the ditch, I heard several wounded shout to the gendarmes who were shooting at them, "Finish me off, blackguard.' "You didn't get me, blackguard. Shoot again.'
"Then when the Germans went away to lunch one of the inhabitants of my village began to cry out of the ditch, 'Get up, those who are still alive.'
"I got up, and we, I and the other men, began to drag out the live people who were assembled among the dead. I was all in blood. Over the ditch there hung light mist and vapor from the evaporation of the blood, and from the last breathing of the dying.
"We dragged out Theodore Naoumenko and my father, but my father had been killed outright by an explosive bullet in the heart.
"Late at night I reached the house of some friends in the village of Baguerovo, and there awaited the arrival of the Red Army."
The witness Kamenev stated:
"Behind the airdrome the chauffeur stopped the car, and we saw that Germans were shooting people near a ditch. We were dragged out of the cars, and we were pushed forward in groups of ten people to the ditch. I stood with my son with the first ten people. We reached the ditch. We were placed facing the ditch, and the Germans began to shoot us with bullets in the neck.
"My son turned to them and shouted Why are you shooting the peaceful population?' But the shots rang out, and my son fell into the ditch. I threw myself after him, and people began to fall around me into the ditch.
"At 3:00 o'clock out of the mass of bodies, an 11-year old boy stood up and began shouting 'Little' fathers, those of you who are alive stand up. The Germans have gone.' I was afraid to get up, as I thought that the boy was shouting that on the order of the policeman.
"The boy again started shouting, and then my son answered him. He stood up and asked, 'Father, are you alive?' I could not answer anything and only shook my head. My son and the other boy dragged me out from under the bodies. We saw some other live people who were shouting, 'Help us.' Several of them were wounded. All the time while I was lying in the ditch under the bodies I could hear the shouting and crying of women and children. Germans were shooting after us, old men, women and children." details. to may attention to that part which concerns the mocking and jeering of children. It is very characteristic of German Fascist terror. I skip six pages of the text which I intended to bring out, and beg the Tribunal to turn to the text on page 282 of the book of documents, tenth paragraph. I quote a short excerpt concerning the mocking of children.
"The German barbarians, in their mocking of the Soviet people did not spare children.
"The witness Kolessnikova, a teacher, states that Germans shot a 12-year old boy only for the reason that he took an old car tire and tried to swim in it.
"The witness Sabelnikova stated that Bondarenko, who lived in the village of Adjimushkay, was attempting to save her three children from hunger. She asked the Germans for something to eat. The Germans were watching in the kitchen. They poured into a little sauce pan some gruel. The family Bondarenko ate it greedily. In a few hours the mother and the three children were dead. The Germans had poisoned them.
"The statement of Shoumilova ascertained that in the month of July a German officer shot a six-year old boy only for the reason that he was singing a Soviet song while walking about in town.
"In the garden of Sakko and Venzetti, during the whole summer the body of a nin-year old boy was hung only for the reason that he had picked some apricots from a tree." cerning the town of Kerch. cause the atrocities committed by the Hitlerites in this town were of an extraordinary scale of had a special feature of cruelty. On the contrary, the act of the Extraordinary Commission was quoted for the solo reason that it gives a detailed enumeration of the crimes committed by the Hitlerites in one of the towns temporarily occupied by the German criminals. This town had promptly become the victim of the Fascist regime. Similar atrocities were committed by the Hitlerites in all territories temporarily occupied by the Hitlerites. already submitted to the Tribunal as USSR Exhinit 51, but which has not yet been read into the record. I mean the memorandum of the Peoples Kommissar Molotov, dated the 27th of April, 1942. the following deductions. It said the following:
"Fresh documents and fresh information continues to be put at the disposal of the Soviet Government stating that the Hitlerite usurpers are committing everywhere plundering of the Soviet population without hesitating before any crimes or before any cruelty or act of terrorism on the territories which they temporarily occupied or which they are still occupying.
"The Soviet Government had already declared that these atrocities were not accidental excesses of single undisciplined military units or single German officers or men. At the present moment the Soviet Government disposes of documents seized lately from the staff of beaten German formations, which proves that the blood-thirsty crimes committed by the German Fascist Army were committed in accordance with plans detailed, set out and elaborated of the of the German Government, and according to orders of the German High Command."
I skip the last part of this conclusion and skip to Part 5. The Tribunal will find this part which I am going to quote on Page 8 of the Document Book, in the fourth column of the text, fifth paragraph. I will briefly outline this note. cerning the establishment of the terror regime were interpreted by the Gauleiters and local leaders and commanders of the German units.
I quote the beginning of the fifth paragraph of this note, page 9:
"The inhuman cruelty, born from the atrocities committed upon their own people, and which the Hitlerite clique applied to the inhabitants of the European countries temporarily occupied by the German Army, have already been outdone by the German Army during their attack of Soviet territory.
"The cruel treatment to which the Hitlerites submitted the peaceful Soviet population have obscured all the most somber pages of history of mankind and denounce fully the blood-thirsty and criminal plans of the Fascists, in view of the extermination of Russian, Ukrainian, Bielo Russian, and other peoples of the Soviet Union.
"These monstrous Fascist plans inspired the orders and instruction of the German High Command concerning the extermination of peaceful Soviet citizens. Thus, instructions of the German High Command, entitled 'Treatment of the Civilian Population and of the Enemy Prisoners of War' proclaims that 'Officers are responsible that the treatment of the civilian population be merciless;' and this instruction orders that one should apply to the entire masses of the population.
"In the instructions sent by the German High Command as a directive for the occupational authorities on Bielo Russian territory, We read 'Any hostile acts of the population as regards the German armed forces and their organizations will be punished by death. If a partisan has not been found one must take hostages from among the population. These hostages must be hung.'"
THE PRESIDENT: What is the USSR number of what you are reading now?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: This document was submitted as USSR Exhibit 51. It is one of the memorandums of Kommissar Molotov. It is the memorandum of the 27th of April 1942. Four memorandums have been submitted under this number to the Tribunal. It is on Page 4 of your file of documents. The quotation which I am now reading is on Page 8 of your document book.
THE PRESIDENT: It is thought that this is part of the document that you read yesterday. Are you sure that it is not--on page 4-
COLONEL SMIRNOV: No, Mr. President. I read into the record a note from the 6th of January 1942, and this is a note of the 27th of April. May I continue?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: "These hostages must be hung if the guilty or their accomplices are not found before 24 hours have lapsed. During the following 24 hours, a double number of hostages must be hung in the same spot."
Point 7 of Order Number 431/41 of the German Commandant of the town of Feodossia, a Captain Eberhardt, reads as follows:
"During an alarm every citizen who appears in the street must be shot. Groups of citizens who appear must be surrounded and mercilessly shot. Leaders and inciters must be hung in public." treatment of the civilian population, single officers are ordered that indispensable cruelty is not being applied everywhere. Orders which are posted by the occupants in the Soviet towns and villages announce the death penalty for various reasons: For going out in the streets after 5:00 o'clock in the evening; for offering hospitality to strangers; for not handing over Rod soldiers to the authorities; for attempting to put out a fire in an inhab ited spot; for traveling from one point to another; for refusing to fulfil forced labor," and so on.
I continue this quotation on Page 8 of the memorandum:
"The German Fascist High Command does not only admit but actually orders the murder of women and children.
Organized child murder in some of the orders is presented as away of struggling against the partisan movement.
Thus, an order of the Commander of the 254th German Division, Lt. General von Beschnitz, "It also orders the responsibility should be placed upon the mayors iately shot."
"Some of the crimes of the German occupants committed by them in the very first "Thus, when units of the Red Army in the district of the town of Toropetz, Russia.
The Commander of the regiment reports that besides 239 prisoners, the "The report states further that the unit acted according to order to the regiment, Number 42, dated 27th of July 1941.
The Commander of the Second August 1941:
"'We chased women and children into the swamp, but that did not produce the necessary effect, as the swamp was not deep enough so that one could drown in it. One could reach ground at about a meter below the level of the water.'"
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for ten minutes.
(A recess was-taken.)
THE MARSHAL: May it please the Court, regarding the defendant Hess, he will be absent until further notice on account of illness.
COLONEL SMINOV: I continue with the end of a quotation. In the same headquarters there was discovered a telegram No. 37 from the commandant of the Carrier Brigade of the SS Standartenfuehrer, a cavalry unit, the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, dated the 2nd of August 1941. In it it is mentioned that the Reichsfuehrer SS and of the police, Henlein, considers that the number of exterminated members of the civilian population too insignificant; and, further, he points out that it is necessary to take radical measures or steps, and that several units of the commando are too soft in conducting their operations; and, further, he orders to report daily the number of people shot. activity of the defendant Rosenberg; the general proposition of the Reich leadership in planting the regime of terror in occupied eastern regions. That is, he was one of the authors of such instructions, Rosenberg, as it is known in the German-Fascist occupied border regions. Rosenberg published a series of similar orders, the aim of which were terror, and which were published by other high German officials.
I submit to the Tribunal USSR Exhibit No. 39, Communication of the Extraordinary Commission, about the atrocities of the German-Fascist occupants in the eastern part of the United Soviet Socialist Republics. I quote--this will be found on page 232, in the first column, fifth paragraph.
"On the 17th of July 1941 Hitler, by means of his decree, turned over the legislative powers of the territory of Estonia to the Reichsminister Rosenberg. The latter in his own turned over this legislative power to German district commissars. Arbitrary actions were introduced in Estonia. Terror was raging throughout the country.
Reichsminister Rosenberg, Reichscommissar for the Baltic regions Lohse, and Generalcommissar of Estonia Litzmann deprived the Estonian people of all political rights. On the basis of Hitler's decree of the 17th of July 1941, Reichsminister Rosenberg promulgated on the 17th of February 1942 a law especially for people who are not of German nationality, and he established for them the punishment of death for the most insignificant action of protest against Germanization and for any sort of violation against people of German origin. poral punishment. On the 20th of February 1942 the official of railroad administration in Riga, Volk, directed to the administration of the railroads in Estonia a wire of the following contents:
"Every violation of discipline on the part of an employee who belongs to the local nationality, in particular, his failure to appear for work, being late for work, not carrying out the orders, and so forth, from now on shall be punished with utmost severity.
"(a) For the first violation, fifteen strokes with a club on the bare part of the body;
"(b) In case it is repeated, twenty strokes with a club on the bare part of the body." courts which consisted of a president who was a police officer, and two policemen who were under him. Their procedure of orders was determined by this court at its own discretion. The courts always carried out death sentences, and also confiscated property. There was no other punishment decreed by the court. There was no appeal from the verdict of such court. Besides, in the courts which were created by Rosenberg death sentences were carried out by German political police, and those sentences were executed the same day. court. Litzmann himself appointed judges, prosecutors, notary publics, and attorneys; everybody, without an exception. No. 18, a photostat of a terroristic order of the German authorities, and I beg the Tribunal to accept this document as part of the evidence. This is an order of the German kommandatur of the city of Skop. You will find the text of this order on page 235 in the document book. In this document one can see that peaceful civilian populations were not permitted to go on to the highways in their own locality. Anybody who was seen there by German officers, always those peaceful citizens, were to be shot. I quote the text of the document, beginning with paragraph three.
"On the basis of the above-mentioned, I order:
"1. All members of the civilian population, independent of their age and sex, found on railroad tracks or near them must be considered as bandits and subject to being shot. It is evident that those walking in columns, who are being supervised by the Germans, are excluded from this order.
"2. All people mentioned in the first paragraph who cross the roads will be shot.
"3. All persons mentioned in paragraph one, who at night or at twilight are found on the roads will be shot.
"4. Persons mentioned in paragraph one, if found on the roads during the day time, are subject to arrest and most detailed checking-over." on the strength of the Fuehrer's principles. Such were the laws of high executives and representatives of military authorities of the German-Fascist state. But the right of relentless reprisal against peaceful populations was not confined only to them; any kommandatur, any kommander of a small unit, and finally any soldier of Hitler's army had the right of reprisal towards the peaceful population of the occupied regions. Hitler criminals always used this right in carrying out their beastial ruthlessness towards innocent people. They murdered and terrorized other people. I submit to the Tribunal the exhibit USSR 9, a communication of the Extraordinary Commission, about atrocities of the German-Fascist occupants in the city of Kiev. The Court will find this place which I would like to refer to on page 238 of the document file. In the fifth paragraph of the first column of the text I quote;
"German executioners from the very start of their occupation of Kiev were carrying out mass extermination of the population by means of tortures, mass shootings, hanging, poisoning with gas and murder vans. People were seized right in the streets, being shot in big groups and singly. In order to terrorize and intimidate the population, announcements of the shootings were posted." as evidence photostats of several of those posters. It is also mentioned in the text of the Extraordinary Commission. In particular, I ask the Tribunal to accept as evidence the photostat of this poster which is being presented as USSR Exhibit No. 290. The text of this poster is a follows. I ask the Tribunal to excuse me, because the translation may not be correct, but the.
I translate the text this way:
"As measures of reprisal, in connection with the act of sabotage today, one hundred inhabitants of the city of Kiev were shot. This is a warning. Every inhabitant of Kiev is responsible for every act of sabotage. City Commandant." in the document book. It is a photostat of the following poster, signed by the commandant of the city of Kiev. I quote:
"In Kiev there is malicious sabotage to the means of communication -thelephone, telegraph, and cable. Since we could not tolerate any further sabotage, then four hundred men in the town were shot, which should serve as a warning for the population. Once again I command that people would immediately report to German troops anything that is known to them about suspicious cases; either to the German troops or to German police so that criminals can be adequately punished." Signed "Eberhard, Major General and City Commandant, Kiev, 29th of November 1941." in Kiev. The Tribunal will find the text of this poster on page 242 in the document book. I quote:
"Arson and sabotage, which have become more and more frequent in Kiev, force me to resort to the most severe measures. Therefore today three hundred inhabitants of Kiev were shot. For any new case of arson or sabotage a large number of inhabitants of Kiev will be shot. Every inhabitant of Kiev must report to German police any suspicious cases. I shall maintain order and calm in Kiev by all measures and under any circumstances. Kiev, 2 November 1941. Eberhard, Major General and Commandant of the city."
Tribunal, but it was only partially read into the record. I shall quote a very short excerpt from it. I refer to document which was presented as USSR-63, which in itself consist of the act of the official report of the Commissar of the Drjinsky Region, City Council, Stalingrad. I call the Tribunal's attention to this official report which was drawn up by members of the official authorities, and people of Drjinsky Region of the City of Stalingrad was checked and certified by the Extraordinary State Commission, and the authenticity of the cases reported in this report was certified. In connection with this I also present documentary report of this State Extraordinary Commission signed by Academican Commissioner Trainini, who was a member of the commission, and other people. I believe the members of the court will find the official report on page 222 in the Document files, in the first column of this text. I shall begin the quotation from the official report of the Commission investigating the territory of Drjinsky Region in the City of Stalingrad, where this information is gathered about posters. They went on to state the facts in Stalingrad, and also the consequences of these posters. members of the Tribunal have. The last paragraph in the first column of the text I begin: "The Military Commandantur saw that everywhere posters were put up in streets which threatened to shoot for every step. For instance, in Aral Street where there was such a post. Whoever will pass here death to him.' On the corner of Nevsky and Medveditzky Street they were shooting Russians for violating, for trespassing, etc., and really Germans shooting people at every step, and hundreds of graves testify to it, and graves and graves were found along the streets in Drjinsky Region of the City of Stalingrad, and were tortured, were shot, and some hung in a building next to the commandantur. First they were thrown into a pit which was located right next to the building coming into the Commandantur. discovered in this street when this pit was filled up with corpses and were used to carry all the corpses out to the graveyard which was located two kilometers from the building of the commandantur. There was a pit dug in that vicinity about six meters in depth, forty meters in length, and twelve meters in width.
After the occupants had been driven out to this above mentioned pit, there was discovered 560 corpses of Soviet citizens, including the corpses of fifty children, who were tortured, shot and hung in the commandantur and other places. Hitlerites brutally tormented the Soviet people before they were killed. Besides the corpses of children, there was discovered 323 corpses of women, 69 corpses of old men, and 74 corpses of men. 141 corpses had traces of bullets in the head and chests; 92 corpses had traces of strangulation, which testify to their being hanged. All other bodies were mutilated at the place of torture. 130 victims, women and girls, had their hands turned behind their backs, and they were tied with wires, and 18 corpses had breasts cut off, some had their ears and fingers and toes chopped off, and majority had burns. torture and wounds, and the rest after tortures were shot. Even corpses of children were mutilated. Some had their fingers cut off, and buttocks were cut; eyes were gouged out. I shall stop quoting from this document, and in compliance with the actions of the Tribunal, I shall give particulars which should be presented as evidence which indi cates something new on the tortures f the Hitlerites.
I omit three pages of the report, and skip the next section to tortures which were practiced by the Hitlerites during the interrogations, when tortures were officially sanctioned by the Hitlerites. I present to the Tribunal USSR-11 as one of such documents, which testifies to the fact that tortures were officially directed by such documents as served their action for concentration camps, a Manual for concentration camps which was published in Berlin 1941. This document, Your Honor, you will find on page 244 of the Russian Document, in Section 3 of their section entitled, "Corporal Punishment", and it is said:
"For this punishment is permitted from 50 to 125 strokes to be given occupant on the buttocks and on the back. The number of strokes is set by the commandantur of the camps, and entering the number in corresponding rubric of the order dealing with the punishment." the Court, but in compliance with the Court's direction I omitted the document which was presented as Exhibit L-89, and I go on further:
"This formula was seized in the German archives when troops by the Yugoslav army and is added as evidence to the report of the Yugoslav government already submitted to the Court. original copy of orders for especially severe interrogations, and. I submit it as No. 254, and which we ware presenting as original of report of YugoSlav Government. This order, as it is signed on the copy, certifies its origin was drawn form the German archives of the German Army, and is being presented as evidence. I shall not describe it, or comment with my own oratory, and I shall quote the report of the Yugoslav Government on page 26, the last paragraph. I believe the Judges will find it in their book on page 256 in the Document File, in the last paragraph, I give the quotation. In order to characterize more clearl this beastly cruelty to which the Germans were resorting when they were carrying out this plan of extermination, we sub; to the Tribunal one more original document which was seized in the German archives in Yugoslavia. It is a blank order for conducting what is called specially severe interrogations of the victims of the German Commandantur criminally such interrogations were conducted extensively by the German Security Police and the SD.
of, or resorting to especially severe interrogations. On the second page competent and responding SS Officers approve such interrogations. As an answer to the question, "How this special severe interrogations should be conducted, "we find as an answer to it the following instruction from this order: "The especially severe interrogation should consist of -records of the interrogations should be kept. It is permissible to call in doctors, or one may not call them in." Mentioning the position, and about his presence during the interrogation, does not leave any doubt as to the fact the interrogation really consisted of the physical torure of the one who was interrogated. It is a fact that for such interrogation there were printed instructions which clearly proves that they resorted unmasked to such criminal means. That concludes my quotation. went to interrogation, that during the interrogation of one who was suspected or may wish to attempt to commit suicide, therefore, the leader of SS people would not permit the unqualified orders to tie hands and feet once, but when interrogated he put him in chains.
of Chief of German Police No. 202-43, dated July 1943. It is certified by this Extraordinary Commission, and I quote the document. I omitted the stamp on it, that date on it is Berlin, 1 June 1943, and I quote only the text:
"Subject, Prevention of Excape during interrogations. In order be prevented.
It is possible to use rings and chains if such are on hand."
Authorities, I submit them to the Tribunal not simply to show the official German documents provided, or called for, or resorted to torture during interrogations. It is well known and does not need any special proof, but I present some of the very few of the documents that are now at our disposal, documents there showing how those tortures to which they were subject in the police cells and police chambers when arrested, how much worse they were than were those that were really ordered for the criminals themselves.
I submit to the Tribunal USSR No. 1, communication of Extraordinary Commissioner, trustee in German Fascist, document in Russian. An investigation was being carried under the leadership of German fascist, and is our document No. 272 I begin my quotation with the first paragraph. After the first line I shall start, as probably the gentlemen of the Tribunal remember he was a member of the Extraordinary Commission. I begin the quotation: "Extraordinary in their cruelty, torture and torments, the Soviet citizens were carried in a building of the Gestapo, who were, for instance, the citizen Kovaltchuk Phillip Akimovitch, who was born in 1891, and who lived in the City of Piatigorsk was arrested 27 October 1942, and while at his own farm. That he was beaten until he was unconscious, then he was carried to the Gestapo, and he was thrown into one of the cells.