On the 29th of October, 1942, at the scene of the 12th Police Regiment, there were exterminated 26,200 Jews. This is how the Commander of the regiment, Saur, described this crime. I will not quote the document in full--it is rather long--but will only quote a few excerpts.
"The surrounding of the districts was fixed for 4.30., and it appeared from the search taken beforehand that this surrounding was carried out in a very, very brief period. The checking of those in that operation in the ghetto began at six, but owing to darkness it was postponed for half an hour. The Jews who noticed the proceedings began to assemble voluntarily in all the streets. With the aid of two officers they succeeded during the very first hour to assemble several thousand Jew at a given point. When the other Jews noticedwhat was happening they joined this column so that the checking up operations, which had been foreseen by the checking by the SS could not be carried out, as a result of the great number of persons that were assembled. That was the first day of the checking operations only for the one or two thousand persons that had been planned. The first checking operation at 5.00 p.m. was carried out without incident About 10 thousand persons were executed on this first day. That night the company was standing by in a state of readiness in a soldiers' club, and on 30 October, 1942, the ghetto was combed out a second time On 31 October it was combed out for the third time, and on 1 November for the fourth time. Altogether about 15,000 Jews were assembled. Sick Jews and children left in houses were executed on the spot in the ghetto or in the yards. About 1200 Jews were executed in the ghetto." pass into the conclusion of this report, which is on page 178 of the document book. I quote two points in this "conclusion."
Point 3. Even when there are no cellars and a large number of persons are huddled together in a snail place under a floor, these places should be broken into from the outside, and dogs sent there so they can be driven out of there (in Pinsk this was accomplished remarkably well by the police dog Asta) or the throwing of hand grenades, after which in every case the Jews immediately came out.
Point 5. We recommend the calling up of children in order to disclose those hiding places by promising them their lives. This method may prove itself." ghettos, but the German Fascists did not apply this method alone in the extermination of peaceful citizens. One of the other methods was the assembly of Jews in a given spot under the pretense of reporting them to other localities; then the Jews which had been assembled were shot. in a street in Kislovodsk, which was posted by the Commander of number 12 regiment. The text of the document is on page 130 of the document book. I quote two extracts from this document.
"To all Jews with a view as to meager-populated districts of Ukrainia, all Jews who live in Kislovodsk and all Jews who have no permanent abode are obliged to present themselves on Wednesday, 9 September, 1942, 5 o'clock Berlin time, or 6 o'clock Moscow time, at a baggage station in Kislovodsk; the transport will take off at 6 o'clock. Every Jew is to bring along luggage which will not weigh more than 20 kilograms, including food for two days. Further food will be supplied at the station by German troops."
I skip the next paragraph and I quote only one line. "Those Jews who are to be shipped are also to be transferred." the town of Kislovodsk, and to the Jews in many other towns, I would like the Tribunal to refer to a document which already has been submitted to the Tribunal as number 1. It is a report of the Soviet Commission of the Stavropol region. The part which I wish to read is on page 185 of the document book. It states there that the Jews who had assembled at the Kislovodsk station were sent to the station of Mineral Waters, and were shot by anti-tank guns 2 1/2 kilometers away from the town.
Thousands of Jews, together with their families, which had been transferred from the town of Essentuki, were shot on the same spot. In order to check the extermination of Jewish population in Eastern Europe, I would like to refer to the report of the governments of these countries, which had been submitted to the Tribunal. the official statistical year book of Poland for 1931, that there were 3,115,000 Jews there, and according to the report of an official, on 9 September, 1939, there were about 3,500,000 Jews in Poland. After the liberation of Poland approximately less than 100,000 Jews were still living, and 200,000 Jews are arriving from the USSR; thus about 3,000,000 Jews perished in that area.
In Czechoslovakia there were about 118,000 Jews. At the present moment only 6000 Jews are in the country.
THE PRESIDENT: Can we leave off here. May we adjourn now?
(The Tribunal adjourned until 27 February 1946 at 10.
00 hours.)
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: May it please the Tribunal, I wonder if the Tribunal would allow me to make a very short explanation as to the source of the document with regard to Stalag Luft No. 3, which the Tribunal discussed yesterday.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: The position was that when evidence for this trial was collected, each government that might be concerned was written to and asked if they would produce government reports, and they have produced government reports which have been put before the Tribunal by the various sections of the prosecution. Luft No. 3 was a British Government report of the same type. It was compiled from various information which is included in the appendices, and that information included the interrogation of General Westhoff, which had been sent to the United Nations War Crimes Commission, as thousands of other documents were sent, for that Commission to consider whether any action should be taken from the matters deposed. Commission to the British Government and dealt with as part of the material upon which the British Government report was made. by myself, and I have specific authority from His Majesty's Government in Britain to perform such certification. appears in the record. I have the copy, which was sent to me on the official Cabinet paper, and purporting to be signed by Sir Edward Bridges, the Secretary to the Cabinet. The original was sent to the Attorney General, and the document is jointly to us both, but there is no doubt as to its authenticity, and the original can be produced if necessary.
The document reads:
"His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has authorized the Sight Honorable Sir Hartley Shawcross, K.C., M.P., the Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom, appointed under Article 14 of the Charter, annexed to the agreement dated the 8th day of August, 1945, and the Right Honorable Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, K.C., M.P., the Deputy Chief Prosecutor for the United Kingdom, to certify those documents to be produced at the trial of the war criminals before the International Military Tribunal, which are documents of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom." document becomes a governmental document within Article 21, and it is thereupon a mandatory injunction to the Tribunal that it shall take judicial notice of such a document. At that point the document, in my respectful submission to the tribunal, should be taken into evidence. And it is then, of course, a matter for the defense, if they wish to call any witnesses, to make such application as they desire, and for the Tribunal to rule on it. document is certified as a government document, as all these government reports are, the Charter enjoins the tribunal to take judicial notice of them.
THE PRESIDENT: Sir David, the Tribunal did admit the document yesterday, but they are glad of your explanation. Nothing in the order they made is in any way inconsistent with what you have now said.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FIFE: If Your Lordship pleases.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I continue, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Colonel Smirnov.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: Your Honors, I would like to recall certain data which I mentioned yesterday afternoon. I am speaking about the number of exterminated Jews in Poland and Czechoslovakia. mentioned yesterday, according to the latest report, spoke of three million Jews having been exterminated in Poland. In Czechoslovakia, out of 118,000 Jews, only 6,000 remained living.
and will quote one paragraph, which the Tribunal will find on page 75 of the document book, the third paragraph:
"Out of 75,000 Yugoslav Jews and about 5,000 Jewish emigres from other countries who were in Yugoslavia at the time of the German attack--that is to say, out of about a total number of 80,000 Jews--only about 10,000 persons survived the German occupation." this data. This witness is Abram Gerzevitch Suzkover, a Jewish writer, who, together with his family, became a victim of the German fascist criminals who had temporarily occupied the territory of the Lithuanian Soviet Republic.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. BY THE PRESIDENT:
Q What is your name?
Q Are you a Soviet citizen?
Q Will you repeat this after me? Republics, summoned as a witness in this trial, do promise and swear, in the presence of the Court, to tell the Court nothing but the truth about everything I know in regard to this case.
(The witness repeated the oath.)
THE PRESIDENT: You may sit down, if you wish.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I begin my examination, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. BY COLONEL SMIRNOV: occupation?
Q You stayed there during the German occupation for a long time? of the occupation.
Q You witnessed the persecution of the Jews in that town? in the town. In the streets of Vilna were formed Sonderkommandos, the chiefs of which were Schweineberg and Martin Weiss. The leaders of the Sonderkommandos, or, as the Jews called them, "Hunters", broke into the Jewish houses, dragged away the men, told them to take with them a piece of soap and a towel, and drove them towards the village of Panariai, 8 kilometers away from Vilna, from whence hardly anybody returned. part of the population hid. However, the Germans came with police dogs, found them, and those who did not want to go were shot on the spot. lawlessly. should wear a white marking on their chest. This order was signed by the commander of the town of Vilna, Helferrich, but on the second day some other commandant, named Neumann, issued another order that they should not wear this marking, but they should wear a yellow star.
Q And what did this yellow star marking mean? distinguish the Jews from the other inhabitants of the town.
On the third day there was again a new marking. One had to wear a blue ribbon with a white star. this sign, as was ordered by the Germans, were immediately arrested and we never saw them again. Novgorod Street. The inciters of this pogrom were Schweineberg and Martin Weiss, whom I have already mentioned, Herring and Faulhaber, who was the Chief of the Gestapo. They surrounded this district with Sonderkommandos; they drove all the men into the street, told them to take off their belts and to put their hands on their heads; that is, to hold their hands on their heads.
When that order had been complied with, they were sent to the Rokishka prison. But when the Jews started matching off, their trousers slipped down and they could no longer walk, and those who tried to hold up their trousers with their hands were immediately shot on the spot in the street. I saw with my own eyes how, when the whole column had moved off, the bodies of about 100 or 150 shot parsons lay about in the street, and rivulets of blood ran down the street as if it had rained with red drops. Welikomirj where I was going to visit my mother. He told me, "Go with me, and you will act in the circus." When I went with him I saw that another German was driving an old person along the street, and a third German was folding a young boy. When we reached the old synagogue of the street I saw that logs were stuck up in the shape of a pyramid in the square. One German took out his revolver and told us to take off our clothes. When we were naked, he lit a match and set fire to this stack of wood. Then another German came to us and told us that we should dance around this bonfire and that we should sing Russian songs. The three Germans stood behind us, and with their bayonets they forced us towards the fire and laughed. When we had nearly lost consciousness the Germans went away. began at the moment when Bezirkskommissar Hans Hincks arrived, as well as the Referant, or the reporter on the Jewish problem, Maurer.
THE PRESIDENT: Which year?
THE WITNESS: 1941.
THE PRESIDENT: Go on.
A (Continuing) Under the direction of Hincks and Maurer, the Sonderkommandos surrounded the old Jewish quarter of Vilna. On Rudnitskai Street, Jewish Street, Shafzell Street, German Street and others, were led about eight to ten thousand Jews. I was ill at that moment and was sleeping, but suddenly I felt the lash of a whip on me. When I jumped up from my bed I saw that Schweineberg was standing in front of me and that a big dog was with him. He was beating everybody, and setting us all to run out into the street.
When I was out in the street I saw a large number of women and children and aged persons, all those who lived in these houses. Schweineberg and the Sonderkommandos surrounded all this crowd, and he said that he was taking us to the Ghetto, but of course, as all the Germans said, this was again a lie. towards the Rokishka prison, we all understood that this was not the Ghetto, but of course, as all the Germans said, this was again a lie. towards the Rokishka prison, we all understood that this was not the Ghetto, but that it meant death. When we arrived at the Rokishka prison, near the so-called Rokishka market, I saw a line of German soldiers with white sticks, who were standing there to receive us. While we were passing them the soldiers started beating us. All those who fell, the other Jews were told to pick them up and to carry them to the prison. Near the prison I managed to escape. I swam over the River Vilia and hid in the house of my mother. told me that she saw there the well known Jewish scientist Noa Hatraluzi, who was dying, as well as the president of the Jewish Society of Vilna, Dr. Jacob Ragodski, as well as the young Jewish historian, Pjotzkond, as well as the well-known artists Hash and Kadisch, who were already dead. village of Panariai.
On the 6th of September, at 6 o'clock in the morning, a thousand Germans, led by Bezirkskommissar Hincks, and by Maurer, Schweineberg, Martin Weiss and others, surrounded the whole town, broke into the Jewish houses, and told the inhabitants to take only that which they could carry off in their hands, and go out into the street. Then they were driven off to the Ghetto. When they were passing by Welikomirj Street, and I was standing there, I saw the Germans had also brought sick Jews from the hospital, who were blue hospital robes. They put them in front of the column, and a German newsreel operator was driving in front of the column and he was filming this scene.
I must say that not all the Jews were driven into the Ghetto. Hincks did that wilfully, with design. He drove the inhabitants of one street to the Ghetto, and the inhabitants of another street to the village of Panariai. Thus, in the Ghetto of Vilna the Germans organized two Ghettos. The first Ghetto contained 29,000 Jews, and the second Ghetto about 15,000 Jews; that is to say, about half the Jewish population of Vilna did not reach the Ghetto but was shot on the way. Ghetto half the Jewish population of Vilna was already exterminated? young Jewish girl, but when he went further he took out his revolver and shot her on the spot. The name of that girl was Gita Parlow.
Q How old was this girl? to exterminate the Jewish population with greater ease. The chief of the Ghetto was the reporter on Jewish questions, Maurer, and he issued a series of mad orders. For instance, the Jews could not wear whiskers; the Jews could not pray in the Ghetto; when a German passed, one had to take off his hat, but we dared not look at him.
Q Were these official orders?
Q Were they posted in the Ghetto? where the Jews were working. He instructed that all workers should lie down on the ground and bark like dogs. the second Ghetto and arrested all the old men who were praying in the synegogues, and drove them away to Panariai. I remember when Schweineberg went to the second Ghetto-
Q Who were these hunters? called the "hunters." The Jewish population of the Ghetto named them that.
Q The Jewish population of the Ghetto named them hunters?
A Yes. These hunters dragged the Jews out of the cellars and tried to drive then away to Panariai. But the Jews already know that nobody would return alive from that village, and they did not want to go there. spot, in the Ghetto. I remember that he was always followed by a big dog, and when this dog heard the shots, the dog jumped at Schweineberg and began to bite his throat. One night have thought that the dog had gone mad. Then Schweineberg killed this dog, and told us that we were to bury this dog and cry over its grave. We then indeed, cried, that not Schweineberg but one dog had been buried. stated that the Jewish women dared not have children. issued.
A Maurer came to Hospital Street No. 6, and said that an order had come from Berlin that the Jewish women should not have children, and that if the Germans found out that a Jewish women had had a child, this child would be exterminated.
At the end of December, my wife had a child, a baby boy. I was not at that time living in the ghetto. I was escaping from one of these so-called "Aktion of Extermination" and when I came to the ghetto later I found that two days ago my wife had had a baby in a hospital. I immediately went to the hospital but I saw that this hospital was surrounded by Germans and a black car was standing before the door and that Schweineberg was standing near the car and the hunters of the Senderkommandos were dragging people out of the hospital and hurling them into the truck. Among them I saw the well-known Jewish writer Gorelski, who was also dragged to this truck. When in the evening the Germans went away I went to the hospital, entered it, and saw my wife who was weeping. It appeared that when she had had her baby the Jewish doctors had already received the order and that they had hidden the child, together with other Jewish newly born babies, in one of the rooms. But when the Germans came to the hospital they must have heard the cries of the babies. They broke the door open and entered the room.
ran to see what was happening and she saw that one German was holding a baby and smearing something on its lips and then he threw the baby on the bed and laughed. When my wife picked up the child his lips were already quite black and when I came to the hospital I saw with my own eyes that my baby was dead. The baby was still warn. room was empty. An open bible was on the table and a glass of tea, which had not as yet been touched, stood nearby on the table. I found that at night Germans had surrounded this house and driven out all the inhabitants and had driven them away to Panariai. a carfull of shoes, belonging to the persons at Panariai who had been executed, was driven into the ghetto. Thus he had sent the shoes of killed Jews to their families in the ghetto and among those shoes I recognized those of my mother. German newspaper in Vilna it was written that the Jews liquidated had died of an epidemic and that those who wished to live there could apply for lodgings. distributed among the population of the ghetto three thousand yellow tickets, so-called "ausweise". Those who had those tickets were entitled to have their families brought to visit them. About eighteen thousand to twenty thousand people lived in the ghetto during that period. Those who were in possession of these yellow tickets were supposed to go to work on the morrow and those others who were in the ghetto but who did not have these tickets were slaughtered. In the ghetto, those who did not want to go, were driven away to Panariai. Vilna, concerning the Jewish clothes from Panariai. If this document interests you I can show it to you.
THE PRESIDENT: Do you have the document?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I do not know of this document either, Mr. President.
2? Feb-M-DMR-1 A (continuing) This document states the following.
I will read only a few lines.
"Raw Materials Center of Vilna, 3 November, 1941.
"To Bezirkskommissar in Vilna: According to your order" BY THE PRESIDENT:
Q Will you tell us first of all where the document was found?
AAt the Bezirkskommissar's building at Vilna in July 1941, when our town was liberated from the German invaders.
Q Where did you say it was found?
A In the building of the Bezirkskommissar in Vilna; in the headquarters of the District Commissar of Vilna on Gedemin Street.
Q Was that the building occupied by the Germans do you mean? of Vilna. Maurer lived there. because we did not hear it.
A "To the District Commissar at Vilna:
"From your order to disinfect the old Jewish clothes from Panarial and send them over to the administration in Vilna." BY COLONEL SMIRNOV:
Q Please witness, I am interested in the following question. You said that at the beginning of the German occupation eighty thousand Jews lived in Vilna. How many Jews remained after the German occupation? in Vilna.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I have no further questions to ask the witness.
THE PRESIDENT: Does any other Chief Prosecutor want to ask any questions
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: No questions.
MR. DODD: No questions.
THE PRESIDENT: Does any member of the defense Counsel wish to ask any questions?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: Mr. President, I would like to modify the plan of my statement and pass on and take up the phase devoted to religious persecution a little later. I would like first to take up that part of my statement which is entitled "Experiments on Live Persons". (It is on page 47 of the Russian text). short extracts from a document which has not as yet been read by our American colleagues. The principal part of this document concerns experiments which were described in detail by the American Prosecution from other documents. This document is 400-PS. It refers to experiments by Dr. Rascher. It is submitted to the Tribunal as a photostatic copy, which includes a series of documents. I quote two paragraphs from this document. Rascher to the Auschwitz Camp. This extract is on page 149 of the document book, last paragraph.
"It would be simpler if I were transferred to the SS units and could visit the Camp of Auschwitz with my nephew, where I could more rapidly, by a series of experiments, solve the problem of warming frozen people who had been frozen on land. For these experiments Auschwitz is in every respect far better adapted than Dachau for the climate is colder there and the territory of the camp is larger. Besides it will attract less attention. The victims sometimes shout when they are being frozen.
(This is a letter to the Reichsfuehrer SS)
"If the honored Reichsfuehrer will understand the importance of the experiments which are taking place in Auschwitz, in Lublin or one of the eastern camps, I would request you to order me in the near future to go there so that I could profit by the winter frost.
"Heil Hitler, Yours faithfully and sincerely, "Rascher".I would like to remind the Tribunal that this wish of Dr. Rascher to go to Auschwitz was no accidental striving for in Auschwitz experiments were carried out on live persons that considerably outdid anything that was carried out in Dachau or other camps of the Reich, was greatly intensified, and carried out on a very large scale.
USSR Exhibit Number 8 has already been placed in the record. It is a report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the Monstrous Crimes of the German Government in Auschwitz. From the introductory part of this report we read this excerpt on page 196 of that document book. I will read only one paragraph.
"Special hospitals were created in the camp, as well as surgical blocks, gynecological laboratories and other institutions. But they were organized not for the healing of the sick but for the extermination on people. The German professors and doctors carried out in these buildings mass experiments on quite healthy ran, women and children. They carried out experiments on sterilization of women, on the castration of men. The children they inoculated with cancer and typhoid as well as older people and observed the reactions and finally they carried out experiments with different poisons." tration of women and men were carried out on a particularly large scale. Special mass blocks in the camp were set aside for these experiments on sterilization and castration. State Commission, which the Tribunal will find on page 196 of the document book.
"Experiments on women were carried out in the hospitals of the Auschwitz Camp. Up to four hundred interned women were interned in Block 10 of the camp simultaneously and experiments on sterilization by x-raying and by the subsequent removal of the ovaries were carried out, as well as experiments inoculating cancer in the neck of the uterus and forceful abortion, as well as experimentation on contracting tissues in the x-raying of the uterus."
I skip one paragraph and continue:
"In Block 21 the mass experiments on the castration of men were carried out. In view of the study made of the possibility of sterilization by x-ray, the castration was carried out after a certain time had elapsed after the x-raying. Similar experiments on x-raying and castration were carried out by Professor Schumann and Dr. Diering. Very often operations consisted in removing the testicles after x-raying," experiments, to read short excerpts from the statement of the Dutch Doctor De Vint, which is already in the record as USSR Exhibit 52.
I will not read the statement in full but will only read the numerical data. This numerical data concerns only one block, Block 10 in Auschwitz.
These are the numbers of people interned in this block: fifty women of different nationalities who arrived in March 1943; one hundred Greek women who arrived in March 1943; one hundred ten Belgian women who arrived in April 1943; fifty French women who arrived in July 1943; fifty French women who arrived in August 1943; one hundred Dutch women who arrived on the 15th of September 1943 and one hundred Dutch women who arrived a week later, and finally twelve Polish women. De Vint, which has been submitted to the Tribunal as USSR exhibit number 52.
I quote that part of the statement in which he speaks of experiments which were carried out by a certain Professor Schumann on fifteen young girls. This excerpt is on page 204 of the document book, first column of the text, third paragraph.
"Professor Schumann, a German. These experiments were carried out upon fifteen girls of 17 to 18 years of age, among whom was Shishni, Bella, from Salonika, Greece, and Buena, Dora, from Salonika, Greece. Only a few of them remained alive. They are still in the power of the Germans and we have consequently no objective data regarding those experiments, but the following is certain.
"The young girls were placed between slabs, through which passed ultra-short waves; one electrode was placed on their stomach and the other on their ovaries. The focus of these rays was directed towards the ovaries which were consequently burned. As a result of too much dosing, very severe burns appeared on the stomach and on the ovaries. One girl died after terrible suffering. The other girls were sent to Birkenau to the sanitary department or to working commandos. A month later they returned to Auschwitz, where two controlling operations were carried out one--long slit and one cross slit--after which they removed their genital organs for an investigation of their condition. The girls completely changed physically as a result and they looked like old women." carried out in Auschwitz on a mass scale beginning in 1942, and after a predetermined period of sterilization the men were castrated for a special study of the tissues. You can find confirmation of this fact in the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of Auschwitz, where numerous statements of internees in the camp have been quoted. the document book, second paragraph, second column of the text.
"Vilagora, who was subjected, to these experiments stated: 'A few days after I had been brought to Birkenau, I believe around the first days of December, 1942, all the young boys from 18 to 30 years of age were sterilized by x-raying of their genital organs. I myself was among the sterilized. Eleven months later, that is to say, on the 1st of November, 1943, I was castrated. Together with me on that same day 200 persons were sterilized.'
"Witness David Suritz, from the term of Salonika, Greece, stated the following.
"'In the month of July 1943 I and with me 10 other Greeks, were mentioned on a list and sent to Birkenau. There we were undressed and sterilized by x-raying. A month later we were summoned to a central station of the camp where all sterilized were castrated.'" on people began with sterilization and castration. This was a quite natural result of the theoretical principles of German Fascism, interested in the impeding of birth among those people which they considered to be vanquished.
I would now like to quote a short excerpt from Rauschnigg's book, "The Voice of Destruction," which has already been submitted to the Tribunal. This extract was not yet read into the record, and the Tribunal will find it on page 207 of the document book.
Hitler said to Rauschnigg: "And by removal I do not necessarily mean the destruction of these people. I shall simply take systematic measures to data their great natural fertility."
I skip three sentences and quote this:
"There are many ways systematically and comparatively painless, or at least at any rate bloodless, of causing undesirable races to die out."
This excerpt is on page 137 of the book, "Voice of Destruction," published in Now York in 1940.
Hitlerites in the occupied territories in Eastern Europe Two of these documents ought to be read into the record.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Smirnov, perhaps this would be a convenient time to break off. before you conclude your statement.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I believe, Mr. President, that I will finish my statement today. witnesses and I still have about one hour of reading. But it is very difficult for me to determine the time, as that depends sometimes on other persons.
THE PRESIDENT: We will adjourn now for 10 minutes.
(A short recess was taken.)