Sixtieth Day:
Friday, 15th February, 1946
[Page 68]
1. All members of the civilian population, regardless of
age or sex, seen on or in the vicinity of railroad
tracks are to be considered as bandits and shot as such.
Excepted, of course, are the labour units under guard.
2. All people mentioned in paragraph one who cross the
roads are to be shot.
3. All persons mentioned in paragraph one, who at night
or at twilight are found on the roads are to be shot.
4. Persons mentioned in paragraph one, if found on the
roads during day time, are subject to arrest and most
detailed examination.
I shall now submit to the Tribunal several documents which
will reveal how the Hitlerite criminals invariably made the
most of this right, introducing into the crimes perpetrated
against the Soviet people the cruel devices of base and evil
creatures who had been granted the right of mocking and
murdering with impunity. I submit to the Tribunal, as
Exhibit USSR 9, a report of the Extraordinary State
Commission on the atrocities perpetrated by the German
fascist occupants in the city of Kiev. The Tribunal will
find the passage in question on Page 238 of the document
book, paragraph 5. I quote:-
[Page 69]
Every inhabitant of Kiev is responsible for every act of
sabotage.
Kiev, 22 October 1941.
The Commandant."
Since the saboteurs could not be found, 400 men have
been shot in the city.
This should serve as a warning to the population, and
once again, I demand that all suspects be immediately
reported to the German troops or the German police in
order that the criminals may be adequately punished.
Signed: Eberhard, Major General and City Commandant,
Kiev,
29 November 1941."
Consequently 300 inhabitants of Kiev will be shot today.
For every new case of arson or sabotage several times
this number will be shot.
Every inhabitant of Kiev is obliged to report any
suspects to the German police.
I shall maintain order and calm in Kiev by all measures
at my disposal and under any circumstances.
Kiev, 2 November 1941.
Eberhard, Major General and City Commandant."
The members of the Tribunal will find the report in question
on Page 222 of the document book.
I shall begin the quotation of the official report of the
Commission which investigated the territory of the
Djerjinski District of Stalingrad city after the rout of the
Germans at Stalingrad. This report contains information
regarding the announcements posted in the streets of
Stalingrad by the German Kommandantur and concerning the
meaning of these posters.
I begin my quotation on Page 222 of the document book, last
paragraph.
It posted announcements in the streets, threatening
death by shooting at every step. For instance, the
following announcement was posted up in Aral Street:
'Death to him who passes here'. On the comer of the
Nevskaya and Medvedevskaya: 'Right of way forbidden to
Russians; for violation of this order - death'.
[Page 70]
After the occupants had been thrown Out, 516 corpses of
Soviet citizens were found in this grave, including the
bodies Of 50 children who had been tortured to death,
shot or hanged in the building of the Kommandantur and
in other places. An examination of the bodies on 25
March, 1943, established that the Hitlerites had
savagely tortured the Soviet people before murdering
them. In addition to the bodies of the children, the
corpses of 323 women, 69 old men and 74 younger men were
discovered. 141 corpses bore traces of wounds inflicted
by firearms in the head and on the chests; 92 corpses
had marks on their necks which showed that they had been
hanged. All the other bodies were mutilated and bore
traces of torture. 130 victims, women and girls, had
their arms twisted behind their backs, and tied with
wire, and 18 of the corpses had their breasts cut off,
some had their ears, fingers and toes chopped off, and
the majority showed traces of burns on their bodies.
An examination of these corpses revealed that 21 women
died of torture and wounds, and that the remainder had
been first tortured and then shot.
Even the corpses of children were mutilated. Some had
their small fingers cut off, their buttocks chopped up,
their eyes gouged out."
In general, tortures were officially provided for and
sanctioned by the Hitlerites. I present to the Tribunal as
Exhibit USSR 11 one of the documents testifying to the fact
that tortures were sanctioned officially. This document is
an official guide for concentration camps, "The
Concentration Camp Statutes", published in Berlin in 1941,
You will find the excerpt I am quoting on Page 244 of your
document book. Section 3 of the instructions, for instance,
entitled "Corporal Punishment", states:
Official formulas to be used in "especially severe
interrogations," or, rather, interrogations with application
of torture, were issued by the competent German police
departments. I submit to the Tribunal, and would request it
to accept in evidence, an original formula of such an
"especially severe interrogation".
I submit it as Exhibit USSR 254. It represents an appendix
to the report of the Yugoslav Government. This formula, as
is evident from the certificate attached to it, was seized
from the German archives by units of the Yugoslav Army. I
shall not describe it in my own words but shall quote the
report of the Yugoslav Government on Page 21 of the
document, from the last paragraph at the bottom of the page.
The Tribunal will find this passage on Page 256 of the
document book, in the last paragraph:
[Page 71]
On the first page of the 'formula', the Police
organisation suggest submitting one particular person to
an 'especially severe interrogation'. The answer to the
question, what this special 'severe interrogation'
consisted of, is found in the following instructions of
this 'formula'.
The especially severe interrogation should consist of
... Minutes of the interrogation should be kept. A
doctor may (or may not) be asked to be present.
The mention of the doctor and of his presence at the
interrogation leaves no doubt at all that the person to
be interrogated, was to be physically torture. The fact
that printed instructions existed for these
interrogations obviously suggests a wholesale resort to
such criminal methods."
The S.S. Leader therefore not only permitted but even
ordered the prisoners to be tied hand and foot or shackled
in chains.
I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 298 a photostat of
a directive of the Chief of the German Police No. 202/43 of
1 June, 1943. The document is certified by the Extraordinary
State Commission, and I quote the text of the document:
In all cases where, owing to circumstances or the
importance of the prisoner, there exists a possibility
of escape or of an attempt to commit suicide, I order
the hands and feet of the arrested person to be tied in
such a way that escape is impossible. Rings and chains
if available should be used."
I submit to the Tribunal Exhibit USSR 1, which is a report
of the Extraordinary State Commission on the crimes of the
German fascist aggressors in the region of Stavropol. An
investigation of these crimes was conducted under the
leadership of the eminent academician and Russian author,
the late Alexei Nikolaievitch Tolstoy. The Tribunal will
find this document on Page 272 of the document book. I begin
my quotation from the first paragraph. Academician A. N.
Tolstoi, as the Tribunal will doubtless remember, was a
member of the Extraordinary State Commission.
[Page 72]
Apart from these inhuman forms of torture, the Gestapo
also resorted to the following: a wide board was placed
on the back of the shackled prisoner and blows were
struck on this board with heavy dumb-bells. As a result
of these blows the prisoner bled from the nose, mouth
and ears and lost consciousness.
The torture chamber of the Gestapo was so constructed
that while one prisoner was being tortured, the
prisoners awaiting their turn in the neighbouring cell
could watch the torture and ill-treatment.
After the torture, the unconscious prisoner would be
thrown on one side while the next victim of the Gestapo
would be forcibly dragged in from the neighbouring call,
shackled and tortured in the same fashion.
The torture chambers were always covered with blood. The
board placed on the back of the prisoners was also
soaked in it. The rubber cudgels used for beating the
prisoners were red with blood.
The arrested Soviet people, doomed to be shot after
unspeakable torture and beatings, were dragged into
trucks, driven out of town and shot." [
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(Part 7 of 8)
[COLONEL L. N. SMIRNOV continues] "I order on the basis of the above-mentioned:
Such were the terroristic "decrees" and "orders" based upon
the so-called Fuehrerprinzip that were issued by high-
ranking officials and representatives of the military
authorities of the German Fascist Reich. But the right of
relentless reprisals against the peaceful populations was
not confined to them only; any local Kommandantur, any
commander of a small unit, and, finally, any soldier of
Hitler's army acquired the right of reprisal against the
peaceful population of the occupied regions.
"The German executioners, from the very first days of
their occupation of Kiev, carried out a wholesale
slaughter of the population by torture, shooting,
hanging and poisoning by gas in the murder vans. People
were seized in the streets, and shot either in large
batches or singly. Announcements of the shootings were
posted up in order to intimidate the population."
I shall interrupt my quotation at this point to ask the
Tribunal to accept in evidence photostats of several of
these posters. Partial mention has already been made of them
in the report of the Extraordinary State Commission. From
among their number I would request the Tribunal to accept in
evidence the photostat of one such poster which I submit as
Exhibit USSR 290. The text reads as follows (I ask the
Tribunal to excuse me if the translation is, perhaps,
slightly incorrect, since the original text is in Ukrainian.
I am a Russian, I understand the meaning of the Ukrainian
text, but the translation might possibly not be quite
correct in every detail). Here is the text:-
"As a reprisal for an act of sabotage 100 inhabitants of
the city of Kiev were shot this day. Let this be a
warning.
Under Exhibit USSR 291 (the Tribunal will find the text on
Page 243 of the document book) I submit a photostat of the
following poster, signed by the commandant of the city of
Kiev. I quote the text:
"Means of communication - telephone and telegraph wires-
have been damaged in Kiev.
As Exhibit USSR 333, I submit a photostat of the third and
last poster in Kiev. The Tribunal will find the text of this
poster on Page 242 of the document book.
"Repeated cases of arson and sabotage in Kiev, force me
to resort to extreme measures.
I refer to another document which has been only partially
read into the record. I refer to Exhibit USSR 63. It
contains a report of the Commissar of the Dzerjinski
District Council of the city of Stalingrad. I invite the
Tribunal's attention to the fact that this official report,
which was drawn up by the members of the local Soviet
authorities and the community of the Ejerjinski District of
Stalingrad city, was approved by the Extraordinary State
Commission and that the authenticity of the cases listed
therein was confirmed, You will find confirmation to this
effect in the report of the Extraordinary State Commission,
under the signature of a member of the Commission, the
academician Trainin, and of other persons.
"... The military Kommandantur sowed death everywhere.
I now cease to quote from this document and, in compliance
with the wishes of the Tribunal to the effect that not
details, but instances testifying to some new data in the
system of the Hitler terror be reported, I omit three pages
of the report and turn to the following section on the
presentation of evidence: "On Tortures Inflicted by the
Hitlerites in the Course of Interrogation."
"Between 5 and 25 strokes are permitted on the loins and
buttocks. The number of strokes is to be determined by
the camp commandant and is to be entered in the
corresponding column in the punishment order."
I should have liked to refer to one more document, but as it
has already been presented to the Tribunal, I, in compliance
with the Tribunal's instructions, will omit this document,
and continue:
"In order to give a clearer description of the savage
cruelty practised by the Germans in carrying out this
plan of extermination, we submit to the Tribunal another
original document which was seized in the German
archives
The Reichsfuehrer S.S. clearly foresaw cases of attempted
suicide by persons under suspicion.
" Subject, Prevention of Escape during Interrogations.
I have not submitted the official directives of the German
Central Police Authorities to the Tribunal merely to prove
that the German officials provided for the application of
torture and torment during interrogations. This fact is well
known and calls for no special evidence. But I am submitting
a document, in the possession of the Soviet prosecution,
which will show how far tortures, to which arrested persons
were subjected in the police cells, exceeded even the
instructions issued by the criminals and the officially
sanctioned forms of torture.
" ... Tortures and torments, exceptional in their
cruelty, were applied to the Soviet citizens on the
premises of the Gestapo. Thus, for instance, citizen
Phillip Akimovitch Kovaltchuk, born in 1891 and an
inhabitant of the town of Pyatigorsk, was arrested on 27
October, 1942, in his own apartment, beaten unconscious
taken to the Gestapo and thrown into one of the cells.
Twenty-four hours later the Gestapo began to torture
him; he was interrogated and beaten at night only. For
the interrogation he was put in a separate torture
chamber equipped with special devices for torture, such
as chains with handcuffs for shackling both hands and
feet. These chains were fastened to the cement floor of
the chamber. To begin with, the prisoners were stripped
to the skin and laid on the floor. Then their hands and
feet were shackled. Citizen Kovaltchuk was subjected to
this form of torture. When
in chains
I omit two paragraphs and continue my quotation:
"Witness Varvara Ivanovna Tchaika, born in 1912,
domiciled in No. 31, Djerjinksaya Street (apartment No
3) states that during her incarceration in the prison of
the Gestapo she had been subjected to incredible torture
by the Chief of the Gestapo, Captain Wintz. Witness V.
I. Tchaika said on this subject: 'I was subjected to ill-
treatment and torture by the Chief of the Gestapo, the
German Captain Wintz. He summoned me once for
interrogation to the torture chamber. There were four
tables in the cell, wooden grills on the floor and two
basins of water in which leather thongs had been placed.
Two rings were attached to the ceiling with ropes drawn
through them from which the prisoners were suspended
during the time of their torment. By order of Captain
Wintz I was laid on the table by the Gestapo men,
stripped and severely beaten with leather thongs. I was
beaten twice. On the whole I received 75 strokes of the
lash, my kidneys were almost torn out and I lost eight
of my teeth."