Sixty-Second Day:
Tuesday, 19th February, 1946
[Page 127]
According to a statement received from the Central
Security Administration, parcels of clothing were sent
from the concentration camps mainly to the Gestapo
Administration in Brno and in some there were bullet-
holes and blood-stains on the articles. Some of the
parcels were damaged, so that anyone could see what was
inside them.
As the Central Security Administration will in the near
future issue regulations concerning the disposal of
articles belonging to the deceased inmates, the sending
of these articles is to cease immediately until definite
regulations have been issued as to the disposal of
property belonging to internees who have been put to
death.
Signed: Glucks, S.S. Brigadefuehrer and Major General of
the S.S.".
In two extermination camps alone the criminals exterminated
five and a half million people. In proof of this I quote the
conclusions of the Extraordinary State Commission for
Auschwitz. I will quote only a short excerpt. It is preceded
by a detailed calculation. The Tribunal will find this
reference on Page 356 of the document book, fourth
paragraph:-
During the period of their temporary military successes, the
German fascist criminals did not take much trouble to
conceal the traces of their crimes.
They did not even consider it necessary to camouflage the
burial grounds into which they hurled the bodies of the
murdered persons after the shootings.
But after the defeat suffered by the Hitlerite war-machine
at Stalingrad, the situation changed. Fearing retaliation,
the criminals began to take urgent measures to conceal the
traces of their crimes. Wherever possible, they burned the
corpses. Where this could not be done, the burial grounds
were carefully camouflaged with moss or green foliage. The
earth which covered the graves of those shot was smoothed
out with special machines and with caterpillar tractors.
However, the main method adopted by the German fascist
criminals for camouflaging their crimes was the burning of
the corpses. The ashes from the burned
[Page 128]
As proof of the enormous scale of the Hitlerites' criminal
activity directed toward concealing the traces of their
crimes, I shall submit to the Tribunal a series of
documents. I will refer, first of all, to the communique of
the Polish-Soviet Extraordinary State Commission on
Maidanek. This document was submitted to the Tribunal as
Exhibit USSR 29. The part of the communique to which I refer
will be found by the Tribunal on Page 65 of the document
book, on the reverse side, last paragraph. In order to save
time, I will merely summarise the contents:-
In the beginning of 1942, two ovens for the burning of
corpses were built:-
The ovens in the crematoria proved to be inadequate, so the
Germans were compelled to resort to special primitive
cremation installations, which had been made in the
following way: I begin the quotation on Page 334 of the
text:-
At a distance of 45o metres from the former hamlet of
Petrashkevichi eight ditch graves have been discovered.
Their size is 21 metres long, 4 metres wide, and 5
metres deep. Before every ditch grave there are enormous
piles of the ashes of the burned corpses". [Page 129]
I finish the quotation with the conclusion of the medico-
forensic experts. I quote the last paragraph on Page 340 of
the text:-
The expert commission found that methods used in
camouflaging the graves in Lisenitz Forest were exactly
the same as those used in camouflaging the graves of the
Polish officers killed by the Germans at Katyn.
To extend the experiments in exterminating people,
cremating corpses and camouflaging the crimes, the
Germans set up in Lvov, in the Yanov Camp, a special
school for the preparation of qualified cadres. The
commandants of the camps of Lublin, Warsaw, Cracow and
other cities attended this school. The chief of the
Sonderkommando No. 1005, Scherlack, taught the
commandants on the spot how to organise the exhumation
of the corpses from the graves, how to pile them on
stacks, burn them, how to scatter the ashes, to crush
the bones, to fill up the ditches, and how to plant
trees and brush wood on the graves as camouflage".
A machine of these dimensions can produce 3 cubic metres
of calcinated bone powder". [Page 130]
I dwell especially on this document, which, kindly, has been
put at our disposal by our American colleagues; because
Adamitz's testimony, to use a legal term, in some points
corroborates our own evidential material. The testimony is
very lengthy, and I will limit myself to a few short
quotations.
Gerhard Adamitz was a member of Sonderkommando 1005B. I draw
the attention of the Tribunal again to the fact that the
first Sonderkommando was simply 1005; this one is
Sonderkommando 1005B. The excerpt which I shall quote from
the testimony of Gerhard Adamitz will be found by the
members of the Tribunal on Page 480 of the document book,
beginning with the second paragraph.
Gerhard Adamitz said that, together with forty other members
of the Schutzpolizei, he left Dniepro-Petrovsk and was sent
to Kiev. I remind the Tribunal of the name of Babi-Yar,
which it has already heard. I begin to quote the testimony
of Adamitz, page 347:
[Page 131]
With the aid of iron hooks, the corpses were dragged to
certain spots and then piled on a wooden platform. Then
the whole pile of corpses was surrounded with logs,
paraffin was poured on and ignited.
We, the policemen of Sonderkommando 1005 B, were then
led back from the cemetery to the kitchen. However, not
one of us could eat because of the terrible smell and
because of all we had seen".
Adamitz's testimony gives full confirmation of this episode.
I shall read only a short quotation:-
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(Part 5 of 6)
[COLONEL L. N. SMIRNOV continues] "To all commandants of the concentration camps:-
I pass on to the presentation of evidence, depicting the
scale of the crimes committed.
"However, using rectified coefficients for the part time
use of the crematorium ovens and for the periods when
they stood empty, the technical expert commission has
ascertained that during the time that the Auschwitz camp
existed the German butchers exterminated in this camp not
less than four million citizens of the USSR, Poland,
France, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Roumania, Hungary,
Holland, Belgium and other countries".
I quote the corresponding passages from the Polish-Soviet
Extraordinary State Commission's report on Maidanek. The
Tribunal will find this quotation on Page 66, reverse side
of the document book, paragraph 6:-
"The Polish-Soviet Extraordinary State Commission has
ascertained that during the four years' existence of the
extermination camp at Maidanek the Hitlerite hangmen,
following the direct order of their criminal government,
exterminated by mass shooting, and mass killing in gas
chambers approximately one and a half million persons:
Soviet prisoners of war, prisoners of war of the former
Polish Army, and nationals of various countries: Poles,
Frenchmen, Italians, Belgians, Dutch, Czechs, Serbs,
Greeks, Croats and a great number of Jews".
With this document I conclude that section of my statement
which concerns the concentration camps and pass on to the
last section entitled "Concealment of Crimes".
"As there were a great many corpses, the Germans, in
1942, began, and by autumn of 1943 had finished, the
building of powerful crematoria, consisting of five
ovens. These ovens burned unceasingly. The temperature
could reach 1,500 degrees Centigrade. In order to be
able to put as many bodies as possible into the ovens,
the corpses were dissected and the limbs hacked off ".
I omit the next paragraphs and beg the Tribunal to pay
attention to the passage which is three paragraphs further
down.
"On rails or frames, which served as grates, planks were
placed. Corpses were laid on the planks, then more
planks and again corpses. 500 to 1,000 corpses were
piled on one pyre. All were covered with petrol and
ignited."
I quote a short excerpt which shows the scale of criminal
actions taken to conceal the traces of
these crimes: Page 336, first paragraph:-
"The commission has ascertained that in the ovens of the
crematoria alone more than 600,000 corpses were burned.
More than 300,000 corpses were burned on the gigantic
pyres in the Krimpetz woods; more than 80,000 corpses
were burned in the two old ovens; not less than 400,000
corpses were burned on pyres in the camp itself, near
the crematoria".
As a proof of this, that is to say, of the scale of the
criminal activity of the Hitlerites in concealing the traces
of their crimes, I refer now to the Report of the
Extraordinary State Commission for the Town of Minsk. The
members of the Tribunal will find this quotation on the back
of Page 215, paragraph 4. I quote a short excerpt:-
"In the Blagovtchina woods, thirty-four ditch graves
were discovered, camouflaged with evergreen branches.
Some of the graves reached a length of 50 metres. During
a partial excavation of five of these graves, corpses,
and a layer of ashes 50 centimetres or 1 metre thick
were discovered at a depth of 3 metres. Near the graves
the commission discovered a great number of small human
bones, hair, false teeth and numerous small personal
articles. The investigation has ascertained that the
fascists exterminated here up to 150,000 persons.
"Upon the order of Reich Minister Himmler and of Major
General of Police S.S. Katzmann, special measures for
exhuming and burning the corpses of murdered peaceful
citizens, Soviet prisoners of war and citizens of
foreign countries were carried out in June, 1943. In
Lvov the Germans created a special Sonderkommando No.
1005 composed of 126 men. The chief of this Kommando was
Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Scherlack; his assistant,
Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Rauch. The duty of this
Sonderkommando was to exhume and burn the corpses of the
civilians and prisoners of war who had been liquidated".
I dwell on this extract, and I would beg the Tribunal to
remember this number, "Sonderkommando No. 1005." This
Kommando was the prototype of similar Sonderkommandos
created by the Germans. Later, the Sonderkommandos created
for this task received the numbers of 1005A, 1005B, etc.
"Thus the Hitlerite murderers adopted on the territory
of the Lvov Region the same methods for concealing their
crimes which they employed earlier in connection with
the murder of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest.
I now refer to a document which has already been submitted
to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 61, which is the report of
the examination in the town of Lvov of the special machine
for the crushing of bones. This record may be found by the
members of the Tribunal on Page 473 of the document book. As
I have very little time left at my disposal, I shall quote
only very short excerpts. I quote paragraph 1, on Page 342:-
"The machine for crushing bones is mounted on a special
carriage on the platform of a trailer. It is easily
transportable without dismounting".
I omit the next paragraph, and shall read one more short
extract :-
"The machine will function anywhere without special
preparation, and can be transported by automobile or any
other vehicle.
I omit the next four pages of the report, and submit to the
Tribunal as evidence the original record of the
interrogation of Gerhard Adamitz (Exhibit USSR 80), taken by
an American Army lieutenant, Patrick McMahon.
"Our Lieutenant Winter reported about our column to
Oberleutnant Hanisch, who was the Zugfuehrer of the
Schutzpolizei of group 1005A. The place smelled of
corpses. We felt faint, stopped our noses and tried not
to breathe. Oberleutnant Hanisch addressed us. I
remember the following excerpts:-
I omit the next sentence and continue the quotation -.
'You have come to the place where you are to serve and
support your comrades. You already smell an odour coming
from the kitchen behind us. We must all get used to
this, and you must all carry out your duties. We will
have to guard internees, and do so very strictly.
Everything that takes place here is the secret affair of
the Reich. Everyone of you answers with his head if ever
an internee under his guard succeeds in escaping, and
besides this, will be subjected to a special regime. The
same fate awaits anyone who lets out anything or is
careless in his correspondence'."
"After this speech of Hanisch, we were led out so as to
acquaint ourselves with the place where we were to
serve. We left the cemetery and were brought to an
adjoining field - yes, I am right - the field was
adjoining. The road which crossed this field was guarded
on both sides by policemen, who chased away all those
who tried to approach it. In the field we saw about 100
internees resting from work. The legs of each internee
were in chains of about 35 centimetres long. They were
dressed in civilian clothes".
I omit the next part of the paragraph and continue the
quotation:-
"The work of the internees consisted, as we found out
later, in exhuming corpses which had been buried here in
two common graves, transporting them, piling them up in
two enormous heaps and burning them. It is difficult to
estimate the numbers, but I believe that on this spot
were buried 40,000 to 45,000 corpses. One anti-tank
ditch served as a grave and was partially filled with
corpses. This ditch was 100 metres long, 10 metres wide,
and 4 to 5 metres deep".
I interrupt my quotation, and continue with the last
paragraph of the text:-
"On the day of our arrival, about the 10th September,
1943, there were three or four small piles of corpses on
the field".
It is interesting to note what this fascist expert in the
burning of corpses understood by the words "small piles". I
continue the quotation:-
"Every such pile consisted of about 700 corpses. It was
about 7 metres long, 4 metres wide, and 2 metres high".
"Here and in other places I observed the following
methods of burning corpses:-
Although the rest of the text is very interesting, I have to
leave it out in order to save time and continue the
quotation from Page 351, second paragraph. I quote this
excerpt, as in the Report of the Kiev Extraordinary State
Commission I already had the honour to report to the
Tribunal about the statements of internees who had fled from
these Kommandos.
"About 29th October, 1943, at 4.45 a.m., during dense
fog, thirty internees escaped. They tore off their foot
chains, rushed out of their barracks with shouts, and
ran away in different directions. Six of them were shot;
because of the dense fog the others succeeded in
escaping".
I beg the Tribunal to pay attention to the fact that as soon
as the work of burning corpses was completed the internees
were murdered. In proof of this I quote the following
excerpt from Adamitz's statement, page 352:-
"In other places where I served as guard, the internees,
after their work of exhuming and burning of corpses had
been done, were murdered. They had been brought in
groups or individually under the escort of the policemen
chosen for this purpose, to a spot designated by the
S.D. The policemen were afterwards sent back to bring
along more internees. Then the members of the S.D.
forced the internees to lie, face down, on a wooden
platform, and immediately shot them in the nape of the
neck. The internees in many cases obeyed this order
without resistance, lying down next to their comrades
who already had been shot".
I draw the attention of the Tribunal to the further career
of the Sonderkommando. You will find information on this
subject in the same record. This Sonderkommando served in
Kryvoy Rog, in Nikolaiev, at Voznesensk and in Riga. That is
to say, it crossed my country from the Black Sea to the
Baltic countries; a distance of thousands of kilometres,
Everywhere it carried out the same work. In confirmation of
this I will quote only a short excerpt regarding the last
stage on the Kommando's work in Riga. Page 357 of the
statement.
"We members of Kommando 1005 B received an order to go
to several newly-built barracks, which were situated
about 250 metres from six or seven mass graves".