The destruction of the national culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia was
carried out by the Hitlerites by various means and methods. I shall not,
Your Honors, enumerate them in detail. These means and methods are
already known.
In Yugoslavia the same thing occurred as in Poland and Czechoslovakia.
We need only stress that, in the destruction of the culture of the
peoples of Yugoslavia, the German fascist occupants showed great
ingenuity and utilized the vast experiences acquired in other countries
occupied by them. The system of destruction of the national culture of
the peoples of Yugoslavia starts with attack and pillage and ends with
mass murder, camps, and the ovens of the crematories.
In the report of the Jugoslav Government, presented to the Tribunal as
Document Number USSR-36, there are quoted a large number of facts and
documents which establish, without any possibility of doubt, the
criminal deeds of the defendants. But even these numerous facts quoted
in the report do not exhaust all the crimes committed by the Hitlerites.
The report of the Yugoslav Government quotes only typical cases as
examples. I shall cite a few excerpts from this report. These excerpts,
Your Honors, are on Page 303 of the document book. I quote:
“Immediately after the invasion of Slovenia, the Germans started
to fulfill their plans, thought out long beforehand, to
germanize the ‘annexed’ territories of Slovenia.”
And further, on Page 307:
“The occupiers closed all the schools in Slovenia, exiled all
the Slovene teachers, destroyed all Slovene libraries and books,
and forbade the use of the Slovene language, which was
considered as an act of sabotage.”
The German barbarians destroyed and plundered not only schools and
libraries, they also destroyed universities and broadcasting stations,
cultural establishments, and sanatoria. On Page 23 of the report,
corresponding to Page 278 of the document book, we find, for instance,
the following facts concerning Belgrade. I quote:
“Without any military need, the Germans premeditatively
destroyed and burned a great number of public buildings and
cultural institutions, such as the New University, the People’s
University ‘Koloraz,’ the first high school for boys, the second
high school for girls, the ancient royal palace, the
broadcasting station, the Russian Home of Culture, the
sanatorium of Dr. Jivkovich, and so forth. In the university
building valuable and highly important collections of scientific
works and research matter were destroyed.”
As is established by the report of the Jugoslav State Commission, which
is Document Number J-39(a), and which I submit under Exhibit Number 364,
Page 313(a) of our document book—the Hitlerites razed to the ground the
National Library in Belgrade and burned hundreds of thousands of books
and manuscripts, which constituted the basic stock of Serbian culture.
They completely destroyed 71 and partially destroyed 41 scientific
institutes and laboratories of Belgrade University. They razed to the
ground the State Academy of Art, and they burned and looted thousands of
schools.
I omit the end of Page 31 and pass on to Page 32. Your Honors will find
this passage on Page 303 of the document book.
During the 4 years of German domination, the people of Yugoslavia
experienced great sufferings and sorrow. The Germans looted the economic
wealth of the country and caused great material damage. But the damage
they caused to the culture of the people of Yugoslavia was even greater.
In concluding this chapter of my report, I consider it essential, Your
Honors, to quote yet another excerpt from the diary of the Defendant
Frank. I have in mind the calico-bound volume of the diary entitled,
“Conferences of the Leaders of Departments of 1939-1940,” which contains
an entry regarding the conference of the departmental leaders of 19
January 1940 in Kraków. This excerpt is on Page 169 of the document
book. I read:
“On 15 September 1939, I was entrusted with the administration
of the conquered eastern territories, and received a special
order pitilessly to devastate this district regarding it as a
combat zone and a prize of war, and to reduce its economic,
social, cultural, and political structure to a heap of ruins.”
To this statement of Frank’s, we need only add that the Defendant Frank
zealously performed this task in Poland and that the Reich, Gau, and
other leaders acted with equal zeal in the occupied territories of the
U.S.S.R., Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia.
I am now going to present, Your Honors, proof of crimes committed by the
defendants against the culture of the peoples of the Soviet Union.
We have heard in this court what brutality was used and on how vast a
scale the Hitlerites conducted the destruction and spoliation of the
cultural wealth of the peoples of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and
Yugoslavia. The crimes perpetrated by the Hitlerite conspirators in the
occupied territories of the U.S.S.R. were graver still. The criminal
organization, known as the Hitler Government, aimed not only at
plundering the people of the Soviet Union, at destroying their towns and
villages, and at extirpating the culture of the peoples of the U.S.S.R.,
but also at enslaving the people of the Soviet Union and of transforming
our native country into a fascist colony of serfs.
In the second part of my statement I have proved how the destruction of
the cultural monuments of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. was planned and
perpetrated.
In the note of the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov,
dated 27 April 1942, which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit
Number USSR-51(3) (Document Number USSR-51(3)), documents and facts are
quoted which establish beyond dispute that the destruction of historic
and cultural monuments and the vile mockery of national feelings,
beliefs, and convictions constituted a part of the monstrous plan
evolved and put into practice by the Hitlerite Government, which strove
to liquidate the national culture of the peoples of the U.S.S.R. Later I
shall refer again to this document, but at present I wish, with your
permission, to read into the record the following excerpt which is on
Page 321 of your document book. I omit the first and quote the second
paragraph:
“The desecration and destruction of historical and cultural
memorials in occupied Soviet territories, as well as the
devastation of the numerous cultural establishments set up by
the Soviet authorities, are a part of the monstrously senseless
plan conceived and pursued by the Hitlerite Government which
strives to liquidate Russian national culture and the national
cultures of the peoples of the Soviet Union, forcibly to
germanize the Russian, Ukrainian, Bielorussian, Lithuanian,
Latvian, Estonian and other peoples of the U.S.S.R.
“In Order Number 0973/41, General Hodt, commander of the German
17th Army, demands that his subordinates thoroughly assimilate
that misanthropic notion so typical of the thick-skulled
fascists, that the ‘sound feeling of vengeance and repulsion
towards everything Russian should not be suppressed among the
men but, on the contrary, encouraged in every way.’”
True to their custom of destroying universally recognized cultural
valuables, the Hitlerites everywhere on the Soviet territory occupied by
them, devastated and mostly burned libraries, from the small club and
school libraries up to and including the most valuable collections of
manuscripts and books, containing unique bibliographical valuables.