Acting upon directions of the German Military Command, the Hitlerites
destroyed and annihilated the cultural-historic monuments of the Russian
people connected with the life and work of the great Russian poet,
Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin.
The report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union,
the original copy of which is now submitted to the Tribunal as Document
Number USSR-40 (Exhibit Number USSR-40), reads as follows:
“To preserve the cultural and historical memorials of the
Russian people connected with the life and creations of the
gifted Russian poet and genius, Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin,
the Soviet Government, on 17 March 1922, declared the poet’s
estate at Mikhailovskoye, as well as his tomb at the monastery
of Svyatogorsky and the neighboring villages of Trigorskoye,
Gorodischtsche, and Voronitch, a state reservation.
“The Pushkin reservation, and especially the poet’s estate at
Mikhailovskoye, was very dear to the Russian people. Here
Pushkin finished the third and created the fourth, fifth, and
sixth chapters of _Eugen Onegin_. Here, too, he finished his
poem _Gypsies_, and wrote the drama _Boris Godunov_, as well as
a large number of epic and lyrical poems.
“In July 1941 the Hitlerites forced their way into the Pushkin
reservation. For 3 years they made themselves at home there,
ruined everything, and destroyed the Pushkin memorials.”