“The Einsatzstab Rosenberg for the confiscation and exportation
of valuables from the occupied regions of the East had a special
branch in Smolensk, headed by Dr. Norling, the organizer for the
plunder of museums and historical monuments.”
Such are some of the numerous facts of the crimes committed by the
fascist barbarians. They demonstrate how the criminal schemes of the
Hitlerite conspirators were actually materialized.
It is known how mercilessly the German fascist invaders carried out the
economic plunder of the Ukrainian people. But destruction and plunder of
Ukrainian cultural and historical treasures played no lesser part in the
plans of the Hitlerite conspirators, and was carried out with the same
savage zeal. In accordance with their criminal plans for the enslavement
of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people, the Hitlerite conspirators
endeavored to annihilate its culture. From the very first days of their
invasion of the Ukraine the Hitlerites, in execution of their criminal
designs, embarked upon the systematic destruction of schools, higher
educational institutions, scientific establishments, museums, libraries,
clubs, and theaters.
The historical and cultural treasures in the cities of Kiev, Kharkov,
Odessa, in the Provinces of Stalino and Rovno, and many other larger and
smaller cities, were subjected to plunder and destruction.
From the document presented by the Soviet Prosecution under Document
Number USSR-32, containing the sentence pronounced by the military
tribunal of the 4th Ukrainian Front between 15-18 December 1943, it is
evident that the German fascist armies of Kharkov, in the Province of
Kharkov, acting on direct instructions of Hitler’s Government, burned,
plundered, and destroyed the material and cultural treasures of the
Soviet people. These excerpts, Your Honors, you will find on Page 359 in
your document book.
I now proceed to the evidence of crimes committed by the Hitlerites in
the capital of the Ukrainian Republic, Kiev. I quote one paragraph of
the document presented by the Soviet Prosecution under Document Number
USSR-248. You will find it on Page 363 of your document book. It is an
extract from the records of the Extraordinary State Commission “about
the destruction and plunder by the fascist aggressors of Kiev’s
Psychiatric Hospital.” Among other destructions they—I quote:
“. . . burned the archives of the institute, priceless from a
scientific point of view, destroyed the magnificent hospital
library of 20,000 volumes, plundered the especially protected
and priceless monument of the 11th century—the famous Cathedral
of Saint Cyryl situated in the institute grounds.”
I next pass on to several excerpts from the Extraordinary State
Commission’s report which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit
Number USSR-9 (Document Number USSR-9). The excerpts quoted are on Pages
365-366 of the document book:
“Before the German invasion, Kiev possessed 150 secondary and
elementary schools. Of this number, 77 schools were used by the
Germans as military barracks. Nine served as warehouses and
workshops, two were occupied by military staffs and eight were
turned into stables. During their retreat from Kiev, the German
barbarians destroyed 140 schools.”