“Before destroying buildings of various religious cults the
Germans plundered and destroyed all their equipment. A great
number of icons and church decorations were removed from
ecclesiastical buildings to Germany.
“The Joseph-Volokalamsky Monastery was plundered and the ancient
shrouds of the monastery, together with the personal belongings
of Joseph Volotsky, founder of the monastery, have
disappeared. . . .
“In 1941 German soldiers and officers stole from the Staritzki
Church all the vessels, altar crosses, crowns, miters, and
tabernacles.
“In the town Dokshitza, in the Polotsk region, the Germans
looted and took away all the property of the local mosque. The
same fate was shared by nearly all the churches in the
territories occupied by the Germans.
“Everywhere the Germans plundered Orthodox and Catholic
churches, synagogues, mosques, and other buildings of religious
worship.”
The Hitlerite conspirators not only actually plundered, tortured, and
murdered, but they also strove to humiliate the believers morally and to
rob them of their spiritual treasures.
Such, Your Honors, is the conclusive evidence concerning the crimes
against culture, committed by Rosenberg, Frank, Göring, Ribbentrop,
Keitel, and the other participants in the conspiracy. The crimes of the
defendants against culture are terrible indeed in their consequences.
Even though it be possible, by a tremendous effort, to rebuild the
cities and villages destroyed by the Hitlerites, even though it be
possible to restore the factories and plants blown up or burned down by
them, mankind has lost for all time the irreplaceable art treasures
which the Hitlerites so ruthlessly destroyed, as it has lost forever the
millions of human beings sent to their death in Auschwitz, Treblinka,
Babye-yar, or Kerch.
Having inherited the savage hatred of all mankind from the dim ages of
the past, the modern Huns have far surpassed, in cruelty and vandalism,
the darkest pages of history. While arrogantly challenging the future of
mankind, they trampled under foot the finest heritage of mankind’s past.
Themselves without faith or ideals, they sacrilegiously destroyed both
the churches and the relics of the saints.
But in this unparalleled struggle between culture and obscurantism,
between civilization and barbarism, culture and civilization prevailed.
The Hitlerite conspirators who had aspired to world domination, who had
dreamed of destroying the culture of the Slavs and of all other nations,
now stand in the defendants’ dock. May a just punishment be theirs.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you continue until 5 o’clock?
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: As you wish, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes; will you go on until 5 o’clock?
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I should only like to ask for a few minutes’
interval in order to collect some documents. It will literally take only
a few moments.
THE PRESIDENT: It would be hardly worth while if you want a short
interval. We shall stop at 5 o’clock.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: It would perhaps be more convenient to begin
again at 1000 hours tomorrow.
THE PRESIDENT: Then we will adjourn now.
[_The Tribunal adjourned until 22 February 1946 at 1000 hours._]
SIXTY-FIFTH DAY
Friday, 22 February 1946
_Morning Session_
MARSHAL: May it please the Court: The Defendant Fritzsche will be absent
until further notice on account of illness.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: May it please Your Honors, may I begin the
submission of evidence to prove the charge that the defendants are
guilty of the destruction of towns and villages and of the perpetration
of other kinds of destruction. This charge is laid down in Section C of
Count Three of the Indictment.
We shall present evidence proving that the destruction of cities and
towns was brought about neither by the hazards of war nor by military
expediencies. We shall submit evidence that this deliberate destruction
was carried out in accordance with the thoroughly elaborated plans of
the Hitlerite Government and orders of the German military command; that
the destruction of towns and cities, of industry and transportation was
an integral part of the conspiracy which aimed at enslaving the peoples
of Europe and other countries, and establishing a world hegemony of
Hitlerite Germany.
Wherever the German fascist invaders appeared, they brought death and
destruction. In the flames of the fires were lost the most valuable
machines devised by the genius of mankind; factories and dwellings
giving work and shelter to millions were blown up. People themselves
perished, especially old men, women, and children, left without a roof
over their heads or any means of existence.
With particular ruthlessness the Hitlerites annihilated and destroyed
the towns and cities in the territories of the Soviet Union which they
temporarily occupied, where, acting on direct orders of the German High
Command, they created a desert zone.
As proof, I read into the record an excerpt from the document which had
been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51(2) (Document
Number USSR-51(2)). This excerpt the Members of the Tribunal will find
on Page 3 of the document book. I quote:
“An order recently seized near the town of Verkhovye, Orel
region, issued to the 512th German Infantry Regiment and signed
by Colonel Schittnig, stated with unparalleled brazenness:
“‘A zone which, in view of the circumstances, is to be
evacuated, upon withdrawal of the troops should present a desert
zone. In order to carry out a complete destruction, all the
houses shall be burned. To this end they should first be filled
with straw, particularly stone houses. Structures of stone are
to be blown up, particularly cellars. Measures for the creation
of desert zones . . . are to be prepared beforehand and carried
out ruthlessly and in their entirety.’”
So runs the order to the 512th German Infantry Regiment.
“In razing our towns and villages, the German command demands of
its troops that a desert zone be created in all Soviet
localities from which the invaders are successfully expelled by
the Red Army.”
This order to the 512th Regiment, which is mentioned in the document I
just quoted, is submitted as Exhibit Number USSR-168 (Document Number
USSR-168).
THE PRESIDENT: Do you know the date of it?
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: The date of this order is 10 December 1941.
From this document it is clear that the German military command
underwrote a ruthless and complete destruction of inhabited localities
and that this destruction was planned and prepared in advance.
A large number of documents and facts concerning this question are in
the possession of the Soviet Prosecution. I shall limit myself to
reading into the record an excerpt from the verdict of the regional
military court in the case of the German war criminals Lieutenant
General Bernhardt and Major General Hamann. I submit this verdict to the
Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-90 (Document Number USSR-90).
The military court established that the generals, Bernhardt and Hamann,
had acted in accordance with the common plans and directives of the High
Command of the German Army and that they—I quote a short excerpt from
the verdict which Your Honors will find on Pages 24 and 25 of the
document book:
“. . . had carried out a planned destruction of towns and
inhabited localities, determined in advance, along with the
destruction of industrial buildings, hospitals, sanatoria,
educational institutions, museums, and other cultural
educational institutions, as well as dwellings. The latter were
blown up without any previous warning to the Soviet citizens
living in them, with the result that people as well perished.”
As in the case of the destruction of inhabited localities, plants, and
factories, power-stations and mines were also destroyed with
premeditation.
For confirmation I shall draw the attention of the Tribunal to the
report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union which
was submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-2 (Document Number
USSR-2). This document is on Page 28 of the document book.
In this report is quoted the secret directive of the leader of the
department of economics (Wirtschaftsoffizier) of Army Group South of 2
September 1943, under Number 1/313/43, which ordered army leaders and
leaders of the economics detachments to carry out a thorough
annihilation of industrial institutions, emphasizing particularly that
“. . . the destruction must be carried out not at the last moment when
the troops may be engaged in combat or in retreat, but ahead of time.”
The note by V. M. Molotov, the People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs of
the U.S.S.R. of 27 April 1942, deals with the orders of the German
Supreme Command and with the manner in which these orders were executed.
This note was submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-51(3)
(Document Number USSR-51(3)).
I shall now quote several excerpts from Part II of the note just
mentioned, which is entitled, “The Devastation of Cities and Towns,”
excerpts which were not read into the record before. These excerpts will
be found on Pages 6, the reverse side, and 7 of the document book which
is in the hands of the Tribunal. I read:
“By direct order of its High Command the German fascist Army has
subjected Soviet towns and villages to unparalleled devastation
upon seizure and in the course of the army’s occupation.”