In conclusion, I shall permit myself to quote one of the many German
depositions which are quoted in the document, namely paragraph 4 on Page
14. Your Honors will find this deposition I am quoting on Page 84 of the
document book. I quote:
“Sergeant Fritz Köpke, commanding Number 2 gun of the 2d battery
of the 2d Detachment of the 910th Artillery Regiment stated:
“‘For the bombardment of Leningrad, there was in the batteries a
special stock of munitions supplied over and above the limit to
an unlimited amount. . . .
“‘All the gun crews know that the bombardments of Leningrad were
aimed at ruining the town and annihilating its civilian
population. They therefore regarded with irony the bulletins of
the German Supreme Command which spoke of shelling the “military
objectives” of Leningrad.’”
The Hitlerite conspirators aimed at the complete destruction of the
Yugoslav capital, Belgrade.
I remind you of Document Number 1746-PS, presented to the Tribunal on 7
December 1945; it is an order by Hitler, dated 27 March 1941, dealing
with the attack on Yugoslavia. It is known that this order, entitled
“Instruction Number 25,” gives in detail the military strategy for the
attack and, besides, decrees that all the Yugoslav Air Force ground
installations and the city of Belgrade shall be destroyed by means of
continuous day and night air raids.
I omit the first paragraph of Page 18 of my report, inasmuch as the
facts which are mentioned in this paragraph have been read into the
record on 11 February. I shall read a few excerpts from Pages 22 and 23
of the official report of the Yugoslav Government. This corresponds to
Pages 111 and 112 in your document book. I read:
“The planned and systematic execution of these crimes, based on
the orders of the Government of the Reich and of the OKW, is
confirmed by the fact that the destruction of inhabited
localities and of the population did not cease even at the time
of the retreat of the German troops from Yugoslavia.
“Typical for thousands of such cases is the destruction of
Belgrade and extermination of its citizens in October 1944.
“The fights for the liberation of Belgrade lasted from 15 to 20
October 1944. Even before the fighting started, the Germans
prepared a plan for the systematic destruction of the city. They
sent into the city a large number of specially trained units
whose duties consisted of mining houses and killing the
population. Though, because of the swift advance of the Red Army
and of the Yugoslav National Liberation Forces, they failed to
carry out their task as ordered by the German commanders, they
succeeded in destroying a large number of houses in the southern
part of the city and in killing a considerable number of its
inhabitants.
“To a still greater extent, this happened in the northern part
of the city, on the Rivers Sava and Danube. The Germans went
from house to house, herded the inhabitants, unclothed and
unshod, into the streets, sprayed inflammable chemical
explosives into every apartment, and set fire to all the
buildings. If a house happened to be made of a very solid
material, they mined it. They fired at the inhabitants, killing
defenseless people; in several large houses the inhabitants were
locked in, and were destroyed by fire and by mine explosions.
The entire damage thus caused in the city of Belgrade totals the
sum of 1,127,129,069 dinars at prewar value.”
Thus, the destruction of Belgrade was prescribed by Hitler’s order of 27
March 1941 and was carried out on direct orders of the Defendant Göring;
in October 1944 it was carried out by the same methods as those employed
by the Hitlerites in the occupied territories of the U.S.S.R.
I shall now present evidence of the intentional and unexampled
destruction by the Hitlerites of the capital of the Polish nation,
Warsaw.
I shall quote three documents which reveal the criminal intentions of
the fascist conspirators to raze this city. As the first document,
Exhibit Number USSR-128 (Document Number USSR-128), I present to the
Tribunal a telegram Number 13265, addressed to the Defendant Frank, and
signed by the Governor of the Warsaw District, Dr. Fischer. This
document can be found on Page 148 of the document book. I read into the
record the text of this telegram:
“To the Governor General and Reich Minister, Dr. Frank, at
Kraków.
“Warsaw, Number 13265; 11. X. 44; 10.40, HE.
“Subject: New Policy with Regard to Poland.
“As a result of the visit of SS Obergruppenführer Von dem Bach
to the Reichsführer SS, I wish to inform you of the following:
“. . . 2) Obergruppenführer Von dem Bach again received an order
to pacify Warsaw—that is, to raze Warsaw to the ground while
the war is still on, if there is nothing against this from the
military point of view (construction of fortresses). Prior to
destruction, all raw materials, textiles, and furniture should
be taken out of Warsaw. The main role in performing this task
should be assumed by the civilian administration.
“I am informing you of these facts because this new order of the
Führer regarding the destruction of Warsaw is of the greatest
importance for the future policy toward Poland.
“The Governor of the Warsaw District, temporarily at Sochaczew,
signed: Dr. Fischer.”
Von dem Bach, mentioned in the telegram just read into the record, is
already known to you, Your Honors; he testified in the afternoon session
of the Tribunal on 7 January.
How SS Obergruppenführer Von dem Bach carried out Hitler’s order
regarding the destruction of Warsaw can be seen from the written
evidence given by him on oath on 28 January 1946, during his
interrogation by the Public Prosecutor of the Polish Republic, M.
Savitzky.
I present to the Court the original record of the interrogation in
German, duly signed by Von dem Bach. I shall read two extracts from this
record. . .
[_Dr. Seidl approached the lectern._]
THE PRESIDENT: We will hear the objection.
DR. ALFRED SEIDL (Counsel for Defendant Frank): I object to the reading
of the interrogation of the witness Von dem Bach-Zelewski. The witness
was heard before the Court, and it would have been possible at that time
to hear the witness about the matter of the interrogation right here
before the Court.
Should the Soviet Prosecution not wish to forgo the presentation of this
material, then I request that the witness, Von dem Bach-Zelewski, who is
still here in Nuremberg, be summoned before the Tribunal again, so that
the Defense may have an opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
THE PRESIDENT: General Raginsky, do you want to say anything?
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: Mr. President, this record of the interrogation
of Von dem Bach-Zelewski was given under oath, and it was presented to
the Soviet Delegation by the representatives of the Polish Government.
The record of the interrogation is formulated according to the laws of
procedure and was given under oath. Therefore, we consider it imperative
and possible to present it to the Tribunal without calling Von dem
Bach-Zelewski for a second interrogation before the Tribunal. If the
Tribunal decides that the testimony of Bach-Zelewski cannot be read into
the record without his being called again before the Tribunal, then, in
the interests of expediting the Trial, and in order not to protract the
presentation of our evidence, we agree not to read this testimony into
the record inasmuch as evidence regarding these facts is contained in
other documents which I shall later present to the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: May I ask you then, General: If the evidence given before
the Polish Commission is the same as the evidence which Bach-Zelewski
gave in court, it would be cumulative; if it is different, then surely
the defendants’ counsel ought to have the opportunity of cross-examining
him upon it.
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: The testimony which was given by Bach-Zelewski
to the prosecutor of the Polish Republic is supplementary. Bach-Zelewski
was not examined before the Tribunal about the devastations.
THE PRESIDENT: General Raginsky, the Tribunal understood you to say that
you would be prepared to withdraw this evidence in view of the fact that
the witness had given evidence already and the Tribunal considers that
that is the proper course to take. So then the evidence will be
withdrawn and struck from the record so far as it has been put on the
record.