In January 1942, in the Rezeknes district of the Latvian Socialist
Soviet Republic, the Germans destroyed the village of Audrini with its
entire population, ostensibly for having aided members of the Red Army.
In the towns of Latvia a notice to this effect was posted by the chief
of the German State Security Police in Latvia, SS Obersturmbannführer
Strauch, in German, Latvian, and Russian.
I present to the Tribunal a certified photostatic copy of this notice as
Exhibit Number USSR-262 (Document Number USSR-262), and I read into the
record an excerpt from this document. This excerpt is on Page 158:
“The commander of the Security Police in Latvia hereby announces
the following:
“. . . 2) The inhabitants of the village of Audrini, in the
Rezeknes district, concealed members of the Red Army for over
one-quarter of a year, armed them, and assisted them in every
way in their anti-government activities. . . .
“As punishment I ordered the following:
“a) That the village of Audrini be wiped from the face of the
earth.”
The Hitlerites widely practiced punitive expeditions in the occupied
districts of the Leningrad region. As can be seen from a verdict of the
military tribunal of the Leningrad Military District, which is submitted
to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-91 (Document Number USSR-91), the
Hitlerites burned down, in February 1944, 10 inhabited localities in the
Dedovitch, Pozherevitz, and Ostrov districts. The Hitlerite punitive
expeditions also burned down the villages of Strashevo and Zapolye in
the Plyuss district, and the villages of Bolshye, Lyady, Ludoni, and
others.
Numerous punitive detachments, acting on the orders of the German
Supreme Command, burned down many hundreds of inhabited localities in
the Yugoslav territory.
I refer, as evidence, to the third section of the report of the Yugoslav
State Commission for establishment of the crimes of the German invaders,
which has been presented to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-36, and
also to the special memorandum of the Yugoslav State Commission,
numbered 2697 (45) and signed by Professor Nedelkovitsch, which I
present to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-309. This document is on
Pages 165 to 167 of the document book. In these documents we find a
number of facts concerning the burning and destruction of villages and
hamlets by the special punitive expeditions of the Hitlerites. As
examples, the localities of Zagnezdye, Udora, Mechkovatz, Marsich,
Grashniza, Rudnika, Krupnya, Rastovach, Orakh, Grabovica, Drachich,
Lozinda, and many others can be named. Whole districts of Yugoslavia
were completely devastated after the Germans had been there.
I also present to the Tribunal the original copy of a notice by the
so-called Commander-in-Chief of Serbia, which I beg the Tribunal to
accept as evidence as Exhibit Number USSR-200 (Document Number
USSR-200). This notice was captured in Serbia by troops of the Yugoslav
Army of Liberation, which fact is duly certified by the Yugoslav State
Commission in Belgrade. I read into the record only one paragraph: “The
Commander-in-Chief of Serbia announces: The village of Skela has been
burned and razed to the ground.”
German punitive detachments also destroyed inhabited localities in
Poland. As evidence I submit to the Tribunal Exhibit Number USSR-368
(Document Number USSR-368), which is an affidavit of the Plenipotentiary
of the Polish Government, Dr. Stefan Kurovsky. This affidavit is an
appendix to the report of the Polish Government and is on Page 169 of
your document book.
This document ascertains that in the spring of 1943 in the territory of
Zamoisk, Bilgoraisk, Khrubeshovsk, and Krasnitzk the Germans burned down
a number of inhabited localities under the orders of the SS leader,
Globocznik; and in February 1944 five villages were destroyed in the
Krasnitzk district with the help of the air force.
The Germans burned and razed to the ground a considerable number of
inhabited localities in Greece. As examples we shall name the
settlements of Amelofito, Kliston, Kizonia, Ano-Kerzilion, and
Kato-Kerzilion in the Salonika district, and the settlements of
Mesovunos and Selli in the Korzani district, and others.
I present to the Tribunal, as Exhibit Number USSR-103 (Document Number
USSR-103), certified photostatic copies of three telegraphic reports of
the 164th German Infantry Division to the Chief of Staff of the 12th
Army. These reports, Your Honors, are on Page 170 of your document book.
Each of these reports consists of nine to ten lines. They are uniform in
type and standardized. But these short official documents reveal in
essence the monstrous system generally employed by the Hitlerites in the
territories occupied by them.