“They were forced to perform the very hardest tasks and to live
under the most horrible conditions. The mortality rate assumed
enormous proportions in consequence. The harshest penalties were
applied for the slightest offense.”
I shall not enumerate other passages in the report of the Yugoslav
Government in connection with the same subject. I do not quote this
document; I merely ask the Tribunal to accept as evidence the
supplementary official report of the Yugoslav Government which I am
submitting as Document Number USSR-357.
Similar crimes were committed by the German criminals on the territory
of occupied Poland. I quote a few excerpts from the official report of
the Polish Republic. Your Honors will find the passage I wish to quote
on Page 3, Paragraph 3 of the document book. The passage is in
Subparagraph A and is entitled, “The Germanization of Poland”:
“Clear indications concerning the program are found in a
publication distributed among members of the National Socialist
Party in Germany in 1940. It contained the principles of German
policy in the East. Here are some quotations from this document:
“‘In a military sense the Polish question has been settled, but
from the point of view of national policy it is only now
beginning for Germany. The national political conflict between
the Germans and Poles must be carried forward to a degree never
yet seen in history.
“‘The aim which confronts German policy in the territory of the
former Polish State is twofold: Firstly, to see that a certain
portion of space in this area is cleared of the alien population
and colonized by German nationals; secondly, by imposing German
leadership, in order to guarantee that in that area no fresh
conflagrations should flare up against Germany. It is clear that
this aim can never be achieved with, but only against, the
Poles.’”
I interrupt this quotation and continue on Page 15 of the report of the
Polish Republic, which corresponds to Page 5, Paragraph 5 of the
document book. This part is entitled, “The Colonization of Poland by
German Settlers.” I begin the quotation:
“The policy, in this respect, was clearly expressed by the
official German authorities. In the _Ostdeutscher Beobachter_ of
7 May 1941 the following proclamation is printed:
“For the first time in German history we can exploit our
military victories in a political sense. Never again will even a
centimeter of the earth which we have conquered belong to the
Pole.”
Such was the plan. The facts which were put into practice were the
following:
“Locality after locality, village after village, hamlets and
cities in the incorporated territories were cleared of the
Polish inhabitants. This began in October 1939, when the
locality of Orlov was cleared of all the Poles who lived and
worked there. Then came the Polish port of Gdynia. In February
1940 about 40,000 persons were expelled from the city of Posen.
They were replaced by 36,000 Baltic-Germans, families of
soldiers and of German officials.
“The Polish population was expelled from the following towns:
Gnesen, Kulm, Kostian, Neshkva, Inovrotzlav. . .”—and many
other towns.
“The German newspaper _Grenzzeitung_ reported that in February
1940 the entire center of the city of Lodz was cleared of Poles
and reserved for the use of future German settlers. By September
1940 the total number of Poles deported from Lodz was estimated
at 150,000.
“But it was not only that the persons living in these places
were ordered to leave—they were forbidden to take their
property with them; everything was to be left behind. The German
newcomers took the place of the Poles evicted from their homes,
business shops, and farms. By January 1941 more than 450,000
Germans had been settled in this manner.”
I omit the next part of this report which I wished to quote and I would
request the Tribunal only to pay attention to the part entitled,
“Germanization of Polish Children.” This is a short quotation. Just two
small paragraphs:
“Thousands of Polish children (between the ages of 7 and 14)
were ruthlessly torn from their parents and families and carried
off to Germany. The purpose of this most brutal measure was
explained by the Germans themselves in the _Kölnische Zeitung_
Number 1584, 1940 issue. We read:
“‘They will be taught German. They will be inculcated with the
German spirit so that later they can be brought up as model
German boys and girls.’”
In order to explain the methods adopted by the German fascists in the
execution of their cannibalistic plan for the extermination of the
Soviet people—peaceful citizens of my motherland, women, children, and
old people—I request the Tribunal to call and question witness
Grigoriev, Jacob Grigorievitch, a peasant from the village of Pavlov,
village soviet of Shkvertovsk, region of Porkhovsk, district of Pskov.
He has arrived from the district of Pskov, a district near Leningrad
and, according to my information, is now in the courtbuilding. I ask the
permission of the Tribunal to examine this witness.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, certainly.
[_The witness Grigoriev took the stand._]
THE PRESIDENT: What is your name?
JACOB GRIGORIEV (Witness): Jacob Grigoriev.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you take this oath:
I—Jacob Grigoriev—citizen of the Union of the Soviet Socialist
Republics—summoned as witness in this Trial—do promise and swear—in
the presence of the Court—to tell the Court nothing but the
truth—about everything I know in regard to this case.
[_The witness repeated the oath in Russian._]
THE PRESIDENT: You may sit down.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please tell us, Witness, in which village did
you live before the war?
GRIGORIEV: In the village of Kusnezovo, Porkhov region, district of
Pskov.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: In which village were you overtaken by the
outbreak of war?
GRIGORIEV: In the village of Kusnezovo.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Does this village currently exist?
GRIGORIEV: It does not exist.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please tell the Tribunal what happened.
GRIGORIEV: On the memorable day of 28 October 1943, German soldiers
suddenly raided our village and started murdering the peaceful citizens,
shooting them, chasing them into the houses. On that day I was working
on the threshing floor with my two sons, Alexei and Nikolai. Suddenly a
German soldier came up to us and ordered us to follow him.
THE PRESIDENT: Wait a minute, wait a minute. When you see the light on
that desk there or here, it means you are going too fast. You
understand?
GRIGORIEV: I understand, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please speak slowly, Witness. Continue, please.
THE PRESIDENT: You said you were working with your two sons in the
field.
GRIGORIEV: Yes; my own two sons.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Continue.
GRIGORIEV: We were led through the village to the last house at the
outskirts. There were 19 of us, all told, in that house. So there we sat
in that house. I sat close to the window and looked out of it. I saw
German soldiers herd together a great number of people. I noticed my
wife and my 9-year-old boy. They were chased right up to the house and
then led back again—where to, I did not know.
A little later three German machine gunners came in, accompanied by a
fourth carrying a heavy revolver. We were ordered into another room. So
we went, all 19 of us, and were lined up against a wall, including my
two sons, and they began shooting at us from their machine guns. I stood
right up to the wall, bending slightly.
After the first volley I fell to the floor, where I lay, too frightened
to move. When they had shot all of us they left the house. When I came
to, I looked round and saw my son Nikolai who had been shot and had
fallen, face downwards. My second son I could not find anywhere.
Then, when some time had passed, I began to think how I could escape. I
straightened my legs out from under the man who had fallen on me and
began to think how I could get away. And instead of that, instead of
planning my escape, I lost my head and called out, at the top of my
voice, “Can I really go now?” At that moment my small son, who had
remained alive, recognized me.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: That would be your second son?
GRIGORIEV: The second. The first had been killed and was lying by my
side. My little son called out, “Daddy, are you still alive?”
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: He was wounded?
GRIGORIEV: He was wounded in the leg. I calmed him down: “Do not fear,
my small son. I shall not leave you here. Somehow or other, we shall get
away from here. I shall carry you out.”
A little later the house began to burn. Then I opened the window and
threw myself out of it, carrying my little boy who had been wounded in
the leg. We began to creep out of the house, hiding so that the Germans
could not see us, but on our way from the house we suddenly saw a high
fence.
We could not move the lattice apart so we began to break it up. At that
moment we were noticed by the German soldiers and they began to shoot at
us. Then I whispered to my little son to hide while I would run away. I
was unable to carry him and he ran a short distance and hid in the
undergrowth, while I ran off. I ran a short distance and then jumped
into a building near the burning house.
There I sat for a while and then decided to run farther on. So I escaped
into a nearby forest, not far from our village, where I spent the night.
In the morning I met Alexei N. from the neighboring village, who told
me, “Your son, Aljosha, is alive; he started to crawl to the neighboring
village.”
Then on the second day, from the same village, Kuznetzov, I met the boy
Vitya who had escaped from Leningrad and was living in our village
during the time of the occupation. He had also been saved by a miracle.
He escaped from the fire. He told me what had happened in the second hut
where my wife and son had been taken.
There matters were carried out as follows: The German soldiers, having
driven the people into the hut, opened the door into the passage and
proceeded to shoot from their machine guns across the threshold.
According to Vitya’s words, people who were still half alive were
burning, including my little boy, Petya, who was only 9 years old. When
he ran out of the hut he saw that my Petya was still alive. He was
sitting under a bench, having covered his ears with his little hands.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: How old was the oldest inhabitant of this
village destroyed by the Germans?
GRIGORIEV: The oldest inhabitant, a woman aged 108 years, was Ustinia
Artemieva.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Tell me, Witness, how old was the youngest
victim murdered by the Germans?
GRIGORIEV: Four months.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: How many villagers were destroyed all told?
GRIGORIEV: Forty-seven, excluding those who were saved by a miracle.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Why did the Germans destroy the population of
your village?
GRIGORIEV: The reason was not known.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: And what did the Germans themselves say?
GRIGORIEV: When a German soldier came to our threshing floor we asked
him, “Why are you killing us?” He replied, “Do you know the village of
Maximovo?” This is the village next to our village community. I said,
“Yes.” Then he told me, “This village of Maximovo is kaput—the
inhabitants are kaput, and you too will be kaput.”
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: And why kaput?
GRIGORIEV: “Because,” said he, “partisans were hiding in your village.”
But his words were untruthful because we had no partisans in the
village; nobody indulged in any partisan activities since there was
nobody left. Only old people and small children were left in the
village; the village had never seen any partisans and did not know who
these partisans were.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Were there many adult men in your village?
GRIGORIEV: There was one man, 27 years old, but he was a sick man,
half-witted and paralytic. We had only old men and small children. All
the rest of the men were in the Army.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please tell us, witness, were the inhabitants of
your village alone in suffering this fate?
GRIGORIEV: No, they were not alone. The German soldiers shot 43 persons
in Kurysheva, 47 in Vshivova, and in the village of Pavlovo, where I now
live, they burned 23 persons. And in a number of villages where,
according to our village community, there were some four hundred
inhabitants, they shot all the peaceful citizens, both young and old.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please repeat that figure. How many persons were
destroyed in your village community?
GRIGORIEV: About four hundred people in our village community alone.
MR COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Please tell us, who remained alive in your
family?
GRIGORIEV: In my family only I and my boy remained alive. In my family
they shot my wife, in her sixth month of pregnancy, my son Nikolai, aged
16 years, my youngest boy, Petya, aged 9 years, and my sister-in-law—my
brother’s wife—with her two infants, Sasha and Tonya.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I have no further questions to ask this witness,
Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT: Do any of the other prosecutors wish to ask the witness
any questions? Do any of the defendants’ counsel wish to ask the witness
any questions? The witness may retire.
[_The witness left the stand._]
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Mr. President, I pass on to the next count of my
statement, the discrimination against the Soviet people.
Discrimination against the Soviet population was the usual method of the
Hitlerite criminals. It was carried out by the criminals continuously
and everywhere.
In this part of my presentation I shall refer to the documents of the
German criminals themselves, which have only now been obtained and
placed at the disposal of the Soviet Prosecution. They were seized by
the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union in the
prisoner-of-war camp at Lamsdorf.
I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-415 (Document Number
USSR-415), a communication of the Extraordinary State Commission on the
crimes committed by the German Government and the German Supreme Command
against Soviet prisoners of war in the camp of Lamsdorf. A number of
original documents of the German fascist criminals, discovered in the
camp archives are attached to the report.
I shall be able to submit some of these documents to Your Honors. Their
value consists in the fact that they prove that even in the murderous
regime established in one of the largest and most cruel of the German
concentration camps, the criminals, true to the cannibalistic principles
of their theories, shamelessly discriminated against Soviet nationals.
I shall quote a few brief excerpts from the report of the Extraordinary
State Commission. The passage, Your Honors, to which I refer, you will
find on Page 123 of the document book, Paragraph 4. It sets forth the
general characteristics of the camp. I quote:
“Subsequent to investigations made, the Extraordinary State
Commission proved that in Lamsdorf, in the district of the town
of Oppeln, there existed, from 1941 to May 1945, a German
stationary camp, Number 344.
“In 1940-41 this camp contained Polish prisoners of war; from
the end of 1941 Soviet, English, and French prisoners of war
began to come in.”