I can inform you that the last part of Gesselbach's testimony concerns the subject of organizing the search for the dispersed cripples, which gave no results. last one in the correspondence. This is a latter-report of Obersturmfuehrur SS Kunze. It concludes with the statement that the funeral of the killed SS men took place at the police and SS heroes' cemetery in Hegewalde at 2 p.m. It seems to me that this detail is of some interest.
I will quote new the first part of the mentioned report. I will skip the first report, which is already printed in your file, in order to shorten the duration of my statement. He reports that 78 people were supposed to be killed after the inspection of the camp.
"Because of their inability to work these prisoners of war were a considerable burden to the camp. For this reason, the SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Kalbach ordered the execution of the former prisoners of war on 24 December.
"Neither in the central office nor in the branch office could one ascertain the reasons for which the former commandant accepted these crippled prisoners and sent them to the reformatory labor camp. In this case there did not exist any information concerning the communistic activity of mentioned prisoners during the whole period of the Soviet regime. Evidently the military authorities put these prisoners of war at the disposal of the local branch in order to submit them to a special regime, because, our to their physical condition, they could not be used for any work.
"Thus, the SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Kalbach ordered the execution for 24 December at 14 hours. The Chief of the Bordichev's branch, the SS Sturmscharfuehrer Knopp, informed by 'phone that, while carrying out the appointed special-regime operation, the two officials of the branch, SS Unterscharfuehrer Paal and the SS Sturmann Folbrecht, were assaulted by the prisoners and killed with their own arms." Kuntze's chatter and will quote only three more paragraphs. You will find them on pages 172 and 173 of your file:
"In this way, of the twenty eight prisoners, four were shot in the grave, two while escaping, and the remaining twenty-two managed to escape. The measures for the capture of the fugitives, which were immediately undertaken by the SS Rotenfuehrer Hesselbach, with the help of the guards from the neighboring Stalag, were opportune but unsuccessful. The Chief of the Berdichev's department ordered an immediate search for the fugitives, and informed all the police and military agencies. However, the names of the fugitives are unknown and this fact will make the search difficult. The recores have the names of all prisoners who are under special regime, and so it was necessary to declare as escaped even those who were already shot.
"On 25 December, on the same spot, a special-regime (execution of the 20 remaining former prisoners) was carried but under my direction. Because of the possibility that the fugitives had already established contact with some partisan unit, I ordered that the Stalag was to send once more a detachment of 20 men, armed with light machine guns, and carbines, for the guarding of the approaches. The execution was carried out without any incidents.
escorted by guards--men armed with light machine guns and weapons--were driven to their death. I continue.
"As a reprisal I ordered the gendarmerie to check up on all prison party so that they would be subjected to the most severe regime."
crime of the Hitlerties, I wish to draw the attention of the Tribunal to several facts.
First of all I want to refer to the "objections of the army, which were reported by the SS man Knopp. Knopp said: -- you will find that on Page 163 "In future there will be no further shipments of prisoners of war, in compliance with the objections of the Army.
I don't want to have my words misunderstood.
The Army did not so much object to such shipments; it rather expressed the wish that the prisoners destination, should immediately receive some shelter."
What "shelter" he is talking about is not hard to guess. That is the "shelter" to which, in the words of Knopp, "they were transported in trucks some place near." of the outrages. Referring to the executioners -- Paal, Hesselbach, and Folbrecht, Knopp writes:
"In reference to the three above-mentioned persons to whom I thousands of people.
And in the local administration, at the time hundreds of people."
important, but very characteristic features. The first is his terminology. Here are his words:
"I suddenly heard shouts from above after I have shot the first three prisoners.
As it was the turn of the fourth, I bumped him off quick."
ing about destroying a man. For the Fascist executioners, the murder of a soldier who fought honestly for his country and became an invalid, the short word "bump off" is good enough; the executioners do not consider it necessary even to find out who they are really murdering. Thanks to this, occurs a scandalous confusion among the police. They order to search both for those who were shot and those who escaped. sensation of being wounded, and people of this type are called by their superiors, 'heroes.'
"It would be an omission on my part not to underline the exceptional brutality shown by Kuntze, -- this typical representative of SS. Twenty persons captured at random and without any fault on their part were to be murdered. What for? Only because twenty two armless and legless invalids escaped death." God and man these twenty two invalids should not perish in the hands of the executioners, but should be under the protective guard of the German Government as war prisoners. authorities directed invalids to the camp for the "special regime treatment," is of special value. He states frankly that the cause of it was their physical condition, which made it impossible to use them for any work.
In this connection I submit to the Tribunal several documents. They will show that only from the angle of receiving slaves the representatives of German Command and German authorities were interested sometimes about war prisoners. You have in your possession a circular of the High Command of the Armed Forces that the Soviet war prisoners must be branded, and that this branding is not considered a medical measure. I am submitting to you another such shameful document. It bears the following identifying marks: "AS2F 2 482 N Commander of war prisoners camps. # 3142#42 Berlin, Schoeneberg, 20.7.1942, 51, Badensche Strasse." This document is USSR Exhibit 343. I will not read it in full. It resembles those which I have already read into the record.
recognized by the German General Staff that: "A state can do everything which might be necessary to hold the war prisoners, but nothing more." forced Soviet people to such manifestation of despair, as attacks on camp guards armed to the teeth. We know about such really heroic acts. The testimonies of eye witnesses are in our hands. I am submitting to you personal testimony of the witness Lamp as USSR Exhibit 315. Some parts of these testimonies are mentioned in your report. These witnesses reported that in the beginning of February 1945, in the extermination camp of Mauthausen, eight hundred war prisoners of the Red Army interned there escaped from the Fascist hell after disarming the guards and breaking the barbed wire, through which there passed electric current. Lamp testifies how brutally the SS were treating those whom they could catch. I am quoting several lines:
"All those who returned to the camp were brutally tortured. Then we we saw the escaped prisoners, who were being brought back to block No. 20.
(I wish to interpolate that Block 20 was the death block.) They had been beaten, and one was covered with blood.
They were followed by ten SS, amidst whom were three or four officers.
They carried whips and were they were going to inflict upon the three unfortunates.
The courage of the remembered by all the Mathausen inmates."
The slightest discussions arising amongst them were always a method of anihilating their victims. Some strove to kill off prisoners immediately; others considered it wise to use up their blood and strength in industrial plants, factories, military work shops, so on. agriculture. Fascist-Germany solved this problem by importing white female and male slaves. The greatest number of them were war prisoners. They were sent to heavy labor, where perished masses from exhaustion, overwork, hunger, and brutal treatment.
I submit to the Tribunal Document No. 1117-PS, and quote the following three paragraphs:
"In order to fulfill the iron-steel industry program, and to assure 7th of July to utilize the war prisoners to this end."
I am skipping several sentences from this document and quote point two:
"2. All Soviet war prisoners taken since the 5th of July 1943 should be sent the coal mining industry."
The fourth point is of special interest. It contains a directive on how to convert all men between the ages of 16 and 55 into prisoners of war.
I quote point four:
"4. All those between the ages of 16 and 55, captured in battles with garded as prisoners of war.
The same applies to men in the newly occupied districts of the East.
They must be sent to the prisoners of war camps and thence to work in Germany."
The second document is No. 744-PS, issued by the Chief of the OKW on the 8th of July 1943, repeats this directive. The document is signed by Keitel. In the text of the document signed by Keitel there is a post script. It is addressed to all the higher authorities of the SS and is signed by Himmler. The text was already read into the record on the 20th of December 1945, therefore I shall here refer only to the contents. It concerned transportation of children, of the aged, and of the young women. Himmler indicates how and by what methods they should be sent to Germany through Saukel's organization. In this case also, Himmler, Keitel, and Saukel act in perfect agreement, almost as one person.
I consider the document No. 022-PS to be of primary importance. It is a report on the prison camp in Minsk. The report was compiled in Rosenberg's office on the 10th of July 1941.
THE PRESIDENT: Has it been put in already?
COLONEL POKROVSKY: This document was not yet read into the record. I quote page 183.
"The prison camp in Minsk accommodates about 100,000 prisoners of of the Wilhelmplatz.
The prisoners who are crowded together in this selves at the very place where they stand.
The camp is guarded by a detail of soldiers on active duty, of company strength.
Due to the be accomplished by applying brutal force."
I skip a paragraph and turn to the page which expounds the same idea:
"The only possible language for the small guard detail, which is ruthless use is being made". accomplish the selection of prisoners in physical and racial respects for various hard labor tasks.
On the second day after the beginning of such selection, this measure was forbidden.
"Reference being made to an order of General Field Marshal Kluge, prisoners."
hate of the Soviet People, considered the regime of beastial cruelty and systematic insults which they established for the Soviet prisoners of war to be too mild, and demanded that it he made still more severe.
On the 29th of January 1943 an order was issued on the "Rights of Self-Defense Against the Prisoners of War," under the signature of the Chief of the OKH. This document bears the number 3868/42, and is registered by the USA Delegation as Exhibit No. 696-PS. We submit it to the Tribunal under No. 355, and it has not been read into the record.
I shall read a few short extracts from this document. It is on page 145 in your document file. It starts as follows:
"The military authorities and the authorities of the National-Socialist Party have on numerous occasions raised the question of the treatment of the prisoners of war, and they are of the opinion that the punishments made possible by the 1929 Agreement are inadequate", of all prisoners of war remains in force, but not to those of Soviet nationality. The order issued by the OKW Section for the Prisoner-of-War Affairs determines the treatment of these latter. This order was issued on the 24th of March 1942. as No. 12/43s. This circular was issued by the Chief of the Party Bureau, at the Fuehrer's main headquarters, on the 12th of December 1943. the Commanding Officers of Military Units. It speaks of the secret order No. 3368/42s of the Chief of the General Staff, and thus it is once more proved, and proved without any doubt, that the leaders of the Nazi Party and the Military Command bear equal responsibility for the ill-treatment of the Soviet prisoners of war. for all but the Soviet prisoners.
"The regulations of the OKW Section for Prisoners of War #389/42-c of 24-111-1942 are in force". of the Party and the OKW. country whose representatives already in 1902 declared:
"That the only purpose in taking prisoners of war is to prevent their taking further part in the war. Although prisoners of war lose their freedom, they do not lose their rights.
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Pokrovsky, we had that order read to us more than once.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: I am not repeating this document; I am only recalling the contents of this document.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you must give the Tribunal credit for some recollection. As I say, that document has been read more than once before.
We have at our disposal an official note signed by Lammers. This document is registered under No. 073-PS. We submit it to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit--it has not yet been read into the record. The document states-you will find this extract on page 119 of your file.
"Prisoners of war are foreigners. The influencing of them is, therefore, the task of the field of Foreign politics and of foreign propaganda. The exception to this rule is the Soviet prisoners who are put under or subordinated to the Reichs Minister for Occupied Regions in the East, because the Geneva Convention is not valid for them, and they are in a special political position.
another document. These are the notes composed at the Headquarters of the Foreign Counter-espionage Office on the 15th of November 1941 for the "OKW" Chief-of-Staff." I will quote a few extracts, which you will find on page 192 of your file of documents.
"The Geneva Convention, regarding prisoners of war, does not apply to Germany and the USSR.
Therefore, the only rules in force are the of war.
In the 18th century these latter tended to state that military war further participating in the war.
This basic assumption was inadmissible.
Besides, each commanding officer is interested in "The document including Appendix I of the order concerning the assumptions."
paragraph.
"This extends to several other features which previously were are obligatory in order to maintain the military discipline in one's own troops."
The orders are stated in very general words. However, in view of the assumed basic orientation, it is clear that the measures permitted by these orders were bound to result in wanton murder even though officially wanton behaviour was prohibited.
guards and their commanding officers on those recalcitrant prisoners whose language the guards could not understand. Whether the prisoners' disobedience came from recalcitrance or from misunderstanding quite obviously can never be determined. The fact that the basic directive justified the use of arms against the Soviet prisoners of war freed, as a rule, the guards from having the obligation to explain their behavior. as follows:
"The organization of the military police equipped with clubs, whips, and similar weapons, even in camps where all labor is done by the prisoners, is against military rule and tradition. Besides, by this measure the military authorities are transferring into other hands the power of applying punishment without providing for the check-up as to how this power is used." notes:
"Appendix II contains translation of the Russian Law regarding International Law as well as with the rules of the Geneva Convention". interest.
This document is signed by the Chief of the Foreign CounterIntelligence Service, Canaris. It includes directives containing instructions on the treatment of the Soviet war prisoners, dwelling in detail on those parts which Canaris considered violations of the basic principles of International Law and of the Geneva Convention. record of the testimony by Dr. Wengler, formerly counsellor of the Foreign Juridical Section of the OKW. This document is USSR Exhibit No. 129. Wengler was questioned by me on the 19th of December 1945, and his testimony is important for purposes of evaluating the line of conduct of both the OKW
DR. NELTE (Counsel for defendant Keitel): Mr. President, I ask that the document, USSR Exhibit No. 129, which just quoted, or rather intended to be read, should not be read, but that the witness mentioned in this document, Dr. Wengler, be called personally to testify in court, if the Soviet Prosecution is willing.
This document, USSR-129, is a record of an interrogation of Dr. Wengler, who was active in counter-intelligence in the OKW. We are concerned with the question of whether the general conduct in connection with the Soviet Union and Keitel and the OKW--whether there was a fault on the part of the German Government or this section. utmost significance to the persons involved; not only because of the counts in the Indictment, but because of the connection with the German people if the testimony as given by this witness is true. December 1945. Whether he is still here in Nurnberg or whether he is now at Berlin, and whether he mentioned anything about his whereabouts at that time, I don't know. But I do believe that any decision to be rendered by the High Tribunal in connection with Article XXI of the Charter will justify my request in this respect. great difficulties connected and, secondly, we are concerned with a question of such tremendous significance, especially in this application, that the personal testimony and interrogation by this Tribunal should not be excluded by the use of a written statement.
THE PRESIDENT: Have you anything you wish to say in answer to that objection?
COLONEL POKROVSKY: If you will allow me. First of all, I would like to just ask where the witness is at the present time. He is not in Nurnberg. He was brought here especially for this examination under greatest difficulties This examination was conducted according to all the rules of our proceedings in order that this document could, be submitted to the Tribunal and accepted as evidence, if the Tribunal so judges, according to Article XIX of the Charter.
All the problems which concern this subject, which interested the Soviet Prosecution, are already sufficiently clear following the document which we submit to you. future. Maybe the representatives of the defense counsel will say that it is very easy to brine this witness, but I do not see any technical possibility of bringing this witness here for the second time. And if the Tribunal does not consider it possible to accept this document, we are agreed even to refrain from submitting this document and replacing it by other evidence. We do not consider it possible to bring the witness a second time, I fear. That is all I have to say upon this subject.
THE PRESIDENT: Did you say that you couldn't bring the witness here, and that as you could not bring him here you would not press the introduction of the document?
COLONEL POKROVSKY: I said, something different; that we insist that this document he added considering that the Tribunal has the right, according to Article XIX of the Charter, to accept this document as evidence. But if we are to choose between two possibilities, -- adding this evidence to the record or calling up the witness a second time -- the technical obstacles which prevent us doing so would compel us to accept the exclusion of this document from the record. We consider that the document is quite rightly compilated, according to all the rules of the Charter, and that the Tribunal should receive this document as evidence, according to Article XIX of the Charter.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know first of all why is it difficult or impossible to bring the witness to Nurnberg in the same way that he was brought to Nurnberg in December 1945; and secondly, has Dr. Nelte and have the other defendants' counsel got full copies in German of the document?
COLONEL POKROVSKY: Dr. Wengler was examined in German. The original of his record, of his examination, having been submitted to the Tribunal in an adequate number of copies, are at the disposal of the defense counsel.
precisely prescribe to the Tribunal all the technical reasons of which I was told by my collaborators; but I know they have warned me that hey did manage to do that once, but that they could not do that a second time. Dr. Wengler is free; is at liberty. He was in Nurnberg not one but several days; sufficient time in order to allow us to find out details of this question.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know where the deponent, the witness, was brought from, when he was brought to Nurnbert.
COLONELPOKROVSKY: From Berlin. He was brought last time from Berlin.
THE PRESIDENT: Then he is in Berlin?
COLONEL POKROVSKY: I can not answer to this question at present. At any rate, he is at liberty; he is not interned.
THE PRESIDENT: Now, Dr. Nelte, do you want to say anything?
DR. NELTE: I only wanted to point to the last page where the signature is mentioned and his address is given as Berlin, Ringstrasse No. 32. We are simply concerned with the question: Which technical difficulties are involved to recall this witness from Berlin Nurnberg a secont time? Of course, I do not know whether the witness is in Berlin, but I assume that he is there.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will adjourn.
(A recess was taken)
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will allow the deposition to be put in evidence, should the Soviet prosecutor decide to do so. If the document is put in evidence, the Tribunal will desire that the prosecutor should secure the attendance of the deponent as a witness for cross examination. If the prosecution are unable to secure the attendance of the deponent as a witness, then the Tribunal will itself attempt to secure the attendance of the deponent as a witness for cross examination.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: I can report to the Tribunal that I spent the time which the Tribunal spent in discussing this problem in finding out whether we can bring this witness to the box. Accordingly, I will skip the topic of his cross examination and will refer to it again if I find out that we cannot bring the witness to this court.
will that be in accordance with the wishes of the Tribunal?
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Pokrovsky, I am not quite sure that you appreciated quits what I said. What I said was that you are at liberty to put in the document now, if you wish to do so. That is one thing. But, if you do so, you must attempt to secure the attendance of the witness, and should you fail to do so, the Tribunal will attempt to secure the attendance of the witness, but the document will still be in evidence and will not be struck out, although, of course, it will be open to the criticism that it is only a deposition or an affidavit and that the witness has not been produced for cross examination and therefore the weight that attaches to the testimony will not be so great as it would be if the witness had been produced for cross examination.
Is that clear?
COLONEL POKROVSKY: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: I fear I used inaccurately the word "affidavit". It is only an interrogation. It is not made upon oath, and that, of course, will be taken into consideration. But the point is that you can put in the document now if you decide to do so. That is a matter for your discretion. If you do so, you must attempt to secure the attendance of the witness for cross examination. If you are unable to get him, then the Tribunal will attempt to met him here for cross examination.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: I report to the Tribunal that the measures which we undertook were because I understood that the Tribunal considered it better that this witness be called to court for further examination. That is why I have already attempted to find out whether we can call up this witness now, and as I have not yet received a definite answer from our organisms, I wish to submit to the attention of the Tribunal that we will simply not mention this protocol now, since we only need it for the confirmation of one point, which is already confirmed by documents which have just been presented to the Tribunal. This is the report of Admiral Canaris. The sense of the examination of Angler is that it shows that OKW knew of the line of conduct regarding the Soviet prisoners of war. Admiral Canaris says the same thing.
THE PRESIDENT: I think you must decide, Colonel Pokrovsky, whether you wish to put in the document or not. If you wish to put in the document, you may do so, but I don't think it is right for you to state the contents of the document and at the same time not to put it in.
If you wish to put it in, you may do so. I have already added the conditions that if you do put it in, then you must try to secure the attendance of the witness, and if you can't secure the attendance, the Tribunal will try to secure it.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: I consider that the testimony of Wengler is not of such great importance that we should pay so much attention to it. I will skip the protocol. If we can find this witness, we will examine him later.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: In the light of the documents read into the record, and also in view of the protest of the German prisoners of war in Camp 78, which shows how humanely the Soviet authorities treated German military prisoners of the German Army, the sentence from Appendix I of Operations Order No. 14 of the SD Chief, concerning treatment of Soviet prisoners of war, sounds like a shameless insult. This sentence can be found in paragraph 3 at page 7 of the document, USSR Exhibit No. 33. You will find it on page 104 of your file of documents:
"A Rolshevik soldier has lost his right to be treated as an honest soldier and in accordance with the rules of the Geneva Convention."
I beg the Tribunal to recollect that in Appendix II of Order No. 11 of the General Staff of the OKW, dated 7 November 1941, there is the following directive. I quote from USSR Exhibit No. 33, extracts of which are inserted at page 103 of your file of documents, the last paragraph in the right column of page 5:
"On the sanction of the commanders of the rear areas -- that is to say, of officers in charge of prisoner of war affairs in each district -- the activity of the Sender Command was to be conducted in a manner whereby infiltration would be practically unnoticeable, while liquidation would be fast and carried out at some distance from transient camps and transfer points so that both the population and other prisoners of war would be unaware as to what was going on."
Those are the trips of prisoners "somewhere nearby on a truck" that Kunze, the expert executioner, had in mind when he reported to his chiefs on the incident which occurred during the execution of the 28 invalided prisoners of war. are data regarding the shooting, at the Seelhorst Cemetery in Hanover, of 150 Soviet prisoners of war and civilians. We submit these data as a USSR Exhibit. You will find the protocol at page 207 of your file of documents. These data have been put at our disposal by the American investigation authorities. They consist of the testimony of Peter Palnikov, a Red Army officer who happened to escape shooting, and of the testimony of other persons who were questioned under oath by American investigators. The witnesses' testimony is corroborated by the medical report on the corpses exhumed from graves at the Seelhorst Cemetery. In addition, we submit photographs properly checked and accredited. the 167 corpses thus exhumed -- it was especially noted in the concluding report of the Commission that one could judge by them of the insufficient nourishment of a great number of the prisoners.
completely clear picture of the food conditions of the Soviet prisoners of war in the different camps. Regardless of the fact in which territory the camp was located, hunger was applied to all Soviet war prisoners with the same systematic cruelty. the prisoners of war, I find that there are now available several court verdicts pronounced over those fascist criminals who committed their crimes on territories which were temporarily occupied. as USSR Exhibit No. 87, the verdict of the District Military Tribunal. You will find it on pages 214, 215, and 221 of your reference file. This verdict was pronounced in Smolensk on the 19th of December, 1945. The Tribunal sentenced to varying degrees of punishment, from 12 years of hard labor to death by hanging, ten Hitlerites, directly guilty of the numerous crimes committed in the City and the District of Smolensk. 4, 5, and 6 of the verdict, in places marked in your copies -- these pages 4, 5, and 6 of the verdict are in your file of documents at page 218, 219, and 220. They contain information on torture and death from blood-poisoning of the prisoners used for pseudo-scientific experiments by persons who, to the shame of German medicine, were called professors and doctors in Germany.
prisoners of war in Camp 126 of the City of Smolensk. Over 10,000 half dead and exhausted prisoners were exterminated. You will find this item in point 3 of the verdict on page 218 of your file of documents. of war in Camp 126 of the City of Smolensk, in the Dulag-126-South, while prisoners of war were being transported from the camp into the hospital. The sentence stresses the fact that prisoners of war unable to do any work, through inanition, were shot. Hitlerites towards the members of the Czechoslovakian, Polish and Yugoslav Armies. We find, in the Indictment, that one of the most important criminal acts for which the major war criminals are responsible was the mass execution of Polish prisoners of war, shot in the Katyn Woods near Smolensk by the German Fascist usurpers. documents of the Special Commission for the establishment and the investigation of the circumstances which attended the executions. The Commission acted in accordance with a directive of the Extraordinary State Commission. the Extraordinary State Commission: Academicians Bourdenko, Alexis Tolstoy and Metropolitan Nicolas, the President of the Panslav Committee, Lieutenant General Goundorov, the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Union of the Red Gross and Red Halfmoon, Kolesnikov, People's Commissar for Education in the RSFSR, Academician Potemkin, the Supreme Chief of the Sanitary Medical Department of the Red Army, Colonel General Smirnov, and the Chairman of the District Executive Committee of Smolensk, Melnikov. The Commission also included several of the best known specialists as legal-medical experts.