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.
now submit to you as USSR 64, which is submitted to the Tribunal as the result of the investigation. I will cite only a few excerpts from this document. On page 2 of the document, which is page 223 in your file, we read--and this part is marked in your file:
"The legal medical experts give the total number of bodies as over 11,000. The legal medical experts carried out a thorough examination of the exhumed bodies, and the documents and belongings found on the bodies in the graves. During the exhumation and examination of the corpses, the Commission questioned many witnesses amongst the local inhabitants. Their testimony permitted the determination of the exact time and circumstances of the crimes committed by the German invaders." Commission ascertained during its investigations. I only submit to the Tribunal the general conclusions, which summarize the Committee's work. You will find the quoted lines at page 43 of USSR Exhibit 54, if you turn to the original document, or at page 254 of the file of documents.
"General Conclusions.
"With all the material at the proposal of the Special Committee, that is, depositions of more than 100 witnesses, the data of the medical-legal experts, the documents and the material evidence and belongings taken from the graves in the Katyn Woods, we can arrive at the following definite conclusions.
"1. The Polish prisoners of war imprisoned in the three camps west of Smolensk and engaged in railway construction before the war, remained there after the occupation of Smolensk by the Germans up to September 1941.
"2. In the autumn of 1941, in the Katyn Woods, the German occupation authorities carried out mass shootings of the Polish prisoners of war from the above-mentioned camps.
"3. Mass shootings of Polish prisoners of war in Katyn Woods were carried out by German military organizations disguised under the specific name, "Staff 537, Engineer Battalion," commanded by 1st Lieutenant Arnes and his colleagues, 1st Lieutenant Rechts and 2nd Lieutenant Hott.
"4. In connection with the deterioration, for Germany, of the general military and political set-up at the end of 1943, the German occupational powers, with a view to provoking the population, undertook a whole series of measures to ascribe their own atrocities to organizations of the Soviet authorities, and thus create a quarrel between the Russians and the Poles.
"5. For this purpose:
"a. The German Fascist invaders, either by persuasion, attempts at bribery, threats, or barbarous tortures, endeavored to find witnesses amongst the Soviet citizens from whom they obtained false testimony suggesting that the Polish prisoners of war had been shot by organizations of the Soviet authorities in the spring of 1940.
"b. The German occupational authorities, in the spring of 1943, brought from other places the bodies of Polish prisoners of war, whom they had shot, and laid them in the uncovered graves of Katyn Wood, with the dual purpose of covering up the traces of their own atrocities and of increasing the numbers of 'victims of Bolshevist atrocities in Katyn Wood.'
"c. Whilst preparing their provocative measures, the German occupational authorities employed, up to 500 Russian prisoners of war for the task of digging up the graves in Katyn Wood, according to evidence and material proof on the matter. Once the graves had been dug, the Russian prisoners of war were shot by the Germans.
"6. The data of the legal and medical examination determined, without any possible doubt:
"a. That the time of shooting was autumn 1941.
"b. The application by the German executioners, when shooting Polish prisoners of war, of the identical method, that is, a pistol shot in the back of the neck, as used by them in the mass murders of Soviet citizens in other towns, especially in Orel, Veronecz, Krasnodar, and Smolensk itself."
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal will now recess.
(A recess was taken until 14.00 hours.)
COL. POKROVSKY: Point 7 of the general conclusions of the Extraordinary State Commission investigating the Katyn murder states:
"The conclusions arrived at, after studying the affidavits and legalmedical examinations concerning the shooting, by Germans, of Polish military prisoners of war in the autumn of 1941, fully confirmed the material evidence discovered in the Katyn graves.
"8. By shooting the Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn Wood, the German Fascist invaders consistently realized their policy of physically annihilating the Slav peoples." warriors of the Polish Army. In the report of the Polish Government, submitted by me to the Tribunal as USSR-Exhibit No. 93, we find a series of proofs of the breach of the elementary rules of international law, in connection with the customs and laws of war, on Page 36 of this Polish Government report -in your file it is Page 285 of your document book -- we find as an outstanding point of the collected materials the ill-treatment of prisoners of war and their annihilation. It is said in the report that:
"As and when the Polish officers and other ranks returned from the German prisoner of war camps, we learned further details concerning conditions prevailing in the German camps. All these details prove the existence of an undeniable line of policy of instructions and orders concerning Polish prisoners of war. Ill-treatment, hardship and inhuman conditions were of common occurrence. Murder and grievous bodily injuries were very often encountered. I submit herewith some examples confirmed by witnesses under oath."
I shall now read a few of the examples quoted in the Polish report. As a first example, I shall quote the description of an event which took place in temporary prisoners of war camp in the town of Belsk."
"On the 10th of October 1939, the camp commandant assembled all the prisoners and ordered those who had joined the Polish Army as volunteers to raise their hands. Three prisoners obeyed his order. They were immediately led out of the rank and placed at a distance of 25 meters from a detachment of German soldiers armed with machine guns. The commandant gave the order to open fire. He then spoke to the remaining prisoners and told them that the three volunteers had been shot as an example."
THE PRESIDENT: Colonel, you will forgive me for interrupting you, but you remember that I have interrupted all the other prosecutors to point out to them that one opening speech had been made on behalf of their delegation, and that really their function was to present the documents. were shot. I think that any comment upon that is really unnecessary.
COLONEL POKROVSKY: I now proceed to the quotation of the second extract on Page 37, page 286 of your document file.
"In the autumn of 1939, Camp Stalag VIII-C was established in Counay, near Sagan, on the River Beber, a tributary of the Oder. Depositions from this camp read as follows:
"The camp in Counay was an open space surrounded by barbed wire, with large tents, each holding 180 or 200 persons. In spite of very cold weather (the temperature was under 25 degrees Celsius) there was in December 1939 no heating appliance whatever in the camp. Consequently, some of the inmates had frozen hands, feet, and ears. Since the prisoners had no blankets and since their uniforms were too worn out to protect them from the cold, diseases broke out, whilst malnutrition resulted in extreme inanition. Moreover, the guards constantly ill-treated the prisoners. They were beaten on the slightest protext. Two men were especially noted for their brutality: Lt. Schpicke and Sergeant-Major Grau. They struck the prisoners in the face and beat them, thus breaking their ribs and arms, and gouging out their eyes."
Such inhuman treatment drove soldiers to suicide and others to madness."
quote, to this end, count "a2 of page 39, your page 287.
"the above mentioned treatment of Polish Prisoners of War by individuals as well as by the German Military authorities flagrantly violated the articles of the Geneva Convention of 1929, pages 2, 3, 9, 10, 29, 30, 50, and 54. The Convention in question had been ratified by Germany on the 21st of February, 1934." were subjected to unbridled ill-treatment by the fascist invaders. Ill-treatment, torture and torment, together with mass executions were introduced as part of the system. Here too, the Hitler criminals were perfectly aware of what they were doing. To white-wash themselves, if only a little, in the eyes of the world, they referred to the officers and men of the Yugoslav Army as "Bandits", in all documents, concerning the destruction of prisoners of war. Report with regard to the above matter, read as follows (I quote page 23 of Document No. USSR-36: This quotation begins on Page 326 of your document file.
"...Everywhere where the Germans used the so-called actions against 'bands and bandits' as a pretext for the annihilation of the civilian population (women, children and old people), units of the Yugoslav national army of liberation and partisan units were actually involved... and insignia, they conducted an armed struggle against the fascist occupation forces and in addition were fully recognized by all the Allies. Besides we will see later that in some of its documents, the German Command itself unmistakably recognized this fact, but in its attitude towards the Yugoslav fighters it continued unrestrainedly to violate the principles of the international law of war". with the requirements of article 21 of the Charter as to admissability of evidence, I submit to the Tribunal also document USSR- 3(5 (Yu-68). This is an excerpt from the report by the Yugoslav State Commission concerning the determination of crimes committed by the occupation forces and their accomplices.
The State Commission reports that there is at its disposal a secret report by Lieut.Gen.Hoesslin, the commanding officer of 188 depot, Mountain Infantry Division, which had been given the number 9070/44. The report is of great importance because of the following considerations which I will explain to the Tribunal in the terms of document 305. I quote:
"Although the report refers to cur divisions, brigades, and artillery battalions under their proper names and proper numbers - in cases of military engagements -- all our army is called in this report, however, by the general names of "bandits", and for a very simple reason; by this they are attempting to divest us of the rights of a belligerent, to have the right to shoot prisoners of war, to kell the wounded and to have a pretext for employing repressive measures against the peaceful non-fighting population, allegedly because of their assistance to the "bandits". Lieut-Gen. Hoesslin admits that the combat group of Col. Christel after "a night engagement with weak bandit forces" - and these are the exact words of the report - burnt down Laskovitz, Lazna, Lokva and Cepovan, and destroyed a hospital. In General Hoesslin's report it is further stated that the division, together with the 3rd Brandenburg Regiment and other German and Police units, took part in "the man-hunt for bandits in the neighbourhood of Klan" (measure Ernst) ---"
I submit to the Tribunal exhibit USSR-132 (Yu-67) your page 263 of the document book. This represents an excerpt from the directives by Major General Kuebler concerning the conduct of troops in action, an extract which was certified by the Yugoslav State Commission. I read these excerpts into the record:
"SECRET 118.
Jaeg. Division Abt.
Ic Br.B.Nr. 1418/43 secret Div.
Hqs. 12.5.1943 2. Prisoners:
interrogation."
I further submit to the Tribunal exhibit USSR-304 (Yu-56).
This number has been given to the excerpt from memorandum No. 6 of the Yugoslav State Commission for the determination of the crimes committee by the occupation forces and their accomplices.
In the last paragraph of document USSR-304 (page 2 of the Russian text) is stated as follows: your page 365 of the document book:
"On May 5, 1945 the Germans brought from one of the partisan hospitals 35 fettered patients and hospital orderlies. Ten of the patients who could not walk were nut against the wall and shot. Their bodies were piled up in a heap, covered with wood and set of fine."
As exhibit USSR-307 (Yu-73) I submit another extract from statement No. 6 of the same state commission. This statement is found on pages 85-115 of the first book entitled "Memoranda on crimes committed by the occupation forces and their accomplices". I shall now proceed to quote a part of this extract:
"On 5 June 1944 Hitler's criminals captured two soldiers of the Yugoslav Liberation Army and the Slovene Partisan battalions. They brought them to Razori, where they cut off their noses and ears with bayonets, gauged out their eyes and then asked them if they could see their comrade Tito. Thereupon the called the peasants together and beheaded the two victims... They then place the heads on a table..." their victims, the fascists then took photographs, and, as further states in the extract quoted by me, as follows:
"Later, in the course of the fighting, the photographs were found on a fallen German. From this it can be seen that they confirm the above described incident at Razori." Yugoslav photographic evidence.
Under No. 65/a, (Yu-69) I submit to the Tribunal an announcement signed by the Commander of the SS and police detachments of the 18th military district, SS Gruppenfuehrer and Police Lieut.Gen.Roesener. I shall now proceed to read into the records a part of this announcement. You willthus be able to see that the members of the Yugoslav military forces who were taken prisoner were either hanged or shot:
- This document is on Page 367 of your document book.
"In view of various encounters between police detachments and...." I skip several sentences of this concerning the description of these encounters "18 bandits were shot recently and a large number were taken prisoner." on 30 June 1942..." from 21 to 40 years.. I will not read this list into the record. On page 36 of our exhibit USSR-36, your Page 39, the first paragraph from the bottom reads:
"We can find the same evidence in a collection of official notes on the staff conferences of the Gauleiter Uiberreither... Thus, for example, the minutes of the conference held on 23 March 1944, contain the following:
"... Today in Mariner 15 bandits were killed..." The minutes of July 27, 1942, contain the following:
"Several members of the bands were shot of lately".
"Since the beginning of the activities of the bands, in July 1941, the security Police (Ordnungspolizei) killed on the spot 164 bandits, and 1,043 by special proceedings (im Sonderverfahren)." The minutes of 25 January 1942, state:
"The number of the members of the hand which were liquidated on January 3, 1943, by SIPO and Ordnungspolizei is 86, including wounded and prisoners, 77 or whom were killed." conferences held by Uiberreither." moved into special camps where they were gradually destroyed by hunger and most exhausting work. I will now read into the record the last paragraph on page 37 of the report of the Yugoslav Government, which was previously mentioned by me and offered in evidence as Exhibit USSR-36. It is Page 340 of the document book.
"One of such camps was established in the course of 1942 at Boten, near Rognan. Nearly 1.000 Yugoslav prisoners of war were brought into this camp and in the course of a few months all of them, to the last man, died of illness, hunger, physical torture, or direct murder. They were daily forced to do the hardest kind of work on a road and on some dams. The working hours lasted from dawn until 8 p.m., under the worst climatic conditions in this northern part of Norway. In the course of their work, the prisoners were incessantly beaten, and in the camp itself were exposed to ill treatment of the worst kind.
"Thus, for example, in August of 1942, the prisoners were ordered knew well that they had none.
The prisoners spent the whole of the night pulling out their hair with their hands and assisting one another.
However, rifle fire."
"On November 26, 1943, German soldiers in the middle of the night broke into the ambulance and dragged out into the courtyard 80 sick prisoners; after they had to undress completely in the terrible cold, all were shot. On January 26, 1943, another 50 prisoners died in the worst imaginable pains because of beating. Throughout the winter, other prisoners were also killed in the following manner: They would be buried naked up to their waist, and water sprayed over them, so that statues of ice were made of them. It was established that 880 Yugoslav prisoners of war were killed in the above-mentiened camp in various similar ways." Further, on page 38, Exhibit USSR-36, information is contained of the shooting of Yugoslav prisoners of war in the camp of Bajsfjord (Norway). After 10 July 1942 when an epidemic of typhus (spotted fever) broke out in that camp and spread to six more, the Germans found no other way of fighting this epidemic than a wholesale shorting of all the patients. This was done on 17 July 1942. I. On the same page, 38, there is a reference to a Norwegian report of 22 isolating them were transferred to another camp, Bjarfjel.
I will read into the bottom, page 341 of your document book.