The first crematorium existed until the middle of 1943."
"In the summer of 1942 Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler inspected Auschwitz technically."
was founded in 1941; but it was in 1942 that the special electrical building where the floor was electrified in a special way.
Thus they into two groups:
the ordinary concentration camps and the camps of extermination.
It seems to me that such a separation or differentiation fifth paragraph of the first column of the text.
But at the same time, exterminated.
I quote only one paragraph on page 260, the first.
"In considering the general area and also the area in which the exterminated over 200,000 Soviet citizens."
regime of exhaustion in concentration camps. It was already very well Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, and I don't think it will be necessary to give any further presentation of it.
But I ask the Tribunal's permission stage of the war.
I refer to page 265 of my presentation.
only for those who really were sent to the camps. These two camps ways of extermination of the peaceful citizens.
Thus were created diseases.
There were no crematoria and gas chambers in the camp, but murdering people by spreading an epidemic of typhus.
Such evidence was passages from it.
I cannot quote it in full, because there isn't sufficient time.
I begin the quotation on page 454, first column, "On the 19th of March, 1944, advancing units of the Red Army and old men who were not capable of work."
"The camps were really open squares surrounded by barbed wire.
Entrances and approaches to it were mined. There were no buildings whatever even of the most insignificant type.
There were none on the grounds of the camp."
I call the Tribunal's attention to the fact that it was in the "The inmates were sitting on the ground.
Many of them, who had lost their ability to move, were lying in the mud unconscious.
It branches for bedding.
For a significant attempt to violate this order, the Hitlerites used to shoot Soviet people.
"Creating concentration camps right near the front lines, the Germans, first of all, were selecting places for camps. They did not hope to retain their position. Secondly, concentrating large masses of Soviet people in the campt, they used to place in them primarily women, children, incapable of work, and old men. Thirdly, together with those exhausted and incapable of work, in unsanitary conditions, they used to put in the camps thousands of people sick with typhus who were especially brought from different regions of Byelo-Russia SSR.
"Among those who were liberated from these camps there were children up to the age of 13. There were 15,960. Women who were incapable of work numbered 13,072, and there were 4, 448 old men."
I omit the next page, and I read page 269 of the Russian presentation. I quote from the one paragraph which serves as testimony of the fact of how the unfortunate people from different regions of Byelo-Russia were driven to these camps.
Witness Mrs. L. Pekarski, who was liberated from the camp, testified before the Commission:
"Om the 12th of March 1944, late in the afternoon, we, the inhabitants of the city of Jlobin, met together for a period of half on hour at the station of Jlobin-South: Here the Germans selected the young ones and took them away. Having herded us into railroad cars, the Germans boarded the doors. Where we were going we didn't know, but we all anticipated some evil.
"We were driven along the railroad line Rudobelski, and we were unloaded late in the afternoon on the 15th of March. During the nighttime, knee deep in mud, we were driven into a camp. From this camp we were driven into another one. En route the Germans were beating us. Those who were lagging behind were shot.
"Here walks one woman with three children. The Germans shot at one of them. When the mother and two other of her children turned and looked at him then the beasts of soldiers took their turns in shooting at them. And then the mother shrieks after her family and her shriek is interrupted by a direct shot.
Here walked a mother and son. The child couldn't stand this and he fell. The mother bends over him. She wants to console him with her words but neither the son nor the mother arose. They didn't see the blue sky. The Germans shot him." of the evidence of the fact that the Germans premiditatedly drove to this camp those who were sick with typhus."
I quote three paragraphs of page 271:
"P.S. Mitrachovich, who was liberated from the camp and who was a resident of the village Onovo-Abelitza, testified:
"We, who were sick with typhus, were driven to the village of MikulGorodok, into the camp which was surrounded by barbed wire."
"An inhabitant of the hamlet of Novogorudok, Gavrilchik, P.S., testified:
"During three days there were brought into the camp in motor-cars typhus patients, as a result of which many who were healthy also became sick with typhus.'" bers of the Tribunal will find on page 454, second column, sixth paragraph.
"The German command used to send to the camps, especially the camps located right near the front line, their own agents who were charged with observing how the epidemic of typhus was spreading among the population and also amont the Red Army Units. Further, there is the testimony of one of his agents Kastorgouev who was a traitor. only quote a few excerpts from the findings of the legal medical experts. It is on page 454 in the document book, second column, fourth paragraph. I begin:
"The German authorities placed in concentration camps, both the healthy and those who were sick with typhus, Soviet citizens. In order to expedite the dissemination of typhus in the camps, Germans practiced moving the typhus patients from one camp to another one. On many occasions when typhus patients refused to go into the camp, the German authorities used violent measures.
camps and next to the healthy population in the camps. In the last paragraph, E, the infecting of the Soviet population with typhus took place in the period of the second half of February and in the first half of March. The result of it was mass infection of the people who were inmates of the camp and the confirmation of which the members of the Tribunal will find in the next paragraph where it is said that the Red Army Command sent to the hospitals 4,052 Soviet citizens, out of which 2,370 were children below 13 years of age. information as to the hardships of those who were inmates of these concentration camps and I pass to page 277 of my presentation where I deal with concentration camps of the usual type. dealing with Camp Banyitza, near Belgrade, from which it is evident that the camps near Yugoslavia so far as bestial conditions are concerned were quite identical with the camps in other countries of Eastern Europe. The members of the Tribunal will find on page 263 in the document book, second paragraph. I quote three paragraphs of this report:
"In Camp Baniytza, near Belgrade, this camp was established by the German occupational authorities as far back as June, 1941. From the documents of this camp, seized by the authorities, it is evident that there were registered 23,673 inmates. However, from the testimony of the surviving witnesses, especially the employees of the Quisling authorities who worked in this camp, it was possible to establish that through this camp passed really a much greater number of victims."
I omit the next paragraph and continue my quotation:
"The witness Monchilo Gemyanoviche at the end of 1943 participated in burning corpses of the victims of the Camp Baniytza."
And I omit the remainder of the paragraph. I continue my quotation:
"At the interrogation of the 7th of February, 1945, he testified before the Yugoslav State Commission that during his period of work there he counted 68,000 corpses."
Tribunal. I omit five pages of the presentation and I pass to the page 283. And I present to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR-193 an excerpt from an official of the hospital, Dr. S. Dielinel. hospital reminds one more of a mortuary or chapel, where the bodies of those were delivered for final mass. On some days there were delivered to the hospital tens and hundreds of people who died of starvation. For instance, in one excerpt it says 87 bodies were delivered to the hospital. Under No. 1272 it is mentioned that 122 bodies were delivered to this hospital and that under No. 204 there were 112 bodies delivered. I don't consider that these figures need any comment to illustrate the regime in the camp especially as far as conditions are concerned in the camps in the territory of the USSR temporarily occupied by Germans. I quote a short excerpt from the report of the State Extraordinary Commission relative to the crimes in Lithuanian SSR. I begin:
"In the territories of Lithuanian SSR Hitlerites exterminated in great numbers not only the local population but also people who were driven here from Orlov District the Smolensk, Vitebsk and Leningrad Districts. Through this camp for the evacuated population near the town of Alitous, you will see from movie document which will be presented today, that from summer 1943 to June 1944 200,000 people passed through this camp. I omit the next part of the quotation and I skip one paragraph.
"In the city there was no sanitation, there was absence of water, starvation and disease and also shootings, resulting in the fact that during the period of 14 months in this camp there perished up to 60,000 peaceful Soviet people.
It mentions here that for the families of the members of the Red Army in the territories of Lithuanian SSR there were created special concentration camps. And the following order was posted in this camp. I begin:
"For expressing displeasure with German authorities and for violation of the camp regime the Soviet people should be shot without any trials, should be jailed and should be sent for permanent exile to Germany."
I omit one paragraph and continue:
"The four commanders mentioned frequently to the inmates 'You are our slaves: I shall punish you however I want.' relative to the Crimes in the City of Kiev. There are described murders in camps which will be shown in the movies today.
THE PRESIDENT: The interpreters are having difficulty, so would you please try to talk more slowly?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: I shall speak slowly, but I speak rapidly quite unconsciously, since I have a lot of presentation and such presentation will be quite lengthy, such as the documentary films. That is why I quote only one quotation, which shows the methods of extermination of people in one Camp. Third paragraph of the Russian text. devious means in extermination of Soviet people. For instance, they invented the following means of murder: down. The people would fall down together with the tree and be killed. Commission in regard to crimes in Estonian SSR. This also shows a highly severe regime in the camps in Estonia. I quote the last paragraph:
"Daily in the camp there were mass floggings of the inmates. Besides this, for the smallest violation of the rules people were left without any food for days then they were given a period of severe cold, and were tied to a post for two or three hours. This shocking treatment of the inmates was not only on the part of the SS Guards but also the administration of the camp and the German physicians. The German doctor, Bortmann, personally beat two inmates, Dr. Salkingson and Dr. Gezon.
This Dr. Bortmann systematically poisoned sick inmates, injecting under the skin poison at every point. The medical attendant Unterscharfuehrer Gent, killed with an axe 23 elderly inmates. The witness Ranter testified in February 1944 in the camp at Kloga there were born two children. Both of those children were thrown alive into the furnace and burnt." such concentration camps is already quite clear. therefore I shall limit myself only with presentation and evidence which really serves as material of explanation of those movies which will be shown to the Tribunal today. I consider that the Tribunal has already a very clear idea of the fact that in concentration camps there were exterminated citizens of all countries of Europe. Into these camps there were brought people both from Western Europe and from the countries of Eastern Europe. Besides official reports on these camps we also get information from a picture of which can be found in the album on Auschwitz where inhabitants of a 11 countries of Europe were listed. A special technique was used in the extermination of the people. And here I shall dwell on one new item, which was especially investigated by me when I was analyzing testimony in concentration camps. However, I wanted to find out how many special firms in Germany were engaged in building at least only crematoria for the concentration camps. And now I shall present to the Tribunal the evidence that in Fascist Germany there were at least three special business firms which were engaged only in building of crematoria for concentration camps. This serves as testimony of the crime.
I skip to page 303 of my presentation. I begin my presentation of evidence in this section and I ask the Tribunal to refer to the report of the State Extraordinary Commission about the crimes of German Fascist occupants in Auschwitz. I quote this document, which is on page 353 in the document book, and it is recorded in the text. I begin:
"Construction of new vast crematoria was given to the German firm of Topf & Sons, of Erfurt, which immediately began to build in Birkenau four vast crematoria and gas chambers. Berlin impassionedly demanded the expediting of the construction and finish of all the work before the beginning of 1943. In the records of the office of Auschwitz Camp there was discovered a vast amount of correspondence between the administration of the camp and the firm Topf & Sons, and among them the following two letters:
"Topf & Sons, Erfurt, "12 February 1943.
"To Central Construction Office of SS and Police, Auschwitz.
"Subjects: Crematoria in the Camps 2 and 3 for the prisoners of war.
"We acknowledge receipt of your wire of the 10th of February of the following contents:
"Once again we acknowledge receipt of your order for five triple furnaces, including two electric elevators to raise the corpses and one elevator of temporary construction for corpses. There was also ordered a practical device for lifting coal and for transport of the ashes. We shall deliver the full installation for Crematory No. 3 and we expect that you shall take measures to deliver immediately all machines with their parts." special purpose, and I present to the Tribunal Exhibit USSR-64, a document which is appended to the report of the Yugoslav Government. This is a certified photostat of a document and concerns the correspondence with the business firm, Didi, on the question of construction of crematoria designed for a large camp in Belgrade. as one firm that had considerable experience in construction of crematoria for concentration camps and it represented itself as a firm that understood the demands of its clients. In order to get the bodies into the furnace the firm created a special conveyor of special design and the firm considered that it could fulfil their orders much better than other firms, and it asked for a small advance, to begin preliminary work connected with the drawing up of blue-prints for the crematoria of the camp. I quote very short excerpts from this document -- the first two paragraphs:
" Referring to the visit of your son and conversations with him on the part of our employee, Mr. Schtorl, we notice that it is the intention of units of the Belgrade SS to construct the crematorium designed for a large camp and we understand now also that they have been asked to collaborate with the local architects to design and build this crematorium."
"In order to get the bodies into the furnace, we suggest two wheeled conveyers, on rollers. In these furnaces there is a compartment for ashes since it is not suggested that coffins Will be used, and therefore the width of the compartment should be 600 millimeters and the height 450 millimeters. In order to transport corpses from the place of their storage to the furnaces we suggest using light carts on wheels and we shall send you the blueprints of these carts." Exhibit 225 a new document which will be brought to you now. Due to technical reasons it hasn't been delivered to me yet. May I refer to it now, and it will be presented to you within a few minutes. I submit the new document as Exhibit USSR 225, which also deals with the construction of crematoria for concentration camps in Belgrade. This is correspondence of the firm Korn, Ltd. This is a well-known firm, which considered that every business letter had to be ended with "Heil Hitler!" And this firm knew its clients well and the firm Korn recommended once again to inquire whether two furnaces would be sufficient. furnaces for Dachau and five furnaces for Lublin, and it emphasized that its technically perfected furnaces through practice were greatly remedied. I quote a very short excerpt of this document which the Tribunal will find on page 471 in Volume 2 of the document book. I quote the first paragraph:
"In addition to the negotiations which took place between us, relative to the delivery of the equipment for cremating of the simple construction, we offer our perfected furnaces for cremation, which work on fuel and which have proved to be extremely satisfactory.
"In connection with the intended, construction, we offer two furnaces for cremation, but ones again we request you to inquire whether two ovens will be sufficient."
"As to how big the area should be for the furnaces, it is evident from the attached blueprints. The numbers mentioned in the blueprints illustrate how two of the ovens are built. Blueprint No. 9122 was used for the camp in Dachau for all furnaces in the camp.
"The next blueprint illustrates how the equipment was built in the Lublin camp. There were two furnaces for cremation and there were heating chambers in Lublin."
"Expecting further news, I will be at your service.
"Heil Hitler.
"C. H. Korn Co. Ltd." ovens for the concentration camps.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know, as they have not these letters before them, to whom they were addressed.
COLONEL SMIRNOV: The letters, Mr. President, were addressed to the SS units in Belgrade. These documents were taken by the Yugoslav Government. The SS units in Belgrade considered that the methods of extermination which were in use in Belsen, which I already stated, to the Tribunal, were not adequate enough and they decided to perfect then and for this purpose they started to design the construction of crematoriums in the camp, and then between the police and the units of the SS in Belgrade and the several German firms they started, this lively business correspondence, part of which I presented to your attention.
THE PRESIDENT: Here the other letters that you referred to also addressed to SS units?
COLONEL SMIRNOV: They were also addressed to the SS units, Mr. Presid The first letter was addressed to the administration in the camp in Auschw the letters of the firm Topf & Sons.
the stationary crematorium, there was also a movable crematorium. The Tribunal already knows about the portable movable gas chambers. Those were murder vans. There were also created transportable crematoriums An SS member, Waldmann, testifies to their existence. He was one of the participants in the crime of the German Fascists when at one time 840,000 Russian prisoners of war in Aschaffenhausen were murdered.
The Tribunal has already Exhibit USSR-52, the documents relative to the Auschwitz Camp. I quote that particular place from the testimony of an SS member, Waldmann, where the mass execution in Auschwitz is mentioned.
"The war prisoners murdered in this way were cremated in four movable crematoriums, which were transported on truck trailers." chambers and crematoriums. I think the Tribunal already has a clear idea of this question. But I ask the Tribunal to pay particular attention to the repulsive methods of process which were introduced by the German Fascists which relates to industrial usage of the korpses of murdered people. I shall further present to the Tribunal evidence which should testify as to even more repulsive utilization of corpses of the victims, and now I shall go on to a report relative to Auschwitz, which the Tribunal will find on page 333, reverse side, in the document book. I ask the Tribunal to refer to the Auschwitz album, where on page 34, 35, and 36 they will find the pictures of seven tons of hair which was taken from dead women. I begin the quotation:
"From 1943 on the Germans, in order for industrial utilization of bones that were not burned, started to grind bones and to sell them to the firm Topf in order to manufacture sulphur phosphate. In the camp there were found bills of lading to Topf of 112 tons and 600 kilograms of bone meal from human corpses. For industrial usage, the Germans also used hair cut off of women who were doomed for extermination."
I omit the next page of my presentation and I want to draw the Tribunal's attention to the findings of the Medical Commission of Experts which the Tribunal will find on page 365 in the second paragraph.
Special experiments took place in the gas chambers. On the basis of exact chemical reactions it was established and found that poisoning in gas chambers was done with Cyclone "A" and Cyclone "B", which was acid, and also carbon monoxide.
"Technical and sanitary chemical analysis of the gas chambers in the concentration camps in Majdanak" -- that's on page 315, third paragraph -
"confirms and proves that all those chambers, especially first, second, third, and fourth, were designed and used for mass and systematic extermination of people by means of poisoning with gasses, such as the carbon monoxide and Cyclone." camps of Auschwitz and Majdanek. I consider that the Tribunal has already a very clear idea as to what kind of regime that was. In fact, part of the people were sent directly to gas chambers and one-fifth or one-sixth was left in the camp and those who exhausted were killed afterwards. I have in my possession plenty of documents, but in order to save time, I omit them. I pass to page 324, which I mention for the convenience of the interpreters. I quote several excerpts which deal with cynical and dastardly plundering of inmates who were doomed to die in Majdanek and Auschwitz, and I ask the Tribunal simultaneously to refer to the Auschwitz album, where on page 27 you will find a number of suitcases belonging to inmates, and on page 28 suitcases with labels of different countries and on page 39 a colossal warehouse of children's clothes, and on page 33 the sar the firm of Topf was presented is presented now, and once again I ask to be excused for the fact that it was not presented in time. I quote only that particular part of the report on Auschwitz, which the Tribunal will find on page 355, on the reverse side, where it is stated what was discovered by the Commission at the warehouse of this camp. I quote one paragraph. I quote page 325, second paragraph.
"On the grounds near the Auschwitz Camp there were thirty-five special warehouses for sorting and packing the belongings and clothes in these warehouses of which twenty-nine warehouses were burned together with the things stored before the retreat after the attack. In the remaining six warehouses there were discovered: 1. Men's clothes and underwear 348.820 sets 2. Female clothes and underwear 836,235 sets 3. Women's footwear 5,525 pairs 4. Men's footwear 38,000 pairs 5. Rugs and carpets 13,964 pieces" and quote -THE PRESIDENT:
It is time to adjourn.
(A recess was taken from 1245 to 1400 hours.)
COLONEL SMIRNOV: Gentlemen, the same picture of organized plundering of the murdered persons was ascertained by the commission during the investigation of Maidanek. I will not quote in full this part of the communique of the PolishSoviet Extraordinary Commission, and will quote only one excerpt of the administration of the SS which is contained in the communique of the PolishSoviet Extraordinary Commission, and which the Tribunal will find on page 66 of the document book, first column of the text, third paragraph. I quote:
"To all the commandants of concentration camps:
"According to the declaration of the chief board of state security, al packages of el thing, were sent from the concentration camps mainly to the director of the Gestapo of the town of Brudno, and it appeared that in several cases these articles of clothing were shot through and spattered with blood. A part of these packages was damaged, and that is how strangers had the possibility of ascertaining the contents of these packages. As the chief board of state security will, in the near future, promulgate a charter regulating the problem of articles remaining after the death of internees, it is ordered to stop immediately the sending of these articles until this problem is definitely, solved -- the problem of articles of clothing remaining after the execution of the internees.
"Signed: Gluecks, SS Brigadefuehrer and Major General of the Waffen SS." committed.
In two camps of death alone the criminals annihilated 5 1/2 million people. I quote the conclusions of the Extraordinary State Commission for Auschwitz. I will quote only a short excerpt, which is preceded by a detailed enumeration. The Tribunal will find this reference on page 356 of the document book, second column of the text, fourth paragraph. I quote:
"However, adopting corrective coefficients for the non-filling of the crematorium ovens, the technical expert commission has ascertained that during the period of existence of the Auschwitz camp the German henchmen exterminated in it no less than 4 million citizens of the USSR, Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Holland, Belgium, and other countries." Maidanek. The Tribunal will find this reference on page 66 of the document book, second column, sixth paragraph:
"The Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission has ascertained that during the four years' existence of the extermination camp at Maidanek the Hitlerite henchmen, following the direct order of their criminal government, have exterminated by mass shooting and mass killing in gas chambers approximately 1 1/2 million persons, Soviet prisoners of war, prisoners of war of the former Polish Army, and citizens of various nationalities -- Poles, Frenchmen, Italians, Belgians, Dutch, Czechs, Greeks, Croats, and a large number of Jews."
I conclude by these documents the count entitled "Concentration Camps", and pass to the last part of my statement, which concerns the concealing of the traces of crimes. did not occupy themselves very much with the concealing of their crimes. They did not even consider it necessary to camouflage the burial grounds in which they hurled the bodies of the murdered persons after the shootings. But after the defeat which the Hitlerite war machine suffered at Stalingrad, the situation changed. to conceal the traces of their crimes. Wherever it was possible they burned the bodies. Where this could not be done, the burial grounds were carefully camouflaged with moss or green foliage. The earth which covered the graves of those shot was smoothed out with special machines and with tractors. However the main method adopted by the German fascist criminals for the camouflage of their crimes was certainly the burning of the corpses. The bones which had not been calcinated by the flames were crushed in special machines and mixed with manure for the preparation of fertilizing products.
In large camps the crushed bones of the dead were sold to German firms to be transformed into phosphate. the criminal activity of the Hitlerites, in view of the concealing of the trace of their crimes, a series of documents. I will refer, first of all, to the communique of the Polish-Soviet Extraordinary Commission for Maidanek. This document is submitted to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 29. The part of the communique to which I refer will be found by the Tribunal on page 65, second column of the text, last paragraph. In order to shorten my statement, I will allow myself to summarize the contents of this communique. built. I quote:
"As there were a great many corpses, the Germans, in 1942, began building, and by autumn of 1943 had concluded the building of powerful crematoria consisting of five ovens. These ovens burned unceasingly. The temperature in these ovens could reach 1,500 degrees. In order to be able to put as many bodies as possible into the ovens, the latter were dissected, and onehacked off the members." I skip the next paragraph and beg the Tribunal to pay attention to that part which is three paragraphs away. to special primitive crematorium, installations, which were organized in the following way: one placed boards; then on the boards, corpses; then again boards; and then again corpses. Thus, 500 to 1,000 corpses could be laid on one pile. All that was covered with liquid fuel and lit up.
I quote a short excerpt which ascertains the scale of these crimes:
"The Commission has ascertained that alone in the ovens of the crematoria more than 600,000 corpses were burnt. On the gigantic bonfires in the Krimpetz Woods more than 300,000 corpses were burnt. In the two old ovens more than 80,000 corpses were burnt. And finally, on the bonfires in the camp itself, near the crematoria, not less than 400,000 corpses were burnt."
criminal activity of the Hitlerites in Europe concealing the trace of their crimes, I refer now to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission for the town of Minsk. The Tribunal will find this quotation on page 215, second column and fourth paragraph of the document book. I quote a short excerpt:
"In the hamlet of Glagovtchina, 34 ditch burial grounds were discovered. They were camouflaged with twigs and branches. Some of the graves reached a length of 50 meters. During a partial excavation of five of these graves, at a depth of 3 meters below the surface of the ground calcinated corpses and a layer of cinders 50 centimeters or 1 meter thick was discovered. Near the graves the Commission discovered a great number of small human bones, hair, false teeth, and a number of small articles of personal use. The investigation has ascertained that here the fascists exterminated up to 150,000 persons.