"Without any military need, the Germans destroyed maliciously and burned a great number of public buildings and cultural institutions, such as the new university, the People's University "Koloraz", the first gymnasium for boys, the second gymnasium for girls, the ancient royal palace, the broadcasting station, the Russian Home of Culture, the sanatorium of Dr. Jivkovich, and so on. In the university building valuable objects and a very valuable collection of scientific research matter were destroyed." which is USSR Document 364, page 313a of the document book, the Hitlerites razed to the ground the national library, and burned hundreds of thousands of books and manuscripts, the basic stock of Serbian culture. They completely destroyed 71 and partially destroyed 41 scientific institutes and laboratories of the Belgrade University. They razed to the ground the State Academy of Art, and they burned and looted thousands of schools. Yugoslavia, the Yugoslav proples experienced great sufferings and sorrow. The Germans looted the country's economy, causing great material damage. But the damage caused by them to the culture of the peoples of Yugoslavia is even vaster still. gentlemen, to quote yet another excerpt from the diary of the defendant Frank. I have in mind the calico-bound volume of the diary entitled "Conferences of the Leaders of Departments of 1939-1940", which contains an entry regarding the conference of the leaders of departments on 19 January 1940 in Cracow. This excerpt is on page 169 of the document book;
"On the 15th of September 1939, I was entrusted with the administration of the occupied Eastern territories, and received a special order to devastate this district pitilessly as a combat zone and a prize of war, and to reduce its economic, social, and political structure to a heap of ruins."
To this statement of Frank's, one need only add that the defendant Frank performed this task in Poland with all zeal, and the other Reich Gauleiters and other leiters acted similarly in the occupied territories of the USSR, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.
by the defendants against the culture of the peoples of the Soviet Union.
the Hitlerites conducted the destruction and spoliation of the cultural wealth of the peoples of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia. The crimes perpetrated by the Hitlerite conspirators in the occupied territories of the USSR were still more grave. thepeople of the Soviet Union, to destroy towns and villages created by them, and to extirpate the culture of the peoples of the USSR, but also to enslave the Soviet peoples and to transform our mother country into a colony enslaved by the Fascists. and perpetrate the destruction of the cultural monuments of the peoples of the USSR. In the-note of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V.M. Molotov, dated the 27th of April 1942, which was presented to the Tribunal as Document USSR Exhibit 51/3 documents and facts are quoted which establish beyond dispute that the destruction of historic and cultural monuments and the vile mockery of national feelings, beliefs, and convictions, constituted a part of the monstrous plan thought out and put into practice by the Hitlerite Government, which strove to liquidate the national culture of the peoples of the USSR. read into the record the following excerpt which is on page 321 of the document book. I skip the first paragraph and quote the second paragraph:
"The destruction of historical and cultural memorials in occupied Soviet territories, and the devastation of the numerous cultural establishments set up by the Soviet authorities are a part of the monstrously senseless plan conceived and pursued by the Hitlerite Government which strives to wipe out Russian national culture and the national cultures of the peoples of the Soviet Union, to forcibly germanize the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Esthonian, and other peoples of the USSR.
"In order No. 0973/41, General Hodt, commander of the 17th German Army, demands that his subordinates thoroughly assimilate the misanthropic notion, so typical of the thick-skulled Fascists, that the sound feelings of vengeance and revulsion towards allthat is Russian must not be suppressed among the men, but, on the contrary, encouraged in every way.
"True to their custom of destroying universally acknowledged cultural values, the Hitlerites everywhere on the Soviet territory occupied by them devastated and largely burned down book depositories, from small club and school libraries to the most valuable collections of manuscripts and books, containing unique bibliographical treasures."
I skip a paragraph and continue the quotation:
"The Hitlerites looted and then set on fire the famous Borodino Museum, the historical exhibits of which related to the struggle against the Napoleonic Army in 1812, and which were particularly dear to the Russian people. The invaders looted and set fire to the Pushkin House and Museum in the hamlet of Polotnyany Zavod. In Kaluga, the Hitlerites assiduously destroyed the exhibits in the museum and house in which lived and worked the famous Russian scientist Tsiolkovsky, whose services in the field of aeronautics enjoy world-wide fame. The Fascist vandals used Tsiolkovsky's portrait as a target for revolver practice. Extremely valuable models of dirigibles, as well as drafts and instruments, were trampled underfoot. One of the museum rooms was turned into a hen roost and the furniture burned.
"One of the oldest agricultural institutions in the USSR, the Shatilov Selection Station in the Orel District, was destroyed by the invaders who blew up and consigned to the flames 55 buildings of the station, including the agro-chemical and other laboratories, the museum, the library containing 40, 000 volumes, the school, and other buildings.
"Even greater frenzy was shown by the Hitlerites in the looting of the cultural institutions and the historical monuments of the Ukraine and Byelorussia."
I skip two paragraphs and pass on to the last paragraph:
"There was no limit to the desecration by the Hitlerite vandals of the monuments and homes representing Ukrainian history, culture, and art. It will suffice to mention one of the constant attempts to humiliate the national dignity of the Ukrainian people: Having plundered the Korolenko Library in Kharkov, the occupants used the books as paving bricks for the muddy street, to facilitate the passage of German motor vehicles."
monuments which were most dear to the Soviet people. I will quote several facts: Leo Tolstoy, was born, lived, and worked. Peter Tchaikowsky lived and worked. In this house Tchaikowsky created the world famous operas Eugen Onegin and Queen of Spades. Chekhov; in Tikhvin they destroyed the house of the great Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov. Note of Foreign Commissar Molotov, dated the 6th of January 1942. This document has already been submitted to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 51/2. This excerpt is on page 317 of the document book.
"For a period of six weeks, the Germans occupied the world-famous property of Yasnaya Polyana where Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest geniuses of mankind, was born, where he lived, and worked. This glorious memorial to Russian culture was wrecked, profaned, and finally set on fire by the Nazi vandals. The grave of the great writer was desecrated by the invaders. Irreplaceable relics relating to the life and work of Leo Tolstoy, including rare manuscripts, books, and paintings, were either stolen by the German soldiers or thrown away and destroyed.
"A German officer named Schwartz declared, in reply to a request of one of the museum staff to stop using the personal furniture and books of the great writer for firewood and to use wood available for this purpose, We don't need firewood; we shall burn everything connected with the name of your Tolstoy.'
"When the town of Klin was liberated by the Soviet troops on December 15, 1941, it was ascertained that the house in which Tchaikovsky, the great Russian composer, had lived and worked, and which the Soviet State had turned into a museum, had been wrecked and plundered by Nazi officers and soldiers. In the museum building itself, the invaders set up a garage for motorcycles, heating this garage with manuscripts, books, furniture, and other museum exhibits, part of which had been stolen by the German invaders. In doing this, the Nazi officers knew perfectly well that they were defiling one of the finest monuments of Russian culture.
"During the occupation of the town of Istra, the. German troops established an ammunition dump in the celebrated ancient Russian monastery known under the name of the New Jerusalem Monastery, founded as early as 1654. The New Jerusalem Monastery was an outstanding historical and religious landmark of the Russian people, and it was known as one of the largest and most beautiful edifices of religious architecture. However, this did not prevent the German Fascist vandals from blowing up their ammunition dump in the New Jerusalem shrine on their retreat from Istra, thereby reducing this irreplaceable monument of Russian church history to a heap of ruins." destroyed and annihilated the cultural-historic monuments of the Russian people connected with the life and works of the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin. is new submitted to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 40, reads as follows:
"To preserve the cultural and historical memorials of the Russian people connected with the life and works of the great Russian poet and genius Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin, the Soviet Government on 17 March 1922 declared the poet's estate at Michailovskoye, as well as his tomb at the monastery of Soyatogorsky, and the neighboring villages of Trigorskoye, Gorodischtsche and Woronitsch, a state reservation.
"The Pushkin Reservation, and especially the poet's estate at Michailoskoye, was very dear to the Russian people. Here Pushkin finished the third and wrote the fourth, fifth, and sixth chapters of Eugen Onegin. This is where he finished his poem The Gypsies, and wrote the drama Boris Godunov, as well as a large number of epic and lyrical poems.
"In July 1941, the Nazis forced their way into the Pushkin Reservation. For three years they lived there, ruined everything, and destroyed the Pushkin memorials."
"The plundering of the museum began in August 1941."
"In the autumn of 1943 the military commander of Kushkinyovy proposed to order an evacuation of all treasures of the museum. The latter were packed into cases and loaded onto trucks and sent to Germany."
"At the end of February 1944 Mikhailovskoye was turned by the Germans into a military strong point. The park was trenched and shelters were built.
"The cottage of Pushkin's nurse was demolished and the Germans constructed next to it and partly on its site a huge shelter which was covered with five layers of timber. A similar dugout was erected near the former museum.
"Prior to their retreat from Mikhailovskoye, the Germans completed their work of destruction and the desecration of the Pushkin estate. The museum which had been erected upon the foundation of the former dwelling house of Pushkin was burned down, and nothing but a pile of rabble remained. The marble plate of the Pushkin monument was destroyed and thrown on the pile of ashes. Of the other two houses in the Pushkin reservation, located at the entrance to the Mikhailovskoye estate, one was burned down by the Germans and the other severely damaged. The German vandals put three bullet holes into Pushkin's portrait, which hung in an archway at the entrance to the Mikhailovskoye Park, and then destroyed the archway.
"After their retreat, the Nazis fired on the village with mortars and artillery. The staircases leading to the River Sorot were destroyed by German mines. The old linden trees on the circular road leading to the house were damaged. One elm tree standing in front of the house was damaged by grenades and grenade splinters." beginning of the page. to Pushkin's time and in which Pushkin had a requiem sung on the 7th The churchyard where Hannibal, one of Pushkin's relatives, and criss-crossed by trenches and devastated.
The graves of members of people can be justly ascertained in the desecration of Pushkin's tomb.
abandoned the state and retreated to Vovorzhev. Nevertheless, on The poet's grave was found completely covered with refuse.
Both steps leading down to the grave were destroyed. The area shape and crumpled and damaged by shrapnel.
The monument itself is patriots.
Approximately 3000 mines were discovered on the ground of two centuries.
They commemorate a whole series of the most outstanding events in the Russian history.
Celebrated Russian and foreign 1944.
The excerpts are on page 332 of the document book.
(pictures, artistic masterpieces and sculptures), as well as 11,700 very valuable books from the palace libraries. In the ground floor rooms of the Ekaterininsky and Alexandrovsky palaces in the town of Pushkin there were concentrated the furniture of Russian and French workmanship of the middle of the Eighteenth Century, 600 items of artistic china of the late Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, as well as a large number of marble busts, small objects of sculpture, and up to 35,000 volumes from the palace libraries. of eye witnesses, the evidence of German prisoners of war, and as a result of careful investigation, it has been ascertained that: usurpers immediately proceeded to loot the treasures of the palaces and museums, removing the contents of the palaces during several months. looted and removed to Germany some 34,000 museum exhibits, among them 4,950 items of unique furniture of Italian, English, French, and Russian workmanship of the time of Cathrine the Great, Alexander I and Nicholas I, as well as many rare sets of porcelain of foreign and Russian manufacturers of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. The German barbarians stripped off the silk, tapestries and other decorative material which ornated the walls of the palace rooms. which was the work of the sculptor Kozlovoky, and sent it to Germany. big palace which was the work of a noted architect genius Bartholomeo Rastrelli. Marly Palace with the aid fo delayed action mines. The palace contained the most delicate stucco mouldings and carvings.
The Germans wrecked the great Peter the Great dwelling. They destroyed all the wooden parts of the pavilions and galleries, the interior decoration of the study, the bedrooms and the Chinese rooms. During the occupation, they turned the central part of the palace, which is the most valuable from the historical and artistic point of view, into a D.O.T. In the western pavilion of the palace they established a stable and a latrine.
In the premises of the Assembly Building, where balls were given for the great, the Germans tore up the floor, sawed through the beams, and destroyed the doors and windowframes and stripped the panelling of the ceiling. blew up the Nicholas II's villa, completely destroyed the wooden officer's cottage, the Alexandrine gates, the pavilions of the Adam fountain, the pylon of the Chief gate of the Upper Park and the Rose pavilion. The damaged the pipe-line feeding the fountains along the whole extension from the "Rose-Pavilion" dam to the Upper Park. infantry division completely destroyed by the fire of heavy guns the famous English Palace at Old Petrodvoretz, built on Catherine II's orders by the architect Quarengi. The Germans fired 9,000 punds of heavy artillery ammunition; together with the Palace the picturesque English park and all the park pavilions were destroyed.
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal has appreciated the successful efforts which the other members of the Soviet delegation have made to shorten their addresses, and they would be glad if you could possibly summarize some of the details with which you have to deal in the matter of destruction and spoliation and perhaps omit some of the details.
(A recess was taken from 1245 to 1400 hours.)
COLONEL RAGINSKY: The looting and destruction of the town of Pushkin was carried out on the orders of the highest German authorities. I omit the end of page 57 and the beginning of page 48. the Germans. The famous 300 metre long series of State Halls, designed by Rastrelli, perished in the flames. The famous Ante-rooms ("waiting-halls") decorated by Rastrelli were ruined.
I omit one paragraph and continue: an awful picture. Destroyed were the unique ceilings, the work of Torelli, Giodiano, Brullov, and other famous Italian and Russian masters.
I omit one more paragraphs:
One of Rastrelli's best creations which was ruined and pillaged, was the Palace Church, wonderful for its interior decoration.
I omit one more paragraphs: prepared the complete destruction of all that was left of Catherine's Palace and the adjoining buildings. For this purpose, on the ground floor of the still remaining part of the palace, as well as under the Cameron Gallery, 11 large delayed action aerial bombs were laid, weighing from one to three tons. constructed at the end of the XVIII century by the famous architect Giacomo Quarengi.
I omit a paragraph: and Alexandrovsky palaces, objects of artistic porcelain and books from the Palace libraries were transported to Germany.
I omit two paragraphs:
Ribbentrop's special purpose battalion and commandos of Rosenberg's staff shipped from Pavlovsky palace to Germany the palace furniture of great value, designed by Voronikhin and the greatest masters of the XVIIIth century. Palace. The greatest part of the Palace building was entirely burned down. conclude the last paragraph of this document. of art monuments in Petrodvorets, Pushkino and Pavlowsk was carried out by the officers and soldiers of the German army on the direct orders of the German Government and the High Command. in the USSR territories occupied by them. But they destroyed with particular ruthlessness the ancient Russian towns which contained monuments of ancient Russian art. Novgorod, Pskov and Smolensk. Russian people created the foundation of their state. It left a rich heritage which is a valuable possession of our people. Thanks to the survival of numerous monuments of ecclesiastic and civil architecture, murals, paintings, sculpture and handicraft, Novgorod and Pskov were rightly called cathedrals of Russian history. monuments of Russian art of international fame of the XIth - XIIth centuries.
I omit the rest of this page and pass on to page 52. By way of proof, I shall read into the record some excerpts from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, which is presented to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 50. The members of the Tribunal will find this excerpt on page 1533 and 1534 in the document file. I read:
"...The ancient Russian city of Novgorod was turned into a pile of ruins by the German fascist invaders. They destroyed the historical monuments and dismantled some to use them for constructing fortifications..." the greatest monuments of ancient Russian art. The fascists destroyed the vaults, walls and towers of the St. George Cathedral of the Yuryev Monastery. The cathedral was decorated with frescoes dating from the XIIth century and was built in the early part of the XIIth century.
The Cathedral of St. Sophia, builtin the XIth century, was one of the oldest monuments of Russian architecture, and an outstanding monument of world art. The Germans destroyed the building of this cathedral.
The Hitlerites robbed the cathedral of all interior decoration; carried off all the icons from the iconostases, and ancient incense-burners, amongst which was one which belonged to Boris Godunov. (crypt) with frescoes painted in the same century, was converted by the fascists into a fortified position and barracks. Novgorod architecture of 14-15th century, was burned by the Germans into a heap of stones and bricks. one of the best samples of Novgorod architecture of 14th century, specially famous for its frescoes painted in the same period by the great Byzantine master Feofan the Greek.
ruin of many other wonderful ancient Russian monuments... Lt. General Lindeman, the German barbarians dismantled and prepared for removal to Germany the monument "The thousand years of Russia," This monument was erected in the Kremlin Square in 1862 and represented the main stages of the development of our land up to the sixties of the 19th century.....The Hitler barbarians dismantled the monument and smashed its statuary. They did not succeed, however, in sending it home to melt the metal down. account of the barbarous destruction of the monuments of ancient Russian art by the Germans in the towns of Novgorod and Pskov. Division of the State Russian Museum of Leningrad. in 1926. As a great expert in this field of art, he was asked, by the Extraordinary State Commission to participate in the investigation of the crimes of the German-fascist invaders. officially certified, and I present them to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 312. You will find it, your Honors, on page 335 and 337 in your document book.
In submitting his affidavit, I will omit facts already known to the Tribunal from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission previously read into the record. I quote only a few short excerpts which will be found on page 336 and 339. Mr. Dmitriev deposed as follows:
"The greater part of Novgorod is rased to the ground, only in a few districts were some traces of ruins left by the Germans.
The German also destroyed Pekov.
During their retreat they blew up buildings and monuments there.
Out of 88 buildings of historic and art value in damaged ... Only a few isolated monuments in Pskov were left undamaged.
of historic and art value."
And further:
"The German Army, while destroying and damaging monuments of monuments of historic and art value in Novgorod and Pskov."
ancient of all Russian cities, Smolensk. Document USSR-56, containing the Report of the Extraordinary State Commission. most essential points of this document which deals with the theme that I am presenting. most valuable collections in the museums. They desecrated and burned ancient monuments; they destroyed schools and institutes, libraries, and hospitals. It is also mentioned in the report that in April 1943, the Germans needed gravel and bricks to pave roads. For this, they blew up the building of a high school; and the Germans burned down all of the libraries of the city, 22 schools, and in the libraries that were burned, by the Germans, 646,000 volumes of books were destroyed.
I now pass on to page 57. which had wonderful collections. of Russian historical, socological, and ethnographic treasures and other treasures. This collection was of international value. Then they were sent to France for exhibition. The invaders destroyed the museum and took the most valuable exhibits to Germany.
Rosenberg's main staff for the acquisition and export of valuables from the occupied regions of the East had a special branch in Smolensk, headed by Dr. Norling, the organizer of the plunder of museums and historical monument Such are some of the numerous facts of the crimes committed by the fascist barbarians, which demonstrate how the criminal plans of the Hitlerite conspirators were actually carried out.
Cultural & Educational Establishments in Ukraine. fascist invaders carried out the economic plunder of the Ukrainian population. But the destruction and plunder of the Ukrainian cultural and historical treasures played no lesser part in the plans of Hitlerite conspirators, and was carried out with the same merciless zeal. loving Ukrainian people, the Hitlerite conspirators endeavoured to annihilate its culture. executing their criminal designs, embarked upon systematic destruction of school, higher educational institutions, scientific instititutions, museums, libraries, clubs, theatres. Odessa, in the Stalinsky and Revensky provinces, and many other large and small towns, were subjected to destruction and plunder.
From the document presented, by the Soviet prosecution under #USSR-32, which contains the sentence pronounced by the Military Tribunal, of the 4th Ukrainian Front on 15-18 December 1943, it is evidently clear that the German fascist armies in the city of Kharkov in the Kharkov province, acting upon direct instructions of Hitler's Government, burnt and destroyed and plundered material and cultural treasures of the Soviet people. These excerpts, your Honors, you will find on page 359 in your document book. in the capital of the Ukrainian Republic, i.e., in Kiev. under No. USSR-248. You will find it on page 363 in your document book, and it contains an extract from the records of the Extraordinary State Commission "about the destruction and plunder by the fascist aggressors of Kiev's Psychopathic Institute."
Amongst other destructions they - I quote:
"...burnt the archives of the Institute which were priceless from a of the Institute.
.." Commission's report which was presented to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 9. The quoted excerpts mil be found, on pages 365-366 of the Document Book.
"Before the German invasion there existed in Kiev 150 secondary and elementary schools."
"Out of this number, 77 schools were used by Germans as military "The German invaders plundered more than 4,000,000 volumes from the books of the Kiev Libraries.
More than 320,000 various valuable Science."
I beg, Your Honors, to note that Dr. Foster, SS Obersturmfuehrer, who served in the special purpose battalion established on the initiative of the Defendant Ribbentrop and acting under his orders, testified about the plunder of the Library of the Ukrainian SSR Academy of Science, in his deposition of 10 November 1942, already read into the record by me. of the Extraordinary State Commission.
"....On 5 September 1943, the Germans burnt and blew up one of the architect Beretti senior.
In the fire perished the greatest cultural and educational bases of the work of the university; gone, perished Manuscripts; perished the library containing 1,300,000 books, gone all the equipment; they blew up the beautiful building of the circus, holding 2,500 persons; they burned down, with its entire equipment, the "M. Gorki" Theater for Juvenile Audiences; they destroyed the Jewish Theater.
..In the Museum of Western European and Eastern Art only some large linen sheets had been left; the robbers had not had time to remove them from the high walls of the stairway shafts.
From value.
They looted the Museum of Ukrainian Art; only 1,900 exhibits of the original 14,000 exhibits were left."
"The Hitlerites plundered the historical and the "T.G. Shevchenko" museums. They looted that greatest monument of the Slav people, - the Cathedral of St. Sophie, from which they removed fourteen XII th century frescoes."
"By order of the German Command the troops plundered, blew up and destroy the most ancient cultural monument - the Kievo-Pecherskaya Abbey ...
"The Uspenski Cathedral, built in 1075-1089 by the Grand Duke Svyatoslav and painted inside in 1897 by the well-known painter V.V. Vereshchiagin, was blown up by the Germans on 3 November 1941."
"One cannot view" - reported Nicholas, Metropolitan of the Kiev "without sorrow, the heaps of rubble of the Uspenski Cathedral, created in the 11th century by the genius of its immortal builders.
The had any right to be called human beings.
It was as if a terrific years Kiev lay chained in the German shackles.
The German executioners executions.
In time all this wall pass out of the recent - into the Mr. President, may I quote two more documents.
The first document, No. 035-PS, is entitled: