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:
"a brief report on security measures of the main working group of the Ukraine during the retreat of the Armed Forces." It was presented to the Tribunal by our American colleagues on the 18 December 1945. Characteristic peculiarity: the document testifies without decorum to the looting; it is clear to any one that reference is made to a group of robbers, although the Hitlerites still persist in calling robbery work; the most valuable exhibits of the Ukrainian Museum they shipped to Germany as "Miscellaneous Textiles." Einsatzstab establishments, for the purpose of which inhabitants of a whole district were thrown out of their flats and apartments and then follows a list of removed booty from plundered museums of Kharkov, Kiev, archives and even house libraries, and private libraries. with the materials of the Ukraine and prehistorical museums of Kiev. You will find this excerpt on page 368 in the document book. I read:
"1. October 1943. Materials of the Ukrainian Museum in Kiev.
"On the basis of the General evacuation orders of the city commissioner, the following were found by us and loaded for shipment to Krakau:
"Moreover an essential part of the prehistoric museum was transported away."
The second document, No. 1109-PS, is entitled, "Notes for leading group P4" and is addressed to von Mile Schreden. This document was also presented to the Tribunal by the American delegation on 18 December 1945, but it wasn't read into the record. Therefore, with your permission, I shall quote what is really a short excerpt. This excerpt you will find on page 369 of the document book. I read.
"2. The Removal of Cultural Property.
"A great deal of material from museums, archives, institutions and other cultural institutions was taken out of and away from Kiev in the autumn of 1943 in the proper way.
"These actions to safeguard the material were carried out by the Special Purpose Staff RR -- " referred to as the Staff of Penetration. Those initials mean Reichsleiter Rosenberg.
"These actions to safeguard the material were carried out by the Special Purpose Staff RR as well as by the individual institute directors etc. at the instigation of the Reich Commissar.
"At the beginning a great deal of the evacuated property was taken only to the rear areas; later on this material was forwarded to the Reich. When the undersigned, towards the end of September, received the mission from the cultural division of the Reich Commissar to take out of Kiev the remaining cultural effects, the most worth while materials from the cultural point of view has already been removed. During October some 40 carloads of cultural effects were shipped to the Reich.
"In this case it was chiefly a question of valuables which belonged to the research institutions of the national Research Centre of the Ukraine. These institutions are continuing their work at the present time in the Reich and are being directed in such a manner that at a given moment they can be brought back into the Ukraine. The cultural valuables which could not be promptly safeguarded were plundered. In this case, it was always a question, however, of less valuable material, as the principal valuables were taken away in accordance with orders.
"In October 1943 factory, workshop, etc. plants were taken out of Kiev by order of the Military Commander of the town, but to what place they were removed I do not know.
"At the time of the entry of Soviet Russia there was nothing valuable in this respect left in the city." Prosecution, the Tribunal has already learned about the criminal conspiracy between Hitler and Antonescu. As a reward for supplying Germany with cannonfodder, oil, wheat, cattle, etc., Antonescu's criminal clique received from Hitler's government an authorization to plunder the civilian population between the Bug and the Dniestr. German and Rumanian invaders plundered and destroyed many objects of cultural value, health resorts, and medical institutions in Odessa. The Hitlerites plundered, with Antonescu's clique, and they also plundered by themselves. To prove this, I will now read into the record a few excerpts from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission, presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR-47. These excerpts are taken from page 372 of your document book. I omit one paragraph and begin:
"The German Military Command plundered the museums of Odessa, carrying away hundreds of unique objects," and so forth.
I omit here two paragraphs, and I refer to the last line of the page:
"According to their plan drawn up long in advance, the German Fascist conspirators destroyed or blew up 2290 of the largest buildings of architectural and historical value. Included in this were the House of Pushkin, the Saban barracks, built in 1827, and other representative monuments of the material cultural of the beginning of the 19th century.
"The German-Rumanian invaders destroyed in Odessa: The first hospital for contageous diseases, the second district, the somatological, the psychiatric and two children's hospitals, a children's out-patient clinic, seven well-baby clinics, 55 cribs, two maternity homes, a tuberculosis sanatorium, one leprosarium, six out-patient clinics, and the following research institutes: for the study of tuberculosis, for research into health resorts, and others. They destroyed 29 sanatoriums lovated around Odessa." Stalino region.
I omit the rest of this page and pass to page 68. The report of the Extraordinary State Commission, which was presented by the Soviet Prosecution as Exhibit USSR 2, relates an neormous number of facts. I shall not quote all of those, Your Honors, but I shall confine myself only to several excerpts from the above mentioned document which have not been read into the record by my colleagues. They can be found on pages 374 and 375 in your document book.
"At their retreat from Stalino, the Hitlerites completely destroyed 113 schools, 62 kindergartens, 390 shops, the winter and the Summer Theatres with 1,100 seats, the Palace of the Pioneers, radio-theatre, the Museum of the Revolution, the Picture Gallery, Dzerjinsky Club and several other of the best town buildings.
"Special detachments of engineers went from one school to another, spreading incendiary liquid and setting fire to them. The Soviet people who tried to extinguish the fires were shot on the spot by the Pascist bandits.
"Irreparable damages were caused by the occupation authorities to the medical establishments of the town." on this page:
"The destruction of the hospitals was carried out under the instructions and with the participation of the Chief Medical officer of the Military Hospital, Trommer, and the Deputy of the City Commandant, the Military Advisor, Narouschat. The Medical Institute, a first class scientific establishment for 2,000 students, was plundered on the orders of the Oberfeldartzt Roll, the Chief Medical Officer, Belindorf, and the Chief Physician Kuchendorf.
"530,000 volumes of the total 600,000 books of scientific and art literature, were burned by the Hitlerites." down schools and theaters, destroyed creches and hospitals and even churches.
I shall not enumerate it all. The facts were enumerated in a document which, as provided by Article 21 of the Charter, is irrefutable evidence, and in accordance with the Tribunal's ruling, does not have to be read into the record in full, but I must draw your attention to the fact that Stalinsky province, the Hitlerites burned down schools, and theatres destroyed creches and hospitals, and churches. Thus, in the town of Gorlovka:
"They destroyed 32 schools, attented by some 21,649 pupils, burned down the town hospital, five polyclinics, a church and the Palace of Culture."
In the city of Konstantinovka:
"The occupation authorities blew up and burned all the 25 city schools, two movie theatres, the principal city library with 35,000 volumes, the club of the pioneers," Before their retreat from Mariupol:
"The German occupation authorities burned down all the 68 schools of the city, 17 kindergartens, the Palace of the Pioneers." sented to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 45. These excerpts can be found on page 378 in the document book. The document deals with the Hitlerite crimes in Revno and the Revno region. I omit part of page 69 and pass on to page 70.
The city of Revno was especially important. It was the residence of the Reichsminister Erich Koch, closest collaborator of the defendant Rosenberg. Numerous conferences of the Hitlerite leaders for working out in detail the Plan: for the enslavement of the Ukrainian people, took place in this city. es the following:
"On the Ukrainian territory seized by them, the Hitlerite bandits endeavoured to establish a regime of slavery and serfdom and to annihilate the Ukrainian culture and exterminate the leading representatives of Ukrainian art and science who fell into their hands."
I omit two paragraphs, and 1 quote:
"The German Fascist aggressors closed down nearly all the cultural and educational establishments in Revno. On 30 November 1941 the closing down of schools in the General-Kommissariat of Volyn and Podo was officially announced by the newspaper 'Volyn'." ment, which appears in the text of my presentation, page 71:
"The fact that all these crimes were committed in the residence of the former Reichskommissar for Ukraine, Erich Koch, serves as additional proof that all the crimes of the Hitlerite bandits were perpetrated in execution of a plan for the extermination of the Soviet people and the devastation of the Soviet territories temporarily occupied by the Hitlerites, a plan which had been conceived and worked out by the Hitlerite government." russian Republic, the City of Minsk: Prosecutor for the USSR, quoted an extract from a letter in the documents of the German commissar for Beylorussia Kube, addressed to the defendant Rosenberg.
This document is a typewritten letter, signed in ink by Kube. It has several notations in pencil, evidently by the hand of Rosenberg, and it has a stamp. "Ministerial Bureau", and the date 3 October 1941. This document, which is identified as 1099 PS, I present to the Tribunal as USSR Exhibit 374 as proof of the enormous proportions of the plunder of historical treasures by the Hitlerites. also discloses the fact that the plundered treasures were shipped not only to Germany, but were also stolen by individual generals of Hitler's army.
Kube's letter reveals also the existence of a previously worked out plan for the plunder of cultural treasures of Leningrad, Moscow and the Ukrainian cultural centers. The vandalism of the Hitlerites reached such proportions that even Kube, this hangman of the Byelorussian people, protested. He was afraid to miss some chance of profit and negotiated with Rosenberg for a compensation I quote the second paragraph from the beginning of the letter:
"Minsk had a large, in part very valuable, collection of art treasures and painting, which were removed almost in their entirety. On an order of the Reichsfuehrer SS, Reichsleiter Heinrich Himmler, most of the paintings, some still during my term of office, were packed by the SS and shipped to the Reich. They are worth several millions of marks and were all taken from the general district of Byelorussia. These paintings were supposedly sent to Linz and to Koenigsberg in East Prussia. I beg to have this valuable collection, insofar as they are not needed in the Reich, again placed at the disposal of the general district of Byelorussia. In any case, however, to have the money value secured for the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories." the stolen treasures was his monopoly and complained that--and I quote the second part of the second paragraph of this letter:
"General Stubenrauch has taken a valuable part from Minsk with him up to the front. 'Sonderfurheres' whose names have not yet been reported to me, have carried away furniture, paintings and art objects in three trucks." russia, having taken a direct part in mass ill treatment and extermination of the Soviet propulation, Kube hypocritically declared -- and I quote the last paragraph of this letter:
"Byelorussian, already rather poor, has suffered a heavy loss through these actions."
And Kube recommended to Rosenberg:
"It is possible that specialists should be appointed beforehand for directing these measures in Leningrad and Moscow, as well as in some of the ancient Ukrainian cultural centers."
That is where their desires were directed. It is now universally known what meaning the Hitlerites gave to the word "measures" as applied to the occupied territories. It meant a regime of bloody terror, violence and unrestricted plunder and despotism. German Fascist plunderers tried to annihilate the culture of the Byelorussian people and transfer them into obedient German slaves.
military authorities, acting on direct orders, from the German government, destroyed relentlessly scientific research institutes and schools, theaters and clubs, hospitals end polyclinics, kindergartens and creches. presented by the Soviet Prosecution as USSR Exhibit 38.
"For three years the German Fascist invaders set themselves systematically to destroy the scientific research institutes, institutions of higher education, libraries, museums, institutions of the Academy of Sciences, theatera and clubs of Minsk.
"The Lenin library in Minsk was the creation of more than twenty years.
In 1932 the construction of a new building with a large, well-equipped bock depository was completed.
The Germans carried away from the library to Berlin and Koenigsberg one and a half million most valuable volumes, including many on the history of Byelorussia."
"In the effort to eradicate the culture of the Byelorussian people, the German-Fascist invaders destroyed all the cultural and educational institutions in Minsk."
"The libraries of the Academy of Sciences, of the State University, of the Polytechnic Institute, the Scientific Medical Library and the Pushkin City Public Library were all carried away to Germany.
"The Hitlerites destroyed the Byelorussian State University, the Zoological, Geological-Mineralogical, and Historic-Archaeological Museums, and the Medical Institute with all its clinics. They demolished the Academy of Sciences with its nine Institutes."
"Likewise they destroyed the State Art Gallery and carried away to Germany canvasses and sculptures by Russian and Byelorussian masters. They plundered the State Byelorussian Theatre of Opera and Ballet, the First Byelorussian Drama Theater, the Hose of Folk Art, and the Houses of the Unions of Writers Artists and Composers.
"The Fascists destroyed in Minsk 47 schools, 24 kindergartens, the Palace of Pioneers, two lying-in homes, three children's hospitals, five city polyclinics, 27 nurseries, four children's welfare centers and the Institute of Infant and Maternity Welfare."
The Prosecution has at its disposal document No. 072-PS, which is a report of the German corporal, Abel, on Minsk Libraries. This corporal had examined all Minsk libraries and says in his report that almost all were destroyed. I present it as documentary evidence as USSR 375. excerpts from this report. There is no necessity for reading the whole report on page 75 of my presentation.
"The Lenin library was the central Byelorussian library. It is difficult to draw up an exact inventory of the volumes, but the number of books was approximately 1,500,000.
The book shelves are in a sad state."
I omit two paragraphs of my presentation, and I read further:
"The library of the Polytechnical Institute, which was in the basement of the left wing, was considerably plundered and put into disorder, as well as a great number of laboratories."
The report concludes with the followings sentence, which I quote:
"The purpose of this report can only be reached by presenting it for consideration to the Supreme Command which would issue appropriate orders forbidding clearly the German soldier to behave in future like a barbarian." fascism is inseparable from barbarism; in fact, fascism means barbarism.
THE PRESIDENT: What were you proposing to do after the adjournment this afternoon?
COLONEL RAGINSKY: After the presentation, I would like to present several written documents pertaining to the destruction of cultural monuments of Lithuania, Esthonia and Latvia, and later, with the permission of the Tribunal, I intend to present a documentary film, toward the end of the session. All of my presentation of evidence would be finished.
THE PRESIDENT: How long will the film take?
COLONEL RAGINSKY: The presentation of the documentary film will take about 30 to 35 minutes.
THE PRESIDENT: Don't you think that after the vast amount of damage and spoliation to which you have drawn our attention in some detail, that it would be sufficient if you were to summarize by telling us the countries in which similar spoliation had taken place?
COLONEL RAGINSKY: I have in mind, Mr. President, to present to the Tribunal the documents which will serve as a resume, where all the general totals will be given.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. We will adjourn now for ten minutes.
(A recess was taken.)
COLONEL RAGINSKY: I wish to draw the attention of the Tribunal to the fact that before presenting the conclusion of this document I would like to quote a German document referring to the subject.