The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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Last-Modified: 1997/10/21

I present to the Tribunal, under the same No. USSR 6(b)
(Page 120 of the document book) the deposition of a French
prisoner of war, Emile Leger, a soldier of the 43rd Colonial
Infantry Regiment Serial No. 29.

In his deposition the camp at Ravva-Russkaya is called "the
famous camp of lingering death," "Stalag 325."

                                                  [Page 333]

It appears to me that this phrase serves, as it were, as a
supplement to the testimonies of witnesses Roser and Kochan.
The Soviet prosecution has at its disposal a considerable
quantity of material disclosing, as well, numerous crimes of
the Hitlerite invaders perpetrated against prisoners of war
in the territory of the Lvow district.

It seems to me sufficient to read into the record extracts
from the evidence submitted by D. Sh. Manussyevitch, and I
wish to state that this evidence is confirmed by the
testimony of two other witnesses: F.G. Ash and G.Y.
Khanaydess. I am presenting all three documents as Document
USSR 6(b).

Witnesses Manussyevitch, Ash, and Khanaydess worked for some
time in the detachment which cremated the dead bodies of men
shot by the Germans in the region of Lvow, and particularly
in the Lissenitzky camps. Witness Manussyevitch states (I
quote, beginning with Line 20 at from bottom of Page 11 of
our No. 6(b) and on Page 129 of your document book):

     "When we had completed the cremation of the corpses, we
     were conveyed at night in cars (the Brigade of Death)
     to the Lissenitzky forest, opposite the yeast factory
     at Lvow. There were about 45 pits in this forest,
     containing the bodies of people previously shot in 1941-
     42. There were between 500 and 3,500 bodies in the
     pits. These were not only the bodies of soldiers of the
     Italian, French, Belgian, and Russian armies, i.e., of
     prisoners of war, but of peaceful inhabitants as well.
     All the prisoners of war were buried in their clothes.
     Therefore, when digging them out of the pits, I could
     recognize the dead by their uniforms, insignia,
     buttons, medals and decorations, as well as by their
     spoons and mess-cups. All these were burnt once the
     corpses had been exhumed. As in the camp at Yanovsky,
     grass was sown on the site of the pits, and trees and
     dead tree trunks were planted so as to erase any trace
     of the crimes, which are certainly unprecedented in the
     history of mankind."
     
In addition to the testimony of the victims and of many
Soviet citizens we have at our disposal the testimonies of
members of the German Armed Forces. I submit to the Tribunal
as Exhibit USSR 62 a document which was signed by more than
60 persons, belonging to different units and branches of the
German Army. We find their signature on written protests
addressed to the International Red Cross in January, 1942.
We also have a communication of the International Red Cross
acknowledging the receipt of this document. In this letter
they mentioned facts, relating to the criminal treatment of
Soviet prisoners of war, of which they had personal
knowledge. The persons who signed this protest were
themselves prisoners of war at Soviet Camp No. 78. Their
protest is the result of the comparison made by the authors
of the document between the treatment meted out to Soviet
prisoners, which they had seen for themselves, and the
treatment they received at Camp No. 78.

I will quote a few excerpts from this documentthe text with
the following words (Page 135 of the document book):

     "We, the German prisoners of war of Camp No. 78, have
     read the note by the Peoples' Commissar of Foreign
     Affairs of the Soviet Government, Mr. Molotov,
     concerning the treatment of prisoners of war in
     Germany: we might consider the cruelties described in
     that note as impossible had we not witnessed such
     atrocities for ourselves. In order that truth should
     prevail, we must confirm that prisoners of war,
     citizens of the Soviet Union, were often subjected to
     terrible ill-treatment by representatives of the German
     Army, and were even shot by them."
     
Concrete examples of crimes known to the authors are quoted
further on in the text:

     "Hans Drews, of Regenwalde, a soldier of Company 4 of
     the 6th Tank Regiment, stated:
     
                                                  [Page 334]
                                                            
     "I am acquainted with the order issued by Lieutenant-
     General Model to the 3rd Tank Division to the effect
     that prisoners should not be taken. A similar order was
     issued by Major-General Nehring, Commanding Officer of
     the 18th Tank Division. Two days prior to the attack on
     Russia we were told at the briefing session of 20th
     June that in the forthcoming campaign wounded Red Army
     men should not have their wounds dressed, since the
     German Army would have no time to bother with the
     wounded."
     
The fact of the preliminary issuance of this order also has
confirmed by a soldier of the 18th Tank Division
Headquarters Harry Marek, a native of the neighborhood of
Breslau:

     "On 21st June, a day before the beginning of the war
     against Russia, we received the following order from
     our officers: The Commissars of the Red Army are to be
     shot on the spot, since there is no need to stand upon
     any ceremony with them. Neither is there any necessity
     to bother ourselves unduly with the Russian wounded;
     they must be finished off immediately."
     
Wilhelm Metzick, a soldier of the 399th Infantry Regiment of
the 170th Division, from Altona, Hamburg, quotes the
following case:

     "On 23rd June, when we entered Russia, we came to a
     small hamlet near Beltsa. There I saw with my own eyes
     how two German soldiers shot five Russian prisoners in
     the back with sub-machine guns."
     
Wolfgang Scharte, a soldier in Company 2 of the 3rd Tank
Destroyer Battalion, a native of Gerhardtschagen, near
Brunswick testified:

     "On the day before we opened the campaign against the
     Soviet Union, the officers told us: 'If, on the way,
     you should happen to meet Russian Commissars -- they
     can always be recognized by the Soviet star on their
     sleeve -- or Russian women in uniform, they must be
     shot immediately. Anyone failing to comply with this
     order will be held responsible and punished.'
     
     On 30th June I myself saw representatives of the German
     Army shoot wounded Red Army men lying in a field of
     grain, near the town of Dubno. After this they were run
     through with bayonets to make quite sure that they were
     dead. German officers stood nearby and laughed."
     
Joseph Berndsen of Oberhausen, a soldier of the 6th Tank
Division, stated:

     "Even before entering Russia we were told, at one of
     the briefing sessions, 'Commissars must be shot.'"
     
A German officer, a lieutenant of the 112th Engineer
Battalion of the 112th Infantry Division, Jacob Korzillias,
of Horforst, near Treves, certified:

     "In a village near Bolva, 15 wounded Red Army men were
     thrown out of the hut where they were lying, stripped
     and bayonetted on the order of Lieutenant Kierick,
     Adjutant of the 112th Engineer Battalion. This was done
     with the knowledge of the division commander,
     Lieutenant-General Mitt."
     
Alois Goetz, from Hagenbach-am-Rhine, a soldier of Company 8
of the 427th Infantry Regiment, stated:

     "On 27th June, in a forest near Augustovo, two Red Army
     Commissars were shot on the order of the Battalion
     Commander, Captain Wittmann."
     
On Page 3 of our Exhibit USSR 62 we find the following
statement by Paul Sender of Koenigsberg, a soldier of the
4th Platoon of Company 13, Infantry Field Artillery,
attached to the 2nd Infantry Regiment (Page 137 of the
document book):

                                                  [Page 335]
                                                            
     "On 14th July, on the road between Porchov and Staraya
     Russa, Corporal Schneider, of Company 1 of the 2nd
     Infantry Regiment, shot twelve captured Red Army men in
     the gutter. When I questioned him on the matter,
     Schneider answered: 'Why should I bother with them?
     They are not even worth a bullet.' I also know of
     another case.
     
     During the battles around Porchov, a Red Army man was
     captured. Shortly after he was shot by a corporal of
     Company 1. As soon as the Red Army soldier fell, the
     corporal took from his knapsack all the food in it."
     
To conclude the reading of excerpts from the protest of the
German prisoners of war, I should like to quote two more
depositions, by Fritz Rummler and Richard Gillig
respectively. We find their depositions at the bottom of
Page 4. Fritz Rummler, a native of Streilen in Silesia, and
a corporal of Company 9, Battalion 3, of the 518th Regiment
of the 295th Division, reported the following cases (this
excerpt is on Page 138 of the document book):

     "In August, in the town of Zlatopol, I saw how two
     officers of the S.S. units and two soldiers shot two
     captured Red Army soldiers after first taking their
     Army greatcoats from them. These officers and soldiers
     belonged to the armoured tank forces of General von
     Kleist. In September the crew of a German tank on the
     road to Krasnograd crushed two captured Red Army
     soldiers to death with their tank. This act was
     inspired purely by lust for blood and murder. The tank
     commander was a non-commissioned officer, Schneider,
     belonging to von Kleist's armoured forces. I saw how
     four captured Red Army soldiers were questioned in our
     battalion. This happened at Voroshilovsk. The Red Army
     soldiers refused to answer questions of a military
     nature asked by the battalion commander, Major
     Warnecke. He flew into a rage and with his own hands
     beat the prisoners unconscious."
     
Corporal, of the 9th Transportation Platoon, of the 34th
Division, Richard Gillig, stated:

     "Many a time I witnessed the inhuman and cruel
     treatment of Russian prisoners of war. Before my own
     eyes and on the orders of their officers, German
     soldiers removed the boots from the captured Red Army
     soldiers and drove them on barefooted. I witnessed many
     such deeds at Tarutino. I was an eye-witness of the
     following incident: one prisoner refused to surrender
     his boots voluntarily. Soldiers of the escort beat him
     till he could no longer move. I saw other prisoners
     being stripped, not only of their boots, but of their
     uniform clothing, right down to their underwear."
     
     I saw, during the retreat of our column, near the town
     of Medyn, German soldiers beating up captured Red Army
     soldiers. One prisoner was very tired and unsteady on
     his legs. A soldier of the escort raced up to the
     captive and started kicking and beating him with the
     butt of his rifle. Other soldiers followed his example
     and the prisoner dropped dead when we reached the
     town."
     
The statement reads on:

     "It is no secret that in the front line of the German
     Army, at Division Headquarters, specialists existed
     whose work it was to torture Red Army soldiers and
     Soviet officers in order to force them, in this manner,
     to disclose military orders and information."
     
I submit to the Tribunal the photostat of this statement.
You can see that there are 60 signatures appended to it by
members of the German Armed Forces, with the indication of
the regiments and smaller subdivisions to which they
belonged.


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