Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/tgmwc-07/tgmwc-07-60.01
Last-Modified: 1999/11/06

                                                   [Page 41]


SIXTIETH DAY

FRIDAY, 15TH FEBRUARY, 1946

THE PRESIDENT : There are certain matters of a procedural
nature which the Tribunal desire to consider before they
consider the question of an adjournment. Accordingly they
will not sit tomorrow in open session for consideration of
the question of an adjournment, but they will sit tomorrow
morning at 10 o'clock in closed session for consideration of
these matters of a procedural character, and they will sit
on Monday morning at 10 o'clock for half an hour to hear
argument in open session on the question of an adjournment,
one counsel being heard on each side and only for fifteen
minutes.

COLONEL SMIRNOV: I interrupted the quotation of a document
on Page 3 of the document book, second paragraph, first
column of the text. I consider it possible to omit many
items contained in this document, as these facts simply
confirm further the general conclusions which were expressed
in the beginning of the document, and which were already
confirmed by many facts read into the record by me
yesterday. I only beg the Tribunal to allow me to draw its
attention to one of the stipulations in the note, which the
Tribunal will find on Page 3 of the document book, second
paragraph, first column of the text. It states that the
civilian inhabitants were forcibly sent to concentration
camps, thus artificially and illegally increasing the number
of prisoners of war and subjecting the peaceful population
to the inhuman regime which was established by the German
fascist authorities for the prisoners of war.

I submit to the Tribunal, further, an extract from the
minutes of a court-martial of the 374th Liuban Infantry
Division, held on 29th October, 1944. This document is
submitted as Exhibit USSR 162. The Tribunal will find this
document on Page 67 of the document book.

DR. KAUFFMANN (Counsel for defendant Kaltenbrunner): I would
like to make two motions regarding the questions, as to the
submission of evidence in this case as well as to the
general procedure. The first motion is that I would like to
ask, with reference to Article 21, that the submission of
documents of the investigating committee, as well as any
reference to them be prohibited, inasmuch as these documents
do not exactly define the source of the information
discussed here.

Secondly, as regards the reading of testimonies and written
statements, which contain only summary information without
any personal observations, that the reading of such
statements be permitted only if the cross examination of the
author as a witness is possible.

I should like to submit the following reasons for these
motions. Article 19 of the Charter permits all evidence
which has probative value. Article 21 gives the Court the
right to ask for proof regarding documents submitted by the
so-called investigating committees. The purpose of both
articles, however, is to facilitate the submission of proof.
The admission of written statements of various kinds leads
to the danger that such statements might incriminate an
entire people and entire nation. The request of the defence,
therefore, that such proof and such documents be admitted
only when this danger has been eliminated as far as possible
is, I think, a justifiable request.

Many of the written statements read by the Soviet
prosecution, and excerpts from committee reports, have had
no probative value; and, furthermore, since they cannot be
checked - their contents cannot be checked - they tend to
give a wrong impression about historical events.

                                                   [Page 42]

THE PRESIDENT: Why does it not come within the last two
lines of Article 21: "The records and findings of military
or other tribunals of any of the United Nations"?

DR. KAUFFMANN: The defence is of the opinion that Article 21
calls for an interpretation. This article permits the
reading of such documents and such reports, but says nothing
as to the possibilities for defendants' counsel of checking
the sources upon which these reports are based. We are of
the opinion that the witnesses who have been questioned have
not been, for reasons of compassion, able to describe the
events objectively. As jurists we know that it is
exceedingly difficult to describe even simple events
truthfully. Therefore, it is our duty to the German people,
and our responsibility, to try to check these sources and to
help thereby to explain and clarify the course of events
which appear to us in a rather different light.

THE PRESIDENT: Defendants' counsel will have the opportunity
at the proper time of criticising any evidence which is
offered by the prosecution. They will be able to point out
whether it is probable that certain evidence was given out
of sympathy; they will be able to criticise the evidence
which is given in any way they choose, at the proper time.
But this is not the proper time.

Article 21 is perfectly clear, and it directs the Tribunal
to take judicial notice of the various documents which are
there set out, and expressly refers to the records and
findings of military or other tribunals of any of the United
Nations. This is a record and finding of a military
tribunal, of a Soviet court. Therefore, the Tribunal is
directed in express terms by Article 21 to take judicial
notice of it. That does not prevent defendants' counsel,
when they make their speeches in defence, from criticising
the evidence upon which that record and findings proceed,
but to say it ought not to be admitted appears to me, at any
rate, and I think also to the other members of the Tribunal,
to be really entirely unfounded as an objection.

COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I continue, Mr. President? Thus the
document which has been submitted to the Tribunal will be
found on Page 67 of the document book in their possession. I
will allow myself to repeat in my own words the biographical
data concerning the defendant Le Court, who was brought
before a court-martial.

He  was not an S.S. man but a non-Party senior corporal of
the German Army, twenty-seven years old. He was born and
lived before the war in the town of Stargardt; was owner of
a cinema, and was later conscripted into the army, where he
served in the 1st Company of the 4th Airborne Division. I
begin to quote the statements in evidence given by Le Court,
contained in the section entitled "Judicial Investigation",
beginning with paragraph 2. The Tribunal will find this
place in the document book on page 68, fifth paragraph. Le
Court stated:-

   "Prior to my capture by Red Army soldiers, that is,
   before 4 February, 1944, I served as laboratory
   assistant in the First Bicycle Company of the 2nd
   Airborne Regiment of the 4th Division at the
   Headquarters of Air Field Service E 33/XI.
   
   In addition to photographic material, I handled other
   work when not on duty, that is to say, I spent my free
   time for my own pleasure in shooting Red Army prisoners
   of war and peaceful citizens and soldiers. I used to jot
   down in a special book the number of prisoners of war
   and peaceful citizens I had shot."

I omit three paragraphs describing the shooting of prisoners
of war by Le Court, and continue the quotation.

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Smirnov, the passage that you read a
moment ago about jotting down the numbers in his book
doesn't occur in the translation which is before me. I don't
know whether it is in your original. I suppose it is. Are
you sure it is in the original?

                                                   [Page 43]

COLONEL SMIRNOV: It is there, Mr. President. Mr. President,
I just verified this extract which I am quoting with the
original document book. It corresponds exactly to the text.

THE PRESIDENT: Very well. I only wanted to be certain that
it was in the original, as it does not occur in the
translation before me. You can, continue.

COLONEL SMIRNOV: I interrupted the quotation on Page 68, and
omitted three paragraphs. Thus, I came to Page 69. Perhaps
this is the reason why the President of the Tribunal could
not find the sentence I quoted. I continue the quotation:-

"Besides the shooting of prisoners of war, I also shot
guerrillas, peaceful citizens, and burned houses, together
with their inhabitants.

In November, 1942, I participated in the shooting of ninety-
two Soviet citizens.

From April to December, 1942, while a member of the Airborne
Regiment, I participated in the shooting of fifty-five
Soviet citizens. I was in charge of the actual shooting."

I omit a paragraph and continue:-

   "In addition, I participated in punitive expeditions
   when I personally set fire to houses.
   
   Altogether more than thirty houses in various villages
   were burned down by me. I arrived in the village with
   the punitive expedition, entered the houses and warned
   the population that no one was to leave the houses,
   which were going to be burned. I set fire to a house,
   and when anybody tried to save himself - nobody was
   allowed to leave - I drove him back into the house or
   shot him. In that way I burned more than thirty houses
   and seventy peaceful citizens, mainly aged men, women,
   and children.
   
   Altogether I have personally shot 1,200 persons."

For the purpose of saving time I omit six paragraphs and
quote further. You will find this on Page 70 of the document
book:

   "The German High Command encouraged in every way the
   shooting and killing of Soviet citizens. In recognition
   of good work and service in the German Army, rendered by
   my shooting prisoners of war and Soviet citizens, I was
   promoted, before my promotion was due, on 1st November,
   1941, to the rank of senior corporal. This promotion
   should have come about on the 1st November, 1942; at the
   same time I was awarded the East Medal."

Le Court was in no way an exception, and in confirmation of
this I will now refer briefly to the evidence of the trial,
held in the town of Smolensk by the District Military
Tribunal, of a group of former members of the German Army
who were brought to justice for committing atrocities
against peaceful citizens and prisoners of war in the town
of Smolensk. This document was submitted to the Tribunal by
my colleague, Colonel Pokrovsky, as Exhibit USSR 87, and
joined to the record of the present trial. The Tribunal will
find this document on Page 71 of the document book.

I omit all the general part of the evidence, and beg to be
allowed to draw the attention of the Tribunal to that part
which is in the ninth paragraph on Page 71 of the document
book, which says that in eighty graves alone, which were
opened up and examined by  medico-forensic experts in the
town of Smolensk and in the district of Smolensk, over
135,000 corpses of Soviet citizens, women, children and men
of various ages, were discovered.

I pass over the second page of the evidence and come to that
part of the document which gives a description of the
criminal deeds of individual defendants brought to trial
under these charges. I will not quote data regarding all ten
defendants, but only two or three of them.

                                                   [Page 44]

The Tribunal will find this part on Page 73 of the document
book. This is the sixth paragraph of the text. I quote:

   "Hirschfeld was interpreter for the German Military
   Command in the District Kommandantur. He personally beat
   and arrested for treason perfectly innocent Soviet
   citizens, without consideration for sex and age, and
   forced them to make false statements. After making these
   false statements forced from them by beatings, the
   arrested persons were shot by the Kommandantur troops.
   Hirschfeld participated personally in the annihilation
   of Soviet citizens in Smolensk in May, 1943, by means of
   asphyxiation through carbon monoxide in gas vans. In
   January and February 1943, he participated in punitive
   expeditions against guerrillas and against peaceful
   Soviet citizens in the district of Newel-Uswjati. While
   he was commanding the German punitive unit, he
   committed, together with his soldiers, acts of violence
   against the peaceful population."

THE PRESIDENT: Colonel Smirnov, in the Tribunal's
translation into English, Pages 34 to 45 are missing. Do you
think that those pages could be found? On our pages - I
think your pagination is different - but the document that
you are now referring to, USSR 87, begins on Page 34 of our
translation, and the translation then goes to Page 45.

COLONEL SMIRNOV: Mr. President, I am not quoting the numbers
of pages of the translation, but the pages of the document
book.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I follow that, but I was only wondering
whether, by a slip possibly, these pages had been translated
and perhaps hadn't got into our copy of the documents, and
whether they could be found. You see, we have 11 pages
missing in the translation.

COLONEL SMIRNOV: Mr. President, I have not yet seen the
translation. If the President will allow me, during the
recess I will verify the translation, and will put the
translation file into complete order.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, certainly. Go on in the meantime.

COLONEL SMIRNOV:

   "Together with his soldiers, he burned nine Soviet
   villages and hamlets. He plundered farmers and shot
   innocent peaceful Soviet citizens who came out of the
   woods to get the piles of ashes remaining from their
   burned-down homes in order to search for food.
   
   He participated in the deportation of Soviet citizens
   into German slavery."

I will allow myself to quote still another excerpt
concerning a defendant named Modisch who was an orderly in
the German Military Hospital Number 551. The Tribunal will
find this part on Page 73 of the document book, in the last
paragraph:

   "Modisch was a medical orderly in the 551 German
   Military Hospital in the city of Smolensk from September
   1941 until April 1943. He was an eye-witness and direct
   participant in the killing of prisoners of war, wounded
   soldiers and officers of the Red Army, upon whom the
   German professors and doctors, Schemm, Getto, Muller,
   Ott, Stefan, Wagner and others carried out, under the
   pretext of a cure, various experiments with previously
   unknown chemicals. After that, the wounded prisoners of
   war were infected with septicaemia and killed."

I quote further from the same document

   "Modisch himself killed, by means of injections of great
   quantities of strophantin and arsenic, no less than
   twenty-four prisoners of war, both Red Army men and
   officers. In addition, he used, for medical treatment of
   German military personnel, the blood of Soviet children,
   ranging in age from six to eight years, by taking great
   quantities of blood from them, after which the children
   died. He extracted from Russian prisoners of war the
   spinal

                                                   [Page 45]

   fluid, whereupon because of emaciation they suffered
   paralysis of the lower extremities. He participated also
   in the plundering of Soviet medical institutions in the
   city of Smolensk."

I omit another page in the document. The Tribunal can see
for itself that everyone of these ten defendants brought to
trial committed such a long series of crimes that, according
to the laws of any civilised country, they would be
condemned to death. I quote as an example one of the charges
proved during this trial regarding the defendant Gaudian.
The extract referring to him will be found by the Tribunal
on Pages 74 and 75. I draw the attention of the Tribunal to
the fact that Gaudian raped seven young girls and then
killed them.

I conclude this part by quoting only three lines which
state:

   "In the month of 1943, with his participation, sixty
   inhabitants of the district of Osiposwitkschi were
   burned in a stable; the village itself was also burned."

I omit a part concerning Hentschke and quote only five
lines, on Page 75 of the document book from that part of the
proceedings which concerns Muller, a lance-corporal in the
335th Guard Battalion:

"At various times, the defendant Muller killed ninety-six
Soviet citizens, among them old men, women and babies.
Muller raped thirty-two Soviet women, of whom six were
killed after having been raped. Among the women raped, were
several fourteen- or fifteen-year-old girls."

I do not know whether it is necessary to continue this
quotation. I believe that the mentality of these criminals,
seven out of ten of whom already ended their lives on the
gallows, has been made clear to the Tribunal. However, in
order to characterise, not the ones who committed the crime
but those who were actually responsible for the lives of the
population of the occupied territories in the East, I beg
the Tribunal to allow me to turn to the diary of the
defendant Hans Frank, which has already been submitted to
the Tribunal by our American colleagues as document 2233-PS.
We quote certain extracts from Frank's diary as Exhibit USSR
223. The Tribunal will find these excerpts on Page 78 of the
document book. I quote that part of the excerpt which the
Tribunal will find on Page 86 of the document book, third
paragraph.

On 6 February, 1940, Frank gave an interview to the
Volkischer Beobachter correspondent, Kleiss. I quote that
section of the interview which was already pointed out to
the Tribunal. I begin the quotation:

   "Interview given by the Governor-General to the
   Vo1kischer Beobachter correspondent, Kleiss, on 6
   February, 1940:
   
   Kleiss: It might be interesting to develop the thesis
   which distinguishes a protectorate from a Government
   General.
   
   The Governor-General: I might, for example, state the
   following: In Prague, there were put up red posters
   announcing that seven Czechs had been shot that day. I
   then said to myself: 'If I wished to order that one
   should hang up posters about every seven Poles shot,
   there would not be enough forests in Poland with which
   to make the paper for these posters. Indeed, we must act
   cruelly.'"

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