“1. The villages of Ano-Kerzilion and Kato-Kerzilion (75 kilometers east of Salonika on the mouth of the Struma) which had been ascertained to be the base of a considerable guerrilla band in this area, were razed to the ground by troops of the division on 17 October. The male inhabitants between 16 and 60 years of age—(totalling 207 persons)—were shot, women and children evacuated.
“2. No other special incidents.”
Surely, there is no need for a comment regarding this document.
I should also like to refer to the official report of the Greek Government, which is presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-379 (Document Number UK-82). On pages 29 and 30 of the report, which correspond to Page 207 of your document book, we find numerous facts concerning the burning and destruction of villages on the Island of Crete. Thus, the villages of Skiki, Prassi, and Kanados were completely burned down in retaliation for the murder of some German parachutists carried out by the employees of the local police at the time of the attack on the Island of Crete. Certain villages were demolished by the Germans for the sole reason that they were in the partisans’ zone of operations.
It is stated in the report that 1,600 out of 6,500 villages were completely or partially demolished. It should also be noted that the Germans intentionally bombed undefended towns and caused heavy damage to 23 Greek towns, among which the towns of Yanina, Arta, Preveza, Tukkala, Larissa, and Canea were almost completely destroyed. This is mentioned on Page 21 of the report of the Greek Government. It is on Page 190 of your document book.
Your Honors, the whole world knows about the Hitlerites’ crimes at Lidice. The 10th of June 1942 was the last day of Lidice and of its inhabitants. The fascist barbarians left irrefutable evidence of their monstrous crime. They made a film of the annihilation of Lidice, and we are able to show this evidence to the Tribunal. Upon orders from the Czechoslovak Government, a special investigation was carried out which established that the filming of the tragedy of Lidice was entrusted by the so-called Protector to an adviser on photography of the NSDAP, one Franz Treml, and was carried out by him in conjunction with Miroslav Wagner. Among the documents which we present to the Tribunal are photographs of the operators who filmed the phases of the destruction of Lidice.
I present these documents to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-370 (Document Number USSR-370). I should like to remark, Your Honors, that this film is a German documentary film. It was filmed a few years ago. The technical state of this reel is not very satisfactory, and therefore when we present it, there may be a few defects.
I beg the indulgence of the Tribunal beforehand and request permission to show this film.
[Moving pictures were then shown.]
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: What the Germans perpetrated in Lidice was repeated a short time later in another inhabited point of Czechoslovakia in the village of Lezhaky. I shall refer as evidence to the Czechoslovak Government’s report, Pages 126-127. This report is presented to the Court as Exhibit Number USSR-60 (Document Number USSR-60). This report states, “Lezhaky, like Lidice, was totally destroyed and the ground where it stood is now covered over with rubble.”
I pass on to the next section of my report, the destruction of villages and towns, industry, and transport in the territory of the U.S.S.R.
Your Honors, I have quoted above the general directives of the criminal Hitler Government and the German Supreme Command concerning the destruction of inhabited centers, industry, and means of communications in the U.S.S.R. Now I pass on to the presentation of evidence of those destructions which were carried out in execution of these directives by the Hitlerites everywhere on the territory of the Soviet Union which they temporarily occupied.
I omit the evidence regarding the destruction of single towns of the Soviet Union and pass on to the presentation of my report beginning on Page 42.
There are a large number of documents at the disposal of the Soviet Prosecution which incriminate the Hitlerite criminals in premeditated and systematic, calculated and cruel annihilation and destruction of cities and towns, plants and factories, railways and means of communication.
The presentation of all this documentation would seriously delay the Trial. Therefore, I consider it possible to pass on to the presentation of the general conclusive data established by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union instead of presenting separate documents.
From Exhibit Number USSR-35 (Document Number USSR-35), I shall read into the record only those sections and data which have not been read into the record previously and only those which directly concern my subject. These extracts, Your Honors, are on Pages 223-224 of your document book. I quote:
“The German fascist invaders totally or partially destroyed and burned 1,710 towns and more than 70,000 villages and hamlets. They burned and destroyed more than 6 million buildings and rendered some 25 million persons homeless. Among the destroyed towns which suffered most are the greatest industrial and cultural centers: Stalingrad, Sevastopol, Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Odessa, Smolensk, Novgorod, Pskov, Orel, Kharkov, Voronezh, Rostov-on-the-Don, and many others.
“The German fascist invaders destroyed 31,850 industrial works which employed some 4 million workers.”
I omit the end of Page 43, Pages 44 and 45, and the beginning of Page 46 of my report.
“The Hitlerites destroyed . . . 36,000 postal and telegraphic offices, telephone centers, and other communication centers. . . . During their occupation of a part of the territory of the Soviet Union, and especially during their retreat, the German fascist invaders caused great damage to the railway system, waterways, and river transport.
“They used special machines for the destruction of roads and thus put out of action 26, and partially destroyed eight, main railway lines. They destroyed 65,000 kilometers of rails and 500,000 kilometers of cables for the automatic railroad controls, signals, and communication lines. They blew up 13,000 railway bridges, 4,100 railway stations, and 1,600 water pressure stations. They destroyed 317 locomotive depots and 129 locomotive and wagon repair shops, as well as railway machine works.
“They destroyed, damaged, or evacuated to Germany 15,800 locomotives, and Diesel locomotives, and 428,000 railway cars.
“The enemy caused great damage to the buildings, enterprises, and institutions and ships of the shipping lines operating in the Arctic Ocean, in the White Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Black, and the Caspian Seas. They sank or partially damaged more than 1,400 passenger, cargo, and special ships.
“The sea ports of Sevastopol, Mariupol, Kerch, Novorossisk, Odessa, Nikolaiev, Leningrad, Murmansk, Lepaya, Tallinn, and other ports equipped with modern technical installations suffered greatly.
“The invaders sank or captured 4,280 passenger and cargo ships and steam tugs of the river shipping and auxiliary services, as well as 4,029 barges. They destroyed 479 harbor and quay installations, as well as 89 dockyards and machine factories.
“While retreating under the pressure of the Red Army, German troops blew up and destroyed 91,000 kilometers of highways and 90,000 road bridges of a total length of 930 kilometers.”
With this I conclude my statement, Your Honors.
The documents which were read into the record and presented to the Tribunal clearly demonstrate how the Hitlerite conspirators, in all the territories seized by them in the U.S.S.R., Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Greece, violated the laws and customs of war, the fundamental principles of criminal law, and the direct provisions of Articles 46 and 50 of the Hague Convention of 1907.
The documents submitted also prove that the German invaders contemplated complete destruction of cities and villages from which the Hitlerites were compelled to retreat under the blows of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union.
Finally these documents show with what bestial cruelty and mercilessness the Hitlerites carried out their criminal plans in reducing to dust and ashes the largest cultural and industrial centers. Over a wide area from the White to the Black and the Aegean Seas, in the territory temporarily occupied by the German troops,