-14- |
. ... KILL 840.000 RUSSIANS AT SACHS EN HAUSEN AND BURN THE BODIES IN FOUR PORTABLE OVENS |
13 Feb. 46 |
THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal would like to know as they have not these letters before them, to whom they were addressed. MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: This letter, Mr. President, was addressed to the SS units in Belgrade. These documents were taken by the Yugoslav Government. The 55 units in Belgrade considered that the methods of extermination practiced in Bandetz and Saimyshte, which I have already described to the Tribunal, were not adequate and they decided to perfect them. For this purpose they started building, or rather they designed the construction of crematoria in the concentration camps. This was the subject of the lively business correspondence between the SS police and the SS units in Belgrade and the German firms, part of which I have just presented to you. THE PRESIDENT: Were the other letters that you referred til also addressed to SS units? MR. COUN5ELLOR SMIRNOV: Yes, Mr. President, they were also addressed to the SS units. The first letter, addressed to the administration of the Auschwitz Camp was from the firm Topf and Sons. I shall now present to the Tribunal evidence of the fact that besides the stationary crematoria, there existed also movable crematoria. The Tribunal already knows about the movable gas chambers. These were "murder vans." There were also created transportable crematoria. An SS member, Paul Waldmann, testifies to their existence. He was one of the participants in the crime perpetrated by the German fascists when 840,000 Russian prisoners of war in Sachsenhausen were annihilated at one time. The Ex hibit number USSR-52 (Document Number USSR-52) on Auschwitz has already been presented to the Court. I quote that particular extract from the testirnony of a member, Wald mann, which mentions the mass execution in Sachsenhausen: "The war prisoners murdered in this way were cremated in four movable crematoria which were transported on car trailers." I omit the next two pages of my report which deals with gas chambers and crematoria. I think the Tribunal already has a clear idea of this question. But I ask the Tribunal to pay attention to the repugnant methods introduced by the German fascists for industrial utilization of corpses. Further I shall present to the Tribunal evidence which would testify to even more repulsive utilization of the corpses. Now I shall quote from a report on Auschwitz, which the Tribunal will find on Page 353, reverse side, of the document |
IMT VII |
586 |