Have I your permission to continue?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: “ ‘These hostages must be hanged if the guilty parties or their accomplices are not found within 24 hours. During the following 24 hours, double the number of hostages will be hanged on the same spot.’
“Point 7 of Order Number 431/41 of the German commandant of the town of Feodosia, Captain Eberhard, states:
“ ‘During an alarm every citizen appearing on the street must be shot. Groups of citizens who appear must be surrounded and mercilessly shot. Leaders and inciters are to be publicly hanged.’
“In a directive addressed to the 260th German Infantry Division, concerning the treatment of the civilian population, it is pointed out to the individual officers that ‘sufficient severity is not being applied everywhere.’
“Orders posted by the occupants in the Soviet towns and villages announce the death penalty for the most varied reasons: For being on the streets after 1700 hours; for offering lodging for the night to strangers; for not handing over Red Army soldiers to the authorities; for failing to hand over property; for attempting to put out a fire in an inhabited spot intended to be burned down; for travelling from one inhabited spot to another; for refusing to do forced labor; and so on.”
I continue this quotation on Page 8, reverse side of the second column of the text, Paragraph 2:
“The German fascist High Command not only tolerates but actually orders the murder of women and children. Organized infanticide in some of the orders is presented as a means for fighting the partisan movement. Thus, an order of the commander of the 254th German Division, Lieutenant General Von Beschnitz, dated 2 December 1941, considers the fact that ‘old people, women, and children of all ages’ move about behind the German lines as proof of ‘careless good nature,’ and orders the shooting without warning of ‘every civilian person regardless of age or sex approaching our front lines.’ It also orders that the ‘mayors be made responsible for reporting immediately the appearance of any unknown persons, and especially of children, to the local Kommandantur’ and to ‘shoot immediately any person suspected of espionage.’ ”
Some data regarding the directives received from the Reich authorities by the fascist authorities in the temporarily occupied territories are also contained in the note. I quote from Page 9 of your document book, Paragraph 3, Column 1 of the text: