“This is typical because it shows the customary German routine of shooting in the nape of the neck.
“The corpses were wedged so tightly that, at first glance, it appeared as though there was just one solid mass of intertwined bodies. The last layers had been heaped on the first, which were then closely pressed to the walls of the cavern.”
I omit the two following pages of the report, and I merely quote the conclusion of the legal-medical expert commission. You will find this on Page 366, Volume II, second column of the text, Paragraph 15:
“According to the testimony of the inhabitants of Artemovsk, on 9 February 1942 several thousand people were driven into the abandoned alabaster quarries, carrying their small household possessions and food.
“As and when the cavern filled up, the people were shot either when standing or kneeling down; then another batch would be driven in and shot down on the corpses of the first batch; the corpses of the victims were piled one on top of another. Some people tried to flee from the impending murder, trampled one another down, and died in agony.”
I further omit three pages of my presentation and continue on Page 209. During the period of the mass executions the German fascist criminals elaborated a definite technique for the execution of their crimes. I would like to mention some of the most typical methods employed, because the Tribunal will realize, on hearing individual instances, how criminally this technique of atrocities was perfected by the Germans and how increasingly cynical was the premeditation of these monstrous crimes. In confirmation of my statement, I should like to present some documents to the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT: We shall have to break off now. It is 4 o’clock.
The Tribunal would be glad to know how much longer your presentation will be.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I shall finish my presentation of evidence tomorrow.