By means of brief excerpts I submit to the Tribunal proof of the existence of two such centers, which were among the most famous. They are the center of mass executions of Panary, 8 kilometers from Vilna, and Fort Number 9, the “Fort of Death” in Kaunas, which has acquired a particularly grim reputation.
I quote a report which has been submitted to the Tribunal, the report of the Extraordinary State Commission on the atrocities of the Hitlerite invaders in Lithuania. The Tribunal will find this quotation on Page 294, second column of the text, last paragraph. For the convenience of the interpreters I inform you that I am quoting from Page 228. I omit the first three paragraphs which state that the mass execution place at Panary was organized in July 1941 and existed until June 1944. I continue the quotation starting with the fourth paragraph where it is related how the Hitlerites attempted to cover up the traces of their crimes in this place of mass executions. I quote:
“In December 1943”—stated witness Saydel Matvey Fedorovich—“we were forced to exhume and burn the corpses.”
I omit the next sentence and continue the quotation:
“For this purpose, we placed on each pyre about 3,000 corpses, poured oil over them, placed incendiary bombs on four sides, and set it on fire.
“The burning of corpses continued from the end of 1943 to June 1944. During this period, more than 100,000 corpses were dug out from nine pits of a total volume of 21,179 cubic meters and were burned on fires. The last days before their retreat the Hitlerites did not have time to burn the bodies of the shot. . . .”
I omit the next few paragraphs and quote the results of the medical-legal expert commission:
“The corpses that were examined were, for the most part, those of the civilian population. A small number of corpses were found dressed in military uniforms. On some of the corpses were found objects of religious worship of the Catholic and Greek Orthodox faith. According to the objects and documents found, it has been established that among those who were shot, there were physicians, engineers, students, chauffeurs, mechanics, railroad workers, tailors, watchmakers, tradesmen, et cetera.”
I omit the next three paragraphs and pass on to the concluding sentence:
“The medical-legal expert commission has established that the German fascist butchers shot and burned in Panary not less than 100,000 people.”