“ ‘Subject: Crematoria 2 and 3 for the camp for prisoners of war.
“ ‘We acknowledge receipt of your wire of 10 February, as follows:
“ ‘We again acknowledge receipt of your order for five triple furnaces, including two electric lifts for raising the corpses and one emergency lift. A practical installation for stoking coal was also ordered and one for transporting the ashes. You are to deliver the complete installation for Crematorium Number 3. You are expected to take steps to ensure the immediate dispatch of all the machines complete with parts.’ ”
I omit the next document which deals with “bathhouses for special purposes” (gas chambers), and present to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-64 (Document Number USSR-64), a document which is appended to the report of the Yugoslav Government. This is a certified photostat of a document externally having all the official character of a business document from a “sound business firm.” The name of the firm is Didier-Werke. The subject of the correspondence—the construction of crematoria “designed for a large camp in Belgrade.” The document presented by me characterized the firm Didier as a firm with considerable experience in construction of crematoria for concentration camps and which advertised itself as a firm that understood the demands of its clients. For placing the bodies into the furnace, the firm designed a special conveyer with a two-wheeled shaft. The firm claimed that it could fill this order much better than any other firms, and asked for a small advance, to draw up draft plans for the construction of a crematorium in the camp.
I quote a few short excerpts from this document—the first two paragraphs:
“With reference to your son’s visit and his conversation with our expert, Herr Storl, we note that the Belgrade SS unit intends to build a crematorium for a large camp and that you have received instructions to design and construct the building in collaboration with local architects.”
I interrupt my quotation and I shall quote one more excerpt:
“For putting the bodies into the furnace, we suggest simply a metal fork moving on cylinders.
“Each furnace will have an oven measuring only 600 millimeters in breadth and 450 millimeters in height, as coffins will not be used. For transporting the corpses from the storage point to the furnaces we suggest using light carts on wheels and we enclose diagrams of these drawn to scale.”
I interrupt my quotation here and I present to the Tribunal Exhibit Number USSR-225 (Document Number USSR-225). This document will be brought to you presently, Mr. President. May I refer to it? It will be presented to you within a few minutes.