“The commission has ascertained that in the ovens of the crematoria alone more than 600,000 corpses were burned. More than 300,000 corpses were burned on the gigantic pyres in the Krempetz Woods; more than 80,000 corpses were burned in the two old ovens; not less than 400,000 corpses were burned on pyres in the camp itself, near the crematoria.”
As a proof of these same circumstances, that is to say, of the scale of the criminal activity of the Hitlerites in concealing the traces of their crimes, I refer now to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union for the town of Minsk. The members of the Tribunal will find this quotation on the back of Page 215, second column of the text, Paragraph 4. I quote a short excerpt:
“In the Blagovtschchina Woods 34 ditch graves were discovered, camouflaged with evergreen branches. Some of the graves reached a length of 50 meters. During a partial excavation of five of these graves, corpses and a layer of ashes 50 centimeters or 1 meter thick was discovered at a depth of 3 meters. Near the graves the commission discovered a great number of small human bones, hair, false teeth, and numerous small personal articles. The investigation has ascertained that the fascist exterminated here up to 150,000 persons.
“At a distance of 450 meters from the former hamlet of Petrashkevichi eight ditch graves have been discovered. Their size is 21 meters long, 4 meters wide, and 5 meters deep. Before every ditch grave there are enormous piles of ashes, remainders of the burned corpses.”
I omit the next page and in proof of this same circumstances I am now referring to the report of the Extraordinary State Commission concerning the crimes of the German fascist invaders in the Lvov region. This document has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Document Number USSR-6. I quote a very short excerpt from this document. The part which I will quote will be found by the members of the Tribunal on Page 164, on the reverse side, second column of the text, Paragraph 5:
“Upon the order of Reich Minister Himmler and of Major General of Police Katzmann, special measures for exhuming and burning the corpses of murdered, peaceful citizens, Soviet prisoners of war, and citizens of foreign countries were carried out in June 1943. In Lvov the Germans created a special Sonderkommando Number 1005 composed of 126 men. The chief of this Kommando was Hauptsturmbannführer Scherlack; his assistant, Hauptsturmbannführer Rauch. The duty of this Sonderkommando was to exhume and burn the corpses of the civilians and prisoners of war who had been liquidated by the Germans.”
I dwell on this extract, and I would beg the Tribunal to remember this number, “Sonderkommando Number 1005.” This Kommando was the prototype of similar Sonderkommandos created by the Germans. Later, the Sonderkommandos created for this task received the numbers of 1005-A, 1005-B, et cetera.
I terminate the quotation with the conclusion of the medical-legal experts. I quote the last paragraph on Page 340 of the text:
“Thus the Hitlerite murderers adopted in the territory of the Lvov region the same methods for concealing their crimes which they employed earlier in connection with the murder of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest.
“The expert commission ascertained full similarity of method in camouflaging the graves in Lissenitzach Forest with those used to camouflage the graves of the Polish officers killed by the Germans at Katyn.