I quote the section entitled, “Measures for the restoration of full working capacities.” I think that the boundless cynicism and the cruelty of this document require no further comment:
“The Soviet prisoners of war are, almost without exception, in a state of acute malnutrition, which currently renders them unfit for a normal output of work.”
The General Staff of the German Armed Forces was particularly concerned over two questions: Firstly, with blankets for Soviet prisoners of war, and secondly, in what form the mercilessly murdered Soviet victims of the concentration camps should be buried. Both questions found their solution in one document.
I submit it to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-429 (Document Number USSR-429), and request that it be added as evidence to the record. Your Honors will find it on Page 162 of the document book. This is a directive of the 8th Military District, dated 28 October 1941. I begin the quotation:
“Re: Soviet Russian prisoners of war. The following arrangements were decided during a conference of the OKW:
“1. Blankets. The Soviet Russians will receive paper blankets, which they will have to manufacture themselves, in the form of quilts, from paper tissue, filled with crumpled paper and similar material. The material will be procured by the OKW.”
The second part, as Your Honors will notice, is as follows—the heading reads, “Burial of Soviet Russians”:
“Soviet prisoners of war are to be buried naked, without a coffin, wrapped in packing paper. Coffins will be used only for transports. In the labor commands the burial will be attended to by the competent authorities. Burial expenses will be met by the competent M-Stalag for prisoners of war. The stripping of the bodies will be done by the camp guards. Signed: by order, Grossekettler.”
But not only the administration of the military district was concerned with the methods for burying Soviet prisoners of war; the Ministry of the Interior was also concerned with this question, and an urgent letter was addressed to the camp specially marked, “Not for publication in the press, even in excerpts.”
I request the Tribunal to accept this document in evidence as Exhibit Number USSR-430. The members of the Tribunal can find this passage on Page 276 of the document book. I quote a few sentences from this fairly voluminous document—five sentences. I begin to quote: