“For the transport of the bodies (procurement of vehicles) offices of the Wehrmacht should be contacted. For transportation and burial a coffin is not to be requested. The bodies should be completely wrapped up in paper, preferably in oiled paper, tarpaulin, corrugated paper, or some other suitable material. Both transportation and burial should be done unostentatiously. When many corpses come in at the same time, burial should take place in a common grave. The corpses should be laid at the usual depth, side by side, not overlapping each other. As a site for the burial a distant part of the cemetery should be chosen. Any burial service and any decoration of the graves should be disallowed.”
I omit the following sentence: “It is necessary to keep expenses as low as possible.”
But even in the special organizations of German fascism, specially created for the extermination of human life, the criminals still continued in their policy of racial and political discrimination. Actually, this discrimination could mean one thing only, namely, that one part of the camp prisoners came to their inevitable end, death, more rapidly than the other part.
And the criminals even tried to make the inevitable end more of a torment for those of their victims whom they, following the Nazi man-hating theories, designated as subhumans or considered capable of active resistance.
I request the permission of the Tribunal to read into the record one paragraph from a document already submitted as Exhibit Number USSR-415. This is a report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union on the “Crimes at Lamsdorf Camp” and the quotation will testify to the extent of the criminal Hitlerite activities. It concludes the presentation of evidence regarding this camp. Your Honors will find the passage in question on Page 146 of the document book, Paragraph 3. I quote:
“According to the findings of the special commission during the existence of the Lamsdorf Camp, the Germans tortured to death more than 100,000 Soviet prisoners of war. Most of these died in the mines, in the various economic enterprises, or during transportation back to the camp. Some were crushed to death in the dugouts, many were killed during the evacuation of the camp. Forty thousand prisoners of war were tortured to death in the Lamsdorf Camp proper.”
Mr. President, the Soviet Prosecution begs to present one more witness, Doctor Kivelisha. He is a physician and his evidence is particularly important in establishing that there existed a special regime for Soviet prisoners of war in the camps. The Soviet Prosecution requests your permission to question this witness.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, Colonel Smirnov.
[The witness Kivelisha took the stand.]
THE PRESIDENT: What is your name?