“Further executions were later carried out. Thus, for instance, 11,034 Jews were executed on 9 November 1941 in Dünaburg. In the beginning of December 1941, as a result of an operation carried out in Riga and following the order of the Higher Chief of the SS and Police, 27,800 persons were executed, and in mid-December 1941, in Libau, 2,350 Jews were executed. At present there are in ghettos, besides the Jews from Germany, about 2,500 Latvian Jews in Riga, about 950 in Dünaburg, and about 300 in Libau.”
THE PRESIDENT: Can you tell me where these figures come from? Are they in an official report, or are they German figures?
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: These are the data published by the Germans themselves. This particular document was discovered in the Gestapo archives. It was brought out of Latvia by troops of the Red Army. I request Your Honors to take note that this document covers only the period between 16 October 1941 and 31 January 1942. This is therefore not conclusive data but merely data connected with one German operational group during this particular period of time.
Have I your permission to proceed, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I quote one line only from the subparagraph entitled “Lithuania,” which is on Page 173 of the document book, Paragraph 3:
“In numerous individual operations, 136,421 persons were liquidated all told.”
I request the Tribunal to allow me to quote in greater detail from the next subparagraph of the “A” group report, entitled “White Ruthenia.” I quote the last paragraph on Page 5 of the Russian text; Page 174, last paragraph, of the document book:
“The final and definite liquidation of the Jews remaining in the territory of White Ruthenia, after the arrival of the Germans, presented certain difficulties. As a matter of fact, it is precisely in this territory that the Jews constitute a high percentage of specialists and are indispensable for lack of other reserves. Moreover, Einsatzgruppe A took over the territory only after the hard frosts had set in, a fact which hampered the carrying out of the mass executions very seriously indeed. A further difficulty consists in the circumstance that the Jews are scattered all over the territory. Bearing in mind the fact that distances are vast, road conditions bad, transportation and petrol lacking, and the forces of the Security Police and SD insignificant, the executions could be carried out only by a maximum effort. Nevertheless, 41,000 Jews have already been shot. This figure does not include the persons executed by former Einsatzkommandos.”
I interrupt once more and proceed to read from the following paragraph—this corresponds to Page 175, Paragraph 2 of the document book. I begin the quotation: