Mines were also laid in other places. I could give another interesting detail. Pskov was liberated in August 1944, but on Epiphany, in January 1946, another mine exploded, killing two persons. Likewise the church of St. Vasili-on-the-Hill was also mined. There a mine was laid at the very entrance to the church. In all the churches the abundance of all kinds of refuse, dirt, bottles, cans, et cetera, was strikingly noticeable. The Cathedral of St. John’s Monastery was turned by the Germans into a stable. In another church, the Church of the Epiphany, they set up a wine cellar. In a third church I saw a depot of fuel—coal, peat, et cetera. But why speak of individual churches? Wherever we turn, our hearts bleed at the spectacle of all the suffering, all the plunder, brought about by people who shouted all over Europe about their culture, who despised mankind, while some proclaimed their belief in God. What kind of faith is theirs!
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: Mr. President, I have no more questions to ask the witness.
LOMAKIN: I should like to ask the Prosecutor’s permission to say a few more words about what happened in Leningrad.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: With regard to that, you must ask the Tribunal.
LOMAKIN: I am slightly diverging from the usual order. I beg your permission, Your Honors.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
LOMAKIN: The Church of Nikolai Bogoiavlensky is the Cathedral of Leningrad. The present Patriarch Alexei lived at this church during the siege. Since I served there from July 1942 to the end of the war, I witnessed on numerous occasions artillery fire directed at the cathedral. One wonders what kind of military objectives those heroic warriors could seek in our holy church! On high feast days or ordinary Sundays immediately the artillery would begin fire. And what a fire! In the first week of Lent in 1943, from the early morning and until late at night, neither we, the clergy, nor the worshipers praying in the church could possibly leave it. Outside was death and destruction. With my own eyes I saw some fifty persons—I don’t know exactly how many—members of my congregation, killed right near the church. They tried to leave in haste before the “all clear” signal, and death met them near the church. In this sacred cathedral I had to bury thousands of peaceful citizens torn to pieces, victims of the predatory raids of the air force and artillery. An ocean of tears was shed here during the memorial services. During one of the bombardments His Grace, our Metropolitan Alexei, escaped death by a hair’s breadth, as several shell fragments smashed his cell.
I should just like to add, not wishing to take up too much of your time, that it is a remarkable thing that most of the intensive artillery fire on Leningrad always took place on feast days; the houses of God, tramway stops, and hospitals were put under fire, and destroyed with all means. The homes of peaceful citizens were bombed.
It would take too long, Your Honors, to relate everything which I have seen during these grim war days of blood and sorrow of the Leningradians. But I just want to say in conclusion that the Russian people and the people of Leningrad have fulfilled their duty to their fatherland to the very end. In spite of the heavy artillery fire and raids of the Luftwaffe there was organized efficiency and order, and the Orthodox Church shared this suffering. By prayer and preaching of God’s word, she brought consolation and gave courage to the hearts of the faithful. She has laid an unsparing sacrifice on the altar of the fatherland.
MR. COUNSELLOR SMIRNOV: I have no more questions to ask the witness, Mr. President.