.
position and barracks.”
I omit one paragraph.
“The Church of the Assumption on Volotov Field, a monument of Novgorod architecture of the 14th-15th centuries, was turned by the Germans into a heap of stones and bricks.”
I omit one sentence.
“The Church of the Transfiguration of our Lord, in Ilyin Street, was destroyed. It was one of the finest specimens of Novgorod architecture of the 14th century, particularly famed for its frescoes, painted in the same period by the great Byzantine master, Theofan, the Greek.”
I omit the rest of this page and pass on to Page 54, of my report.
“Over 2 years of Hitlerite rule in Novgorod brought about the ruin of many other wonderful, ancient monuments of Russian architecture. . . . By order of the commanding general of the 18th German Army, Generaloberst Lindemann, the German barbarians dismantled and prepared for removal to Germany the monument to ‘a thousand years of Russia.’ This monument was erected in the Kremlin Square in 1862 and represented, in artistic images, the main stages of the development of our native land up to the sixties of the 19th century. . . .
“The Hitler barbarians dismantled the monument and smashed the statuary. They did not, however, succeed in shipping it off and melting down the metal.”
Citizen Youri Nikolaievich Dimitriev, in his affidavit, gives a very detailed account of the barbarous destruction by the Germans of the monuments of ancient Russian art in the cities of Novgorod and Pskov. Dimitriev, since 1937, was the custodian of the Ancient Russian Art Section of the Russian State Museum in Leningrad. He began the study of the historical monuments of Novgorod and Pskov in 1926. As a great expert in this particular sphere of art, he was asked by the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union to participate in the investigation of the crimes of the German fascist invaders.
I submit to the Tribunal the original of Dimitriev’s depositions, duly certified, in accordance with legal procedure in the U.S.S.R., as Document Number USSR-312 (Exhibit Number USSR-312). You will find it, Your Honors, on Pages 335 and 347 in your document book. In submitting his affidavit, I shall omit facts already known to the Tribunal from the report of the Extraordinary State Commission previously read into the record. I quote only a few short excerpts which will be found on Pages 336 and 339. Mr. Dimitriev stated as follows—I read:
“The greater part of Novgorod is razed to the ground; only a few districts were left by the Germans and even these were in ruins. Pskov was also left in ruins by the Germans; during their retreat they blew up the buildings and monuments. Of 88 buildings of historical and artistic value in Novgorod only two buildings are without grave damages. . . . Only a few isolated monuments in Pskov were left undamaged.
“In Novgorod and Pskov the Germans deliberately destroyed monuments of historical and artistic value.”
And further:
“The German Army, while destroying and damaging monuments of historical and artistic value, plundered and carried off works of art and valuable objects which formed part of, or were contained in, these monuments.
“At the same time the German troops profaned and desecrated several ecclesiastical monuments of historic and artistic value in Novgorod and Pskov.”
Day by day for 26 months, the Hitlerites systematically destroyed one of the most ancient Russian cities, Smolensk.
The Soviet Prosecution has presented to the Tribunal a document as Document Number USSR-56, containing the report of the Extraordinary State Commission of the Soviet Union. I shall not quote this document; but I shall only refer to it and endeavor, in my own words, to emphasize the fundamental points of this document, dealing with the reported theme now.
In Smolensk, the German fascist invaders plundered and destroyed the most valuable collections in the museums. They desecrated and burned down ancient monuments; they destroyed schools and institutes, libraries, and sanatoriums. The report also mentions the fact that in April 1943, the Germans needed rubble to pave the roads. For this purpose, they blew up the intermediate school. The Germans burned down all the libraries of the city and 22 schools; 646,000 volumes perished in the library fires.
I now pass on to Page 57 of my report:
“Prior to the German occupation Smolensk contained four museums with extremely valuable collections.
“The museum of art possessed most valuable collections, primarily of Russian historic-artistic, historic-sociological, ethnographic, and other valuables: paintings, icons, bronzes, porcelains, metal castings, and textiles. These collections were of international value and had been exhibited in France. The invaders destroyed the museums and took the most valuable exhibits to Germany.”
I shall quote only one last paragraph on Page 57:
“The Einsatzstab Rosenberg for the confiscation and exportation of valuables from the occupied regions of the East had a special branch in Smolensk, headed by Dr. Norling, the organizer for the plunder of museums and historical monuments.”
Such are some of the numerous facts of the crimes committed by the fascist barbarians. They demonstrate how the criminal schemes of the Hitlerite conspirators were actually materialized.
It is known how mercilessly the German fascist invaders carried out the economic plunder of the Ukrainian people. But destruction and plunder of Ukrainian cultural and historical treasures played no lesser part in the plans of the Hitlerite conspirators, and was carried out with the same savage zeal. In accordance with their criminal plans for the enslavement of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people, the Hitlerite conspirators endeavored to annihilate its culture. From the very first days of their invasion of the Ukraine the Hitlerites, in execution of their criminal designs, embarked upon the systematic destruction of schools, higher educational institutions, scientific establishments, museums, libraries, clubs, and theaters.
The historical and cultural treasures in the cities of Kiev, Kharkov, Odessa, in the Provinces of Stalino and Rovno, and many other larger and smaller cities, were subjected to plunder and destruction.
From the document presented by the Soviet Prosecution under Document Number USSR-32, containing the sentence pronounced by the military tribunal of the 4th Ukrainian Front between 15-18 December 1943, it is evident that the German fascist armies of Kharkov, in the Province of Kharkov, acting on direct instructions of Hitler’s Government, burned, plundered, and destroyed the material and cultural treasures of the Soviet people. These excerpts, Your Honors, you will find on Page 359 in your document book.
I now proceed to the evidence of crimes committed by the Hitlerites in the capital of the Ukrainian Republic, Kiev. I quote one paragraph of the document presented by the Soviet Prosecution under Document Number USSR-248. You will find it on Page 363 of your document book. It is an extract from the records of the Extraordinary State Commission “about the destruction and plunder by the fascist aggressors of Kiev’s Psychiatric Hospital.” Among other destructions they—I quote:
“. . . burned the archives of the institute, priceless from a scientific point of view, destroyed the magnificent hospital library of 20,000 volumes, plundered the especially protected and priceless monument of the 11th century—the famous Cathedral of Saint Cyryl situated in the institute grounds.”
I next pass on to several excerpts from the Extraordinary State Commission’s report which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-9 (Document Number USSR-9). The excerpts quoted are on Pages 365-366 of the document book:
“Before the German invasion, Kiev possessed 150 secondary and elementary schools. Of this number, 77 schools were used by the Germans as military barracks. Nine served as warehouses and workshops, two were occupied by military staffs and eight were turned into stables. During their retreat from Kiev, the German barbarians destroyed 140 schools.”
I omit the next paragraph.
“The German invaders stole more than 4 million volumes from the book stocks of the Kiev libraries. From the library of the Ukrainian S.S.R. Academy of Science alone the Hitlerites sent to Germany over 320,000 various valuable