12 Dec.
45
The Defendant Rosenberg wrote, himself, concerning
these brutalities, to the instigator of them, the Defendant Sauckel; and
we refer now to Document Number 018-PS, which bears Exhibit Number
USA-186.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Dodd, from where did that top-secret document come?
MR. DODD: It came from the files of the Defendant Rosenberg.
This document, 018-PS, is a letter from the Defendant Rosenberg to the
Defendant Sauckel; and it is dated the 21st day of December 1942, with
attachments. I wish to quote from Page 1 of the English text, starting
at the middle of the second paragraph which reads as follows:
"The reports I have received show
that the increase of the guerilla bands in the Occupied Eastern
Territories is largely due to the fact that the methods used for
procuring laborers in these regions are felt to be forced measures of
mass deportations, so that the endangered persons prefer to escape
their fate by withdrawing into the woods or going to the guerilla
bands."
Passing now to Page
4 of the same English text, there is an attachment to Rosenberg's letter
consisting of parts excerpted from letters of residents of the Occupied
Eastern Territories — excerpted by Nazi censors apparently. In the
German text it appears at Page 6, Paragraphs 1 and 2. Starting the
quotation:
"At our place, new things have
happened. People are being taken to Germany. On October 5 some people
from the Kowkuski district were scheduled to go, but they did not want
to and the village was set on fire. They threatened to do the same
thing in Borowytschi, as not all who were scheduled to depart wanted
to go. Thereupon three truckloads of Germans arrived and set fire to
their houses. In Wrasnytschi 12 houses and in Borowytschi 3 houses
were burned.
"On October 1 a new conscription of labor forces took place. Of
what happened, I will describe the most important to you. You cannot
imagine the bestiality. You probably remember what we were told about
the Soviets during the rule of the Poles. At that time we did not
believe it and now it seems just as incredible. The order came to
supply 25 workers, but no one reported. All had fled. Then the German
police came and began to ignite the houses of those who had fled. The
fire burned furiously, since it had not rained for 2 months. In
addition the grain stacks were in the farm yards. You can imagine what
took place. The people who had hurried to the