. NMT04-T0417
Volume IV · Page 417
| The maintenance of an army in invaded
territory and the planning of future operations demands cold factuality in
reports, which requirement was rudimentary knowledge to all members of the
German Armed Forces. Thus, every sub-kommando leader was instructed to inform
his Kommando leader of developments and activities in his field of operations,
every Kommando leader in turn accounted to the Einsatzgruppe leader, and the
Einsatzgruppe leader by wireless and by mail reported to the RSHA in Berlin.
These accounts were veiled in secrecy but they were not so covert that they did
not come to the attention of the top-ranking military and political officials
of the regime. In fact, at the capital, they were compiled, classified,
mimeographed, and distributed to a selected list. These are the reports which
have been submitted in evidence. The case of the prosecution is founded entirely on these official accounts prepared by the Einsatzgruppen and Einsatzkommando leaders. The Tribunal will quote rather copiously from these reports because only by the very language of the actual performers can a shocked world believe that these things could come to pass in the twentieth century. A few brief excerpts at the outset will reveal graphically the business of the Einsatzgruppen. A report on Einsatzgruppe B, dated 19 December 1941, speaks of an action in Mogilev and points out — |
"During the controls of the roads radiating from Mogilev, carried out with the aid of the constabulary, 135 persons, mostly Jews, were apprehended * * *. 127 persons were shot." (NO-2824. ) |
| The report also declares — |
"In agreement with the commander, the transient camp in Mogilev was searched for Jews and officials. 126 persons were found and shot." |
| The same report advises that in Parichi near Bobruisk, |
"A special action was executed, during which 1,013 Jews and Jewesses were shot." |
| In Rudnja — |
"835 Jews of both sexes were shot." (NO-2824.) |
| Sonderkommando 4a, operating in the town of
Chernigov, reported that on 23 October 1941, 116 Jews were shot; on the
following day, 144 were shot. (NO-2832.) A Teilkommando of Sonderkommando 4a, operating in Poltava, reported as of 23 November 1941 — |
"Altogether 1,538 Jews were shot" (NO-3405.) |
| Einsatzgruppe D operating near Simferopol communicated -- |
"During the period covered by the report 2,010 people were shot." (NO-3235.) |
