German occupation

[vladm]

Dear Helen,
Unfortunately I can not disclose my sources, for a multiple reasons, but I can reassure you, everything I have (over 1000 photos), will be part of the community.
One more thing, I will not post photos with logo and/or URL of my site, I consider this idea - same, as mutilating memory of my ancestors. We will have always someone stilling our ideas and results of our work, but they will be always behind.
Also, one more information: copyright for a 75 years exist only in United States, the rest of the countries, under 50 years provisioning, with only one exception:
USSR (Russia now) and Western World:
Russia, can republish from Western World - everything before 1973 without royalty, same applies with Western World, can republish everything before 1973 from USSR, without notice and royalty (I need to find exact document of this treaty).
Just pay attention, if publisher from USSR or Western country (if book printed by Western print house and publisher USSR, this treaty stands anyway).

[vladm]

I found, more information about 27 July 1973:
Russia and International Copyright Conventions

http://active.wplus.net/copyright-monitoring/en/problems.html

[vladm]

Folks, don't be upset, all references to narod.ru, will be deleted, I offered to Geglov and Finkelshteyn (I spoke with both of them), free space on my site (about 1000 times faster), until they will move, no references to narod.ru will be tolerated.

[David_Pritchard]

I agree with Helen -- "honor" may not be appropriate, but I believe it would be respectful to acknowledge the German war graves in some way.

I think that the bodies should be exhumed and returned to Germany. They serve as a form of perpetual vandalism on a Russian historical site. Let us not forget the motivation behind the US Quartermaster General of the Union Forces during the Civil War, out of hatred for Confederate General Lee, Gen. Montgomery Meigs had the bodies of Union soldiers buried closely around Lee's famous home, Arlington (now Arlington National Cemetery), with the specific intent of making it unlivable in the future. Could the Nazis have had the same intentions with Russian historical buildings outside of Saint Petersburg? Since we know that most everything that the Nazis did was systematic especially when it came to looting and pillaging, I would say that yes they buried the corpses where they did as a perpetual message to the Russians. The time has come to return the message to the original sender.

David

PS: Let us remember that the Libyans exhumed and returned all of the dead Italians to Italy.

[David_Pritchard]

Robert, damage done by German army, much more severe than one Amber Room, and contribution from Germans, was a small fraction to entire restoration effort.
We always consider, contribution by million dollars spending on some restoration. But lets try to abstract our selves from Russia for a second, and take for example Versailles, quality of restoration if you compare two palaces not even on the same level, Catherine Palace much more magnificent than Versailles, and 100% credits for that to Soviet/Russian government and restoration teams involved in this effort, we can not consider money injected for restoration by local country and foreigners are equal, because we had three generations Restoration workers participating in this unreal task.
Now to have better picture of entire restoration, lets take entire amount (equal to contribution from German firms), and try to budget something serious in Western World, I doubt we can do something serious with it, only if 99% job done by volunteers.

I suggest that instead of returning German trophy art to German museums that it be sold at auction to finance the restoration of the heritage sites that were purposefully destroyed by the German Army and their Fascist allies. This would at least be on step in the right direction. Maybe even better, put a one Euro surcharge on ever 1000 cubic meters of natural gas sold to Germany, Austria, Italy and Spain that would finance the restoration of Russian Heritage sites vandalised by the Fascist forces.

David

[David_Pritchard]

Some links for the Spanish Blue Division:

http://www.emering.com/medals/blue/main.html Spanish insignia for service in Russia

http://axis101.bizland.com/SpanishAwards03.htm Spanish insignia for service in Russia

http://axis101.bizland.com/SpanishFeldpost2.htm Spanish military postal system in Russia

http://www.geocities.com/divazul/divisionazuluk.html Brief history

http://www.geocities.com/divazul/waffenss.html Spanish SS

[David_Pritchard]

An original map of Spanish Blue Division movements aroung the southern Gulf of Finland including the town of Pushkin.



Spanish Fascist soldiers in Russia:

[David_Pritchard]

Extracts from a much larger group of articles found here:  http://www.nizkor.org/

The Trial of German Major War Criminals
Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany
14th February to 26th February, 1946
Sixty-Fourth Day: Thursday, 21st February, 1946


The Destruction and Spoliation of Cultural Treasures in the USSR.

I am now going to present, your Honours, proof of crimes committed by the defendants against the culture of the peoples of the Soviet Union.

We have heard in this Court what brutality was used and on how vast a scale the Hitlerites conducted the destruction and spoliation of the cultural wealth of the peoples of Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia.

[Page 187]
The crimes perpetrated by the Hitlerite conspirators in the occupied territories of the USSR were graver still.

The criminal Organisation known as the Nazi Government aimed not only at plundering the people of the Soviet Union, at destroying their towns and villages and at extirpating the culture of the peoples of the USSR, but also at enslaving the people of the Soviet Union and of transforming our native country into a fascist colony of serfs.

In the second part of my statement I have proved how the destruction of the cultural monuments of the peoples of the USSR was planned and perpetrated.

In the Note of the People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. M. Molotov, dated 27 April, 1942, which was presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 31/3, documents and facts are quoted which establish, beyond dispute, that the destruction of historic and cultural monuments and the vile mockery of national feelings, beliefs and convictions, constituted a part of the monstrous plan evolved and put into practice by the Hitlerite Government, which strove to liquidate the national culture of the peoples of the USSR.

Later I shall refer again to this document, but at present I wish, with your permission, to read into the record the following excerpt which is on Page 321 of the document book. I omit the first and quote the second paragraph:-

    "The desecration and destruction of historical and cultural memorials in occupied Soviet territories, as well as the devastation of the numerous cultural establishments set up by the Soviet authorities, are a part of the monstrous and senseless plan conceived and pursued by the Hitlerite Government, which strives to liquidate Russian national culture and the national cultures of the peoples of the Soviet Union, to Germanise by force the Russian, Ukrainian, Bielorussian, Lithuanian, Latvian, Esthonian and other peoples of the USSR."

In Order No. 097341, General Hodt, Commander of the 17th German Army, demands that his subordinates thoroughly assimilate that misanthropic notion so typical of the thick- skulled fascists, that the "sound feeling of vengeance and revulsion towards everything Russian should not be suppressed among the men, but, on the contrary, encouraged in every way".

True to their custom of destroying universally recognised cultural treasures, the Hitlerites, everywhere on the Soviet territory occupied by them, devastated and generally burned libraries, from the small club and school libraries up to and including the most valuable collections of manuscripts and books, containing unique bibliographical treasures.

I omit a paragraph and continue the quotation:-

    "The Hitlerites looted and then set on fire the famous Borodino Museum, the historical exhibits of which related to the struggle against the armies of Napoleon in 1812, particularly dear to the Russian people. The invaders looted and set fire to the Pushkin House and Museum in the hamlet of Polotnyany Zavod.

    In Kaluga, the Hitlerites assiduously destroyed the exhibits in the House Museum in which the eminent Russian scientist Tsiolkovsky, whose services in the field of aeronautics enjoy world-wide fame, lived and worked.

    The fascist vandals used Tsiolkovsky's portrait as a target for revolver practice. Extremely valuable models of dirigibles, together with plans and instruments, were trampled underfoot. One of the museum rooms was turned into a hen coop and the furniture burned. One of the oldest agricultural institutions in the USSR, the Shatilov Selection Station in the Orel District, was destroyed by the invaders who blew up and consigned to the flames fifty-five buildings of this station, including the agro-chemical and other laboratories, the museum, the library containing 40,000 volumes, the school and other buildings. Even greater frenzy was shown by the Hitlerites

   

[David_Pritchard]

[Page 188] when looting the cultural institutions and historical monuments of the Ukraine and of Bielorussia".

I omit two paragraphs and pass on to the last paragraph of this quotation:-

    "There was no limit to the desecration by the Hitlerite vandals of the monuments and homes representing Ukrainian history, culture and art. Suffice to mention, as an example of the constant attempts to humiliate the national dignity of the Ukrainian people, that after plundering the Korolenko Library in Kharkov, the occupants used the books as paving stones for the muddy street in order to facilitate the passage of German motor vehicles."

The German barbarians treated with particular hatred those cultural monuments which were most dear to the Soviet people. I will quote several instances:-

The Hitlerites plundered Yasnaja Polyana, where one of the greatest writers, Leo Tolstoy, was born, lived and worked.

They plundered and despoiled the house where the great Russian composer Tschaikovsky lived and worked. In this house Tschaikovsky created the world-famous operas "Eugen Onegin" and "The Queen of Spades".

In Taganrog they destroyed the house where the great Russian writer Chekhov lived; in Tikhvin they destroyed the residence of the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov.

As evidence, your Honours, I will read into the record an excerpt from the Note of Foreign Commissar Molotov, dated 6 January, 1942. This document has already been submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 51/2. This excerpt is on Page 3 17 of the document book.

I quote :

    "For a period of six weeks, the Germans occupied the world-famous property of Yasnaya Polyana where Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest geniuses of mankind, was born, lived and worked. This glorious memorial to Russian culture was wrecked, profaned and finally set on fire by the Nazi vandals. The grave of the great writer was desecrated by the invaders. Irreplaceable relics relating to the life and work of Leo Tolstoy, including rare manuscripts, books and paintings, were either plundered by the German soldiers or thrown away and destroyed. A German officer named Schwartz declared, in reply to a request of one of the museum's staff collaborators to stop using the personal furniture and books of the great writer for firewood and to use wood available for this purpose: 'We do not need firewood; we shall burn everything connected with the name of your Tolstoy'. When the town of Klin was liberated by the Soviet troops on 15th December, it was ascertained that the house in which P. I. Tschaikovsky, the great Russian composer, had lived and worked, and which the Soviet State had turned into a museum, had been wrecked and plundered by Fascist officers and soldiers. In the museum building proper, the Germans set up a garage for motor-cycles, heating this garage with manuscripts, books, furniture and other museum exhibits, part of which had in any case been stolen by the German invaders. In doing this, the Nazi officers knew perfectly well that they were defiling one of the finest monuments of Russian culture.

    During the occupation of the town of Istra, the German troops established an ammunition dump in the famous ancient Russian monastery known as the New Jerusalem Monastery, founded as far back as 1654. The New Jerusalem Monastery was an outstanding historical and religious monument of the Russian people and was known as one of the most beautiful examples of religious architecture. This did not, however, prevent the German fascist vandals from blowing up their ammunition dump in the New Jerusalem Monastery on their retreat from Istra, thereby reducing this irreplaceable monument of Russian church history to a heap of ruins."

[David_Pritchard]

[Page 189]
Acting upon directions of the German Military Command, the Hitlerites destroyed and annihilated the cultural and historic monuments of the Russian people connected with the life and work of the great Russian poet, Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin.

The Report of the Extraordinary State Commission, the original copy of which is now submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 40, reads as follows:-

    "To preserve the cultural and historical memorials of the Russian people connected with the life and creations of the gifted Russian poet and genius, Alexander Sergeivitch Pushkin, the Soviet Government, on 17 March, 1922, declared the poet's estate at Michailovskoye, as well as his tomb at the monastery of Svyatogorsky, and the neighbouring villages of Trigorskoye, Gorodischtsche and Voronitsch, a State Reservation.

    The Pushkin Reservation, especially the poet's estate at Michailoskoye, was very dear to the Russian people. Here Pushkin finished the third and created the fourth, fifth and sixth chapters of "Eugen Onegin". Here, too, he finished his poem "Gypsies", and wrote the drama "Boris Godunov', as well as a large number of epic and lyrical poems.

    In July, 1941, the Hitlerites forced their way into the Pushkin Reservation. For three years they made themselves at home there, ruined everything and destroyed the Pushkin memorials."

I will omit the beginning of Page 1 of the report.

    "The plundering of the museum had already begun in August, 1941."

I will also omit the next paragraph. I read on:-

    "In the autumn of 1943 the Commander of the Pushkin Military Kommandantur, Treibholtz, urged K, V. Afanassiev to prepare for the evacuation of all the museum valuables. All these valuables were packed into cases by the German authorities, loaded into trucks and sent to Germany."

I omit the following paragraph.

    "At the end of February, 1944, the Germans turned Michailovskoye into a military objective and into one of the strong-points of the German defence. The park area was dug up for combat and communication trenches; shelters were constructed. The cottage of Pushkin's nurse was knocked down and next to it, and partly on its former site, the Germans constructed a large dugout, protected by five layers of timber. The Germans built a similar dug-out near the former museum building.

    Prior to their retreat from Michailovskoye, the Germans completed the destruction and desecration of the Pushkin estate. The House Museum erected on the foundation of Pushkin's former residence was burnt down by the Germans and nothing remained but a heap of ruins. The marble plate of the Pushkin monument was smashed to pieces and thrown on to the pile of ashes. Of the other two houses standing at the entrance to the Michailovskoye estate, one was burnt down by the Germans, the other severely damaged. The German vandals put three bullets into the large portrait of Pushkin hanging in an archway at the entrance to the Michailovskoye park then they destroyed the archway.

    After their retreat from Michailovskoye, the fascists bombarded the village with mortars and artillery fire. The wooden stairs leading to the river Soret were destroyed by German mines. The old lime trees of the circular alley leading to the house were broken down; the giant elm tree in front of the house was damaged by shell fire and splinters."

I omit the end of this page and pass on to Page 41 of the report

    "In the village of Voronitsch, the wooden church which dated back to Pushkin's time and in which Pushkin had a requiem sung on 7 April, 1825, to commemorate the death of the great English poet, Byron, was burned down. The churchyard near the church where V. P. Hannibal, one of

    [Page 190]
    Pushkin's relatives, and the priest, Ragevsky, close friend of the poet, lay buried, was criss-crossed by trenches, mined and devastated. The historical aspect of the reservation, in which the Russian people saw a symbol of Pushkin, was disfigured beyond all recognition.

    The sacrileges perpetrated by the Germans against the national sanctuaries of the Russian people are best demonstrated by the desecration of Pushkin's tomb. In attempts to save the Pushkin Reservation from destruction, the units of the Red Army did not defend this district, but withdrew to Novorzhev. Nevertheless, on 2 July, 1941, the Germans bombarded the monastery of Svyatiye-Gory, under the adjoining walls of which is Pushkin's tomb.

    In March, 1943, long before the battle line approached the Pushkin Hills, the Germans began the systematical demolition of the Svyatiye-Gory monastery."

I omit the rest of this page, and I pass on to Page 42:-

    "The poet's tomb was found completely covered with refuse. Both stairways leading down to the grave were destroyed. The platform surrounding the grave was covered with refuse, rubble, wooden fragments of ikons and pieces of sheet metal."

[David_Pritchard]

I omit a paragraph and quote further:-

    "The marble balustrade surrounding the platform was damaged by fragments of artillery shells and by bullets.

    The monument itself inclined at an angle of 10 to 12 degrees eastwards, as a result of a landslide following the shelling, and of the shocks caused by the explosions of German mines....

    .... The invaders knew perfectly well that, on entering the Pushkin Hills, the officers and soldiers of the Red Army would first of all visit the grave of the poet, and therefore converted it into a trap for the patriots. Approximately 3,000 mines were discovered and removed from the grounds of the monastery and its vicinity by the engineers of the Soviet Army."

The destruction of works of art and architecture in the towns of Pavlovsk, Tzarskoe-Selo and Peterhof, figure among the worst anti-cultural crimes of the Hitlerites.

The magnificent monuments of art and architecture in these towns, which had been turned into "Museum-towns", are known throughout the civilised world. These art and architectural monuments were created in the course of two centuries. They commemorated a whole series of outstanding events in Russian history.

Celebrated Russian and foreign architects, sculptors and artists created masterpieces which were kept in these "Museum-towns" and, together with valuable masterpieces of Russian and foreign art, they were blown up, burned or destroyed by the German vandals.


The Trial of German Major War Criminals
Sitting at Nuremberg, Germany
14th February to 26th February, 1946
Sixty-Fourth Day: Thursday, 21st February, 1946


[Page 190]
I read into the record Exhibit USSR 49, which includes a statement of the Extraordinary State Commission dated 3 September, 1944. The excerpts, which I will quote, your Honours, are on Pages 330-332 of the document book.

I omit the end of Page 43 and the whole of Page 44 of this statement, and begin my quotation in the middle of Page 45.

    "At the time the German invaders broke into Petrodvoretz (in Peterhof) there still remained, after the evacuation, 34,214 museum exhibits (pictures, works of art and sculptures), as well as 11,700 extremely valuable books from the palace libraries. The ground floor rooms of the Ekaterinsky and Alexandrovsky palaces in the town of Pushkin (Tzarskoe-Selo), contained various suites of furniture, of Russian and French workmanship, of the middle of the eighteenth century, 600 pieces of porcelain of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as a large number of marble busts, small sculptures and about 35,000 volumes from the palace libraries.

    [Page 191]
    On the basis of documentary material, the statements and testimony of eye witnesses, the evidence of German prisoners of war, and as a result of careful investigation, it has been established that: Breaking into Petrodvoretz on 23rd September, 1941, the German invaders immediately proceeded to loot the treasures of the palace-museums and in the course of several months removed the contents of these palaces.

    From the Big, Marly, Monplaisir and Cottage Palaces, they looted and removed to Germany some 34,000 museum exhibits, among them 4,950 unique pieces of furniture of Italian, English, French and Russian workmanship from the periods of Catherine the Great, Alexander I and Nicholas I, as well as many rare sets of porcelain, of foreign and Russian manufacture, of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The German barbarians stripped the walls of the palace rooms of the silks, Gobelin tapestries and other decorative materials which adorned them.

    In November, 1941, the Germans removed the bronze statue of Samson, the work of the sculptor Kozlovoky, and sent it to Germany. Having looted the museum treasures, the Hitlerites set fire to the Big Palace, created by the famous and gifted architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

    "Upon their withdrawal from Petrodvoretz," I have omitted a paragraph, "the Germans wrecked the Marly Palace by delayed action mines. This palace contained very delicate carvings and stucco mouldings, The Germans wrecked the Monplaisir Palace of Peter the Great. They destroyed all the wooden parts of the pavilion and galleries, the interior decorations of the study, the bedroom and the Chinese room. During their occupation, they turned the central parts of the palace, i.e., the most valuable from the historical and artistic viewpoint, into bunkers. They turned the Western pavilion of the palace into a stable and a latrine. In the premises of the Assembly Building the Germans tore up the floor, sawed through the beams, destroyed the doors and window-frames and stripped the panelling off the ceiling."

 omit one paragraph and quote the last one on this page.

    "In the Northern part of the park, in the so-called Alexander Park, they blew up the villa of Nicholas II, completely destroyed the frame cottage which served as billets for officers, the Alexander gates, the pavilions of the Adam fountain, the pylons of the main gates of the Upper Park and the Rose pavilion."

I omit one paragraph on Page 47.

    "The Germans wrecked the fountain system of the Petrodvoretz Parks. They damaged the entire pipeline system for feeding the fountains, a system extending from the dam of the Rose pavilion to the Upper Park ....

   

[David_Pritchard]

     After the occupation of New Petrodvoretz, units of the 291st German Infantry Division, using heavy artillery fire, completely destroyed the famous English Palace at Old Petrodvoretz, built on the orders of Catherine II by the architect Quarengi. The Germans fired 9,000 rounds of heavy artillery shells; together with the palace they destroyed the picturesque English park and all the park pavilions."

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal has appreciated the successful efforts which the other members of the Soviet Delegation have made to shorten their addresses, and they would be glad if you could possibly summarise some of the details with which you have to deal in the matter of destruction and spoliation and perhaps omit some of the details.

That is all for this morning.

(A recess was taken until 14.00 hours.)

LIEUTENANT-GENERAL RAGINSKY: The looting and destruction of historical and artistic palaces in the town of Pushkino (Tzarskoe-Selo) was carried out with malice aforethought by order of the highest German authorities.

[Page 192]
I omit the end of Page 47 and the beginning of Page 48:-

    "A considerable part of the Ekaterinsky Palace was burnt down by the Germans. The famous Ceremonial Hall, 300 metres long and designed by Rastrelli, perished in the flames. The famous antechambers decorated by Rastrelli were likewise ruined."

I omit one paragraph and continue:-

    "The Great Hall - outstanding creation of the genius of Rastrelli - presented a terrible spectacle. The unique ceilings, work of Torelli, Giordano, Brullov and other famous Italian and Russian masters, were destroyed."

I omit another paragraph.

    "Equally ruined and pillaged was the Palace Church, one of Rastrelli's masterpieces, famous for the exquisite workmanship of the interior decorations."

I omit one more paragraph.

    "In January, 1944, the retreating German invaders prepared the complete destruction of all that was left of the Catherine Palace and adjoining buildings. For this purpose, on the ground floor of the remaining part of the palace, as well as under the Cameron Gallery, eleven large delayed-action aerial bombs were laid, weighing from one to three tons.

    In Pushkino the Hitlerite bandits destroyed the famous Alexandrovsky Palace, constructed at the end of the eighteenth century by the famous architect Giacomo Quarengi."

I omit a paragraph:

    "All the museum furniture, stored in the basements of the Ekaterinsky and Alexandrovsky palaces, porcelain pieces and books from the palace libraries were sent to Germany.

    The famous painted ceiling 'Feast of the Gods on Olympus' in the main hall of the 'Hermitage' pavilion was, removed and shipped to Germany."

I omit two paragraphs.

    "Great destruction was caused by the Hitlerites in the magnificent Pushkino Parks, where thousands of age-old trees were cut down.

    Destruction of the Pavlovsky Palace in the town of Pavlovsk.

    Ribbentrop's 'Special Purposes Battalion' and the commandos of 'Staff Rosenberg' shipped to Germany from the Pavlovsky Palace extremely valuable palace furniture, designed by Veronikhin and by the greatest masters of the eighteenth century."

I omit the end of Page 49 and the beginning of Page 50 of the report:-

    "During their retreat the fascist invaders set fire to the Pavlovsky Palace. The greater part of the palace building was entirely burned down."

I omit the next two paragraphs and quote the last paragraph which concludes this document.

    "The Extraordinary State Commission established that the destruction of art monuments in Petrodvoretz, Pushkino and Pavlovsk was carried out by the officers and soldiers of the German Army on the direct instructions of the German Government and the Military High Command."

Destruction of Historical Monuments in the Ancient Russian Cities.

Many large towns were destroyed by the German fascist invaders in the occupied USSR territories. But they destroyed with particular ruthlessness the ancient Russian cities containing monuments of ancient Russian art.

I quote as an example the destruction of the cities of Novgorod, Pskov and Smolensk.

    "Novgorod and Pskov belong to those historical centres where the Russian people laid the foundation of their State; here, in the course of centuries flourished a highly developed and individual culture. It left a rich heritage which constitutes a valuable possession of our people. Thanks to the survival of numerous monuments of ecclesiastic and civil architecture, murals, paintings,

    [Page 193]
    sculpture and handicraft, Novgorod and Pskov were rightly considered the seat of Russian history."

The Hitlerite barbarians destroyed, in Novgorod City, many valuable monuments of Russian and foreign art of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. They not only destroyed the monuments but they reduced the entire city to a heap of ruins.

By way of proof, I shall read into the record some excerpts from the document presented to the Tribunal as Exhibit USSR 50. You will, your Honours, find these excerpts on Pages 333 and 334 of the document book. I read:-

   

[David_Pritchard]

     ". . . . The ancient Russian city of Novgorod was reduced to a heap of ruins by the German fascist invaders. They destroyed the historical monuments and dismantled some of them for use in the construction of defence fortifications ...

    The German- fascist vandals destroyed and obliterated, in Novgorod, the greatest monuments of ancient Russian art. They destroyed the vaults, walls and towers of the St. George Cathedral of the Yuryev Monastery. This cathedral was built in the early part of the twelfth century, and was decorated by twelfth century frescoes.

    The Cathedral of St. Sophia, built in the eleventh century, was one of the oldest monuments of Russian architecture and an outstanding monument of world art. The Germans destroyed the cathedral building. . . . They robbed it entirely of all its interior decorations; they carried off all the icons from the iconostasis and the ancient incense burners, including one which belonged to Boris Godunov. . . .

    The Church of the Annunciation on the Arkage, of twelfth century foundation, was converted by the Germans into a fortified position and barracks."

I omit one paragraph:-

    "The Church of the Assumption on Volotov Field, a monument of Novgorod architecture of the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries, was turned by the Germans into a heap of stones and bricks."

I omit one paragraph:-

    "The Church of the Transfiguration of our Lord, in the Ifyin Street, was destroyed. It was one of the finest specimens of Novgorod architecture of the fourteenth 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 the report.

    "Over two years of Hitlerite misrule in Novgorod brought about the ruin of many other wonderful ancient Russian monuments....

    By order of the commanding general of the 18th German Army, Lieut.-General Lindemann, the German barbarians dismantled and prepared for removal to Germany the monument to '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 nineteenth century. . . .

    The Nazi barbarians dismantled the monument and smashed the statuary. They did not, however, succeed in shipping it off and melting down the metal."

Citizen Dimitriev, Youri Nikolaevich, 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 to participate in the investigation of the crimes of the German fascist invaders.

[Page 194]
I submit to the Tribunal the original of Dimitriev's depositions, duly certified, in accordance with legal procedure in the USSR, as Exhibit USSR 312. You will find it, your Honours, on Pages 335 and 347 in your document book.

In submitting his affidavit, I will 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. Dimitriev stated as follows (I read):-

    "The greater part of Novgorod is razed to the ground; only a few districts were left in existence 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 eighty-eight buildings of historical and artistic value in Novgorod, two buildings alone are merely slightly damaged. . . . Only a few isolated monuments in Pskov were left undamaged. In Novgorod and Pskov the Germans deliberately destroyed monuments of historical and artistic value."

[David_Pritchard]

And further:-

    "The German Army, while destroying and damaging monuments of historical and artistic value, plundered and carried off many 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 many ecclesiastical monuments of historic and artistic value in Novgorod and Pskov."

Day by day, for twenty-six months, the Hitlerites systematically destroyed one of the most ancient Russian cities - Smolensk.

The Soviet prosecution has presented to the Tribunal a document as Exhibit USSR 56, containing the Report of the Extraordinary State Commission.

I shall not quote this document, but shall only refer to it and endeavour, in my own words, to emphasise the fundamental points of this document, dealing with the related 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 gravel and bricks to pave the roads. For this purpose, they blew up the building of one of the high schools.

The Germans burned down all the libraries of the city and twenty-two schools. 646,000 volumes perished in the library fires.

I now pass on to Page 57 of the report.

    "Prior to the German occupation, Smolensk contained four museums with extremely valuable collections.

    The museum of Art, built up since 1898, possessed one of the most extensive collections, primarily of Russian historo -artistic, historo -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.

    "General Staff Rosenberg" for the confiscation and export of valuables from the occupied regions of the East, had a special branch in Smolensk, headed by Dr. Norling, the organiser for the plunder of museums and historical monuments."


.....and the report continues listing mass destruction and organised theft in Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

[vladm]

Wow David! Excellent findings! We can cut out from this, some good memorial information, about WWII and looting Tsarskoye Selo!

I found some information about occupation time, but so far, most of the information from unreliable sources.
Here the Several Dates with facts, I can confirm and have reason to believe:
Germans occupied Pushkin from September 17th, 1941 until January 24th, 1944.
In the office of Alexander I at first was Gestapo, entry was from Agate room, I believe, after some period of time, this section of the Palace was under Red Army fire, damaged severely, and Gestapo moved to Alexander Palace, but I am not sure about this information except dates.