AI wasn't in the group in which the rewere children, and I ran away on the second day after the evacuation march. I should also state regarding the methods of demoralization of the people who were inmates of concentration camps. Everything that we had to suffer was a planned system of demoralizing and degrading human beings.
The concentration camp cars in which the internnes were taken were used previously for cattle. When the transports arrived the cars were nailed, and in each one of these cars there was a great number of people. The convoy of SS men did not take into consideration that humans have physiological necessities. It happened that some of these people had the necessary pots with them. They often had to use these pots for physical necessities.
For some time I worked at the shop store where were bought kitchen utensils of internees.
QExcuse me. Do you mean that you worked in a store where kitchen utensils of those who were murdered were bought ?
ANo, to this store was brought only kitchen utensils of the people who arrived to concentration camps.
QWere these things taken away from them?
AYes, of course. I should like to say that in some cases the kitchen utensils and pots contained remains of food, and in others there were human excrements. Each of the workers received a pot of water. Half of it they had to drink and the rest to wash a great number of these kitchen utensils. These kitchen utensils, which were sometimes not very well washed, were given to people who arrived in transports to concentration camps. From these kitchen utensils they had to eat. Sometimes during the first day they received dysentery.
THE PRESIDENT:Colonel Smirnov, I don't think the Tribunal wants quite so much of the details with respect to these domestic matters.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:I quite agree with you, Mr. Chairman. The witness was called hers only wish a view to explaining the attitude of the Germans towards the children in the camps.
THE PRESIDENT: Will you keep her to the part of her testimony which you wish to bring out?
BY COLONEL SMIRNOV:
QTell me, Witness, can you add anything else to the attitude of the Germans towards the children in the camps? You already told us about some of the facts which you knew regarding this question.
AI should like to say that the children were also subjected to the system of demoralization and degradation as were the adults, and also famine, which often led to death. Sometimes the children looked in the dirt for pieces of food--potato peels.
QTell me, Witness, do you certify in your testimony, that sometines the number of remaining carriages of children who were murdered amounted to a thousand per day?
AYes, sometimes there were such days.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:Mr. Chairman, I have no further questions from the witness.
THE PRESIDENT:Do any of the chief prosecutors wish to ask any questions?
(There was no answer).
Do any of the defendants' counsel wish to ask any questions?
(There was no answer).
Then, the witness can retire.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:I am continuing:
Mr. Chairman, I should like to take up the following section of my report, which deals with the organization of secret plans for the annihilation of peaceful citizens by German fascists. These cannot be considered as concentration camps, because the existence of human beings in these points usually was not longer than ten minutes or mostly two hours.
From the number of these terrible points organized by the German fascists I would submit to the Tribunal proof on two points, that is to say, on point Helme and Treblinka camps. In connection with this I would ask the Tribunal to request the appearance of one of the witnesses, whose testimony is interesting, because she can be considered as a person who returned, from the other world, because the road to Treblinka was called by the German executors the road to Heaven.
I am speaking of the witness Rajzman, a Polish citizen, and I would request the Tribunal to let the witness come here and be interrogated.
THE PRESIDENT:It is just a quarter to one, so we had better have this witness at two o'clock. We will adjourn new.
(A recess was taken until 1400 hours).
Official transcript of the International Military Tribunal in the matter of The United States of America, the French Re public, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ire Ireland, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics against Hermann Wilhelm Goering et al, Defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 27 February 1946, 1400-1700, Lord Justice Lawrence presiding.
THE PRESIDENT:The Tribunal has been informed that the witness who was referred to yesterday, Wieland, is in a prisoner of war camp or in prison near London, England, and he can therefore be brought over here to be examined at short notice. The Tribunal, therefore, wishes Defendants' Counsel to make up their mind whether they wish Colonel Westhof and this man Weiland to be brought here during the Prosecution's case for them to cross examine him, or whether they prefer that they should be brought when the Defendants are presenting their case. But, as I have stated with reference to all witnesses, they can only be called once. If they are examined as part of the Prosecution's case, then all the Defendants must exercise their rights, if they wish to do so, of interrogating the witnesses at that time. If, on the other hand, Defendants' Counsel decide that they would prefer that these witnesses should be called during the Defendants' case, then, similarly, the witnesses will only be called once, and the right of examining them must then be exercised.
At the same time, the statement or the report which was presented yesterday, and which the Tribunal ruled was admissible, will be read in the course of the Prosecution's case at such time as the Prosecution decide.
DR.NELTE (Counsel for Defendant Keitel): Mr. President, I ask to be able to make a statement after speaking to my colleagues. I hope that this will be possible in the course of the afternoon.
THE PRESIDENT:I understand you want to consult the other Defendants' Counsel before you let us know. Very well; you will let us know at your convenience. Go on, Colonel Smirnov.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:Mr. President, I would like to proceed with the interrogation of a witness.
(The witness takes the stand)
THE PRESIDENT:What is your name?
THE WITNESS: Rajzman, Samuel.
THE PRESIDENT:Will you repeat this oath after me: I hereby swear before God, the Almighty, that I will speak before the Tribunal nothing but the truth, concealing nothing of what is known to me, so help me God, Amen.
(The witness repeated the oath)
THE PRESIDENT:You may sit down.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:May I proceed with the interrogation, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT:Yes. QUESTIONS BY COLONEL SMIRNOV:
QPlease tell the Tribunal, witness, what was your occupation before the war?
ABefore the war I was an expert accountant.
QWhen and under what conditions did you become an internee of Treblinka 2 Camp?
AIn August 1942 I was taken away from the Warsaw ghetto.
QHow long did you stay in Treblinka?
AI was interned there for a year, until August 1943.
QThat means you are well acquainted with the treatment of the people established in this camp?
AYes, I was well acquainted with their treatment.
QI beg you to describe to the Tribunal this camp.
ATransports arrived there incessantly -- transports filled with Jews. These people came from different countries -- Czechoslovakia, Germany, Greece and Poland. Immediately after their arrival they were driven out of the trucks and lined up on a platform. All those who were driven from the trucks were divided into groups. Men, children and women were separated. All were to undress immediately, undress naked, and this undressing continued under the blows of the whips of the German guards. The workers immediately took up all the cloths and hauled them to barracks, and the people then were obliged to go out to the gas chambers naked.
QI would like you to explain how the Germans called the gas chambers?
AThis street was called Himmelfahrt Street; that is to say, Ascension Street; that is to say, the road to heaven. If it interests the Court, I drew up a plan of the camp of Treblinka, and can show the street to the Tribunal on this matter.
THE PRESIDENT:Do you think it is necessary to put in a plan of the camp, unless you particularly want to?
COLONEL SMIRNOV:Yes. I believe the same. I also believe that it is not absolutely necessary.
THE PRESIDENT :Very well. QUESTIONS BY COLONEL SMIRNOV:
QPlease tell us, witness, how long did a person live after he had arrived in the Treblinka camp?
AThe procedure of undressing and of introduction into the gas chambers lasted, for the men, about 10 minutes, and for the women not more than 15 minutes. The women lasted 15 minutes because before they went to the gas chambers their hair was cut off.
QWhy was their hair cut off?
AAccording to these matters this hair was supposed to serve for the production of mattresses for Germany.
THE PRESIDENT:Do you mean that there was only 10 minutes between the time that they were landed out of the trucks and the time they were put into the gas chamber?
THE WITNESS:As far as men were concerned, I am sure it did not last longer than 10 minutes. QUESTIONS BY COLONEL SMIRNOV:
QIncluding the undressing?
AYes, including the undressing
QPlease tell us, witness, were the people brought to Treblinka in trucks or in trains?
AThey were brought nearly always in trains, and only the people from neighboring villages were brought in trucks, and on the trucks were inscriptions "Expedition Speer." The trucks came from Sakolova, Vengrova and other villages.
QPlease tell us, subsequently what was the aspect of the station at Treblinka?
A At first there were no inscriptions whatever at the station, but a few months later the commander of the camp came in at that period, and he built a first-class railroad station with inscriptions.
And the barracks where the clothing was stored had inscriptions written on them, such as restaurant, telegraph and telephone, and there were even maps there with inscriptions of the schedule of the arrival and departure of the trains to Berlin, to Warsaw, and so on.
QDid I rightly understand you, witness, that sort of an artificial station was built with inscriptions and train schedules, with the arrows to the platforms and so on; is that right?
AWhen the persons descended from the trains, they were persuaded they were at a very good station from, where they could go to Vilna, Grodno or to other towns.
QAnd what happened later on to these people; where were they taken to?
AThese people were taken directly along the Himmelfahrt Strasse to the gas chambers.
QAnd tell us, please, how did the Germans behave while killing their victims in Treblinka?
AIf you are speaking of the killings, every German guard had his bestiality.
I remember only one example: We had a Scharfuehrer Menz, whose bestiality was the guarding of the so-called "lazaret". In the lazaret were interned all week woman or little children who aid not have the strength to go themselves to the gas chambers.
QWill you describe this lazaret to the Tribunal?
AThis was a building which was fenced in with a wooden fence, and all women, aged persons, and sick children were brought there. Upon it was a large Red Cross flag, hanging over the door of this lazaret, and at the end of this building was the slaughter of all persons who were brought there. And he did not agree to entrust anybody else with this work. Hundreds of persons had to wait, but he insisted on carrying out this work himself and never agreed that anybody should replace him. I remember one example, which concerns the fate of the children.
A 10-year-old girl was brought to this building from the train, and when the mother saw that the man had taken out a revolver to shoot this little child she threw herself upon him crying out and asking, "Why do you shoot her?" And he then took the baby and threw it alive into the crematory oven, and afterwards killed the sister.
Another example: They brought a woman to this building -
THE PRESIDENT:You are going to fast.
A - - she was in the last stage of pregnancy. She was brought to the hospital, was put on a grass plot, and several Germans came to watch this childbirth. This lasted two hours, When the child was born, Menz asked the grandmother of the mother whom she preferred to see killed first, the mother or the child. He first killed the baby, then the mother, and, finally the grandmother.
QPlease tell us, witness, does the name Kurt Frank mean anything to you?
AThis man was the assistant commandant of the camp, the deputy to Stengel. Kurt Frank was known for having published in January 1943, a report that stated that a million Jews had been killed in Treblinka, and was promptly promoted from the rank of Obersturmfuehrer to Obersturmbannfuehre
QI beg you to relate to the Tribunal how Frank killed the sister of Sigmund Freud. Do you remember this incident?
A It happened in the following manner: A train arrived from Vienna.
I was standing on the platform when the passengers were taken from the train when an old lady came up to Kurt Frank. She took out a document and showed that she was a relative of the sister, of Sigmund Freud, and she asked that he should give her easy work. Frank read this document very earnestly and said that this was probably a mistake. He led her up to a schedule and said that in two hours a train would leave again for Vienna. She should leave all the documents and jewels and valuables and then go to a bath, and after the bath she would then be able to be sent to Vienna. It is quite clear that she did not return from the bath.
QPlease tell us, witness, why did you stay in Treblinka?
AI was already quite undressed and had to pass through Himmelfahrt Strasse to the gas chambers. Some more Jews had come with my transport. At the last minute, before we moved towards the street, an engineer Galevski, an old friend of mine whom I had known in Warsaw, noticed me. He had an official function in the camp. He was foreman of the Jewish workers. He told me that I should turn off from the street, as they needed an interpreter for French, Jewish, Polish and German languages, and he therefore managed to receive the permission to employ me.
QYou were a member of the labor command of the camp?
AAt first I was supposed to load on the train the clothes of the killed persons. I had been two days in the camp. My mother, my sister, and two brothers were brought to the camp from a neighboring town. I watched them be led away to the gas chambers. Two days later, when I was transporting clothing to the railway cars, my comrades found a document and photograph of my wife and of my children, and that is all that remains of my family.
QTell us, witness, how many persons were brought to the Treblinka camp?
ABetween July and December, 1942, an average of three transports of 60 railway cars arrived every day, but in 1943 the transports arrived more rarely.
Q Tell, us, Witness, how many persons were exterminated in the camp on an average daily?
AOn an average I believe they killed from ten to twelve thousand persons daily.
QIn how many gas chambers did the killing take place?
AAt first there were only three gas chambers, but then they built more gas chambers. It was planned to increase this number to twenty-five.
QBut how do you know that? Why do you say, witness, that they planned to increase the number of gas chambers?
ABecause all the building material had been brought and put in the square. I asked, Why? -- there are no more Jews," and I was told that they would bring other nationalities.
QHow was Treblinka called?
ATreblinka was afterwards called Obermajdanek; as it became very popular.
QWhat do you mean by "very popular"?
AThis means that the persons who arrived in transports soon found out that it was no longer an ordinary station; but it was a death trap.
QTell us, Witness, why was this artificial station built?
AIt was done exclusively so that the people should, not be nervous; that they should quite peacefully undress; and that there shouldn't be any incidents.
QYou mean this building had a psychological function to reassure these people?
AYes, exclusively psychological function.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:I have no further questions to ask of this Witness.
THE PRESIDENT:Do any of the other chief prosecutors wish to ask any questions?
SIR DAVIDMAXWELL-FIFE: No.
MR. DODD:No.
THE PRESIDENT:Do the defendants' counsel wish to ask any questions:
(No response.)
THE PRESIDENT:Then the witness can retire.
(No cross-examination.)
COLONEL SMIRNOV: May I continue the rest of my presentation?
THE PRESIDENT:Yes.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:I would like to submit to the Tribunal a very short excerpt from a document which is submitted as an official appendage to the report, which is a sworn statement.
THE PRESIDENT:Have you got any more witnesses?
COLONEL SMIRNOV:Yes; I still have a request to call a last witness concerning the last count of my statement. I would request the Tribunal to call the Reverend, the Dean of the Leningrad Seminary, the Rev. Nicolai Ivanovitch Lomakin. He would be my last witness.
THE PRESIDENT:And you would be able to include his testimony today and conclude your statement; is that right?
COLONEL SMIRNOV:Yes, Mr. President.
THE PRESIDENT:All right; go on.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:May I continue, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT:Yes.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:I would like to read another short excerpt from this appendage, which is a sworn statement of the polish Examining Judge, and which I submit to the Tribunal. I read only that excerpt which concerns the scale of the crimes; that is to say, the number of victims of the Treblinka Camp, in which the Polish witness had noticed even British passports and British University diplomas. This means that the victims were brought from every country of Europe, and the total number of victims is estimated at 340,000.
I would like to tell the Tribunal of another secret extermination point, namely, the statement to the main commission for the investigation of crimes, German crimes in Poland which is also an appendage to the Polish official report. I would thus like to read two very short excerpts of this latter statement, which gives us an idea of this secret extermination point in the village of Helmno near the town of Lodz.
This is on page twenty-three of the document, third paragraph.
"In the village of Helmno there was an abandoned mansion surrounded by a large park. Nearby there was a nursery with dense undergrowth. It was at this point that the Germans built an extermination camp. The park was fenced in by a high, wooden fence, and one could not see what was taking place in the park. The inhabitants of the village of Helmno were departed."
I end this quotation and pass on to page twenty-six of the document, first paragraph.
"The organization of the extermination of people was so slyly thought out and carried out that until the last moment of their lives the next transport of condemned persons could not guess the fate of those who had preceded them.
"The departure of transports consisted of 1,500 persons from the village of Vartegau to the extermination camp, and the extermination of now arrivals lasted until two p.m. The cars, which were crammed full of Jews, stopped before the mansion. A representative of the Sondercommando made a short speech to the now arrivals. He convinced them that they were going to work in the East. He promised them just treatment by the authorities and adequate food, and warned them simultaneously that before their departure they would take a bath and that their clothing would be disinfected. The Jews were then rushed to a long hall, which was on the second floor of the mansion. There they undressed, and dressed only in underclothes they went downstairs, passed through a corridor which contained signs such as, "To the Medical Officer" and "To the Bath." The areaway with these signs painted on it led to a door, to the bath. The Jews who came out into the yard were warned that they would go to a bath in a closed care, but in reality near the exit a large car was brought up to this door so that the Jews descended straight into the car. The leading of the Jews into the car lasted a very short time, and gendarmes were on guard in the corridor and near the car. With blows and shouts they forced the Jaws to enter the car without being able to resist.
After all the Jews were piled into the car the doors were closed the chauffeur turned on the gas, and then the Jews who were in the car were poisoned."
The construction of this car is already known to the Tribunal; the so-called "Machine of Death."
I will quote new one sentence from page ten of this document.
"Thus at least 340,000 men, women, and children were exterminated in Helmo."
I believe that I can end here that part of my statement which concerns the secret exterminating point. And now I pass on to the last part of my statement which concerns religious persecutions.
In the Soviet Union as well as in the countries occupied in Eastern Europe the German-Fascist criminals presented themselves by mockery of the religious feelings and faith of the people, and by the persecution and killing of the priesthood of all religious creeds.
I will read a few excerpts from these reports of the various govern-
ments on these persecutions.
Czechoslovakia. On page seventy of the Russian text, which corresponds to page eighty of the document book, we find the description of the persecution of the Czech Orthodox Church by the German-Fascist criminals. I quote only one paragraph.
"The hardest blow was directed against the Czech Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Churches in Czechoslovakia were ordered by the Berlin Ministry of Church Affairs to leave the Pontificate of Belgrade in April and become subordinate to the Berlin Bishop. The Czech Bishop of Gorasd was executed together with two other priests of the Orthodox Church. By a special order of the Protector Daliuge issued in September 1942, the Orthodox Church of Serbia and Constantinopal jurisdiction was completely dissolved on Czech territory and religious activity was forbidden and its property confiscated."
On page sixty-nine of the same report, which corresponds to page fiftynine of the document book, there is a description of the persecution of the Czech national church, which was pursued by the German-Fascists because of its name and because of its sympathy to Democracy and its relations to the creation of the Czech Republic. The Czech national church was entirely prohibited, and its property confiscated under German compulsion in 1940.
The Protestant Church in Czechoslovakia was also persecuted. This excerpt can be found on page eighty of the document book.
"The Protestant Churches were derived the freedom to preach the Gospel. The German Secret State Police watched closely whether the clergy observed the restrictions imposed on it. Nazi censorship went so far as to suppress hymns that praised God. Some passages from the Bible were not allowed to be read in public at all. The Nazis strongly opposed some Christian doctrines. They opposed some Christian doctrines being promulgated from the pulpit, more especially those about the quality of all men before God, the universal character of the church, and the Judaic origins of the Gospel. Even religious text books were modified. Church leaders were especially prosecuted. Scores of ministers were imprisoned in German concentration camps, among them the secretary of the Student Christian Movement in Czechoslovakia. One of the devout presidents of this movement was executed."
On page sixty-eight of this report we find information as to the prosecution of the Catholic Church of Czechoslovakia.
This excerpt is on page seventy-nine of the document book, second paragraph. I quote a short excerpt.
"In the territory annexed to Germany after the Munich Fact a number of priests of Czech origin were robbed of their property and expelled. Pilgrimages to national shrines were prohibited in 1939. At the outbreak of the war 437 Catholic priests were among the thousands of Czech patriots arrested and sent to concentration camps as hostages. Generally, ecclesiastical dignataries were dragged to concentration camps in Germany. It was a common sight on the road near concentration camps to see a priest dressed in rags, exhausted, pulling a cart, and behind him a youth in SA or SS uniform, whip in hand."
The Polish believers and clergy also suffered very crude persecution.
This is on page ten of the document book.
"By January 1941 about 700 priests were killed; 3,000 were imprisoned or in concentration camps. The persecution of the clergy began immediately after the seizure of Poland by the Germans. The day after the occupation of Warsaw the Germans arrested some 330 priests. In Cracau the closest collaborators of Archbishop Monsignor Sapega were arrested and sent to Germany. The Rev. Canon Czeplizki, age eighty-five, and his entourage were executed in November 1939."
The report of the Polish Government mentions the following words of Cardinal Glenda:
"The clergy are the most harshly persecuted. Those who have been permitted to stay are subjected to humiliation and are paralyzed in their exercise of their pastoral duties and stripped of their benefices and of all their rights. They were entirely at the mercy of the Gestapo."
On the territory of the Soviet Union the persecution of religion and of priesthood took the form of blasphemy of the churches, the destruction of sanctuaries, and the murder of priests.
I beg the Tribunal to call a last witness of the Soviet Prosecution, the Dean of the Leningrad churches, the Reverend Nicolai Inanovitch Lomakin.
(REV. NICOLAI IVANOVITCH LOMAKIN, witness in behalf of the Russian prosecution, takes the stand).'THE PRESIDENT:
Will you tell me your name?
THEWITNESS:Nicolai Ivanovitch Lomakin.
THE PRESIDENT:Is it the procedure for you to take an oath before giving evidence?
THE WITNESS:I am an Orthodox priest.
THEPRESIDENT:Will you take the oath?
THE WITNESS:Having entered the priesthood in 1917 I took an oath to tell the truth all my life and I have remembered this oath to the present day.
THE PRESIDENT:Very well.
COLONEL SMIRNOV:May I proceed with the examination of this witness, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT:Certainly.
DIRECT EXAMINATION BY COLONEL SMIRNOV:
QPlease tell us, Witness, you are the Dean of the Leningrad Churches; that is to say, all the churches in that city are subordinate to you?
AYes, all the churches are directly subordinate to me. I am obliged to periodically inspect the conditions of the churches, which I then report to the Metropolitan Alexei of Moscow.
Q Please tell us, Witness, the churches of the Leningrad district were also subordinated to your authority.
ANo, they are now not subordinated to me, but during the occupation by the Germans they were subordinated to my authority.
QPlease tell us, Witness, after the liberation of the Leningrad district did you have the possibility to visit the churches in the territory by request of the Patriarch?
ANo, not by request of the Patriarch, but by the request of the Metropolitan Alexei who was at that period in Leningrad; the Patriarch was then Sergei. At that period Metropolitan Alexei was Archbishop of Leningrad.
QPlease tell us, Witness, where were you during the blockade of Leningrad?
AI was in Leningrad.
QI am not mistaken you were decorated for the defense of Leningrad?
AYes, I was awarded a medal for the heroic defense of Leningrad on the day of my birthday.
QTell us, Witness, at the beginning of the blockade of Leningrad where did you officiate -- at which church did you officiate?
AAt the beginning of the blockade I was in charge of the George Cemetery, and was Dean of the Nikilai Cathedral. This was a cemetery-church.
QMaybe you will be able to relate to the Tribunal your impressions?
AIn 1941 and at the beginning of 1942 I was dean of this church and I had the possibility of observing certain tragic scenes which I would like to relate to the Tribunal. A few days after the treacherous attack on the Soviet Union by Hitler-Germany I witnessed an increasing number of burial services. They were ordered by the children and wives of the victims of the treacherous air raids of the German aviation; peaceful citizens of our town. Just before the war the number of burial services varied from thirty to fifty persons a day. During the war this number rose steadily to several hundred a day. There was no physical possibility of bringing the corpses to the church. Long rows of boxes and coffins filled with remnants of the victims stood outside the church; victims of the barbarous air raids of German aviation.
During the burial services the relatives of deceased officiated the burial of a great many people in absentia; the numerous relations of those who were buried under the ruins of the houses destroyed by the Germans.
Around the churches one could gaze on end and see hundreds of coffins over which were sang burial services. Forgive us it is difficult for me to relate to the Tribunal. As the Tribunal knows, I stayed during the whole blockade; I saw hunger: I saw the terrible air raids of the German aviation; I was myself shellshocked several times.
The winter of 1941-42 the inhabitants of Leningrad suffered particular privations. The ceaseless attacks of air craft of German aviation, the shelling by the German artillery of the town, absence of light, of water, of transportation, and of cannonading in the town, and finally hunger, -- as a result of all this the peaceful citizens of the town suffered privations which were unique in history.
Innumerable peaceful citizens died in the service of their country. Together with that, together with all that I have just told you, I could cite other terrible scenes during the period which I was dean of this Church The Cemetery was very often raided by the German aviation.
You can imagine the scene where people are in eternal rest in the enclosure of the cemetery. The bones and remains were uprooted by the bombs, where people had just sung burial services for their relations, and were again obliged to suffer the ceaseless attacks of the enemy.
QTell us, Witness, during the hunger period in what proportion did the number of burial services increase?
AAs I have already told you, as a result of the terrible privations, as a result of the air raids, as a result of the shelling, the number of burial services reached Several thousand a day. I would like to tell the Tribuanl what I had observed on the 7th of Feburary 1942, A month earlier, quite famished and having been obliged to walk great distances from my house to the church, I fell ill. Two of my assistants replaced me in officiating. On the 7th of Feburary, the beginning of the great fast, I came for the first time to my church and I was absolutely astounded. The church was surrounded by mounds of bodies which even blocked the door of the church.
These mounds numbered one or several hundred persons. They were not only around the church. I witnessed outside people, famished, and wishing to bring the bodies of their relations to the church, fall exhausted and die on the spot beside the body of their friend of relation.
Q.Tell us, Witness, what destruction was inflicted on the Leningrad churches?
A.As I have already reported, as Dean of these churches I was to observe the conditions of these churches and report to the Metropolitan Alexei. My personal observations were the following.
The Church of the Resurrection and Blook, which is a very remarkable monument, was very seriously damaged by enemy shelling. The copulas and roofs were hit by shells and the frescos were either damaged or destroyed.
The Holy Trinity Church, which commemorated the heroic siege of Tsmail, and where there were frescos was systematically shelled by the Germans and subsequently damaged. The roofs were also damaged and the artistic sculpture was destroyed.
Q.How many churches were destroyed and how many were damaged?
A.The Church of Seraffinov was completely destroyed, and the German air raids also damaged two other churches very severely. First of all, the Cathedral of Vladimir, where I officiated. In 1942, in the month of February until the first of July, I was Dean of this Cathedral, and I would like to acquaint you, Your Honors, with a very interesting incident which occurred on the eve of Easter 1942.
On Easter Saturday, at five p.m. Moscow time, the German aviation carried out a mass raid. At five-thirty two bombs fell on the southwestern part of the cathedral. The believers were approaching the tomb of the Lord. I saw how about thirty persons were lying near the altar wounded. Many other people were wounded in the church. They were at first powerless, and later we gave them sanitary aid. Persons who had not been able to enter the church tried to escapt by hiding in the air-raid shelters. The others waited with horror the approach of death, for the shock inflicted to the church was so heavy bits of mortar continued to fall from the ceiling.