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.
Then I was quite astounded upon seeing the believers flock around me and ask me, "Father, are you alive?
How can one understand this? Everybody waid that the Germans respected Christ; that they love all those who believe in him. How can they believe in God when on Easter, the eve of Easter, they act like this."
I must say that the air raid lasted until Easter Morning; all night, on the night of joy for all Christians. This night was turned by the Germans into a night of death; into a night of destruction; and a night of suffering.
Q Tell us, Witness -
A (Interposing) One minute. Two or three days later, in the Church of the Redeemer, with the Deans of the other churches, we began to count up the number of victims of this air raid, women, children and aged persons.
QTell us, Witness, you also visited the Leningrad District?
AYes.
THE PRESIDENT:Colonel Smirnov, if your examination is going on, I think perhaps we'd better adjourn now for ten minutes.
(A recess was taken.)
THE PRESIDENT:Dr. Nelte, can you let the Tribunal know what your wishes are about General Westhoff and Wieland?
DR. NELTE:Through the suggestion of the Court, as to calling the witnesses Westhoff and Wieland, I want to make the statement that, after discussing it with my colleagues of the defense:
First, we forego the calling of both witnesses at this stage of the procedure, if also the Prosecution does not insist on reading the Document F.1450, USSR 413, at this stage of the procedure.
Second, I name General Westhoff as witness, and I believe, from suggestion of the Court, that this witness has been accepted as relevant.
THE PRESIDENT:Yes, certainly.
Mr. Roberts, could Sir David attend here in the course of a short time, do you think?
MR. ROBERTS:He is at a Chief Prosecutors' meeting now, but I can get him in a few moments if there is a question which I couldn't answer on his behalf.
THE PRESIDENT:Well, I think perhaps it would be best if he were here. It is only a question really as to whether the document should be read.
MR. ROBERTS:Well, I am told the meeting has just ended. I didn't quite get what your Lordship said.
THE PRESIDENT:I said the question was whether the document is to be read by the Prosecution. Dr. Nelte, as I understand it, was suggesting that perhaps the Prosecution would forgo their right to read the document.
MR. ROBERTS: My Lord, speaking for myself, I feel quite certain that so far as the British delegation is concerned we should not forego reading that document.
Our Russian colleagues put it forward as a very cold-blooded murder of brave men, and we are most anxious that the document should be read.
THE PRESIDENT:Yes.
DR. NELTE:Mr. President, I have not made it a condition that the document should not be read at all, submitted at all, but only at this stage of the proceeding.
THE PRESIDENT:Yes, but, you see, the Prosecution want it read as part of the Prosecution case. If it is postponed until your case begins, it will not be read as part of the Prosecution.
DR. NELTE:I believe that the Prosecution in the cross-examination could bring up these documents which the Prosecution wants to submit now.
THE PRESIDENT:Well, we can't get Wieland over here tomorrow, and the case of the Prosecution we hope will close tomorrow.
DR. NELTE:Yes, sir.
THE PRESIDENT:Therefore, the document must be read tomorrow. We would then get General Westhoff and Wieland over for you at any time that is convenient to you.
DR. NELTE:I believe that the Prosecution has said that at any time during this proceeding new points of evidence, new probative matters would be presented, that shows from the Indictment. It seems to me, therefore, that the Prosecution could wait with the presentation of this part of their case without any damage for their case, until I can question the witness.
THE PRESIDENT:Yes, General.
GENERAL RUDENKO:I would like to add something to what my colleague, Mr. Roberts, has said. The point is that the document submitted to the Tribunal was given to us by the British delegation and was submitted according to the 21st article of the Charter. This document can be read into the record or not, in accordance with the decision of the Tribunal of the 17th of January 1946.
If the Defense, as was already announced this morning, intends to object to this document by presenting Witnesses, that is the right of the Defense.
This is what I wanted to add to Mr. Roberts' statement.
MR. ROBERTS:Perhaps your Lordship would allow me to add one thing. The Tribunal has ruled that this document is admissible, and it has been admitted, as I understand it. Therefore, I would submit that it ought to be read as part of the Prosecution's case, although it might be equally convenient after the discussion on the Organizations.
THE PRESIDENT:Yes. well, I see that Sir David has just come into Court.
MR. ROBERTS:If your Lordship please -
THE PRESIDENT:If you would just consult with him.
THE PRESIDENT:Sir David, I think the view the Tribunal takes is that it is a matter for the Prosecution to decide when they put in this document and if they wish to put it in now, or as Mr. Roberts suggested, after the argument on the Organizations, they are at liberty to do so. Then these two witnesses can be called at a later stage when the Defendants' Counsel wish them to be called.
SIR DAVIDMAXWELL-FYFE: I entirely agree with what I am told Mr. Roberts has put forward. We consider that this document ought to be put in as part of the case for the Prosecution. If it will be convenient to Counsel for the Defendants I shall be glad to take up the matter of the time that shall be fixed, after the Organizations, but the reading of the document certainly should be part of the Prosecution's case.
THE PRESIDENT:The document may be read, then, at the and of the Prosecution's case.
SIR DAVIDMAXWELL-FYFE: Yes.
May I apologize to the Tribunal for being absent. There was other business connected with the Tribunal in which I was engaged.
THE PRESIDENT:Certainly.
Wait one moment.
Then, Dr. Nelte, the Tribunal would like you to let us know when you wish those witnesses called, so that we can communicate with London in order that the witness Wieland may be brought over here.
DR. NELTE:The witness could appear during the presentation of my case. I could not say when that will be, when I can present my witnesses.
I believe that the Court is in a better position to decide the date on which I will be able to come before the Court with my case.
Between interrogations of witnesses which will be granted to me, I will question these witnesses also.
THE PRESIDENT:Dr. Nelte, you see these witnesses not only affect your client, but also affect the Defendant Goering and the Defendant Kaltenburnner, and therefore what the Tribunal wish is that you, in consultation with Dr. Stahmer and the Counsel for Kaltenbrunner, should let the Tribunal know what would be the most appropriate time for those witnesses to be called, so that a time may be fixed for summoning Wieland here and letting the prison authorities know about Westhof.
DR. NELTE:We have spoken about that. We have discussed it and we have agreed that the witnesses will be called during the time of my presentation.
(A brief interruption.)
I am just told by Sir David that we are therefore agreed that the documents will be presented after the case against the Organizations.
THE PRESIDENT:Yes.
Colonel Smirnov?
COLONEL SMIRNOV:May I continue with my questioning, Mr. President?
THE PRESIDENT:Yes.
BY COLONEL SMIRNOV:
QI have one last question to put to you, Witness. Tell me, when you left the city to go into the country to investigate the churches, did you ever witness the mockery of religion or its humiliation.
AYes, I did.
QWould you be kind enough to relate this to the Tribunal?
AIn June 1943, by the directive of Metropolitan Alexis, I left for the region of the Old Peterhof and Oranienbaum.
From personal observations and from my conversations with the members of the church I learned the following.
Most of what I learned, I learned when Peterhof was freed from the German occupation, and what I shall now relate may be checked with others' testimony.
In the Old Peterhof soon after the Germans destroyed the new Peterhof within ten days, the artillery fire on the enemy planes destroyed every church.
At the same time the German planes and the artillery fire were so arranged that together with the churches they were destroyed.
The parishioners and those who sought refuge in the churches were usually the inhabitants, the peaceful citizens of the region.
All the churches in the Old Peterhof, namely the Church of Znamenska, the cemetery of the same, Trinity Church and the Little Church of Lazarus near the cemetery, the Holy Museum and the church of the military cemetery--all the churches were destroyed by the Germans.
I can state with certainty that near the cemetery church and the Lazarus Church near it, as well as other churches, such as Znamenska--in those churches more than 10,000 worshippers and persons seeking refuge died.
The Germans wouldn't let the people leave the churches.
It is easy to picture the sanitary conditions of the people confined in those churches, in the basements of those churches--bad air, human excreta right in the basement of the churches, people terribly afraid, many dizzy, many sick.
Whoever tried to leave any of the church basements was immediately shot by the German Fascists.
Much time has already passed since that time, but I remember particularly one occasion which was related to me by my close relative.
I shall relate the incident.
A little girl left the basement of the Trinity Church to fetch some water.
Immediately she was shot by German snipers. The mother followed the child, but was shot right near the body of her little girl.
The citizen of Maslowa who told me that is still alive. She lives in the city of Pskov.
But there were many incidents of that kind.
Q Tell me, Witness in the other regions of the Leningrad district, did you ever witness sacred relics and other sacred objects being mocked and being insulted?
A Yes. I witnessed terrible scenes of destruction in general, but particularly I feel that I must relate to your Honors that, in the city of Pskov, in the religious museum, right on the shores of the beautiful river, I witnessed the most terrible things.
In that city, up to 60 churches of various creeds--those 60 churches, which are the monuments of national culture, of the centuries of religion, only a very few of those remain now.
Particularly terrible was the destruction of the monuments which reflect the religious culture of the many centuries of the Russian people.
For instance-
QWell, just what happened to those churches?
A That is just what I want to relate. The ancient cathedral, the largest church, with its wonderful works of art--this whole thing was plundered by the German soldiers.
Everything was carried out of it and not only from that church alone, but from all the other churches of the same city.
You won't find a single ikon left, not a single holy image, not a vestment.
Everything was taken out.
I had to return again to the cathedral of The Trinity for my visit there, but it almost cost me my life.
Just a half hour before I arrived there a mine exploded right near the altar, the gate to the altar.
The altar blew up immediately. Blood was splattered all over it.
Before my own eyes I saw three of our Soviet warriors who were killed by the mine, intentionally planted there a short while before, right at the gate of the holy altar.
And I shall make another remark here. In Pskov, which was freed from the Germans in August, 1944, another mine exploded in January 1946, and two persons died.
In the same manner was treated the church of St. Vasili on the Gorke.
There a mine was laid right at the entrance to the church.
The thing that was so surprising in all the churches was the fact that all the dirt, all the excreta were always deposited somewhere at the entrance to the church.
Out of another cathedral, for instance, the Germans made stables.
In another one they used it as a wine-cellar. In a third temple I saw coal and oil.
My heart bleeds from the plunder that I have seen, from the suffering that I have seen.
My heart bleeds when I think that these people talk about culture, that some of them said that they believed in Christ.
QWitness, I have no more questions.
AI would like to secure permission, Mr. Prosecutor, to allow me to say a few more words about what happened in Leningrad.
I won't detain you very long.
QWith regard to that, you must ask the Tribunal.
THE PRESIDENT:Very Troll.
AI secured permission, your Honors, to add a few words. This is about the mockery of the Nicola Bogojavlenski Cathedral, the greatest cathedral in Leningrad.
In that church during the blockade of Leningrad, lived the Metropolitan Alexis of the Orthodox Church.
Since I served there until the end of the war I witnessed certain things there.
In July, 1942, I witnessed a great deal of artillery fire directed at the Cathedral.
It was particularly surprising, since I could not understand what military objectives could be there in the temple, in the vicinity of the temple. The moment church services would begin, particularly on Sunday, artillery fire directed straight at the church would begin.
At the beginning of the great raid in 1943, which began with early morning and lasted until late at night, we the clergy as well as those praying in the temple could not leave it, even for a minute, as the artillery fire never stopped. Around us there was death and destruction. I saw myself how about fifty persons -- I don't know exactly how many -people who had been my parishioners -- I saw myself how they died right near the church. They had left the church before the siren sounded "safe" and were shot immediately. In this sacred temple thousands of men were murdered, thousands of men died as a result of the German planes and German fire. For thousands of them I said memorial services. An ocean of tears was shed for them as a memorial. Our Metropolitan, Alexis, escaped death by a hair's breadth when several shell fragments broke his own dwelling within the church.
I do not want to take up too much time but I do want to say that the remarkable thing was that be most intensive artillery fire always took place on holy days when crowds worshipped in the churches. Hospitals, churches and other cultural and humanitarian institutions seemed to be the special target of the German fire. It wouldtake a long time, your Honors, to relate everything which I have seen, if I could ever tell anyone the whole long book of sorrow and suffering and crime that I have seen.
But I want to say in conclusion that the Russian people and the people of Leningrad have fulfilled their duty to their Fatherland. They bore the strafing of the German planes. Throughout the German artillery bombardment there was great organization, efficiency, courage, devotion. All through it, the Church of God tried to console the parishioners by preaching the Word of God and by preaching sacrifice.