Near Kamenez-Podolsk, the Hungarians have pushed about 11,000 Jews over the border. In the negotiations up to the present it has not been possible to arrive at any measures for the return of these Jews. The higher SS and Police leader (SS-Obergruppenfuehrer Jeckeln) hopes, however, to have completed the liquidation of these Jews by the 1.9.1941.

Bei Kamenez-Podolsk hätten die Ungarn etwa 11.000 Juden über die Grenze geschoben. In den bisherigen Verhandlungen sei es noch nicht gelungen, die Rücknahme dieser Juden zu erreichen. Der Höhere SS- und Polizeiführer (SS-Obergruppenführer Jeckeln) hoffe jedoch, die Liquidation dieser Juden bis zum 1.9.1941 durchgeführt zu haben.

[ ... ]Tätigkeiten[ ...] Stabskp. HSSUPF Russland Süd hat Aktion unter Leitung v. SS-Obergruf. Jeckeln in Kamenez Podolskij, abgeschlossen.[... ] Erfolge: [ ... ] Stabskp. erschiesst erneut 7000 Juden, somit Gesamtzahl bei der Aktion in Kamenez Podolskij liquidierten Juden rund 20 tausend. Änderung zu Tätigkeitsbericht v. 26. und 27.8.41 statt Pol.Batl. 320 setzen Stabskp. i.d. Meldung v. 27.8. statt 5 tausend 11 tausend. Pol. Batl. 320 war nur zur Absperrung eingesetzt.[ .. .]

[ ... ]Activities[ ...] Staff Company Higher SS and Police Leader for Southern Russia under command of SS-Obergruppenführer Jeckeln completed Kamenets Podolsky operation.[... ] Successes: [ ... ]  Staff Company shot another 7,000 Jews, thus total number of Jews liquidated in Kamenets Podolsky operation around 20 thousand. Change to activity reports of 26 and 27.8.41 instead of Police Battalion 320 insert Staff Company, in the report of 27.8 instead of 5 thousand 11 thousand. Police Battalion 320 was only used for cordoning [the site].[ .. .]

Nachtrag die Zahl der durch Stabskomp. HSSUPF. Russl. Sued. In K a m e n e z Po d o l s kj liquidierten Juden erhoeht sich auf 23 600. [ ...]

Supplement the number of Jews liquidated by Staff Company Higher SS and Police Leader for Southern Russia in Kamenets Podolsky rises to 23 600. [ ...]

Von einem Kommando des Höheren SS- und Polizeifuehrers sind in Kamenez-Podolsk in drei Tagen 23 600 Juden erschossen worden.

By a commando of the Higher SS and Police Leader 23 600 Jews were shot in three days in Kamenets-Podolsk

It should be noted that the British secret service listened to German police radio messages and quite certainly got to know about the mass murder. Also the command of Army Group South, the highest military authority in Ukraine, was immediately informed about the number of victims.

During the month of August 1941, 44,000 Jews were killed by units of the Higher SS and Police Leader. (NO-3146, Pros. Ex. 943.) This dignitary was the representative of the Security Police and the SD in von Roques' area. (Tr. p. 5294.) He usually had his headquarters in the same locality as the defendant. and frequently dined with him and his officers. (Tr. p. 5471.) But, strangely enough, von Roques did not learn what the tasks of this man were. Twenty-three thousand of those 44,000 victims of von Roques' dinner partner were killed in Kamenets Podolsk during 3 days. (Tr. p. 1145, NO-3154, Pros. Ex. 940.) On 2 September von Roques' chief of staff had a conference at the headquarters of Army Group South in which the figures "concerning the settlement of the Jewish question in Kamenets Podolsk" were discussed. (NOKW-1554, Pros. Ex. 938.)

Gyula Spitz, a Hungarian Jew from Budapest, was a cab driver in a suburb of the city prior to his conscription into the Hungarian army. For reasons unknown to him, Spitz was not forced into the Hungarian labor service, as were most Jews, but rather assigned to a regular army unit. He served as a driver from 1940 to 1942 and was responsible for transporting valuables, including furs, pianos, and paintings plundered from occupied territory by Hungarian officers. In return, Spitz was allowed to take home some items for his family. During his military service, Spitz was stationed in Kamenets-Podolsk, where he witnessed the mass killing of Jews by SS, Hungarian, and German military personnel on August 27-28, 1941. Spitz was eventually arrested by the Germans, despite his status as an Hungarian soldier, and was sent to Mauthausen where he perished.

In 1941, in September, I do not remember the exact date, but it was on a Wednesday morning, Germans from the killing unit were taking a group of 8,000 defenseless Hungarians [Jews], who came to us in Kamenets-Podolsk from Hungary. They walked in rows of four and had their children with them or carried them in their arms, heading toward the road to [the town of] Dunaevtsy. These Hungarians were surrounded by a German killing unit. Soon afterwards I heard shots from automatic weapons and terrible, penetrating cries of the people that was like an inhuman roar. I did not see how the Hungarians were shot. Later in the evening, when shots were no longer heard, Germans from the killing unit took back [to the city] at gun point ten girls and four men. All of them were terrified....
On the second day, Thursday, once again a crowd of 18,000 peaceful inhabitants of Kamenets-Podolsk was passing our house in the direction of the road to Dunaevtsy. Among them I saw a neighbor who used to live in the same courtyard as I did, a certain Mrs. Shvartsman, her husband, their daughters Liza and Basya, and their relatives, who went arm-in-arm, silently, without uttering a sound, their heads lowered toward the ground. Liza, who saw me, waved to me and shouted: "Senia, we are lost." The old people who could not move and lagged behind were beaten to death by Germans, afterwards they were picked up by carts that followed, loading 20-30 people into each cart and transporting them, as I know, to the shooting site. I could not believe that the German monsters would shoot the civilian population, but was soon convinced that they could. Together with my neighbor, Sonia Kotlyamchuk, I hid behind the moving population and ran in the direction of Dembitsky village; we both stayed hidden in the bushes. Although this was far away, I could see how the children, women, and men were forced to undress and to jump into the grave in groups of 10. Some of them resisted since they did not want to undress. They were beaten with rifle butts, stabbed with bayonets and, dragged by their legs and arms, were pulled to the grave. The babies were snatched away from their mothers and stabbed with bayonets.
My house was also passed by trucks filled with people: women, children, and old people. They made a tremendous noise. I counted 10 such trucks. The trucks were closely surrounded by Germans armed with rifles. Some of the people jumped out of the moving trucks and started to run, but the trucks stopped and the Germans jumped down, chased the fugitives, and shot them on the spot. ...

... On August 28, 1941 in Kamenets-Podolsk more than 8,000 local inhabitants - women, children, and old people - were assembled at the central square and guarded closely by the gendarmerie. The men were taken by the Pochtovyi descent over the Old Bridge through Poslkie Folvarki toward the old prison, where, from 10 AM to the evening, the shots of automatic weapons was heard: the shooting of the Kamenets inhabitants - children, women, old people, and men - was carried out there. ...

...During my service in the police I participated three times in the mass shootings of peaceful Soviet citizens. The first time was, I think, on August 28, 1941 when, in the area of Belanovka (on the outskirts of the city of Kamenets-Podolsk), no fewer than 4,000 Soviet citizens of Jewish nationality were shot.
On the day of the shooting, in the morning, German soldiers and "schutzmanner" (local auxiliary policemen) went around the houses and drove the Jews out onto the street. Then they were lined up in a 4-row wide column and, under German guard, were taken to the shooting site in the direction of Belanovka. I personally did not participate in the round up of the civilians from their houses since I had the day off. After the civilians were taken outside the city by the Germans, police chief Razumovskiy met me and told me to join the other policemen at the shooting place outside the city. We got into cars that took us to a field in the Belanovka area, to which the civilians of Jewish nationality had already been taken.
All the "schutzmanner" who had arrived were placed in a cordon around the Jews to guard them and, under no circumstances, allow them to get away. We were armed with rifles. At that time the people we were guarding were forced to undress and were taken by Germans, in groups of 5-6, to a grave where two German accomplices shot them. In this way all of the people taken there were shot. Subsequently, the grave was covered by [local] people mobilized for this task and we returned to the city. The Germans took for themselves the possessions of the people who were shot....

...On August 28, 1941 at dawn, they started to drive the Jews out off their apartments, telling to take with them their most valuable possessions. We were driven out of our apartment to the square, where we were surrounded by Germans and Hungarians. Whoever of us carried bags on our shoulders was beaten and [our bags] were thrown aside. Later, we were lined up 6-8 in a row and told that the way was going to be difficult and long and, therefore, there was no point in taking many belongings with us. We were taken first in the direction of Polskie Folvarki, [where] we were divided into two groups. One group was taken through Polskie Folvarki toward a pit while the other was stopped at a bridge near a rock and ordered to lie down. We sat down, while those who were tired lay down. In the meantime the Germans set up machine guns. One German put on a protective vest, a helmet, and gloves and lay down next to the machine gun, while other Germans armed with light machine guns surrounded us. Some "schutzmanner" were there as well. After they had ordered all this to be done, the Germans surrounded us and started to take pictures of us. Then they took us back to the Old Town. At several minutes past noon we were once again assembled in the center of the city. I asked the policemen "Where is that part of the people who were taken away?, my parents were among them." "You are going to be evicted from the city" he replied. ...
After the people were assembled, we were taken to Polskie Folvarki. Those unable to walk were beaten. There were German trucks and those who had been beaten were lifted up, put into trucks, and driven to the shooting site. On the way I understood that we were going to be shot and all those walking [with me] understood this as well. When we were close to the pit, the Germans ordered us to undress. At some distance from the grave they ordered us to leave our shoes, as well as money, gold, and other valuables. ... With every minute the line got closer to the grave, accompanied by cries and by terror. Germans silenced the cries by [hitting people on the head] with their rifle butts. The abuse of the young boys and girls cannot be imagined. The Germans shouted "komsomoltsy" ["Young Communists"] and split their heads open with their rifle butts. ... When I saw such brutalities, I didn't want to suffer them so I approached the grave on my own. When one henchman saw that I was going to the grave on my own, he approached me and hit my shoulder with his rifle but I raised my hand against him. At this time a translator approached and started to ask me what the matter was. I answered that my father was a Russian and that our house had been destroyed by a bomb and we did not have time to reach the New Town, and that I become mixed with the group of Jews when I was standing in the bread line. I asked the approaching German commandant to let me and my mother go since we were Russian. The commandant believed me and let me go, telling me to go over to a car. ... Standing on the car's footboard, I saw a grave across which planks had been laid, and the Germans standing around. The people approaching the grave were forced by the Germans to run along the planks; they were beaten with sticks and rifle butts and fell alive into the grave. ...

..On August 25 a new order was issued stating that all Hungarian Jews should assemble in a certain place early on August 26. At this time the chief of the local police demanded from the Jews 40,000 pengö [a large amount of Hungarian money], which was to be collected by the morning of August 26. Afterwards, all the Hungarian Jews were transferred to the new town, to the barracks near the train station. There they were locked in and no one was allowed to leave the building. A man named Veinblatt from Kassan entered at night to bring water but he was killed by the guards. At 5 AM two German soldiers went through each hall and ordered all [the Jews] to assemble outside but to leave all their belongings behind. Two other German soldiers ordered all the Jews who were German subjects to remain. Outside German soldiers armed with whips stood 10 steps apart and beat the Jews who ran past them. I do not know what else happened on this day. Altogethter there were 6,500-7,000 Jews...

As we approached to the border town of Kamenec Podolski, we began to hire intermittent gunfire [...]. I suspected that this operation must have been of a greater magnitude than the ordinary minor executions or Nazi rampages.
The gunfire become louder, and soon we encountered a group of women. We stopped the convoy to ask what was happening nearby. In broken speech mingled with muffled sobs, the women told us that not too far way, people were being slaughtered by the hundreds. I asked them if the victims were Jews. They answered amid wails and uncontrollable weeping, that both Jews and Poles were being murdered.
We than drowe for about two miles in direction of the gunfire, until we came upon the edge of the forest. Here we saw hundreds of people undressing. We slowed down and begun moving along a line of birches - we were practically on top of the mass of nude bodies. The contour of the forest began to turn in a semicircle, and suddenly we came within sight of a quadrangular ditch, lined with people on all four sides. It was here that hundreds of innocent people were being toppled by monotonous rounds of machinegun fire.
I will never forget what I saw and what I felt: the terrified faces, the unresisting bodies, heaps of men, women and children going knowingly to their graves. My reaction was a combination of panic, outrage and inconsolable pain [...]. As the slaughter proceed, the drivers of the convoy - eighty percent of whom were Jewish - sat in their trucks weeping. The German officer sitting next to me noticed that I was crying. He looked at me placidy, glancing at my yellow armband, and said: "What are you crying about?"
I responded: "How could I possibly not cry?"
"Oh, don't worry", said the officer, "there will still plenty of Jews in the world.

When we crossed this area by car, they [the Hungarian Jews] were being collected and we were almost caught, too, but we managed to make the Germans believe that we were not Jews, so we were not touched. When we crossed that place on the way back home there was not even a single Jew alive."

I recall an address by our company commander Scharway before the gathered company, whereby the whole battalion was to be deployed for a Jew action in Kamenets-Podolsk. It became clear from his address that the Jews were to be shot. His address was like a political training for us, and he expressed unmistakably that the Jews had brought unrest into the world, that they shied from work and had to be removed. I can no longer reproduce his words literally, but that was their meaning. In any case he tried to convince us through his address of the necessity of this measure. […] Scharway also mentioned in his address that he could not give any of us individually the order to take part in the shooting. After the company had again been authorized to stand down, I went to Scharway and asked him in private to release me from taking part in this action, as he had also mentioned that he could not give any of us individually an order to take part in the action. I called Scharway’s attention to the Hague Rules of Land Warfare and invoked the provision[s] contained therein whereby it was not allowed to shoot at defenseless people, and also to my not being able to reconcile this with my conscience. I further called his attention to the fact that during my training in Eilenburg I had been instructed about the Hague Rules of Land Warfare. Scharway thereupon merely replied that I was sick and for this reason already didn’t have to participate in the Jew action. 'It’s all right, H., you may stand down.'[…] It is not known to me that other company members also had themselves released from this action. Of our company's other members I didn’t get the impression that they were despondent, but they seemed to accept this measure as a necessary evil. […] In the officers I also didn’t notice that they were very depressed after this address.

Throughout the Jews had luggage with them, which was wrapped in blankets. I believe I spoke to some Jews. The Jews themselves thought they were going to be resettled. At this time I didn’t know myself that the Jews were to be shot. Due to the Jews' chatter I rather thought as well that indeed a resettlement was to take place. The Jews were taken by us outside the city. We walked about one kilometer or some more out of the city. In what direction, I can no longer say. The march went through uneven terrain. There we encountered a cordon. From far away we already saw many people standing in the area. We also heard machine pistol fire from afar. The Jews were taken by us into the cordon that consisted of policemen. Inside this cordon there were already several thousand Jews. Thereafter we reinforced the cordon as ordered. […] I still know that about 6 Jews were kept out of the shootings until the end. These 6 Jews Jeckeln ordered to line up between the two bomb craters. Then J. held a short speech before us. I think I remember that in his speech he especially pointed to a Jew who wore a grey suit and made a particularly groomed impression. In a very dramatic manner he called this Jew by name and said something like: 'Take a look at this man. This is a typical Jew, who must be exterminated so that we Germans may live.'

In the large execution at the end of August 1941 in Kamenets-Podolsk I took part. I remember that many Jews were shot there. The Jews were shot in several pits shaped like craters. These were probably bomb craters. The pit where I took part had a diameter of about 20-30 m and a depth of about 5 – 6 m. Already while driving to the execution site Jeckeln told Lueschen, Wedekind an me that we were to remain at readiness as we were driving to an execution. When we arrived the execution had not yet begun. Several execution detachments were formed, each of them with a strength of 4 men. One execution detachment consisted of Lueschen, Wedekind, myself and an unknown policeman. We were equipped with machine pistols, which must have been of Czech origin. The execution site had been cordoned off by police units. The execution detachments were formed by members of police and SS. The Jews came in a long trek. I, Lueschen, Wedekind and the unknown policeman were ordered by Jeckeln to enter one of the pits. The Jews were brought in continuously. They sometimes had to lie down, sometimes they were killed by us standing, in either case by a shot in the neck. There were men, women and children, but I only shot men. Interruptions there were none. I often went out of the pit because my nerves could no longer take it and I tried to shirk this assignment. But every time I was ordered to go back into the pit. In total I was shooting there for 1 or 2 hours. Then we were relieved by a police detachment. If I'm asked how many Jews I shot, I cannot tell exactly. Maybe 50 or 100. I don’t know. A doctor who established the victims' death was not present. I still remember how one Jew was shot not fatally and lost consciousness. When he recovered consciousness he screamed that he be shot. He then received the coup de grace. I furthermore remember that a young girl aged about 20 and a young boy about 12 years old told Sturmbannführer Meyer that they were not Jews and asked him to spare their lives. Meyer thereupon spoke to Jeckeln and both were released. I still remember how the boy jumped up high with joy because his life had been spared. The girl was also very happy. The execution lasted from 10 hours in the morning until 16 hours in the afternoon on the first day.

The victims were forced to run through a line of guards made up of regular police from Police Battalion 320, the so-called "hosepipe, " to the craters; there they had to throw their possessions to one side, and some were also ordered to disrobe. Finally, they were compelled to climb down into the crater, lie down on top of the bodies of those who had already been murdered, and were then killed instantaneously by a shot to the base of the skull. "Forbearance" was only shown for the riflemen: if any marksman was unable (or no longer able) to kill small children, he could ask to be relieved, drink some schnapps, take a break, and then return if possible to resume work at the pit.

 A report dated August 14, 1942, indicated that “Iv Kalymun recorded that he fired four shots while on duty,” wounding one Jew and killing another. Further, the chief of the commissariat filed a summary report on the same date indicating that policemen “delivered 2,128 Jews to a central assembly point.” The report stated that twelve Jews were “killed while escaping,” seven Jews were wounded, and that “Ivan Kalymun” expended four rounds of ammunition. Additionally, on August 20, 1942, “Kalymun” fired two rounds of ammunition used during operations where 525 Jews were delivered to an assembly point; fourteen Jews were shot and killed and six were wounded. The following day, “Ivan Kalymun” shot two rounds of ammunition in an operation where policemen rounded up and delivered an additional 805 Jews. In June 1943, Kalymon’s commissariat participated “in the liquidation of the Jewish ghetto” where Jews were shot or sent to forced labor camps. From November 19 through 23, 1943, all UAP members in L’viv, including those in Kalymon’s commissariat, participated in massive search operations to locate and to turn over any remaining Jews in the ghetto to German authorities.

By 1975, he was no longer denying he had been a police officer during the Nazi occupation, and by the time of a deportation hearing in 1981, he said he had been the chief of police for the second precinct of Rezekne from 1941 until the Germans began their retreat in 1944. He also said that after several Latvian policemen were shot to death in the village of Audrini by Soviet partisans in 1941, he ordered the arrest of every man, woman and child in the village, from 200 to 300 people, under orders from his police superior.

Also under orders, he said, he ordered every house to be burned to the ground. But he said he had nothing to do with the public execution of 30 villagers in the Rezekne town square and the slaughter of the rest in a nearby woods. He said he was in church during the public execution. 

A copy of a document dated December 31, 1941, which bore an indication that the original had been signed by Maikovskis's immediate supervisor, stated that "[d]uring the last six months, our work has been dominated by [inter alia ] our desire to free ourselves of Communist and Jewish leftovers...." And an SS report dated February 2, 1942, subsequent to the Audrini incident, noted:

ZEIT ONLINE: Must the history of the Holocaust now be rewritten? Is it possible that more people perished than was known so far?

Megargee: I don't think that our work will materially change the assessment of the victims' number. This number was researched rather precisely by other means, for instance in demographic studies. What we are doing here changes our understanding of how the Holocaust happened.

In detail there were counted 980 concentration camps, 30,000 labor camps including their often numerous dependencies, 1,150 Jewish ghettos, 1,000 prisoner of war camps and no less than 500 forced brothels. For Berlin alone there was established a number of 3,000 forced labor camps and so-called "Jewish houses", in which Jews were accommodated after having been expelled from their apartments and kept captive for the later transport to concentration camps.

The latter number, however, also shows the problems of adding all numbers across the board. Purpose and dimension of the camps differ considerably. It doesn’t make much sense to, for instance, put a labor camp together with the Warsaw Ghetto. Also it must be taken into account that not all 42,500 camps existed at the same time. Thus the "wild" concentration camps in the early times of the NS regime were mostly dissolved until 1934.

The enormous number, however, makes clear one thing, in the words of project leader Martin Dean: "One could literally go nowhere in Germany without encountering forced labor camps or concentration camps. They were everywhere." Insofar the museum's research corroborates what has meanwhile been proven by numerous accounts from contemporary witnesses, i.e. that knowledge of the Nazis' terror and extermination policies was general in the German Reich. And not only towards Jews, but also for instance towards the 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war. The forced laborers working everywhere, up to twelve million in total from all over Europa, were a sight known to everybody anyway.

Mark Spoerer, Professor for Economic and Social History at Regensburg University, warns against concluding from the large number on the "knowledge about the Holocaust", the murder of millions of European Jews: "Prisoner of war camps with 100 Frenchmen, from which forced laborers were taken each morning, were see by the population as due to wartime circumstances". Spoerer points out that, despite the often inhuman living conditions of forced laborers, such camps were something entirely different than the system of concentration and extermination camps.

4. The children’s asylum operation at Jeissk

The findings of fact about the children’s asylum operation at Jeissk, the defendant Dr. Gö.’s participation therein, and his attitude towards National Socialism and the operation, were mainly based on the statements of defendants Tri. and Dr. Gö., insofar as they could be considered credible, the testimonies of witnesses Ame., Boc., Bö., Dwo., Dr. Gäb., Get., Hir., Ker., Ko., Lik., Ni., Schl., Schu., Su., Syl., Vol. and Dr. Wes., the assessment of expert Prof.Dr. Ger., the contents of the final report by Local Command (Ortskommandantur) I (V) 296 dated 25.9.1942 and the forensic-medical examination of 214 children’s corpses on 15.4.1943, as well as the viewed photographs of the children’s asylum in Jeissk and the viewed sketch of the asylum’s area.

a) The "gas van" was described by defendants Tri. and Dr. Gö. as well as witnesses Boc., Dwo., Get., Hir., Ko., Lik., Ni., Schl. and Vol., in an essentially coincident and credible manner, as rendered in section II (B) 2a of the reasons. As concerns the time of the event the witness Vol. claimed that the operation had taken place not only in October but earlier. In accordance with this the witness Bö. dated the occurrence to "April 1942".

The court, however, reached the conviction that the operation was carried out on 9 and 10 October 1942. Apart from the witnesses Lik., Ko. and Get. having stated that the children had been taken away in "September or October", "on about 10 October" or on "9 October", and the dates 9 and 10 October being stated in the forensic-medical examination of the corpses, the court bases itself materially on the testimony of witness Dwo. This witness mentioned 9 and 10 October 1942 as the time of the operation. Dwo. had at that time been about 19 years old and accommodated in the building at Shtsherbinovskaia-/Gogol Street. He stated credibly and convincingly that after the operation he had written a poem about it, which he had titled "9 October" and which had also been published. In the night from the first to second day of the operation Nina Sholokhova had furthermore told him that she would be 18 years old on 10 October.

The findings of fact about the sequence of events (section II (B) 2a of the reasons) are based especially on the corresponding information provided by witnesses Boc., Bö., Dwo., Get., Ko., Lik., Su. and Vol. Assessment of the testimonies of witnesses Boc., Bö., Dwo., Ko., Lik., Su. and Vol. especially revealed in this context that on the operation’s first day the children accommodated in the building at Shtsherbinovskaia-/Gogol Street and thereafter the bedridden sick children from the building at Budienny Street, and on the second day – though without participation by members of the partial detachment stationed at Jeissk – the moronic and imbecilic children accommodated in the asylum’s central complex had been taken away with the gas van and killed.

As concerns the deception of children and supervising personnel the witness Bö. stated that he assumed that the children had of course not been told that death awaited them. Like the witness Boc. the witnesses Dwo., Get. und Ko. stated that, after the gas van had driven up to the building at Shtsherbinovskaia-/Gogol Street, an interpreter had told Ko. or the children that the children would be taken for medical treatment to Krasnodar. The witness Dwo. furthermore stated that they had prior to the occupation read in the papers that the "German fascists" had in hermetically sealed vans taken people out of the city and destroyed them. The witness Get. stated that she had also not believed the claims about taking the children to Krasnodar, as she had still in Simferopol read in the papers that the Germans had burned down the children’s asylum at Nikolaiev. She had immediately had the feeling that something terrible would happen and therefore also told the other girls that nothing good could be expected. The witness Ko. furthermore stated, in accordance with the information provided by the witness Lik., that the children taken away on the second day had been told that they would be taken for a ride.

The court has no misgivings about basing its findings of fact as concerns the sequence of events on the information provided by the mentioned witnesses.

As becomes apparent from the testimonies of witnesses Ko., Lik., Dwo. and Get., they still have a good memory of the event. For them this operation was a unique, shocking and stirring event that they could not forget. The witness Ko., who at that time had been 27 years old and head of the instruction and education department, was still deeply shocked about the occurrence when she testified on 7.8.1970, according to the credible statements of witness Dr. Wes. Also the witness Dwo. had been deeply moved internally when testifying on 6.8.1970. The witnesses Lik., at that time 45 years old and manager of the economy department, Dwo. and Get., at that time about 19 and 13 years old and accommodated in the asylum, could watch what was happening from close up. Their descriptions are detailed, clear and illustrative. According to the credible statements of witness Dr. Wes. the instruction of these witnesses was thorough and careful, the interrogation extraordinarily correct and the right to ask questions unlimited. Furthermore there had been no indication of any influence being exercised on the witnesses.

Additionally the description of the sequence of events provided by the witnesses Ko., Lik., Dwo. and Get. is largely confirmed by the statements of witnesses Boc., Bö., Su. and Vol. The court also considers credible the information provided by these witnesses in this context. The witness Boc. had himself participated in the operation. The same applies to the witnesses Vol., Bö. and Su. Vol. pointed out that the operation been one of the ugliest he had experienced. Both Bö. and Su. made their statements as defendants. Bö. admitted to having helped in loading the children [onto the van]. Su. conceded to have taken part in the loading of the children and to have thrown the dead children out of the van. The accounts of these witnesses are objective and precise and largely consistent with each other.

As concerns the cause of the children’s death the expert Prof.Dr. Ger. essentially stated the following:

The death of the affected children had occurred due to brain paralysis, caused by lack of oxygen, which had in the first place been due to poisoning with carbon monoxide. The engine exhaust of the "gas van" had contained carbon monoxide, between 3 and 10 % depending on what load was on the motor. Carbon monoxide is bound by the red blood substance with an affinity 210 times higher than that of oxygen. Therefore red blood substance is lost for the transport of oxygen. If the amount lost is 50 %, death generally occurs (inner asphyxiation). The course of the poisoning depends especially on the respective carbon monoxide concentration in the room’s air as well as the breathing volume. When the carbon monoxide concentration in the room’s air is 0.1 %, transitory poisoning symptoms occur. Death only happens after hours of breathing. With a concentration of 0.3 %, on the other hand, death could already occur after about two hours. With a concentration of 0.5 % there could be unconsciousness already after a few minutes and death after a short time.

Poisoning by carbon monoxide is often not noticed by the victims. When it is noticed, it is often too late already, as the increased need of oxygen caused by the salvation attempt leads to unconsciousness. In other cases, however, it causes an intense sensation of choking. If loading of red blood substance with carbon monoxide reaches 25 %, blood pressure increases. This leads to faster heartbeat, nausea, eye scintillation, buzzing in the ears, pounding in the temples and headaches in the front and temple areas. Further loading of red blood substance with carbon monoxide then leads to sickness and urge to vomit, finally to cramps, vomiting and emission of urine and excrement.

The course of the affected children’s poisoning had been dependent on how large the room in the gas van had been, how many children had been loaded into that room, how high the engine exhaust’s carbon monoxide concentration had been, with what speed it had been introduced, and how high the children’s breathing volume had been. In this respect it was significant that children as a rule have a higher breathing frequency than adults and that the breathing volume increases under stress, especially when screaming.

Additionally hydro-cephalic children may, according to the degree of hydrocephaly, have been more sensitive to the poison. Additionally one has to take into account that the children may also have choked on the vomit, that due to the constriction of the sealed room the exhaled carbon dioxide may have had an additional toxic function and that children lying underneath other children could for this reason alone have suffocated after about three to five minutes.

Summarizing, it could be established that the children in the "gas van" had with certainty not all died at the same time but rather, according to their special situation, died one after the other. It is possible that some children had already shown the most severe signs of poisoning while other children had witnessed these symptoms, especially the cramps, the vomiting, the emission of excrement and urine, while their consciousness was still relatively clear.

The court fully accepts this expertise. It is supported by expert knowledge, coherent, intelligible, convincing and partially also confirmed by the results of the forensic-medical examination of the corpses on 15.4.1943.

As concerns the number of children killed the witnesses Dwo., Ko., Lik. and Su. coincided in stating that there had been a total of 214 children. They pointed out that this number resulted from the asylum’s administrative documents. It is also stated in the corresponding forensic-medical examination of the corpses and, according to the witness Ame.’s credible statement, on the memorial at Jeissk.

About the purpose of the whole undertaking neither the defendants nor the witnesses could provide precise information. However, from the final report of the Ortskommandantur I (V) 296 dated 25.9.1942, in which it is stated that 500 beds in School III and in the children’s asylum at M-Street would be made available to Sick Collection Point 604, the court concludes that by clearing out the children’s asylum in question rooms were to be obtained for a sick collection point. In this context it is of special significance that according to the defendant Tri. there had also been a war hospital at Jeissk, while the witness Schu stated that, after Tri. had moved on, he had still remained at Jeissk and transferred two field hospitals to Rostov.

The legal assessment of the findings of fact regarding the children’s asylum operation at Jeissk leads to the conclusion that this was murder (Section 211 of the Criminal Code).

[…]

bb) In this operation 214 persons, namely 214 children accommodated at the respective children’s asylum, were killed deliberately and partially in a cruel manner (Section 211, Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code).

Those of the children who, while still in a state of relatively clear consciousness, had to witness the death struggle of their companions in suffering with cramps, vomiting, emission of urine and excrement, suffered excessive torments. Especially their death panic was significantly increased thereby.

The deliberate order to carry out this action stemmed from an unfeeling attitude devoid of mercy for the children’s suffering (see Federal Supreme Court, Decisions in Criminal Matters 3, [pp.] 180, 264).

The court is convinced that he who gave the order to use the gas van for the operation in question was aware of the fact that the simultaneous killing of a multitude of persons with the gas van would at least for a part of the victims necessarily lead to excessive psychological and physical torments. Nevertheless he gave priority to obtaining rooms for a sick collection point, without there being any indication that it was even considered to try sparing the victims their excessive torments.

Section 211 Murder

(1) The murderer shall be punished with imprisonment for life.

(2) A murderer is, whoever kills a human being out of murderous lust, to satisfy his sexual desires, from greed or otherwise base motives, treacherously or cruelly or with means dangerous to the public or in order to make another crime possible or cover it up.

Who gave the respective order and who commanded the operation can no longer be established.

Together with other members of the delegation that had arrived at Krasnodar and the partial detachment stationed at Jeissk, the defendant Dr. Gö. participated in the operation. In execution of the corresponding order he stood by the gas van on the first day, 9 October 1942, during the loading of the children and observed the operation, without having any noteworthy influence on its execution. He gave instructions to the Russian auxiliaries and the asylum’s nurses and told them what they were to do.

For the differentiation between a perpetrator and an accessory the participant’s inner attitude towards the deed is the determining factor (see Federal Supreme Court, Decisions in Criminal Matters 18, [p.] 87). This attitude is to be established from the overall picture of all the deed’s circumstances.

In this respect an own interest in the deed as well as command over the sequence of events are evidence indications pointing to a perpetrator. Especially he who carries out the deed by his own hand must as a rule, though not without exception, be considered a perpetrator. The accessory, on the other hand, is characterized by his subordination to another person’s will. He means to give assistance to the main perpetrator, to further his deed. Who in this respect shows particularly concurrent eagerness, however, can as a rule not claim to be a mere accessory. While acting under orders does not exclude the obeying subordinate's being a co-perpetrator, in that he also wants the deed as one of his own, the essence of acting under orders is generally that the subordinate wants to commit the deed not by his own will but in fulfillment of a duty, albeit without recognizing its limits.

The defendant Dr. Gö., through his contribution to the children’s asylum operation at Jeissk, made himself guilty of a crime of jointly executed accessorizing to murder in 214 legally coincident cases (Sections 211, 47, 49, 73 of the Criminal Code), with the main deed having been committed cruelly.

a) The court reached the conviction that at the children’s asylum operation the defendant Dr. Gö. participated not as perpetrator, but - in conjunction with others – as accessory. Assessment of the overall picture resulting from all circumstances reveals that he did not provide his contribution with a perpetrator’s will of his own. To be sure, he participated in the operation insofar as he stood by the gas van during the loading of the children on 9 October 1942, observed the operation and gave instructions to the Russian auxiliaries and the asylum’s nurses. In doing so, however, he acted under a corresponding order and without an interest of his own in the deed. He rather disapproved of the operation. There are no indications that he had a noteworthy influence on the operation’s execution or showed particular eagerness.

The defendant, however, knowingly and actively provided assistance, in conjunction with others (Sections 47, 49 of the Criminal Code), to a crime of murder in 214 legally coincident cases (Sections 211, 73 of the Criminal Code).

Through his contribution to the deed, through his instructing the Russian auxiliaries and nurses of the asylum and telling them what they were to do, the defendant furthered the deed, without however acting out of an own unfeeling, merciless attitude towards the victims’ suffering. To be sure, he provided his contribution to the deed conscious of the fact that excessive suffering was being inflicted on the children. However, as already mentioned, he disapproved of the operation. It also didn’t become apparent that in his activity he exceeded the scope of the orders given to him or had the possibility of diminishing the victims’ suffering. According to the testimony of witness Schl. the defendant was never taken seriously.

The defendant, however, provided his contribution to the deed in awareness of the fact that he was thereby furthering the premeditated killing of the affected children, 214 in total. As becomes apparent from his own statements, he also knew the circumstances that made the operation a cruel deed. It was especially clear to him that the order to carry out the operation, under circumstances that caused the victims excessive torment, had emanated from an unfeeling, merciless attitude. Finally he was also aware, also due to his intelligence and his consolidated values, that this order was unlawful. It was known to him that the children to be killed were completely innocent, that they were killed indiscriminately and under horrendous circumstances.

5. The penalty range

For the crimes of accessorizing to murder committed by the defendants in the years 1941/1942 the Criminal Code stipulates a penalty range of 3 to 15 years imprisonment or – the conditions of Section 50 Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code are not present – lifetime imprisonment (Sections 211 Paragraph 1, 49 Paragraph 2, 44 Paragraph 1 and 2 of the Criminal Code in conjunction with Section 4 of the Decree against Violent Criminals dated 5.12.1939 – Reich Official Gazette I, 2378).

[…]

6. Fixation of the penalty

When fixing the penalty the jury court let itself be guided essentially by the following considerations:

a) In favor of all defendants it was taken into account that they provided their contribution to the deed only under orders, that they internally disapproved of the deed and didn’t pursue any personal goals in contributing thereto, that before and after their time of belonging to Einsatzkommando 10a they always led an orderly and laborious life, that due to the long duration of the proceedings they were subject to increased psychological pressure, and that none of the defendants requires re-socialization, as they all found their way back to civilian life.

[…]

In favor of defendant Dr. Gö. is was additionally taken into consideration that his experiences while being part of Einsatzkommando 10a still haunt him and are a considerable psychological burden for him to this day, that he, even when this was difficult for him, granted his patients the same medical treatment regardless of their person, and that he is in a bad health condition.

b) Against the defendants it was taken into consideration that their respective contribution to the deeds furthered the killing of at least 200 Jews respectively of 214 children.

c) After assessing the entire culpability content of the defendants’ deeds and their personality the court saw itself compelled to, according to Section 49 Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code, derive the penalty from the penalty range of Article 44 Paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code. The decisive factor for this, in the end, was the fact that the defendants had provided their contribution to the respective deed only under orders.

d) Again taking into account all circumstances speaking in favor of and against the defendants, the court considered that, within the penalty range of 3 to 15 years imprisonment, a prison sentence of 4 (four) years was appropriate in each case, the circumstance that none of the defendants requires re-socialization being the main factor weighing in their favor.

3.7.5.3. LG München I, Verdict of 14 July 1972

This trial was against three defendants (Kurt Tri.[?], Friedrich Sev.[?], Heinrich Gö.[?]), each of whom received a four year prison term for adding and abetting in mass murder ostensibly committed while a member of Einsatkommando 10a of Einsatzgruppe D in southern Ukraine. For the present study only the case of Dr. med. Heinrich Gö. is relevant, as he was accused of ordering the asphyxiation of 214 sick children residing at a children hospital in Eysk (Jeissk in the verdict) in October 1942 by means of a gas van.

The verdict’s description of the gas van is again rather short and reads as follows (p. 408):

"The 'gas van' or – as the Russians called it – the 'soul killer' was a large truck with a cargo box. It had false windows painted on the outside walls, and a large double door at the back with which the cargo compartment could be closed. The cargo box was lined withwhite sheet metal on the inside, and the floor was covered with a wooden grate. A hose permitted the exhaust fumes to be directed into the interior from below."

Although the verdict claims that this is the summary of a number of “basically” (whatever that means) congruent witness statements (p. 419), the alleged Russian nick name for this vehicle – “soul killer” – as well as the false windows were first claimed by the Soviet show trial in Krasnodar (The People’s Verdict 1944, pp. 16f.), but are otherwise conspicuously absent in witness statements and court verdicts.120 This gives us a clue where the entire theme of this trial comes from: it is basically a repetition of the Krasnodar show trial, with new defendants and a different children hospital (cf. The People’s Verdict 1944, pp. 27-31, 35), but otherwise all the old claims and methods, including the uncritical acceptance of testimonies made by Soviet "witnesses" – or as the verdict puts it naïvely: “no manipulation of the [Soviet] witnesses has been noticeable” – plus a forensic expert report about 214 exhumed children allegedly killed with carbon monoxide produced by the Soviets back in 1943 (pp. 412, 419; cf. The People’s Verdict 1944, pp. 31f.; see chapter 3.2. in this present study).

That neither the defendant nor the witnesses knew why these 214 had to be killed is of no relevance. The court knew it: they had to make room for injured German soldiers (p. 421).

The defendant, by the way, denied having had any knowledge, let alone having been involved, in the murder of these children. He also claimed to have seen a gas van only twice and from a distance (p. 422). How he could have known "from a distance" that this was "the" gas van is a mystery, though. Of course the judges did not believe him.

3.7.5.3. LG München I, Verdict of 14 July 1972

This trial was against three defendants (Kurt Tri.[?], Friedrich Sev.[?], Heinrich Gö.[?]), each of whom received a four year prison term for adding and abetting in mass murder ostensibly committed while a member of Einsatkommando 10a of Einsatzgruppe D in southern Ukraine. For the present study only the case of Dr. med. Heinrich Gö. is relevant, as he was accused of ordering the asphyxiation of 214 sick children residing at a children hospital in Eysk (Jeissk in the verdict) in October 1942 by means of a gas van.

Who gave the respective order and who commanded the operation can no longer be established.

Together with other members of the delegation that had arrived at Krasnodar and the partial detachment stationed at Jeissk, the defendant Dr. Gö. participated in the operation. In execution of the corresponding order he stood by the gas van on the first day, 9 October 1942, during the loading of the children and observed the operation, without having any noteworthy influence on its execution. He gave instructions to the Russian auxiliaries and the asylum’s nurses and told them what they were to do.

The verdict’s description of the gas van is again rather short and reads as follows (p. 408):

"The 'gas van' or – as the Russians called it – the 'soul killer' was a large truck with a cargo box. It had false windows painted on the outside walls, and a large double door at the back with which the cargo compartment could be closed. The cargo box was lined with white sheet metal on the inside, and the floor was covered with a wooden grate. A hose permitted the exhaust fumes to be directed into the interior from below."

Although the verdict claims that this is the summary of a number of "basically" (whatever that means) congruent witness statements (p. 419), the alleged Russian nick name for this vehicle – "soul killer" – as well as the false windows were first claimed by the Soviet show trial in Krasnodar (The People’s Verdict 1944, pp. 16f.), but are otherwise conspicuously absent in witness statements and court verdicts.120

This gives us a clue where the entire theme of this trial comes from: it is basically a repetition of the Krasnodar show trial, with new defendants and a different children hospital (cf. The People’s Verdict 1944, pp. 27-31, 35), but otherwise all the old claims and methods, including the uncritical acceptance of testimonies made by Soviet “witnesses” – or as the verdict puts it naïvely: “no manipulation of the [Soviet] witnesses has been noticeable” – plus a forensic expert report about 214 exhumed children allegedly killed with carbon monoxide produced by the Soviets back in 1943 (pp. 412, 419; cf. The People’s Verdict 1944, pp. 31f.; see chapter 3.2. in this present study).

As becomes apparent from the testimonies of witnesses Ko., Lik., Dwo. and Get., they still have a good memory of the event. For them this operation was a unique, shocking and stirring event that they could not forget. The witness Ko., who at that time had been 27 years old and head of the instruction and education department, was still deeply shocked about the occurrence when she testified on 7.8.1970, according to the credible statements of witness Dr. Wes. Also the witness Dwo. had been deeply moved internally when testifying on 6.8.1970. The witnesses Lik., at that time 45 years old and manager of the economy department, Dwo. and Get., at that time about 19 and 13 years old and accommodated in the asylum, could watch what was happening from close up. Their descriptions are detailed, clear and illustrative. According to the credible statements of witness Dr. Wes. the instruction of these witnesses was thorough and careful, the interrogation extraordinarily correct and the right to ask questions unlimited. Furthermore there had been no indication of any influence being exercised on the witnesses.

Additionally the description of the sequence of events provided by the witnesses Ko., Lik., Dwo. and Get. is largely confirmed by the statements of witnesses Boc., Bö., Su. and Vol. The court also considers credible the information provided by these witnesses in this context. The witness Boc. had himself participated in the operation. The same applies to the witnesses Vol., Bö. and Su. Vol. pointed out that the operation been one of the ugliest he had experienced. Both Bö. and Su. made their statements as defendants. Bö. admitted to having helped in loading the children [onto the van]. Su. conceded to have taken part in the loading of the children and to have thrown the dead children out of the van. The accounts of these witnesses are objective and precise and largely consistent with each other.

That neither the defendant nor the witnesses knew why these 214 had to be killed is of no relevance. The court knew it: they had to make room for injured German soldiers (p. 421).

About the purpose of the whole undertaking neither the defendants nor the witnesses could provide precise information. However, from the final report of the Ortskommandantur I (V) 296 dated 25.9.1942, in which it is stated that 500 beds in School III and in the children’s asylum at M-Street would be made available to Sick Collection Point 604, the court concludes that by clearing out the children’s asylum in question rooms were to be obtained for a sick collection point. In this context it is of special significance that according to the defendant Tri. there had also been a war hospital at Jeissk, while the witness Schu. stated that, after Tri. had moved on, he had still remained at Jeissk and transferred two field hospitals to Rostov.

The defendant, by the way, denied having had any knowledge, let alone having been involved, in the murder of these children. He also claimed to have seen a gas van only twice and from a distance (p. 422). How he could have known “from a distance” that this was “the” gas van is a mystery, though.

The findings of fact about the defendant Dr. Gö.’s inner attitude towards National Socialism and the children's asylum operation at Jeissk (Section II (B) 2 c of the reasons) are especially based on the defendant's statements – insofar as they could be believed – and on the statements of witnesses Hir., Ker., Schl. und Syl.

The defendant Dr. Gö. especially declared that he had been indignant about the children's having been killed. He had considered killings with a gas van to be very cruel, particularly abominable and eerie, terrible and torturous.

In the course of his defense he especially also expressed that the consequence of a refusal to follow orders would have been his being placed before and SS- or police court and with certainty given a high sentence or even a death sentence.

The statements made by the defendant in this context are – except as concerns the issue of refusing to obey orders – at least not refutable, also as they are essentially confirmed by the witnesses Hir., Ker., Schl. und Syl., insofar as these could provide information at all. The witness Schl. testified that Dr. Gö. had been supposed to be a physician at the detachment, but never been taken quite seriously. He had – as was also confirmed by the witness Hir. – been the right hand of [detachment commander] Seetzen. The witness Ker. credibly stated that Seetzen promoted people according to his whims. The witness Syl. finally stated that Dr. Gö. had visited her and her husband during his leave in the winter of 1941/42. He had made a completely desperate and dissolute impression. To her husband he had said that he would rather be at the front than again experience something like the persecution of the Jews. The court sees no reason to call in question the statements made by the witnesses in this respect.

Of course the judges did not believe him.

As concerns the nature of his participation in the operation the defendant Dr. Gö. claimed the following: he had once driven together with Jurieff from Krasnodar in the direction of Rostov. What task Jurieff had had he didn’t know. After some time they had arrived at a larger location with about 10,000 inhabitants. Whether this location was Jeissk he didn’t know. Jurieff had talked to members of the police. In this conversation it had been mentioned that nearby there was a home for mentally handicapped children. Jurieff and he had thereafter driven to this children’s home. He had entered the building and found already in the first room 15 small hydro-cephalic children. Beside the little beds there had stood small mongoloid children. In total he had seen 20 to 30 children. He also still remembered two nurses. He had then left the building and driven away with Jurieff. He had not seen that the children had been brought into the gas van. He had only later, in Krasnodar, heard that the children had been gassed. The gas van he had only seen twice in his life and only from afar, once at this specific place.

However, the defendant’s participation described in Section II (B) 2 b of the reasons is proven by the testimonies of witness Vol., Boc., Su. and Bö..

Whereas the statements of the [Soviet] witnesses Ko., Lik., Dwo. und Get. provide no indications that the defendant Dr. Gö. – who of course was not known to them – participated in the operation, the witnesses Vol. and Boc. concurrently testified that the defendant had been there and had "given instructions", "told the people what they had to do". The witness Su. stated that in early October 1942 Dr. Gö. and Jurieff had ordered him and a group of soldiers to drive to the city of Jeissk. Dr. Gö. and Jurieff had come along in a passenger car. They had all driven with the gas van to the children’s asylum. There Dr. Gö. and Jurieff had commanded the operation. The witness Bö. finally stated that Dr. Gö. had come to Jeissk with the "soul killer", driven along to the children’s asylum, there stood by the door of the "soul killer" and helped in loading the children.

It was around 4 hours in the morning. They looked into the windows with lamps. I thought there was a fire. The Fascists broke the windows with rifle butts, kicked open the doors with their boots and suddenly stood in the room. I was half naked, but nevertheless they searched me for weapons. Then they chased us all out of the house. My sister wanted to go back to get some warm clothing. She had a small child with her and didn’t want it to be cold. It was already quite cold, at the end of September. But we had to go out on the square without warm clothes. There we sat and waited until all had been chased out of the houses. We men were taken a little aside. There we had to dig a pit, 5 meters deep, 2 meters wide and very long. So I had to dig my own grave. While we dug machine pistols were pointed at us from all sides. Then, when the first groups were chased to the pits and the soldiers started shooting them, panic broke out, the people screamed, wanted to run away. Thereupon the soldiers fired with machine pistols into the crowd. And then during the shootings they turned on the motors of their trucks and played music through loudspeakers, in order to drown out the screams and the shots. Little children they impaled on bayonets and then threw them into the pit, in order to save bullets. I saw myself how the Fascist slit open the belly of a highly pregnant woman and threw her into the pit. In the evening it started raining strongly. Nevertheless the village continued burning. Almost for a week. The pits were only covered with a little soil. Through the soil the blood came up from the earth. Like through a miracle I survived. When the panic broke out I simply ran away with others. They shot at us but missed. For two days we hid in the woods. Then we went back to the village. What village – there were only a few walls standing, chimneys and ashes everywhere. From others, who came back right after the Germans had left, we heard that the soil on the pits was still slightly moving. That was because not all were immediately dead when they fell into the pits. They shoveled the soil away. But it was too late.

It is not possible to establish the total number of people who were killed by the Germans and their auxiliaries during the fight against partisans in Belorussia. Only approximations can be made. Such require dealing with the statistical problems in this context, first of all. There are several ways to determine a total number of victims. Posterior research on reports about individual cases, such as published by the working group around Romanowski, cannot be accurate due to the vast number of affected villages, the lack of surviving witnesses able to provide exact data and the enormous research effort. They only provide minimum numbers because only positively verifiable cases are therein taken into consideration. In the more than 5,000 villages covered by Romanowski more than 147,000 inhabitants died. 627 villages were completely destroyed, and 186 thereof remained wastelands after the war. For comparison: In Lithuania there were 21, in the Ukraine 250 “scorched villages”.

it is certainly surprising, to me at least, that ICE and Homeland Security spend their time looking for lost documents from the Second World War 

At the conclusion of the Nuremberg Trials, Kempner returned to the United States and lived in Lansdowne, Pa. Contrary to law and proper procedure, Kempner removed various documents, including the Rosenberg Diary, from U.S. government facilities in Nuremberg and retained them until his death in 1993.

HSI investigation

In November 2012, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware and HSI special agents received information from an art security specialist, who was working with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, regarding the search for Rosenberg Diary. The Rosenberg Diary was subsequently located and seized pursuant to a warrant issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.

HSI plays a leading role in criminal investigations that involve the illegal importation and distribution of cultural property, including the illicit trafficking of cultural property, especially objects that have been reported lost or stolen. The HSI Office of International Affairs, through its 75 attaché offices in 48 countries, works closely with foreign governments to conduct joint investigations, when possible.

An Italian writer troubled himself to count the number of persons exterminated according to the Bible by virtue of the “cherem”: 2,120,182. The biblical Jehudim were therefore real forerunners of the Einsatzgruppen, actually even worse, because besides men, women and children, they even exterminated the animals! Is pointing this out “anti-Semitic” too?

I do have a problem with Mattogno’s writings and, partly because I have already read many of them, and partly for reasons I shall presently elucidate, I did not read these recent two volumes in their entirety. A major reason I did not read all of Mattogno’s books is simply that I have great trouble following his arguments and, even after taking all that time and trouble, I can feel I have been left in the lurch.