On 8 July 1941, a partial Commando of about 20 men from Einsatzgruppe B, Commando 9 “overhauled Lida from the security police viewpoint”. At least 80, most members of the Jewish intelligentsia, Jewish men, denounced by compliant inhabitants on encouragement [of the German authorities], were shot about 2 Km outside Lida, at the edge of bomb craters which appeared a convenient place to hide the victims. This Aktion was the substance of the concluded legal proceeding against the leader of Einsatz Commando 9, Dr. Filbert, and others, 3 P (K) Ks 1/62 LG Berlin. Vol 1 p 165, vol 2 p 241, 290, Verdict ./. Dr. Filbert & al, (500) 3 P (K) Ks 1/62 LG Berlin p 32 & 81
This Aktion is also the origin of another case at the Standesamt Dortmund against Schulz-Isenbeck (45 Js 15/62)
A similar Aktion against the Jewish intelligentsia took place August 1941 in Ivje. Here about 200 Jews were shot by an unknown Commando group outside Ivje, near the village Stoniewicze. Vol 2 p 237, 302 f, vol 20 p 2785
Further Aktionen of smaller scope were executed until spring 1942 by members of the 12th Company of the JR 727, then stationed in Shchuchin (Szczuczyn), in Shchuchin as well as Zoludek and Vasiliski. In this regard, there is a pending case at the Standesamt Munich I against Kiefer and others (113 Js 32/65) vol 1 p 31, vol 2 p 389 f, 401, 403, 408 f, vol 3 p 554 f, vol 10 p 1357, vol 13 p 1919 f
In November 1941 300 Jews were shot by an unidentified Lithuanian Commando. They had been imprisoned in the movie theater, where they had been brutally mistreated. It has been impossible to discover who ordered the shooting of these Jews. Vol 5 p 801, vol 23 p 3145
The first members of the civil administration (the so-called “Urstaff” of the Regional Commissariat [RC]) presumably arrived in September 1941. Members of this Urstaff were, among others, the Regional Commissar [RC] Hanweg, the accused Windisch and Werner, and Werner Dietze, about whom nothing further is known. Vol 17 p 2356, vol 18 p 2550, vol 21 p 2884
All the measures adopted by the Military administration [Local Command] were now carried out more and more by the RC, which was being built up & adding personnel, according to the interim guidelines for the treatment of Jews of 18 Aug 1941 issued by the the Reichs Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. With that, the responsibility for all affairs relating to Jews passed into the power of the RC. Persecution of the Jews and restriction of their accustomed way of life became more severe. Doc. Vol V p 341 ff, 394 a ff ( = p 115 & 118 of this indictment)
Forced labor was introduced for all Jews from the end of the 14th year to the 60th. All Jews had to wear a yellow Star of David on their chests and backs. They were prohibitted, among other things, from moving to another residence, using the public sidewalk, public transit, trucks, etc. There followed many other deprivations of rights and defamatory measures, which are individually listed in the already cited interim guidelines for the treatment of Jews from the Reichs Commissar for the East of 18 Aug 1941, as well as in Section II (Guidelines for the Treatment of the Jewish Question) of the working guidelines Doc vol V p 343 ff, 394a ff (= p 114 ff of the indictment)
As in all Belarus, the Jews in the area administered by the RC Lida were also collected into Jewish sections (at first unfenced) on the order of the RC. Such Jewish sections were – to the extent that Jews did not already live in closed-off ghettos – established in Lida, Zoludek, Vasiliski, Shchuchin, Voronovo, Radun, and Ivje.
The Jews in the surrounding villages were moved into these Jewish sections. Here they had to live in the worst possible conditions with the collected Jews, sometimes 30 people to a room. This concentration of the Jews had been decided upon to make their planned annihilation all the easier to carry out, which is the unmistakable intent of the interim guidelines for the treatment of Jews from the Reichs Commisar for the East of 18 Aug 1941, as well as of Section II of the work guidelines of the Reichs Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories of 3 Sept 1941, already referred to. Vol 21 p 2847 (living conditions), Doc vol V p 343 ff, 394a ff
The able-bodied Jews housed in the Jewish sections between the ages of 14 and 60 were separated according to sex and treated differently. Doc. Vol V p 394a
While in each of the RC Lida towns Zoludek, Shchuchin, Vasiliski, Radun, Voronovo and Ivje each had one Jewish section, the larger population of Jews in Lida required formation of 3 Jewish sections, which were situated in different areas at the edge of town. The expanse and position of these Jewish sections, which didn’t, at this time, form a proper (sealable) Ghetto, can be seen in the map of Lida.
The largest Jewish section (Postowska section) with about 4000 people, lay at Krupowska-Postowska Street north of town, west of the railway line to Vilnius. Vol 21 p 2845, 2848, 2851, 2884, map of Lida
In the northeast part of town, east of the railway line to Vilnius, was the second Jewish section, the Koscharowa section, beside Koscharowa Street, in which about 1500 – 2000 Jews were placed.
The third Jewish section (Piaski section) was further south along the street to Grodno. Here lived about 1700 – 2000 Jews.
The two last-named sections (Koscharowa and Piaski) were dissolved after the major mass executions in Lida (8 May 1942). Those Jews from these sections who survived were relocated to the Postowska section, which now was encircled with a fence.
The Jewish sections in the outlying towns of the RC Lida were also dissolved after the mass executions of 9 to 12 May 1942 there – with the exception of Shchuchin. The Jews left alive in these cities were relocated to the two remaining ghettos in Lida and Shchuchin. On 23 September 1943 all of the Jews remaining in the RC Lida were transported to an unknown concentration camp.
In analogy to the Polish experience, the military administration had already set up a Judenrat (council of elders) as self-governing body. The Judenrat constituted itself of several members and a president.
In Lida, the Judenrat consisted of 9 to 12 people. The president was, to March 1942, the teacher Lichtmann, who was then, with the majority of the other Judenrat members, murdered in the manner described on p 20 f of this indictment. His successor was Altmann, often named in the documents, whose ultimate fate is unknown.
The members of the Judenrat wore a white armband with the inscription “Judenrat” and a number after it. A member of the 7-man Judenrat in Ivje was the witness Dworecki. Vol 20 p 2785, 2793 (Dworecki)
The office of the Judenrat in Lida was, until 8 May 1942, in a building in the Koscharowa section, near a railway underpass.
In this office were employed, to support the individual members of the Judenrat, about 12 people, among them the witnesses Damasek and Glaubermann. Vol 113 p 1817a (Glaubermann) vol 21 p 2885 (Damesek)
The Judenrat was generally charged with maintaining order as well as self-government tasks, namely in the area of economy, nutrition, sanitation, social welfare, etc., but particularly the work schedules of the laborers requisitioned by the RC in Lida and the mayors in the outlying towns. Vol 20 p 2786
For security, the Judenrat called on the Jewish Order Service as a policing organ.
From these charges to the Judenrat, it followed necessarily that the members of the Judenrat, particularly the president, had constant contact with and regularly received orders from, in the first line, the Jewish Referent, the accused Windisch, but also with the official charged with economy and provenance, the accused Werner. Vol 20 p 2786 (Dworecki) vol 21 p 2885 (Damesek)
The RC ordered Jewish workshops established in the Postowska section, northwest of Lida, in which the majority of the Jewish skilled workers were employed. These workshops were small, primitive, employing on the average 10 men, and were organized into cooperatives under the supervision of the RC to make particularly important goods for the war effort of the Minsk Armaments Commando. In practice, the output of these shops was overwhelmingly used by the RC and other German offices in the regions, on account of which the Minsk Armaments Commando complained repeatedly about the unsatisfactory output of the workshops in Lida. Vol 16 p 2215, 2322, vol 21 p 2861 f, Doc vol IV p 289, 302, 313, 316
The establishment of these workshops was already encouraged in the work guidelines of the Reichs Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories of 3 Sept 1941 as well as in an express letter from the Reichsfueher of the SS & German Police of 29 Jan 1942. They were organized in particular on the initiative of the Armaments Commando Minsk in all of Belarus, and thus also in Lida. Doc. Vol VI p 313, Doc. Vol. V p 244, 406 ff.
These Jewish workshops were therefore not – as the accused Windisch claims – derived from his idea and later copied by other regions. Vol 17 p 2441
Along with the measures already described (concentration of Jews in particular sections, and of skilled workers in prescribed workplaces) lists of all the Jews had to be made and special identity papers handed out to all Jewish persons, which attained special importance in the case of skilled workers during the later mass executions.
The military administration had already begun handing out new, provisional identity papers to all of the residents, and thus also Jews. After the job was taken over by the RC, lists of all Jews according to name, sex, age, address and occupation were ordered. Posters urging Jews to register with the mayor, the county mayor or local police were put up. Vol 13 p 1817a, vol 17 p 2454 ff, vol 18 p 2519 ff, vol 20 p 2787, vol 21 p 2859, 2885
When the list was complete, a copy went to the RC, one to the appropriate mayor, and one remained in the Judenrat, in whose hands the practical problem of generating the list was left.
At the end of the year 1941 the RC ordered the creation of new personal identity papers for the entire population, and therefore also the Jews. Vol 18 p 2510ff, vol 20 p 2787
In Lida, the accused Windisch personally generated the new papers. In the towns belonging to RC Lida, the respective mayors were entrusted with the job. To this purpose, the RC gave preprinted (hectographed) forms to the mayors, who passed the – practically empty – forms on to the Judenrat. The papers had the comment “Jew”, the name, occupation and address of the owner and was stamped with an official RC seal by the mayor. The number of family members was not indicated. This was already established on the lists created previously. Vol 18 p 2510, vol 10 p 2787
At about the same time, at the orders of the accused Windisch, actively employed Jews, particularly those in skilled trades, were given special identity papers that labelled them as indispensible and “useful” Jews. Vol 11 p 1593 f, vol 17 p 2454 f, vol 18 p 2511 ff, (Windisch) vol 20 p 2787 (Dworecki) vol 21 p 2860, 2865 (David Berkowicz).
These “work permits” were handed out by the foreman of the place at which the respective Jew was employed.
The “work permits” consisted of white paper, on which the name &
workplace of the owner were given.
Workers at the Jewish workshops also received such “work permits”,
which were annotated “Workshop” or “RC workshop” and bore the seal of the
RC. The permit entitled the bearer to leave the Jewish section, and
additionally to receive a supplementary ration. Vol 17 p 2454 (Windisch)
Such work permits were first passed out in part only a few days before the great mass execution (8 May 1942) in Lida, for example, to the Jews employed at the Lida train station. Vol 5 p 785 (Schulze-Allen)
The measures described above (establishment of Jewish sections, concentration of Jewish artisans in workshops, and issuance of special permits to actively employed Jewish persons) must be viewed as premeditated acts in preparation of the later mass executions. This is particularly openly expressed in a status report of 25 Jan 1942 by the RC of the neighboring RC Slonim (Erren). In this status report he wrote, among other things:
“On my arrival, there were about 25,000 in the Slonim region, of which about 16,000 in Slonim itself, that is, over 2/3 that total city population. It was impossible to establish a ghetto, as neither steel wire nor guard forces were available. Therefore I began immediately preparations for the major Aktion to come. First confiscations were executed, and with the goods and equipment that came in, the German offices, including the Wehrmacht, were furnished …
Then followed a precise listing of Jews according to number, age, occupation, a selection of all artisans and skilled workers, their labelling through identity papers & separate quarters. The Aktion executed by the SD on 13 November freed me of useless feeders [“Useless Feeders” = “Nutzlose Fresser”. German has 2 words for eat. One is used only for animals, never for humans unless you want mortally to offend someone. “Fresser” derives from the term for animals]; and the about 7000 Jews now present in Slonim are all harnassed to work, work willingly on account of constant fear of death and are going to be studied carefully and sorted for a further reduction in spring….” Antragssschrift [Motion?] ./. Erren et al. 141 Js 173/61 StA Hamburg p 50
The Jews in the RC Lida also lived with an unremitting
fear of death. The accused Windisch directed with a German Gendarmie
official assigned to him for this express purpose, the interrogation of
persons arrested on suspicion of being in contact with partisans.
In addition to the executions of Jews already described on page 163 f,
which in part occurred before creation of the RC, there were in the ensuing
time, a stream of group executions (5 to 30 people), predominantly Jews,
in Lida. According to reports of the witness Buettner, (Administrator
of the Lida jail) the executions were mostly in the Lida jail, but partly
– when larger groups were involved – also done outside Lida. Vol
18 p 2561 (Ueck), vol 9 p 1304, vol 13, p 1808, 1822 ff, vol 23 p
3144 ff
So, in February 1942 the Jewish family Berkowicz was shot in the Lida jail, because a daughter of the Berkowicz couple was alleged to be having an affair with a Polish foreman at work. Vol 1 p 166, vol 2 p 242, 297, vol 3 p 453, 64, 651
Presumably on 14 February 1942, on the written orders of the RC Lida, 16 Jews, who’d been late to work, were shot by the German Gendarmie on a field by Koscharowa St. vol 1 p 61, 165, vol 2 p 242, 297, vol 3 p 612 f, vol 4 p 778, vol 7 p 1020, 1026, 1131, vol 16 p 2237, vol 21 p 2852, vol 23 p 2146
On 10 March 1942, the Jewish family Retzki was shot by the Polish auxiliary police in the Lida jail for possessing a small piece of meat. Vol 1 p 166, vol 2 p 242, 248
In April 1942 Hanweg and Windisch independently of each other telephoned the witness Dubis and ordered him to deliver the Jewish bookkeeper of the nail factory in Lida to the jail. When the witness asked for the reason for this measure, he did not receive an answer. Dubis reported this to the Jewish bookkeeper, who thereupon fled. Vol 5 p 806
A few days before the great mass executions in Lida, about 80 Jews who’d been employed in the warehouse for confiscated goods were shot. Vol 1 p 61 Rs. 168 vol 2 p 244, 299 vol 3 p 615, vol 11 p 1576 f.
The above mentioned shootings were ordered by the RC Lida, according to all the accounts of all the witnesses. It has been impossible to clarify which individual(s) of the RC ordered the executions.
For the execution of the 16 Jews who’d been late to work in Lida, the witness Riedel (Post commander of the Gendarmie in Lida) was handed a written order from the RC by the Police Regional Commander. The witness however claimed not to recall whose signature was on the order. Vol 16 p 2237 (Reidel)
In the various outlying towns of the RC Lida as well, many Jews were shot. Thus, in Vasiliski in winter 1941/42, in conjunction with a house search for winter clothing, 10 Jews were shot. Vol 14 p 2043
During the relocation of the Jews from the Ivje area into the Ivje Jewish section, carried out in March 1942, numerous Jews were shot on the spot just before the move. Vol 1 p 195
In addition, in fall 1941 or in winter 1941/42, 86 gypsies who’d been imprisoned in the Lida jail were shot outside Lida by local Auxiliary Police under the leadership of the Feldwebel of the Local Command Lida, Eduard Raudszus, who died 15 Oct 1964. Raudszus told the witness Schuhbeck about this. According to the testimony of Dr. Schild (Staff physician of the III. /JR 727) the accused Windisch (presumably at an encounter in a casino) told him, on being asked what was going to happen to the gypsies in the jail “that they’d probably have to be put down”. In the presence of the witness Schuhbeck (Sanitation Under officer in the III./JR 727), the accused Windisch remarked, while in the Lida jail, in reference to the gypsies, “away with the syphilitic pack”. Vol 3 p 617, 650, (vol 5 p 792) vol 8 p 1165, vol 11 p 1471, vol 12 p 1808, vol 14 p 1928, vol 20 p 2776 f, vol 21 p 2855, (vol 23 p 3159)
According to the testimony of the witnesses Josef Kaplan and Dov Gorfung,
the gypsies were paraded before the residence of the accused Windisch.
A member of the guard allegedly entered the accused’s residence.
A short time later, Windisch is alleged to have come out with an “automatic
rifle” and joined the gypsy column, being led off in the direction of the
barracks. About 1 to 2 hours later, shots were allegedly heard.
A sure proof that the accused Windisch ordered the execution of the gypsies,
or participated in it himself, cannot be obtained, seeing that the above
mentioned leader of the execution squad, the Feldwebel Radszus, did not
tell the witness Schuhbeck anything about that. Vol 20 p 2776 f,
vol 21 p 2855 f
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