Substance of the proceeding

In winter 1941/42, Jewish persons were not shot in great numbers in the KdS Belarus since the ground was frozen so hard that excavations of mass graves were not possible or at least seriously impeded.  Only in spring 1942 did mass executions pick up again, and were carried out, spaced in time, across all of the Belarus region of the KdS Post Minsk and the external and junior posts belonging to it.  JMT vol 30 p 61 ff, Verdict ./. Heuser et al. 9 Ks 2/62 LG Koblenz p 65 ff, 98

In the course of these planned annihilation Aktionen, the mass executions in the territory of the RC Lida were carried out from 8 to 12 May 1942, and are the subject of this proceeding.

I. The course of the mass executions carried out in the RC Lida between 8 and 12 May 1942

The mass executions of Jews were always done the same way.

1) First the majority of the Jews living in Lida were shot.  In the dawn of 8 May 1942 the 3 Jewish sections of Lida were surrounded by, among others, local police entities and an SD Commando from Baranovichi.  The Commandos enticed the Jews out using the excuse of an identity paper check. (vol 22 p 2984 (Bialo)) They forced their way into many living quarters and drove the Jews out.  Who didn’t come out immediately voluntarily, or who couldn’t come out because of age, illness, or fragility was shot out of hand on the spot by the cleansing squad.  The Jews, partly minimally dressed, had to line up in 4 columns by families on the streets around [the ghetto].  Then the Jews were driven to the selection place.  (vol 11 p 1578, (Lapidus))  On the way there, many elderly or fragile Jews, who could not keep pace, were shot.  At the selection place, the victims destined for execution were in part severely mistreated by the guards and driven to execution by blows.  Vol 11 p 1547, (Dr. Mason)   At the edge of the execution trenches, the Jews had to line up perpendicularly in a long marching column.  At the latest, the victims saw here what was to befall them.  Some screamed and cried; most faced their fate with composure.  The Jews were pulled forward to the trenches in groups of 40 to 50 from the marching column.  Many of them were forced to undress completely, others partly; particularly good items of clothing had to be taken off and laid on blankets or canvas along with any objects of value that might have been taken along.  Then the victims were driven to the edge of the trench, later into the trench itself, or pushed  in, and shot by an execution squad of about 100 men, composed of a majority of Lithuanians or Latvians.  The participants drank alcohol during pauses.  Witnesses reported that a trench had been excavated to the left for children, and that infants were inhumanly torn from their pleading parents, then partly smashed together by the head or thrown into the air and shot.  During the executions, some Jews fell into the trenches only injured, or jumped into them in shock and horror, without even being hit by the shots.  Such victims were shot at later, but some – even some wounded Jews – succeeded in pretending to be dead and in taking themselves to safety after the executions.  Vol 5 p 819 ff (Dubis), vol 11 p 1482 f (Cummings), vol 11 p 1493 (Konopko) vol 13 p 1814 f (Baranczyk) vol 20 p 2834 f ( Girszowicz).  The witness Dr. Mason first treated several such Jews who managed to escape a few days after the shooting. Vol 11 p 1548 ( Dr. Mason) (vol 16 p 2216 f) (Pupko), vol 22 p 2985 (Bialo)

In Lida, the execution was finished about 1700 hours.  A few groups of visibly drunk execution commandos had already left for dinner at the Gendarmie canteen in Lida.  The former cook of the Gendarmie in Lida, the witness Sprenger, had gotten a special additional ration for the execution commando.  Afterward, the majority of the execution commando kept on drinking in the canteen until after midnight.  Vol 19 p 2674 (Sprenger)

After the execution ended, the witness Schlieter went to the site.  The witness reports that a column of visibly drunk Lithuanians came toward him.  Vol 17 p 2357 f (Schlieter)

The road to the execution site was littered with thrown away sandwiches, torn bills and false teeth.  Bodies lying about were being loaded by Jews onto one-horse carts.  As the witness looked down into a not-yet covered trench filled with the bloodied and bleached bodies of Jews, he turned away shuddering.  Vol 5 p 810 (Dubis) vol 17 p 2353 (Frost) vol 18 P 2552 (Willenberg)

Later the trenches were covered earth and calcium chloride, presumably by a special commando.  According to eyewitness reports, the trenches “moved” for several days thereafter due to the reaction of blood with calcium chloride.

2) In the days following, the Aktionen in Zoludek (9 May 1942), Vasiliski (10 May 1942), Voronovo (11 May 1942) and Ivje (12 May 1942) were carried out.

(The Aktionen in Shchuchin and Radun of the 9 and 10 May 1942 are not subjects of  this indictment)

The Jewish sections of Zoludek, Vasiliski, Voronovo and Ivje, - in contrast to Lida – were completely sealed off to prevent flight a few days before the Aktionen in part by Gendarmie directly under the command of the RC Lida and in part by local Auxiliary Police.  Thus, for example, the Jewish sections of Zoludek and Ivje had already been surrounded in the early morning hours of 8 May 1942 (that is, the day of the Aktion in Lida) and in Vasiliski already on the 7 May 1942. Vol 1 p 23, vol 2 p 405 f, vol 5 p 867, vol 9 p 1294, vol 11 p 1593, vol 13 p 1911 ff, vol 14 p 1952, 2043, vol 19 p 2572, 2629, vol 20 p 2788, 2802 ff, 2810, vol 21 p 2858, 2873, 2876 ff, 2915

In Zoludek the sealing off was done in the presence of a few men in brown uniform (presumably members of the RC Lida) vol 13 p 1911 ff, vol 20 p 2802

The local police chiefs passed on the orders from the RC Lida to excavate the burial trenches, either to the local mayor or, as for example in Voronovo, the Gendarmie Post Commander.  The RC also placed calcium chloride at their disposal.  The burial trenches were excavated in part a few days before the executions, sometimes only a few hours before, mostly by non-Jewish residents, and only in Ivye by a Jewish squad of about 100 men. Vol 20 p 2802 f (Beirach) vol 5 p 796 (Beirach) vol 14 p 2045 (Voloczynski) vol 20 p 2789 (Dworecki)

Thus the witness Lengen, the Gendarmie Post Commander of Voronovo, testified that on the evening before the execution day, at about 2200 hours, he received by telephone orders from the Gendarmie Regional Chief in Lida orders to have excavated, by 6AM the next morning, a trench 80 m long, 4 m wide, and 3 m deep.  He was to choose an appropriate location and to use non-Jewish local labor.  The witness thereupon sent couriers to the villages nearby to round up about 60 to 80 Poles, who, obeying the order, excavated the trench in Voronovo “promptly”.  Vol 5 p 796 f (Lengen)

On the execution day the Jews of Voronovo and Ivje were first driven into the Market Place, where they had to kneel with face to the ground and hands behind their backs.  Vol 5 p 797 f (Lengen), vol 11 p 1594 f (J. Druck), p 20 p 2790 (Dworecki)

In Zoludek and Vasiliski the Jews were gathered in predetermined streets.  In Zoludek the Jews had to turn over objects of value beforehand.  Vol 20 p 2803 ff (Beirach), vol 21 2877 (Woloczynski)

In these villages, too, numerous Jews were shot during the collection process.  From the collection points Jews were marched in columns by families to the selection sites, which in Voronovo & Ivje were near the Market Place.  At the selection sites, the victims slated for execution – as in Lida, too – were often severely mistreated by the guards.

In Zoludek children are alleged to have been knocked out at the edge of the trenches with a blow to the head and then pushed in.

In Voronovo many Jews tried to escape their fate by fleeing en route to the execution site.  The guards shot them mercilessly.  According to the testimony of the witness Lengen, the road from the selection point to the execution point “literally resembled a battlefield”.  Vol 5 p 799 (Lengen)

In Zoludek and Vasiliski many Jews succeeded in evading the Aktion in that they hid themselves in houses and in previously prepared hiding places.  These Jews were thereafter  (Vasiliski) hunted down by German Gendarmerie and Polish Auxiliary Police and in part shot immediately.  In Vasiliski approximately 200 Jews were rounded up, selected, and, for the most part, shot.  Vol  19 p 2575, vol 20 p 2802, vol 21 p 2858, 2873 f
 
 

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