The Crimes - Windisch

I. The accused Windisch was, in his position as Jewish Referent in the RC Lida, heavily involved in the organizational preparation and execution of the previously described mass executions, as well as in the shooting of the “Vilner Jews” and the members of the Judenrat in Lida (No. I, 8 & 9 in the indictment = p 19 ff).  In addition he also shot on his own initiative, by his own hand, 3 Jews in Lida.  (No. I, 6, 7, & 10 in the indictment = p 18 and 21)

Participation in the mass executions

1). Lida

Ample time before the mass executions, the members of the RC Lida were aware that Aktion against the Jews was planned.  Vol 5 p 861 (Kahler) vol 15 p 2179 (Kaczmar)

The timing of the Aktionen was apparently only set a short time before their execution. vol 23 p 3135, 3137 (Dellmann)

 Among the Jews of Lida, increasing unrest spread in early May 1942. Vol 21, p 2835 (Gorfung)

About 2 weeks before the mass executions in Lida, a member of the SD visited the accused Windisch, who thereupon ordered his secretary, the witness Dellemann, out of the room.

One or 2 days before the mass executions in Lida, the accused Windisch ordered the Judenrat President Altmann to prepare a list on the most recent status of able-bodied Jews.  Vol 13 p 1818 (Glaubermann), vol 21 p 2865 (Sawicki)

On 8 May 1942 Windisch personally conducted part of the selection of able-bodied Jews in the Piaski section, using this list.  Vol 3 p 615 f, vol 7 p 1090 f, vol 11 p 1471 f, vol 13 p 1818, 1830, vol 17 p 2407, vol 21 p 2865

Already on 7 May 1941, a pioneer SD commando of 5 – 6 men under the command of SS senior Storm Leader Gruenzfelder from the Baranovichi post arrived in Lida.  This pioneer squad was housed in the two buildings belonging to the RC Lida.  Vol 7 p 1037 ff (Windisch) vol 21 p 2865 (Sawicki)

On the same day, two commando units from elsewhere moved into Lida – according to eyewitness testimony, uniformed in green & black.  The black uniformed commando moved into previously prepared quarters near the Local Command Post.  Vol 11 p 1577 f (Lapidus), vol 21 p 2865 (Sawicki)

This is the testimony of the witness Lapidus, at the time employed in the Local Command Post in Lida, on this point:

“… 2 or 3 days before the mass executions in Lida, Staff Feldwebel  Frost gave me a job in the third house (belonging to the Local Command).

As I was working there, I saw Windisch going into the Local Commander’s house.  A time later, the above mentioned Frost sent me with 3 young Jewish girls to clean a house standing empty in the vicinity, it was the court building.  While we were cleaning there, field beds and straw were brought in.  We were ordered to prepare the beds, there weren’t any sacks available for the straw.  On 7 May 1942, black uniformed men - with red skulls on their hats – arrived in the course of the afternoon & took up their quarters in these houses.

The aforementioned men – there might have been about 60 – arrived in light trucks….”  Vol 11 p 1577 f

In addition, on 7 May 1942 numerous German Gendarmes from posts in the RC Lida moved into Lida.  Vol 13, p 1825 (Buettner)

On 7 May 1942  Gruenzfelder and the leading members of the RC Lida met for several hours to discuss the course of the planned Aktionen.  At this meeting, at which measures to seal off the Jewish sections, driving the Jews together, excavation of trenches, and the ways in which the selections were to be made, etc, were planned, the RC Lida was represented by RC Hanweg – according to the recollections of the witness Borrmann, who alleges to have been present for only part of the proceedings – and the accused Windisch.  Presumably a representative of the Gendarmie in Lida was also there. Vol 16 p 2284 f (Borrmann), vo 21 p 2865 (Sawicki)

Windisch was delegated to order the preparation of the burial trenches.  Who gave him the order is unknown.  According to testimony of the witness Borrmann, the accused wasn’t sure how he was going – from a purely practical point of view – to achieve this overnight.  Eventually one recalled the bomb craters northwest of  Lida city, which could be extended to burial trenches overnight. Vol 7 p 1126 (Borrmann)

Around 3 in the morning, the fieldgendarmerie of the Lida Local Command was telephoned by someone with a foreign accent (Wasiukiewicz ?) ordering them to form up at the entrance to a Jewish section at 5AM.

The Local Commander refused with these words:  “We’re soldiers, not murderers”.  Vol 17 p 2352 (Frost)

In the early morning hours of 8 May 1942 yet another SD Commando from the Baranovichi post arrived.  Vol 4 p 696, vol 16 p 2314 (Welke)

This commando consisted of about 10 – 12 Germans, among them the witnesses Welke and Jumtow, and 50 - 100 foreign assistants.  Vol 9 p 1310 (Jumtow)  This commando’s headquarters was the RC building.  According to testimony of the witness Welke, there was also a commando from the KdS post Minsk, with about 150 men, headquartered in this building.  Later the leaders of these commandos held a situation conference in the RC, at which the accused Windisch was also obviously present.  The commandos were split up into smaller groups (10 – 15) to drive the Jews out of the Jewish sections.  Vol 7, p 1309 (Windisch)

Early the morning of 8 May 1942, (it was still dark) Windisch sought out the Judenrat President Altmann in the Postowska section and ordered all the inhabitants of the building to get dressed.  The Jewish president of the Lida steel factory, also living here, he ordered to the factory with his wife, which order he obeyed.  In this way, the president of the steel factory and his wife avoided the selection process altogether.  Vol 11 p 1578 (Lapidus)

The Jews from this region were driven out of their homes about ½ hour later.  Outside they came upon other, partly only partly-dressed Jews.  With blows these Jews were driven along Koscharowa St. to the west to a railway underpass just before the Koscharowa section.

The accused supervised collecting these Jews at the railway underpass and ordered the Jews to go by families.  At the previously mentioned underpass, the column met the Jews driven from the Koscharowa section.  Vol 3 p 652,  vol 19 p 2687 (Barzach-Tennenbaum), vol 20 p 2779 (J. Kaplan)

Thereupon the selection of Jews from the 2 sections mentioned above were carried out in 2 different sites.

Selection of the Jews from the Koscharowa section took place at the end of Koscharowa St. behind the barracks, that of Jews from the Postowska section nearer the city by a railway underpass.  Vol 13 p 1818 (Glaubermann), map of Lida

Part of the residents of the Postowska section were also selected at the end of Koscharowa St. vol 13 p 1813 (Glaubermann) vol 17 p 2399 (Baranczyk)

A third – determined for the Jews of the Piaski section – selection site was located further south at the last last houses on the road to Grodno.

The temporal order of the selections at the three locations cannot however be determined with certainty.

Apparently the selection of Jews from the Koscharowa sections began first, because this section was closest to the execution site.  Presumably the residents of the Postowska section were selected next and finally those of the Piaski section, further south.  Vol 21 p 2854 (Gorfung)

The accused Windisch led and supervised at all 3 selection sites with his Polish assistant and interpreter, Wasiukiewicz, the RC and other members of the RC Lida, as well as members of the SD, in that, generally according to his whim, he sent to the left primarily indispensible workers, particularly younger people, skilled artisans and other “useful” Jews, mostly with families, but sent the majority to the right and execution.  Jews tried in vain to alter their fates by showing personal papers, particularly work permits.  The accused Windisch also sent many Jews with work permits to execution.  Vol 1 p 182, vol 21 p 2913 (Geller) vol 13 p 1819 (Glaubermann)

Thus, for example, at the selection of Jews from the Postowska section, the accused sent the witness Pupko to the right, although the witness was employed in the Jewish workshops as decorator and was also in possession of a work permit.  Only on the intervention of the RC, who sent the witness to the left again with a comment that he was needed as decorator, saved the witness’ life.  Vol 16 p 2215 (Pupko)

During the selection of Jews form the Koscharowa section, the RC sent a carpenter to the left.  When thereupon his family and relatives also tried to go left, the accused Windisch interfered with a comment that that was too many.  Thereupon there was an argument between Windisch and the RC, in the course of which the sister-in-law of the carpenter, the witness Kosher, succeeded in smuggling herself to the left.  Her remaining family and relatives, with the exception of her sister, the carpenter’s wife, were sent to the right, to the execution site, and shot there.  Vol 11 p 1607, (Kosher)

At the same selection site, the Jewish Anna Ehrlich (killed in a later Aktion) with her brother, the Jew Kranin (formerly Jankielwicz) were sent left, while her husband, their children, both sets of parents and two sisters were sent right to execution.  The parents of the witness Kranin had hidden the German Hauptmann Milzemer, persecuted by Polish farmers, for months.  After referring to this and presenting thank you letters, the accused had promised the sister of the witness, shortly before 8 May 1942, “to help, in case it should come to the worst”.  At the selection, the sister of the witness reminded the accused of this promise.  Thereupon the accused went with her to the execution place, where her family had already disrobed, and said “I want to save your husband and children.  The rest must die” which then happened. Vol 10 p 1392 f, vol 21 p 2847 (Kranin) vol 17 p 2459 (Windisch)

The accused went – apparently after the above events – to the selection sitee for the Jews from the Postowska section, at which RC Hanweg was at the moment sending relatively many Jews left.  When the accused noticed this, he asked the RC why he was sending so many Jews left & “demanded “ he send “all Jews right”.  Vol 2 p3 652, vol 20 p 2779 (J. Kaplan)

Because of the number of Jews to be selected at each selection point, it was unavoidable that the selection times overlap, at least toward the end of the selection of Jews from the Postowska and Piaski sections.  So it happened that Windisch was not present the entire period for these selections, but drove back and forth between them, to supervise & advise the other Germans as they proceeded.

Thus the accused personally selected Jews from the Piaski section only intermittently.  Vol 11 p 1472 (Dr. Kiveloff) p 1512 f

When it was the witness Gorfung’s turn for selection at this selection point, Windisch was not selecting, but others, including the RC were, and by looking at work permits.  Suddenly the accused drove up, and called something like “finish up quickly, we have enough”.  Thereupon checking work permits ceased and the remaining about 1000 Jews, among them the parents of the witness Gorfung, were sent right to their deaths.  Vol 21 p 2843 (Z. Berkowicz) vol 21 p 2854 (Gorfung) vol 21 p 2901/03 (Arluki)

The accused Windisch actively interfered in the selection processes described above, in which he presided over life and death.  As the witness Glaubermann was sent left at the selection point for Jews from the Koscharowa section, and an elderly woman tried to accompany him, Windisch came between them, kicked this woman and sent her to the execution site.

Furthermore, the accused is alleged to have kicked 20-year old Rachel Kalmanowicz, who had thrown herself at his feet and begged for mercy, to the right, in direction of execution.  Vol 3 p 46, vol 14 p 1973 f (J. Kusielewicz)

The surviving Jews from the Koscharowa and Postowska sections, had, on the end of the selection process, to kneel before the RC & the accused and thank them for their lives.  Thereupon the accused ordered about 10 Jews, among them the witness Josef Kaplan, to dispose of the bodies of Jews lying about.  Vol 3 p 653, vol 21 p 2779 f (J. Kaplan), vol 13 p 1815 (Baranczyk) vol 17 p 2357 f (Schlieter)

Windisch then went to the execution site, intermittently supervised the shootings with other Germans and gave orders with hand signals.  Only later did the RC along with the witness Dubis arrive, in order that the witness, who had come to the RC to complain about the absence of various Jewish workers from their jobs, could see for himself what the fate of these workers was.  This witness, totally a nonparticipant in the Aktion, was thus for a time an eyewitness to the inhuman executions.  Vol 5 p 810, 182 (Dubis) vol 7 p 1041 ff, 1046 (Windisch) vol 20 p 2835 (Girczowicz)

According to the testimony of the witness Konopko, the accused Windisch shot at a child  who had been thrown in the air by a member of the execution squads with a “double action gun” at the execution site.

The witness testifies as follows about the circumstances of his observations:

“En route to the execution site, I said to my family, that I intended to flee.  My mother pleaded with me to change my mind, as I would be shot forthwith.  Thereupon I marched a way further with my family and that of my uncle, toward the execution place, and then fled alone.  A member of the guard ran after me and kicked me to the ground.  He then shot at me a number of times with a machine pistol, of which the majority tangled in my clothes.  I should state at this point, that, just in case, we had put on several sets of clothes over each other, just in case, before we were taken away.  Two shots hit the back of my head.  I lay, covered in blood, and pretended to be dead.  In reality, I was so shocked and weak I couldn’t have stood up.  I lay in this site, about 100 m from the execution place.  I the course of the day, I briefly looked up and toward the executions now and then.  Thus I saw that the Jews were forced to disrobe a short distance from the execution site and then to walk over boards that had been laid over the graves.  Then they were shot with fixed machine guns.  The children were thrown in the air, in part their heads were smashed together.  I saw Windisch and Hanweg at the execution site.  I do not know if Werner was there or if he shot at fleeing Jews.  I did see how Windisch shot at a child that had been thrown in the air by a Lithuanian or Latvian with a double action gun.  Then I must have lost consciousness again, at any rate, I threw up violently in the rain and night and crawled back to the ghetto, where I collapsed.  On the next morning, Jews being forced to move within the ghetto found me there.  These Jews brought me to Dr. Mesnik (now Dr. Mason) who gave me a shot and bandaged me”.

On the evening of the executions, employees of the RC Lida, among them the accused Windisch and Werner, and 6 members of the SD-Post Baranovichi, with SS-Obersturmfuehrer Gruenzfelder at the head, had a “cozy get-together” in the day room o fthe RC.  On pressure of the accused Windisch, his secretary, the witness Dellmann, also participated, though she had initially refused.  She could only be moved to participate on presentations for the accused that the guests – the SD-members from Baranovichi – were all upright citizens.  vol 5 p 791 a (Cordes)  p 862 (Kahler) vol 8 p 1139 (Dellemann)

At this party, a significant amount of alcohol was consumed.  A band played, during which an Austrian violinist’s virtuosity was noticeable.  This violinist was alleged to have grabbed children by the hair and shot them in the neck at the Lida mass executions.

2) Zoludek (9 May 1942)

On 9 May 1942 the accused Windisch also directed the selection of Jews from Zoludek.  About 1200 Jews were brought to a street near the Market Place.  Here Windisch, wearing white gloves, stood on the left side of the street.  On the right side stood the accused Werner.  Windisch asked each head of the family his occupation, checked the answer against the proffered work permit and, with a corresponding gesture, directed a total of 82 skilled workers to the left.  All other Jews he sent right to execution. Vol 13 p1 1912 ff vol 20 p 2802 ff (Beirach)

Later the accused went to the execution place, at which a few Jews who’d tried to flee and had been caught were still being shot. Vol 7 p 1054 ff (Windisch)

3) Vasiliski (10 May 1942)

On 10.5.1942, the accused Windisch participated in the selection of Jews in Vasiliski, too, in the manner already described on p 12 of the indictment.  The Polish “tax collector” Watkiewicz stood next to the accused Windisch with a list of the inhabitants of Vasiliski. .  Vol 2 p 405 f, vol 14 p 2040, 2043, vol 20 p 2813, vol 21 p 2778

Watkiewicz sent the witness Woloczynski as well as his wife and daughter to the right, but the parents-in-law of the witness to the left and thus to execution. When, thereupon, the witness’ wife wanted to bid farewell to her parents, the accused Windisch stepped between them and beat her and her father with a stick.  The accused also beat other Jews separated from their relatives by selection, and who didn’t want to part from them  vol 2 p 406 (Woloczynski)

The accused addressed the approximately 200 Jews allowed to live, and taken back to the vicinity of the Synagogue, in the presence of Hanweg & other members of the RC, that they were being allowed to live as useful Jews.  Vol 21 p 2879 (Woloczynski)

4) Voronovo  (11 May 1942)

On 10 May 1042 there was – presumably in the course of the afternoon – a further mass execution in Radun.  At this Aktion, numerous Jews attempted to flee.  The accused was in Radun during the Aktion, and is alleged to have tried to save Jews with work permits as well as Jewish grave-digging squad at the execution site from execution.  It has not been possible to determine with certainty if the accused also participated in the selection in Radun.  (This paragraph was set apart from the rest of the text by being single spaced, while the main document is double spaced.  I’ve chosen to use italics instead) vol 1 p 114 f, vol 7 p 1058/64 (Windische) vol 3 p 525 ff, 560 ff, vol 11 p 1524, 1539, 1553, vol 12 p 1658, 1660 ff, vol 13 p 1871 ff, vol 16 p 221

On the way back to Lida from Radun, the accused visited the Judenrat in Voronovo on account of the Aktion planned for Voronovo on 11 May 1942.  Using the excuse that  there had been “misunderstandings” during the Aktion in Radun, he ordered the gathering of all Jews in the Market Place in Voronovo for the 11 May 1942 for an “identity papers check”.  Vol 1 p 62 Rs, 116 vol 7 p 1060, 1063 f, 1065

On 11 May 1942 all the Jews were driven together into the Market Place in Voronovo by, among others, German Gendarmie squads collected from surrounding communities.  In the presence of the accused Windisch, the Jews were forced to kneel with bowed heads and hands on their backs.  Only the wife of the Judenrat president Lichtmann, murdered in Lida in March 1942, was allowed to stand.  Vol 5 p 797 (Lengen) , vol 7 p 1066 ff (Windisch), vol 11 (p1590), 1594 ff, 1601 ff (J & F Druck), vol 19 ; 2629, vol 21 p 2915 ff (M. Kaplan)

The accused walked back & forth  across the Market Place and supervised the entire Aktion.  When a Jewish student, who’d hidden, was brought to the Market Place by members of the cleansing squad, the accused mistreated him.  Among the Jews awaiting their fates at the Market Place were the couple Jacob and Fejga Druck with their 3 and a half year old son.  The child had to go, and turned to a guard to make his request, who thereupon brought the accused Windisch.  The accused Windisch then said the child should do his business on the spot, as “it would soon be shit anyway”.  Vol 11 p 1569, 1601
The accused Windisch ordered the Jews and a member of the Judenrat gathered in the Market Place to be quiet and to march along the street leading to Lida by families.  The Jews were taken about 400 m further on, to an intersection, where a table had been set up.  Vol 5 p 797 ff (Lengen), vol 11 p 1594 f, 1602 (J & F. Druck)

At this table the accused Windisch directed the selection with RC Hanweg.  He asked each family head his name and occupation and then, mostly by external impression, he sent skilled artisans and otherwise “useful” Jews to the right and left, the majority, however, straight ahead to the execution site. Vol 20 p 2629, vol 21 p 2916 (M. Kaplan)

Even a member of the Judenrat, who had been standing by the selction site, was, after a consultation between the accused Windisch  and Hanweg, sent to the execution site.  Vol 5 p 799 (Lengen)

At the selection in Voronovo, which dragged on to 1500 hours, the accused sent, among others, the above mentioned wife of Judenrat president Lichtmann, whom he’d promised to protect, straight ahead.  Furthermore, he sent the mother of the witness Fejga Druck, as well as her uncle and aunt with their children to the execution site.  In this selection as well, the accused acted against various victims who didn’t want to separated from family.  So, among others, he mistreated the mother of the witness F. Druck. Vol 11 p 1597 f, 1602 (J & F Druck)

The Jews allowed to live were led back to the Market Place after they gave up their valuables and registered.  After the executions, the accused Windisch appeared and told the Jews, that they were provisionally being allowed to live and would have to work for the German people.  Vol 19 p 2630, vol 21, p 2916 (M. Kaplan)

5) Ivje (12 May 1942)

On the 11 or 12 May 1942, in the morning, the Judenrat in Ivje war ordered by the Commandant of the Polish Auxiliary Police to provide a squad of about 100 men, with shovels and spades, to excavate burial trenches. In the course of the morning of 11 May 1942, the Judenrat members of Ivje, among them the witness Dworecki, were called to the Gendarmie.  They were told that the Jews in Lida had stolen guns and had been executed in consequence.  All Jews would have to gather at the Market Place.  About an hour later the German Gendarmie informed the Judenrat that the stolen guns had been found and that the Jews could return home.  Vol 20 p 2789 (Dworecki)

In the early morning hours of 12 May 1942 the Jews were again driven into the Market Place in Ivje.  They had to sit down there and await their subsequent fate several hours.  The accused Windisch supervised the gathering of the Jews into the Market Place and gave the guards orders.  Then the Jews were driven to a selection site near the Market Place, where among others the accused Windisch supervised the selection in the manner already described on p 16 f under I, 5.  Vol 11 p 1534 f (Ginsburg), vol 12 p 1788, 1790 (Dr. Kaplinski), vol 20 p 2790 ff (Dworecki), vol 20 p 2817 (Bojarski), vol 21 p 2918 f (Golubok)

Thus the accused, for example, send the witness Golubok with her child and husband to the right, and on the other hand, her mother, two sisters, and a brother or the witness straight ahead to the execution site.  Vol 2 p 304, vol 21 p 2919 (Golubok)
The father-in-law of the witness Groznik, as well as both his daughters he sent straight ahead, although the witness’ father-in-law had a work permit in his hands.  Vol 12 p 1777 f, vol 21 p 2924 f (Groznik)

Furthermore, the accused sent the witness Ginsburg, his brother and two sisters to the left, but his parents to the right.  Thereupon the witness with his sisters pulled the parents to the left, and succeeded in spite of the blows of the guards.  Vol 11 p 1535 (Ginsburg)

When the witness Bojarski tried to save himself, his wife, his 3 children and both his sisters-in-law with their two children by presenting a work permit from the tannery, the accused sent the witness with his family and the two children of his sisters-in-law to left, saying “such a large family”, and both sisters-in-law straight ahead.  Vol 12 p 1764, 1767, vol 20 p 2818 (Bojarski)
The Jews left alive had to give up their valuables near the selection point to the accused Werner.  Later the accused Windisch appeared and told the Jews, among other things, that the 2nd World War was their fault, and it was thus “logical”,  that they should be annihilated.  They’d earned it.  Their further survival would depend on the course of the war.  If Germany were to lose the war, all Jews would be shot.  Vol 11 p 1536 f, vol 12 p 1790, vol 20 p 2837, vol 21 p 2896

At the execution site, the accused supervised the covering of the mas graves with chloride and earth by a Jewish burial squad, among them the witnesses Ginsburg, Bojarski, and Melamed.  He drove the burial squad on by saying “quick, quick, away with the Jewish shit”.  In the process, German Gendarmes in the presence of the accused were still shooting at survivors in the trenches.  Vol 1 p 198, vol 2 p 238, vol 11 p 1537, vol 12 p 1656, 1768, vol 20 p 2794, 2821, 2838, vol 21 p 2896 f

The Number of Victims

The number of victims at each of the executions cannot be ascertained with certainty.  But the total number of Jews killed in these executions is documented several times.
a) In a letter of the General Commisar for Belarus of 31 July 1942, to the Reichs Commissar for the East, the following, among other things, was reported:
“Secret Reichs Affairs.

Re: Combatting partisans and Aktionen against Jews in the general district Belarus
In individual conferences with the SD-Brigade Leader Zenner and the most excellently competent Leader of the SD, SS-Obersturmhauptfuehrer Dr. jr. Strauch, [it is apparent that] we have liquidated about 55,000 Jews in Belarus in the last 10 weeks.  In the Minsk Region, Judaism has been rooted out completely, without work capability suffering.  In the predominantly Polish district of Lida, 16,000 Jews” (underlining not in original text)(but in the indictment) “, in Slonim 8,000 Jews were liquidated…

In the city of Minsk on 28 and 29 July about 10,000 Jews were liquidated, among them 6,500 Russian Jews – predominantly elderly, women, and children -, the rest consisted of Jews unable to work, predominantly from Vienna, Brno, Bremen, and Berlin, who had been sent to Minsk last November on orders from the Fuehrer.
The district of Slutsk has also been relieved of several thousand Jews.  The same goes for Novogrodek and Vileyka.   Radical measures for Baranovichi and Hanzevichi are still to come…
 The General Commissar for Belaus
  Kube “ vol 1 p 17 ff

“… The district of Lida had a population of 20,000 Jews.  They were done away with, but for 4,500 of them, in a one-time, 5-day Aktion in May of the previous year.  The remainder today is housed in 2 ghettos, in Lida itself and in Shchuchin….” Doc. Vol I p 51 f

“… I believe, we can nonetheless be complacent that of the approximately 150,000 Jews there used to be, already 130,000 have disappeared.  We have still about 22,000 in the territory of the Commissariat.  Still, I pray you to effect that the Jew disappear where he is overdue… We will lower this number by half, without having economic difficulties…” doc vol II p 145

“… Through Aktionen against Jews, skilled artisans disappeared from numerous individual businesses for making armaments… So the hub Lida reported that the requisitioned 400 Panje-wagons cannot be manufactured, because the number of workers available has fallen to a minimum through the Aktionen that have been carried out…” doc vol IV, p 293

“… The Jewish population in the General District Belarus has been decreased to about 30,00 in the first years of the civil administration.
… There are Jewish ghettos remaining in several larger cities of the General District.  The inhabitants of the ghettos are closely guarded and consist entirely of indispensible skilled workers and work force, which cannot at present be replaced by local inhabitants…” doc vol IV p 319

In Ivje the mass graves were opened on 3 April 1945 by a Russian Commission in the presence of the witness Dworecki, who recognized the body of his mother.  In this report, the number of Jews shot in Ivje on 12 May 1942 is given as 2,304.  Vol 20  p 2795, doc vol III, p 203 ff

The overall number of Jews shot in the Lida district 8 to 12 May 1942 listed in German reports (a and b above) is in general agreement with the number of  Jews reported killed in the individual towns by witnesses.  Likewise, the indictment has laid down minimum numbers.  According [to the minimums], 5,670 Jews were killed in Lida, 1,100 in Zoludek, 2,000 in Voronovo, 2,304 in Ivje, altogether a total of 12,874 Jews murdered.  Vol 20 p 2795, doc vol III p 203 ff.

Executions carried out personally by the accused Windisch by his own decision, as well as participation in other executions in Lida

6) Shooting of a Jewish painter  (about Sept. 1941)

About September 1941, the accused Windisch had his lodging set up in Lida.  The witness Cummings (formerly Kamianski) was carrying out electrical work, later came an unknown Jewish painter to paint the apartment.  The accused was dissatisfied with the painter’s work.  He spoke agitatedly to the painter and scolded in a tone with which the witness Cummings, who to then know the accused as a polite and quiet person was completely unfamiliar.  Finally, he kicked the painter, on which he apparently lost his balance and fell down the steps to the courtyard.  The witness Cummings thereupon went to the window and saw how the accused shot the painter with 3 pistol shots.  After that, the accused called the witness downstairs and ordered him to remove the body of the other Jew.  With 2 or 3 other Jews, the witness took the body to the Judenrat on a wagon. Vol 11 p 1480 f (Cummings)

7) Shooting of the Jewish student Zeldowicz (Fall 1941)

There were prison cells in the cellar of the RC Lida.  In fall 1941, the Jewish student Zeldowicz was imprisoned for alleged collaboration with the Communists, based on the complaint of a Pole.  The Judenrat president at the time, Lichtmann, tried to buy Zeldowicz’s freedom from the accused Windisch in the presence of the witness Reznik.  The accused represented himself as being prepared to free the student without bond.  Zeldowicz was then brought from the cellar and released.  When he exited the RC building, the accused shot him in the back at about 20 m and told the Judenrat president Lichtmann that “he can have him”.  Vol 21 p 2932 f (Reznik)

8) Shooting of the “Vilner” Jews (March 1942)

Einsatzkommando 3 conducted mass executions in Vilnius relatively early (August – November 1941).  Numerous Jews from this area who had relatives or acquaintances in Lida tried to escape the execution by fleeing to Lida.  Doc vol II p 187 ff, vol 11 p 1544 (Dr. Mason), vol 19 p 2685 (Barzach-Tennenbaum), vol 21 p 2930 (Reznik)

Thus, among others, a family of 8 fled Vilnius to Lida, to the witness Dr. Mason.  Vol 11 p 1544 (Dr. Mason)

The Judenrat in Lida got these Jews papers.  Vol 21 p 2930 (Reznik)

At the end of February, a priest was victim of an armed robbery.  The perpetrators were unknown, but were assumed to be among the Jews in Lida.  The accused Windisch therefore demanded the Judenrat to identify and turn over the criminals.  He threatened to shoot 100 Jews daily otherwise.  Under this duress, the Judenrat turned over several (presumably 4 ) Jews, whereby the question, were they actually the perpetrators remains open.  These alleged perpetrators, understandably in fear of their lives, gave away the immigration of numerous Jews from Vilnius to Lida.  Vol 11 p 1493 f (Konopko)

On 1 March 1942, on the grounds of information from the alleged robbers, there was an Aktion agains the Vilner Jews (No. I, 8 = p 19).  All Jews from Lida were driven together by German Gendarmerie and Wehrmacht members (parts of the III./JR 727) in front of the RC building.  On route, numerous old and fragile Jews, as well as children, had already been shot.
The witness Schuhbeck, then Sanitation Junior Officer on the staff of the III./JR 727, concerned himself with the burial of 7 bodies.  The witness Dr. Mason counted 9 bodies just on his street.  According to his estimate, 60 Jews were shot during the collection process alone.  Vol 14 p 1929 (Schuhbeck) vol 11 p 1547 (Dr. Mason), vol 21 p 2887 (Damasek)
All Jews had to pass through a makeshift gate, at which the alleged robbers identified Vilner Jews by hand signals.  The accused Windisch stood at this spot for a time, pulling these Jews to the side, or gave guards orders to arrest these Jews.  Of the Jews arrested this way, 7 were shot on the spot on orders of RC Hanweg by German Gendarmerie.  A further 35 Jews were first imprisoned in the cells of the RC, and later shot in the Lida jail in the presence of the accused Windisch.  Vol 10 p 1348 & vol 17 p 1370 (Raimann), vol 11 p 1469 (Dr. Kiveloff), vol 17 p 2380 (Buettner), vol 21 p 2912 (Geller), p 2930 (Reznik), vol 21 p 2948 & vol 22 p 3062 (Frenkiel), vol 23 p 3140 (Wester)

9) Shooting of the 7 Judenrat members (Spring 1942)

The witness Cummings was employed as a so-called House Jew in the RC apartments, predominantly by the accused Werner.  In connection with the Aktion described under No. I, 8 against the Vilner Jews, the accused Windisch ordered some Judenrat members, among them the president Altmann, attorney Kerzner, the brothers Cyderowicz and Kotok, to appear before him, with Cummings as messenger.  He accused them of providing the Jews trickled in from Vilnius with papers.  These Judenrat members were thereupon delivered to the jail, further members were arrested later.  Vol 16, p 2325 (Cordes), vol 11 p 1481 f 4 (Cummings), p 1494 f (Konopko), vol 21  p 2887 (Damesek), p 2931 (Reznik), vol 22 p 3063 (Frenkiel)

The accused Windisch presided over the investigation against the members of the Judenrat, who were severely mistreated in the process.  The then-Jewish prison doctor, Dr. Kiveloff, had to treat the brothers Cyderowicz, who had suffered significant injuries from blows to the face.  Vol 11 p 1469 (Dr. Kiveloff) vol 21 p 2931 (Reznik)

Judenrat member Konopko tried in vain to intercede for the imprisoned members with the Regional Commissar.  The RC refused him with the comment that this was strictly the bailiwick of the accused Windisch, as Jewish Referent, and solely his authority.   When Konopko thereupon went to Windisch, the accused remarked that, in other cities, something like this would result in an Aktion against all the Jews.  Vol 11 p 1495 (Konopko)

The imprisoned members of the Judenrat – there were at least 7 in all – were, at a time no longer ascertainable – the pertinent statements by witnesses vary – shot by German Gendarmerie and Polish Auxiliary Police in the Lida prison yard after brutal torture, on the orders of Hanweg and Windisch.  Vol 5 p 793, vol 10 p 1348, vol 11 p 1469 (Dr. Kiveloff), vol 12 p 1663, 1684, vol 16 p 2214 (Pupko), vol 16 p 2324, (Cordes) vol 17 p 23790(Raimann), vol 17 p 2379 (Buettner), vol 21 p 2912 (Geller), vol 21 p 2949 (Frenkiel)

The accused Windisch ordered the bodies, some of them dismembered, turned over to the new Judenrat.  From the appearance of the bodies, the victims must have been tortured sadistically.  So, for example, some of the bodies had dislocated shoulders and hips.  Vol 11 p 1494, (Konopka), vol 11 p 1546 (Dr. Mason), vol 11 p 1576 (Lapidus), vol 15 p 2171 (Kaczmar), vol 16 p 2214 (Pupko, vol 21 p 2888 (Damesek), vol 21 p 2912 (Geller), vol 21 p 2931 (Reznik)

10) Shooting of the Jew Halpern (July/August 1942)

On returning from work , the Jews were checked at the ghetto gate for food, etc.  At one such check, executed about the end of July/early August 1942, the Jew Bencze Halpern was shot in the neck  with a pistor by Windisch for having a bit of butter.  The body was carried off by members of the Judenrat.  Vol 3 p 630, vol 6 p 957, vol 11 p 1510, vol 11 p 1596 (J. Druck)

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