“Great damage was inflicted on the medical colleges. . . .
“The occupants destroyed or looted 137 pedagogical institutions and teachers’ colleges. . . . They removed historical material and ancient manuscripts from special libraries, and stole or destroyed over 100 million volumes in the public libraries.”
“They destroyed, on the whole, 605 scientific research institutes.”
I omit the end of Page 85 of my report and the first paragraph of Page 86.
“Enormous damage was inflicted by the Germans on the medical establishments of the Soviet Union. They destroyed or plundered 6,000 hospitals, 33,000 polyclinics, dispensaries, and out-patient departments, 976 sanatoria and 656 rest homes.”
“Destruction of Museums and Historical Monuments.
“In the occupied territories the German fascist invaders destroyed 427 out of a total of 992 museums of the Soviet Union.”
I omit the end of this page and quote the beginning of Page 87 of the report:
“The Germans also destroyed the museum of the peasant poet S. D. Drozhzhin, in the village of Zavidovo, the museum of the people’s poet I. S. Nikitin, in Voronezh, and the museum of the famous Polish poet Adam Mickiewicz, at Novogrudka in the Bielorussian S.S.R. At Alagir they burned the manuscript of the national singer Osetij Kosta Khetagurov.
“The German fascist invaders destroyed 44,000 theaters, clubs, and so-called ‘Red corners.’”
Now with the permission of the Tribunal, I should like to submit a documentary film and a certificate testifying to the documentary character of this film. The film is entitled, “Destruction of Art and Museums of National Culture perpetrated by the Germans on the Territory of the U.S.S.R.” This film and the documents testifying to the documentary nature of these reels are submitted to the Tribunal as Exhibit Number USSR-98 (Document Number USSR-98). In this film, besides documentary photographs taken between 1941-45, there are also extracts made in 1908, showing Yasnaya Polyana and Leo Tolstoy. Subsequent photographs show what the German invaders did to this cultural relic of the Soviet people.
May I proceed with the presentation of the film, Your Honor?
MR. COUNSELLOR RAGINSKY: I must dwell, Your Honors, on one more category of crimes committed by the Hitlerites—the spoliation and destruction of churches, convents, and other places of religious worship.