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[TRIAL OVER NAZIS] Sudebnyi protsess o zverstvakh nemetsko-fashistskikh zakhvatchikov na territorii gor. Kharkova i Kharkovskoi oblasti v period ikh vremennoi okkupatsii [i.e. The Trial Concerning the Atrocities Committed by the German-Fascist Invaders on the Territory of the City of Kharkiv and the Kharkiv Region during the Temporary Occupation]

Item #2590

[Moscow]: Gospolitizdat, 1943. 94, [2] pp. 20 × 13,5 cm. In original printed wrappers. Tears of spine with fragments lost, fragment of inner edge of title page lost, some pencil notes on back cover, otherwise good and clean internally.

Wartime edition. Passed censorship on December 31, 1943. These proceedings recorded the first official war crimes trial held over Nazis during the Second World War. The Nazi occupation of Kharkiv lasted from October 1941 to August 1943. During this period, the city suffered extensive destruction, with numerous civilians perishing from disease, starvation, bombing, and executions. German forces, including the Einsatzgruppen (mobile death squads), killed tens of thousands of Jews, as well as Communists, Soviet prisoners of war, and other “undesirables”. Shooting, hanging, and gas vans were used. Fifteen thousand Jews were murdered on 15 December 1941 in a mass shooting in Drobytsky Yar. The Gestapo also shot 435 patients, many of whom were elderly people and children, who were being treated at the local hospital. In March 1943, 800 wounded Red Army soldiers were shot and burned alive. Overall, the Soviets said that in the Kharkov region, the “German-fascist invaders had
shot, hanged, burned alive, and poisoned by carbon monoxide gas more than 30,000 peaceful completely innocent citizens, including women, old people, and children. (Wikipedia)

The trial was held in December 1943. The military tribunal convicted three German Nazis and a Soviet collaborator: Wilhelm Langheld, Reinhard Retzlaff, Hans Ritz and Mikhail Bulanov. All four were accused of participating in the murders of Soviet citizens, and Bulanov was also charged with treason for collaborating with the Germans. Prosecutors, defence counsel, and judges were military. A six-person forensic team provided expert testimony and a report concluding that the manner of killings was consistent with shootings and the use of gas. The trial concluded on December 18, 1943 with guilty verdicts and death sentences. The defendants were all hanged in the public square of Kharkov the next day. The proceedings were reprinted in various Soviet republics and translated to European languages.

Worldcat shows copies located in Brown University and Dartmouth Library.

Price: $450.00

Status: On Hold