British Nuremberg prosecutor hails Soviet case on Katyn | Winston Smith Ministry of Truth Archive

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British Nuremberg prosecutor hails Soviet case on Katyn

Colonel H. J. Phillimore, O.B.E., British junior prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg

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Following is a transcription of an encoded telegram that was sent by Colonel Philimore to the British War Crimes Executive in London, in which he summaries the evidence and falsehoods presented to the Nuremberg trial by both the Germans and the Soviets (assisted by the Americans) on July 1 and 2, 1946, in regard the murder of the Polish officers in the Katyn forest.

Phillimore was unimpressed by the factual German case, but surprisingly impressed by the fraudulent case made by the Soviets; which, as I proved here, was mainly the work of a gifted author in the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee.

In regard to the German ammunition found at Katyn and discussed at length below, please see here for details on how that was explained—not disguised—in the 1943 German report on the Soviet massacre of the Poles.

FOR DEAN AND SCOTT-FOX REPEATED FOR SINCLAIR(.)

SUBJECT KATYN FOREST MURDER OF 11000 POLISH OFFICERS(.)

AFTER HEARING 3 WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENCE AND A SIMILAR NUMBER FOR THE PROSECUTION THE SOVIET CASE HAS UNDOUBTEDLY EMERGED VERY MUCH ENHANCED AND THEY ARE VERY PLEASED WITH THE WAY IT HAS GONE(.) THE DEFENCE FIRST CALLED THE OFFICER COMMANDING THE SIGNALS REGIMENT WHOSE HQ WAS SITUATED CLOSE TO THE MASS GRAVES FROM SEPTEMBER 1941 ONWARDS(.) HIS EVIDENCE WITH REGARD TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE MASS GRAVES WAS NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE(.) AFTER HEARING RUMOURS OF SHOOTINGS HIS MEN DISCOVERED A CROSS IN THE WINTER OF 1942-43 ROUND WHICH A WOLF HAD BEEN SCRATCHING(.) SHORTLY AFTER HUMAN BONES WERE BROUGHT TO HIM AND HE SPOKE ABOUT THE MATTER TO OTHER OFFICERS BUT ADMITTED THAT HE DID NOT REPORT THE MATTER IN WRITING(.) IN THE SPRING OF 1943 A PROFESSOR BUTZ ARRIVED AND PROCEEDED TO EXCAVATE THE GRAVES(.) ALTHOUGH THEY WERE NOT MORE THAN 30 METERS [sic] FROM THE ROAD TO THE REGIMENTAL HQ THE COLONEL HAD NEVER NOTICED ANYTHING DURING THE LONG TIME THE UNIT HAD BEEN STATION THERE UNTIL THE INCIDENT OF THE CROSS AND WOLF OCCURRED(.) THIS WITNESS WAS FOLLOWED BY AN OFFICER FROM THE ARMY GROUP SIGNALS WHO HANDLED ALL SECRET MESSAGES AND WHO SAID THAT HE NEVER HANDLED ANY ORDER TO KILL POLISH PRISONERS AND ANY ORDER TO THIS EFFECT MUST HAVE GONE THROUGH HIS HANDS(.) HE WAS CONFRONTED WITH A CAPTURED DOCUMENT ANNEXED TO THE SOVIET REPORT SHOWING THAT IN SEPTEMBER 1941 EINSATZ COMMANDO B AND ALSO EINSATZ COMMANDO MOSCOW WERE SITUATED AT SMOLENSK AND ADMITTED THAT HE DID NOT HANDLE SECRET ORDERS BETWEEN THE EINSATZ COMMANDOS AND THEIR SUPERIOR AUTHORITIES IN THE SS(.) THE THIRD WITNESS WAS THE GENERAL IN CHARGE OF THE WHOLE SIGNALS OF THE ARMY GROUP WHOSE HQ WAS ALSO NEARBY(.) HE HAD CONSTANTLY BEEN ALONG THE TRACK FROM SEPTEMBER 1941 ONWARDS AND HAD NEVER NOTICED ANYTHING UNUSUAL NOR HAD HE ANY KNOWLEDGE OF POLISH PRISONERS BEING IN THE NEIGHBOURHOOD(.) HE MADE VIRTUALLY THE ONLY GOOD POINT ON BEHALF OF THE DEFENCE THAT NO GERMAN SIGNALS REGIMENT WOULD KNOWINGLY HAVE ITS HQ PRACTICALLY ON TOP OF THESE MASS GRAVES(.) THE PROSECUTION CALLED FIRST A PROFESSOR

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OF ASTRONOMY WHO THE GERMANS HAD COMPELLED TO BE DEPUTY MAYOR OF SMOLENSK DURING THE OCCUPATION(.) THIS PROFESSOR REPORTED BEING INFORMED BY THE MAYOR WHO WAS A COLLABORATOR OF THE GERMAN DECISION TO KILL THE POLES IN SEPTEMBER 1941(.) HE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY TOLD THAT THEY HAD BEEN KILLED AND IT WAS CLEAR THAT THE MAYOR HAD BEEN SO INFORMED BY THE GERMAN COMMANDANT(.) THIS SECOND-HAND EVIDENCE WAS GREATLY IMPROVED BY THE DEFENCE COUNSEL IN CROSS-EXAMINATION AS HE ELICITED THAT THE WITNESS HAD PERSONALLY KNOWN THE PLACE IN THE FOREST EXTREMELY WELL IT BEING A RESORT OF THE RESIDENTS OF SMOLENSK AND HAD BEEN THERE OFF AND ON UNTIL THE GERMAN OCCUPATION AFTER WHICH IT BECAME A FORBIDDEN AREA(.) HE ALSO ELICITED THAT IN AUGUST 1940 NAMELY SOME MONTHS AFTER THE GERMANS ALLEGED THAT THE MURDERS TOOK PLACE THE DEPUTY MAYOR HAD SPENT HIS HOLIDAY WITH HIS WIFE AT KOZELSK AND SEEN THE POLES IN THE CAMP IN WHICH IT OS COMMON GROUND THAT THEY WERE FORMERLY DETAINED(.) THE WITNESS FURTHER STATED THAT ALTHOUGH HE HAD NOT SEEN THE POLES AFTER THE GERMANS MOVED IN HIS STUDENTS TOLD HIM THAT THEY WERE WORKING ALONG THE ROAD THROUGH THE FOREST BY WHICH THE GRAVES WERE SUBSEQUENTLY FOUND(.) HE HAD NEVER BEEN TOLD THE PRECISE LOCATION OF THE GRAVES BY ANYONE(.) THIS WITNESS WAS FOLLOWED BY A BULGARIAN MEMBER OF THE GERMAN COMMISSION(.) HE GAVE EVIDENCE AT LENGTH OF THE VERY PERFUNCTORY NATURE OF THE COMMISSION'S EXAMINATION(.) THEY ONLY SPENT SOME 7 OR 8 HOURS AT THE SITE ALTOGETHER AND EMPHASIZED THAT EVERYTHING THEY WERE SHOWN HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN DISCOVERED OR EXHIBITED(.) HE WAS LESS CONVINCING IN HIS EXPLANATION OF WHY HE HAD SIGNED THE JOINT REPORT FINDING THAT THE MURDERS HAD BEEN COMMITTED IN APRIL OR MAY 1940 BUT HIS EXPLANATION THAT THEY WERE ALL PUT UNDER PRESSURE TO SIGN AT A MILITARY AIRFIELD IN RUSSIA WAS NOT IMPOSSIBLE AND THE EFFECT OF HIS EVIDENCE WAS GENERALLY TO DISCREDIT THE GERMAN REPORT(.) THE THIRD WITNESS WAS THE PRINCIPAL OF THE SOVIET INVESTIGATION(.) HE WAS UNDOUBTEDLY A MOST EFFECTIVE WITNESS AND TESTIFIED TO HAVING PERSONALLY EXHUMED SOME 5000 BODIES AT KIEV KHARKOV SMOLENSK AND OTHER PLACES(.) HE SPOKE IN GREAT DETAIL OF THE CONDITION OF THE BODIES AND OF THE VERY

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CAREFUL INVESTIGATION MADE(.) HIS COMMISSION HAD MADE A MOST CAREFUL AUTOPSY OF 925 BODIES ONLY 3 OF WHICH HAD APPARENTLY BEEN PERFUNCTORILY EXAMINED PREVIOUSLY(.) HE EXPLAINED THE CONDITION OF THE CLOTHING WHICH HAD BEEN SEARCHED AND GAVE DETAILS OF A FEW DOCUMENTS FOUND(.) THEY INCLUDED RECEIPTS DATED APRIL AND MAY 1941 AND A LETTER FROM A WIFE TO THE SOVIET RED CROSS BEARING A WARSAW AND MOSCOW POSTMARK IN SEPTEMBER 1940 AS WELL AS A POSTCARD WITH THE STAMP OF TARNOPOL POST OFFICE DATED 13 NOVEMBER 1940(.) HE HAD PERSONALLY DISCOVERED A LETTER DATED 20 JUNE 1941(.) HIS MASTERY OF THE DETAILS OF THESE DOCUMENTS WAS COMPLETE AND HIS EVIDENCE DELIVERED CONFIDENTLY AND QUICKLY BUT OBVIOUSLY NT PARROTWISE(.) HE WENT ON TO DEAL WITH THE BULLET CASES WHICH WERE FOUND IN THE GRAVES WHICH WERE THOSE OF A CALIBRE WHICH THE GERMAN WITNESSES HAD ADMITTED APPLIED TO THE GERMAN PISTOLS AND WHICH HE STATED BORE THE INITIALS OF A GERMAN FIRM GECO(.) THIS EVIDENCE WAS GREATLY FORTIFIED BY A CAPTURED DOCUMENT PRODUCED BY THE AMERICANS BEING A TELEGRAM DATED MAY 1943 FROM AN OFFICIAL OF THE GOVERNMENT GENERAL TO THE DEFENDANT FRANK'S OFFICE IN POLAND STATING THAT MEMBERS OF THE POLISH RED CROSS WHO HAD BEEN VISITING KATYN AT THE INVITATION OF THE GERMANS HAD BEEN VERY MUCH DISTURBED AT FINDING BULLET CASES MARKED GECO A WELL KNOWN GERMAN FIRM(.) THE CONJUNCTION BETWEEN THIS DOCUMENT SHOWING GERMAN BULLET CASES FOUND IN THE GRAVES IN MAY 1943 BY THE POLES AND BY THE SOVIETS COMMISSION A YEAR LATER IN JANUARY 1944 WAS MOST CONVINCING(.) HE WENT ON TO GIVE REASONS WHY THE BODIES COULD NOT HAVE BEEN BURIED AS EARLY AS 1940 AND CONCLUDED BY COMPARING THE METHOD OF KILLING WITH THAT IN THE MANY OTHER CASES WHICH HE HAD PERSONALLY INVESTIGATED WHERE GERMAN ACTION WAS NOT DISPUTED(.) ALTOGETHER ALTHOUGH NOT OF COURSE CONCLUSIVE THE EVIDENCE EMERGED STRONGLY IN FAVOUR OF THE SOVIET CASE AND THE GERMAN REPORT WAS LARGELY DISCREDITED AND THEIR EVIDENCE UNIMPRESSIVE(.)

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UK NA: WO 311/715

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C11254761

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