The Kharkov Trial
Sentence of death by hanging was passed last Saturday by the military tribunal at Kharkov which had been trying three German prisoners of war and one Soviet citizen for atrocities on Soviet citizens and prisoners. The widest possible publicity was given to the proceedings, which took place in a large theatre with an audience of 6,000 Kharkov inhabitants. The forms of Soviet law were strictly followed, and the accused were defended by eminent lawyers. The prisoners confessed to a series of the most appalling atrocities com- mitted by themselves in accordance with orders issued from the highest quarters. With an almost perplexing candour they declared themselves the instruments of crime perpetrated in accordance with a system of brutality deliberately planned from above. According to one of them, the principal war criminals were Hitler, Himmler and Rosenberg, the first of these having spoken of the " necessity of exterminating the inferior Russian people." The staging of the proceedings recalls certain other trials famous in Soviet history. One will observe that the evidence to which most publicity has been given is that of the German criminals themselves. The crimes which they were required to confess were black, but not so black as those committed by the arch-criminals who still control the destinies of Germany. The trial has taken place in accordance with the decision that war criminals shall be tried according to the law of the country in which their crimes were committed. In this first' case to be heard the justice of the verdict and sentence is beyond all possible challenge.
