The Soviet Commissions for determination and investigation of Nazi atrocities, 1942-1951: forms and methods of activity

• Autores: Alexandr E. Epifanov, Sergey V. Kulik
• Localización: Nuova rivista storica, ISSN 0029-6236, Vol. 103, Nº. 1, 2019, págs. 299-320
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • From the historical and legal positions, the article considers the organization,forms and methods of the Extraordinary State Commission’s (ESC) activity on determinationand investigation of the German fascist invaders and their accomplices’crimes, and of damage caused by them to citizens, collective farms, public organizations,state enterprises and institutions of the USSR. This commission was formed on2 November 1942 by the Presidium decree of the USSR Supreme Council as well asof its assistance commissions, created in the occupied regions of the Soviet Union. Thearticle is based on the archival materials introduced into scientific discourse for thefirst time. The authors analyze forms and methods of these committees’ activities asmeetings and investigativetechniques as well as publications and other incriminatingmaterials about the Nazis’ atrocities: interrogations of victims, witnesses and criminalparticipants.The authors described the peculiarities of crime detection and investigation ofNazis’ crimessuch as the deportation of Soviet civilians to Nazi Germany for forcedlabor. In particular, the authors analyzed the documents of the commissions about Naziatrocities and made conclusions about the uniqueness of experience and incriminatingmaterials accumulated by the ESC. They formed the basis of court proceedings againstNazi war criminals and their accomplices among Soviet citizens during the SecondWorld War and in the postwar years including the Nuremberg Military Tribunal.They were taken as an example by similar structures in the countries which had alsosuffered from Nazi Germany occupation.