Soviet Woman, 30 April 1965: 'We Have Seen...' (Basariah Simorangkir, delegasi KOWANI)

=== [PDF page 1] === We were happy to welcome our Indonesian friends at our edi torial office. They told us about their trip in our country and left the following message in "Soviet Woman's” Guest Book: "Dear Friends, “ Greetings to the staff of ‘ Soviet Woman’ magazine from the members of the Congress of Indonesian Women delegation who value highly your understanding of the Indonesian- women's struggle. May your magazine flourish I May the ties of our brother hood grow stronger.” They met in Moscow, at the Kremlin Palace of Congresses— Hurustlati Subandrio, President of KOW ANI (the Congress of Indonesian Women) (centre), Sldi Moehammad, Chairman of WAN I, and Makhferat Karimova, Deputy Chairman of the Coun cil of Ministers of the Tajik S S R (right). By N I N A VORONINA T IL L W E M E E T There were five of them— Basariah Simorangkir, Sidi Moehammad, Ani Boesiri, Ratjih Natawidjaja, Miml Soeparml—five well-known figures in the women's movement in Indonesia who had made the long trip to the Soviet Union in the severest month of the Russian winter. They were the first representatives of the various women's organizations affiliated to KOW ANI, the Congress of Indonesian Women, to come here. Also in Moscow for a few days at that time was Mrs. Hurustiati Subandrio, President of KOW ANI, and Deputy Minister of Health. I had the pleasure of accompanying our guests on their travels round our country—to Moscow, Riga, Leningrad, Dushanbe. These were the places they themselves had expressed a desire to visit. And when they met Makhferat Karimova, Deputy Chair man of the Council of Ministers of Tajikistan, at a concert given by leading artists of the Tajik Republic In the Moscow Palace of Congresses, they received her personal Invitation to visit the Republic. "I'll expect to see you in Dushanbe in two weeks' time," Makhferat Karimova told them. So there they were in Dushanbe. Once again they met Makhferat Karimova, who has long been known to Indonesian women. Quite recently she headed a delegation of Soviet women to the KOWANI Con gress in Indonesia. The days were so packed for the Indonesian vis itors that they commented: "W e can't keep up with your pacel" In only a few days they met students from the Tajik State University, looked round the clinics at the Medical Institute, visited the Firdousi National Library, the Textile Mills and the Lenin Boarding School, They also said they would like to visit a village, and were taken by car to the "Com 18 Here are Ani Boesiri, from the organization of wives of armymen, and Basariah Simorangkir, a member of the Presidium of KOW ANI and member of the leadership of the Christian women's organization, in Leningrad. munism" Collective Farm, where they were imme diately invited to have tea. The '.'tea-drinking" took more than three hours. Ratjih Natawidjaja, who was sitting next to me, whispered during an interval between the national soup "shurpo" and some won derful pilaffe: "For a moment I thought I was in my own home. We've so many customs and habits in common.” Almost before she'd finished her remark, the hospitable hostess drew Ratjih aside. And she, Sidi Moehammad and Ani Boesiri made a circle and performed Tajik as well as their own national dances. At a dinner given for the guests on their last evening in Dushanbe, Basariah Simorangkir told the assembled company: "No words are adequate to thank you for your hospitality. But you can be assured that if any of you come to Indonesia, the doors of any Indonesian home will be open to you. We are leaving Dushanbe greatly in your debt. Come to Indonesia and we shall be able to show you that our women, too, can be hospitable, warm-hearted and welcoming hostesses." And Sidi Moehammad summed up her impressions as follows: "W e have seen the tremendous fruits of the Revolution accomplished by the people under Lenin's leadership. They are visible everywhere. The people live very well. They are happy, and confident of their future." They said the same thing to the people of Riga: "W e have spent three days in your city. We have seen a lot and learnt a lot, and the main thing is that we have again been convinced of the Soviet people's friendly feelings for the people of Indo nesia. If you come to our country you will find many, many examples of our friendship and coopera tion. You will see the beautiful stadium in Djakarta, A G A IN the new highway to Kalimantan, the dam on the island of Sumatra, the oceanographic institute under construction on the Ambon Islan d... As a sign of our deep gratitude to you we wanted to bring with us a piece of our perpetually shining hot sun, but this is an extremely difficult thing to do, and we have brought instead our warm hearts." When the guests arrived in Leningrad they wanted to have a look at its history, even though it could only be a brief look. And at the Museum of the city's history they saw exhibits telling about those days of struggle in ^1917 and the time of the blockade in World War II. 'They also saw how Leningraders live today, visited the Red Banner Tricot Mill, the Wedding Palace and the Gorky Palace of Cul ture. They had many interesting meetings in Moscow. They were received by Nina Popova, Chairman of the Soviet Women's Committee, I. V. Spiridonov, Chairman of the Soviet of the Union of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, M. A. Prokofiev, Deputy Minister for Higher and Secondary Specialized Education, and Y. Prosvetova, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow City Soviet. For three weeks we accompanied our friends round the country and tried to make their stay here as fruitful and interesting as possible. W e are sure that this visit will mean a further strengthening of cooperation and friendly relations between the wom en of Indonesia and the Soviet Union, between the peoples of our countries. It is now many days since we took leave of you, dear guests from Indonesia. But we are sure that our acquaintanceship, our friendship, w ill continue to grow stronger. Till we meet again, dear friendsl === [PDF page 2] === This picture was taken in Riga, in the Latvian republican children’s clinical hospital. Rasma Mennik, deputy head doctor of the hospital, Is pho tographed here with Anl Boesiri. Ani is wearing the warm mit tens, with Latvian ornament, which the council of medical nurses presented to her. Hr When the guests arrived in T ajik istan they went to see the boarding school named after Lenin. The photo shows small “ housewives" at their domestic sciences lesson. sfc At the Lat vian branch of the Union of Friendship Societies with For eign Countries the Indonesian women were received by Alisa Vindedze, a public and state leader, deputy chairman of the State Planning Committee of Latvia. Basariah Simorangkir, the head of the delegation, pre sented a beautiful national ker chief to Alisa Vindedze as a token of friendship. “ May this modest gift always remind you of the women of Indonesia," said Mrs. Simorangkir. H= The “ Laima” confectionery factory of Latvia is by right considered one of the best in our country. Basariah Simorangkir sat down at the machine which packs the “ Mishka” chocolates. n t,l]e apartment In the Smolny where Vladimir Lenin lived. Ratjlh Natawidjaja, the chairman of the Wanita Marhaenls, and Mlml Soeparmi, the secretary of the Association of University Women. Hs In Leningrad our guests visited the hosiery factory. They were welcomed by the director Varvara Orlova (left). As you can see, they were Interested in production. Hs After the guests from Indonesia had become famNiar with the economic structure of the “ Communism" Collective Farm In Tajikistan, Olshakhon Norbayeva, one of the collective farm women, Invited them to her home. Photographs by B. POKROVSKY and L. OKUNEV We Have Seen By B A S A R I A H SIMORANGKIR Member, Presidium of KOW ANI Our delegation, representing the Congress of Indonesian Women, arrived in the Soviet Union at the invitation of the Soviet Women’s Committee. The aim of this visit was to strengthen the already existing friendship between the women of the USSR and Indonesia. January is a cold month in Moscow, especially for us who came here from a country with a hot climate. But we did not feel the cold for friends met us with great warmth as soon as we set foot on Soviet soil. In their sparkling eyes, in the expression of their faces I could see the hospitality, the sincerity of the people in Moscow, Leningrad, Riga and Dushanbe. I was sorry a thousand times over that I had not learned the Russian language. But this did not prevent me from having heartto-heart talks. Our delegation was in many places; we visited factories and plants, schools, hospitals, a women’s consultation centre, a home for the aged, museums, theatres. And everywhere we met women. Wherever we went, up North and down South, we felt the lofty spirit of the Soviet people, of the Soviet women who are working for the well-being of the peoples. We spent almost three weeks in this great country and met many people. We understood much and will remem ber much. The friendship among the peoples can be seen in this country and there is no race discrimination. On our return to Indonesia we shall convey the greet ings and warm smiles of the Soviet women to members of our organizations. May our visit serve to strengthen friendship between Soviet and Indonesian peoples. May the women of the Soviet Union and the Republic of Indo nesia defend, shoulder to shoulder, the security of man kind. === [PDF page 3] === THE CRIMINALS MUST ANSWER! STATEMENT FROM THE SOVIET WOMEN’S COMMITTEE We Soviet women, like millions of people in other countries where the nazi murderers left ineffaceable trails of blood during the Second World War, are outraged by the intention of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to cease the prosecution of nazi war criminals under the statute of limitation. The crimes committed by the nazis against humanity can never be erased from the memories of Soviet women. Twenty years have passed since the war, but the wounded hearts of mothers who lost their children have not healed, the widow’s tears have not dried, orphans have not ceased to grieve. There can be no forgiveness for those who sowed death and desolation in the world. The hands of the nazi butchers are crimson with the blood of millions of Soviet people killed and tortured. No amnesty for the butchers! The memory of the thousands of women and children who were shot at Babi Yar near Kiev, died in camps by Riga and Minsk, were buried alive in tank traps near Kerch and Lvov, killed in death trucks in the vicinity of Pyatigorsk, etc., demand this. Faithful to the memory of the millions who were slaughtered in nazi death camps, the millions who suffered so bitterly in the war years, Soviet women demand punishment for the criminals wherever they may hide them selves. The intention to cease the prosecution of nazi criminals under the statute of limitation is contrary to the elementary rules of international law. This is a matter of justice; all the fascist criminals must be made to answer for their crimes. NO PARDON FOR THE MURDERERS! The government of the Federal Republic of G er many has announced its intention to cease the prosecu tion of nazi criminals under the statute of limitation. But what talk can there be of time limits for those nazi butchers! We Soviet citizens, former prisoners in fascist camps who remained alive, protest on behalf of the thousands who were killed, against setting aside the crimes of the nazis. We who were incarcerated in the Stutthof Camp lived face to face with death for several years. We saw tens of thousands die: saw prisoners driven into the gas chambers, lined up and shot, water poured over them in the hard frost, flogged to death with whips and clubs, murdered by injections, or dogs set on them. And the worst butchers: the Kommandant of the Stutthof Camp Hoppe, Reportfuhrer Hemnitz, the chief of the political section. Ludke, the head SS doctor Heidel, the Knot brothers, and the hospital chief Haupt all escaped punishment. And now—the government of the Federal Republic of Germany wants to erase their crimes! It must not happen; justice, the conscience of peoples, forbids it. We could fill volumes with hideous memories. We have therefore decided to appeal to the findings of the Special Commission for Investigating Brutal Fas cist Crimes, which worked in liberated Stutthof in 20 the spring of 1945. Here are excerpts from the docu ment. "On the basis of interrogations and the medical examination of 258 prisoners saved by the Soviet Army and the study of German documents found, the remains of a crematorium and gas chamber blown up by the Germans, investigation of pits in which prison ers were burned, it has been established: "By means of shooting, poisoning, injections of benzine in the cardiac region, starvation, hanging, the deliberate spread of infectious diseases and monstrous ill-treatment, approximately 100,000 citi zens of the Soviet Union, Poland, France and Czecho slovakia were wiped out in the Stutthof Camp. "Judged by the level of deliberate intent, technical organization, and the large scale and cruelty of human massacre, the Stutthof Camp was a 'death camp.' "... For the burning of bodies a crematorium was built in 1942, and a second crematorium and gas chamber in 1943. The people to be killed were forced to undress and were then driven with clubs into the chamber. The doors were hermetically sealed. The process of suffocation lasted fifteen min utes... Prior to burning, gold teeth and crowns were removed. In the gas chamber as many as ninety-six exhausted people were asphyxiated simultaneously. The capacity of the crematoria was insufficient and the dead were burned on pyres where up to 1,000 bodies were laid. The pyres burned for several days. "... In December 1944 the camp administration began a mass injection of typhus. Within a brief period 3,000 men and 1,500 women had been in fected. Within about thirteen days a typhus epidemic broke out in the camp, in which over 6,000 prison ers perished." At the end of the war, on orders from Himmler, the nazis tried to obliterate the traces of their, crimes, to destroy the camps and kill all the prisoners. They did not succeed, thanks to the rapid advance of the Soviet Army and the resistance of the prisoners. We demand stern punishment for the nazi crimi nals. There can be no pardon for these butchersl Signed: Ex-prlsoners of the Stutthof Camp: Dr. Sofia Anvaier, camp number 37107, Nurse Olga Kudyashova (23141), Nadezhda Platonova (12404), Professor Fybdor Soprunov, Doctor of Biology (23191), Nikolai Kuznetsov, artist (133S0), Lazar Slapak, designing engineer (24661), Daniil Selyutln, physician (30052), Vasili Akimov, teacher at the Patrice Lumumba University (37411), Nikolai Yatchenko, a builder (14466), Ruslan Lyakh, astronomer (24151), Roman Bespalko, musician (24032), Semyon Rogozha, teacher (30048), Nikolai Simonenko, pensioner (30049), Alexander Shlykov, scientific worker (30063), Adam Chechko, mining foreman (34473), Stepan Sadovoi, teacher (17968), Ludwig Poplavsky, musician (30051), Semyon Biryukov, pensioner (30050), Yuri Samoilov, state farm director (22287), Fyodor Kirsanov, teacher (65784), Vladimir Timonin, en gineer (50165), Alexei Kharkhorin, bookkeeper (56556), Vladimir Khrush, worker (24152), Daniil Motorin, worker (23888), Vasili Bocharov, employee (55443), Ivan Didenko, excavator operator (25088), Pavel Nazarov, artist (20310), Pavei Rybin, fitter (30091), Ivan Varenik, mechanic (17968), Anatoli Kacharava (26239), Zoya Antonova, housewife (23140), Maria Shevtsova, collective farmer (23142). === [PDF page 4] === A CHILD AT BIRKENAU By S E W E R Y N A SZMAGLEWSKA Polish writer Somebody once asked me what was my most inef faceable memory of the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau. A picture rose before me: a fine sunny day and on the other side of the barbed wire, so close you could almost touch them, a crowd of people— men and women, carrying children, bigger children hold ing their parents' hands so as not to get lost. They were being led along the railway platform to the gas chamber in the crematorium. Clouds of heavy black smoke rolled up from the chimney; those who had come some hours earlier were being burned. This went on endlessly, almost every night, every day. The people who had been brought from Belgium, Holland, Hungary and Greece and were now being taken "to the bathhouse for disinfection" were numb with alarm, filled with a dull apprehension. And the prisoners, gaunt with hunger and illness, watching them through the barbed wire, shuddered anew at the crime being committed before their eyes, knowing well that sooner or later their own turn would come. Everything was going "according to plan"— what could upset the dreadful routine? Yet something did happen. A little boy of about five slipped through the tight line of SS-men and ran— away from the crema torium. Some instinct had warned him, or perhaps his mother had whispered to him: "Runl" He raced as quickly as his little legs would carry him along the gravelled path by the platform. Only the elec trified barbed wire separated him from the prison ers. One touch would mean death. But there, where he was running, stood the SS-men, each one hold ing a dog trained to knock down an adult and tear him to pieces. The 'little fellow hadn't a chance but the prisoners, against all common sense, hoped against h o p e... Old women whispered: "If there's a God he won't let the child be caught, he'll save him." I am sure there must be people among the readers of. "Soviet Woman" who remember that day, and the child running desperately away from the crema torium at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It was only a matter of a few seconds. The little boy had run as far as the middle of the platform when a motorcycle engine roared. Perschel of the SS started the engine and leaning over the handle bars reached for the child. The machine skidded and fell from the sharp application of brakes. Other SS-men seized the child and dragged him to the Almost twenty years have passed since then. But can there be any statute of limitation? Even to raise the question is a crime against humanity. I appeal to the former prisoners at Oswiecim, Ravensbruck, Oranienburg, Maidanek, Buchenwald, Mauthausen and other nazi camps: Wherever you may be, even in the farthest parts of Europe or other continents, face the pain of memory and raise your voices. I appeal to German intellectuals, to scientists, writ ers and translators: tell your own people, and es pecially the younger generation, the truth about the crimes committed by the nazis. I appeal to the families of the millions who died a cruel death in the nazi camps: let our common protest close the gate against a return to decent society for the nazi criminals! Let the governments and the peoples understand their responsibility to the future. There can be no pardon for these murderers if we want peace to reign on earth. By A L F R E D JENSEN Vice-Chairman of the Society for Cooperation between Denmark and the Soviet Union The intention of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to stop the prosecution of nazi criminals on the pretext of the statute of limitation has aroused strong feeling in Denmark. The Danish people remember the hideous crimes committed by the nazis during the Second World War. They remember (how they trampled over our country, leaving blood and suffering in their wake. We have not forgotten that black day, the ninth of April 1940, when they attacked Denmark, nor have we forgotten the bitter years of occupation. The crimes of robbery and violence committed by the nazis filled Danes not only with sorrow and bitter ness, but with a firm determination to fight the invad ers to their last breath, and to make sure that such things should never happen again. That is why Danes are now firmly protesting against any stoppage of the prosecution of war criminals. The peoples must not allow the atrocities of the nazis to go unpunished. ELLI BODE The intention of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to end the prosecution of nazi war criminals is an insult to the memory of the mil lions who died during the war. The old-time militarists and war criminals, living in comfort in the Federal Republic of Germany, are again singing their old song about a Germany which, according to them, should stand over all and extend as far as the Urals. Revenge Is what they want. As in the past, they have no wish to give up their trade of murder. Their hands itch to get hold of atom bombs. Those same officers and generals who caused so many millions to suffer are again at the political helm in the Federal Republic of Germany. The same prosecutors and judges who had hun dreds of thousands executed are today passing sen tence on champions of peace. Once more these mass murderers are, without hindrance, casting patriots into prison. This must not be allowed. All of us German women, all of us mothers must ensure that the war criminals are punished. We de mand that the government of the Federal Republic of Germany reject their intention of stopping the prosecution of war criminals on the pretext of the statute of limitation. The murderers must face the court of humanity! We Have Not Forgotten BRING THESE MONSTERS TO TRIAL! By E R I K A BUCHMANN GDR J u stice Demands It In May 1965 the government of the Federal Republic of Germany intends to stop all judicial action against war criminals. Today, twenty years after the crimes were committed, thousands of these butchers are living comfortable lives in towns and villages in the Federal Republic of Germany. The trial of twenty-two former SS-men at the Oswiecim camp has been proceeding in the FRG for a year now. Newspapermen who went to Oswiecim with members of the court write that what they saw there was a nightmare. During the show ing of a documentary film one of them fainted. Another burst into tears. The editor of the "Rheinische Post" describes the piles of women's hair and children's shoes in the Oswiecim museum, silent testimony of those whom the SS "crushed like lice.” He concludes his article in the "Rheinische Post" with the words: "In Oswiecim a German loses his ability to speak." I too am German. But I do not wish to be speech less. I cannot be silent. We, former prisoners of Ravensbruck who remained alive, speak in the names of our dead comrades. Ninety-two thousand women and children were savagely killed before our eyes. The SS sent 42,000 women from Ravensbruck to Bernburg, Oswiecim and Lublin to be killed. We shall never, so long as we live, forget the eyes of those women who knew that they were being taken to their deaths. We shall never forget the spring of 1945 when 6,000 women and children were killed and burned a few paces from us, never forget their terrible suffering. We shall never forget how they flung themselves in despair against the wire through which ran a powerful electric current, and how we were com pelled to walk past their charred bodies. Cah we forget how the SS-men starved people, reduced them to skeletons, how tiny children were allowed to freeze, how savage dogs were released to tear old women to pieces? It is outrageous that the government of the Federal Republic of Germany intends to stop the prosecution of these nazi murderers. No, no, and again no! Justice demands that such crimes should be pun ished. Those unpunished criminals who are responsible for mass slaughter in concentration camps and at the fronts of the Second World War are today calling for atomic war. General Trettner, who in Hitler's time devastated Rotterdam, now, in Erhartef's day, wants to lay an atomic mine belt on the border of our country. Former nazi murderers hold high positions in the Federal Republic of Germany. They are again planning war, planning to shed the blood of further millions. We Germans must not be silent. Crimes against humanity come under no statute of limitation. The murderers must stand trial, no matter how much time has passed since their crimes. FRG