The Nazis’ “monstrous doctrine of racism” led to the destruction of the largest part of the Jewish communities of occupied European countries, Prosecutor Francois de Menthon charged today, as the French opened their case against the 20 top Nazis being tried here.
De Menthon, a former concentration camp inmate and, later, a leader of the resistance, said that according to official French statistics, only 35,000 of the 250,000 persons deported from France by the Germans have returned. Of the deportees about 120,000 were Jews.
He described the barbarous medical, surgical and other experiments conducted on men and women at the Oswiecim, Structchoff, Ravensbrueck and other camps, including artificial insemination of women, sterilization of men, women and children and inoculation of prisoners with fatal diseases.
The chief French prosecutor pointed out that the atrocities were committed after the Allied declaration of Dec. 17, 1942, warning that Germans engaged in persecuting Jews would be punished.
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