More so than other delegations, Soviet prosecutors showed the gruesome details of German atrocities, especially the death by starvation of 3 million Soviet prisoners of war and several hundred thousand residents of Leningrad. Although Soviet prosecutors dealt most extensively with the systematic murder of Jews in eastern Europe, at times they blurred the fate of Jews with that of other Soviet nationalities. Although these aspects had already been covered by the American prosecution, Soviet prosecutors introduced new evidence from Extraordinary State Commission reports and interrogations of senior enemy officers. Lev Smirnov presented evidence on the Lidice massacre in Czechoslovakia, adding that the German invaders had destroyed thousands of villages and murdered their inhabitants throughout eastern Europe. The Soviet prosecution emphasized the racist aspect of policies such as the deportation of millions of civilians to Germany for forced labor, the murder of children, systematic looting of occupied territories, and theft or destruction of cultural heritage. The Soviet prosecution also attempted to fabricate German responsibility for the Katyn massacre, which had in fact been committed by the NKVD. Although Western prosecutors never publicly rejected the Katyn charge for fear of casting doubt on the entire proceedings, they were skeptical. The defense presented evidence of Soviet responsibility, and Katyn was not mentioned in the verdict.
more so than other delegations soviet prosecutors showed the gruesome details of german atrocities especially the death by starvation of 3 million soviet prisoners of war and several hundred thousand residents of leningrad although soviet prosecutors dealt most extensively with the systematic murder of jews in eastern europe at times they blurred the fate of jews with that of other soviet nationalities although these aspects had already been covered by the american prosecution soviet prosecutors introduced new evidence from extraordinary state commission reports and interrogations of senior enemy officers lev smirnov presented evidence on the lidice massacre in czechoslovakia adding that the german invaders had destroyed thousands of villages and murdered their inhabitants throughout eastern europe the soviet prosecution emphasized the racist aspect of policies such as the deportation of millions of civilians to germany for forced labor the murder of children systematic looting of occupied territories and theft or destruction of cultural heritage the soviet prosecution also attempted to fabricate german responsibility for the katyn massacre which had in fact been committed by the nkvd although western prosecutors never publicly rejected the katyn charge for fear of casting doubt on the entire proceedings they were skeptical the defense presented evidence of soviet responsibility and katyn was not mentioned in the verdict