He states in this document that Professor Blome had won groat merit in many fields, particularly in the field of combatting tuberculosis and also in the field of combatting cancer. Ho states about what Blome did and I quote: "tried to raise the level of the general practitioner and organized them to a great extent."
I think that this will suffice and I ask to take notice of the entire contents of the document book.
The next document in Blome supplemental volume III is an excerpt from a German book entitled "Medical Micro Biology" by Dr. Miller. This is document No. 18. It will receive exhibit number Blome 20.
The original of this book was already received by the Tribunal on the occasion of the submission of the evidence on behalf of Karl Brandt, and I am referring to document 121 of Karl Brandt, that is when you received this book which was submitted to you by defense counsel of Dr. Karl Brandt this excerpt which was submitted to you as No. 18, Exhibit 20, is from a book which has been published after the Hitler period in the year 1946. It discusses various means of combatting and treatment of tuberculosis. I submit this book because of the accusation raised against the defendant Blome to participate in the extermination of thousands of Poles. From this document, of which I ask the Tribunal to take notice, the Tribunal will learn that the suggestions and views as they were expressed by Dr. Blome in his letter to the Gauleiter Greiser, conformed with the views of the German professional society at large, and that one cannot speak of any crime against humanity having been committed by the defendant Blome.
The next three documents in Blome supplemental Volume three are Blome documents 19, 20 and 21, which belong together; Document Blome No. 19 will receive Exhibit No. 3. This exhibit number had already been given to that document at an earlier date. This document has already once been submitted and received exhibit No. 3.
THE PRESIDENT: Was the document submitted in evidence or was its admission held for a subsequent decision?
DR. SAUTER: As far as I know it was already admitted into evidence because otherwise it would not have received an exhibit number. At the moment I am not sure.
THE PRESIDENT: Then why is it offered again, counsel?
DR. SAUTER: At that time, Mr. President, I submitted all of these three documents. They all refer to the well known assignments given by the Reich Research Counsel, the assignment given to Dr. Hirt at Strassbourg and the assignment given to Dr. Rascher at Dachau.
When the defendant Blome was examined, there seemed to have been some controversy as to whether these two assignments had to be credited to Blome or to Geheimrat Dr. Sauerbruch. In the meantime I have obtained the photostatic copies from the Prosecution and I am now submitting the three photostatic copies to the Tribunal. These documents have already received an exhibit number at an earlier date.
MR. HARDY: I believe at the time, Your Honor, defense counsel, used them and he did not offer then formally and they were given numbers.
THE PRESIDENT: They will be received in evidence.
DR. SAUTER: I state once more that document No. 19 in Blome document book III will receive exhibit No. 3. Document No. 20 will receive exhibit No. 4 and document Blome No. 21 will receive exhibit no. 5.
This brings me to document Blome 22 which will receive exhibit No. 21. This is an affidavit by Professor Dr. Strakosch, who is well known in Germany. This affidavit was signed on the 8th of March 1947 and certified in the proper manner by a German notary. I shall not quote this affidavit but merely confine myself to pointing out that Professor Strakosch was a man of mixed descent of the first degree who got into difficulties in the German Reich for racial reasons. He turned to Blome for help and was supported by him very actively. This enabled him to continue his medical activities without any difficulty also in the Third Reich. I may perhaps quote one sentence from that affidavit. It says on page 12 of the German text, and I quote:
"I can further confirm from my own experience that Professor Blome was not one of the fanatical and ruthless types of the Hitler regime. He always was rather popular because of his courteous and conciliatory nature, and, also, when a physician at Rostock, he had numerous patients from the ranks of his personal adversaries. According to my experience and personal impressions he always had the intention of smoothing matters out, and in his political conviction he was an idealist but certainly not a profiteer."
THE PRESIDENT: What number, doctor?
DR. SAUTER: This is document No. 22, Exhibit No. 21. The next document is No. 23 and will receive exhibit No. 22. This is a short affidavit, signed by the defendant, Professor Dr. Blome, dated the 1st of April 1947 which has been certified in the proper manner by defense counsel. This document only gives a few illustrations as to how Professor Blome was regarded by recognized and well known physicians who are still well known and recognized in Germany today and I ask you to take notice of it.
MR. HARDY: I must object to this affidavit Blome which concerns three or four letters he has received and about which his defense counsel makes the statement and thinks it is admissible. I request the Tribunal to peruse this quickly and sec why I am objecting to this.
DR. SAUTER: I ask you to overrule the objection. I don't see why a defendant should not be able to submit an affidavit about facts like that. This is a trial wherein the Prosecution has obtained an affidavit from every one of the defendants and often even more than one affidavit.
THE PRESIDENT: It appears that there is at least one statement in the affidavit to be considered. The exhibit will be admitted and those parts of the affidavit which arc incompetent will be disregarded by the Tribunal.
MR. SAUTER: This, Mr. President, brings me to the conclusion of supplemental volume No. 3.
There are two more documents which I want to submit to you which I have already included in Blome volume I. When at the time I sub mitted these documents the Prosecution objected to the fact that the signature of the well-known Professor Dr. Bergmann and that of the well-renowned Professor, Mr. Martius were not certified in the proper manner.
I represented the point of view at that time, that people of that reputation could not be asked to go to a notary. The Tribunal, however, decided against my point of view and did not accept these documents. As a result I had to undertake the very unpleasant duty of taking these two gentlemen to have their affidavits certified by a notary. These two gentlemen have done so and these two documents therefore are now in perfect order from a formal point of view and I am submitting them to the Tribunal.
One is Document Blome No. 3, which comes from the first document volume. This will receive Exhibit Blome No. 23. This is an affidavit signed by the world wide renowned Professor von Bergmann, who enjoys the same reputation in the United States as in Germany and who is now the head of a large medical clinic at Munich. In this affidavit (and considering the brevity of time, I shall not quote, although it is of extensive importance for the defendant Professor Blome) the scholar confirms that the defendant Dr. Blome performed a tremendously meritorious service for furthering progress of the German medical profession during Hitler's rule. For that reason I do not believe that Blome can in any way be responsible for any excesses having been committed in Germany. I am now submitting this affidavit signed by Professor von Bergmann of 22 January 1947, which was certified by the notary in the proper manner, which will be No. 3, Exhibit Blome No. 23.
A similar situation prevails in the case of the next document which is an affidavit signed by Professor Dr. Martius from Goettingen dated the 7th of February 1941, which was submitted at that time as Blome Number 13 and will now receive Blome Exhibit Number 24. This is a very short but very important affidavit signed by Professor Dr. Martius. It confirms that the defendant Blome made great endeavors to elevate the level of the scientific spirit in Germany and was always trying to remove any National Socialistice excesses from the profession. I am handing this document to the Secretary General and this brings me to the conclusion of my submission of evidence on behalf of the defendant Dr. Blome.
MR. HARDY: The Martius certificates one each document are in order, your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: The exhibits referred to by the counsel for the defendant Blome are in evidence.
MR. HARDY: Your Honor, would it be possible for defense counsel to ascertain which of defense counsel will be ready tomorrow morning with their document books?
THE PRESIDENT: I understand that Dr. Sauter is ready with some supplementary books on behalf of defendant Ruff.
DR. SAUTER: Yes, my document book is ready and in case you have no English translations available, I shall bring them along with me, and I shall thereby be able to assist the Tribunal. If you like I can start the first thing tomorrow morning.
MR. HARDY: Rudolf Brandt's documents will be ready.
THE PRESIDENT: I understand that.
DR. WEISSGERBER: Mr. President, I am representing the counsel Dr. Kaufmann and shall be able to submit supplemen tal documents on behalf of the defendant Rudolf Brandt tomorrow morning.
I have found out recently that the translation of the supplemental document book on behalf of my client, Sievers, has not yet been concluded.
DR. FLEMMING: Mr. President, tomorrow morning I shall be able to submit document volume number 2 for Mrugowsky which has already been before the Tribunal at an early date but has been postponed until all the submission of evidence had been concluded, since it dealt with human experiments as they were conducted by foreign nations. My supplemental volumes 2 and 3 are still in translation and I have not yet received them back. One of these document books only contains excerpts from the record of the Pohl trial. The presentation will only last a very short time since it merely contains excerpts from records. The other document book contains a number of affidavits and its presentation will last approximately 15 to 20 minutes.
MR. HARDY: Then we can delay the Mrugowsky presentation of documents until they are all ready.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we will not call those while there are others which are complete and ready to be presented.
DR. WILLE: Mr. President, I have four supplemental document volumes in both the German and the English language. They are ready and with your permission I shall submit them tomorrow morning.
THE PRESIDENT: We shall proceed with these documents tomorrow morning, probably taking up Dr. Sauter's first. He has just completed his offer on behalf of defendant Blome, but we will proceed in order as may prove convenient.
The Tribunal will now be in recess until 9:30 O'clock tomorrow morning.
THE MARSHALL: The Tribunal will be in recess until 0930 hours tomorrow morning.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 0930 hours, 28 June 1947.)
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the United States of America against Karl Brandt, et al, defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 28 June 1947, 0930, Justice Beals presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the Courtroom will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal I.
Military Tribunal I is now in session. God save the United States of America and this honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the Court.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Marshal, will you ascertain if the defendants are all present in court.
THE MARSHAL: May it please your Honor, all the defendants are present in the court with the exception of the defendant Oberhauser, who is absent due to illness. Medical certificate will be presented at the earliest possible moment.
THE PRESIDENT: The Secretary General will note for the record the presence of all the defendants in court, save the defendant Oberhauser, absent on account of illness according to Medical certificate by the Prison Surgeon.
Counsel may proceed.
Dr. Sauter, I do not find that your Supplemental Document Book III has been made available to the Tribunal. I wonder if it is here for the defendant Ruff.
DR. SAUTER: Just a moment.
MR. HARDY: Supplemental Book III for the defendant Blome you mean, Your Honor?
THE PRESIDENT: The defendant Ruff.
MR. HARDY: That has already been introduced as Exhibit No. 20.
THE PRESIDENT: The documents which you propose to offer in behalf of the defendant Ruff begin with his Document Book IV, is that correct?
DR. SAUTER: That is right, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, proceed.
DR. SAUTER: As counsel for the defendant Ruff I shall begin putting in the documents in his Supplemental Volume IV. The first one in this volume is Document No. 22, which will be Exhibit No. 21.
MR. HARDY: May it please your Honor, Dr. Sauter calls to my attention that he has three further documents to introduce in the case of Blome. And, it is suggested, inasmuch as the record yesterday ended up with documents of Blome, that today he continue with the three documents of Blome and then start Ruff. In that way the record will have some continuity.
THE PRESIDENT: Excellent suggestion. Counsel will proceed with finishing the documents Blome. Have these documents been furnished to the Tribunal? Does the secretary know, or are they available? The Tribunal does not have these documents you mention, counsel.
DR. SAUTER: In order to bo perfectly sure I have brought the necessary number of the English translation with me and can give them to you without any difficulty.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you, counsel.
DR. SAUTER: I shall then say the rest of what has to be said in the Blome case. Previously I put in Supplemental Document Book IV in the Blome case which contains three continuous documents, namely 24, 25, and 26, all of which pertain to one subject. These arc excerpts from several annual volumes from the Medical Journal entitled "The Philippine Journal". The have dealt with these excerpts already in the Rose case, and when Professor Ivy was on the stand, who also made statements about those experiments which are mentioned in this Philippine Journal - the experiments carried on by Strong. In the session of 21 March I gave no exhibit number to these documents 24, 25, and 26, because at that time there was no translation of them and the Court ruled that it would be expedient to give them an exhibit number after the translation was ready.
They have now been translated and I new give these Blome documents 24, 25, and 26, the common exhibit number 18 for ail three of them. This deals mainly with those experiments - the plague experiments - that were already dealt with in the hearing of Blome and the witness Dr. Rose, so that I need not say anything further about these documents.
THE PRESIDENT: Then Doctor, I understand that your Document Book, Supplement IV, will be marked Blome Exhibit 18. That covers your entire Document Book Supplemental IV, is that correct?
DR. SAUTER: Yes, and all three documents will have the exhibit No. 18.
THE PRESIDENT: There are no other documents in that book except the three you have referred to?
DR. SAUTER: That is correct, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
DR. SAUTER: That definitely concludes my defense of the defendant Blome and I proceed now to putting in the further documents for the defendant Ruff. So far, documents up to Document 21 have been put in. I shall now begin with Supplemental Volume 4, containing, first of all, Ruff Document #22, which receives Exhibit No. 21. These are minutes put in the other Military Tribunal, of which I here have a certified copy. This is the record carried by the director of a criminal institution by the name of Strelow, who was employed during the Hitler Regime in a prison in Berlin. In his affidavit, which the Secretary General has, he states that in the Prisone Ploctzensee in Germany, experiments were carried on with poison gas during hitler's regime but only on crimina criminals and not on political prisoners, and only on volunteers who had been condemned to death; in addition, he says that these matters were kept so strictly secret that even the prison officials knew nothing of them unless they were immediately concerned in them. That is the contents of document 22, Exhibit NO. 21, which the Secretary General has in his possession and which was put in evidence in Case No. 3.
My next document is document No. 23, which will be Exhibit 22. The original of this sworn statement by a. witness is to be found with the General Secretary, Miss Mandellaub), who has certified the correctness of the signatures thereon. This is the testimony under oath of the former medical inspector of the Luftwaffe, Professor Hippke, in sessions of the American Military Tribunal II of 7th and 11th February 1947. I have taken excerpts from this testimony, which is very long and which I shall not read and which I ask the Tribunal to take judicial notice. I have extracted from this long testimony a few salient facts; primarily, the fact that only volunteers were used in the Ruff-Romberg experiments and these volunteers were all criminals; secondly, that Ruff did not act on his own initiative in these experiments but only on orders from his gighest superior;
thirdly, that in the opinion of the highest medical inspector in the German Luftwaffe, these high altitude experiments by Ruff and Romberg were absolutely necessary in order to clarify a problem that was particularly important to Germany at that time and to the air forces of every country at that time; and, finally, that the way in which these experiments was carried out was in keeping with all the tenets of humane behavior. I ask the court to take notice of this document but shall read nothing from it. These are the 2 documents in Ruff Supplemental Volume 4 and now I come to Ruff Supplemental Volume No. 5, which contains documents 24, 25, and 26. Document No. 24 will be Exhibit No. 23. This is a list of the penalties to which Vieweg was subjected. The original is with the Secretary General who made the original available to me only for a few days so that I might make this copy and have it certified.
MR. HARDY: As I understand it, the original is in the hands of the Secretary-General?
DR. SAUTER: That is right.
MR. HARDY: Then I suggest that the original be made available to the Clerk of this Court as an exhibit before this Tribunal, your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: The secretary will procure from the office of the Secretary General the original record referred to by counsel for the defendant Ruff - Document No. 24.
DR. SAUTER: I asked at that time to be able to keep the original so that I could put it to the Tribunal but I was told that I would have to return the original to the Secretary General because on the original there is a note by the German police authorities that after the original had been used it should be returned to the German authorities in Hanover. That is the reason why the General Secretary would not let me have the original.
THE PRESIDENT: Under those circumstances the original should not be introduced in evidence but a photostat made.
The secretary will procure the original for production before the Tribunal for examination and bring a photostat of the document, if any has been made. If none has been made then one will be procured.
MR. HARDY: Your Honor, the secretary will have considerable difficulty finding if it has been returned to the German authorities.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, if it has been returned, of course it is not now available in the office of the Secretary General; but the secretary will ascertain whether or not it has been returned and, if the original is in the office of the Secretary General, produce it before the Tribunal for examination.
DR. SAUTER: For the information of the Secretary General, I received the original from Miss Benford at that time and I gave the original back to Miss Benford after I had made my copy.
MR. HARDY: Doesn't Dr. Sauter have anything to offer as an exhibit - a certified copy of it signed by perhaps the Secretary General, or authenticated by himself?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, the document bears a certification by Dr. Sauter.
MR. HARDY: He does not have an Exhibit, your Honor, he merely has copies of document books.
THE PRESIDENT: This certificate apparently reads: "I herewith certify the above extracts from the criminal record as a true and correct copy of the original before me."
Mr. HARDY: He does not have an exhibit, as such, to offer to the Court at this time as an exhibit; he only has copies in these document books.
DR. SAUTER: That is the only way I can do it, your Honors. If I received an original from the Secretary General I would have to give it back the next day or the day after. I can only make a copy; otherwise there is nothing I can do.
THE PRESIDENT: Somewhere there must be an original certified by Dr. Sauter over his original signature that this is a correct copy; Dr. Sauter must have signed something because this is a copy of his signature.
This matter will not be at all difficult of adjustment and we might wait until the morning recess and then straighten it out.
MR. HARDY: But in this case, your Honor, the Prosecution is very interested in seeing the original document or a certified copy of it, certified by the proper authorities.
THE PRESIDENT: If the original document is still available here a messenger can go immediately to the office of the Secretary General and ascertain whether or not it is there, or with Miss Benford, I don't know where it would be. The Tribunal is also inerested in seeing the original if it is available.
DR. SAUTER: Let me say the following regarding this document. This Mr. Vieweg who was here heard and was heard in Dachau, manifested a remarkable memory regarding what had happened in Dachau but his recollection was particularly confused about his own life.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, counsel, this document is clearly admissible in evidence as an exhibit. The only thing that is new under discussion is some matter of mere process that surely cm be adjusted with a. little time. I suggest that counsel proceed to the next document until we hear word from the Secretary General concerning the original of this document.
MR. HARDY: It is agreeable with me to mark it Exhibit No. 23 and admit it provisionally; and if there is any objection on my part later I can raise it and if I do not raise it we will assume that the document is admitted as Exhibit No. 23
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. That procedure will be followed. It will be marked exhibit 23, admitted provisionally, subject to further examination of the original record.
DR. SAUTER: This list of convictions for Vieweg I have put in order to show you that this man committed outright perjury and that his testimony as a whole is to be regarded with the greatest of suspicion.
From this record of convictions it can be seen that this man, who said he could not remember having been previously sentenced, had never-theless received no less than 5 previous convictions, one of which was 5 years in the penitentiary and 5 years of loss of Civil rights. This witness volunteered and was called by the Prosecution, and in this Document No. 24, Exhibit 23, he is shown up in his true colors.
I go now to the next document. This is Document No. 25 and will be Exhibit 24.
This is an affidavit by Dr. Werner Loeckle of 2 May 1947 properly certified by the Police Headquarters in Frankfurt. This Dr. Loeckle states in his affidavit that an assignment to Dr. Ruff's institute was never given by him. This is a matter of some importance in judging Ruff's position in his institute.
The next one is Document 26, Exhibit 25. This is an affidavit by Professor Karl Luerenbaum of 30 April 1947 correctly certified by the authorities in Honnef on Rhine. This affidavit concerns itself with the same problem as the foregoing affidavit; namely, the fact that a branch office of the DVL, that is the German Research Institute for Aviation, ever existed in Dachau and moreover, that all the research assignments to Dr. Ruff were ordered by the Air Ministry so that it wasn't Ruff's personal interest in such matters that got him these assignments. Those are the documents in Document Book Number 3, and now I come to Document Book Number 6. This contains Document Numbers 27 to 31.
Document Number 27 is an affidavit by Professor Seewald and is Exhibit 26, dated 19 May 1947. It has been correctly certified by the local police. I ask the Tribunal to take notice of it. This affidavit also certifies that there was no branch office of the DVL in Dachau.
Now, an affidavit by Otto Fuchs who has already put in an affidavit on another subject. This affidavit is of 19 May 1947 and has been correctly certified by the Mayor of Dachau. I ask the Court again to take notice of this. I shall not read it into the record. It too concerns itself with the fact that there was no branch office of the DVL in Dachau and that there was no assignment inside to this research institute.
The sixth document concerns itself with a quite different field, Document 29, Exhibit 28. This is an affidavit by Dr. Wilhelm Hornberger of 21 May 1947 which also has been certified by the competent authorities in Tuebingen. In view of its length I ask the Tribunal to take notice of its contents, and I shall not read it. I can give you a brief synopsis of the contents.
Dr. Hornberger, who has been working at the Acro-Medical Center in Heidelberg for two years is probably the first specialist in Germany in the field of pressure fall sickness regarding which we have already heard many details here. Dr. Hornberger concerned himself with those problems both for the German air force and in the Acro-Medical Center. This is his specialty, and he makes statements regarding an assertion that was also made here by the prosecution; namely, that pressure fall sickness could only be caused by the formation of bubbles in tho blood circulation system, and he says that the same thin can happen by the formation of gas bubbles in tho tissues rather than in the blood circulatory system. He says that the injury can be caused by bubbles in the circulatory system only when an occlusion is formed and thus stops the flow of blood. I don't want to go into the medical aspects of this. The defendant Ruff has himself expressed his opinion on this matter, and also Dr. Ivy who is a specialist, and they have pretty well substantiated what Dr. Hornberger here states. Therefore, I ask the Tribunal to take notice of those highly complicated scientific data to be found in this affidavit of Hornberger.
Now comes another affidavit, namely, one by Dr. Matthes.
THE PRESIDENT: This affidavit, the one by Hornberger, you assign tho number Exhibit 28, I assume?
DR. SAUTER: Yes. The next document is Document Number 30 which will be Exhibit #29. This affidavit by Dr. Matthes of 6 June 1947 has been correctly certified by a German notary. Matthes had previously put in an affidavit which he now supplements with the affidavit, the original of which I have just given tho Secretary General. This affidavit concerns itself with the question when the low-pressure chamber was moved from Dachau back to Berlin, and the answer of this question will give the definitive answer to the question when Ruff-Romberg experiments were finally concluded. Matthes confirms that at the beginning of June, 1942 the low-pressure chamber was taken back to Berlin, and he says moreover that the damage to the barometer, regarding which a witness here testified, was not at the end of May 1942, but quite a while previous to that, and that the damage was repaired long before May of 1942.
In order to save time I shall not go into this matter either, but put in my next document, Document Ruff Number 31, which will be exhibit Number 30.
This is an affidavit by General Adolf Galland of 1 June 1947 which has been correctly certified by a German notary public. This Adolf Galland was perhaps the best known German tighter pilot and, at the end, the chief of all pursuit plane organizations. Therefore he is a man of particular authority in judging the question whether and to what extent the experiments carried on by Ruff and Romberg helped to solve the problem of rescue from high altitudes, and to what extent and whether they were necessary for German aviation and for aviation in general. This particularly competent fellow says here in his affidavit that in his opinion Ruff's and Romberg's experiments in Dachau were absolutely necessary to the interests of the Luftwaffe and aviation in general and it was necessary also that they be carried out at maximum altitudes, much higher than 12,000 meters, but he doesn't say whether the maximum height is 15,000 or 20,000 meters or any other specific number of motors.
From this very interesting, and in my opinion very important, affidavit I shall read nothing, but I draw it to the attention of the Tribunal. The next document is the last one in this document book Ruff number 6, Document 32, Exhibit 31. This is a document that was put in when Ruff was being heard; namely the work record of the foreman Karl Fohlmeister. I should be only too happy to show you the original of this work record but I am somewhat embarrassed in this because just a few days ago this foreman Fohlmeister wrote me asking me to return the original to him because it also contained a number of private entries covering many years, and ho needed the book again. I just showed the original of the book to the prosecutor and pointed out to him the two passages in question and asked him to convince himself that the copies in this document book number 6, Exhibit 31, Document 32, exactly correspond to the original.