The evidence shows that Hoven became a member of the SS in 1934, and remained in this organization throughout the war. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under Counts Two and Three of the Indictment.
C O N C L U S I O N Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Waldemar Hoven guilty, under Counts Two, Three and Four of the Indictment.
THE PRESIDENT: Judge Sebring will continue with the reading of the judgment.
JUDGE SEBRING: BEIGLBECK
"The defendant Beiblbeck is charged with personal responsibility for, and participation in, seawater experiments.
The defendant Beiglbeck, an Austrian citizen, was a Captain in the Medical Department of the German Air Force from May 1941 until the end of the war. In June, 1944, while stationed at the hospital for Paratroopers at Tarvie, Italy, He receive orders from his military and medical superior, defendant Becker-Freyseng, to carry out seawater experiments at Dachau.
The seawater experiments have been described in detail in that portions of the Judgment dealing with defendants Schroeder and Becker-Freyseng.
The defendant Beigloeck testified that he reported to Berlin at the end of June 1944, where Becker-Freyseng told him the nature and purpose of the experiments. Upon that trip he also reported to and talked with the defendant Schroeder. From these conversations he learned that the prime purpose of the experiments was to test the process developed by Berka for making seawater potable and also to ascertain whether it would be better for a shipwrecked person in distress at sea to go completely without seawater or to drink small quantities thereof.
It appears from the record that the persons used in the experiments were 40 Gypsies of various nationalities who had been formerly at Auschwitz but who had been brought to Dachau under the pretex that they were to be assigned to various work details. These persons had been imprisoned in the concentration camps on the basis that they were "Associal persons." Nothing was said to them about being used as human subjects in medial experiments. When they reached Dachau some of them were told that they were being assigned to the seawater experiment detail.
Beigloeck testified that "before beginning the experiments he called the subjects together and told them the purpose of the experiments and asked them if they wanted to participate. He did not tell them the duration of the experiments, or that they could withdraw if ever they reached the physical or mental state that continuation of the experiment should seem to them to be impossible. The evidence is that none of the experimental subjects felt that they dared refuse becoming experimental subjects for fear of unpleasant consequences if they voiced any objections.
The defendant testified that pursuant to the order that had been given him, it was necessary that the subjects to thirst for a continuous period; and that the question of when, if ever, they should be relieved during the course of the experiment was a matter which he reserved for his own decision.
During the course of the experiments the subjects were locked in a room. As to this phase of the program the defendant testified that "They should have been locked in a lot better than they were because then they would have had no opportunity at all to get fresh water on the side."
At the trial the defendant produced clinical charts which he said were made during the course of the experiments and which, according to the defendant, showed that the subjects did not suffer injury.
On cross-examination the defendant admitted that some of the charts had been altered by him since he reached Nurnberg in order to present a more favorable picture of the experiments.
We do not think it necessary to discuss in detail what is shown by the charts either before or after the fraudulent alterations. We think it only necessary to say that a man who intends to rely on written evidence at a trial does not fraudulently alter such evidence from any honest or worthy motive.
The defendant claims that he was at all times extremely reluctant to perform the experiments with which he is charged, and did so only out of his sense ob obedience as a soldier to superior authority.
Under Control Council Law No. 10 such fact does not constitute but will be considered, if at all, only in mitigation of sentence.
In our view the experimental subjects were treated brutally. Many of them endured much pain and suffering, although from the evidence we cannot find that any deaths occurred among the experimental subjects.
It is apparent from the evidence that the experiments were essen-tailly criminal in their nature, and that non-German nationals were used without their consent as experimental subjects. To the extent that the crimes committed by defendant Beiglboeck were not war crimes they were crimes against humanity.
CONCLUSION Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Wilhelm Beiglboeck guilty under Counts Two and Three of the Indictments We will now turn to the case of Pokorny.
POKORNY The defendant Pokorny is charged with special responsibility for and participation in criminal sterilization experiments, as set forth in Counts Two and Three of the indictment.
It is conceded by the prosecution that in constradistinction to all other defendants the defendant Polorny never held and position of responsibility in the Party or State Hierarchy of Nazi Germany. Neither was he a member of the Nazi Party or of the SS. Formerly a Czechoslovakian citizen, he became a citizen of the Greater German Reich, under the Munich Agreement of October 1938. During the war he served as a medical officer in the German Army and attained the rank of captain.
The only direct evidence bearing on the guilt of the defendant is a letter written by Pokorny to Himmler in October 1941, suggesting the use of a drug, caladium seguinum, as a possible means of medical sterilization of peoples of the occupied territories.
The letter follows:
"To the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Folkdom SS H i m m l e r, Chief of Police, BERLIN.
"I beg you to turn your attention to the following arguments. I have requested Professor Hoehn to forward this Letter to you, I have chosen this direct way to you in order to avoid the slower process through channels and the possibility of an indiscretion in regard to the eventually enormous importance of the ideas presented.
"Led by the idea that the enemy must not only be conquered but destroyed, I feel obliged to present to you, as the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Folkdom the following:
"Dr. Madaus published the result of his research on a medicinal sterilization (both articles are enclosed). Reading these articles, the immense importance of this drug in the present fight of our people occurred to me. If, on the basis of this research it were possible to produce a drug which after a relatively short time, affects an imperceptible sterilization on human beings, then we would have a new powerful weapon at our disposal. The Thought alone that the 3 million Bolsheviks, at present German prisoners, could be sterilized so that they could be used as laborers but he prevented from reproduction, opens the most far reaching perspectives.
"Madaus found that the sap of the Schweigrehr (Caladium seguinum) when taken by mouth or given as injection to male but also to female animals, also after a certain time produces permanent sterility. The illustrations accompanying the scientific articles are convincing.
If my ideas meet your approval the following course should be taken:
1.) Dr. Madaus must not publish any more such articles (The enemy listens.)
2.) Multiplying the plant (easily cultivated in greenhouses!)
3.) Immediate research on human beings (criminals!) in order to determine the dose and length of the treatment.
4.) Quick research of the constitutional formula of the effective chemical substance in order to
5.) produce it synthetically if possible.
"As German physician and Chief physician of the reserves of the German Wehrmacht, retired, 9d.R.a.D), I undertake to keep secret the purpose as suggested by me in this letter.
Heil Hitler!
Signed: Dr. Polorny Specialist for skin and veneral diseases."
Komotau, October 1941.
The defendant has attempted to explain his motives for sending the letter by asserting that for some time prior to its transmittal he had known of Himmler's intentions to sterilize all Jews and inhabitants of the Eastern territories and had hoped to find some means of preventing the execution of this dreadful program. He knew, because of his special experience as a specialist in skin and venereal diseases; that sterilization of human beings could not be effected by the administration of caladium seguinum. He thought, however, that if the articles written by Madaus could be brought to the attention to Himmler the latter might turn his attentions to the unobtrusive method for sterilization which had been suggested by the articles and thus be diverted, at least temporarily, from continuing his program of castration and sterilization by well-known, tried, and tested methods. Therefore the letter was written -- so explained the defendant -- not for the purpose of furthering, but of sabotaging the program.
We are not impressed with the defense which has been tendered by the defendant and have great difficulty in believing that he was motivated by the high purposes which he asserted impelled him to write the letter. Rather are we inclined to the view that the letter was written by Porkorny for very different and more personal reasons.
Be that however as it may, every defendant is presumed to be innocent until he has been proven guilty. In the case of Polorny the Prosecution has failed to sustain the burden. As monstrous and base as the suggestions in the letter are, there is not the slightest evidence that any steps were ever taken to put them into execution by human experimentation. We find, therefore, that the defendant must be acquitted -- not because of the defense tendered, but in spite of it.
CONCLUSION Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Adolf Polorny is not guilty of the charges contained in the Indictment, and directs that he be discharged from custody under the Indictment when the Tribunal presently adjourns.
JUDGE SEVERING: Judge Crawford will continue with the reading of the judgment.
JUDGE CRAWFORD: The case of the Defendant Oberheuser OBERHEUSER The defendant Oberheuser is charged under Counts Two and Three of the indictment with Sulfanilamide, Bone, Muscle and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation, and Sterilization Experiments.
The charge of participation in the sterilization experiments has been abandoned by the prosecution and will not be considered further.
The defendant Oberheuser joined the league of German Girls (B. D. M.) in 1935 and held the rank of "Block Leader". In August 1937 she became a member of the Nazi Party. She was also a member of the Association of National Socialist Physicians. She volunteered for the position of a camp doctor in the women's department of the Ravensbruck Concentration camp in 1940, and remained there until June 1943. She was then given a position as assistant physician in the Hohenlychen Hospital under the defendant Gebhardt.
Regarding her connection with both the Sulfanilamide and the Bone, Muscle and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation Experiments, the same facts are applicable as were presented in the case of defendants Fischer and Gebhardt.
Fischer and Oberheuser were Gebhardt's active agents in carrying out these experiments. They did a great deal of the actual work. They personally committed atrocities involved therein.
A few facts produced in evidence regarding the special work of defendant Oberheuser in these experiments are entitled to comment.
Oberheuser was thoroughly aware of the nature and purpose of the experiments. She aided in the selection of the subjects, gave them physical examinations, and otherwise prepared them for the operation table. She was present in the operating room at the time of the operations and assisted in the operational procedures. She faithfully cooperated with Gebhardt and Fischer at the conclusion of each operation by deliberately neglecting the patients so that the wounds which had been given the subjects would reach the maximum degree of infection.
Testimony of the witness Zofia Maczka, an X-ray technician in the camp at Ravensbruck, is that deaths occurred among the experimental subjects. Most of these deaths could have been averted by proper post-operative care or proper treatment or by the amputation of badly infected members.
In one instance -- the ca*e of a Krystyna Dabska -- small pieces of bone were cut from both legs of the subject. Witness Maczka testified that she read on the cast of the patient that one one leg periosteum had been left and on the other leg periosteum had been removed to ether with bone. Because she was of the opinion that the purpose of the experiment had been to check regeneration, the witness asked the defendant Oberheuser, "How do you expect to get regeneration of bone if the bones are with periosteum?" To this the defendant replied. "That is just what we want to check."
Non-consenting non-German nationals were used in at least some of the experiments.
Many of them died as a result of the experiments. To the extent that the crimes committed were not way crimes, they were crimes against humanity.
CONCLUSION Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Oberheuser is guilty under Counts Two and Three of the indictment.
JUDGE SEVERING: The case of the Defendant Fischer.
FISCHER The defendant Fischer is charged under Counts Two and Three with Sulfanilamide and Bone, Muscle and Nerve-Regeneration and BoneTransplantation Experiments.
Fritz Fischer joined the Allgemeine-SS in February 1934 and the NSDAP in 1939. In the latter year he joined the Waffen-SS and was assigned to the SS unit in the Hohenlychen Hospital as a physician subordinated to the defendant Gebhardt. In June 1940 he was transferred to the SS regiment Leibstandarte "Adolf Hitler", and returned the same year to Hohenlychen as assistant physician to Gebhardt, where he remained until May 1943. He then served as a surgeon on "both the Eastern and Western Fronts and, after having been wounded in August 1944, came back to Hohenlychen as a patient. In December 1944 he was assigned to the Charity Hospital in Berlin, but returned again to Hohenlychen as Gebhardt's assistant in April 1945. In the Waffen--SS he attained the rank of Strurmbannfuchrer (Major).
SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS:
Gebhardt, as shown elsewhere in this Judgment, was in personal charge of the work being done in this field by his assistant Fritz Fischer. That the latter performed most of the Sulfanilamide experimental work is not denied by him; on the contrary, he freely admits it. The defense offered in his behalf is twofold; that the experimental subjects were to have alleged death sentences, then impending, commuted to something less severe in the event they survived the experiments; and that defendant Fischer was acting under military orders from his superior officer Professor Gebhardt. These defenses have been considered rejected in other parts of this Judgment.
It is true, however, that paragraph 4 (b) of Article II of Control Council Law No. 10 reads:
"The fact that any person acted pursuant to the order of his government or of a superior does not free him from responsibility for crime, but may be considered in mitigation."
It is unnecessary to take up and answer all the arguments that might be presented upon whether or not Fischer is entitled to a mitigation of sentence due to the circumstances claimed as the basis of such mitigation. He acted with the most complete knowledge that what he "was doing was fundamentally criminal, even though directed by a superior. Under the circumstances his defense must be rejected, and he must be held to be guilty as charged.
BONE, MUSCLE AND NERVE REGENERATION AND BONE TRANSPLANTATION:
The experiments have been discussed in connection with the case of the defendant Gebhardt, who was assisted therein by the defendant Fischer. Testimony and exhibits now constituting parts of the record in this case reveal that Fischer has offered no substantial defense to the charge. Indeed, criminal connection with these experiments is admitted, and the admission includes the defendant's own testimony that he personally performed at least some of the operations. It only remains for the Tribunal to hold that on the specification above mentioned the defendant Fischer is guilty.
To the extent that the crimes committed by defendant Fischer were not war crimes they were crimes against humanity.
MEMBERSHIP IN CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION Under Count Four of the Indictment Fritz Fischer is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the Judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely the SS.
The evidence shows that Fritz Fischer became a member of the SS in 1934 and remained in this organization until the end of the war. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under Counts Two and Three of the Indictment.
CONCLUSION Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Fritz Fischer is guilty under Counts Two, Three and four of the Indictment.
JUDGE BEALS: The Tribunal will now be in recess until ten o'clock tomorrow morning when the sentence will be imposed by the tribunal upon the defendants who have been found guilty.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal will be in recess until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 20 August 1947 at 1000 hours.)
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the United States of America against Karl Brandt, et al. defendants, sitting at Nuernberg. Germany, on 20 August 1947, 1000, Justice Beals presiding.
TEE 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: Military Tribunal I has convened this morning for the purpose of imposing sentences upon the defendants who have been on trial before this Tribunal and who have been, by the Tribunal,adjudged guilty.
Officer of the Guard, will you bring before the Tribunal the defendant Karl Brandt.
Karl Brandt, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Karl Brandt, to death by hanging.
And may God have mercy on your soul.
The Officer of the Guard will move the defendant Brandt.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Siegfried Handloser.
Siegfried Handloser, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Siegfried Handloser, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Handloser.
Officer of the Guard you will bring the defendant Oskar Schroeder.
Oskar Schroeder, Military Tribunal I has found said adjudged you guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Oskar Schroeder, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Schroeder.
Officer of the Guard, you will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Karl Genzken.
Karl Genzken, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Karl Genzken, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Genzken.
Officer of the Guard, you will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Karl Gebhardt.
Karl Gebhardt, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Karl Gebhardt, to death by hanging.
And may God have mercy upon your soul.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Gebhardt.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Rudolf Brandt.
Rudolf Brandt, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Rudolf Brandt, to death by hanging.
And may God have mercy upon your soul.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Rudolf Brandt.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Joachim Mrugowsky.
Joachim Mrugowsky, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Joachim Mrugowsky, to death by hanging.
And may God have mercy upon your soul.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Mrugowsky.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Helmut Poppendick.
Helmut Poppendick, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crime on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Helmut Poppendick, to imprisonment for a term of ten years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Poppendick.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Wolfram Sievers.
Wolfram Sievers, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Wolfram Sievers, to death by hanging.
And may God have mercy upon your soul.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Sievers.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Gerhard Rose.
Gerhard Rose, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Gerhard Rose, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Rose.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Viktor Brack.
Viktor Brack, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Viktor Brack, to death by hanging.
And may God have mercy upon your soul.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Viktor Brack.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Becker-Freyseng.
Hermann Becker-Freyseng, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Hermann Becker-Freyseng, to imprisonment for a term of twenty years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Becker-Freyseng.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Waldemar Hoven.
Waldemar Hoven, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Waldemar Hoven, to death by hanging.
And may God have mercy upon your soul.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Hoven.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Wilhelm Beiglbock.
Wilhelm Beiglbock, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Wilhelm Beiglbock, to imprisonment for a term of fifteen years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Wilhelm Beiglbock.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Herta Oberheuser.
Herta Oberheuser, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Herta Oberheuser, to imprisonment for a term of twenty years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Herta Oberheuser.
The Officer of the Guard will bring before the Tribunal the defendant Fritz Fischer.
Fritz Fischer, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you.
For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Fritz Fischer, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
The Officer of the Guard will remove the defendant Fritz Fischer.
Military Tribunal I having now completed its duties in the trial, judgment, and sentence in Case No. 1. United States of America versus Karl Brandt and others, long pending before this Tribunal, it is now ordered that Military Tribunal I now adjourn without day.
Military Tribunal I stands adjourned.
(At 1030 hours, Military Tribunal I was adjourned.)