Q. Did you have any special training in any medical branch?
A. During this accident surgery, injuries to the skull played a particularly leading roll; surgery upon extremities; and, one important chapter, injuries to the spine. Perhaps I shall have to go into this more thoroughly. Every assistant doctor at the hospital ay Bergmanns Heil found it his most difficult task having to take care of patients with injuries to the spine. These people were usually paralyzed in the lower organs of their bodies. And they meant to us the greatest human demands. Every one of these patients knew there was no help for him, and that his fate during a period of weeks, months, or in exceptional cases, years, would be ended. There was a tremendous neuralgic pain, never leaving the patients a moment's peace, day or nights. And, to all of us it was a great effort, again and again, having to visit these patients, having to step up to their beds, and having to say a few words of greetings, which practically were nothing other than just words. After a certain time, again and again, these patients would make the same request. "Doctor, give me an injection! I cannot stand it any more." I think that any description of this situation, however extensive it might be, would always fail to live up to reality. I did not intend, when I first went to Bochum, to remain there for good. I was intending to complete my training as a surgeon. During my period of studies I had already made contact with a man known not only m Germany, but beyond the borders of this country a doctor named Albert Schweitzer. And, I intended, once trained as a surgeon, to assist him with his work as a doctor in Lambarene, French Kongo; when, in 1932, I was ready for the carrying out of this plan it was no longer possible since a request was made that I should serve in the French army, which probably would have meant having to adopt French citizenship.
Q. So, you dropped the plan?
A. Yes, that was the reason why I abandoned that plan.
Q. So, one could say there was a national consideration?
A. Yes.
Q. Then, what did you do after your time at Bochum?
A. There was one particular interruption during the time I spent at Bochum. In 1933, more by accident than by design, I was present when a car accident occurred, during which the fuehrer's Adjutant, Vilhelm Brueckner, suffered a severe fracture of the skull. And, a niece of Hitler's was travel ling in the same car, and other passengers also being injured. At that time, I carried out immediate care on the persons, and certain surgical treatments, and by request of the Fuehrer, I spent six weeks in a small village hospital attending to Wilhelm Brueckner, as a doctor, and then in the autumn of 1933, I went back to Bochum. In 1934, in January, my chief at Bochum, Professor Magnus, was called to join the University Clinic at Berlin, meanwhile having been vacated by Professor Bier.
Q? You, yourself, were at Bochum. And, who became your chief then?
A. Professor Magnus went to Berlin, and I went to Berlin with him, and likewise, Professor Rostock to Berlin, and again he became the first assistant to the chief; so that altogether I have been with him now for 19 years.
Q. And, then until the beginning of the war, you remained in Berlin; did you not?
A. I was in Berlin, yes, until the beginning of the war. There I worked at that clinic, where I was, first of all, the head of one station. And, beginning in 1936, I think, I took charge of the accident section, and the Polyklinik which I headed. The Polyklinik had a large intake of patients, amounting to approximately 18 to 20 or 21000 patients per annum passing through.
Q. What happened at the beginning of the war? Did the situation change at all?
A. I shall have to come back to that at a later time, showing, which after 1934, I acted as Escort Physician to Hitler; which meant, that during the period of the war I had a special task, that of Inspector of the Armed Forces, attached to the Headquarters of the Fuehrer.
Q. Did that mean your complete separation from the clinic?
A. No, I did not separate from that Clinic. I tried everything I could to remain in contact. And, later on, when I become General Commissioner for Health and Sanitation, and even as Reich Commissioner, I had my office there. I was doing my work and directing it from that clinic.
Q. Which personalities in the medical field, had influence upon you in your medical profession?
A. If I am to give you the names of my teachers once again, passing through them quickly; then, first of all the Surgeon Lexer, von Moeller, Hiss, and the general psychiatrist, Hocher and Freiburg in Munich, ere the decisive personalities in my medical training.
Q. Through having met these outstanding experts, did you ever find your, self drawing toward scientific activities?
A. No; in the first place I was interested in the clinical work, and as far as scientific work was concerned it was more or less a hobby with me.
Q. Did you work on any scientific things at all?
A. Together with my chief, Prof. Magnus, I did carry out a certain amount of work, writing works about surgery on skulls, injuries of the spine; and there were certain special examinations which I carried out during inspections of choice. But it would be wrong to say that I had played any leading part at all in any scientific field.
Q. Did you carry out any laboratory work?
A. Apart from the fact that temporarily I was the head of the laboratory at the clinic, I did not carry out any laboratory work. Maybe I might and at this point that approximately in 1936 I spent some extra time working in laboratories due to the fact that an event occurred outside which influenced the situation. May I refer you to the testimony given here recently by Prof. Leibrand, which might mean that it is important that I should go in to detail. There was a man called Von Brehmer who had appeared, Stating that he had found, the cause of cancer. Through those channels he went to Goering with this story; and Goering took this tremendous discovery to Hitler, who in turn instructed me to discuss the affair with Herr Von Brehmer. In order to give the matter scientific and expert background, we obtained my chief's permission, the permission of Prof. Magnus, to ask Brehmer to come to Berlin, where investigations carried out on his instructions produced no unanimous results, no clear-cut results, so that the idea had been and could be turned down by experts, meaning that cause or one of the causes of cancer appeared not to have been found. Then the results from Brehmer were taken under the wing of Mr. Streicher right here in Nurnberg. Streicher established patients' department, to which he gave the name Paracelsus Institute; and there one can well say in the most irresponsible manner examinations and observations were carried out. The result, however, was that the seriousness of these experiments of Brokmer's was pointed out to Hitler, this time by Streicher.
Therefore, once again I was instructed to carry out certain observations, this time here in Nurnbere, and to confirm if possible what Von Brehmer had already stated. In order to be quite sure of these observations, I brought along with me a photographer; and the findingson the cancer patients were photographed and recorder over periods of weeks. The result was absolutely negative. Although this was so, Streicher used this opportunity to make public statements without criticism, without responsible dealing with these possibilities for treatment produced by Brehmer. He was not even shamed to publish photographs which I had made. For instance, in the case of one scientific cancerous infection of the breast of a women, a photographed was taken in order to check the diseased one; but a healthy one was published in the reverse, saying that this was the cured previously diseased breast.
In that connection, of course, I had a very serious arguments with Streicher, which, as far as I was concerned, had two practical results, Firstly, the president of the police suggested to me that if possible I should avoid coming to Nurnberg, where as on the other hand I received the information from the Fuehrer never to go to Nurnberg without him, in other words only when accompanied by him. This I carried out.
In order to demonstrate how in fact this charleton business was actually progressing in Germany after 1933, then after Brohmer had discontinued his work here in Nurnberg, on the strength of the documentary evidence Himmler first of all took him under his win I was still receiving photographs in connection with which Himmler himself was making statements in relation to the investigation of fact as to whether the person was either suffering from cancer or might have become a cancer patient.
Q. Witness, did you have any additional surgical training?
A. I have told you that in them in my training as adjutant surgeon took place mostly in Bechum. I had further surgical training in Berlin, which, as years went on, was supplemented by the fact that I was working under Geheimrat Reichel where a special method of operating on stomachs was being used. In addition to that, with an order to acquire additional knowledge of stomach surgery, I spent several months at the University Clinic of Bonn. In order also to collect experience with breast surgery, I spent several months with Sauerbruch.
Q. Just before that you had mentioned these special tasks with reference to the Brehmer-Streicher matter. Did you have any other special tasks given to you which actually fell outside your normal scene of activity?
A. The work in Berlin had the difficulties which the construction of the task from the point of view of space brought with it. It meant to us at the clinic in Berlin the task of having to plan new buildings. In 1937 I received the task at the time in collaboration with Speer, the plenipotentiary of the reconstruction of the capital, and the special task of architects of developing plans first of all only for a surgical clinic and later for the entire university clinic at Berlin. This was work which extended over a period of years and which led to the result that during the first years of the war there was a final plan concluded. I Shall give you the cost of the building so as to give you an idea about the matter. It amounted to approximately two hundred eighty million. The buildings which reached the height of the radio tower in Berlin and which could house all the students in addition to four thousand patients belonging to the various clinics, all the pre-clinical institutes were there, the pathological and anatomy institutes, and so on. Arising from this connection were building plans.
I carried out the planning for the evacuation hospitals during the war which then received the special name of special evacuation hospitals.
Q We shall come back to that matter later. During the planning of these works in Berlin for the Clinic, did you have any other medical assistance?
A It was necessary to carry through this building program and it was necessary to have assisting physicians. My closest collaborator was prof. Rostock. At that time Professor Rostock had become my clinical chief since Professor Magnus in the meantime had transferred to Munich. I asked Professor Rostock to give me his assistance mainly because of his organization of talent. In addition, I knew that because of the personal friendship which existed between us there could be found a special reliability. Here perhaps I may point out the personality of Professor Rostock. Every person who had any dealings with him will at first say, and the expression used in Germany would be that Rostock is a good man, and as our common teacher Magnus he had a consciously human attitude towards patients and then this attitude can be found in Rostock, and it originates from a born friendliness. With reference to the treatment of his subordinates in the clinics and the nurses or assistants, it is a fact that they, as well as the patients, respected him. He is medically absolutely reliable, and all of his activities were devoted to the benefit of the patient, and he was superb teacher for the students. The prosecution has already pointed out the respect which has to be granted to him as a scientist and rightly so. How magnificent it is may be seen from the fact that the faculty of Berlin nominated as their Dean and with that they showed very clearly and with that he became very clearly representative of all the German medical faculties.
Q Witness, I shall now turn to your political career. When did you join the N S D A P?
A I became a member of the National Socialist party in January, 1932.
Q And what was the reason which load you to it?
A For me a decisive reason was the conception of the social question. At that time I was an assistant in the Ruhr territory and every person who records these years will imagine the hopeless situation which existed at that time. There was unemployment and suffering, a very unclear prospect of the future. There was unreliability. All of this in a country of this red earth demanded something from us. From the start, because of family acquaintances, I was close the the circles of Friedrich Naumann, and arising from this connection the decision to become a member of the Party was not very difficult.
Q Did you belong to any other medical association?
A I became a member of the National socialist League of physicians, but I came into no closer connection with them. Apart from this membership, I did not attend a single meeting and it may have been an oversight on my part that I remained a member. I then joined the League of Physicians with a condition which I put in writing, that I would not exercise any active duty in any SS or SA formation. I thought it was necessary at the time, so that as a physician I would not be considered a politician by my patients who followed devious political lines.
Q So then you exercised no activity in that association?
A No.
Q Well how did you come into contact with the Fuehrer in spite of that?
A I formerly pointed out the motor car accident of Brueckner and it was in 1934 when the first meeting of Hitler and Mussolini took place in Venice, and Hitler himself needed an escort Physician then because there was the possibility of an attempted assassination. Remembering this motor car accident his Adjutant Brueckher telephoned me in Berlin and ordered me to come to Munich and I flew with him to Venice, and this event really was the beginning of my subsequent function as the escort physician of Hitler. I should like to point out the differentiation which I made between the personal physician and escort physician. The personal physician is perhaps a physician who occasionally is called in cases of illness. In my case as an escort physician I had to be in readiness, at his disposal, and whenever Hitler had to leave Berlin it was my duty to accompany him. That, of course, entailed, at any rate after the beginning of the war, that I needed two representatives for this function, one was in Berlin and the other in Munich. Otherwise, I could not have remained in Berlin at all.
Q Were you at that time already a member of the SS?
A In 1933 I was a member of the SA, and only after the visit to Venice, I was transferred to the SS. This was for merely external reasons. Then all persons accompanying Hitler were SS uniforms and I had civilian clothing and in order to present a uniform picture he wanted me to wear a uniform.
Q Where did you serve your military duties?
A. I served with the Army -- it was in 1935 - at first with the Infantry Regiment. It was in Blankenburg/Hars and later after I became medical officer in the Army I served in hospitals where 1 served my yearly duties. I have been assigned to Berlin as a surgeon.
Q And what activities did you exercise during the War?
A By order of the Army Inspectorate I was assigned to the Fuehrer's Headquarters in the year of 1940 and also, because of former reasons, I was transferred to the Waffen-SS by the general SS without holding a command and also without leading a unit. Since I was still serving in the Army and Exercise thereto my promotions were approximately parallel. Usually I was first promoted by the Army. My last rank in 1943 was Generelarzt, and in accordance with that the SS promoted me.
Q Was such a combination of activities, both in the SS and in the Army, something customary?
A With the exception of my own case I know no other.
Q How was your relationship to Himmler? Did you belong to his closer circle?
A I had no personal relationship to Himmler. I pointed out before that I really had serious medical differences with him - von Bremmer and Streicher. And also during the War when a closer contact might have taken place there was certain personal tension of the circle around Hitler and the circle around Himmler.
Q Were you always officially asked to attend Gruppenfuehrer discussions held by Himmler?
AAs I said, I had no relationship to Himmler. This also extended to the official field. I took part in none of these so-called Gruppenfuehrer or SS leaders' discussions. I was never invited to attend any one of them. Even professionally there was no contact between us. Sometimes it even went so far, and documents will probably confirm that, that Himmler consciously tried to remove me from his circle and his path and sometimes even pronounced prohibition to get into any contact with me.
Q How was contact of the staff belonging to Hitler and Himmler? Was there a close cooperation?
A They did not collaborate, they hardly saw one another, and even from the point of view of location were very far a apart. At several occasions the word "Guehrer Hauptquartier" is used here and one may gain the impression that it was a little camp where everyone was together. That wasn't the case at all. Himmler's Headquarters or the Institute of the OKW, the Institute of the Wehrmacht Operation Staff and the real Fuehrer Headquarters - and that was the only one that could bear that name -- were very far apart, sometimes 20 to 30 kilometers apart and numbered a large amount of personnel each. I remember that at one time when we had to move from the Ukraine to another territory we had the transport something like 18,000 human beings.
Q And how did these two staffs collaborate personally? Did you have any closer relation with Reichsarzt SS Grawitz?
A I had no personal contact with Grawitz. He was a typical subordinate of Himmler, judging from general utterances, one who was completely devoted and subordinate. During the last part of the War in 1945 I had a few discussions with him but not in the capacity as Reichsarzt SS but as President of the Red Cross, since at that time together with the Chief of the Army Medical Service I tried to designate certain cities as hospital cities in order to keep them away from the War in that manner, and for this purpose we needed Grawitz in order to use his connection with the German Red Cross and thereby establish connections with the International Red Cross in Geneva.
Q Then what were your political ties in your office?
A In my office from a political point of view I was left completely alone up to the autumn of 1944, and by that I mean my office which I held ever since 1942 after I became General Commissioner for Health and Medical Services, not a single one of my co-workers, neither in my office Planning and Economy or Science and Research, was a member of the SS, not even a member of the general SS. In the Department of Planning and Economy, even up to November 1944, I had two Jewish workers out of ten secretaries I had and who came from industry, together with their section chief. I chose my collaborators only going by their professional knowledge - everything else did not matter to me.
Q Did you then reject the SS on principle?
A No. I never saw in the SS a gathering of men who had only met in order to commit crime, above all in the thinking of the Waffen SS. I saw in these units a lead through. And if I think of the young officers who were members of the Waffen SS who worked in Hitler's Headquarters as Ordnance Officers, then I think of these four men, three have died, and the fourth was heavily wounded. I, whenever I wear the uniform, always were it with an idea to have a special moral obligation and I did not wear it without pride.
Q Witness, I now come to another subject, something which we have already touched upon, namely, these special hospital institutes we have already discussed, specific task of hospital planning. Will you shortly define your attitude to that?
A I pointed out that arising from the planning of the Berlin University Institute I had a special study of hospital buildings of the entire Germany. Before the beginning of the War I made many journeys abroad with an architect and I inspected hospital buildings and studied their organizational frame work and that needed certain knowledge of the situation of hospitals in Germany itself. before the War, and I am just giving you the round figures, we had approximately 550 to 600,000 hospital beds in Germany. And you have to take away approximately 250,000 and 250,000 belonged to General Hospitals, that is to say, general hospitals, surgical clinics, etc. The same amount, that is approximately 250,000 beds up to approximately 300,000 comprised the mental institutes. Beds for tuberculosis cases - we only had 27,000 beds in spite of the large number of tuberculosis illnesses. This was a bad situation which probably now has become much worse. There were certain centers of gravity in this hospital concern which were mainly at points where industry was concentrated, that is, in the Ruhr territory and central Germany. In consequence there was a lack of hospital space in these territories and it was especially serious there. In the year 1941 the first English air raid took place on the town of Emden. At that time the entire hospital was destroyed. Dr. Todt who was carrying out the repair work and the rebuilding as far as possible and who was supposed to be in charge of that work came to the Fuehrer's Headquarters with a demand that a new hospital be built in Emden.
On the same day when making this demand I was assigned by the Headquarters to designate evacuation hospitals for other cities which were in danger. These plans, which in the beginning were comparatively small, extended in the subsequent years, that is up to 1942-43, and from this whole question there developed even later after Todt had died.
Then, in connection with Speer and his department, Building, there developed the task of the building of the special Hospital Institution Action Brandt. Up to the year of 1944 approximately 30 institutions which at that time had operated, were being used. In every case there were complete hospitals with 500 beds each which wore built according to a system of villas and were located approximately 20 kilometers outside the limits of the city in danger. Starting from the year of 1943, these hospitals had to accept mainly such patients whose treatment would probably last for some considerable time, in order to use the space inside these cities in danger for patients where illness was only anticipated for a short time.
In this connection I should like to point out that it was necessary to start a special transport system of the sick which was intended for these hospital institutions which were all under my administration. These were busses and trucks which were rebuilt in accordance with its purpose and which had on their outside the designation Hospital Institution Action Brandt. There wasn't one of our destroyed cities where these busses were not used -- these busses for the sick -- and it frequently occurred that they not only collected sick people and injured people who were effected by the last raid, but they also had to take care of evacuating other people, I assume that this was submitted here, I think it was in the form of an affidavit by Weser, where the question of general sick transportation came up.
Q. Witness, this was a special assignment belonging to the building system which you received for the institution of these special hospitals. Did you administrate this work from the Fuehrer Headquarters and did this take up much of your time?
A. I exercised this activity, which at first was a planning activity, certainly up until the year of 1942, and I directed it from the Fuehrer Headquarters since I was tied to that Headquarters. It was only in the year of 1942, in the summer, when I took over the Office of the Commissioner General, that I received a representative so that I was in a position to move about more freely. In addition, the situation was that the Fuehrer himself currently wanted to be informed about these building operations. It was a hobby on his part to build and the building of hospitals and bunkers was really a thing which played an essential role during the last years of the war.
Q. Did these assignments extend to other fields?
A. Later, certain connections began with the entire air raid precaution medical program, which really had more to do with the defense against poison gas, but still established a certain connection with hospitals.
Q. Was this poison gas decree in any relation to the assignment to the hospitals?
A. No.
Q. And that took place in the year of 1943 - 1944 and that was the situation as it was then. At that time you had already become the Reich Commissioner General for Health and Medical Services?
A. I became Reich Commissioner for Health and Medical Services through a Fuehrer Decree of July 1942.
THE PRESIDENT: At this time the Tribunal will recess.
(A recess was taken.)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session.
HR. McHANEY: If the Tribunal please, I am advised that the witness, Karl Brandt, is testifying from notes and other papers which he has before him. I object to this and if the court over-rules this objection, I will ask that the Prosecution be furnished with copies of these notes and translations thereof.
DR. SERVAT1US: Mr. President, in the trial before the International Military Tribunal, it was permitted for the defendant to testify on the witness stand and to take notes with him in order to simplify the proceedings in view of the extensive aterial, otherwise it is not easy to testify fluently and sensibly. If the court rules otherwise, the examination will be carried out, but it may take a little longer.
THE PRESIDENT: The objection of the Prosecution is over-ruled.
DIRECT EXAMINATION - Resumed BY DR. SERVATIUS:
Q. Witness, Now I come to your position as Commissioner General for Medicine and Health matters. When did you receive this commission?
A. By a decree of July, 1942, I was assigned to this office. It was called the General Commissioner for health and medical matters.
Q. I shall hand you a copy of this decree and please comment on it. It is Document No. 080 and it is in Document Bock No. 1. Will you please first explain how this decree came to be issued?
A. This decree was issued on the basis of a practical demand after the winter battle in the East in the winter of 1941-1942 and a report came through Dr. Todt and various other agencies to the Fuehrer. I was sent along the road from Smolensk toward Moscow because very many battle wounded were said to be there who could not be taken care of. The information was inaccurate and in part entirely incredible. I went to the area of Wiasmar and there at the railroad station in the small village, the picture was about as follows: There were ten big freight trains, closed freight cars all filled with wounded. The temperature was between 35 and 40 degrees celsius below zero. Some of the bandages and dressings of the wounded were actually frozen to the floor of the cars.
The locomotives were frozen and the boilers broken. The medical personnel were trying to help the wounded as much as they could, but, of course, this was practically impossible. In the district, there were about 10,000 wounded. At the railroad station, there were two medical officers with a minimum of medical supplies and these two officers could hardly stay in the town itself. There were small buildings, which had been arranged to receive the sick, but they were over crowded and the situation for the wounded was similar. Wehrmacht agencies, with which I established contact, attempted to ascribe these conditions to a failure of the medical command. The same attitude was taken within the Wehrmacht operational staff. Actually the medical service, the medical services were to be given the responsibility for the failure of the strategic command and especially for the inadequate supplies of winter clothing. I went on and followed the river toward Moscow until I came to the bandaging places and there I learned from the replacements that there were inefficiencies here.
about 30 kilometers from Moscow at a small station by the name of Moscheisk freight carl had piled up with Soda water, all frozen and completely unnecessary. The most urgently needed medical supplies more lacking. Discussions with the competent medical agencies in this area, in tie Control sector, showed the impossibiliy of getting aid from the Army. About 10 kilometers away from the station of Wiasmar, which I mentioned before, there was an airfield. At this Airfield there was a medical officer who had nothing to do, but he had orders not to leave the airfield. After three days I returned to heal quarters. I described the situation as I had found it. The only possibility of getting aid since the Army would not help was for the other branches of the Wehrmacht, primarily the Luftwaffe and the Navy to come to the aid of the Army. At that time, in January 1942, this was possible only by special and precise order from Hitler himself. In this way it was possible to arrange that within 24 hours, with the aid and support of our own couriers to the fuehrer headquarters, that a 45 medical officers were summoned to this area, and the nearby stations of the Navy and the Luftwaffe, probably the Koenigsberg people sent the necessary supplies. From that time on the question of unified medical corps went under unified command on the Wehrmacht and was not dropped, but nevertheless it lasted 7 or 8 months, until most of the difficulties of Jurisdiction were solved, and this decree of 28 July 1942 was issued. The essential point is the reference that an agency of Chief of Wehrmacht Medical Service was to be established, and on the civil side the Reich Health Leader and Secretary in the Ministry of Interior was to be given the responsibility, and I myself was made responsible for a special task and to coordinate the needs of the Wehrmacht and the Civilian Sector. For me personally there was still another demand, that I was to have a representative at headquarters so that I was not obliged to be there as much as before. The decree was issued because of the needs of the front.
For the Wehrmacht head there were a few basic shortcomings. An attempt was made to investigate this case in 1944. The new chief of the Wehrmacht Medical, Generaloberstabsarzt Handloser, who had previously been Army physician and Army Medical Professor, retained this position. The organization as set up was not adjusted properly to the Luftwaffe and the Navy, because the Army itself was not represented, but that the Chief in charge of all three branches was of the Army.
Q. Now, would you please look at the decree itself and comment on those points where you yourself are named, that is "3" and "4" of the decree?
A. "3" says I empower for special tasks and negotiations, for special hospital supplies, and so forth, "I empower Prof. Dr. Karl Brandt, subordinate only to me personally and receiving his instructions directly from me, to carry out special tasks and negotiations to read just the requirements for doctors, hospitals, medical supplies, etc. between the military and the civilian sectors of the Health and Medical Services."
Point "4" says, "That as Commissioner General I am to be informed of all happenings in the Military and Civilian Sector." The practice under this decree meant difficulties for me too.
JUDGE SEBRING: Just a minute, please, Witness.
Dr. Servatius, in the translation which we have here, which is apparently the official document filed with the Secretary General, this decree of 28 July 1942,
DR. SERVATIUS: Yes.
JUDGE SEBRING: It takes care of Paragraphs 1,2,3 and 3. "4" apparently is omitted.
DR. SERVATIUS: There is no "5" on the decree. It must be a mistake in typing. No. 4 reads, "My plenopetentiary for Health and Medical Service."
THE WITNESS: ..I had direct contact with the Lutwaffe and the Navy and a Medical Officer of the Luftwaffe was assigned to him.
MR. MCHANEY: That had better be repeated, the English text didn't come through for six or eight sentences. I think it would be best if they repeated that for the record.
BY DR. SERVATIUS: Will you please go back? The English translation did not come through, - and comment on points "3" and "4" of the decree?
A. Section 3 says that I am empowered for special tasks and negotiations to adjust the requirements for doctors, hospital and medical supplies between military and civilian sectors, and the Health and Medical Services, and that I am subordinate only to the undersigned, that is to Hitler personally, and receive instructions directly from him. Section 4 says that I am to be kept informed about fundamental events in the civilian service of the Wehrmacht and Medical Service. It says he is authorized to intervene in a responsible manner.
Q. Then the purpose of the decree was to guarantee this cooperation?
A. The purpose of the decree, from my point of view, was to adjust the needs of the Wehrmacht and needs of the Civilian Health Service to carry on the negotiations, and in addition was from time to time given special tasks. These special tasks, of course, resulted from direct instructions from Hitler.
Q. Then you did not get any general authority, but special instructions in each case?
A. In the course of the next two years I estimate 15 to 20 special decrees were signed by Hitler for the individual tasks. It may be one or another of them can be submitted as a document.
Q. Can you mention any such special assignment?
A. In the beginning I had to establish hospital bases. Such a decree was formulated to deputy clearly and signed by Hitler.