The Court will observe that the defendants fall into three main groups. Eight of them were members of the medical service of the German Air Force. Seven of them were members of the medical service of the SS. The remaining eight include the defendants Karl Brandt and Handloser, who occupied top positions in the medical hierarchy; it includes the three defendants who are not doctors; the defendant Rostock, who was an immediate subordinate of Karl Brandt; the defendant Blome, a medical official of the Nazi Party; and the defendant Pokorny, whom we have grouped under the SS for reasons which will appear later.
I will deal first with the military side of the case. Hitler, as Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the German armed forces, exercised his authority through a staff called the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, better known by its German initials, OKW (for Oberkommando der Wehrmacht). The Chief of this staff, throughout the period with which this case will concern itself, was Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.
Under the OKW came the Supreme Commands of the three branches of the Wehrmacht-the Navy(OKM), the Army (OKH), and the Air Force (OKL).
Grand Admiral Eric Raeder was the Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy until 1943, when he was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. Prior to the outbreak of the war, the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army was Field Marshal von Brauchitsch; in December 1941, Brauchitsch was relieved and Hitler himself took this position. Hermann Goering was the Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force with the rank of Reichsmarshall, until the very last month of the war.
Each of the three branches of the Wehrmacht had its own medical service. For purposes of this case, the medical service of the Navy is not of much importance. During most of the war the defendant Handloser was the chief of the medical service of the German Army; in 1944 he was succeeded in this capacity by Dr. Walther. The chief of the medical service of the German Air Force until 1943 was Dr. Erich Hippke; from January, 1944 until the end of the war, it was the defendant Schroeder. Subordinate to the defendant Schroeder are seven other defendants from the Air Force medical service, whose functions I will briefly describe later on.
I turn now to the second principal group of defendants -- those affiliated with the SS. The SS was nominally a part of the Nazi Party, and came under Hitler in his capacity as Fuehrer of the NSDAP. In fact, during the years of the Nazi regime, the SS expanded into a vast complex of military, police, and intelligence organizations. The head of this extraordinary combine was Heinrich Himmler, with the title of Reichsfuehrer SS. The SS had its own medical service, headed by Grawitz, who bore the title Reich Physician SS.
The SS, in turn was divided into many departments, of which one of the most important was the Armed or Waffen SS. The members of the Waffen SS were trained and equipped as regular troops, were formed into regular military formations, and fought at the front side by side with the troops of the Wehrmacht. By the end of the war there were some thirty SS Divisions in the line. The head of the medical services of the Waffen SS was the defendant Genzken.
Six other defendants were members of the SS medical service and therefore subordinated to Grawitz.
The German civilian medical services derived their authority both from the German government and from the Party. The medical chief on the civilian side was Dr. Leonardo Conti, who committed suicide in October 1945. Dr. Conti occupied the position of Secretary of State for Health in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. In this capacity, Conti was a subordinate of the Minister of the Interior, Dr. Wilhelm Frick, until 1943 and thereafter to Heinrich Himmler, who assumed the additional duties of Minister of the Interior in that year.
Conti also held the title in the Nazi Party of Reich Health Leader. His deputy in this capacity was the defendant Blome. As Reich Health Leader, Conti was subordinate to the Nazi Party Chancery, the chief of which was Martin Bormann.
As the Court will see from the chart, the three principal people in the hierarchy of German state health and medicine are the defendants Karl Brandt and Handloser, and the deceased Dr. Conti. In July 1942, Hitler issued a decree, a copy of which will later be read before the Court, which established the defendant Handloser as chief of the medical services of the Wehrmacht. Shown on the chart here Handloser's name appears in this capacity. Handloser was given supervisory and professional authority over the medical services of all three branches of the Wehrmacht. Inasmuch as the Waffen SS came to constitute an important part of the armed forces. Handloser's supervisory authority also extended to the defendant Genzken, Chief of the Medical Services of the Waffen SS. In this position Handloser was charged with the coordination of all common tasks of the medical services of the Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS. He thus became the principal figure in German military medicine, just as Dr. Conti was the central figure in the field of civilian medicine.
Handloser and Conti, as will be seen from the chart were not directly responsible to Hitler himself. Handloser's responsibility ran to Hitler through the OKW and Conti's through the Ministry of the Interior and the Chief of the Nazi Party Chancery.
In 1942 Hitler for the first time established a medical and health official under his direct control. This official was the defendant Karl Brandt. A Hitler decree of July 1942 gave Brandt the title Plenipotentiary for Health and Medical services, and empowered him to carry out special tasks and negotiations with reference to the requirements for doctors, hospitals, medical supplies, etc., between the military and civilian sectors of the health and sanitation systems. Brandt's role, therefore, was to coordinate the requirements of the military and civilian agencies in the field of medicine and public health.
Dr. Karl Brandt had been the personal physician to Hitler since 1934. He was only 38 years old at the time he assumed the important duties conferred by the 1942 decree. His rise continued.
In September 1943, Hitler issued another decree which gave Brandt the title of General Commissioner for Sanitation and Health and empowered him to coordinates and direct the problems and activities of the entire administration for sanitation and health. This authority was explicitly extended to the field of medical science and research.
Finally, in August 1944, Hitler appointed Dr. Brandt Reichkommissar for Sanitation and Health, and stated that in this capacity Brandt's office ranked as the "highest Reich authority." Brandt was authorized to issue instructions to the medical offices and organizations of the government, to the party, and the armed forces, in the field of sanitation and health.
Karl Brandt, as the supreme medical authority in the Reich, appointed the defendant Paul Rostock as his immediate subordinate to head the Office for Scientific and Medical Research. Rostock's position reached into the activities of the medical societies, the medical colleges, and the Reich Research Council. Brandt also appointed Admiral Fickentscher, who had theretofore been the chief medical officer of the German Navy, as his subordinate to head the Office for Planning and Production. In this field, Fickjentscher dealt with the principal lab authorities, the Ministry of Economics, and the Ministry for Armament and War Production.
As chief of the medical service of the German Air Forces, the defendant Schroeder also held one of the most important positions in the German medical hierarchy. He and the defendant Handloser both held the rank of Generaloberstabs the highest rank in the German medical service and the equivalent of Lieutenant General in the American Army. I do not propose to go into detail concerning the positions held by the seven defendants who were under Schroeder, inasmuch as Mr. McHaney will introduce charts which show in great detail the structure of the German Air Force Medical service, which have been authenticated by the defendant Schroeder himself. The defendant Rose held a high rank in the Air Force medical service equivalent to that of a Brigadier General in the American Army and was appointed special advisor to Schroeder on matters pertaining to tropical medicine held a chair at one of the most important German medical institutes, and is one of the most distinguished scientists in the dock.
The defendant Becker-Freyseng headed Schroeder's department for Aviation Medicine. The defendant Weltz was chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine at Munich. The particular functions of the defendants Ruff, Romberg, Schaefer, and Beiglbock will appear as we proce** with the presentation of the evidence.
I will likewise passover very briefly the detailed functions of the six SS physicians who were shown on the chart as the subordinates of Grawitz. Detailed charts of the SS medical service, authenticated by the defendant Mrugowsky, will shortly be introduced in evidence. The defendant Gebhardt was Himmler's personal physician and he held a rank in the SS equivalent to that of a Major General in the American Army. He became the President of the German Red Cross. He was the chief surgeon on Grawitz's staff, and also headed the hospital at Hohenlychen, in which capacity the defendants Oberheuser and Fischer were his assistants. The defendant Poppendick was the chief of Grawitz's personal staff. The defendant Mrugowsky was Grawitz's chief hygienist and also headed the Hygienic Institute of the Waffen SS. The defendant Hoven was the chief doctor of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
The defendant Pokorny is a private physician who had no official connection with the government medical service. We have shown him on the chart underneath the group of SS physicians for reasons which will appear in the course of presenting the evidence concerning sterilization experiments (paragraph 6 (I) of the Indictment.
The three defendants who are not doctors are shown in the top righthand corner of the chart. Two of them--Rudolf Brandt and Brack--are administrative officers. Rudolf Brandt had the rank of Colonel in the SS, was sort of personal adjutant, and held an administrative office both in the SS and tho Ministry of the Interior. Viktor Brack was the chief administrative officer in Hitler's personal chancery, the head of which was Phillip Bouhler.
The defendant, Sievers, Who held the rank of Colonel in the SS, is a special case. He was a direct subordinate of Heinrich Himmler in the latter's capacity as President of the so-called "Ahnenerbe" Society. The name of this society literally means "ancestral heritage", and it was originally devoted to scientific and psuedo-scientific researches concerning the anthropological and cultural history of the German race. Later on, an Institute for Military Scientific Research was set up within the Ahnenerbe Society. Sievers was the manager of the Society and the director of the Institute for Military Scientific Research.
This concludes the general description of the German state medical service under the Nazi regime, and of the positions which the defendants occupied in the scheme of things. It is convenient at this point to refer to Count Four of the Indictment, which charges that ten of the defendants were members of an organiza declared to be criminal by the International Military Tribunal, and that such membership is in violation of paragraph 1 (d) of Article II of Control Council La No. 10. The organization in question is the SS.
This Count concerns the defendant Karl Brandt, six of the defendants who were affiliated with the medical service of the SS, and three defendants who are not doctors. It does not concern any of the nine defendants on the military side nor the defendants, Rostock, Blome, Oberheuser, or Pokorny.
The International Military Tribunal's declaration of criminality applies all persons who had been officially accepted as members of any branch of the SS and who remained members after September 1, 1939. The prosecution will show that all ten defendants charged in Count Four were officially accepted as members of the SS and remained so after that date. The defendants, Karl Brandt, Genzken, and Gebhardt held ranks in both the general or Allgemeine SS and the Waffen SS equivalent to that of a Major General in the American Army. The defendants, Mrugowsky, Hoven, Poppendick, and Fischer all held officer rank in the SS or Waffen SS, and all four of them, together with the defendants Genzken and Gebhardt, held position in the SS medical service. The defendant Rudolf Brandt held the rank of Colonel in the general (Allgemeine) SS, and was a personal assistant to Himmler in Himmler', capacity as Reichsfuehrer SS. The defendant Brack held officer rank in both the SS and the Waffen SS. The defendant Sievers held the rank of Colonel in the SS, was manager of the Ahnenerbe Society, which was attached to the SS Main Office.
The declaration of criminality by the International Military Tribunal does not apply when it appears that a member of the SS was drafted into membership in such a way as to give him no choice in the matter.
Nor does it apply if it appear that the member had no knowledge that the organization was being used for the commission of criminal acts. For purposes of this case, these questions, the prosecution believes, will be academic. All of the defendants charged in Count Fourtheld officer rank in the SS, and most of them held senior rank. They were moving spirits and personal participants in murder and torture on a large scale, and in a variety of other crimes. In this connection, we respectfully invite the Tribunal's attention to two statements by the International Military Tribunal which, under Article X of Ordinance No. 7, constitute proof in the absence of substantial new evidence to the contrary. In setting forth the criminal acts committed by the SS, the International Military Tribunal stated (pp. 16952-53 of the Official Transcript):
"Also attached to the SS main offices was a research foundation known as the Experiments Ahnenerbe. The scientists attached to this organization are stated to have been mainly honorary members of the SS. During the war an institute for military scientific research became attached to the Ahnenerbe which conducted extensive experiments involving the use of living human beings."
And again it was stated (p.16955 of the Transcript):
"In connection with the administration of the concentration camps, the SS embarked on a series of experiments on human beings which were performed on prisoners of war or concentration camp inmates. These experiments included freezing to death, and killing by poison bullets. The SS was able to obtain an allocation of Government funds for this kind of research on the grounds that they had access to human material not available to other agencies."
CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE GUISE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (Counts Two and Three, Paragraphs 6, 7, 11 and 12) I turn now to the main part of the Indictment and will outline at this point the prosecution's case relating to those crimed alleged to have been comm in the name of medical or scientific research.
The charges with respect to "euthanasia" and the slaughter of tubercular Polesobviously have no relation to research or experimentation and will be dealt with later. What I will cover now comprehends all the experiments charged as war crimes in Paragraph 6 and as crime against humanity in Paragraph 11 of the Indictment, and the murders committed so-called anthropological purposes which are charged as war crimes in Paragraph and as crimes against humanity in Paragraph 12 of the indictment.
Before taking up these experiments one by one, let us look at them as a wh*** Are they a heterogeneous list of horrors, or is there a common denominator for the whole group?
A sort of rough pattern is apparent on the face of the Indictment. Experiment concerning high altitude, the effect of cold, and the potability of processed s** water have an obvious relation to aeronautical and naval combat and rescue problem The mustard gas and phosphorous burn experiments, as well as those relating to healing value of sulfanilimide for wounds, can be related to air-raid and battle field medical problems. It is well known that malaria, epidemic jaundice, and typhus (spotted fever) were among the principal diseases which had to be combattby the German armed forces and by German authorities in occupied territories.
To some degree, the therapeutic pattern outlined above is undoubtedly a valid one, and explains why the Wehrmacht, and especially the German Air Forces, participated in these experiments. Fanatically bent upon conquest, utterly ruthless as to the means or instruments to be used in achieving victory, and callous to the sufferings of people whom they regarded as inferior, the German militarist were willing to gather whatever scientific fruit these experiments might yield.
But our proof will show that a quite different and even more sinister objective runs like a red thread through these hideous researches. We will show them in some instances, the true object of these experiments was not how to rescue or to cure, but how to destroy and kill. The sterilization experiments were, it is clear, purely destructive in purpose. The prisoners at Buchenwald who were shot with poisoned bullets were not guinea pigs to test an antidote for the poison; their murderers really wanted to know how quickly the poison would kill. This destructive objective is not superficially as apparent in the other experiments, but we will show that it was often there.
Mankind has not heretofore felt the need of a word to denominate the science of how must rapidly to kill prisoners and subjugated people in large numbers. The case and these defendants have created this gruesome question for the lexicographer. For the moment, we will christen this macabre science "thanatology", the science of producing death. The thanatological knowledge, derived in part from these experiments, supplied the techniques for genocide, a policy of the Third Reich exemplified in the "euthenasia" program and in the widespread slaughter of Jews, gypsies, Poles and Russians. This policy of mass extermination could not have been so effectively carried out without the active participation of German medical scientists.
I will now take up the experiments themselves. Two or three of them I will describe more fully, but most of them will be treated in summary fashion, as Mr McHaney will be presenting detailed proof of each of them.
Next is sub-paragraph "A", High altitude experiments.
The experiments known as "high altitude" or "low pressure" experiments were carried out at the Dachau concentration camp in 1942. According to the proof, the original proposal that such experiments be carried out on human beings originated in the spring of 1941 with a Dr. Sigmund Rascher. Rascher was at that time a captain in the medical service of the German Air Force, and also held officer ra** in the SS. He is believed now to be dead.
The origin of the idea is revealed in a letter which Rascher wrote to Himmler in May 1941 at which time Rascher was taking a course in aviation medicine at a German Air Force Headquarters in Munich. According to the letter, this course included researches into high altitude flying and "considerable regret was expressed at the fact that no tests with human material had yet been possible for us, as such experiments are very dangerous and nobody volunteers for them."
Rascher, in this letter, went on to ask Himmler to put human subjects at his disposal and baldly stated that the experiments might result in death to the subject but that the tests theretofore made with monkeys had not been satisfactory.
Rascher's letter was answered by Himmler's adjutant, the defendant, Rudolf Brandt, who informed Rascher that:
"Prisoners will, of course, gladly be made available for the high flight researches."
Subsequently, Rascher wrote directly to Rudolf Brandt asking for permission to carry out the experiments at the Dachau concentration camp, and he mentioned that the German Air Force had provided "a movable pressure chamber" in which the experiments might be made. Plans for carrying out the experiments were developed at a conference late in 1941 or early in 1942 attended by Dr. Rascher and by the defendants Weltz, Romberg, and Ruff, all of whom were members of the German Air Force medical service. The tests themselves were carried out in the spring and summer of 1942, using the pressure chamber which the German Air Force had provide. The victims were locked in the low pressure chamber, which was an airtight balllike compartment, and then the pressure in the chamber was altered to simulate the atmospheric conditions prevailing at extremely high altitudes. The pressure in the chamber could be varied with great rapidity, which permitted the defendants to to duplicate the atmospheric conditions which an aviator might encounter in falling great distances through space without a parachute and without oxygen.
The reports, conclusions, and comments on these experiments, which were introduced here and carefully recorded, demonstrate complete disregard for human life and callousness to suffering and pain. These documents reveal at one and the same time the medical results of the experiments, and the degradation of the physicians who performed them. The first report by Rascher was made in April, 1942, and contains a description of the effect of the low pressure chamber on a 37-year old Jew. I quote:
"The third experiment of this type took such an extra-ordinary course that I called an SS physician of the camp as witness, since I had worked on these experiments all by myself. It was a continuous experiment without oxygen at a height of 12 km conducted on a 37-year old Jew in good general condition. Breathing continued up to 30 minutes. After 4 minutes the experimental subject began to perspire and wiggle his head, after 5 minutes cramps occurred, between 6 and 10 minutes breathing increased in speed and the experimental subject became unconscious; from 11 to 30 minutes breathing slowed down to three breaths per minute, finally stopping altogether.
"Severest cyanosis developed in between and foam appeared at the mouth.
"At five minute intervals electrocardiograms from 3 leads were written. After breathing had stopped Ekg (electrocardiogram) was continuously written until the action of the heart had come to a complete standstill. About 1/2 hour after breathing had stopped, dissection was started."
Rascher's report also contains the following record of the "autopsy":
"When the cavity of the chest was opened, the pericardium was filled tightly. Upon opening of the pericardium, 80 ccm of clear yellowish liquid gushed forth. The moment the tamponade had stopped, the right auricle of the heart began to beat heavily, at first at the rate of 60 actions per minute, then progressively slower. Twenty minutes after the pericardium had been opened, the right auricle was opened by puncturing it. For about 15 minutes, a thin stream of blood spurted forth. Thereafter, clogging of the puncture wound in the auricle by coagulation of the blood and renewed acceleration of the action of the right auricle occurred.
"One hour after breathing had stopped, the spinal marrow was completely severed and the brain removed. Thereupon, the action cf the auricle of the heart stepped for 40 seconds. It then renewed its action, coming to a complete standstill eight minutes later. A heavy subarchnoid edema was found in the brain. In the veins and arteries of the brain, a considerable quantity of air was discovered. Furthermore, the blood vessels in the heart and liver were enormously obstructed by embolism."
After seeing this report, Himmler ironically ordered that if a subject should be brought back to life after enduring such an experiment, he should be "pardoned" to life imprisonment in a concentration camp. Rascher's reply to this letter, dated 20 October 1942, reveals that up to the time the victims of these experiments had all been Poles and Russians, that some of them had been condemned to death, and Raschner inquired whether Himmler's benign mercy extended to Poles and Russians. A teletyped reply from the defendant, Rudolf Brandt, confirmed Rascher's belief that Poles and Russians were beyond the pale and should be given no amnesty of any kind.
The utter brutality of the crimes committed in conducting this series of experiments is reflected in all the documents. A report written in May 1942 reflects that certain of these tests were carried out on persons described therein as "Jewish professional criminals." In fact, these Jews had been condemned for what the Nazis called "Rassenschande", which literally means "racial shame". The crime consisted of marriage or intercourse between Aryans and non-Aryans. The murder and torture of these unfortunate Jews is eloquently reflected in the following report:
(A recess was taken)
GENERAL TAYLOR: I was about to quote from a report written in May 1942 describing one of these high altitude tests on a Jewish subject.
Proceeding with the quotation:
"Some of the experimental subjects died during a continued high altitude experiment; for instance, after on-half hour at a height of 12 kilometers. After tie skull had been opened under water, an ample amount of air embolism was found in the brain vessels and, in part, free air in the brain ventricles.
"In order to find out whether the severe psychical and physical effects, as mentioned under No. 3, are due to the formation of embolism, the following was done: After relative recuperation from such a parachute descending test had taken place, however before regaining consciousness, some experimental subjects were kept under water until they died. When the skull and cavities of the breast and of the abdomen were opened under water, an enormous amount of air embolism was found in the vessels of the brain, the coronary vessels, and the vessels of the liver and the intestines."
The victims who did not die in the course of such experiments, surely wished that they had. A long report written in July 1942 by Rascher and by the defendants, Ruff and Romberg, describes an experiment on a former delicatessen clerk, who was given an oxygen mask and raised in the chamber to an atmospheric elevation of over 47,000 feet, at which point the mask was removed and a parachute descent was simulated. The report describes the victim's reactions -- "spasmodic convulsions", "agonal convulsive breathing", "clonic convulsions, groaning", "yells aloud", "convulses arms and legs", "grimaces, bites his tongue", "does not respond to speech", "gives the impression of someone who is completely out of his mind".
The evidence which we will produce will establish that the defendants, Ruff and Romberg, personally participated with Rascher in experiments resulting in death and torture; that the defendant, Sievers, watched the experiments for on entire day and made an oral report to Himmler on his observations; that the defendant Rudolf Brandt, was the agent of Himmler in providing the human subjects for these experiments and in making may other facilities available to Rascher and rendering him general assistance; and that the defendant, Weltz in his official capacity, repeatedly insisted on supervision over and full responsibility and credit for the experiments. The higher authorities of both the German Air Force and the SS were fully informed concerning what was going on. Extensive correspondence will be introduced, for example, concerning the availability of the low pressure chamber which the German Air Force furnished at Dachau, and concerning the availability of Rascher, who was an officer in the Air Force Medical Service, to conduct the experiments.
Knowledge of, participation in, and responsibility for these atrocious crimes on the part of the defendants here charged will be clearly shown by the evidence.
B. Freezing Experiments The deep interest of the German Air Force in capitalizing on the availability of inmates of concentration camps for experimental purposes is even more apparent in the case of the freezing experiments.
These, too, were conducted at Dachau; they began immediately after the high altitude experiments were completed and they continued until the spring of 1943. Here again, the defendant, Weltz, was directly in charge of the experiments with Rascher as his assistant, as is shown in a letter written in May 1942 by Field Marshal Erhard Milch, the Inspector General of the German Air Force, to SS Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff, who is one of Heinrich Himmler's principal subordinates, and this letter specifically requested that the freezing experiments be carried out at Dachau under Weltz's supervision.
The purpose of these experiments was to determine the most effective way of rewarming German aviators who were forced to parachute into the North Sea. The evidence will show that in the course of these experiments, the victims were forced to remain outdoors without clothing in freezing weather from nine to fourteen hours. In other cases, they were forced to remain in a tank of iced water for three hours at a time. The water experiments are described in a report by Rascher written in August 1942. I quote:
"Electrical measurements gave low temperature readings of 26.4° in the stomach and 26.5° in the rectum. Fatalities occurred only when the brain stem and the back of the head were also chilled. Autopsies of such fatal cases always revealed large amounts of free blood, up to ½ liter, in the cranial cavity. The heart invariably showed extreme dilation of the right chamber. As soon as the temperature in these experiments reached 28°, the experimental subjects died invariably, despite all attempts at resuscitation."
Other documents set forth that from time to time the temperature of the water would be lowered by 10° Centigrade and a quart of blood would be taken from an artery in the subject's throat for analysis. The organs of the victim who died were extracted and sent to the Pathological Institute at Munich.
Rewarming of the subjects was attempted by various means, most commonly and successfully in a very hot bath. In September, Himmler personally ordered that rewarming by the warmth of human bodies also be attempted, and the inhuman villains who conducted these experiments promptly produced four Gypsy women from the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. When the women had arrived, rewarming was attempted by placing the chilled victim between two naken women.
A voluminous report on the freezing experiments conducted in tanks of ice water written in October 1942 contains the following:
"If the experimental subject were placed in the water under narcosis, one observed a certain arousing effect. The subject began to groan and made some defensive movements. In a few cases, a state of excitation developed. This was especially severe in the cooling of the head and neck. But never was a complete cessation of the narcosis observed. The defensive movements ceased after about five minutes. There followed a progressive rigor, which developed especially strongly in the arm musculature; the arms were strongly flexed and pressed to the body. The rigor increased with the continuation of the cooling, now and then interrupted by tonic-clonic twitchings. With still more marked sinking of the body temperature, it suddenly ceased. These cases ended fatally, without any successful results from resuscitation efforts.
*********** "Experiments without narcosis showed no essential differences in the course of cooling.
Upon entry into the water, a severe cold shuddering: appeared. The cooling of the neck and back of the head was felt as especially painful, but already after five to ten minutes, a significant weakening of the pain sensation was observable. Rigor developed after this time in the same manner as under narcosis, likewise the tonic-clonic twitchings. At this point, speech became difficult because the rigor also affected the speech musculature.
"Simultaneously with the rigor, a severe difficulty in breathint set in with or without narcosis. It was reported that, so to speak, an iron ring was placed about the chest. Objectively, already at the beginning of this breathing difficulty, a marked dilation of the nostrils occurred. The expiration was prolonged and visibly difficult. This difficulty passed over into a rattling and snoring breathing."
During the winter of 1942 to 1943, experiments with "dry" cold were conducted. And Rascher reported on these in another letter to Himmler:
"Up to now, I have cooled off about 30 people stripped in the open air during nine to fourteen hours at 27° to 29°. After a time, corresponding to a trip of one hour, I put these subjects in a hot bath. Up to now, every single patient was completely warmed up within one hour at most, although some of them had their hands and feet frozen white."
The responsibility among the defendants from the freezing experiments is substantially the same as for the high altitude tests. The results were, if anything, even more widely known in German medical circles. In October 1942, a medical conference took place here in Nurnberg at the Deutscher Hof Hotel, at which one of the authors of the report from which I have just quoted spoke on the subject "Prevention and Treatment of Freezing", and the defendant, Weltz, spoke on the subject "Warming up after Freezing to the Danger Point." Numerous documents which we will introduce show the widespread responsibility among the defendants, and in the highest quarters of the German Air Force, for these sickening crimes C. Malaria Experiments Another series of experiments carried out at he Dachau Concentration Camp concerned immunization for the treatment of malaria.
Over 1,200 inmates, of practically every nationality, were experimented upon. many persons who participated in these experiments have already been tried before a general military court held at Dachau, and the findings of that court will be laid before this Tribunal. The malaria experiments were carried out under the general supervision of a Dr. Shilling, with whom the defendant Sievers and other in the box collaborated. The evidence will show that healthy persons were infected by mosquitoes or by injections from the glands of mosquitoes. Catholic priests were among the subjects. The defendant Gebhardt kept Himmler informed of the progress of these experiments. Rose furnished Schilling with fly eggs for them, and others of the defendants participated in various ways which the evidence will demonstrate.
After the victims had been infected, they were variously treated with quinine, neo-salvarsan, pyramidon, antipyrin, and several combination of these drugs. Many deaths occurred from excessive doses of neo-salvarsan and pyramidon. According to the findings of the Dachau court, malaria was the direct cause of 30 deaths and 300 to 400 other died was the result of later subsequent complications.
D. Mustard Gas Experiments The experiments concerning mustard gas were conducted at Sachsenhausen, Natzweiler, and other concentration camps and extended over the entire period of the war.
Wounds were deliberately inflicted on the victims, and the wounds were then infected with mustard gas. Other subjects were forced to inhale the gas, or to take it internally in liquid form, and still others were injected with the gas. A report of these experiments written at the end of 1939 described certain cases in which wounds were inflicted on both arms of the human guinea pigs and then infected and the report states:
"The arms in most of the cases are badly swollen and pains are enormous."
The allege purpose of these experiments was to discover an effective treatment for the burns caused by mustard gas.
In 1944, the experiments were coordinated with a general program for research into gas warfare. A decree issued by Hitler in March 1944 ordered the defendant Karl Brandt to push medical research in connection with gas warfare. The defendant Rudolf Brandt sent copies of this decree to the defendant Sievers, to Grawitz and others, and transmitted Hitler's request that they confer soon with the defendant Karl Brandt "on account of the urgency of the order given him by the Fuehrer." Subsequently Sievers, who was thoroughly familiar with the mustard gas experiments being carried on in the concentration camps, reported the details of these experiments to the defendant Karl Brandt.
E and F. Ravensbrick Experiments concerning Sulfanilimade and Other Drugs; Bone, Muscle, and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation.
The experiments conducted principally on the female inmates of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp were perhaps the most barbaric of all. These concerned bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation, and experiments with sulfanilimide and other drugs. They were carried out by the defendants Fischer and Oberhauser under the direction of the defendant Gebhardt.
In one set of experiments, incisions were made in the legs of several of the camp inmates for the purpose of simulating battle-caused infections. A bacterial culture, or fragments of wood shavings, or tiny pieces of glass were forced into the wound. After several days, the wounds were treated with sulfanilimade. Grawitz, the head of the SS Medical Service, visited Ravensbruck and received a report on these experiments directly from the defendant Fischer Grawitz thereupon directed that the wounds inflicted on the subjects should be even more severe so that conditions more completely similar to these prevailing at the front lines would be more completely simulated.
Bullet wounds were simulated on the subjects by trying off the blood vessel at both ends of the incision. A gangrene-producing culture was then placed in the wounds. Severe infection resulted within twenty-four hours. Operations were then performed on the infected area and the wound was treated with sulfanilamide. In each of the many sulfanilamide experiments, some of the subjects were wounded and infected but were not given sulfanilimade, so as to compare their reactions with those who received treatment.
Bone transplantation from one person to another and the regeneration of nerves, muscles, and bones were also tried out on the women at Ravensbruck. The defendant Gebhardt personally ordered that bone transplantation experiments be carried out, and in one case the scapula of an inmate at Ravensbruck was removed and taken to Hohenlychen Hospital and there transplanted. We will show that the defendants did not even have any substantial scientific objective. These experiments were senseless, sadistic, and utterly savage.
The defendant Oberhauser's duties at Ravensbruck in connection with the experiments were to select young and healthy inmates for the experiments, to be present at all of the surgical operations, and to give the experimental subjects post-operative care. We will show that this care consisted chiefly of utter neglect of nursing requirements, and cruel and abusive treatment of the miserable victims.
Other experiments in this category were conducted at Dachau to discover a method of bringing about coagulation of the blood. Concentration camp inmates were actually fired upon, or were injured in some other fashion in order to cause something similar to a battlefield wound. These wounds were then treated with a drug known as polygal in order to test its capacity to coagulate the blood. Several inmates were killed. Sulfanilimide was also administered to some and withheld from other inmates who had been infected with the pus from a phlegmondiseased person. Blood poisoning generally ensued. After infection, the victims were left untreated for three or four days, after which various drugs were administered experimentally or experimental surgical operations were performed. Polish Catholic priests were used for those tests. Many died and others became invalids.
As a result of all of these senseless and barbaric experiments, the defendants are responsible for manifold murders and untold cruelty and torture.
G. Seawater Experiments For the seawater experiments we return to Dachau.
They were conducted in 1944 at the behest of the German Air Force and the German Navy in order to develop a method of rendering seawater drinkable.
Meetings to discuss this problem were held in May 1944, attended by representatives of the Luftwaffe, the Navy, and I.G. Farben. The defendants Becker-Freyseng and Schaefer were among the participants. It was a greed to conduct a series of experiments in which the subjects, fed only with ship-wreck emergency rations, would be divided into four groups. One group would receive no water at all; the second would drink ordinary seawater; the third would drink seawater processed by the so called "Berka" method, which concealed the taste but did not alter the saline content; the fourth would drink seawater treated so as to remove the salt.
Since it was expected that the subjects would die, or, at least, suffer severe impairment of health, it was decided at the meeting in May 1944 that only persons furnished by Himmler could be used. Thereafter in June 1944 the defendant Schroeder set the program in motion by writing to Himmler and I quote form his letter:
"Earlier you made it possible for the Luftwaffe to settle urgent medical matters through experiments on human beings. Today I again stand before a decision, which, after numerous experiments on animals and also on voluntary human subjects, demands final resolution: The Luftwaffe has simultaneously developed two methods for making seawater drinkable. The one method, developed by a Medical Officer, removes the salt from the seawater and transforms it into real drinking water; the second method, suggested by an engineer, only removes the unpleasant taste from the seawater. The latter method, in contrast to the first, requires no critical raw material. From the medical point of view this method must be viewed critically, as the administration of concentrated salt solutions can produce severe symptoms of poisoning.
"As the experiments on human beings could thus far only be carried out for a period of four days, and as practical demands require a remedy for those who are in distress at sea up to 12 days, appropriate experiments are necessary.
"Required are 40 healthy test subjects, who must be available for 4 whole weeks. As it is known from previous experiments, that necessary laboratories exist in the concentration camp Dachau, this camp would be very suitable.
"Due to the enormous importance which a solution of this question has for soldiers of the Luftwaffe and Navy who have become shipwrecked, I would be great ly obliged to you, my dear Reich Minister, if you would decide to comply with my request."
Himmler passed this letter to Grawitz who consulted Gebhardt and other SS officials. A typical and nauseating Nazi discussion of racial question ensued.
One SS man suggested using quarantined prisoners and Jews; another suggested Gypsies. Grawitz doubted that experiments on Gypsies would yield results which were scientifically applicable to Germans. Himmler finally directed that Gypsies be used with three others as a check.
The tests were actually begun in July 1944. The defendant Beiglbeck supervised the experiments, in the course of which the Gypsy subjects underwent terrible suffering, became delirious or developed convulsions, and some died.