I was, so to speak, an executive in that sense.
BY THE PRESIDENT:
Q Will you put your earphones on?
Will you explain what Office 14 of the Operational Main Office was? That had no connection with the WVHA, did it?
A Yes; indeed, Your Honor. Office 14 was, so to sped, the highest dental agency in the entire Waffen-SS. It was the office for dental care within Amtsgruppe D of the Medical Office of the Waffen-SS in the Operational Main Office.
Q Say that again--the last. Repeat what you just said.
A Office 14 was the central agency for the entire dental service within the Waffen-SS. It was an office within Amtsgruppe D of the Medical Office. That is, the designation before used to be Medical Office-- and that was within the Operational Main Office. Amtsgruppe D was under Dr. Genzken; the man in charge of Office 14 was Dr. Johannsen--Obersturmbannfuehrer, at least in my time.
Q Well, was the Operational Main Office an office of Amtsgruppe D?
A No, it wasn't. The Operational Main Office was the highest level, so to speak, of the entire Waffen-SS; and it was not an organization of the WVHA. It was a Main Office, you see, which--
Court No. II, Case No. 4.
Q That's what I mean. The Operational Main Office was not a division of the WVHA?
A No, it wasn't. The Operational Main Office and the WVHAwere approximately on the same level; the same applied to all the other main offices in Berlin.
Q Well, you just said, or we understood you to say, that it had some connection with Amtsgruppe D.
A Your Honor, the former Medical Office within the WVHA also had the name of Amtsgruppe D, but this Amtsgruppe D was in the Operational Main Office, not in the WVHA. The term used for those two organizations is the same, but they are two entirely different organizations. They just used the same name, "D".
THE PRESIDENT: That's the thing that confused us. Mr. Robbins, do you have anything to add to this clarification?
MR. ROBBINS: Only, Your Honor, that in the basic information brief there are two charts and one of the charts is an overall picture of the 12 main offices of the SS. One of the main offices was the WVHA and another on the same level was the Fuehrungshauptamt, which the witness is referring to -- the Operational Main Office -- they were all on the same level under Himmler.
THE PRESIDENT: Also called the "Central Office"?
MR. ROBBINS: The German term is "Fuehrungshauptamt." Perhaps the translators can tell us -- is that the same as central office?
THE INTERPRETER: No, sir. Fuehrungshauptamt stands for "Oporational Main Office."
MR. ROBBINS: Isn't there an Operational Main Office also on that chart, Your Honor?
THE PRESIDENT: No, but there is an Office SS-Hauptamt.
MR. ROBBINS: That's it.
THE PRESIDENT: Called on the chart Central Office -- the same thing?
Here's another one: "Fuehrungshauptamt, Operational Headquarters Court No. II, Case No. 4.is that it?
DR. RATZ: That is the Operational Main Office, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: We observe that under the Fuehrungshauptamt there is a Division D, called, "Medical," and that is the one that he refers to. Now, what was Office 14-D. Was that under this Amtsgruppe D of the Operational Headquarters?
WITNESS: Yes, Your Honor. You see, Amtsgruppe D consists of various offices. At the time you had Office XIII, which was the Medical Service, Office XIV, which was a dental service, and Office XV, which was the Pharmaceutical Department, and Office XVI, which was the Hygiene Institute, which became that Institute later on. All these four offices together formed Amtsgruppe D within the Operational Main Office.
BY DR. RATZ:
Q Witness, in order to understand your official position and therefore your responsibility and to clarify that point, would you please describe the outer system of your activities at the time? Where was Amtsgruppe D of the WVHA located? What were the offices like, and so on?
A Outside of the actual concentration camps and outside of the garrison department of Oranienburg, there was the building of the Inspectorate of the Concentration Camps at the time.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: As I understand it, you operated not as a member of the WVHA, but as a liaison for dental care in the concentration camps between WVHA and Office XIV, is that correct?
WITNESS: Yes, indeed, Your Honor. It is the same thing, just as it applies to the position of the leading dentists with reference to the field units of the Waffen SS. It is not an agency in itself, but it is more of a liaison office, a liaison man, who had to take care of and clarify the matters within that Dental Service, which had become a little complicated in the course of the years. As a dentist I found later on I belonged more or less to the Medical Office as far as regula Court No. II, Case No. 4.tions came from there and also regulations concerning personnel were concerned.
All that came from the Medical Office.
Q Now, you wanted to tell us the circumstances of your activity at the time.
A Yes, as I stated, the building of Amtsgruppe D--that is the Inspectorate of the Concentration Camps was at Oranienburg, outside of the concentration camp are, as well as outside of the barracks area. In that building, apart from Amtsgruppe D, there were also other offices. For instance, offices for the Operational Main Office in Berlin, which was usually in Berlin, and they were all located there. Then there were also municipal institutions of the City of Oranienburg located there, the offices which belonged to Office D-III, especially. There were approximately seven or eight offices. Lolling had an office of his own there. He also had two offices, two additional offices, where he had the dispensaries. In one of the two offices he had his chief clerk. That is where all the official matters went through. Then he had the second office where the remaining staff was and where miscellaneous work was being dealt with. Then they also had a few dispensary offices and because Lolling was the garrison medical officer at Oranienburg, that is the reason why he had three rooms which he used as a dispensary for the dependents of the garrison of Oranienburg. He didn't carry out the treatment himself, but he had a physician working for him and that man would take care of everything. Furthermore, there was one office for the dispensary and another one for the physician.
Q How was your work subdivided and how many collaborators did you have?
A I had one collaborator who was working with me in my office all the time. As far as I was concerned I was working in the garrison dentistry all day long. That was not in the building of Amtsgruppe D, but rather, in the barracks area, which I mentioned before, that is to say, within the troop area, and this building was a distance of approximately one kilometre from the building of Amtsgruppe D. When Lolling Court No. II, Case No. 4.wanted to speak to me, I was called up and then I went over to his office.
Q Would you explain to us what you did as a leading dentist in Office D-III -- what you actually did?
AAs I stated before, the part which I played was not too difficult. It only restricted itself to the early days of the month, that is to say, to that time when the reports asked for by Office XIV were due, but even with these reports we, practically speaking, had very little to do. It actually consisted only of the acknowledgment of the fact and in the forwarding of those reports and the requests for material which came from the dentists of the concentration camps. We had to forward them to Office XIV of the Medical Office. That particular mail which came from the Medical Office, the other way round, was only seen as far as it referred to the dental matters and they were forwarded to the concentration camp dentists subordinated to me. This entire activity as such was absolutely unsatisfactory. I didn't like working in an office anyway. It was only because of my work in the dental station that I was satisfied a little bit, at least with my activity there.
Q How did the mail come in and go out?
A The entire mail which dealt with dental matters came to Office D-III and to the office of Lolling. Lolling submitted the mail to me on my desk, after he had opened it and sometimes put his opinion on some of the letters. The other way round it depended on whether the mail came from the Medical Office or not. It was sent to the dentists of the concentration camps through the camp physicians. The dental mail from the camps was first submitted to the concentration camp physician who had knowledge of them, because after all the dental office could not write without any further difficulty. They had to submit their official channels and whatever applied to me, I was informed of by Lolling.
Q You spoke of monthly reports before and I wanted to know what those reports were all about.
A. At the beginning of every month all sorts of reports were due, particularly the personnel report, and the report on the work, which, I believe, had to be turned in after the third day of the month, and it had to be in Office B-3. That report consisted of a four page book, so to say, where on the first page it listed the number of patients treated, and then the number of days on which treatment was given, whether it was half a day treatment, or only one day treatment. The main part consisted of actual dental work which had been carried out. It was written precisely and it mentioned all things that occurred with regard to dental care, that is, removal of teeth, the fillings, and so forth. The man in charge of the dental station had to report the gold in the possession of the dental station. He had to report the lectures which he had to give to the Army and the troops there at certain period of time, and then on the last page you had the entire personnel of the dental station with the entire personnel strength. The man in charge of the dental station there made second and third dental reports about the work there. Then he had to write a health report for the dental station of all civilian employees who were working there.
Furthermore, the monthly requisitions for material had to be submitted within a certain period of time during my time when there were several outside camps. Apart from the camp proper it worked out in the following way: The various dentists of all the other outside camps would write on a small slip of paper their requisition for the coming month. All those slips were compiled into one large requisition slip by the camp dentist.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: You said you made this report to B-3. Was this B-3 of the WVHA, or B-3 of the Main Medical Office.
THE WITNESS: Your Honor, he made the reports of the personnel strength and the work carried out. All of those reports had to be compiled by all the dentists in the entire Waffen-SS.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: I did not ask you that. I asked where you sent the reports and you just said to B-3?
A. Yes.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: I want to know whether it is B-3 of the WVHA, or B-3 of the Main Medical Office?
A. The official channels for all the camp dentists were through Office B-3, and they were transferred further on to the Medical Office14. Therefore, the Medical Office is part of the Operational Office.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: Was it B-3 of the WVHA?
THE PRESIDENT: I believe he said "D".
THE WITNESS: No, I said "D".
JUDGE PHILLIPS: D-3.
THE WITNESS: That was the agency where I was.
JUDGE PHILLIPS: I see.
THE WITNESS: And from there it was sent on to the Medical Office. The reason was that Office-14, the Medical Office, could have a synopsis on the personnel strength of the Medical Station, or of the requisitions which were sent out. In other words, the department just mentioned for that was Department 14; they wanted to have a synopsis on what a dental station needed as far as material was concerned when the material report came in. They had special records there.
BY DR. RATZ:
Q. Dr. Pook, you told us with regard to these reports of the work on the personnel strength that they went through you. Did you forward those reports to Office-14 of the Medical Office; did that remain like that, or was there any change at a later date?
A. In the Summer of 1944 there was a change, and from that moment on I myself dealt with these reports, or the chief of Office14, or the chief of the Dental Service. The same applied to all the material requisitions which arrived every month. The reason why I had to deal with them myself, was that Office-14 in the Summer or Autumn of 1943 had been transferred from Berlin, as the result of the frequent air raids. In the summer of 1944 Office-14 was evac uated from Berlin, just like all the other agencies of the Operational Main Office, and they were all transferred to barracks in Buchenwald, and later on they were again transferred to Karlsbad.
There was considerable delay in working out all those details, particularly in reference to providing material. I approached the Chief of Office-14 of the Medical Office, and asked him if he possibly could put me in charge of all these matters for my assurance of activity in order to expedite the delivery to the dental stations. I also contacted the Medical Office of the central department there, and I convinced myself of the fact that deliveries were being carried out quickly.
Q. How were the requests of the inmates in reference to treatment dealt with?
A. When an inmate needed treatment, the dentist of that particular camp made a request, which had to have the approval of both the camp physician, and the man in charge of the Protective Custody Camp. When all those signatures were there they were sent out via D-3. I signed all these requisitions. I approved them, and they went back to the dental offices, and the man received his treatment. I can state that all the requests which were submitted to me for my signature, and believe me the number was rather large, were signed automatically. I can not recall ever having refused one of these requests.
THE PRESIDENT: May I ask a question. Your office was in Oranienburg, or in Berlin, which?
A. Yes.
Q. Oranienburg?
A. Yes, Your Honor.
Q. If an inmate had a sore tooth in Dachau, he had to go to the camp dentist, or, first he had to get the permission of his leader in the camp, and of the camp dentist?
A. Your Honor, for the treatment of the teeth no approval was necessary, or if that had to be done, then it was only for false teeth, Your Honor, where material was necessary. The requisition that went to you was just for material.
Q. For material?
A. Yes, Your Honor, those were material requisitions, for the dental material and any drugs.
Q. The man did not have to wait with his toothache until they sent him from Dachau to Oranienburg, and then back to Dachau for treatment?
A. No, Your Honor. The treatment was given at all times.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I see.
A. The application only referred to false teeth, false teeth.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh.
A. The treatment of filling, or extracting a tooth could be carried out at all times without a special permission, and without approval.
THE PRESIDENT: All right.
A. There was material for that available at all times.
BY DR. RATZ:
Q. Dr. Pook, would you please tell the Tribunal what you mean by false teeth?
A. For a certain time with regard to the treatment of inmates, there was not only a regulation for that, but there was a regulation also for the civilian section. It was within the scope of sickness insurance that false teeth could only be manufactured when a certain number of teeth were missing. That regulation as it was enforced in the civilian sector, that is, with regard to the sick insurance, applied to all dental treatment, and some regulations to special cases. In other words, false teeth could be only manufactured when there were less than five chewing units. When I speak of chewing unit I mean one tooth on the upper and the lower set, that is to say, one chewing unit consists of two teeth, the upper part and the lower part.
Q. Witness, you just told us that a dental station had to apply for all the necessary materials and drugs. I would like you to explain that those requisitions did not occur every time. Will you explain that, please?
A. The requesting of material for dental treatment, which took place every month, was intended for the coming month, that is to say, not for a special day, or for a special case, but it was only to request just what was needed in the course of the next month. Apart from that every dental station had a certain amount of material in the stores, anyway; so according to my opinion, it could hardly be possible that there was a lack in materials at any time. Only as far as the manufacture of false teeth was concerned could there have been some difficulty, because it could only be made after an approval had been received, and that was not done every week, or every two weeks, but it depended on how much work had to be done. This did not only apply to false teeth for inmates, but false teeth had to be approved for SS members also.
Q. You stated before that in the monthly reports concerning work and personnel strength, it had to be stated how much gold there was in the camp. Did you have record of your own concerning the gold?
A. Every station of the Waffen-SS, not only the dental stations, had to have certain books concerning gold, and in these gold accounts the exact amount of gold, had to be entered, and what the gold was for. That gold was sent to the dental stations on the basis of a requisition which the camp physician wrote out. With the approval for the manufacture of false teeth, that gold was sent to him by Office 14, and that had to be entered exactly. Likewise, after the completion of the work, the remaining gold was again entered accurately. The remaining gold which had accumulated in the course of a few months was sent back to the medical office. From time to time audits of these gold books were carried out by Office 14; for that particular purpose, the gold books were sent to Office 14. As far as the gold books for the dental stations of the concentration camps were concerned, the channel went through Office D-III, so that they had to come to me, and I forwarded them to Office D-III. The other way around, it worked the same way, and I returned them to the dental officers.
Q. Did you check the accounts, or did anybody check the accounts of the bills which the dentists wrote out?
A. Yes, I had to carry out the checking of the vouchers and bills for treatment given to both SS members and inmates. That occurred when a labor detail of inmates, with the necessary guard personnel, was somewhere where there was no possibility of getting treatment in an SS dental station or in a camp dental station. In this particular case there was the possibility that both the inmates and their guard personnel would have to get treated by a dentist in that particular locality where they were at the moment. These reports were submitted. They came from the dental officer of the con centration camp to met.
He had already approved that and after an examination they were returned to the dental station of the camp, and from there they were transferred to the administrative leader of the particular camp for payment.
Q. Were you also working at the garrison dental station of Oranienburg? What was the extent of your activity?
A. During all the time of my stay in that garrison I was active as a dentist, and that lasted for approximately one year. The work there amounted to quite a bit because there were not only quite a few SS members but there were also quite a few SS dependents, and all those people received treatment in that dental station.
The station was rather small. It consisted of only two chairs, so that the single dentist who was there had a lot of work to do. The time for treatment extended over the entire day.
Q. Did you continue your private practice in Berlin in Lichterfelde all that time?
A. I stated before that during the entire period that I was there I worked as much as I could in both the evenings and on Saturdays in my own practice.
DR. RATZ: May it please Your Honors, that is the first chapter of my interrogation. Before I complete that, I would like to introduce the first document. As Exhibit No. 1 I would like to introduce an affidavit of Professor Dr. Blaschke.
THE PRESIDENT: No, we have them; we'll get them.
DR. RATZ: If you don't mind, I would like to give a short description of this affidavit by Professor Dr. Blaschke. May I point out a few important passages to which I would like to draw the Tribunal's attention particularly?
THE PRESIDENT: Counsel, will you wait just a minute? We are having these document books brought here. Then we'll understand you.
Go ahead, and we'll try to catch up to you.
DR. RATZ: May I tell you about the affidavit and its contents, rather than read it, and I shall read a few of the most important passages.
Professor Dr. Hugo Blaschke was the Chief Dentist with the Reich Physician SS Dr. Grawitz. He carried out the establishment of the Medical Office of the SS and the Operational Office, Dental Service-later on Office 14, in which the entire dental service of the SS was centralized. Office 14 had the supervision over all dentists of the SS, also over the dentists of the concentration camps. Dr. Pook was the leading dentist in Berlin. Professor Dr. Blaschke says the following, on page 3 of the Document Book, in the middle:
"Through the extension of the dental service during the war, it became necessary to create the position of a Chief Dentist. This was done in the larger formations of the SS such as divisions in which several dentists were working, in order to give Office-14 a better insight into the requirements and performance of individual denial stations.
"Regarding the position of the chief dentists, in professional matters, all chief dentists of the SS were responsible to Office-14, and in all official medical matters the chief dentist was subordinated to the chief physician of the unit in question, such as a division. In matters of discipline the chief dentist as a soldier was subordinated to the commanding officer. However, in questions of promotions and transfers the chief dentist was again subordinated to Office-14, which, to that extent, was competent for the purely professional supervision."
Dr. Blaschke then continues: The position of chief dentist in relation to his subordinated dentists can best be characterized as a mere professional supervision. He had no independent authority of command over the dentists subordinated to him. The chief dentists in their own rights could not give orders of a professional or officially medical character but orders of a professional nature came from Office XIV, and orders of an official medical nature were issued by the respective chief physicians. Apart from the purely professional supervision of subordinated dentists the main task of the chief dentist consisted in advising the chief physician to whom, as mentioned above, he was subordinated in his official medical capacity in dental professional matters.
Dr. Blaschke then also states something about the position of dentists in the various units. He says, and I shall quote: "As in the case of the chief dentist, the dentist of an individual unit was under the control of three deifferent authorities. In his official medical capacity he was subordinated to the medical officer of the unit: in questions of discipline he was responsible to the commander of the unit; and in professional matters he worked under the chief dentist of that unit. Every apparently necessary change, such as the extension or transfer of a depot, or changes in the personnel, had to be submitted by the dentist to the medical officer above him through the channels of the medical service."
Dr. Pook's position was not different than that of any other leading dentist. Particularly he did not have the position of a chief dentist for the concentration camps, which did not exist.
I shall continue with the contents of the affidavit of Dr. Blaschke. Office XIV was competent for all the dental stations of the SS, the garrison dental service, the dental servide of the field units, and camp dental offices. I am just giving you the contents in order to save time rather than to read the affidavit. I shall quote a little bit later on again.
However, for the time being, let me just give you the contents, and may I continue?
Office XIV was competent in a supervisory office for all the dental stations of the SS, the garrison dental stations, the dental stations of the field units, and the dental stations in the concentration camps. Monthly reports were sent there about the work done, and the personnel strength, and all the requisitions of material and drugs were sent there too. Office XIV, therefore, was also competent for the dental services of the concentration camps, that is to say, for the dental matters of all the concentration camps. Office D-III was simply interpolated.
Then I would like to quote from the affidavit on Page 6 of the document book.
"All orders of a professional nature to the camp dentist continued as hitherto to be given by the Chief of Office XIV. Now Pook had the right of purely professional supervision of the dental depots in his sphere of work, but he had no independent authority of command. None of the chief dentists had it. Thus, beyond a doubt, Dr. Pook would have exceeded his authority if he had ordered the dental depots to extract teeth without anaesthetics or if he had told them not to carry out any other type of work. Office XIV which would have had to be informed of such an order by Dr. Pook by the monthly report of performance would have, I feel sure, taken steps against Dr. Pook for exceeding his authority.
Dr. Blaschke then states concerning Dr. Pook's relationship to Dr. Lolling, and I shall quote: "Thus, while the Chief of Office XIV, Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Johannsen, was Dr. Pook's technical superior, his superior in matters of the Medical Service was the Chief of Office D-III, Standartenfuehrer Dr. Lolling. Dr. Lolling was above the camp directors, the camp physicians, also he was the Medical Service chief of the individual dental depots in concentration camps, whereas Dr. Pook me rely had the right of a purely professional supervision over the camp dentists."
Then I shall continue. Dr. Pook did not get along with Dr. Lolling.
Page 7 of the affidavit deals with the tasks of the dentists and also the prisoners' needs. This is rather important. I would like to read quite a few passages. Towards the middle of Page 7 of the document book:
"When in 1936 the first dental depot for the guards at camp Dachau was installed," and this is the third paragraph of Page 7, "it became a matter of course to install simultaneously a depot in the prison camps in order to satisfy the prisoners' dental needs. The same applies to prison camps which were erected later. The administration approved without exception or objection the installation of dental depots for the prisoners. I know that all SS dental depots, thus also those in prison camps, were supplied with the same equipment and material. I can well imagine that during the last years of the war it may have occurred that a dental depot ran out of the necessary materials, thus also anaesthetics, in view of the everincreasing difficulties in the supply of materials. This possibly gave rise to the rumor that teeth were extracted without anaesthetics. I think this rumor was entirely unfounded because only in the rarest of cases were teeth extracted immediately, nearly always this way have been postponed and in some cases it must have been postponed, and beyond any doubt in civilian practice the delivery of anaesthetics was always awaited eagerly. I personally inspected the dental depots for prisoners at Dachau, Buchenwald and Saschsenhausen after they had been installed. They had the usual equipment and were supplied with everything necessary for operating in accordance with modem dentistry. Naturally, the depots which were installed during the latter part of the war were frequently of an improvised type. This made the dentist's work more difficult but, in my opinion, it had no effect on the treatment of patients.
Blaschke then continues: "Not only was there, on principle, the same equipment and material for the dental care of prisoners, but it is a fact that the professional dental work was the same as that carried out for members of the SS.
In any case, as far as I know, no order from above had been given for inferior treatment of inmates as dental patients. The dental gold necessary for dental work was supplied by Office XIV, to my knowledge mainly from the Deguss-Deutsche Gold und Silberscheide-Anstalt. The required gold for dental work in gold had in every case to be requested from Office XIV by the chief of the dental depot in question."
Then Blaschke continues, and I shall quote: "As the removal of dental gold from deceased prisoners is not professional dental work, I am convinced that the order in question did not come from the Dental Service, but from some other department. I know nothing about it, moreover I do not know that Dr. Pook gave such an order. I would most probably have heard about it."
Then in the last paragraph of 6 in his affidavit, Professor Blaschke says about the defendant, Dr. Pook:
"I also wish to make the following statement regarding the personality of the dentist Dr. Pook. As far as I remember in the fall of 1943 POOK was ordered as chief dentist to office D-III of the Economic and Administrative Main Office. Earlier on, he was in charge of the Dental Depot of Berlin and he also had an assignment to the front as dentist of a division. In Office D-III apart from his activity as director and attending dentist at the dental depot of the garrison at Oranienburg, he had the same task as all other chief dentists to provide adequate care for the guards as well as the prisoners.
In matters of the Medical Service he was under the Chief Camp physician, Doctor Lolling, in questions of discipline under the chief of the office group, professionally and regarding transfer and promotion he was under Office XIV.
Dr. Pook was Obersturmbannfuehrer of the Waffen SS. The official rank of doctors as well as dentists was based on their professional aca demic training and not on military dr political capabilities or merits.
After their military basic training generally the dentists of the Waffen SS were immediately given a service rank corresponding to their age and number of years of practice. This was the point of view from which later on, by reason of their professional work, they frequently received quicker promotion than officers of the line. This is also the explanation for Dr. Pook's rank as Obersturmbannfuehrer.
From his activity as chief dentist at the dental depot Berlin, I know Dr. Pook as a serious-minded, conscientious colleague who has great professional abilities and who loves his profession.
Judging by his personality and character I do not believe him capable of any crime."
This is the end of the affidavit by Dr. Blaschke.
BY DR. RATZ:
Q Witness, we shall now proceed to a different chapter; gold for the teeth. The Prosecution charges that the gold was removed from the teeth of deceased inmates, and that the work was carried out by dentists in the concentration camp.
What can you tell us about that?
A There was no order which directed the concentration camp dentist to remove the gold from the teeth of deceased inmates, and that order was not even sent by a medical or dental agency. The dentists, both in the camp and also in the superior agencies, had nothing to do with that matter. As I know today, the gold from the teeth was not only removed from such persons who had died a natural death, but also from persons who had been killed in the extermination actions.
As a leading physician, I had nothing to do with the removal of gold teeth as far as people were concerned who had died natural deaths. As far as removal of gold was concerned from people who had been killed in the extermination programs, there was no question about that. I had no knowledge of the extermination program and their actions; therefore, I couldn't know anything at all about the removal of gold teeth either.
The only thing I know of are the reports which the dentists submitted, concerning the removal of gold teeth of people who had died natural deaths I did not participate in that in any way.
Q Dr. Pook, I would like to ask you what did you know, generally speaking, and what do you have to say, about the removal of gold teeth as far as people were concerned who had died. What is your opinion about that?
A First of all, I would like to make a statement as far as the removal of gold teeth is concerned from people who had died natural deaths, that is, people who had died outside, as free, human beings, and not as prisoners.
Gold for teeth, for the past ten years or so, was used by dentists more and more. By doing so, defective teeth were to be restored and then a restoration of the normal chewing processes was to occur, which no longer existed due to the loss of normal teeth. A biological aim was to be attained by so doing. That purpose, however, no longer becomes necessary at the moment when a man dies.
Other organs also of the human body are no longer necessary; for instance, the eyes, the ears. However, those organs already existed in the normal human body and they were a natural part of the human body. The gold teeth, however, always were a foreign body, so to say, in the human being's mouth -- both when the person is alive and also when the person dies.
Q Do you believe, therefore, that a good tooth is not part of a human being's body? The man who died, for instance?
AAccording to my opinion, a gold tooth bridge or a single gold tooth is no longer a part of a human being's body, or even of a deceased person's body -- any more than anything else is artificial, for instance, an artificial limb.
Q Are you of the opinion that manipulations be permitted to be performed on a human being's body, a deceased person's body?
A I am of the opinion that at that particular moment when a human being dies, the body of that person had the character of something that is not to be touched, of something taboo; that is surrounded by the secrets of eternity of death. It is an obvious sign of the secrets of life which cannot be detected. Whoever starts handling the body of a deceased person violates the laws of morality and ethics.
Q According to your opinion then, are those principles also to apply when the removal of gold teeth from a deceased person is concerned? Would that be considered a desecration?