Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume II (part 2 of 6)
In the first series of experiments the healthy subjects were infected with various bacteria, but resulting infections were not thereafter considered sufficiently serious to furnish an answer to the problem sought to be solved and further experiments were then undertaken.
Dr. Gebhardt has admitted that in the second series of experiments three of the subjects died as a result of the treatment received. All of these subjects were persons who had been selected by the concentration camp authorities and who were not consulted as to their consent or willingness to participate. Notwithstanding this, however, the experimental subjects protested against experiments both orally and in writing, stating that they would have preferred death to continued experiments, since they were convinced that they would die in any event.
An examination of the evidence presented to this Tribunal in connection with sulfanilamide experiments performed upon unwilling and nonconsenting concentration camp inmates indicates conclusively, that participating human subjects were used under duress and coercion in experiments performed upon their bodies; that persons acting as subjects incurred and suffered physical torture and the risk of death; that in the experiments here discussed at least five deaths of subjects were caused therefrom.
It is claimed by Dr. Gebhardt that all of the non-German experimental subjects were selected from inmates of concentration camps, former members of the Polish Resistance Movement, who had previously been condemned to death and were in any event marked for legal execution. This is not recognized as a valid defense to the charge of the indictment.
The Polish women who were used in the experiments had not given their consent to become experimental subjects. That fact was known to Gebhardt. The evidence conclusively shows that they had been confined at Ravensbrueck without so much as a semblance of trial. That fact could have been known to Gebhardt had he made the slightest inquiry of them concerning their status. Moreover, assuming for the moment that they had been condemned to death for acts considered hostile to the German forces in the occupied territory of Poland, these persons still were entitled to the protection of the laws of civilized nations. While under certain specific conditions the rules of land warfare may recognize the validity of an execution of spies, war rebels, or other resistance workers, it does not under any circumstances countenance the infliction of death or other punishment by maiming or torture.
BONE, MUSCLE AND NERVE REGENERATION AND BONE TRANSPLANTATION EXPERIMENTS
These experiments were carried out in Ravensbrueck concentration camp during the same time, and on the same group of Polish women used in the sulfanilamide experiments. Upon these Polish inmates three kinds of bone operations were performed—artificially induced fractures, bone transplantations, bone splints—the conditions of the operations being specially created in each particular case. Some girls were required to submit to operations several times. In one instance small pieces of fibula were taken out; in another instance the periosteum of the leg was removed. Cases occurred where subjects were experimented on by deliberately fracturing their limbs in several places and testing the effect of certain treatments. In at least one case bone incisions were performed on a subject six different times. In another case the shoulder blade of a subject was removed.
Further recital of these activities is as unnecessary as were the operations themselves. The testimony heard and exhibits filed and examined by the Tribunal conclusively sustain the allegations of the indictment with reference to the experiments mentioned therein.
SEPSIS (PHLEGMON) EXPERIMENTS
A witness whose testimony must be accepted as credible testified concerning these experiments in which concentration camp inmates were used without their consent and were thereafter infected with pus. He testified as to at least two series of experiments which resulted fatally for 12 of the subjects.
The prosecution claims, and it is likely that these biochemical experiments which were performed in the Dachau concentration camp were complementary to and formed parts of the sulfanilamide experiments in Ravensbrueck. The evidence, however, is not sufficient to establish the criminal connection of Gebhardt with these experiments.
SEA-WATER EXPERIMENTS
Dr. Gebhardt’s position, which has been mentioned in this judgment as that of an official and personal associate of Heinrich Himmler—part of whose duties concerned concentration camp medical experiments, was partially defined by an order issued by Himmler 15 May 1944 directing that an opinion from Gebhardt would be required before any experiments thereafter could be carried out on such human subjects. This order stated that all medical experiments to be carried out at the concentration camps had to have Himmler’s personal approval. It appears, however, that while the application for permission to carry out experiments involving human subjects was required to be obtained from Himmler—yet before such application could be examined, a critical opinion of the chief clinical officer of the SS, Dr. Gebhardt, concerning its technical aspects was required to accompany it. Complying with this order Gebhardt, in reference to sea-water experiments, wrote—
“I deem it absolutely right to support the Luftwaffe in every way and to place a general physician of the Waffen SS at disposal to supervise the experiments.”
This alone is deemed to be sufficient to show that Dr. Gebhardt knew about, and approved, the performance of the sea-water experiments as charged in the indictment.
STERILIZATION EXPERIMENTS
Details of the sterilization experiments will be dealt with elsewhere in this judgment; and it is unnecessary to repeat them here, except to the extent necessary to inquire the part, if any, taken by Gebhardt therein.
On 7 and 8 July 1942 a conference took place between Himmler, Gebhardt, SS Brigadefuehrer Gluecks, and SS Brigadefuehrer Clauberg, to discuss the sterilization of Jewesses. Dr. Clauberg was promised that the Auschwitz concentration camp would be placed at his disposal for experiments on human beings and animals, and he was requested to discover by means of fundamental experiments a method of sterilizing persons without their knowledge. During the course of the conference, Himmler called the special attention of all present “to the fact that the matter involved was most secret and should be discussed only with the officers in charge and that the persons present at the experiments or discussions had to pledge secrecy.”
From this evidence it is apparent that Gebhardt was present at the initial meeting which launched at least one phase of the sterilization program in the concentration camps, and thus had knowledge and gave at least passive approval to the program.
HIGH-ALTITUDE, FREEZING, MALARIA, LOST GAS, EPIDEMIC JAUNDICE, TYPHUS, POISON, AND INCENDIARY BOMB EXPERIMENTS
Details as to the origin of and procedure followed in these experiments are discussed elsewhere in this judgment, and will not be repeated. Our only concern is to determine to what extent, if any, the defendant Gebhardt took part in the experiments.
In these enterprises the defendant seems not to have taken any active part, as he did in the sulfanilamide experiments and in other programs. It may be argued that his close connection with Heinrich Himmler creates a presumption that these experiments were conducted with Gebhardt’s knowledge and approval. Be that as it may, no sufficient evidence to that effect has been presented, and a mere presumption is not enough in this case to convict the defendant.
Attention has been given to the brief filed by counsel for the defendant Gebhardt. For the most part it is unnecessary to discuss the theories presented in this brief, for the reason that the main reliance of the defense seems to be that in his connection with the experiments charged in the indictment, Dr. Gebhardt acted as a soldier in the execution of orders from an authorized superior. We cannot see the applicability of the doctrine of superior orders as a defense to the charges contained in the indictment. Such doctrine has never been held applicable to a case where the one to whom the order is given has free latitude of decision whether to accept the order or reject it. Such was the situation with reference to Gebhardt. The record makes it manifestly plain that he was not ordered to perform the experiments, but that he sought the opportunity to do so. Particularly is this true with reference to the sulfanilamide experiments: Gebhardt, in effect, took them away from Grawitz to demonstrate that certain surgical procedures advocated by him at the bedside of the mortally wounded Heydrich at Prague in May of 1942 were scientifically and surgically superior to the methods of treatment proposed by Dr. Morell, Hitler’s personal physician. The doctrine, therefore, is not applicable. But even if it were, the fact of such orders could merely be considered, under Control Council Law No. 10, as palliating punishment.
Another argument presented in briefs of counsel attempts to ground itself upon the debatable proposition that in the broad interest of alleviating human suffering, a state may legally provide for medical experiments to be carried out on prisoners condemned to death without their consent, even though such experiments may involve great suffering or death for the experimental subject. Whatever may be the right of a state with reference to its own citizens, it is certain that such legislation may not be extended so as to permit the practice upon nationals of other countries who, held in the most abject servitude, are subjected to experiments without their consent and under the most brutal and senseless conditions.
We find that Gebhardt, in his official capacity, was responsible for, aided and abetted, and took a consenting part in medical experiments performed on non-German nationals against their consent; in the course of which deaths, maiming, and other inhuman treatment resulted to the experimental subjects. To the extent that these experiments did not constitute war crimes they constituted crimes against humanity.
MEMBERSHIP IN CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Under count four of the indictment Gebhardt is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely the SS. The evidence shows that Gebhardt became a member of the SS at least as early as 1933 and voluntarily remained in that organization until the end of the war. As one of the most influential members of the Medical Service of the Waffen SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Karl Gebhardt guilty under counts two, three and four of the indictment.
BLOME
The defendant Blome is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with personal responsibility for, and participation in Malaria, Lost Gas, and Sulfanilamide Experiments, the extermination of tubercular Poles, and the execution of the Euthanasia Program. Proof has also been adduced for the purpose of showing that he participated in the freezing bacteriological warfare, and blood coagulation experiments.
The charge with reference to sulfanilamide experiments has been abandoned by the prosecution and hence will not be considered further.
The defendant Blome studied medicine at Goettingen and received his medical degree in 1920. From 1924 to 1934 he engaged in private practice. In the latter year he was summoned to Berlin where, in 1935, he reorganized the German medical educational system. He also acted as adjutant in the central office of the German Red Cross and as business manager of the German Physicians’ Association, which position he held until the end of World War II. In 1938 he became President of the Bureau of the Academy for International Medical Education. From 1939 on Blome acted as deputy for Dr. Leonardo Conti who was leader of the German Physicians’ Association, Head of the Main Office for Public Health of the Party, and Leader of the National Socialist Physicians’ Association. In 1941 he became a member of the Reich Research Council, and in 1943 was appointed Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research, connected with the research commission for protection against biological warfare.
Blome joined the SA in 1931 and became the chief medical officer of the SA in the province of Mecklenburg. In 1934 he was appointed a province office leader, and in the SA he attained a rank equivalent to that of major general. In 1943 he was awarded the highest decoration of the Nazi Party.
As Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research, it was his duty to determine which research problems should be studied and to assign such problems to scientists best fitted to investigate them.
FREEZING EXPERIMENTS
The prosecution argues that Blome is criminally responsible for participation in the freezing experiments as charged in the indictment. In the subparagraph which particularly refers to freezing, Blome is not named among the defendants charged with special responsibility for the experiments. Moreover, the record does not contain evidence which shows beyond a reasonable doubt that Blome bore any responsible part in the conduct of the freezing experiments.
MALARIA EXPERIMENTS
The evidence is insufficient to disclose any criminal responsibility of the defendant in connection with the malaria experiments.
LOST GAS EXPERIMENTS
The evidence is insufficient to disclose any criminal responsibility of the defendant in connection with these experiments.
EXTERMINATION OF TUBERCULAR POLES
The basis for the prosecution’s case against the defendant in this regard is to be found in a series of letters with reference to the tuberculosis menace in the Reichsgau Wartheland, which had been overrun by the German Reich and settled by its citizens.
During the year 1941 the German Government began a program of extermination of the Jewish population of the eastern occupied territories. On 1 May 1942 Greiser, the German Military Governor of Reichsgau Wartheland, wrote Himmler advising him that “as to the 100,000 Jews in the district, the ‘special treatment’ approved by Himmler was about completed.” The letter then continued:
“* * * I ask you for permission to rescue the district immediately, after the measures taken against the Jews, from a menace which is increasing week by week, and use the existing and efficient special commandos for that purpose.
“There are about 230,000 people of Polish nationality in my district who were diagnosed to suffer from tuberculosis. The number * * * infected with open tuberculosis is estimated at about 35,000. This fact has led in an increasingly frightening measure to the infection of Germans who came to the Warthegau perfectly healthy * * *. A considerable number of well known leading men, especially of the police, have been infected lately and are not available for the war effort * * *. The ever increasing risks were also recognized and appreciated by the deputy of the Reich Leader for Public Health, Comrade Professor Dr. Blome * * *.
“Though in Germany proper it is not possible to take appropriate draconic steps against this public plague, I think I could take responsibility * * * to have cases of open tuberculosis exterminated among the Polish race here in the Warthegau. Of course, only a Pole should be handed over for such an action who is not only suffering from open tuberculosis, but whose incurability is proved and certified by a public health officer.
“Considering the urgency of this project I ask for your approval in principle as soon as possible. This would enable us to make the preparations with all necessary precautions now to get the action against the Poles suffering from open tuberculosis under way, while the action against the Jews is in its closing stages.
“Heil Hitler! “GREISER”
Two days later Koppe, the police leader on Greiser’s staff, wrote to Rudolf Brandt restating Greiser’s proposal and urging Brandt to call the matter to Himmler’s attention. Brandt promptly acknowledged the letter, advising Koppe that the proposal had been referred to the Chief of the Security Police for opinion, but that the final decision would rest with Hitler.
On 9 June 1942 the Chief of the Security Police rendered his opinion to Himmler: “I have no scruples against having the protectorate members and stateless persons of the Polish race * * * who are afflicted with open tuberculosis, submitted to the special treatment in the sense of the proposal of Gau Leader Greiser. * * * The individual measures, though, will first have to be discussed thoroughly with the Security Police, in order to carry out the execution with the least possible attraction of attention.” The opinions thus rendered undoubtedly received the full approval of Himmler, for on 27 June 1942 Rudolf Brandt passed on to Greiser a letter from Himmler containing the following decision:
“Dear Comrade Greiser:
“I have no objection to having protectorate people and stateless persons of Polish origin who live within the territory of the Warthegau and are infected with tuberculosis handed over for special treatment as you suggest; as long as their disease is incurable * * *. I would like to request, however, to discuss the individual measures in detail with the Security Police first, in order to assure inconspicuous accomplishment of the task * * *.
[Signed] “H. HIMMLER”
The Himmler letter was acknowledged by Greiser on 21 November 1942, Greiser advising Himmler that in pursuance of the permission given him to apply “special treatment” to tubercular Poles he had made arrangements for an X-ray examination of all people in the territory, but that now that “special treatment” had been approved, Blome, Deputy Chief of the Public Health Office of the NSDAP was raising objections to its execution. A copy of Blome’s letter to Greiser was enclosed for Himmler’s information.
Blome’s letter to Greiser is dated 18 November 1942. It opens by recalling various conversations between the writer and Greiser concerning the campaign against tuberculosis in the Warthegau, and then proceeds to consider the matter in detail; the letter proceeding:
“With the settlement of Germans in all parts of the Gau, an enormous danger has arisen for them * * *. What goes for the Warthegau [* * *] also holds true for the other annexed territories * * *.
“Therefore, something basic must be done soon. One must decide the most efficient way in which this can be done. There are three ways to be taken into consideration:
“1. Special treatment of the seriously ill persons,
“2. Most rigorous isolation of the seriously ill persons,
“3. Creation of a reservation for all TB patients.
“For the planning, attention must be paid to different points of view of a practical, political and psychological nature. Considering it most soberly, the simplest way would be the following: Aided by the X-ray battalion, we could reach the entire population, German and Polish, of the Gau during the first half of 1943. As to the Germans, the treatment and isolation is to be prepared and carried out according to the regulations of Tuberculosis Relief. The approximately 35,000 Poles who are incurable and infectious will be ‘specially treated’. All other Polish consumptives will be subjected to an appropriate cure in order to save them for work and to avoid their causing contagion.”
Blome then proceeds, stating that he has made arrangements for commencement of the “radical procedure”, but suggests that some assurance should be procured that Hitler would agree to the project. The letter then goes on to say—
“I could imagine that the Fuehrer, having some time ago stopped the program in the insane asylums, might at this moment consider a ‘special treatment’ of the incurably sick as unsuitable and irresponsible from a political point of view. As regards the Euthanasia Program it was a question of people of German nationality afflicted with hereditary diseases. Now it is a question of infected sick people of a subjugated nation.”
Blome then voices the opinion that if the program is put into execution, it cannot be kept secret and will be made the basis for much adverse and harmful propaganda both at home and abroad. He suggests accordingly that before the program is commenced all points of view should again be presented to Hitler.
Continuing, Blome writes that if Hitler should forbid the radical proposal suggested by Greiser, three other solutions were open (1) consumptives and incurables could be isolated with their relatives; (2) all infectious consumptives might be strictly isolated in nursing establishments; (3) the consumptives might be resettled in a particular area. If the latter plan were adopted, the sick could reach the assigned territory on foot, and thus save the costs of transportation.
Blome’s letter finally concludes—
“After a proper examination of all these considerations and circumstances, the creation of a reservation, such as the reservations for lepers, seems to be the most practicable solution. Such a reservation should be able to be created in the shortest time by means of the necessary settlement. Within the reservation one could easily set up conditions for the strict isolation of the strongly contagious.
“Even the case of the German consumptives represents an extremely difficult problem for the Gau. But this cannot be overcome, unless the problem of the Polish consumptives is solved at the same time.”
The evidence shows that the letter from Greiser to Himmler, with Blome’s suggestions enclosed, was acknowledged by Himmler on 3 December 1942 with the following final decision:
“Dear Party Comrade Greiser:
“I have received your letter of 21 November 1942. I, too, believe that it would be better to take into consideration the misgivings set forth by Party Member Dr. Blome. In my opinion it is impossible to proceed with the sick persons in the manner intended, especially since, as you have informed me, it will be possible to exploit the practical results of the tests only in six months.
“I suggest you look for a suitable area to which the incurable consumptives can be sent. Besides the incurables, other patients with less severe cases of tuberculosis could quite well be put into this territory, too. This action would also, of course, have to be exploited with the appropriate form of propaganda.
“Before writing you this letter I again thoroughly thought over whether the original idea could not in some way be carried out. However, I am convinced now that it is better to proceed the other way.”
The prosecution maintains that this series of letters which have been referred to establishes the criminal participation of the defendant Blome in the extermination of tubercular Poles. We cannot follow the argument. It is probable that the proposal to isolate tubercular Poles, as suggested by Blome and approved by Himmler, was at least partially carried out; although the record discloses but little with reference to what actually transpired. It may be that in the course of such a program Poles may have died as the result of being uprooted from their homes and sent to isolation stations; but the record contains no direct credible evidence upon the subject. Blome explained from the witness stand his letter to Greiser by saying that it was written in order to prevent the extermination program of tubercular Poles from being put into execution. Certainly, his letter indicates on its face that he opposed the “special treatment” suggested by Greiser.
We cannot say, therefore, that the explanation offered is wholly without substance. It at least raises a reasonable doubt in our minds concerning the matter. Blome knew Hitler and Himmler. He well knew that any objections to “special treatment” based on moral or humanitarian grounds would make but small impact upon the minds of men like these Nazi leaders. He knew, moreover, that before Greiser’s proposal for extermination would be abandoned a plan which appeared to be better must be suggested. If viewed from the standpoint of factual and psychological considerations, it cannot be held that the letter was not well-worded when considered as an attempt to put an end to the plan originally adopted, and to bring the substitution of another plan not so drastic. Whatever may have been its purpose, the record shows that, in this particular, the letter did in fact divert Himmler from his original program and that as a result thereof the extermination plan was abandoned.
EUTHANASIA PROGRAM
Blome is charged with criminal responsibility in connection with the Euthanasia Program, but we are of opinion that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the charge.
BACTERIOLOGICAL WARFARE
The prosecution contends that the evidence in the case established Blome’s guilt in connection with research concerning different forms of bacteriological warfare. Blome, who was plenipotentiary for cancer research in the Reich Research Council, admits that the problem of cancer research was allied with the research commission for protection against biological warfare. He admits further, that he was placed in charge of an institute near Poznan in which the problems of biological warfare were to be investigated, but states that the work being done at the Poznan institute was interrupted in March 1945 by the advance of the Russian army.
This latter fact seems to be confirmed by the evidence. In this connection Schreiber appeared as a witness before the International Military Tribunal. His testimony given there has been received in evidence before this Tribunal. From the testimony it appears that Blome visited Schreiber at the Military Medical Academy, Berlin, during March 1945 and stated to him that he, Blome, had abandoned his institute in Poznan due to the advance of the Russians, but before leaving had attempted to destroy his installations as he feared that the Russians might discover that preparations had been made in the institute for experiments on human beings.
Counsel for the prosecution has brought to our judicial notice a finding by the International Military Tribunal in its judgment wherein it is found that—
“In July 1943 experimental work was begun in preparation for a campaign of bacteriological warfare; Soviet prisoners of war were used in the medical experiments, which more often than not proved fatal.” (See “Trial of the Major War Criminals”, Vol. I, p. 231.)
It is submitted by the prosecution that this finding of the International Military Tribunal, when considered in connection with other evidence in the case, requires this Tribunal to find the defendant Blome guilty under the indictment.
The suggestion is not tenable. It may well be that defendant Blome was preparing to experiment upon human beings in connection with bacteriological warfare, but the record fails to disclose that fact, or that he ever actually conducted experiments. The charge of the prosecution on this item is not sustained.
POLYGAL EXPERIMENTS
The prosecution has introduced evidence which suggests that Blome may be criminally responsible for polygal experiments conducted by Rascher at Dachau, in which Russian prisoners of war were used as experimental subjects. In our view the evidence does no more than raise a strong suspicion; it does not sustain the charge beyond a reasonable doubt.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Kurt Blome not guilty as charged under the indictment and directs that he be released from custody under the indictment when this Tribunal presently adjourns.
RUDOLF BRANDT
Under counts two and three of the indictment the defendant Rudolf Brandt is charged with special responsibility for, and participation in, High-Altitude, Freezing, Malaria, Lost Gas, Sulfanilamide, Bone, Muscle and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation, Sea-Water, Epidemic Jaundice, Sterilization, and Typhus Experiments. He is also charged under these counts with criminal responsibility for the murder of 112 Jews for the purpose of completing a Skeleton Collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg, for the murder and ill-treatment of tubercular Poles, and for the Euthanasia Program carried out by the German Reich.
Under count four of the indictment he is charged with membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal.
The prosecution has abandoned the charge of participation in the bone, muscle and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation experiment; hence, it will not be considered further.
The defendant Rudolf Brandt joined the Nazi Party in 1932. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the SS in 1935. In approximately ten years he rose to the rank of SS colonel. He is one of the three defendants in the case who is not a physician.
From the commencement of his career in the Nazi organization until his capture by the Allied Forces in 1945 he was directly subordinate to and closely associated with the leader of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, and he had full knowledge of his chief’s personal and official interests and activities.
To Himmler, Rudolf Brandt was first of all an important and trusted clerical assistant. The record shows him to have been an unusually proficient stenographer. That is the road by which he finally arrived at a position of considerable power and authority as personal Referent on Himmler’s Personal Staff, Ministerial Counsellor in the Ministry of the Interior, and a member of the Ahnenerbe. Acting for Himmler during his absences, Rudolf Brandt, in these positions, had a tremendous opportunity to and did exercise personal judgment and discretion in many serious and important matters.
HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS
These experiments extended from March to August 1942. Their details are dealt with elsewhere in this judgment. A portion of the evidence in this specification consists of correspondence between the defendant Rudolf Brandt and various others in the German military service who were personally engaged in, or were closely connected with, the physical details of the experiments performed. The correspondence just previously mentioned was admitted in evidence, is well authenticated, and even standing alone, without additional oral testimony—of which there was also plenty—is deemed amply sufficient to disclose beyond reasonable doubt that except for the sanction and diligent cooperation of the defendant Rudolf Brandt, or someone occupying his position, the high-altitude experiments mentioned in the indictment could not have been conducted.
Taken altogether, the evidence on this item discloses that during the period between March and August 1942, certain medical experiments were conducted at the Dachau concentration camp in Germany for the benefit of the German Air Force, to determine the limits of human endurance and existence at extremely high altitudes. Various human beings, unwillingly, and entirely without their consent, were required and compelled to, and did participate in the aforesaid experiments as subjects thereof. The said nonconsenting subjects were prisoners of war, German civilians and civilians from German occupied territory, whose exact citizenship, in many cases, could not be ascertained. Among the experimental subjects there were numerous deaths, estimated by witnesses at 70 or 80, resulting directly from compulsory participation in the experiments. Exact data on the total fatalities cannot be stated, but there is convincing evidence that during the last day’s operation of the high-altitude experiments, five participating and nonconsenting subjects died as the result thereof. The greater number of the experimental subjects suffered grave injury, torture and ill-treatment.
FREEZING EXPERIMENTS
In this experiment, or series of experiments, Rudolf Brandt is established as an intermediary and necessary aid between Heinrich Himmler, who authorized the work to be done, and those who were appointed by him actually to perform the ruthless task. Evidence is conclusive that Rudolf Brandt at all times knew exactly what experimental processes would be carried out. He knew that the procedure followed was to select from the inmates at Dachau such human subjects as were considered most suitable for experimental purposes. He knew that no consent was ever deemed necessary from the persons upon whom the experiments were to be performed. He knew that among the experimental subjects were non-German nationals, including civilians and prisoners of war.
The exact number of deaths cannot be ascertained from the evidence, but that fatalities occurred among the experimental subjects has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
LOST (MUSTARD) GAS EXPERIMENTS
On this specification, an affidavit of the defendant Rudolf Brandt which is confirmed by other evidence reads substantially as follows:
“Towards the end of the year 1939, experiments were conducted at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on persons who were certainly not all volunteers, in order to ascertain the efficacy of the different treatment of wounds inflicted by Lost gas. Lost is a poisonous gas which produces injurious effects on the epidermis. I think it is generally known as mustard gas. * * * Therefore, experiments were conducted on inmates of concentration camps. As far as I understand, the experiments consisted of inflicting wounds upon various parts of the bodies of the experimental subjects and infecting them thereafter with Lost. Various methods of treatment were applied in order to determine the most effective one * * *.
“In the second half of 1942, Hirt (Dr. August Hirt) together with * * * who served in the Luftwaffe, initiated experiments on inmates of the Natzweiler concentration camp. The inmates for these as well as other experiments were simply chosen by Pohl’s office, the Economic and Administrative Main Office, WVHA. In order to be employed for such purposes, the experiments on human subjects with Lost gas had been carried on during the years 1943 and 1944 in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp as well as in the Natzweiler concentration camp. The result was that some of the inmates died.”
In the course of the gas experiments above referred to, testimony in the record discloses that a considerable amount of correspondence was carried on by persons concerned (except the experimental subjects themselves), and it appears that some, at least, of this was referred to Rudolf Brandt for action, upon which he personally intervened sufficiently to associate himself actively with the conduct of the work being done. And so he must be regarded as criminally responsible.
STERILIZATION EXPERIMENTS
Rudolf Brandt is charged, as in the indictment set forth, with special responsibility under the above heading. The means by which sterilization experiments or processes were to be made or utilized included X-ray treatment, surgery, and drugs.
No specific instances of any drug being actually used have been clearly shown by oral testimony, or exhibits herein submitted in evidence. In reference to the X-ray and surgery methods of sterilization, however, Rudolf Brandt is shown by the evidence to have taken a moving part in the preparation of plans, and in their execution, sufficient to justify the Tribunal in finding his criminal connection therewith. An affidavit executed by the defendant Rudolf Brandt reads as follows:
“Himmler was extremely interested in the development of a cheap, rapid sterilization method which could be used against enemies of Germany, such as the Russians, Poles, and Jews. One hoped thereby not only to defeat the enemy, but to exterminate him. The capacity for work of the sterilized persons could be exploited by Germany, while the danger of propagation would be eliminated. This mass sterilization was part of Himmler’s racial theory; particular time and care were devoted to these sterilization experiments.”
We learn from the record that persons subjected to treatment were “young, well-built inmates of concentration camps who were in the best of health, and these were Poles, Russians, French, and prisoners of war.”
It goes without saying that the work done in conformity with the plans of Himmler, substantially aided by the cooperation of Rudolf Brandt, brought maiming and suffering to great numbers of people.
TYPHUS EXPERIMENTS
Medical experiments ostensibly conducted to benefit Germany in the prevention of typhus fever were carried on in the Natzweiler concentration camp beginning with the year 1942. The details of these experiments have been dealt with elsewhere in this judgment.
In the evidence it is proved that not less than 50 experimental subjects died as a direct result of their participation in these typhus experiments. Persons of all nationalities were used as subjects. Regarding these enterprises, Rudolf Brandt, in his own affidavit, admits that these experimental subjects did not volunteer but were conscripted and compelled to serve without their consent being sought or given.
Inasmuch as information on the typhus experiments, both before and after their performance, was furnished, as a matter of course, to Himmler through Brandt, the defendant’s full knowledge of them is regarded as definitely proven.
Here, again, the managing hand of the defendant is shown. The smooth operation of these experiments is demonstrated to have been contingent upon the diligence with which Rudolf Brandt arranged for the supply of quotas of suitable human experimental material to the physicians at the scene of the experiment.
In view of these proven facts, the defendant Rudolf Brandt must be held and considered as one of the defendants responsible for performance of illegal medical experiments where deaths resulted to the nonconsenting human subjects.
SKELETON COLLECTION
In response to a request by Rudolf Brandt, on 9 February 1942 the defendant Sievers, business manager of the Ahnenerbe, submitted to him certain data on the alleged desirability of securing a Jewish skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg. The report furnished to the defendant Brandt contained among other things the following:
“By procuring the skulls of the Jewish Bolshevik Commissars, who personified a repulsive yet characteristic humanity, we have the opportunity of obtaining tangible scientific evidence. The actual obtaining and collecting of these skulls without difficulty could be best accomplished by a directive issued to the Wehrmacht in the future to immediately turn over alive all Jewish Bolshevik Commissars to the field police.”
On 27 February 1942, Rudolf Brandt informed defendant Sievers that Himmler would support the enterprise and would place everything necessary at his disposal; and that Sievers should report again in connection with the undertaking.
Testimony and exhibits placed before this Court are abundantly sufficient to show that the plan mentioned was actually put into operation; that not less than 86 people were murdered for the sole purpose of obtaining their skeletons. Much more could be said in reference to this revolting topic, but it would add nothing to the judgment. The fact that Rudolf Brandt showed an initial interest and collaborated in the undertaking is enough to require a finding that he is guilty of murder in connection with the program.
MALARIA, SEA-WATER, AND EPIDEMIC JAUNDICE EXPERIMENTS; AND THE CHARGE OF THE MURDER AND MISTREATMENT OF POLES
It appears to be well established that Himmler sponsored, supported, furthered or initiated each of these enterprises. Doubtless Brandt knew what was going on, and perhaps he helped in the program. The evidence is not sufficient, however, to justify such a finding.
The Tribunal finds that the defendant Rudolf Brandt was an accessory to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, was knowingly connected with plans and enterprises involving, and was a member of an organization or group connected with, the commission of medical experiments on non-German nationals, without their consent, in the course of which experiments murders, brutalities, cruelties, tortures, atrocities, and other inhuman acts were committed; and the murder of no less than 86 non-German Jews for a skeleton collection. To the extent that these crimes were not war crimes they were crimes against humanity.
MEMBERSHIP IN CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Under count four of the indictment Rudolf Brandt is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. The evidence shows that Rudolf Brandt became a member of the SS in 1933, and remained in this organization until the end of the war. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.
An extremely persuasive and interesting brief on behalf of the defendant Rudolf Brandt, filed by his attorney, has received careful attention by this Tribunal. Therein it is urged that Rudolf Brandt’s position under Heinrich Himmler was one of such subordination, his personal character so essentially mild, and he was so dominated by his chief, that the full significance of the crimes in which he became engulfed came to him with a shock only when he went to trial. This plea is offered in mitigation of appalling offenses in which the defendant Brandt is said to have played only an unassuming role.
If it be thought for even a moment that the part played by Rudolf Brandt was relatively unimportant when compared with the enormity of the charges proved by the evidence, let it be said that every Himmler must have his Brandt else the plans of a master criminal would never be put into execution.
The Tribunal, therefore, cannot accept the thesis.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Rudolf Brandt is guilty under counts two, three and four of the indictment.
MRUGOWSKY
The defendant is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with special responsibility for, and participation in, Freezing, Malaria, Sulfanilamide, Typhus, Poison, Epidemic Jaundice, and Incendiary Bomb Experiments. Charges were made concerning certain other medical experiments, but they have been abandoned by the prosecution.
Mrugowsky joined the NSDAP in 1930 and the SS in 1931. He ultimately rose to the rank of senior colonel in the Waffen SS.
In 1938 Mrugowsky became a member of the staff of the SS medical office, as hygienist. At the beginning of 1939 he founded the Hygiene Bacteriological Testing Station of the SS in Berlin, whose purpose was to combat epidemics in the SS garrison troops of the Waffen SS. In 1940 the station was enlarged and renamed the “Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS.” Mrugowsky became its chief and at the same time Chief of the Office for Hygiene in the Medical Service of the Waffen SS under Genzken.
In his dual capacity Mrugowsky was answerable to Genzken in all questions concerning epidemic control and hygiene in the Waffen SS, but as Chief of the Hygiene Institute, was military superior and commander of the Institute and its affiliated institutions with power to issue orders.
The Medical Service of the Waffen SS was reorganized on 1 September 1943. Mrugowsky and the Hygiene Institute were transferred from under Genzken and became directly subordinated to Grawitz as Reich Physician SS and Police. By this transfer Mrugowsky became chief hygienist under Grawitz, but remained Chief of the Hygiene Institute.
TYPHUS AND OTHER VACCINE EXPERIMENTS
The details concerning the vaccine experiments conducted at Buchenwald concentration camp have been related elsewhere in this judgment and hence the details need no further discussion.
As pointed out in the case against Handloser, there is evidence in the record that on 29 December 1941 a conference was held in Berlin attended by Mrugowsky at which the decision was reached to begin research tests at Buchenwald to determine the efficacy of egg yolk, and other vaccines as protection against typhus. As a result of the conference, such an experimental station was established at Buchenwald under the direction of Dr. Ding with the defendant Hoven acting as his deputy.
Except for a few tests conducted early in 1942, all experiments were carried out in Block 46—so-called clinical block of the station. In the autumn of 1943 a vaccine production department was established in Block 50 and this also came under the supervision of Dr. Ding-Schuler.
It would burden this judgment unnecessarily to narrate in detail the various tests and experiments carried out by Ding at Buchenwald as a result of the decisions reached at higher levels. All of them conformed to a more or less uniform pattern, with certain groups of inmates being inoculated with vaccines, other groups (known as control groups) being given no immunization, and finally both groups being artificially infected with a virulent virus, and the results noted upon the experimental subjects.
We learn from the Ding diary, the authenticity and reliability of which has been discussed at length in other portions of the judgment, the methods employed, and the results obtained in at least some of the experiments.
For example: In “Typhus vaccination material research series I”, which began on 6 January 1942, 135 inmates were vaccinated with Weigl, Cox-Haagen-Gildemeister, Behring-Normal, or Behring-Strong, vaccines; 10 persons were used for control. On 3 March 1942 all test subjects, including control persons, were artificially infected with virulent virus of Rickettsia-Prowazeki furnished by the Robert Koch Institute. Five deaths occurred; three in the control group and two among the vaccinated subjects.
In “Typhus vaccine, research series II”, from 19 August to 4 September 1942, 40 persons were vaccinated with two different vaccines; 19 persons were used for control. Subsequently all were artificially infected with virulent virus; four deaths among the control persons occurred.
The entries in the diary concerning “Typhus vaccine experimental series VII” read as follows:
“28 May 43-18 June 1943: Carrying out of typhus vaccination for immunization with the following vaccine (1) 20 persons with vaccine ‘Asid’, (2) 20 persons with vaccine ‘Asid Adsorbat’, (3) 20 persons with vaccine ‘Weigl’ of the Institute for Typhus and Virus Research of the High Command, Army (OKH) Krakow (Eyer) * * *. All experimental persons got very serious typhus. 7 Sept. 43: Chart and case history completed. The experimental series was concluded. 53 deaths (18 with ‘Asid’) (18 with ‘Asid Adsorbat’) (9 with ‘Weigl’) (8 control) 9 Sep. 43: Charts and case histories delivered to Berlin. Dr. Ding, SS Sturmbannfuehrer.”
Concerning “Typhus vaccine experimental series VIII” began on 8 March 1944 the following entry appears in the diary:
“Suggested by Colonel M.C. of the Air Corps, Professor Rose (Oberstarzt) the vaccine ‘Kopenhagen’ (Ipsen-Murine-vaccine), produced from mouse liver by the national serum institute in Copenhagen, was tested for its compatibility on humans. 20 persons were vaccinated for immunization by intramuscular injection * * *, 10 persons were contemplated for control and comparison. 4 of the 30 persons were eliminated before the start of the artificial injection because of intermittent sickness * * *. The remaining experimental persons were infected on 16 April 44 by subcutaneous injection of 1/20 cc. typhus sick fresh blood * * *. The following fell sick: 17 persons immunized: 9 medium, 8 seriously; 9 persons control, 2 medium, 7 seriously * * *. 2 June 44: The experimental series was concluded. 13 June 44: Chart and case history completed and sent to Berlin. 6 deaths (3 Kopenhagen) (3 control). Dr. Ding.”
“Typhus vaccine experimental series IX” began on 17 July 1944. Twenty persons were immunized with the vaccine “Weimar” produced by the department for Typhus and Virus Research of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS; and for comparison, another group of 20 persons were immunized with vaccine “Weigl” produced from lice by the Army High Command (OKH) in Cracow [Krakow]. Still another group of 20 persons were used for the control group. On 6 September 1944 the 60 experimental persons were infected with fresh blood “sick with typhus” which was injected into the upper arm. As a result, all experimental persons became sick, some seriously. The narration of this experimental series closes with the cryptic report: “4 Nov 44: Chart and case history completed, 24 deaths (5 ‘Weigl’) (19 Control). Dr. Schuler.”
These entries are but few of the many which we have taken at random from the Ding diary, dealing with the sordid murders of defenseless victims in the name of Nazi medical science. Many more could be set forth if time and space permitted. An analysis of the Ding diary discloses that no less than 729 concentration camp inmates were experimented on with typhus, at least 154 of whom died. And this toll of death takes no account of the certain demise of scores of so-called “passage” persons who were artificially infected with typhus for the sole purpose of having at hand an ever-ready supply of fresh blood “sick with typhus” to be used to infect the experimental subjects.
There is some evidence to the effect that the camp inmates used as subjects in the first series submitted to being used as experimental subjects after being told that the experiments were harmless and that additional food would be given to volunteers. But these victims were not informed that they would be artificially infected with a highly virulent virus nor that they might die as a result. Certainly no one would seriously suggest that under the circumstances these men gave their legal consent to act as subjects. One does not ordinarily consent to be the special object of a murder, and if one did, such consent would not absolve his slayer.
Later, when news of what was happening in Block 46 became generally known in the camp, it was no longer possible to delude the inmates into offering themselves as victims. Thereupon, the shabby pretense of seeking volunteers was dropped and the experimental subjects were taken arbitrarily from a list of inmates prepared by the camp administration.
Other experiments were also carried out in Block 46 of Buchenwald to test typhoid, para-typhoid A and B, and yellow fever.
As in the typhus experiments, nonconsenting human subjects were used, including not only German criminal prisoners but also Poles, Russians, and Frenchmen, both civilians and prisoners of war.
In all the typhus experiments, death resulted to many experimental subjects. As to each of these experiments the evidence is overwhelming that they were carried out by Ding under the orders or authority of the defendant Mrugowsky.
POISON EXPERIMENTS
On 11 September 1944 Mrugowsky, Ding, and a certain Dr. Widmann carried out an experiment with aconitin nitrate projectiles in the Sachenshausen concentration camp. Details of the experiment are fully explained by a “Top Secret” report of the sordid affair in a letter written by the defendant Mrugowsky to the Criminological Institute, Berlin. The letter follows:
“Subject: Experiments with aconitin nitrate projectiles.
To the Criminological Institute Attn: Dr. Widmann Berlin
“In the presence of SS Strumbannfuehrer Dr. Ding, Dr. Widmann, and the undersigned, experiments with aconitin nitrate projectiles were conducted on 11 September 1944 on 5 persons who had been condemned to death. The projectiles in question were of a 7.65-mm caliber, filled with crystalized poison. The experimental subjects, in a lying position, were each shot in the upper part of the left thigh. The thighs of two of them were cleanly shot through. Even afterwards, no effect of the poison was to be observed. These two experimental subjects were therefore exempted.
“The entrance of the projectile did not show any peculiarities. Evidently, the arteria femolaries of one of the subjects was injured. A light stream of blood issued from the wound. But the bleeding stopped after a short time. The loss of blood was estimated as having been at the most ¾ of a liter, and consequently was on no account fatal.
“The symptoms of the condemned three showed a surprising similarity. At first no peculiarities appeared. After 20-25 minutes a motor agitation and a slight ptyalism set in but stopped again. After 40 to 45 minutes a stronger salivation set in. The poisoned persons swallowed repeatedly, but later the flow of saliva became so strong that it could not even be overcome by swallowing. Foamy saliva flowed from their mouths. Then choking and vomiting set in.
“After 58 minutes the pulse of two of them could no longer be felt. The third had a pulse rate of 76. After 65 minutes his blood pressure was 90/60. The sounds were extremely low. A reduction of blood pressure was evident.
“During the first hour of the experiment the pupils did not show any changes. After 78 minutes the pupils of all three showed a medium dilation together with a retarded light reaction. Simultaneously, maximum respiration with heavy breathing inhalations set in. This subsided after a few minutes. The pupils contracted again and their reaction improved. After 65 minutes the patellar and achilles tendon reflexes of the poisoned subjects were negative. The abdominal reflexes of two of them were also negative. The upper abdominal reflexes of the third were still positive, while the lower were negative. After approximately 90 minutes, one of the subjects again started breathing heavily, this was accompanied by an increasing motor unrest. Then the heavy breathing changed into a flat, accelerated respiration, accompanied by extreme nausea. One of the poisoned persons tried in vain to vomit. To do so he introduced four fingers of his hand up to the knuckles into his throat, but nevertheless could not vomit. His face was flushed.
“The other two experimental subjects had already early shown a pale face. The other symptoms were the same. The motor unrest increased so much that the persons flung themselves up, then down, rolled their eyes, and made meaningless motions with their hands and arms. Finally the agitation subsided, the pupils dilated to the maximum, and the condemned lay motionless. Masseter spasms and urination were observed in one case. Death occurred 121, 123 and 129 minutes after entry of the projectile.
“Summary. The projectiles filled with approximately 38 mg. of aconitin nitrate in solid form had, in spite of only insignificant injuries, a deadly effect after two hours. Poisoning showed 20 to 25 minutes after injury. The main reactions were: salivation, alteration of the pupils, negative tendon reflexes, motor unrest, and extreme nausea.
“MRUGOWSKY “SS Lecturer Oberfuehrer and Office Chief.”
The defendant attempts to meet this charge with the defense that the subjects used in this experiment were persons who had been condemned to death and that he, Mrugowsky, had been appointed as their legal executioner.
One need but read the letter introduced in evidence to arrive at the conclusion that the defense has no validity. This was not a legal execution carried out in conformance with the laws and rules of war, but a criminal medical experiment wherein wounds were inflicted on prisoners with the sole end in view of determining the effectiveness of poisoned bullets as a means of taking life. The hapless victims of this dastardly torture were Russian prisoners of war, entitled to the protection afforded by the laws of civilized nations. As has been said, in substance, in this judgment: While under certain specific conditions the rules of land warfare may recognize the validity of an execution by shooting, it will not under any circumstances countenance the infliction of death by maiming or torture.
SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS
That Mrugowsky rendered assistance to Gebhardt in the sulfanilamide experiments at Ravensbrueck is plainly shown by the record. Mrugowsky put his laboratory and co-workers at Gebhardt’s disposal. He furnished the cultures for the infections. It was on the suggestion of Mrugowsky’s office that wood shavings and ground glass were placed in the wounds of the subjects so that battlefield wounds would be more closely simulated.
GAS OEDEMA EXPERIMENTS
Toward the end of 1942 a conference was held in the Military Medical Academy, Berlin, to discuss the effects of gas oedema serum on wounded persons. During the conference, several cases were reported in which wounded soldiers who had received gas oedema serum injections in large quantities suddenly died without apparent reason. Mrugowsky, who participated in the conference, expressed the possibility that perhaps the deaths had been due to the phenol content of the serum. As a step toward solving the problem Mrugowsky ordered Dr. Ding-Schuler, his subordinate, to take part in a euthanasia killing with phenol and to report on the results in detail.
In pursuance of the order given, Dr. Ding and the defendant Hoven killed some of the concentration camp inmates at Buchenwald with phenol injections and Ding reported his findings to his superior officer, Mrugowsky, as required by the order.
FREEZING, INCENDIARY BOMB, AND EPIDEMIC JAUNDICE EXPERIMENTS
As to these items the Tribunal is of the view that the evidence is insufficient to sustain the charges.
It has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant Mrugowsky was a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and was knowingly connected with plans and enterprises involving medical experiments on non-German nationals, without their consent, in the course of which experiments, murders, brutalities, cruelties, tortures, atrocities, and other inhuman acts were committed. To the extent that these crimes were not war crimes they were crimes against humanity.
COUNT FOUR
Under count four of the indictment, the defendant is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS.
The evidence proves that Mrugowsky joined the NSDAP in 1930 and voluntarily became a member of the Waffen SS in 1931. He remained in these organizations throughout the war. As a member of the Waffen SS, he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity as discussed in this judgment.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Joachim Mrugowsky is guilty under counts two, three, and four of the indictment.
POPPENDICK
The defendant Poppendick is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with personal responsibility for, and participation in, High-Altitude, Freezing, Malaria, Sulfanilamide, Sea-Water, Epidemic Jaundice, Sterilization, Typhus, and Poison experiments. He is charged under count four with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal.
The charges with reference to high-altitude and poison experiments have been abandoned by the prosecution and hence will not be considered further.
Poppendick studied medicine at several German universities from 1921 to 1926 and passed his state examination in December of the latter year. He joined the NSDAP on 1 March 1932 and the SS on 1 July following. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the SS and to the rank of senior colonel in the Waffen SS. He was also a member of a Nazi Physicians’ Association. In August 1935 he was appointed as a physician in the Main Race and Settlement Office in Berlin and became chief physician of that office in 1941. He held the latter appointment until the fall of 1944.
From 1 September 1939 until sometime in 1941, Poppendick was on active duty in the army as a surgeon. During the latter year he resumed his duties with the Race and Settlement Office in Berlin. Between 1939 and 1943, he performed some duties as a member of the staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police, Dr. Grawitz, taking care of special assignments.
In the fall of 1943 Poppendick was made Chief of the Personal Office of Grawitz, which position he retained until the end of the war.
FREEZING EXPERIMENTS
The evidence is that Poppendick gained knowledge of the freezing experiments conducted by Rascher at Dachau, as the result of a conference held between Rascher, Grawitz, and Poppendick on 13 January 1943 for the purpose of discussing certain phases of the research. The evidence does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Poppendick was criminally connected with these experiments.
MALARIA EXPERIMENTS
The prosecution contends that Poppendick is criminally responsible for the malaria experiments conducted by Dr. Schilling at Dachau. Dr. Ploetner was engaged in the malaria experiments as a subordinate of Schilling. Sievers’ Diary, which is in evidence, contains a notation that on 23 May 1944 Grawitz, Poppendick, Ploetner, and Sievers held a conference, which had probably been arranged by Poppendick three days previously by telephone. The subject of the conference is not disclosed by the diary entry, but it appears elsewhere in the diary that on 31 May 1944 Grawitz sanctioned Ploetner’s collaboration with Schilling.
Poppendick testified as a witness on his own behalf that he had heard that Schilling was carrying on special investigations at Dachau concerning immunity from malaria. He stated further that his knowledge of the nature of the investigations went no further. The record does not contradict his testimony.
The Tribunal finds that the evidence does not disclose beyond a reasonable doubt that Poppendick was criminally connected with the malaria experiments.
SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS
Poppendick attended the Third Meeting of Consulting Surgeons at the Military Medical Academy, Berlin, and heard lectures by Gebhardt and Fischer concerning the sulfanilamide experiments, which have been discussed elsewhere in this judgment. Under date of 7 September 1942 he signed a certificate to a true copy of a report, concerning sulfanilamide experiments which had been conducted at Ravensbrueck, made by Gebhardt to Grawitz. Grawitz forwarded the report, or a certified copy thereof, to Himmler.
We are of the opinion that Poppendick had knowledge of the criminal nature of the experiments conducted by Gebhardt and Fischer at Ravensbrueck, but the defendant’s criminal connection with any such experiments has not been proved by the evidence.
SEA-WATER EXPERIMENTS
The evidence does not disclose beyond a reasonable doubt that Poppendick was criminally implicated in these experiments.
EPIDEMIC JAUNDICE EXPERIMENTS
The evidence does not disclose beyond a reasonable doubt that Poppendick was criminally implicated in these experiments.
STERILIZATION EXPERIMENTS
Poppendick was Chief Physician of the Main Race and Settlement Office. The judgment of the International Military Tribunal found that this office was “active in carrying out schemes for Germanization of occupied territories according to the racial principles of the Nazi Party and were involved in the deportation of Jews and other foreign nationals.” (See the “Trial of the Major War Criminals,” Vol. 1, p. 270.)
Testifying before this Tribunal, Poppendick stated that the Nazi racial policy was twofold in aspect; one policy being positive, the other, negative in character. The positive policy included many matters, one being the encouragement of German families to produce more children. The negative policy concerned the sterilization and extermination of non-Aryans as well as other measures to reduce the non-Aryan population. According to Poppendick’s testimony, he was not concerned with the execution of negative, but only with positive measures.
By letter dated 29 May 1941 Grawitz wrote to Himmler concerning a conference held on 27 May 1941 at which Dr. Clauberg was present, and discussed his “new method of sterilization of inferior women without an operation.”
Poppendick by letter dated 4 June 1941, which referred to a previous telephone conversation with Grawitz, wrote Rudolf Brandt stating that he was enclosing “the list of physicians who are prepared to perform the treatment of sterility” as requested by Himmler. The list referred to is evidently the same as was contained in a letter from Grawitz to Himmler, dated 30 May 1941, which stated: “In the following, I submit a list of specialists in charge of the treatment of sterility in women according to the method of Professor Clauberg.”
It is shown by the evidence that Clauberg later carried out sterilization experiments on Jewesses at Auschwitz. Similar experiments were carried out in other concentration camps by SS doctors who were subordinate to Grawitz. It is evident that Poppendick knew of these sterilization experiments, although it is not shown that he was criminally connected with them.
TYPHUS EXPERIMENTS
It is not clear from the evidence that Poppendick was criminally connected with, or had knowledge of, the nature of the typhus experiments at Buchenwald, or the type of subjects upon which they were conducted.
INCENDIARY BOMB EXPERIMENTS
There is some evidence in the record to the effect that after incendiary bomb experiments were completed at Buchenwald, reports of the experiments were forwarded to Poppendick and Mrugowsky. It is evident that through the reports Poppendick gained knowledge of the nature of the experiments, but the record fails to show criminal responsibility of the defendant in connection therewith.
PHLEGMON EXPERIMENTS
The evidence clearly proves Poppendick’s knowledge of these experiments, but it fails to show the defendant’s criminal connection therewith.
POLYGAL EXPERIMENTS
The record does not show Poppendick’s knowledge of or connection with these experiments.
HORMONE EXPERIMENTS
The prosecution contends that the evidence shows Poppendick’s criminal responsibility in connection with a series of experiments conducted at Buchenwald by Dr. Varnet, a Danish physician who claimed to have discovered a method of curing homosexuality by transplantation of an artificial gland.
Under date 15 July 1944, Poppendick wrote to Dr. Ding at the concentration camp Buchenwald as follows:
“By request of the Reichsfuehrer SS the Danish doctor SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. Varnet has been given opportunity to continue his hormone research with the SS, particularly the development of his artificial gland. The Reichsfuehrer SS anticipates certain results from the treatment of homosexuals with Vamet’s artificial gland. The technical preparations have come to such a point that experiments on human beings can be started within a reasonable space of time.
“As SS Standartenfuehrer Dr. Lolling informed me, the concentration camp Weimar-Buchenwald has been directed to make available 5 prisoners for SS Sturmbannfuehrer Varnet’s experiments. These prisoners will be made available to SS Sturmbannfuehrer Varnet by the camp physician at any time.
“SS Sturmbannfuehrer Varnet intends to go to Buchenwald shortly in order to make certain necessary preliminary tests on these prisoners. In case there will be special laboratory tests, you are requested to assist Varnet within the scope of your possibilities.
“Particulars on Varnet’s research were sent today to the camp physician of Weimar-Buchenwald for his information.”
There is evidence that during the summer of 1944 Dr. Varnet conducted the experiments referred to in Poppendick’s letter. However, the nationality of the prisoners used for the experiments is not shown, nor has it been proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the experiments were harmful or caused death, or injury to the experimental subjects.
We have given careful consideration to the evidence concerning the charges made by the prosecution against the defendant Poppendick. Certainly the evidence raises a strong suspicion that he was involved in the experiments. He at least had notice of them and of their consequences. He knew also that they were being carried on by the SS, of which he was and remained a member.
But this Tribunal, however, cannot convict upon mere suspicion; evidence beyond a reasonable doubt is necessary. The evidence is insufficient to sustain guilt under counts two and three of the indictment.
MEMBERSHIP IN A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
The defendant Poppendick is charged with membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. Poppendick joined the SS in July 1932. He remained in the SS voluntarily throughout the war, with actual knowledge of the fact that that organization was being used for the commission of acts now declared criminal by Control Council Law No. 10. He must, therefore, be found guilty under count four of the indictment.
With reference to the nature of punishment which should be imposed under such circumstances, the International Military Tribunal has made the following recommendation:
“1. That so far as possible throughout the four zones of occupation in Germany the classifications, sanctions, and penalties be standardized. Uniformity of treatment so far as practical should be a basic principle. This does not, of course, mean that discretion in sentencing should not be vested in the Court; but the discretion should be within fixed limits appropriate to the nature of the crime.
“2. Law No. 10 * * * leaves punishment entirely to the discretion of the trial court even to the extent of inflicting the death penalty.
“The De-Nazification Law of 5 March 1946, however, passed for Bavaria, Greater Hesse, and Wuerttemberg-Baden, provides definite sentences for punishment in each type of offense. The Tribunal recommends that in no case should punishment imposed under Law No. 10 upon any members of an organization or group declared by the Tribunal to be criminal exceed the punishment fixed by the De-Nazification Law. No person should be punished under both laws.”
(See “Trial of the Major War Criminals,” Vol. 1, p. 257.)
In weighing the punishment, if any, which should be meted out to the defendant for his guilt by reason of the charge contained in count four of the indictment, this Tribunal will give such consideration to the recommendations of the International Military Tribunal as may under the premises seem meet and proper.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds the defendant Helmut Poppendick not guilty under counts two and three of the indictment, and finds and adjudges the defendant Helmut Poppendick guilty as charged in the fourth count of the indictment.
SIEVERS
The defendant Sievers is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with special responsibility for, and participation in, High-Altitude, Freezing, Malaria, Lost Gas, Sea-Water, Epidemic Jaundice, and Typhus Experiments, and with extermination of Jews to complete a skeleton collection. Under count four of the indictment, he is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS.
The prosecution has abandoned the charge of participation in the Epidemic Jaundice experiments, and hence, this charge will not be considered further.
Sievers is one of the three defendants who are not physicians. He joined the NSDAP in 1929 and renewed his membership in the Nazi Party in 1933. He joined the SS at the end of 1935 on the suggestion of Himmler. In this organization he attained the rank of a Standartenfuehrer (colonel).
From 1 July 1935 until the war ended, Sievers was a member of Himmler’s personal staff and Reich Business Manager of the Ahnenerbe Society. According to a statute of 1 January 1939, the purpose of the Ahnenerbe was to support scientific research concerning the culture and heritage of the Nordic race. The Board of Directors was composed of Himmler as president, Dr. Wuest as curator, and Sievers as the business manager. Sievers was responsible for the business organization administration and the budget of the Ahnenerbe. The place of business was Berlin. Sievers supported and participated in the medical experiments which are the subject of the indictment, primarily through the Institute of Military Scientific Research which was established by order of Himmler dated 7 July 1942 and was administratively attached to the Ahnenerbe.
On 1 January 1942 Himmler ordered the establishment of an entomological institute; in March 1942 the Institute Dr. Rascher in Dachau; and in the first month of the year 1942, the Institute Dr. Hirt, at Strasbourg. These subsequently became part of the Institute for Military Scientific Research.
Sievers was, for all practical purposes, the acting head of the Ahnenerbe. In this capacity he was subordinated to Himmler and regularly reported to him on the affairs of this Society. The top secret correspondence of Himmler concerning the Ahnenerbe was sent to Sievers. The charter of the Ahnenerbe defines Sievers’ duties as follows:
“The Reich Business Manager handles the business affairs of the community; he is in charge of the business organization and administration. He is responsible for the drawing up of the budget and for the administration of the treasury.”
Sievers was responsible for the entire administrative problems of the secretary’s office, bookkeeping and treasury. Besides that he also had to manage the Ahnenerbe publishing house. In June 1943 Professor Dr. Mentzel, who among other things was Chief of the Business Managing Advisory Council of the Reich Research Council, appointed Sievers as his deputy. By this act Sievers did not become a member of the Reich Research Council but held only an honorary position.
In a letter to the defendant Rudolf Brandt, dated 28 January 1943, Sievers defines his position as Reich Business Manager of the Ahnenerbe as follows:
“My duty merely consists in smoothing the way for the research men and seeing that the tasks ordered by the Reichsfuehrer SS are carried out in the quickest possible way. On one thing I certainly can form an opinion; that is, on who is doing the quickest job.”
Sievers received orders directly from Himmler on matters of research assignments for the Ahnenerbe and he reported directly to Himmler on such experiments. Sievers devoted his efforts to obtaining the funds, materials, and equipment needed by the research workers. The materials obtained by Sievers included concentration camp inmates to be used as experimental subjects. When the experiments were under way, Sievers made certain that they were being performed in a satisfactory manner. In this connection, Sievers necessarily exercised his own independent judgment and had to familiarize himself with the details of such assignments.
HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS
The details of these experiments are discussed in other portions of this judgment. Sievers’ activities in the high-altitude experiments are revealed clearly by the evidence. Rascher, in a letter to Himmler dated 5 April 1942, states as follows:
“SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Sievers took a whole day off to watch some of the interesting standard experiments and may have given you a brief report * * * I am very much indebted to Obersturmbannfuehrer Sievers as he has shown a very active interest in my work in every respect.”
Sievers admitted that he reported to Himmler about his visit to Dachau. On the basis of the reports of Sievers and Rascher, Himmler authorized Rascher to continue the high-altitude experiments in Dachau, in the course of which the evidence shows that 180 to 200 inmates were experimented upon; that 70 to 80 of them died. Rascher became associated with the Ahnenerbe in March 1942, and during the entire time covered by the period of the high-altitude experiments, Rascher was attached to the Ahnenerbe and performed the high-altitude experiments with its assistance. On 20 July 1942, when the final report on high-altitude experiments was submitted to Himmler, Rascher’s name appeared on the letterhead of the Ahnenerbe Institute for Military Scientific Research as shown by the cover letter, and the inclosed report bore the statement that the experiments had been carried out in conjunction with the research and instruction association “Das Ahnenerbe”. Sievers had actual knowledge of the criminal aspects of the Rascher experiments. He was notified that Dachau inmates were to be used. He himself inspected the experiments. Sievers admitted that Rascher told him that several died as a result of the high-altitude experiments.
Under these facts Sievers is specially chargeable with the criminal aspects of these experiments.
FREEZING EXPERIMENTS
Before the high-altitude experiments had actually been completed, freezing experiments were ordered to be performed at Dachau. They were conducted from August 1942 to the early part of 1943 by Holzloehner, Finke and Rascher, all of whom were officers in the Medical Services of the Luftwaffe. Details of the freezing experiments have been given elsewhere in this judgment.
In May 1943 Rascher was transferred to the Waffen SS and then proceeded alone to conduct freezing experiments in Dachau until May 1945. Rascher advised the defendant Rudolf Brandt that Poles and Russians had been used as subjects.
The witness Neff testified that the defendant Sievers visited the experimental station quite frequently during the freezing experiments. He testified further that in September 1942 he received orders to take the hearts and lungs of 5 experimental subjects killed in the experiments to Professor Hirt in Strasbourg for further scientific study; that the travel warrant for the trip was made out by Sievers; and that the Ahnenerbe Society paid the expenses for the transfer of the bodies. One of the 5 experimental subjects killed was a Dutch citizen.
Neff’s testimony is corroborated in large part by the affidavits of the defendants Rudolf Brandt and Becker-Freyseng, by the testimony of the witnesses Lutz, Michalowsky and Vieweg, and by the documentary evidence in the record. In the Sievers’ diary, there are numerous instances of Sievers’ activities in the aid of Rascher. On 1 February 1943 Sievers noted efforts in obtaining apparatus, implements and chemicals for Rascher’s experiments. On 6 and 21 January 1944 Sievers noted the problem of location. Rascher reported to Sievers periodically concerning the status and details of the freezing experiments.
It is plain from the record that the relationship of Sievers and Rascher in the performance of freezing experiments required Sievers to make the preliminary arrangements for the performance of the experiments to familiarize himself with the progress of the experiments by personal inspection, to furnish necessary equipment and material, including human beings used during the freezing experiments, to receive and make progress reports concerning Rascher, and to handle the matter of evaluation and publication of such reports. Basically, such activities constituted a performance of his duties as defined by Sievers in his letter of 28 January 1943 to Rudolf Brandt, in which he stated that he smoothed the way for research workers and saw to it that Himmler’s orders were carried out.
Under these facts Sievers is chargeable with the criminal activities in these experiments.
MALARIA EXPERIMENTS
Details of these experiments are given elsewhere in this judgment. These experiments were performed at Dachau by Schilling and Ploetner. The evidence shows that Sievers had knowledge of the nature and purpose of these criminal enterprises and supported them in his official position.
LOST GAS EXPERIMENTS
These experiments were conducted in the Natzweiler concentration camp under the supervision of Professor Hirt of the University of Strasbourg. The Ahnenerbe Society and the defendant Sievers supported this research on behalf of the SS. The arrangement for the payment of the research subsidies of the Ahnenerbe was made by Sievers. The defendant Sievers participated in these experiments by actively collaborating with the defendants Karl Brandt and Rudolf Brandt and with Hirt and his principal assistant, Dr. Wimmer. The record shows that Sievers was in correspondence with Hirt at least as early as January 1942, and that he established contact between Himmler and Hirt.
In a letter of 11 September 1942 to Gluecks, Sievers wrote that the necessary conditions existed in Natzweiler “for carrying out our military scientific research work”. He requested that Gluecks issue the necessary authorization for Hirt, Wimmer, and Kieselbach to enter Natzweiler, and that provision be made for their board and accommodations. The letter also stated:
“The experiments which are to be performed on prisoners are to be carried out in four rooms of an already existing medical barrack. Only slight changes in the construction of the building are required, in particular the installation of the hood which can be produced with very little material. In accordance with attached plan of the construction management at Natzweiler, I request that necessary orders be issued to same to carry out the reconstruction. All the expenses arising out of our activity at Natzweiler will be covered by this office.”
In a memorandum of 3 November 1942 to the defendant Rudolf Brandt, Sievers complained about certain difficulties which had arisen in Natzweiler because of the lack of cooperation from the camp officials. He seemed particularly outraged by the fact that the camp officials were asking that the experimental prisoners be paid for. A portion of the memorandum follows:
“When I think of our military research work conducted at the concentration camp Dachau, I must praise and call special attention to the generous and understanding way in which our work was furthered there and to the cooperation we were given. Payment of prisoners was never discussed. It seems as if at Natzweiler they are trying to make as much money as possible out of this matter. We are not conducting these experiments, as a matter of fact, for the sake of some fixed scientific idea, but to be of practical help to the armed forces and beyond that, to the German people in a possible emergency.”
Brandt was requested to give his help in a comradely fashion in setting up the necessary conditions at Natzweiler. The defendant Rudolf Brandt replied to this memorandum on 3 December 1942 and told Sievers that he had had occasion to speak to Pohl concerning these difficulties, and that they would be remedied.
The testimony of the witness Holl was that approximately 220 inmates of Russian, Polish, Czech, and German nationality were experimented upon by Hirt and his collaborators, and that approximately 50 died. None of the experimental subjects volunteered. During the entire period of these experiments, Hirt was associated with the Ahnenerbe Society.
In early 1944 Hirt and Wimmer summarized their findings from the Lost experiments in a report entitled “Proposed Treatment of Poisoning Caused by Lost.” The report was described as from the Institute for Military Scientific Research, Department H of the Ahnenerbe, located at the Strasbourg Anatomical Institute. Light, medium, and heavy injuries due to Lost gas are mentioned. Sievers received several copies of this report. On 31 March 1944, after Karl Brandt had received a Fuehrer Decree giving him broad powers in the field of chemical-warfare, Sievers informed Brandt about Hirt’s work and gave him a copy of the report. This is proved by Sievers’ letter to Rudolf Brandt on 11 April 1944. Karl Brandt admitted that the wording of the report made it clear that experiments had been conducted on human beings.
Sievers testified that on 25 January 1943, he went to Natzweiler concentration camp and consulted with the camp authorities concerning the arrangements to be made for Hirt’s Lost experiments. These arrangements included the obtaining of laboratories and experimental subjects. Sievers testified that the Lost experiments were harmful. On the visit of 25 January 1943, Sievers saw ten persons who had been subjected to Lost experiments and watched Hirt change the bandages on one of the persons. Sievers testified that in March 1943 he asked Hirt whether any of the experimental subjects had suffered harm from the experiments and was told by Hirt that two of the experimental subjects had died due to other causes.
It is evident that Sievers was criminally connected with these experiments.
SEA-WATER EXPERIMENTS
These experiments were conducted at Dachau from July through September 1944. Details of these experiments are explained elsewhere in the judgment.
The function of the Ahnenerbe in the performance of sea-water experiments conducted at Dachau from July through September 1944 was chiefly in connection with the furnishing of space and equipment for the experiments. Sievers made these necessary arrangements on behalf of the Ahnenerbe. As a result of Schroeder’s request to Himmler through Grawitz for permission to perform the sea-water experiments on inmates in Dachau, Himmler directed on 8 July 1944 that the experiments be made on gypsies and three other persons with other racial qualities as control subjects. Sievers was advised by Himmler’s office of the above authorization for experiments at the Rascher station at Dachau.
On 27 June 1944, Rascher was replaced by Ploetner as head of the Ahnenerbe Institute for Military Scientific Research at Dachau. Sievers, on 20 July, went to Dachau and conferred with Ploetner of the Ahnenerbe Institute and the defendant Beiglboeck, who was to perform the experiments, concerning the execution of the sea-water experiments and the availability of working space for them. Sievers agreed to supply working space in Ploetner’s department and at the Ahnenerbe Entomological Institute.
On 26 July 1944, Sievers made a written report to Grawitz concerning details of his conference at Dachau. Sievers wrote that 40 experimental persons could be accommodated at “our” research station, that the Ahnenerbe would supply a laboratory, and that Dr. Ploetner would give his assistance, help, and advice to the Luftwaffe physicians performing the experiments. Sievers also stated the number and assignment of the personnel to be employed, estimating that the work would cover a period of three weeks and designated 23 July 1944 as the date of commencement, provided that experimental persons were available and the camp commander had received the necessary order from Himmler. In conclusion, Sievers expressed his hope that the arrangements which he had made would permit a successful conduct of the experiments and requested that acknowledgment be made to Himmler as a participant in the experiments.
In his testimony Sievers admitted that he had written the above letter and had conferred with Beiglboeck at Dachau. As the letter indicates, Sievers knew that concentration camp inmates were to be used.
Sievers had knowledge of and criminally participated in sea-water experiments.
TYPHUS EXPERIMENTS
Detailed description of these experiments is contained elsewhere in this judgment. Sievers participated in the criminal typhus experiments conducted by Haagen on concentration camp inmates at Natzweiler by making the necessary arrangements in connection with securing experimental subjects, handling administrative problems incident to the experiments, and by furnishing the Ahnenerbe station with its equipment in Natzweiler for their performance.
On 16 August 1943, when Haagen was preparing to transfer his typhus experiments from Schirmeck to Natzweiler, he requested Sievers to make available a hundred concentration camp inmates for his research. This is seen from a letter of 30 September 1943 from Sievers to Haagen in which he states that he will be glad to assist, and that he is accordingly contacting the proper source to have the “desired personnel” placed at Haagen’s disposal. As a result of Sievers’ efforts, a hundred inmates were shipped from Auschwitz to Natzweiler for Haagen’s experiments. These were found to be unfit for experimentation because of their pitiful physical condition. A second group of one hundred was then made available. Some of these were used by Haagen as experimental subjects.
That the experiments were carried out in the Ahnenerbe experimental station in Natzweiler is proved by excerpts from monthly reports of the camp doctor in Natzweiler. A number of deaths occurred among non-German experimental subjects as a direct result of the treatment to which they were subjected.
POLYGAL EXPERIMENTS
Evidence has been introduced during the course of the trial to show that experiments to test the efficacy of a blood coagulant “polygal” were conducted on Dachau inmates by Rascher. The Sievers’ diary shows that the defendant had knowledge of activities concerning the production of polygal, and that he lent his support to the conduct of the experiments.
JEWISH SKELETON COLLECTION
Sievers is charged under the indictment with participation in the killing of 112 Jews who were selected to complete a skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg.
Responding to a request by the defendant Rudolf Brandt, Sievers submitted to him on 9 February 1942 a report by Dr. Hirt of the University of Strasbourg on the desirability of securing a Jewish skeleton collection. In this report, Hirt advocated outright murder of “Jewish Bolshevik Commissars” for the procurement of such a collection. On 27 February 1942, Rudolf Brandt informed Sievers that Himmler would support Hirt’s work and would place everything necessary at his disposal. Brandt asked Sievers to inform Hirt accordingly and to report again on the subject. On 2 November 1942 Sievers requested Brandt to make the necessary arrangements with the Reich Main Security Office for providing 150 Jewish inmates from Auschwitz to carry out this plan. On 6 November, Brandt informed Adolf Eichmann, the Chief of Office IV B/4 (Jewish Affairs) of the Reich Main Security Office to put everything at Hirt’s disposal which was necessary for the completion of the skeleton collection.
From Sievers’ letter to Eichmann of 21 June 1943, it is apparent that SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Beger, a collaborator of the Ahnenerbe Society, carried out the preliminary work for the assembling of the skeleton collection in the Auschwitz concentration camp on 79 Jews, 30 Jewesses, 2 Poles, and 4 Asiatics. The corpses of the victims were sent in three shipments to the Anatomical Institute of Hirt in the Strasbourg University.
When the Allied Armies were threatening to overrun Strasbourg early in September 1944, Sievers dispatched to Rudolf Brandt the following teletype message:
“Subject: Collection of Jewish Skeletons.
“In conformity with the proposal of 9 February 1942 and with the consent of 23 February 1942 * * * SS Sturmbannfuehrer Professor Hirt planned the hitherto missing collection of skeletons. Due to the extent of the scientific work connected herewith, the preparation of the skeletons is not yet concluded. Hirt asks with respect to the time needed for 80 specimens, and in case the endangering of Strasbourg has to be reckoned with, how to proceed with the collection situated in the dissecting room of the anatomical institute. He is able to carry out the maceration and thus render them irrecognizable. Then, however, part of the entire work would have been partly done in vain, and it would be a great scientific loss for this unique collection, because hominit casts could not be made afterwards. The skeleton collection as such is not conspicuous. Viscera could be declared as remnants of corpses, apparently left in the anatomical institute by the French and ordered to be cremated. Decision on the following proposals is requested:
“1. Collection can be preserved.
“2. Collection is to be partly dissolved.
“3. Entire collection is to be dissolved.
“Sievers”
The pictures of the corpses and the dissecting rooms of the Institute, taken by the French authorities after the liberation of Strasbourg, point up the grim story of these deliberate murders to which Sievers was a party.
Sievers knew from the first moment he received Hirt’s report of 9 February 1942 that mass murder was planned for the procurement of the skeleton collection. Nevertheless he actively collaborated in the project, sent an employee of the Ahnenerbe to make the preparatory selections in the concentration camp at Auschwitz, and provided for the transfer of the victims from Auschwitz to Natzweiler. He made arrangements that the collection be destroyed.
Sievers’ guilt under this specification is shown without question.
Sievers offers two purported defenses to the charges against him (1) that he acted pursuant to superior orders; (2) that he was a member of a resistance movement.
The first defense is wholly without merit. There is nothing to show that in the commission of these ghastly crimes, Sievers acted entirely pursuant to orders. True, the basic policies or projects which he carried through were decided upon by his superiors, but in the execution of the details Sievers had an unlimited power of discretion. The defendant says that in his position he could not have refused an assignment. The fact remains that the record shows the case of several men who did, and who have lived to tell about it.
Sievers’ second matter of defense is equally untenable. In support of the defense, Sievers offered evidence by which he hoped to prove that as early as 1933 he became a member of a secret resistance movement which plotted to overthrow the Nazi Government and to assassinate Hitler and Himmler; that as a leading member of the group, Sievers obtained the appointment as Reich Business Manager of the Ahnenerbe so that he could be close to Himmler and observe his movements; that in this position he became enmeshed in the revolting crimes, the subject matter of this indictment; that he remained as business manager upon advice of his resistance leader to gain vital information which would hasten the day of the overthrow of the Nazi Government and the liberation of the helpless peoples coming under its domination.
Assuming all these things to be true, we cannot see how they may be used as a defense for Sievers. The fact remains that murders were committed with cooperation of the Ahnenerbe upon countless thousands of wretched concentration camp inmates who had not the slightest means of resistance. Sievers directed the program by which these murders were committed.
It certainly is not the law that a resistance worker can commit no crime, and least of all, against the very people he is supposed to be protecting.
MEMBERSHIP IN A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Under count four of the indictment, Wolfram Sievers is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. The evidence shows that Wolfram Sievers became a member of the SS in 1935 and remained a member of that organization to the end of the war. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Wolfram Sievers guilty under counts two, three and four of the indictment.
ROSE
The defendant Rose is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with special responsibility for, and participation in Typhus and Epidemic Jaundice Experiments.
The latter charge has been abandoned by the prosecution.
Evidence was offered concerning Rose’s criminal participation in malaria experiments at Dachau, although he was not named in the indictment as one of the defendants particularly charged with criminal responsibility in connection with malaria experiments. Questions presented by this situation will be discussed later.
The defendant Rose is a physician of large experience, for many years recognized as an expert in tropical diseases. He studied medicine at the Universities of Berlin and Breslau and was admitted to practice in the fall of 1921. After serving as interne in several medical institutes, he received an appointment on the staff of the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. Later he served on the staff of Heidelberg University and for three years engaged in the private practice of medicine in Heidelberg. In 1929 he went to China, where he remained until 1936, occupying important positions as medical adviser to the Chinese Government. In 1936 he returned to Germany and became head of the Department for Tropical Medicine at the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. Late in August 1939 he joined the Luftwaffe with the rank of first lieutenant in the Medical Corps. In that service he was commissioned brigadier general in the reserve and continued on active duty until the end of the war. He was consultant on hygiene and tropical medicine to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. From 1944 he was also consultant on the staff of defendant Handloser and was medical adviser to Dr. Conti in matters pertaining to tropical diseases. During the war Rose devoted practically all of his time to his duties as consultant to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe, Hippke, and after 1 January 1944, the defendant Schroeder.
MALARIA EXPERIMENTS
Medical experiments in connection with malaria were carried on at Dachau concentration camp from February 1942 until the end of the war. These experiments were conducted under Dr. Klaus Schilling for the purpose of discovering a method of establishing immunity against malaria. During the course of the experiments probably as many as 1,000 inmates of the concentration camp were used as subjects of the experiments. Very many of these persons were nationals of countries other than Germany who did not volunteer for the experiments. By credible evidence it is established that approximately 30 of the experimental subjects died as a direct result of the experiments and that many more succumbed from causes directly following the experiments, including non-German nationals.
With reference to Rose’s participation in these experiments, the record shows the following: The defendant Rose had been acquainted with Schilling for a number of years, having been his successor in a position once held by Schilling in the Robert Koch Institute. Under date 3 February 1941, Rose, writing to Schilling, then in Italy, referred to a letter received from Schilling, in which the latter requested “malaria spleens” (spleens taken from the bodies of persons who had died from malaria). Rose in reply asked for information concerning the exact nature of the material desired. Schilling wrote 4 April 1942 from Dachau to Rose at Berlin, stating that he had inoculated a person intracutaneously with sporocoides from the salivary glands of a female anopheles which Rose had sent him. The letter continues:
“For the second inoculation I miss the sporocoides material because I do not possess the ‘Strain Rose’ in the anopheles yet. If you could find it possible to send me in the next days a few anopheles infected with ‘Strain Rose’ (with the last consignment two out of ten mosquitoes were infected) I would have the possibility to continue this experiment and I would naturally be very thankful to you for this new support of my work.
“The mosquito breeding and the experiments proceed satisfactorily and I am working now on six tertiary strains.”
The letter bears the handwritten endorsement “finished 17 April 1942. L. g. RO 17/4,” which evidence clearly reveals that Rose had complied with Schilling’s request for material.
Schilling again wrote Rose from Dachau malaria station 5 July 1943, thanking Rose for his letter and “the consignment of atroparvus eggs.” The letter continues:
“Five percent of them brought on water went down and were therefore unfit for development; the rest of them hatched almost 100 percent.
“Thanks to your solicitude, achieved again the completion of my breed.
“Despite this fact I accept with great pleasure your offer to send me your excess of eggs. How did you dispatch this consignment? The result could not have been any better!
“Please tell Fraeulein Lange, who apparently takes care of her breed with greater skill and better success than the prisoner August, my best thanks for her trouble.
“Again my sincere thanks to you!”
The “prisoner August” mentioned in the letter was doubtless the witness August Vieweg, who testified before this Tribunal concerning the malaria experiments.
Rose wrote Schilling 27 July 1943 in answer to the latter’s letter of 5 July 1943, stating he was glad the shipment of eggs had arrived in good order and had proved useful. He also gave the information that another shipment of anopheles eggs would follow.
In the fall of 1942 Rose was present at the “Cold Conference” held at Nuernberg and heard Holzloehner deliver his lecture on the freezing experiments which had taken place at Dachau. Rose testified that after the conference he talked with Holzloehner, who told him that the carrying out of physiological experiments on human beings imposed upon him a tremendous mental burden, adding that he hoped he never would receive another order to conduct such experiments.
It is impossible to believe that during the years 1942 and 1943 Rose was unaware of malaria experiments on human beings which were progressing at Dachau under Schilling, or to credit Rose with innocence of knowledge that the malaria research was not confined solely to vaccinations designed for the purpose of immunizing the persons vaccinated. On the contrary, it is clear that Rose well knew that human beings were being used in the concentration camp as subjects for medical experimentation.
However, no adjudication either of guilt or innocence will be entered against Rose for criminal participation in these experiments for the following reason: In preparing counts two and three of its indictment the prosecution elected to frame its pleading in such a manner as to charge all defendants with the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, generally, and at the same time to name in each sub-paragraph dealing with medical experiments only those defendants particularly charged with responsibility for each particular item.
In our view this constituted, in effect, a bill of particulars and was, in essence, a declaration to the defendants upon which they were entitled to rely in preparing their defenses, that only such persons as were actually named in the designated experiments would be called upon to defend against the specific items. Included in the list of names of those defendants specifically charged with responsibility for the malaria experiments the name of Rose does not appear. We think it would be manifestly unfair to the defendant to find him guilty of an offense with which the indictment affirmatively indicated he was not charged.
This does not mean that the evidence adduced by the prosecution was inadmissible against the charges actually preferred against Rose. We think it had probative value as proof of the fact of Rose’s knowledge of human experimentation upon concentration camp inmates.
TYPHUS EXPERIMENTS
These experiments were carried out at Buchenwald and Natzweiler concentration camps, over a period extending from 1942 to 1945, in an attempt to procure a protective typhus vaccine.
In the experimental block at Buchenwald, with Dr. Ding in charge, inmates of the camp were infected with typhus for the purpose of procuring a continuing supply of fresh blood taken from persons suffering from typhus. Other inmates, some previously immunized and some not, were infected with typhus to demonstrate the efficacy of the vaccines. Full particulars of these experiments have been given elsewhere in the judgment.
Rose visited Buchenwald in company with Gildemeister of the Robert Koch Institute in the spring of 1942. At this time Dr. Ding was absent, suffering from typhus as the result of an accidental infection received while infecting his experimental subjects. Rose inspected the experimental block where he saw many persons suffering from typhus. He passed through the wards and looked at the clinical records “of * * * persons with severe cases in the control cases and * * * lighter cases among those vaccinated.”
The Ding diary, under dates 19 August-4 September 1942, referring to use of vaccines for immunization, states that 20 persons were inoculated with vaccine from Bucharest, with a note “this vaccine was made available by Professor Rose, who received it from Navy Doctor Professor Ruegge from Bucharest.” Rose denied that he had ever sent vaccine to Mrugowsky or Ding for use at Buchenwald. Mrugowsky, from Berlin, under date 16 May 1942, wrote Rose as follows:
“Dear Professor:
“The Reich Physician SS and Police has consented to the execution of experiments to test typhus vaccines. May I therefore ask you to let me have the vaccines.
“The other question which you raised, as to whether the louse can be infected by a vaccinated typhus patient, will also be dealt with. In principle, this also has been approved. There are, however, still some difficulties at the moment about the practical execution, since we have at present no facilities for breeding lice.
“Your suggestion to use Olzscha has been passed on to the personnel department of the SS medical office. It will be given consideration in due course.”
From a note on the letter, it appears that Rose was absent from Berlin and was not expected to return until June. The letter, however, refers to previous contact with Rose and to some suggestions made by him which evidently concern medical experiments on human beings. Rose in effect admitted that he had forwarded the Bucharest vaccine to be tested at Buchenwald.
At a meeting of consulting physicians of the Wehrmacht held in May 1943, Ding made a report in which he described the typhus experiments he had been performing at Buchenwald. Rose heard the report at the meeting and then and there objected strongly to the methods used by Ding in conducting the experiments. As may well be imagined, this protest created considerable discussion among those present.
The Ding diary shows that, subsequent to this meeting, experiments were conducted at Buchenwald at the instigation of the defendant Rose. The entry under date of 8 March 1944, which refers to “typhus vaccine experimental series VIII”, appears as follows:
“Suggested by Colonel M. C. of the Air Corps, Professor Rose (Oberstarzt), the vaccine ‘Kopenhagen’ (Ipsen-Murine-vaccine) produced from mouse liver by the National Serum Institute in Copenhagen was tested for its compatibility on humans. 20 persons were vaccinated for immunization by intramuscular injection * * *. 10 persons were contemplated for control and comparison. 4 of the 30 persons were eliminated before the start of the artificial injection because of intermittent sickness * * *. The remaining experimental persons were infected on 16 April 44 by subcutaneous injection of 1/20 cc. typhus sick fresh blood * * *. The following fell sick: 17 persons immunized: 9 medium, 8 seriously; 9 persons control: 2 medium, 7 seriously * * *. 2 June 44: The experimental series was concluded 13 June 44: Chart and case history completed and sent to Berlin. 6 deaths (3 Copenhagen) (3 control). Dr. Ding.”
When on the witness stand Rose vigorously challenged the correctness of this entry in the Ding diary and flatly denied that he had sent a Copenhagen vaccine to Mrugowsky or Ding for use at Buchenwald. The prosecution met this challenge by offering in evidence a letter from Rose to Mrugowsky dated 2 December 1943, in which Rose stated that he had at his disposal a number of samples of a new murine virus typhus vaccine prepared from mice livers, which in animal experiments had been much more effective than the vaccine prepared from the lungs of mice. The letter continued:
“To decide whether this first-rate murine vaccine should be used for protective vaccination of human beings against lice typhus, it would be desirable to know if this vaccine showed in your and Ding’s experimental arrangement at Buchenwald an effect similar to that of the classic virus vaccines.
“Would you be able to have such an experimental series carried out? Unfortunately I could not reach you over the phone. Considering the slowness of postal communications I would be grateful for an answer by telephone * * *.”
The letter shows on its face that it was forwarded by Mrugowsky to Ding, who noted its receipt by him 21 February 1944.
On cross-examination, when Rose was confronted with the letter he admitted its authorship, and that he had asked that experiments be carried out by Mrugowsky and Ding at Buchenwald.
The fact that Rose contributed actively and materially to the Mrugowsky-Ding experiments at Buchenwald clearly appears from the evidence.
The evidence also shows that Rose actively collaborated in the typhus experiments carried out by Haagen at the Natzweiler concentration camp for the benefit of the Luftwaffe.
From the exhibits in the record, it appears that Rose and Haagen corresponded during the month of June 1943 concerning the production of a vaccine for typhus. Under date 5 June 1943 Haagen wrote to Rose amplifying a telephone conversation between the two and referring to a letter from a certain Giroud with reference to a vaccine which had been used on rabbits. A few days later Rose replied, thanking him for his letters of 4 and 5 June and for “the prompt execution of my request.” The record makes it plain that by use of the phrase “the prompt execution of my request” was meant a request made by Rose to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Wehrmacht for an order to produce typhus vaccine to be used by the armed forces in the eastern area.
Under date 4 October 1943 Haagen again wrote Rose concerning his plans for vaccine production, making reference in the letter to a report made by Rose on the Ipsen vaccine. Haagen stated that he had already reported to Rose on the results of experiments with human beings and expressed his regret that, up to the date of the letter, he had been unable to “perform infection experiments on the vaccinated persons.” He also stated that he had requested the Ahnenerbe to provide suitable persons for vaccination but had received no answer; that he was then vaccinating other human beings and would report results later. He concluded by expressing the wish and need for experimental subjects upon whom to test vaccinations, and suggested that when subjects were procured, parallel tests should be made between the vaccine referred to in the letter and the Ipsen tests.
We think the only reasonable inference which can be drawn from this letter is that Haagen was proposing to test the efficacy of the vaccinations which he had completed, which could only be accomplished by infecting the vaccinated subjects with a virulent pathogenic virus.
In a letter written by Rose and dated “in the field, 29 September 1943”, directed to the Behring Works at Marburg/Lahn, Rose states that he is enclosing a memorandum regarding reports by Dr. Ipsen on his experience in the production of typhus vaccine. Copy of the report which Rose enclosed is in evidence, Rose stating therein that he had proposed, and Ipsen had promised, that a number of Ipsen’s liver vaccine samples should be sent to Rose with the object of testing its protective efficacy on human beings whose lives were in special danger. Copies of this report were forwarded by Rose to several institutions, including that presided over by Haagen.
In November 1943, 100 prisoners were transported to Natzweiler, of whom 18 had died during the journey. The remainder were in such poor health that Haagen found them worthless for his experiments and requested additional healthy prisoners through Dr. Hirt, who was a member of the Ahnenerbe.
Rose wrote to Haagen 13 December 1943, saying among other things “I request that in procuring persons for vaccination in your experiment, you request a corresponding number of persons for vaccination with Copenhagen vaccine. This has the advantage, as also appeared in the Buchenwald experiments, that the test of various vaccines simultaneously gives a clearer idea of their value than the test of one vaccine alone.”
There is much other evidence connecting Rose with the series of experiments conducted by Haagen but we shall not burden the judgment further. It will be sufficient to say that the evidence proves conclusively that Rose was directly connected with the criminal experiments conducted by Haagen.
Doubtless at the outset of the experimental program launched in the concentration camps, Rose may have voiced some vigorous opposition. In the end, however, he overcame what scruples he had and knowingly took an active and consenting part in the program. He attempts to justify his actions on the ground that a state may validly order experiments to be carried out on persons condemned to death without regard to the fact that such persons may refuse to consent to submit themselves as experimental subjects. This defense entirely misses the point of the dominant issue. As we have pointed out in the case of Gebhardt, whatever may be the condition of the law with reference to medical experiments conducted by or through a state upon its own citizens, such a thing will not be sanctioned in international law when practiced upon citizens or subjects of an occupied territory.
We have indulged every presumption in favor of the defendant, but his position lacks substance in the face of the overwhelming evidence against him. His own consciousness of turpitude is clearly disclosed by the statement made by him at the close of a vigorous cross-examination in the following language:
“It was known to me that such experiments had earlier been carried out, although I basically objected to these experiments. This institution had been set up in Germany and was approved by the state and covered by the state. At that moment I was in a position which perhaps corresponds to a lawyer who is, perhaps, a basic opponent of execution or death sentence. On occasion when he is dealing with leading members of the government, or with lawyers during public congresses or meetings, he will do everything in his power to maintain his opinion on the subject and have it put into effect. If, however, he does not succeed, he stays in his profession and in his environment in spite of this. Under circumstances he may perhaps even be forced to pronounce such a death sentence himself, although he is basically an opponent of that set-up.”
The Tribunal finds that the defendant Rose was a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and was connected with plans and enterprises involving medical experiments on non-German nationals without their consent, in the course of which murders, brutalities, cruelties, tortures, atrocities, and other inhuman acts were committed. To the extent that these crimes were not war crimes they were crimes against humanity.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Gerhard Rose guilty under counts two and three of the indictment.
RUFF, ROMBERG, AND WELTZ
The defendants Ruff, Romberg, and Weltz are charged under counts two and three of the indictment with special responsibility for, and participation in, High-Altitude Experiments.
The defendant Weltz is also charged under counts two and three with special responsibility for, and participation in, Freezing Experiments.
To the extent that the evidence in the record relates to the high-altitude experiments, the cases of the three defendants will be considered together.
Defendant Ruff specialized in the field of aviation medicine from the completion of his medical education at Berlin and Bonn in 1932. In January 1934 he was assigned to the German Experimental Institute for Aviation, a civilian agency, in order to establish a department for aviation medicine. Later he became chief of the department.
Defendant Romberg joined the NSDAP in May 1933. From April 1936 until 1938 he interned as an assistant physician at a Berlin hospital. On 1 January 1938 he joined the staff of the German Experimental Institution for Aviation as an associate assistant to the defendant Ruff. He remained as a subordinate to Ruff until the end of the war.
Defendant Weltz for many years was a specialist in X-ray work. In the year 1935 he received an assignment as lecturer in the field of aviation medicine at the University of Munich. At the same time he instituted a small experimental department at the Physiological Institute of the University of Munich. Weltz lectured at the University until 1945; at the same time he did research work at the Institute.
In the summer of 1941 the experimental department at the Physiological Institute, University of Munich, was taken over by the Luftwaffe and renamed the “Institute for Aviation Medicine in Munich.” Weltz was commissioned director of this Institute by Hippke, then Chief of the Medical Inspectorate of the Luftwaffe. In his capacity as director of this Institute, Weltz was subordinated to Luftgau No. VII in Munich for disciplinary purposes. In scientific matters he was subordinated directly to Anthony, Chief of the Department for Aviation Medicine in the Office of the Medical Inspectorate of the Luftwaffe.
HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS
The evidence is overwhelming and not contradicted that experiments involving the effect of low air pressure on living human beings were conducted at Dachau from the latter part of February through May 1942. In some of these experiments great numbers of human subjects were killed under the most brutal and senseless conditions. A certain Dr. Sigmund Rascher, Luftwaffe officer, was the prime mover in the experiments which resulted in the deaths of the subjects. The prosecution maintains that Ruff, Romberg, and Weltz were criminally implicated in these experiments.
The guilt of the defendant Weltz is said to arise by reason of the fact that, according to the prosecution’s theory, Weltz, as the dominant figure proposed the experiments, arranged for their conduct at Dachau, and brought the parties Ruff, Romberg, and Rascher together. The guilt of Ruff and Romberg is charged by reason of the fact that they are said to have collaborated with Rascher in the conduct of the experiments. The evidence on the details of the matter appears to be as follows:
In the late summer of 1941 soon after the Institute Weltz at Munich was taken over by the Luftwaffe, Hippke, Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe, approved, in principle, a research assignment for Weltz in connection with the problem of rescue of aviators at high altitudes. This required the use of human experimental subjects. Weltz endeavored to secure volunteer subjects for the research from various sources; however, he was unsuccessful in his efforts.
Rascher, one of Himmler’s minor satellites, was at the time an assistant at the Institute. He, Rascher, suggested the possibility of securing Himmler’s consent to conducting the experiments at Dachau. Weltz seized upon the suggestion, and thereafter arrangements to that end were completed, Himmler giving his consent for experiments to be conducted on concentration camp inmates condemned to death, but only upon express condition that Rascher be included as one of the collaborators in the research.
Rascher was not an expert in aviation medicine. Ruff was the leading German scientist in this field, and Romberg was his principal assistant. Weltz felt that before he could proceed with his research these men should be persuaded to come into the undertaking. He visited Ruff in Berlin and explained the proposition. Thereafter Ruff and Romberg came to Munich, where a conference was held with Weltz and Rascher to discuss the technical nature of the proposed experiments.
According to the testimony of Weltz, Ruff, and Romberg, the basic consideration which impelled them to agree to the use of concentration camp inmates as subjects was the fact that the inmates were to be criminals condemned to death who were to receive some form of clemency in the event they survived the experiments. Rascher, who was active in the conference, assured the defendants that this also was one of the conditions under which Himmler had authorized the use of camp inmates as experimental subjects.
The decisions reached at the conference were then made known to Hippke, who gave his approval to the institution of experiments at Dachau and issued an order that a mobile low-pressure chamber which was then in the possession of Ruff at the Department for Aviation Medicine, Berlin, should be transferred to Dachau for use in the project.
A second meeting was held at Dachau, attended by Ruff, Romberg, Weltz, Rascher, and the camp commander, to make the necessary arrangements for the conduct of the experiments. The mobile low-pressure chamber was then brought to Dachau, and on 22 February 1942 the first series of experiments was instituted.
Weltz was Rascher’s superior; Romberg was subordinate to Ruff. Rascher and Romberg were in personal charge of the conduct of the experiments. There is no evidence to show that Weltz was ever present at any of these experiments. Ruff visited Dachau one day during the early part of the experiments, but thereafter remained in Berlin and received information concerning the progress of the experiments only through his subordinate, Romberg.
There is evidence from which it may reasonably be found that at the outset of the program personal friction developed between Weltz and his subordinate Rascher. The testimony of Weltz is that on several occasions he asked Rascher for reports on the progress of the experiments and each time Rascher told Weltz that nothing had been started with reference to the research. Finally Weltz ordered Rascher to make a report; whereupon Rascher showed his superior a telegram from Himmler which stated, in substance, that the experiments to be conducted by Rascher were to be treated as top secret matter and that reports were to be given to none other than Himmler. Because of this situation Weltz had Rascher transferred out of his command to the DVL branch at Dachau. Defendant Romberg stated that these experiments had been stopped soon after their inception by the adjutant of the Reich War Ministry, because of friction between Weltz and Rascher, and that the experiments were resumed only after Rascher had been transferred out of Weltz Institute.
While the evidence is convincingly plain that Weltz participated in the initial arrangements for the experiments and brought all parties together, it is not so clear that illegal experiments were planned or carried out while Rascher was under Weltz command, or that he knew that experiments which Rascher might conduct in the future would be illegal and criminal.
There appear to have been two distinct groups of prisoners used in the experimental series. One was a group of 10 to 15 inmates known in the camp as “exhibition patients” or “permanent experimental subjects”. Most, if not all, of these were German nationals who were confined in the camp as criminal prisoners. These men were housed together and were well-fed and reasonably contented. None of them suffered death or injury as a result of the experiments. The other group consisted of 150 to 200 subjects picked at random from the camp and used in the experiments without their permission. Some 70 or 80 of these were killed during the course of the experiments.
The defendants Ruff and Romberg maintain that two separate and distinct experimental series were carried on at Dachau; one conducted by them with the use of the “exhibition subjects”, relating to the problems of rescue at high altitudes, in which no injuries occurred; the other conducted by Rascher on the large group of nonvolunteers picked from the camp at random, to test the limits of human endurance at extremely high altitudes, in which experimental subjects in large numbers were killed.
The prosecution submits that no such fine distinction may be drawn between the experiments said to have been conducted by Ruff and Romberg, on the one hand, and Rascher on the other, or in the prisoners who were used as the subjects of these experiments; that Romberg—and Ruff as his superior—share equal guilt with Rascher for all experiments in which deaths to the human subjects resulted.
In support of this submission the members of the prosecution cite the fact that Rascher was always present when Romberg was engaged in work at the altitude chamber; that on at least three occasions Romberg was at the chamber when deaths occurred to the so-called Rascher subjects, yet elected to continue the experiments. They point likewise to the fact that, in a secret preliminary report made by Rascher to Himmler which tells of deaths, Rascher mentions the name of Romberg as being a collaborator in the research. Finally they point to the fact that, after the experiments were concluded, Romberg was recommended by Rascher and Sievers for the War Merit Cross, because of the work done by him at Dachau.
The issue on the question of the guilt or innocence of these defendants is close; we would be less than fair were we not to concede this fact. It cannot be denied that there is much in the record to create at least a grave suspicion that the defendants Ruff and Romberg were implicated in criminal experiments at Dachau. However, virtually all of the evidence which points in this direction is circumstantial in its nature. On the other hand, it cannot be gainsaid that there is a certain consistency, a certain logic, in the story told by the defendants. And some of the story is corroborated in significant particulars by evidence offered by the prosecution.
The value of circumstantial evidence depends upon the conclusive nature and tendency of the circumstances relied on to establish any controverted fact. The circumstances must not only be consistent with guilt, but they must be inconsistent with innocence. Such evidence is insufficient when, assuming all to be true which the evidence tends to prove, some other reasonable hypothesis of innocence may still be true; for it is the actual exclusion of every other reasonable hypothesis but that of guilt which invests mere circumstances with the force of proof. Therefore, before a court will be warranted in finding a defendant guilty on circumstantial evidence alone, the evidence must show such a well-connected and unbroken chain of circumstances as to exclude all other reasonable hypotheses but that of the guilt of the defendant. What circumstances can amount to proof can never be a matter of general definition. In the final analysis the legal test is whether the evidence is sufficient to satisfy beyond a reasonable doubt the understanding and conscience of those who, under their solemn oaths as officers, must assume the responsibility for finding the facts.
On this particular specification, it is the conviction of the Tribunal that the defendants Ruff, Romberg, and Weltz must be found not guilty.
FREEZING EXPERIMENTS
In addition to the high-altitude experiments, the defendant Weltz is charged with freezing experiments, likewise conducted at Dachau for the benefit of the German Luftwaffe. These began at the camp at the conclusion of the high-altitude experiments and were performed by Holzloehner, Finke, and Rascher, all of whom were officers in the medical services of the Luftwaffe. Non-German nationals were killed in these experiments.
We think it quite probable that Weltz had knowledge of these experiments, but the evidence is not sufficient to prove that he participated in them.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Siegfried Ruff is not guilty under either counts two or three of the indictment, and directs that he be released from custody under the indictment when this Tribunal presently adjourns; and
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Hans Wolfgang Romberg is not guilty under either counts two or three of the indictment, and directs that he be released from custody under the indictment when this Tribunal presently adjourns; and
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Georg August Weltz is not guilty under either counts two or three of the indictment; and directs that he be released from custody under the indictment when this Tribunal presently adjourns.
BRACK
The defendant Brack is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with personal responsibility for, and participation in, Sterilization Experiments and the Euthanasia Program of the German Reich. Under count four the defendant is charged with membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS.
The defendant Brack enlisted in an artillery unit of an SA regiment in 1923, and became a member of the NSDAP and the SS in 1929. Throughout his career in the Party he was quite active in high official circles. He entered upon full-time service in the Braune Haus, the Nazi headquarters at Munich, in the summer of 1932. The following year he was appointed to the Staff of Bouhler, business manager of the NSDAP in Munich. When in 1934 Bouhler became Chief of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer of the NSDAP, Brack was transferred from the Braune Haus to Bouhler’s Berlin office. In 1936 Brack was placed in charge of office 2 (Amt 2) in the Chancellery of the Fuehrer in Berlin, that office being charged with the examinations of complaints received by the Fuehrer from all parts of Germany. Later, he became Bouhler’s deputy in office 2. As such he frequently journeyed to the different Gaue for the purpose of gaining first-hand information concerning matters in which Bouhler was interested.
Brack was promoted to the rank of Sturmbannfuehrer in the SS in 1935, and in April 1936 to the rank of Obersturmbannfuehrer. The following September he became a Standartenfuehrer in the SS, and was transferred to the staff of the Main Office of the SS in November. In November 1940 he was promoted to the grade of Oberfuehrer.
In 1942 Brack joined the Waffen SS, and during the late summer of that year was ordered to active duty with a Waffen SS division. He apparently remained on active duty until the close of the war.
STERILIZATION EXPERIMENTS
The persecution of the Jews had become a fixed Nazi policy very soon after the outbreak of World War II. By 1941 that persecution had reached the stage of the extermination of Jews, both in Germany and in the occupied territories. This fact is confirmed by Brack himself, who testified that he had been told by Himmler that he, Himmler, had received a personal order to that effect from Hitler.
The record shows that the agencies organized for the so-called euthanasia of incurables were used for this bloody pogrom. Later, because of the urgent need for laborers in Germany, it was decided not to kill Jews who were able to work but, as an alternative, to sterilize them.
With this end in view Himmler instructed Brack to inquire of physicians who were engaged in the Euthanasia Program about the possibility of a method of sterilizing persons without the victim’s knowledge. Brack worked on the assignment, with the result that in March 1941 he forwarded to Himmler his signed report on the results of experiments concerning the sterilization of human beings by means of X-rays. In the report a method was suggested by which sterilization with X-ray could be effected on groups of persons without their being aware of the operation.
On 23 June 1942 Brack wrote the following letter to Himmler:
“Dear Reichsfuehrer:
“* * * Among 10 millions of Jews in Europe, there are, I figure, at least 2-3 millions of men and women who are fit enough to work. Considering the extraordinary difficulties the labor problem presents us with I hold the view that those 2-3 millions should be specially selected and preserved. This can however only be done if at the same time they are rendered incapable to propagate. About a year ago I reported to you that agents of mine have completed the experiments necessary for this purpose. I would like to recall these facts once more. Sterilization, as normally performed on persons with hereditary diseases is here out of the question, because it takes too long and is too expensive. Castration by X-ray however is not only relatively cheap, but can also be performed on many thousands in the shortest time. I think, that at this time it is already irrelevant whether the people in question become aware of having been castrated after some weeks or months, once they feel the effects.
“Should you, Reichsfuehrer, decide to choose this way in the interest of the preservation of labor, then Reichsleiter Bouhler would be prepared to place all physicians and other personnel needed for this work at your disposal. Likewise he requested me to inform you that then I would have to order the apparatus so urgently needed with the greatest speed.
“Heil Hitler! “Yours “VIKTOR BRACK.”
Brack testified from the witness stand that at the time he wrote this letter he had every confidence that Germany would win the war.
Brack’s letter was answered by Himmler on 11 August 1942. In the reply Himmler directed that sterilization by means of X-rays be tried in at least one concentration camp in a series of experiments, and that Brack place at his disposal expert physicians to conduct the operation.
Blankenburg, Brack’s deputy, replied to Himmler’s letter and stated that Brack had been transferred to an SS division, but that he, Blankenburg, as Brack’s permanent deputy would “immediately take the necessary measures and get in touch with the chiefs of the main offices of the concentration camps.”
A Polish Jew testified before the Tribunal that while confined in Auschwitz concentration camp he was marched to Birkenau and forcibly subjected to severe X-ray exposure and was castrated later in order that the effects of the X-ray could be studied.
A French physician of Jewish descent who was confined at Auschwitz from September 1943 to January 1945, testified that near Auschwitz was Birkenau camp where people were sterilized by SS doctors. About 100 male Poles who had been sterilized at Birkenau were attended by the witness after the operation. Later this group was castrated by the camp physicians.
The record contains other evidence from which it is manifestly plain that sterilization by means of X-rays was attempted on groups of persons who were painfully injured thereby; and that castration followed the X-ray procedures.
Brack’s part in the organization of the sterilization program with full knowledge that it would be put into execution, is conclusively shown by the record.
EUTHANASIA PROGRAM
The Euthanasia Program, which was put into effect by a secret decree of Hitler on the day that Germany invaded Poland, has been discussed at length in the judgment in the case against Karl Brandt.
Brack contends that he was basically opposed to this program and that, on occasion, he assisted certain of his Jewish friends to escape from its consequences. But be that as it may, the evidence is that whatever sentiments Brack may have entertained toward individual members of the race, he was perfectly willing to and did act as an important administrator in furthering the Euthanasia Program. After it had gotten under way, he wrote letters to various public officials, explaining to them how to keep the matter secret and to allay the public sentiment against the program.
This much is shown by Brack’s own statements. As a witness on the stand he testified that while at first he did not understand the full import of the program, he decided, after a talk with Bouhler, to collaborate in carrying out the assignment and to execute Bouhler’s orders.
He participated in the initial meetings called for the purpose of placing the project in operation. He was present at meetings of the experts, as well as the administrative discussions. He often acted as Bouhler’s representative, frequently making decisions which called for the exercise of personal judgment and a wide latitude of discretion.
Brack admitted that such were his activities in the program, that one might well have come to the conclusion that he was the influential man in euthanasia.
As Bouhler’s deputy he addressed a meeting at Munich, where he explained the purpose of Hitler’s decree and mentioned the draft of a law which was being prepared to give complete legislative sanctify to euthanasia—a law, incidentally, which was never in fact enacted. He represented Bouhler in April of 1941 at a meeting attended by Nazi judges and prosecutors. He testified that the Ministry of Justice had become considerably embarrassed because of the Euthanasia Program, and that he was present at the meeting for the purpose of imparting information concerning the salutary features of euthanasia to those who were present.
Brack gave the Tribunal considerable information concerning the method of extermination by euthanasia, stating that the program was so designed as to render the process inconspicuous and painless. In December 1939, or January 1940, Brack, Bouhler, Conti, and some other doctors were present at the administration of euthanasia to four experimental subjects. The victims were led into a gas chamber which had been built to resemble a shower room. The patients were seated on benches and poisonous gas was let into the chamber. A few moments later the patients became drowsy and finally lapsed into a death sleep without even knowing they were being executed. On the basis of this execution “Hitler decided that only carbon monoxide was to be used for killing the patients.” According to Brack these persons were not Jews, because, as Bouhler had explained to him, “the philanthropic action of euthanasia should be extended only to Germans.”
The evidence is plain that the euthanasia program explained by the defendant, gradually merged into the “Action 14 f 13,” which, briefly stated, amounted to an extermination of concentration camp inmates by methods and agencies used in euthanasia. One of the prime motives behind the program was to eliminate “useless eaters” from the scene, in order to conserve food, hospital facilities, doctors and nurses for the more important use of the German Armed Forces. Many nationals of countries other than Germany were killed.
Brack’s direct connection with and participation in the execution of euthanasia is conclusively proved by the evidence in the record.
MEMBERSHIP IN A CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Under count four of the indictment the defendant Brack is charged with being a member of the organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. The evidence shows that Brack became a member of the SS in 1929, and voluntarily remained in that organization until the end of the war. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Viktor Brack guilty under counts two, three and four of the indictment.
BECKER-FREYSENG
The defendant Becker-Freyseng is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with personal responsibility for, and participation in, High-Altitude, Freezing, Sulfanilamide, Sea-Water, Epidemic Jaundice, and Typhus Experiments.
The prosecution has abandoned all charges except as to high-altitude, freezing, sea-water and typhus experiments, and hence only these will be considered.
The defendant Becker-Freyseng joined the Nazi Party in 1933. In 1940 he was drafted into the Luftwaffe. In 1943 he was promoted to the rank of Stabsarzt in the Luftwaffe.
From August 1941 until May 1944 the defendant was an assistant consultant to Anthony, Chief of the Referat for Aviation Medicine, Berlin. This department dealt with all questions concerning aviation medicine and reported to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. When Schroeder became Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe on 1 January 1944, the defendant became the consultant for aviation medicine in Schroeder’s office.
HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS
As shown elsewhere in the judgment, high-altitude experiments for the benefit of the Luftwaffe were conducted at Dachau concentration camp on non-German nationals, beginning in February or March 1942. These experiments had been approved, in principle at least, by Hippke, Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. A mobile low-pressure chamber which had been in the possession of the department of aviation medicine, Berlin, was transferred to Dachau for use in the experiments. Concentration camp inmates were killed while being subjected to experiments conducted in the chamber.
During the time the experiments were conducted, defendant Becker-Freyseng was an assistant consultant to Anthony, Chief of the Referat for Aviation Medicine, Berlin. All low-pressure chambers owned by the Luftwaffe were under the general control of that office.
It is submitted by the prosecution that the record shows that Becker-Freyseng was a principal in, accessory to, aided, abetted, took a consenting part in, and was connected with plans and enterprises involving the commission of these experiments.
The evidence upon this charge is not deemed sufficient to preponderate against a reasonable doubt as to the defendant’s guilty participation in the experiments here involved.
FREEZING EXPERIMENTS
It is claimed that in June 1942 Becker-Freyseng was informed from certain of his official files that a meeting to consider experiments to investigate the treatment of persons who had been severely chilled or frozen would be held in Nuernberg the following October (referred to as the “Cold Congress”). It is contended that the directive which set the experiment into motion was issued from the office of the department for aviation medicine, that the funds and equipment were supplied by that office, and that Becker-Freyseng had knowledge of the experiments, and that he admitted such knowledge.
As to all this, the proof is clear that Becker-Freyseng was actively employed in organizing and was present at the so-called “Cold Congress.” But more than the evidence discloses is needed to establish that he had any later part in or connection with the experiments themselves, or that he had any controlling relationship to their initial establishment.
TYPHUS EXPERIMENTS
The evidence is insufficient to disclose any criminal responsibility of the defendant Becker-Freyseng in connection with the typhus experiments.
SEA-WATER EXPERIMENTS
We have discussed the sea-water experiments in that portion of our judgment which deals with the case of the defendant Schroeder. As was pointed out there, two methods of making sea water drinkable were available to the Luftwaffe. One, the so-called Schaefer method, had been chemically tested and apparently produced potable sea water; the other, the so-called Berka process, which changed the taste of the sea water but did not reduce the salt content.
Becker-Freyseng, as chief consultant for aviation medicine in the office of Schroeder, arranged for a conference to be held in May 1944 to discuss the testing of these two methods. At the conference the defendant reported on various clinical experiments which had been conducted by a certain von Sirany to test the Berka process. He came to the conclusion that the experiments had not been conducted under sufficiently realistic conditions of sea distress to make the findings conclusive.
As a result of the conference it was decided that new experiments should be conducted.
We learn from the report of the meeting, which is in evidence, that two series of experiments were to be conducted. The first, a maximum period of six days, during which one group of subjects would receive sea water processed with the Berka method; a second group, ordinary drinking water; a third group no water at all; and the fourth group, such water as would be available in the emergency sea distress kits then used. During the duration of the experiment all persons were to receive only an emergency sea diet, such as provided for persons in distress at sea.
In addition to the 6-day experiment it was determined that a 12-day experiment should be run. The plan for this series reads as follows:
“Persons nourished with sea water and Berkatit, and as diet also the emergency sea rations.
“Duration of experiments: 12 days.
“Since in the opinion of the Chief of the Medical Service permanent injuries to health, that is the death of the experimental subjects, has to be expected, as experimental subjects such persons should be used as will be put at the disposal by [the] Reichsfuehrer SS.”
By letter dated 7 June 1944 Schroeder requested the Reichsfuehrer SS to allow him to use concentration camp inmates for the sea-water experiments. The letter stated among other things the following:
“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 * * *.”
When on the stand as a witness, the defendant Becker-Freyseng admitted that he prepared the substance of the letter for Schroeder’s dictation and signature.
Thus with actual knowledge of the nature of the Berka process, and the fact that if used over prolonged periods it would cause suffering and death, Becker-Freyseng counselled and conferred with his chief concerning the necessity for experiments wherein the process would be used. He gave advice upon the exact procedure to be used in the 6-day and 12-day experimental series. He framed the letter to Himmler requesting the use of concentration camp inmates at Dachau for experimental subjects. He called the defendant Beiglboeck to Berlin to explain to him the details and purpose of the experiments. He issued the order under which Beiglboeck went to Dachau to begin the experiments. He received Beiglboeck’s report after the experimental series had been concluded.
Throughout all stages of the affair, from its inception to its conclusion, the defendant knew of the dangerous nature of the experiments. He knew that deaths were reasonably to be expected. He knew that concentration camp inmates were to be used as experimental subjects. It is impossible to believe that he supposed that the inmates of the camps, who were to be furnished by Himmler, were to be volunteers. The entire language of the letter, which was written to Himmler asking for experimental subjects, entirely refutes such implication.
The evidence shows conclusively that gypsies of various nationalities were used as experimental subjects. They were former inmates of Auschwitz who had been tricked into coming to Dachau under the promise that they were to be used in a special labor battalion. When they arrived at Dachau they were detailed to the sea-water experiments without their voluntary consent being asked or given.
During the course of the experiment many of the experimental subjects were treated brutally and endured much pain and suffering.
It is apparent from the evidence that Becker-Freyseng was criminally connected with the experiments, and that the experiments were essentially criminal in their nature. To the extent that the crimes committed by him or under his authority were not war crimes, they were crimes against humanity.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Hermann Becker-Freyseng guilty under counts two and three of the indictment.
SCHAEFER
The defendant Schaefer is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with personal responsibility for and participation in Sea-Water Experiments.
Konrad Schaefer was a scientist whose special field of research was chemical therapy. In November 1941 he was drafted into the Luftwaffe. In spring of the following year he was transferred to the Luftwaffe Replacement Depot in Salow, and from there to the Luftwaffe base at Frankfurt on the Oder. In summer of 1942 he was transferred to Berlin and assigned to the staff of the Research Institute for Aviation Medicine. His chief assignment at the Institute was to do research on the problem of sea emergency for the Luftwaffe. This included research work on various methods to render sea water potable. Schaefer remained in his position at the Institute without ever having attained officer rank.
In May of 1944 the defendant was ordered to be present at a meeting to be held at the German Air Ministry in Berlin, called to consider further research on making sea water potable. Some months previous to the meeting Schaefer had developed a process which actually precipitated the salts from sea water, but it was thought by the Chief of the Luftwaffe Medical Service to be too bulky and expensive for military use by the Luftwaffe.
Present at the meeting were Schaefer; Becker-Freyseng, research advisor to Schroeder; Christensen, of the Technical Bureau of the Reich Ministry of Aviation; and others. The subject of discussion was the feasibility of using the Schaefer process, or of turning to another process known as the Berka Method. The latter method, while cheap, did not precipitate salts from sea water and was dangerous to health when used for a period of time—as Schaefer, previous to the meeting, had already reported to Schroeder. Nevertheless, those in command of the meeting agreed that experiments should be conducted on concentration camp inmates to determine the extent to which the Berka method might be usable.
The experiments later conducted have been described at length in dealing with the case of Schroeder. Due to his attendance at this meeting, Schaefer is sought to be held criminally responsible in connection with the sea-water experiments.
The record has received careful attention from the Tribunal.
Nowhere have we been able to find that Schaefer was a principal in, or accessory to, or was otherwise criminally involved in or connected with the experiments mentioned. In fact, the record fails to show that the defendant had anything to do with these experiments, except such as might be implied from his attendance at several meetings of the parties who were actively interested therein. Nowhere in the testimony or elsewhere is it revealed that Schaefer voted for commencement or prosecution of the experiments or in any other manner aided in their execution.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Konrad Schaefer not guilty of the charges contained in the indictment, and directs that he be released from custody under the indictment when the Tribunal presently adjourns.
HOVEN
The defendant Hoven is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with special responsibility for and participation in Typhus and other Vaccine Experiments, Gas Oedema Experiments, and the Euthanasia Program. In count four he is charged with being a member, after 1 September 1939, of an organization declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal.
Hoven joined the SS in 1934 and the Nazi Party in 1937. Soon after the outbreak of the war he joined the Waffen SS. In October 1939 he became assistant medical officer in the SS hospital at Buchenwald concentration camp. In 1941 he was appointed medical officer in charge of the SS troops stationed in the camp. He became assistant medical officer at the camp inmate hospital, and in July 1942 he became chief camp physician. He remained in the latter position until September 1943. At that time he was arrested on the order of the SS police court in Kassel for having allegedly murdered an SS noncommissioned officer who was a dangerous witness against Koch, the camp commander.
TYPHUS AND OTHER VACCINE EXPERIMENTS
The vaccine experiments with which Hoven is charged were conducted at Buchenwald under the supervision of SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. Ding, alias Ding-Schuler. They have already been described at length in other portions of this judgment.
The prosecution has shown beyond a reasonable doubt that Hoven was a criminal participant in these experiments. In collaboration with the SS camp administration he helped select the concentration camp inmates who became the experimental subjects. During the course of selection he exercised the right to include some prisoners and to reject others. While perhaps not empowered to initiate new series of experiments on his own responsibility—that apparently being a power which only Ding could exercise—the defendant worked with Ding on experiments then in progress. He supervised the preparation of diary notes, fever charts, and report sheets of the experiments. Occasionally he injected some of the subjects with the vaccines. He acted as Ding’s deputy in the conduct of the experiments. He was in command of experimental Block 46 in Ding’s absence. During the period of Hoven’s activity in the experimental station no less than 100 inmates were killed as a result of the typhus experiments. Many of these victims were non-German nationals who had not given their consent to be used as experimental subjects.
GAS OEDEMA EXPERIMENTS
It is asserted in an affidavit made by Dr. Ding-Schuler, who was in charge of Blocks 46 and 50, Buchenwald, that toward the end of 1942 a conference was held in the Military Medical Academy, Berlin, for the purpose of discussing the fatal effects of gas oedema serum on wounded persons. During the conference, Killian, of the Army Medical Inspectorate, and the defendant Mrugowsky reported several cases in which wounded soldiers who had received gas oedema serum injections in high quantities died suddenly without apparent reason. Mrugowsky suspected that the fatalities were due to the phenol content of the serum. To help solve the problem Mrugowsky ordered Ding to take part in a euthanasia killing with phenol and to report on the results in detail. A few days later Hoven, in the presence of Ding, gave phenol injections to several of the concentration camp inmates with the result that they died instantly. In accordance with instructions, Ding made a report of the killings to his superior officer.
The fact that Hoven engaged in phenol killings is substantiated by an affidavit voluntarily made by Hoven himself prior to the trial, which was received in evidence as a part of the case of the prosecution. In the affidavit Hoven makes the following statement:
“There were many prisoners who were jealous of the positions held by a few political prisoners and tried to discredit them. These traitors were immediately killed, and I was later notified in order to make out statements that they had died of natural causes.
“In some instances I supervised the killings of these unworthy inmates by injections of phenol, at the request of the inmates, in the hospital assisted by several inmates. Dr. Ding came once and said I was not doing it correctly, and performed some of the injections himself, killing three inmates who died within a minute.
“The total number of traitors killed was about 150, of whom 60 were killed by phenol injections, either by myself or under my supervision, and the rest were killed by beatings, etc., by the inmates.”
EUTHANASIA PROGRAM
The details of the Euthanasia Program have been discussed by us at length in dealing with the charges against certain other defendants; consequently they will not be repeated here.
In the Hoven pre-trial affidavit, portions of which were quoted while discussing gas oedema serum experimentation, the defendant gives us a partial picture of the Euthanasia Program, in the following statement:
“In 1941 Koch, the camp commander, called all the important SS officials of the camp together and informed them that he had received a secret order from Himmler that all mentally and physically deficient inmates should be killed, including Jews. 300 to 400 Jewish prisoners of different nationalities were sent to the ‘euthanasia station’ at Bernburg for extermination. I was ordered to issue falsified statements of the death of these Jews, and obeyed the order. This action was known as ‘14 f 13’.”
When the defendant Hoven took the stand in his own defense, he attempted to discredit the effects of the statements contained in his affidavit by testifying that the affidavit was taken as a result of interrogations propounded to him by the prosecution in English, and that he was not sufficiently familiar with the language to be fully aware of the inculpatory nature of the statements he was making.
The Tribunal is not impressed with these assertions. The evidence shows that prior to the war the defendant had lived for several years in the United States, where he had acquired at least an average understanding and comprehension of the English language. When he was on the witness stand, the Tribunal questioned him at length in order to ascertain the extent of his knowledge of English, and in particular, of his understanding of the meaning of the words used by him in his affidavit. As a result of this questioning the Tribunal is convinced that no undue or improper advantage was taken of the defendant in procuring the affidavit, and that at the time of his interrogation by the prosecution, Hoven knew and understood perfectly well the nature of the statements he was making.
The facts contained in the Hoven affidavit were convincingly substantiated by other evidence in the record, the only real difference being that the evidence shows the defendant to have been guilty of even many hundreds more murders than are admitted by him in his affidavit. As stated, in essence, by one of the prosecution witnesses in connection with the subject, Hoven personally killed inmates in the hospital barracks by injection. These people were mostly suffering from malnutrition and exhaustion. Hoven must have killed 1,000 of every nationality. These inmates were killed on the initiative of Hoven with no requests from the illegal camp administration or the political prisoners.
It is obvious from the evidence that throughout his entire service at Buchenwald, Hoven attempted to serve three masters: the SS camp administration, the criminal prisoners, and the political prisoners of the camp. As a result he became criminally implicated in murders committed by all three groups involving the deaths of non-German nationals, some of whom were prisoners of war and others of whom were civilians. In addition to these, he committed murders on his own individual responsibility. There can be nothing said in mitigation of such conduct. To the extent that the crimes committed by Hoven were not war crimes, they were crimes against humanity.
MEMBERSHIP IN CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Under count four of the indictment the defendant is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. The evidence shows that Hoven became a member of the SS in 1934, and remained in this organization throughout the war. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Waldemar Hoven guilty, under counts two, three and four of the indictment.
BEIGLBOECK
The defendant Beiglboeck is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with personal responsibility for, and participation in Sea-Water Experiments.
The defendant Beiglboeck, an Austrian citizen, was a captain in the medical department of the German Air Force from May 1941 until the end of the war. In June 1944, while stationed at the hospital for paratroopers at Tarvis [Tarvisio], Italy, he received orders from his military and medical superior, defendant Becker-Freyseng, to carry out sea-water experiments at Dachau.
The sea-water experiments have been described in detail in those portions of the judgment dealing with defendants Schroeder and Becker-Freyseng.
The defendant Beiglboeck testified that he reported to Berlin at the end of June 1944, where Becker-Freyseng told him the nature and purpose of the experiments. Upon that trip he also reported to and talked with the defendant Schroeder. From these conversations he learned that the prime purpose of the experiments was to test the process developed by Berka for making sea water potable and also to ascertain whether it would be better for a shipwrecked person in distress at sea to go completely without sea water or to drink small quantities thereof.
It appears from the record that the persons used in the experiments were 40 gypsies of various nationalities who had been formerly at Auschwitz but who had been brought to Dachau under the pretext that they were to be assigned to various work details. These persons had been imprisoned in the concentration camps on the basis that they were “asocial persons.” Nothing was said to them about being used as human subjects in medical experiments. When they reached Dachau some of them were told that they were being assigned to the sea-water experiment detail.
Beiglboeck testified that before beginning the experiments he called the subjects together and told them the purpose of the experiments and asked them if they wanted to participate. He did not tell them the duration of the experiments, or that they could withdraw if ever they reached the physical or mental state that continuation of the experiment should seem to them to be impossible. The evidence is that none of the experimental subjects felt that they dared refuse becoming experimental subjects for fear of unpleasant consequences if they voiced any objections.
The defendant testified that pursuant to the order that had been given him, it was necessary that the subjects thirst for a continuous period; and that the question of when, if ever, they should be relieved during the course of the experiment was a matter which he reserved for his own decision.
During the course of the experiments the subjects were locked in a room. As to this phase of the program the defendant testified that “They should have been locked in a lot better than they were, because then they would have had no opportunity at all to get fresh water on the side.”
At the trial the defendant produced clinical charts which he said were made during the course of the experiments and which, according to the defendant, showed that the subjects did not suffer injury. On cross-examination the defendant admitted that some of the charts had been altered by him since he reached Nuernberg in order to present a more favorable picture of the experiments.
We do not think it necessary to discuss in detail what is shown by the charts either before or after the fraudulent alterations. We think it only necessary to say that a man who intends to rely on written evidence at a trial does not fraudulently alter such evidence from any honest or worthy motive.
The defendant claims that he was at all times extremely reluctant to perform the experiments with which he is charged, and did so only out of his sense of obedience as a soldier to superior authority. Under Control Council Law No. 10 such fact does not constitute a defense, but will be considered, if at all, only in mitigation of sentence.
In our view the experimental subjects were treated brutally. Many of them endured much pain and suffering, although from the evidence we cannot find that any deaths occurred among the experimental subjects.
It is apparent from the evidence that the experiments were essentially criminal in their nature, and that non-German nationals were used without their consent as experimental subjects. To the extent that the crimes committed by defendant Beiglboeck were not war crimes they were crimes against humanity.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Wilhelm Beiglboeck guilty under counts two and three of the indictment.
POKORNY
The defendant Pokorny is charged with special responsibility for, and participation in, criminal Sterilization Experiments, as set forth in counts two and three of the indictment.
It is conceded by the prosecution that, in contradistinction to all other defendants, the defendant Pokorny never held any position of responsibility in the Party or State Hierarchy of Nazi Germany. Neither was he a member of the Nazi Party or of the SS. Formerly a Czechoslovakian citizen, he became a citizen of the Greater German Reich under the Munich Agreement of October 1938. During the war he served as a medical officer in the German Army and attained the rank of captain.
The only direct evidence bearing on the guilt of the defendant is a letter written by Pokorny to Himmler in October 1941, suggesting the use of a drug, caladium seguinum, as a possible means of medical sterilization of peoples of the occupied territories. The letter follows:
“To the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Folkdom,
SS Himmler, Chief of Police,
Berlin.
“I beg you to turn your attention to the following arguments. I have requested Professor Hoehn to forward this letter to you. I have chosen this direct way to you in order to avoid the slower process through channels and the possibility of an indiscretion in regard to the eventually enormous importance of the ideas presented.
“Led by the idea that the enemy must not only be conquered but destroyed, I feel obliged to present to you, as the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Folkdom the following:
“Dr. Madaus published the result of his research on a medicinal sterilization (both articles are enclosed). Reading these articles, the immense importance of this drug in the present fight of our people occurred to me. If, on the basis of this research, it were possible to produce a drug which, after a relatively short time, effects an imperceptible sterilization on human beings, then we would have a new powerful weapon at our disposal. The thought alone that the 3 million Bolsheviks, at present German prisoners, could be sterilized so that they could be used as laborers but be prevented from reproduction, opens the most far-reaching perspectives.
“Madaus found that the sap of the Schweigrohr (caladium seguinum) when taken by mouth or given as injection to male but also to female animals, after a certain time produces permanent sterility. The illustrations accompanying the scientific article are convincing.
If my ideas meet your approval the following course should be taken:
1. Dr. Madaus must not publish any more such articles. (The enemy listens!)
2. Multiplying the plant (easily cultivated in greenhouses!)
3. Immediate research on human beings (criminals!) in order to determine the dose and length of the treatment.
4. Quick research of the constitutional formula of the effective chemical substance in order to
5. Produce it synthetically if possible.
“As German physician and Chief Physician of the Reserves of the German Wehrmacht, retired (d.R.a.D.), I undertake to keep secret the purpose as suggested by me in this letter.
“Heil Hitler! [Signed] “Dr. Pokorny “Specialist for skin and venereal diseases.
“Komotau, October 1941.”
The defendant has attempted to explain his motives for sending the letter by asserting that for some time prior to its transmittal he had known of Himmler’s intentions to sterilize all Jews and inhabitants of the eastern territories, and had hoped to find some means of preventing the execution of this dreadful program. He knew, because of his special experience as a specialist in skin and venereal diseases, that sterilization of human beings could not be effected by the administration of caladium seguinum. He thought, however, that if the articles written by Madaus could be brought to the attention of Himmler, the latter might turn his attentions to the unobtrusive method for sterilization which had been suggested by the articles and thus be diverted, at least temporarily, from continuing his program of castration and sterilization by well-known, tried and tested methods. Therefore the letter was written—so explained the defendant—not for the purpose of furthering, but of sabotaging the program.
We are not impressed with the defense which has been tendered by the defendant and have great difficulty in believing that he was motivated by the high purposes which he asserted impelled him to write the letter. Rather are we inclined to the view that the letter was written by Pokorny for very different and more personal reasons.
Be that however as it may, every defendant is presumed to be innocent until he has been proved guilty. In the case of Pokorny the prosecution has failed to sustain the burden. As monstrous and base as the suggestions in the letter are, there is not the slightest evidence that any steps were ever taken to put them into execution by human experimentation. We find, therefore, that the defendant must be acquitted—not because of the defense tendered, but in spite of it.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Adolf Pokorny is not guilty of the charge contained in the indictment, and directs that he be discharged from custody under the indictment when the Tribunal presently adjourns.
OBERHEUSER
The defendant Oberheuser is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with Sulfanilamide, Bone, Muscle and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation, and Sterilization Experiments.
The charge of participation in the sterilization experiments has been abandoned by the prosecution and will not be considered further.
The defendant Oberheuser joined the league of German Girls (BDM) in 1935 and held the rank of “block leader.” In August 1937 she became a member of the Nazi Party. She was also a member of the Association of National Socialist Physicians. She volunteered for the position of a camp doctor in the women’s department of the Ravensbrueck concentration camp in 1940 and remained there until June 1943. She was then given a position as assistant physician in the Hohenlychen Hospital under the defendant Gebhardt.
Regarding her connection with both the sulfanilamide and the bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation experiments, the same facts are applicable as were presented in the cases of the defendants Fischer and Gebhardt. Fischer and Oberheuser were Gebhardt’s active agents in carrying out these experiments. They did a great deal of the actual work. They personally committed atrocities involved in the experiments.
A few facts produced in evidence regarding the special work of defendant Oberheuser in these experiments are entitled to comment.
Oberheuser was thoroughly aware of the nature and purpose of the experiments. She aided in the selection of the subjects, gave them physical examinations, and otherwise prepared them for the operation table. She was present in the operating room at the time of the operations and assisted in the operational procedures. She faithfully cooperated with Gebhardt and Fischer at the conclusion of each operation by deliberately neglecting the patients so that the wounds which had been given the subjects would reach the maximum degree of infection.
Testimony of the witness Sofia Maczka, an X-ray technician in the camp at Ravensbrueck, is that deaths occurred among the experimental subjects. Most of these deaths could have been averted by proper post-operative care, proper treatment, or by the amputation of badly infected members.
In one instance—the case of a Krystina Dabska—small pieces of bone were cut from both legs of the subject. Witness Maczka testified that she read on the cast of the patient that on one leg periosteum had been left and on the other leg periosteum had been removed together with bone. Because she was of the opinion that the purpose of the experiment had been to check regeneration, the witness asked the defendant Oberheuser, “How do you expect to get regeneration of bone if the bones are removed with periosteum?” To this the defendant replied, “That is just what we want to check.”
Nonconsenting non-German nationals were used in at least some of the experiments. Many of them died as a result of the experiments. To the extent that the crimes committed were not war crimes, they were crimes against humanity.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Herta Oberheuser is guilty under counts two and three of the indictment.
FISCHER
The defendant Fischer is charged under counts two and three with Sulfanilamide and Bone, Muscle and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation Experiments.
Fritz Fischer joined the Allgemeine SS in February 1934 and the NSDAP in 1939. In the latter year he joined the Waffen SS and was assigned to the SS unit in the Hohenlychen Hospital as a physician subordinated to the defendant Gebhardt. In June 1940 he was transferred to the SS regiment Leibstandarte “Adolf Hitler”, and returned the same year to Hohenlychen as assistant physician to Gebhardt, where he remained until May 1943. He then served as a surgeon on both the eastern and western fronts and, after having been wounded in August 1944, came back to Hohenlychen as a patient. In December 1944 he was assigned to the Charity Hospital in Berlin, but returned again to Hohenlychen as Gebhardt’s assistant in April 1945. In the Waffen SS he attained the rank of Sturmbannfuehrer (major).
SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS
Gebhardt, as shown elsewhere in this judgment, was in personal charge of the work being done in this field by his assistant Fritz Fischer. That the latter performed most of the sulfanilamide experimental work is not denied by him; on the contrary, he freely admits it. The defense offered in his behalf is twofold; that the experimental subjects were to have alleged death sentences, then impending, commuted to something less severe in the event they survived the experiments; and that defendant Fischer was acting under military orders from his superior officer, Gebhardt. These defenses have been considered and separately rejected in other parts of this judgment.
It is true, however, that paragraph 4 (b) of Article II of Control Council Law No. 10 reads:
“The fact that any person acted pursuant to the order of his government, or of a superior, does not free him from responsibility for crime, but may be considered in mitigation.”
It is unnecessary to take up and answer all the arguments that might be presented upon whether or not Fischer is entitled to a mitigation of sentence due to the circumstances claimed as the basis of such mitigation. He acted with most complete knowledge that what he was doing was fundamentally criminal, even though directed by a superior. Under the circumstances his defense must be rejected, and he must be held to be guilty as charged.
BONE, MUSCLE AND NERVE REGENERATION AND BONE TRANSPLANTATION
These experiments have been discussed in connection with the case of the defendant Gebhardt, who was assisted therein by the defendant Fischer. Testimony and exhibits now constituting parts of the record in this case reveal that Fischer has offered no substantial defense to the charge. Indeed, criminal connection with these experiments is admitted, and the admission includes the defendant’s own testimony that he personally performed at least some of the operations. It only remains for the Tribunal to hold that on the specification above-mentioned the defendant Fischer is guilty.
To the extent that the crimes committed by defendant Fischer were not war crimes they were crimes against humanity.
MEMBERSHIP IN CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Under count four of the indictment Fritz Fischer is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. The evidence shows that Fritz Fischer became a member of the SS in 1934 and remained in this organization until the end of the war. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges that the defendant Fritz Fischer is guilty under counts two, three, and four of the indictment.
[signed] WALTER B. BEALS PRESIDING JUDGE. HAROLD L. SEBRING JUDGE. JOHNSON T. CRAWFORD JUDGE.
SENTENCES
PRESIDING JUDGE BEALS: Military Tribunal I has convened this morning for the purpose of imposing sentences upon the defendants who have been on trial before this Tribunal and who have been adjudged guilty by the Tribunal.
“KARL BRANDT, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Karl Brandt, to death by hanging.
“SIEGFRIED HANDLOSER, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Siegfried Handloser, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“OSKAR SCHROEDER, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Oskar Schroeder, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“KARL GENZKEN, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Karl Genzken, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“KARL GEBHARDT, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Karl Gebhardt, to death by hanging.
“RUDOLF BRANDT, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Rudolf Brandt, to death by hanging.
“JOACHIM MRUGOWSKY, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Joachim Mrugowsky, to death by hanging.
“HELMUT POPPENDICK, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Helmut Poppendick, to imprisonment for a term of ten years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“WOLFRAM SIEVERS, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Wolfram Sievers, to death by hanging.
“GERHARD ROSE, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Gerhard Rose, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“VIKTOR BRACK, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Viktor Brack, to death by hanging.
“HERMANN BECKER-FREYSENG, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Hermann Becker-Freyseng, to imprisonment for a term of twenty years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“WALDEMAR HOVEN, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted, Military Tribunal I sentences you, Waldemar Hoven, to death by hanging.
“WILHELM BEIGLBOECK, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Wilhelm Beiglboeck, to imprisonment for a term of fifteen years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“HERTA OBERHEUSER, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Herta Oberheuser, to imprisonment for a term of twenty years, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.
“FRITZ FISCHER, Military Tribunal I has found and adjudged you guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, as charged under the indictment heretofore filed against you. For your said crimes on which you have been and now stand convicted Military Tribunal I sentences you, Fritz Fischer, to imprisonment for the full term and period of your natural life, to be served at such prison or prisons, or other appropriate place of confinement, as shall be determined by competent authority.”
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[56] A more correct translation is typhus, see vol. I, p. 13.
[57] Indictment originally read “January 1943” but was amended by a motion filed with the Secretary General. See Arraignment, vol. I, p. 22.
[58] Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. I, p. 269, Nuernberg, 1947.
XIII. PETITIONS
a. Introduction
Article XV of Ordinance No. 7 of Military Government for Germany (US) provides that the judgment of the Tribunal as to the guilt or innocence of any defendant shall be final and not subject to review. However, Article XVII provides that the Military Governor has the power to mitigate, reduce, or otherwise alter the sentence imposed by the Tribunal, but may not increase the severity thereof. The petitions on behalf of defendants seeking a revision of the sentences have ordinarily been called clemency pleas.
All 16 defendants found guilty by the Tribunal in case No. I petitioned for clemency to the Military Governor of the United States Zone of Occupation in accordance with Article XVII of Ordinance No. 7. Each of the condemned defendants, with the exception of the defendant Poppendick, also petitioned to the Supreme Court of the United States for a writ of habeas corpus and for a writ of prohibition against the proceeding or an order nullifying the trial and setting the defendants at liberty. Moreover, all defendants, with the exception of the defendant Becker-Freyseng, filed appeals of some kind with the Secretary of War. From these various types of petitions, six are set forth below in whole or in part as follows: petition of appeal to the Secretary of War for the defendant Karl Brandt, page 302; petition for a writ of habeas corpus and a writ of prohibition to the Supreme Court of the United States by the defendant Rose, pp. 303 to 306; extracts from the petition for a writ of habeas corpus and a writ of prohibition to the Supreme Court of the United States by the defendant Schroeder, pp. 307 to 308; petition for review to the Military Governor of the United States Zone of Occupation for the defendant Genzken, pp. 309 to 318; clemency plea to the Military Governor of the United States Zone of Occupation for the defendant Rudolf Brandt, pp. 319 to 321; and clemency plea to the Military Governor of the United States Zone of Occupation for the defendant Poppendick, pp. 322 to 326.
b. Selections from the Petitions to the Military Governor, the Supreme Court of the United States, and to the Judge Advocate General
FOR THE DEFENDANT KARL BRANDT Nuernberg, 4 September 1947.
The Secretary of War, Judge Advocate General, War Department, Washington, D.C., United States of America. Professor Dr. Karl BRANDT, Petitioner, Defense Counsel Dr. R. Servatius, attorney-at-law, Cologne vs. United States of America Petition of Appeal
No.——
As defense counsel of the defendant Professor Dr. med. Karl Brandt, I herewith lodge an appeal against the verdict of the Military Tribunal No. I at Nuernberg in Case I, of 19 and 20 August 1947, by which the defendant was sentenced to death. For justification of my appeal against the indictment on which the verdict is based, as well as the verdict itself, I refer to the following documents, copies of which are attached:
(a) Application for review, dated 28 August 1947, addressed to the Chief of Military Government for the American Zone of Occupation in Germany.
(b) Application for writ of habeas corpus, dated 28 August 1947, addressed to the Supreme Court of the United States of America.
It follows from these attached documents that the defendant Karl Brandt was unlawfully deprived of the possibility to lodge an appeal before a Military Tribunal consisting of medical experts.
A re-trial before a court of higher order is necessary in order to re-examine the errors committed by the Tribunal in ascertaining the facts of the case and applying the law.
I request:
(a) that the verdict of the Military Tribunal, dated 20 August 1947, be annulled.
(b) that a court of appeal be formed for a new trial of the case.
[Signature] DR. R. SERVATIUS Attorney-at-law.
FOR THE DEFENDANT ROSE Prof. Dr. med. Gerhard Rose Nuernberg, 4 September 1947 POW A/938984 Palace of Justice, Nuernberg, Germany
Defense Counsel: Dr. Heinz [Hans] Fritz Attorney-at-law, Bavariaring 14, Munich, Germany
To the Supreme Court of the United States of America Washington, D.C.
Prof. Dr. med. Gerhard Rose, Petitioner vs. United States of America
Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus and Petition for Writ of Prohibition
No.——
I, the undersigned Prof. Dr. Gerhard Rose, was sentenced, in the verdict of the American Military Tribunal I in Nuernberg, Germany, that was announced on 19 and 20 August 1947, of Case I, United States of America vs. Karl Brandt and others, for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as defined in Control Council Law No. 10 of 20 Dec 1945, to life imprisonment.
I pray:
(1) that a writ of habeas corpus be issued by this Court, directed to Lieutenant General Lucius D. Clay, Commanding General, United States Army Forces, Germany, commanding him to produce the body of the petitioner before your Court or some member thereof at a time and place therein to be specified, then and there to receive and to do what your honorable Court shall order concerning his confinement and trial as an accused war criminal and that he be ordered returned to the status of, and internment as a prisoner of war in conformity with the provisions of Article 9 of the Geneva Convention of July 27, 1929, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war and of paragraph 82 of the Rules of Land Warfare [U. S. Field Manual 27-10], and
(2) that a writ of prohibition be issued by this Court prohibiting the respondent from proceeding with the trial and that the petitioner be discharged from the offenses and confinement aforesaid,
(3) that the costs of the court shall not be levied, because I am a prisoner of war and my property has been confiscated by the Control Council for Germany.
As reasons for the above requests I offer the following:
The sentence imposed on me not only violates valid international law, but also legal principles whose observance by all the courts of the United States is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.
The basic principle that has been violated is that no one may be deprived of the judge [justice] provided for by law and that each defendant must be granted a regular trial.
The following violations are charged in particular:
The sentence was passed in violation of Article 63 of the Geneva Convention of 1929. I am a medical officer and was Generalarzt in the Reserve, which is equivalent to a brigadier general in the Medical Corps in the American Army. In May 1941 I was in the Luftwaffe hospital at Kitzbuehl in Austria and became a prisoner of war. Shortly afterwards I was flown to England and taken to Camp Latimer (Bucks), known as POW Camp 7. There I was registered as a prisoner of war in the middle of June 1945 and received the POW number A 938984. I was informed that I was a British prisoner of war. I am still a prisoner of war today, because I was neither discharged de facto nor was I ever given discharge papers or shown discharge papers that had been filled out. As a prisoner of war I have a right to have my case tried by a court martial, as would be correct in case an Allied medical officer of equal rank were to be indicted on the same charges. This Court must not only be an officers’ court composed of judges holding corresponding rank, but it must also be a professional court, because it must be composed of medical officers. Since the American Military Tribunal I is not such a court, it was, for example, not in a position to correctly judge my activity as scientific consultant medical officer in relationship to that of a commanding officer.
Article 63 of the Geneva Convention of 1929 purposely makes no differentiation between crimes that a prisoner of war commits during his prisoner of war captivity and those which he committed before he became a prisoner of war. In accordance with the purpose and spirit of the Geneva Convention of 1929, the prisoners of war are to be protected by this provision from being brought up before a special court or from any limitation of their legal rights.
(2) There is a violation of Article 64 of the Geneva Convention because the legal remedies that would be available to an Allied medical officer in a corresponding case cannot be used in the case of the sentence that has been imposed upon me, because Article 15 of Ordinance No. 7 of the American Military Government in Germany provides that the verdicts of the Military Tribunals are final and incontestable.
(3) There is a violation of Article 60 of the Geneva Convention, because Switzerland was not informed, as the protecting power for prisoners of war, of the criminal proceedings pending against me.
(4) The sentence imposed on me violates generally recognized legal principles. It is based on the Control Council Law No. 10, dated 20 December 1945, and the ex post facto definitions contained therein. The sentence has inflicted punishment on me for crimes against humanity, that is, on the basis of an act which was for the first time declared punishable by Control Council Law No. 10.
The suspension of this universally recognized legal principle by a new law cannot change justice itself. The validity of this special law must be tested by the court.
(5) The sentence violates the basic principle nulla poena sine culpa, because it punished me according to Article II, 2_c_ and d of the Control Council Law. These parts of the Control Council Laws allow punishment for mere consent to an act and for a merely objective “connection” with the planning or execution of such act. These provisions represent new substantive law that has been created ex post facto.
(6) During the trial I was limited in my defense in an inadmissible way. My defense counsel, Attorney Dr. Fritz, twice requested, in the prescribed manner, that Prof. Dr. Blanc, a French citizen and director of the Pasteur Institute in Casablanca, Morocco, be summoned as an expert witness in the examination of the research work of Prof. Haagen. The medical research work of Prof. Haagen concerns such difficult medical problems that it cannot, in my opinion, be judged by judges who lack medical training, without the expert testimony of a capable specialist. However, the Court did not approve the requests. This is in my opinion the only reason that I was found guilty in connection with the research work of Haagen.
(7) It is further asserted that the principle of oral proceedings was violated. In the final stages of the trial the Court ordered a partly written procedure. Although the main trial had lasted many months and there was an extremely abundant amount of material to discuss, from a factual as well as a legal standpoint, my defense counsel was only allowed one hour for his closing speech. As for the remaining arguments he was advised to present a closing brief. In this way the protection of publicity was denied and the guarantee removed that the Court would really take cognizance of these written statements.
It was not possible for me to receive information concerning these written statements of my co-defendants in time to take action thereon.
The contents of the closing brief which my defense counsel submitted, and the contents of his rebuttal to the closing brief submitted by the prosecutor against me have obviously not been considered in the findings of the Court, although the Court described the closing brief which it demanded as the most important part of the defense. The English translations of the closing brief and rebuttal to the closing brief of the prosecution arrived so late that it seems impossible that the Court could have taken note of the contents before writing the verdict.
Several closing briefs which had been submitted by the defense counsels of my co-defendants were not even available at the time when the verdict was read.
I assume that the Court could not peruse the rebuttal of my defense counsels to the closing brief of the prosecution before writing the verdict, because the verdict, insofar as it pertains to my case, contains several obviously false statements of facts and furthermore does not even analyze these statements.
(8) The verdict does not have, according to the provisions of Military Government Ordinance No. 7, sufficient reasons to back it up. For instance, it is impossible to determine whether the Court investigated the possibility of duress that would preclude punishment.
Insofar as incompetency of the American Military Tribunal No. I is asserted in my case, I point to the fact that it was not possible for me to object earlier on account of Article II e of Ordinance No. 7.
I reserve the right to submit further statements and evidence later.
[Signature] DR. GERHARD ROSE.
FOR THE DEFENDANT SCHROEDER
To the Supreme Court of the United States of America Washington through the office of the General Secretary of the U. S. Military Tribunal I Nuernberg.
Oskar Schroeder, Petitioner vs. The United States of America
Oskar Schroeder, former Generaloberstabsarzt (Lieutenant General) of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) at present in the prison of the Court in Nuernberg, Germany.
Counsel for the defendant: Dr. Hanns Marx at present at the Military Tribunal I Nuernberg, Roonstrasse 15.
Writ of Habeas Corpus and
Writ of Prohibition
* * * * *
Here too, the Court found that I am guilty merely because of the fact that contrary to duty I did not supervise my subordinates.
Finally the judgment found me guilty with regard to the responsibility for gas experiments. Here the judgment states:
“A certain Oberarzt Wimmer, a staff physician of the Luftwaffe worked with Hirt on the gas experiments throughout the period.
“We discussed the duty which rests upon a commanding officer to take appropriate measures to control his subordinates, in dealing with the case of Handloser. We shall not repeat what we said there. Had Schroeder adopted the measures which the law of war imposes upon one in position of command to prevent the actions of his subordinates amounting to violations of the law of war, the deaths of the non-German nationals involved in the gas experiments might well have been prevented.”
* * * * *
III
A further infringement against the habeas corpus is the fact that while I have been found guilty as being responsible for the Lost experiments, although I have never been indicted on this count.
The verdict of the Military Tribunal I states on page 11 the names of those defendants who have been accused of having borne special responsibility for the Lost (mustard) gas experiments. My name does not appear on that list.
On page 187 of the verdict, the Court describes the importance that this enumeration of defendants has in relation to the various individual counts of the indictment. It says:
“In preparing counts II and III of the indictment, the prosecution elected to frame its pleadings in such a manner [page 7 of the original] as to charge all defendants with the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, generally, and at the same time to name in each subparagraph dealing with medical experiments only those defendants particularly charged with responsibility for each particular item.”
The Court goes on to say:
“In our view this constituted in effect, a bill of particulars and was, in essence, a declaration to the defendants upon which they were entitled to rely in preparing their defenses, that only such persons as were actually named in the designated experiments would be called upon to defend against the specific items.”
As the Court repeatedly gave evidence during the course of the proceedings that it adhered to this view I did not defend myself, did not need to defend myself and could not defend myself against the accusation that I had participated in the Lost experiments.
Although the Court finds on page 187 of the verdict:
“We think it would be manifestly unfair to the defendant to find him guilty of an offense with which the indictment affirmatively indicated he was not charged,”
it has still found me guilty because of responsibility for the Lost experiment, so that in view of the Court’s own statements as contained in the verdict, my sentence constitutes, insofar as it concerns this matter, a gross injustice.
I believe that the sentence of the Military Tribunal I violates a principle insofar as each defendant must be told clearly what crime he has been charged with, and that he must have opportunity to defend himself against these accusations.
It is this principle that is being violated in the findings of the Court against me. In my opinion, it infringes thus the principle of legal heading laid down in the habeas corpus. It is therefore obviously unjust, according to the wording of the verdict itself.
* * * * *
FOR THE DEFENDANT GENZKEN Dr. R. Merkel Defense Counsel of Defendant Dr. Karl Genzken Nuernberg, 2 September 1947.
To the American Military Governor for Germany General Lucius D. Clay via the Secretary General of the Military Tribunal I Nuernberg.
Concerning: Confirmation of the sentence of Military Tribunal I, Nuernberg, of 19 August 1947.
Karl Genzken, defendant in Case I, defended by Attorney-at-Law Dr. R. Merkel, Nuernberg, by verdict of Military Tribunal I of 19 August 1947 was found guilty of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and membership in the SS—counts two, three, and four of the indictment—and was sentenced to life imprisonment.
I request that the sentence may not be confirmed, since the defendant is innocent of the punishable participation in the typhus experiments in Buchenwald with which he is charged.
The verdict of Military Tribunal I, Nuernberg of 19-20 August 1947 decided that Genzken in his official position was responsible for, cooperated in, and promoted the typhus experiments which were carried out on non-Germans against their will, and in the course of which, and as a result of which, cases of death occurred.
On the basis of the verdict it is certain that the defendant himself did not actively participate in the typhus experiments; he never entered the Buchenwald concentration camp during the war and never saw the typhus experimental station in Block 46.
The verdict is based on the presupposition—
(1) that Genzken before 1 September 1943—as superior of Mrugowsky, the Chief of the Hygiene Institute, and of Ding in his capacity as an assistant in this Institute—has had the command and thus the official supervision over the experiments in the typhus experimental station in Block 46 of the Buchenwald concentration camp,
(2) that Genzken before 1 September 1943 was acquainted with the kind and scope of the activity of Mrugowsky and Ding, who were supposedly subordinated to him in the field of typhus research, and
(3) that he nevertheless failed to make sure that this research work was carried out within legally permissible limits.
These statements of the verdict are not correct, since they do not take into account in any way the actual facts which emerged on the basis of the extensive evidence submitted by the prosecution and defense.
I Genzken had no command and no official supervision over the typhus experiments in Block 46
The research for a new typhus vaccine for the Waffen SS was purely scientific research in the medical field. In contrast to the Chiefs of the Medical Services of the three Wehrmacht branches (Army, Air Corps, Navy) scientific research and planning did not belong to the tasks delegated to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Waffen SS. The official agency in charge of scientific research and planning for all the organizations of the SS and the police was rather exclusively Reich Physician SS and Police Professor Dr. Grawitz (pages 4-6 of closing brief of the defense).
Exhibit No. 39 of the prosecution proves that Grawitz in 1942 without success requested funds for the intended establishment of several research institutes. However, in view of the imminent pressing danger of typhus, Grawitz, at the order of Himmler, gave the command to establish a typhus experimental station in connection with and sharing the funds appropriated for Block 46 of the Buchenwald concentration camp and in December 1941 he appointed Dr. Ding of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS head of Block 46. In reference to this Mrugowsky states: “Himmler did not order me to take charge of these experiments, but at the suggestion of Grawitz assigned these duties to Dr. Ding.” (p. 5067 of the English transcript.) In the affidavit of S. Dumont, we read: “Mrugowsky told me that Grawitz will transmit Himmler’s order direct to Ding” (Document Mrugowsky 38, Exhibit 13, p. 50 Document book Mrugowsky I). Finally Blumenreuther declares in his affidavit of 3 February 1947 (Document Mrugowsky No. 26, Exhibit 6, p. 170 Document Book Mrugowsky I) as follows: “In 1942 Grawitz brought about Himmler’s order to establish in the Buchenwald concentration camp an experimental station for typhus research and appointed Dr. Ding to take charge of this experimental station.” Thus Ding left the Hygiene Institute, when his research work began, and from this time on he was no longer a subordinate of Genzken, but as chief of the research department in Block 46 was directly, immediately, and exclusively subordinate to Grawitz. As oldest hygienic expert, Grawitz consulted his consulting hygienist Mrugowsky in the course of his researches concerned with typhus. This latter called himself “Reich Physician SS and Leading Police Hygienist” in his report of 5 May 1942 which was mentioned in the verdict (Mrugowsky, Exhibit 20, p. 86, Doc. Book Mrug. I). As a result of the shortage of hygienists, Mrugowsky, in his capacity as head of the only Hygiene Institute on the home front, was available also to the Reich Physician for his medical duties concerned with all the branches of the SS and for his scientific research tasks. As head of the Hygiene Institute and as head of Office XVI concerned with questions of group hygiene of the Waffen SS, Mrugowsky was subordinate to Genzken, not however in his capacity as hygienic consultant to the Reich Physician. In connection with these problems, to which belonged also the typhus vaccine research, Mrugowsky was subordinate only to Reich Physician SS Grawitz and not to Genzken. If, as the verdict presupposes, the relationship of giving orders had really been the following: Himmler-Grawitz-Genzken-Mrugowsky-Ding, then Genzken would have had to take orders from Grawitz and would have been called for conferences with Grawitz. This has not been established by the prosecution.
Through the examination of witnesses by prosecution and defense, it was established that there were two separate institutions in Buchenwald: the typhus research institute from December 1941 in Block 46 and the typhus vaccine manufacturing station from the fall of 1943 in Block 50 (see page 35, Closing Brief of the Defense and Exhibit Genzken Exh. No. 5). The manufacturing station in Block 50, and Ding as its head, would have been subordinate to Dr. Genzken as such if the manufacture of the new SS typhus vaccine had been started before 1 September 1943. However, this was definitely not the case; it was still in a preparatory state (see page 46, closing brief of the defense). If on page 96 (German text) of the verdict it is furthermore stated that the official channels were arranged in this manner: Himmler-Grawitz-Genzken-Mrugowsky-Ding, then this statement also is in obvious contradiction to the facts established in a clear and conclusive manner by the examination of witnesses.
Because, as far as the channels of command for the typhus experimental station are concerned, the following points prove that these channels of command ran Himmler-Grawitz-Ding for Block 46:
(1) Dr. Morgen states in his affidavit Mrugowsky Exh. 107 (Doc. Mrug. 114, Doc. Book Mrug. Supplement II, p. 54), that Grawitz gave written and direct order to Ding to carry out the typhus research without Genzken’s participation. Ding showed Morgen the written order from Grawitz.
(2) The letterhead which Ding used before spring 1943, as head of the experimental station for typhus and virus research, read as follows: “Reich Fuehrer SS—Typhus-Experimental Station, Buchenwald” (see Doc. Genzken No. 2, Genzken Exh. 8).
(3) The prosecution witness Kogon confirms the fact that all reports went through Mrugowsky directly to Grawitz and not by way of Genzken.
(4) Genzken and Mrugowsky both testify under oath that Himmler and Grawitz gave the order for the establishment of the experimental station to Ding directly.
(5) In Exhibit 283 of the prosecution, Ding states “that Grawitz, in agreement with the leading physician of the concentration camp Dr. Lolling appointed Dr. Hoven as Ding’s deputy in Buchenwald”. The appointment, therefore, did not take place by way of Genzken.
The order channel, Himmler-Grawitz-Genzken-Mrugowsky-Ding, as stated in the verdict, is based exclusively on the affidavit of Dr. Hoven dated 24 October 1946, Prosecution Exh. No. 281. When he was interrogated, Hoven stated under oath that this channel of command was correct only for the manufacturing station in Block 50 and not for the research institute in Block 46 (see p. 9913 of the English record). When Mrugowsky was interrogated, he also stated under oath “that this command relationship referred solely to the vaccine manufacture in Block 50. This chain of command did not refer to Block 46, and insofar as it is touched by it, this channel of giving orders is not correct” (see p. 46 closing brief of the defense).
From all this evidence it follows conclusively that Hoven’s statement cannot be used as supporting evidence for a conviction against Genzken. For he was not a station on this channel of giving orders and had never had anything to do about giving orders concerning the carrying out of the typhus experiments in Block 46 until 1 September 1943.
If, therefore, the verdict states that Genzken was responsible for the carrying out of the typhus experiments, then the verdict does not take into consideration the proven fact that not Genzken, but Grawitz was the one who gave the order to carry out research experiments in the concentration camp Buchenwald on concentration camp inmates. Only he who gives the order to carry out an action and who was a party to it in some other ways can be responsible for the act. Nothing of the sort has been proved against Genzken. If, as established by Document Mrug. Exh. No. 107, Grawitz gave the order to carry out typhus experiments to Ding, then it is impossible that Genzken too could have given such an order, if for no other reason, because he was never the competent authority for scientific research and projects. Furthermore on the basis of his testimony as a witness, it has been established that he never received an order to this effect by Grawitz, and that Grawitz purposely excluded him from exerting any influence on the research projects in Block 46.
In Genzken Exhibit No. 3, Mrugowsky confirms “that Grawitz, in conversations with him, frequently emphasized that he—Grawitz—was the only one responsible for research and planning assignments within the SS, and that Genzken had nothing to do with them.”
The assumption in the verdict is, therefore, not correct that Ding undertook typhus research “for” the Hygiene Institute (page 97, German text of the verdict). As already mentioned above and as proved beyond doubt during the trial, Ding did not undertake these typhus experiments for the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS, but exclusively for his employer and commander, Grawitz.
Genzken, therefore, was not responsible for the carrying out of the typhus experiments, since he neither commanded nor ordered those experiments.
If furthermore the Tribunal is trying to construe incriminating evidence against Genzken by claiming that Genzken provided the funds for Ding’s expenses (see page 97 and 99 of the German text), this too is a mistake. Genzken expressly said under oath that he never provided any money for Ding’s experiments, but that only for Ding’s personal needs had funds been transferred to the Waffen SS through the medical office. In the Genzken Document No. 17, Genzken Exhibit No. 15, Rudolf Tonndorf says “that he never paid or ordered payment for the upkeep or provided other funds for scientific experiments or for institutions which served such purposes, because such scientific research work was not the concern of the medical office of the Waffen SS, but exclusively that of the office of the Reich Physician of the SS and Police, Dr. Grawitz.”
In Genzken Exhibit No. 8, Barnewald states under oath “that the entire administrative care for Block 46 was the concern of the Buchenwald camp administration through the official channels via the patients’ building of the concentration camp. The administration of the medical office of the Waffen SS had officially nothing to do with administrative matters concerning Block 46.”
On page 6 of the Ding diary—Prosecution Exhibit No. 287—it says that Pohl, the Chief of the Main Administrative and Economic Office, gave the order for the enlargement of a block of stone buildings. On page 9 of that same document a conference between Ding and two representatives of the Main Administrative and Economic Office is mentioned (Barnewald and Schlesinger), who occupied themselves with the breeding of experimental animals for the experimental department.
Not Genzken, but the authorities competent for the economic supply of the concentration camps, namely, the Main Administrative and Economic Office therefore carried through the financing of the typhus experiments via the camp administration of the concentration camp Buchenwald.
II Genzken had no knowledge of the character and of the extent of the experiments carried out in the field of typhus research in Block 46
The statement in the verdict (page 105) “that Genzken knew that the prisoners were subjected to cruel medical experiments, in the course of which deaths were occurring,” is not proved in any way.
The verdict itself (page 98) states that Genzken said “that he was aware of the fact that concentration camp inmates were subjected to experiments, and that he stated that he was not advised as to the methods of experimentation.” In the cross-examination, Genzken emphasized that the number of the experimental persons, of the series of experiments, the number of dead, the cultures for infections, and the passages had only become clear to him through the trial, and that the names “Block 46” and “Block 50” had been entirely unknown to him up to the trial. As proved by the evidence it is clear, beyond doubt, that Genzken was not informed either by Grawitz, nor by Ding, nor by Mrugowsky about the details of the experiments. Grawitz who distrusted Genzken, consciously never informed Genzken about a single case of his many secret experiments upon human beings in which, according to the documentary evidence he participated. The defense has given sufficient evidence for this fact. Grawitz even prevented Mrugowsky from informing Genzken (Document Genzken, Exhibit No. 3): “This is none of Genzken’s business.”
It has also been made very clear by the defense that Ding had never given any oral or written information about the details of the experiments. The prosecution could not produce any evidence for such information.
The verdict speaks about a “warm personal friendship between Genzken and Ding” (page 97). Their relationship never was more than one of official comradeship. They did not use the intimate “Du” in addressing each other. Ding was never a guest at Genzken’s house. Once Ding was presented to Frau Genzken. The two women did not know each other at all.
Ding’s scientific reports concerning his research went directly to Grawitz via Mrugowsky. To the question whether it was not true that reports concerning the typhus experiments in Block 46 went to the office of the Reich Physician of the SS and of the Police Grawitz, the prosecution witness Kogon answered by saying: “This is correct” (see p. 1290 of the English Transcript). Mrugowsky said in this connection:
“The reports were never presented to Genzken through me but in a new envelope went directly to Grawitz” (see p. 5366 of the English Transcript). Finally the witness Dumont in figure 7 of her affidavit (Document Mrugowsky, Exhibit 13, page 51, Document Book Mrug. I) declared: “The reports which Ding made concerning his experiments with prisoners were directed to Grawitz via the Hygiene Institute.”
The verdict tries furthermore to base the fact that Genzken knew about the typhus experiments via stating that once a report by Mrugowsky of 5 May 1942 went to him and that besides this, he had been personally informed about everything by Mrugowsky. Both conclusions are also wrong and are in direct contradiction to the evidence.
The only document of the prosecution which, according to the distributor mentions the name of Genzken at all, is the report by Mrugowsky of 5 May 1942, mentioned in the verdict (page 99 and following). The conclusions which the Tribunal feels compelled to have to draw from this report to the prejudice of Genzken do not apply if only for the reason that this report was never made available to Dr. Genzken. Mrugowsky said in this respect: “This report was not presented to Genzken himself but was even later on, until the end, in the files of Amt XVI.” (See reply of the defense to the closing brief of the prosecution, p. 5). Genzken cannot be made responsible for something he, as has been proved, never knew. If he never saw that report of Mrugowsky and if he never knew of its existence, it cannot serve as an incriminating evidence against him.
It is not correct, that before 1 September 1943 Mrugowsky gave regularly, on the average once a week, oral or written reports concerning the typhus experiments to Genzken. Mrugowsky only said that about once a week he reported to Genzken on the hygiene of the troops at the meeting of the Referenten[59] of the medical office. Mrugowsky did this in his capacity as leading hygienist of the medical office (Sanitaets-Amt). Mrugowsky never reported to Genzken about the typhus experiments, on the occasion of these weekly reports and meetings of Referenten (Heads of Referate, Departments in a Ministry), if only because of the fact that these experiments did not fall within the scope of the work of the medical office of the Waffen SS, and because, upon Grawitz order, they were to be kept strictly secret. Written reports were never made at all. The established fact that in the medical office there was not the slightest information about, nor was there ever any discussion of, typhus experiments or any other experiments upon human beings in concentration camps, in itself shows that on Mrugowsky’s part, no oral or written reports were submitted to the medical office of the Waffen SS. Four participants in such meetings of the Referenten of the medical office have borne witness to this fact (see p. 52 of the closing brief for the defense).
The sole report of the spring of 1943 has been described in detail by Mrugowsky. His explanations were incorporated into the verdict word for word. The Tribunal thus considers them to be true and accurate. Mrugowsky and Genzken both stated under oath that Genzken had not seen that infection dates and incidents of death had been marked in the charts which were submitted to him. Mrugowsky stated literally as follows: “I had no cause to call his attention to these things expressly because actually I made no report to him concerning Ding’s experimental series, but merely wanted to give him factual information concerning the protective effect of certain vaccines, which he as head of the medical office had to know.”
On pages 25-26, the verdict states: “In Anglo-Saxon law, every defendant in a criminal proceedings for a crime of which he is accused is considered innocent until the prosecution has brought sound credible proof of his guilt, excluding all reasonable doubt. This assumption applies to the defendant throughout all the stages of the trial, until such proof has been brought. ‘Reasonable doubt’ is, as the name implies, doubt that is in keeping with reason, a doubt that a reasonable person would entertain.”
These statements must be completely and entirely agreed to. But, when applied to this very case of defendant Genzken and especially to his alleged knowledge of the experiments, it can under no circumstances be said that the evidence brought by the prosecution is sufficient to provide the judge with a lasting conviction giving him the moral certainty the accusation is true. For Genzken did not see Mrugowsky’s report, and the single report made by Mrugowsky presents, according to the latter’s statement, no sound and conclusive proof of Genzken’s knowledge.
The verdict holds Genzken responsible (p. 103) “for having nevertheless neglected to reassure himself that his experimental work was being carried out within permissible legitimate limits.”
III Genzken had no official supervisory power and no chance to intervene by giving orders and also no reason at all to reassure himself
As witness, Genzken himself stated that he had merely known that a new typhus vaccine was to be produced in an institute at Buchenwald. Genzken had no knowledge whatsoever in this specialized field of hygiene, as well as no bacteriological training at all, and had never conducted scientific research work. He had no reason at all to assume that, in connection with this research, prisoners would be used in a criminal manner. He was merely of the opinion that the prisoners were brought in for purposes of checking the efficacy of the vaccine, in the form of experimental series which were generally customary in medical research. It was only during the course of the trial that he for the first time learned of deliberate infections and that there had been many deaths during the experimental series. He could not know anything about these facts, especially because the assignment of the prisoners was, as a concentration camp matter, completely outside of his sphere of duties. When, on page 103 (German text), the verdict implies that Genzken had undertaken no steps to reassure himself about the condition of the experimental subjects or of the circumstances under which they had been taken to the experimental block, this implication of the verdict is also incorrect, because the prisoners were not assigned by the medical office of the Waffen SS, but by the office in charge of the administration of the concentration camp in collaboration with the Reich Criminal Police Office. Until the trial, he had not even known that non-Germans were called in as experimental subjects. This and the fact that all experiments were kept strictly secret made it impossible for Genzken to institute investigations or to undertake steps to reassure himself about the condition of the experimental subjects. If, finally, on page 98 of the verdict, reference is made to Ding’s diary in order to support the judgment, it must above all be stated that there are grave doubts as to the probative value of this document (see p. 27 and the following of the closing brief for the defense). The verdict asserts that Kogon kept the original diary. That is not in keeping with the facts; in any case it would have been impossible for the period from December 1941 to June 1943, because Kogon only became Ding’s secretary on the latter date (see p. 1259 of the English Transcript). On page 99 of the verdict, the Tribunal itself makes the following statement in connection with the entry for 9 January 1943 referred to in order to incriminate Genzken: “if Ding’s proven attempts at self-glorification are taken into account, one should not credulously accept this entry in its existing form.” Thus in this connection the statements on page 25 and 26 of the verdict regarding the Tribunal’s conviction apply in particular. If even the Tribunal, and quite rightly so, feels considerable doubts as to the correctness and significance of this entry, it is not permissible to use it in order to the prejudice of the defendant. Besides, Genzken expressly declared as also confirmed by Kogon (see p. 1228 of English Tr.) that he never expressed his approval with regard to the department for typhus research, but that this entry would have to be interpreted as his consent to the change of name of the vaccine production laboratory. This intended change of name was not effected until after 1 September 1943, thus at a time when Genzken was no longer responsible. (See p. 32 and following of the closing brief for the defense.)
The verdict states at the end of the opinion for Genzken’s sentence that he was responsible for the typhus experiments and that he assisted in them and furthered them.
In the face of all this, the result of the case in chief is once again to be summarized as follows:
Genzken had no responsibility, no authority to give orders, and no official supervisory power regarding the Typhus Experimental Station in Block 46 of the Buchenwald concentration camp. All these were in the hands of Grawitz. The latter gave direct orders for the experiments to be carried out to Ding who was his immediate subordinate. Ding’s reports went directly through Mrugowsky to Grawitz and never to Genzken. The latter had no knowledge whatsoever of the criminal methods of the experiments. Genzken had no responsibility, no official supervisory power, and no possibility to interfere by an order; owing to his ignorance of the facts, he had no cause to reassure himself of the conditions under which the experiments took place. Therefore a sentence in connection with counts two and three of the indictment ought not to follow. I, therefore, ask that the verdict should not be confirmed on these points, as Genzken is not guilty of a war crime or of a crime against humanity as is clearly proved by the evidence.
With regard to his membership in the SS, this fact alone is not sufficient to bring about his conviction before the American Military Tribunal. In addition, it would be necessary that his knowledge of criminal experiments should have been proved as in the Poppendick case. However, in accordance with the above statements this is not the case.
Only the competent German Denazification Board could convict the defendant for his SS membership. I therefore propose that the case be referred to the Denazification Board competent for his home town Preetz/Holstein.
[Signature] DR. R. MERKEL, Attorney-at-Law.
FOR THE DEFENDANT RUDOLF BRANDT
Dr. Kurt Kauffmann Counsel for the Defense of the Defendant Rudolf Brandt
Nuernberg, 2 September 1947
To the Military Governor of the American Zone of Occupation in Germany.
Through the Secretary General at Military Tribunal No. I, Nuernberg.
As counsel for the defense of Rudolf Brandt, who has been sentenced to death, I herewith petition that the judgment of the American Military Tribunal No. I, dated 19-20 August 1947, not be confirmed.
It is perhaps the grandest task of a human being and counsel for the defense to intercede on behalf of another person and to commend him to the clemency of the mighty.
Clemency appeals to the understanding of the great for human weakness. Clemency is the opposite of pure criticism and spiteful anger.
For this reason I remain quiet in the face of the sentence pronounced; I do not raise any complaint because, in one point or another, the decision of the Tribunal does not perhaps entirely agree with my opinion of the course of events, of the position of the defendant at that time, and of his character.
This petition for clemency wants once more to go into the depths of the thoughts which basically were already the subject of my final plea.
One may well believe that at the beginning of the trial, after I had studied the case of Rudolf Brandt, I recognized that this task was hardly to be rewarded with success; nevertheless it seemed to me that it was worth my efforts to take over the defense, since I believed—then as well as now—that Rudolf Brandt is guilty to receive any kind of punishment but not the death sentence.
Not a few of the statements made in my final plea serve this idea. I must admit, however, that even I, as the counsel for his defense, arrived at this conviction only on the strength of the characterization of the personality of the defendant contained in my document book, as well as on the strength of my own judgment of him, which sees in Brandt a beast of burden which dragged on day and night without really recognizing the contents of its burden; for the burden which it carried, together with the weights, which make this trial such a terrible one, were only a small fraction of the gigantic burden under which the bearer himself was not visible any more.
This comparison can be drawn without difficulty from the evidence presented by the defense.
I take the liberty—because it seems characteristic in this respect—to refer to some pieces of evidence which have already been submitted to the Tribunal, namely:
(1) the affidavit of Medizinalrat Felix Kersten of Stockholm (Document Book Rudolf Brandt, page 8).
(2) two affidavits from Schellenberg and Dr. Stuckart (_Document Book Rudolf Brandt, pp. 16-17 and pp. 23-24_).
(3) I once more refer to the final plea of Rudolf Brandt (English transcript, pages 11330-35).
(4) I attached two letters of the World Jewish Congress in Paris and Stockholm, addressed to the above-mentioned Felix Kersten, which had been rejected by the Tribunal as unessential pieces of evidence, which, however, throw a distinct light on the personality of Felix Kersten, who, on his part, defends so warmly Rudolf Brandt.
The fact that Rudolf Brandt did not make his own decisions but was under the command of Himmler can be found a mitigating consideration according to Law No. 10 of the Control Council, Article II 4 b.
I appeal to the generosity of the great to make use of this possibility to mitigate the sentence.
A sentence of imprisonment is also a heavy expiation.
The counsel for the defense again and again feels tempted to regret that these trials are too drawn out and through their long duration have a negative effect on the broad masses of the German people. If it is to be the goal of these trials to punish the main war criminals, these procedures should be shortened. The people are not interested any more in the course of these trials, apart from the trial against Goering and others during its first stages; one reason for this is, of course, the general plight; because the hunger of the people, the great mortality, the problem of the prisoners of war who are not returned to their families, the conditions in the East push everything else aside. Furthermore, the long duration of the trials causes even the most lively interest to slacken. But it also seems wrong to pronounce death sentences after such a long duration of proceedings. In the case of the trial of the International Military Tribunal, the people were still able to connect the long duration of the proceedings with the sentences pronounced, because each proceeding was an individual event. The following trials, however, among them, therefore, the doctors’ trial, are much too much drawn out with regard to German legal opinion. If such a drawn-out procedure closes with a death sentence, that death punishment seems hardly justified anymore. German trial procedure does not know such long drawn-out proceedings, the final result of which is a death sentence. The special peculiarities of the Anglo-American trial procedures are the cause for such trials that last for months and months. It has also to be remembered that the defendants in each case have been in custody for almost or more than two years when the trial finally began. Procedures ending with death sentences will have to be carried through much faster. It is in contradiction to one’s reactions that death sentences are pronounced against defendants with whom not only counsel for the defense has worked together for many months, but who also for many months appeared daily in court and were respected by the court, since they are rightly considered innocent until their guilt is finally established.
Neither should one forget that the defendants themselves, after having been held in custody for inquiry for such a long time and having gone through such long drawn-out procedures, have already atoned more for their crimes than if there had been a quick procedure started immediately after the collapse of Germany.
If I may impose on the instance for clemency I beg to read some parts of my final plea; then, I don’t have to repeat myself here. (Cf. statements on page 14 V, 1; furthermore pages 18-20, 27, 43 C).
[Signature] DR. KAUFFMANN.
FOR THE DEFENDANT POPPENDICK Nuernberg, 1 September 1947
Georg Boehm, Attorney Defense Counsel Military Tribunal I Nuernberg, 115 Zerzabelshofstrasse
The Military Commander of the U.S. Occupation Zone Germany
Petition of Attorney Georg Boehm, Defense Counsel at Military Tribunal I, Nuernberg
for the defendant Helmut Poppendick, at present in the courthouse prison at Nuernberg, concerning alteration of the sentence passed by Military Tribunal I, Nuernberg
The defendant Helmut Poppendick was acquitted of the charges of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity (counts two and three) in the sentence of the Military Tribunal I at Nuernberg in Case I, United States of America against Karl Brandt et al., on 19 August 1947, and found guilty only, as an SS member, of membership in an organization declared criminal by the International Military Tribunal (count four). On 20 August 1947, the defendant Helmut Poppendick was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment merely on account of membership in the SS.
I. The sentence exceeds the maximum penalty
According to the recommendations of the International Military Tribunal (The Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Vol. I, p. 288), inserted into the sentence of the Medical Case, a maximum penalty is provided for the punishment of members of organizations declared criminal. The IMT recommendation provides in detail that “in no case is the penalty, imposed on the basis of Law No. 10 upon a member of an organization or group declared criminal by the Tribunal, to be more severe than the one provided in the Denazification Law”. The Denazification Law, dated 5 March 1946, valid for the U.S. Occupation Zone of Germany, referred to as a standard for comparison, provides the maximum penalty of 10 years in a labor camp. According to present penal regulations, 10 years’ imprisonment is, however, a more severe penalty than being sent to a labor camp for the same period. 10 years’ imprisonment exceeds, therefore, the penalty provided in the recommendation of the IMT. The sentence against Poppendick does not give any special reason for exceeding the maximum penalty.
II. _More lenient evaluation of the group of persons within the SS who only knew about crimes without, however, being involved in them_
The sentence of the International Military Tribunal declares punishable in the sense of the statute “the group composed of those persons who were officially admitted as members * * * in the SS, became or remained members of the organization knowing that use was made of them for committing acts declared punishable by Article 6 of the Statute, or who were involved in committing such crimes as members of the organization.” According to a reasonable interpretation of this provision, if mere membership is punished, one has to differentiate between those persons involved in committing such crimes and those persons only knowing about the commission of such crimes within the SS. According to a sound sense of justice, the provided maximum penalty for membership in the SS cannot possibly be valid for both groups of persons. On the contrary, the group having only knowledge has to be punished more lightly than the group involved in crimes. A penalty inferior to the provided maximum penalty has, therefore, to be imposed on the first mentioned persons among the SS members called to account. The Tribunal clearly stated that the defendant Helmut Poppendick was not involved in the crimes of the SS and, in this way, made it clear that not even on account of his rank or official position was he able to prevent crimes. The Tribunal only tried to impute knowledge on the part of the defendant Poppendick of definite experiments specified in the indictment. For this reason the maximum penalty should not be imposed in the case of the defendant Poppendick.
III. Knowledge of the defendant Poppendick
The Tribunal imputed to the defendant Poppendick, who was Oberfuehrer of the Waffen SS and Obersturmbannfuehrer of the General SS: (1) knowledge of freezing experiments; (2) sulfanilamide experiments; (3) sterilization experiments; (4) incendiary bomb experiments; (5) phlegmon experiments, without, however, being criminally involved in them.
(1) Knowledge of freezing experiments is imputed to the defendant Poppendick because he was subsequently invited to participate in a conference between Grawitz and Dr. Rascher in January 1943. As Rascher was at that time an officer in the Luftwaffe and all his collaborators were not members of the SS, this series of experiments (at least in January 1943) cannot be interpreted as a series of experiments within the SS and consequently as crimes of the SS. There is no proof of knowledge of such experiments after January 1943.
(2) The defendant Poppendick knew as much about Professor Gebhardt’s sulfanilamide experiments as Professor Rostock who was acquitted by the same Tribunal, i.e., that prisoners sentenced to death were used for these experiments.
(3) Knowledge of sterilization experiments is imputed to the defendant Poppendick by means of a simple assumption, although the Tribunal pointed out in several passages of the judgment that a mere assumption of guilt, in our case of knowledge, is insufficient. Poppendick only worked in the Race and Settlement Office as a doctor dealing with hereditary questions for members of the SS and their families; as medical superintendent he had to supervise this activity and the social welfare doctors. These matters were purely internal SS affairs. If the Race and Settlement Office occasionally dealt, amongst other measures, with one of racial policy through its field offices, the doctors were not involved in any case, and there is not the least indication that Poppendick knew or ought to have known about such measures. Even the judgment itself reveals to what extent the real sterilization experiments were kept secret.
(4) On page 112 (German), the Tribunal points out, that in conferences concerning sterilization experiments (Poppendick never took part in such conferences) each participant had to undertake to maintain absolute secrecy. Neither the defendant Poppendick’s statement nor the evidence submitted reveal that Poppendick had any knowledge of sterilization experiments, let alone of extermination measures.
(5) In the case of the phlegmon experiments it has not been proved that Poppendick had any knowledge of them. Here, too, the assertion that he had such knowledge is based on a mere assumption.
It has, however, nowhere been proved that defendant Helmut Poppendick knew about the experiments in such a way as to necessitate his realizing that non-Germans were being used for such experiments. In its verdict the Tribunal has consistently followed the principle that it must be proved that crimes were committed on non-German nationals (see pp. 50, 51, 70, 91, 103, 131, 160, German text). In contrast to this the Tribunal left open the question as to how far the state is entitled to carry out experiments on its own citizens; it stated when dealing with the question of guilt: “* * * whatever right a state may have concerning its own citizens” (see pp. 114, 195, German). The Tribunal, therefore, in all essentials confined itself to the question of to what extent crimes were committed on non-Germans. No conclusive evidence has been brought against defendant Helmut Poppendick in each single case to prove his knowledge of experiments carried out on non-Germans. In reality, nothing is more suitable to explain under whatever point of view we have to look at defendant Poppendick’s knowledge of experiments, than his words at the end of the trial: “As to medical experiments on prisoners, human experiments were nothing striking and nothing new to me. I knew that experiments were being conducted in hospitals. I knew that the triumphs of modern medicine had not been achieved without sacrifices. I admit I cannot remember that in experiments in hospitals, the voluntary participation of the experimental subjects had to be such an indispensable and obvious prerequisite, as it appears to be according to the argumentation heard in this trial. Furthermore, I know that some scientific questions can only be solved by serial experiments in an unchanging environment, and that, therefore, in all countries, experiments are often conducted, particularly on soldiers in camps. Under these circumstances I was not at all surprised that during the war serial examinations and experiments were also carried out by scientists in concentration camps. I had not the slightest reason to assume that these scientists in the camps went beyond what was usual everywhere else in the world of science. As far as I was concerned, what I knew about medical experiments in the SS had just as little to do with criminal acts as the experiments about which I knew from my internship before 1933.”
IV. Consequences for future jurisdiction arising from the penalties imposed by the sentence on Poppendick
The sentence imposed on Helmut Poppendick for his membership in the SS is altogether the first sentence in the American Zone against an SS member of this kind. Therefore, it has to be regarded as a precedent for all military tribunals and possibly, later on, for German courts, whose task it will be to punish members of criminal organizations. To sum up its consequences, the sentence creates a precedent, that—
1. Every SS leader with a rank higher than Poppendick’s, who knew of SS crimes committed on Germans and non-Germans, can, on principle, only be sentenced to the maximum penalty.
2. Every member of the SS involved in crimes can be sentenced up to this maximum penalty again only on account of his SS membership. What penalty can, for example, be inflicted on an SS Obergruppenfuehrer who saw how the gas chambers were run at Auschwitz, without, however, being otherwise involved in the extermination of the Jews; a man thus having, so to speak, the highest degree of knowledge derived from SS membership? It is obvious that such a sentence as the one passed on Poppendick deprives future tribunals of all latitude of discretion, transforms the maximum penalty into the average penalty, and in this way renders the recommendation of the IMT absurd.
V. Prevention of further possibilities of appeal
The defendant Poppendick, whose domicile is in the British Zone, would consequently under normal circumstances have to be tried by a tribunal (Spruchgericht) set up in the meantime in consequence of the British Ordinance No. 69. Because he has been sentenced by a Nuernberg Military Tribunal as a member of an organization declared criminal he loses the two further appeals provided for by Ordinance No. 69 and its implementation regulations for the British Zone. Therefore this is the only legal way still open to him to state his case.
VI. Personal Conditions
I make the following application for reduction of penalty with even greater emphasis, because the defendant has already been amply punished for his SS membership. His family has lost all its property and has not a pfennig left. His wife must support her four little children aged 3 to 7 by the labor of her hands under the most primitive conditions, without having a chance during her husband’s entire term of imprisonment to obtain the slightest financial assistance for herself and her children.
The defendant used his considerable abilities as a physician to help many people, both Germans and foreigners, during the long years of his medical practice, without ever even mentioning this during the trial, because it is a physician’s duty to help suffering humanity. The defendant, who is not involved in the crimes dealt with by this Tribunal, suffers sufficiently under his outward discrimination as an SS member.
In view of all these circumstances and with the request for careful examination of the case, I make in conclusion the
Application
1. For the sentence of imprisonment for ten years inflicted on defendant Helmut Poppendick to be reduced to a tolerable term of imprisonment, perhaps to be commuted into a shorter term of confinement in a labor camp, and at the same time
2. For the 2¼ years’ detention already served by the defendant to be included in the then newly-determined term of imprisonment.
[Signature] G. BOEHM, Attorney-at-Law.
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[59] According to German terminology a “Referent” (plural: “Referenten”) is an official with expert knowledge of a specialized subject in a government or private organization.
XIV. AFFIRMATION OF SENTENCES BY THE MILITARY GOVERNOR OF THE UNITED STATES ZONE OF OCCUPATION
OFFICE OF MILITARY GOVERNMENT FOR GERMANY (U. S.)
Office of the Military Governor APO 742
Berlin, Germany 22 November 1947
AG 013. 3 (LD)
SUBJECT: Petitions for Review and for Habeas Corpus in the case of the United States of America v. Karl Brandt et al., Case 1, Military Tribunal I, Nuernberg, Germany (Medical Case)
TO: Secretary General Military Tribunals APO 696-A, U.S. Army
1. Inclosed herewith you will find original orders denying petitions for clemency submitted by the following persons convicted in Case Number 1 before Military Tribunal I:
Karl Brandt Siegfried Handloser Oskar Schroeder Karl Genzken Karl Gebhardt Rudolf Brandt Joachim Mrugowsky Helmut Poppendick Wolfram Sievers Gerhard Rose Viktor Brack Hermann Becker-Freyseng Waldemar Hoven Wilhelm Beiglboeck Herta Oberheuser Fritz Fischer
2. Please formally advise the petitioners through their respective attorneys of the action taken by the Military Governor upon these petitions.
FOR THE MILITARY GOVERNOR: [Signed] G. H. Garde G. H. GARDE Lieutenant Colonel, AGD Adjutant General
Incls: a/s
Telephone BERLIN 42361
HEADQUARTERS, EUROPEAN COMMAND
Office of the Commander-in-Chief
APO 742
Berlin, Germany
In the Case of Military Tribunal I The United States of America Case No. 1 vs. Karl Brandt, et alii
Order with Respect to Sentence of Karl Brandt
In the case of the United States of America against Karl Brandt et alii, tried by United States Military Tribunal I, Case No. 1, Nuernberg, Germany, the defendant, Karl Brandt, on 20 August 1947, was sentenced by the Tribunal to death by hanging. A petition to modify the sentence, filed on behalf of the defendant by Dr. R. Servatius, his defense counsel, has been referred to me pursuant to the provision of Military Government Ordinance No. 7. I have duly considered the petition and the record of the trial and in accordance with Article XVII of said Ordinance it is hereby ordered that:
1. The sentence imposed by Military Tribunal I upon Karl Brandt be, and hereby is, in all respects, confirmed.
2. Pending action on petitions filed by the defendant with authorities other than the Office of Military Government for Germany, (U.S.), the execution of the death sentence be stayed until further order by me.
3. The defendant be confined until further order in War Crimes Prison No. 1, Landsberg, Bavaria, Germany.
[Signed] Lucius D. Clay LUCIUS D. CLAY General, U.S. Army Commander-in-Chief, European Command and Military Governor
HEADQUARTERS, EUROPEAN COMMAND
Office of the Commander-in-Chief
APO 742
In the Case of The United States of America vs. Karl Brandt, et alii
Military Tribunal I Case No. 1
Order with respect to sentence of Siegfried Handloser[60]
In the case of the United States of America against Karl Brandt, et alii, tried by United States Military Tribunal I, Case No. 1, Nuernberg, Germany, the defendant Siegfried Handloser, on 20 August 1947, was sentenced by the Tribunal to life imprisonment. A petition to modify the sentence, filed on behalf of the defendant by Dr. Otto Nelte, his defense counsel, has been referred to me pursuant to the provisions of Military Government Ordinance No. 7. I have duly considered the petition and the record of the trial and in accordance with Article XVII of said Ordinance, it is hereby ordered that:
a. the sentence imposed by Military Tribunal I, on Siegfried Handloser be, and hereby is, in all respects confirmed;
b. the defendant be confined in War Crimes Prison No. 1, Landsberg, Bavaria, Germany.
[Signed] Lucius D. Clay LUCIUS D. CLAY General, U.S.A. Commander-in-Chief, European Command and Military Governor
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[60] The sentences imposed upon the remaining 14 defendants were confirmed in all respects by the Military Commander of the United States Zone of Occupation by identical orders.
XV. ORDER OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DENYING WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS
Monday, 16 February 1948
No. 286, Misc. Karl Brandt, petitioner, v. The United States of America;
No. 287, Misc. Viktor Brack, petitioner, v. The United States of America;
No. 288, Misc. Rudolf Brandt, petitioner, v. The United States of America;
No. 299, Misc. Wilhelm Bieglboeck, petitioner, v. The United States of America. The motions for leave to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus and prohibition are denied. Mr. Justice Black, Mr. Justice Murphy, and Mr. Justice Rutledge are of the opinion that the petitions should be set for hearing on the question of the jurisdiction of this Court. Mr. Justice Jackson took no part in the consideration or decision of these applications.[61]
[The execution of death sentences imposed on Karl Brandt, Rudolf Brandt, Karl Gebhardt, Joachim Mrugowsky, Viktor Brack, Wolfram Sievers, and Waldemar Hoven were ordered on 14 May 1948 by the Military Governor. Executions were carried out at Landsberg prison on 2 June 1948.]
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[61] The motions for leave to file petitions for writs of habeas corpus and prohibition in the case of the other defendants were also denied.