d. Evidence
_Prosecution Documents_ Pros. Ex. Doc. No. No. Description of Document Page NO-794 259 Letter from Sievers to Rudolf Brandt, 27 336 June 1942, concerning mustard gas and its effect on human beings. NO-098 263 Memorandum from Sievers to Rudolf 337 Brandt, 3 November 1942, concerning research in the Natzweiler concentration camp. NO-193 264 Letter from Sievers to Rudolf Brandt, 22 340 April 1943, regarding prevention of Dr. Wimmer’s to active duty with the air force. NO-099 268 Report by Hirt and Wimmer on the 341 proposed treatment of poisoning caused by Lost gas. NO-005 279 Letter from Grawitz to Himmler, 22 344 November 1944, requesting prisoners for experiments. NO-1852 456 Extract from report on medical 345 experiments addressed to Karl Brandt. NO-978 480 Letter from Sievers to Gluecks, 11 349 September 1942, concerning military scientific research work to be conducted at Natzweiler concentration camp.
_Defense Documents_ Doc. No. Def. Ex. No. Description of Document Page Karl Brandt 12 Karl Brandt Affidavit of Dr. Walther Schieber 350 Ex. 11 on his efforts to purchase experimental animals in Spain and bring them to Germany. Karl Brandt 101 Karl Brandt Affidavit of Dr. Otto Ambros, 21 351 Ex. 41 April 1947, concerning the urgency of experiments in the field of chemical-warfare agents and their countermeasures. Karl Brandt 103 Karl Brandt Affidavit of Dr. Walter Mielenz, 21 352 Ex. 42 April 1947, concerning the assignment of Karl Brandt in connection with chemical warfare.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-794 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 259
LETTER FROM SIEVERS TO RUDOLF BRANDT, 27 JUNE 1942, CONCERNING MUSTARD GAS AND ITS EFFECT ON HUMAN BEINGS
The Ahnenerbe
The Reich Business Manager
Berlin-Dahlem, 27 June 1942 G/H/6, g/Sch/4, A/1/101 S/wo
To: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. R. Brandt Personal Staff of the Reich Leader SS Berlin Subject: Use of mustard gas for exterminating rats. Re: Your letter of 13 July 1942—A 19/95/1942
Dear Comrade Brandt!
On request SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt, Strasbourg tells me:
“Mustard gas in a dilution of 1:100 is dangerous to human beings if it contacts the body in an adequate amount. Above all, mustard gas is dangerously effective to clothing, as is known, even when greatly diluted, especially in connection with dampness. Mustard gas touching the skin even in a dilution of 1:100 causes reddening, possibly it causes little cysts without effecting necrosis. That is, the effect is much weaker than that of pure mustard gas. In spite of that, coming in contact with the clothes in sufficient quantities, especially in the regions of perspiration as the armpit, or the inguinal region, it can have exactly the same effect as concentrated mustard gas. For this, only a trace of it is frequently sufficient. This I experienced in a laboratory accident with a chemical student, who touched his armpit with one of the rabbits only for a second and a reddening ensued which spread over the entire body the following day, however, without further consequences. In my opinion, only a place which can be temporarily evacuated by human inhabitants can be used for gassing. The use of mustard gas in the vicinity of food stores, especially grain dumps, has to be absolutely excluded because one cannot know to what extent the rats carry the mustard gas there. Only gassing of rat holes would be possible with full application of precautionary measures. How this will work out technically, I cannot of course determine. Proper experts would have to judge that. Probably the case may be the same as with other poisons used for the extermination of rats (Phosphor-arsenic, strychnine, etc.)—that means that the use of every type of poison has two sides. In spite of this, your idea to try the extermination of vermin by means of poison gas does not seem strange at all, but an expert on poison gas would have to determine if there are not other means of killing rats which are less harmful to human beings.”
With kind regards Heil Hitler! [Signature] SIEVERS
P. S. I shall talk over this matter thoroughly with Professor Hirt one of these days, and I will see which poison gas expert we might consult for the solution of the problem.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-098 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 263
MEMORANDUM FROM SIEVERS TO RUDOLF BRANDT, 3 NOVEMBER 1942, CONCERNING RESEARCH IN THE NATZWEILER CONCENTRATION CAMP
The Ahnenerbe Reich Business Manager Berlin-Dahlem, 3 November 1942 S/Wo G/H/6 Personal Staff Reich Leader SS [Filing stamp] File Room Document No. Secret/51/16 [shorthand notation]
_Note_
Re: Research order SS Hauptsturmfuehrer, Professor Dr. August Hirt, Strasbourg, at the Institute for Military Scientific Research of the Ahnenerbe.
The Reich Leader SS [Himmler] ordered, in his letter of 13 July 1942—Journal number AR/48/7/42—that SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt carry out the research tasks assigned him, in conjunction with the Natzweiler concentration camp. It was determined at a conference, for which I drove, along with SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt, to Natzweiler on 31 August 1942, that the necessary conditions exist in Natzweiler. I reported on this orally on 9 September 1942, and afterwards in writing on 11 September 1942 to SS Brigadefuehrer Gluecks, who agreed and promised his full support. In view of the urgency of these research tasks, I asked SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Professor Dr. Hirt to go to Natzweiler again because until then no report on the beginning of the work had arrived. SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt reported the following, among other things, concerning this conference which took place at Natzweiler on 19 October 1942:
“The conference was due to the fact that until now nothing besides the detachment of Oberscharfuehrer Walbert had been accomplished. Nor had the installation of the laboratories been started to date.
“It has now been decided to start with the laboratories this week.
“It was further established that the camp for security suspects, Schirmeck, would erect the sheds. Its commander fortunately is ready, as he told us at once, to place the necessary people at our disposal free of charge; whereas Natzweiler would not have been in a position to do so owing to the overbearing and inconvenient demands of the workers.
“We were furthermore informed that the prisoners who would later be used for experiments would have to be paid for by us during the period that experiments were being made upon them.
“We are to request that the prisoners of the Lost experiment receive full rations (food for guards) to enable the experiments to be carried out under the same conditions as the troops would be under in a possible emergency. We intend for the time being to take 10 prisoners as subjects for experiments.
“Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Blanke said that he was refused the assistance of a second physician in supervising the experiments on patients, so that he probably would not have enough time to concern himself with the experiments.
“The X-ray apparatus which I could procure here has not yet been definitely allocated by Berlin. We must get it immediately, otherwise we may lose it.
“The installation of direct current causes difficulties. One, however, gets the impression that the building operators had not dealt with this problem at all. According to their opinion, a transformer should be procured which is able to transform 220 volts alternating current into direct current. This is most likely quite improbable at this place.
“To equip the laboratory, I would ship the needed things (freezing microtome, incubators, etc.) from the stocks of the Anatomical Institute to Natzweiler during the next week. They remain, of course, the property of the Anatomical Institute. The two prisoners trained in handling the microtome can then be put to work. According to Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Blanke, both should be proficient at it.”
On the basis of this report, I have the impression that not too much interest in cooperative work exists at Natzweiler. As such cooperation is ordered by the Reich Leader SS and as SS Brigadefuehrer Gluecks is willing, the whole thing is not understandable to me. I was very much surprised by the fact that the prisoners to be used for experiments should be paid for. If we use only 10 prisoners for one experiment, which might under certain circumstances last 10 months, the cost for the prisoners alone would total approximately 4,000 RM. 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 [for] 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. The budget of the institute will be met, according to the order of the Reich Leader of the SS and as already discussed by me in detail with SS Standartenfuehrer Loerner, out of the funds of the Waffen SS.
Under the supposition that the prisoners needed for experiments are in the prescribed condition as regards nourishment by this time, the experiments could start approximately on 10 November 1942.
Special treatment in Dachau was never the subject of special instructions but was understood to be necessary and issued without further ado. On the occasion of his personal inspection of the experiments at Dachau, the Reich Leader SS also ordered special food as an additional measure. Just as the Reich Leader SS appeared one day at Dachau to have a look at the experiments there, this is possible at Natzweiler too.
[Signature] SIEVERS SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
1. To SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. R. Brandt to read in reference to our discussion of today and with the request for help in comradely fashion in setting up the necessary conditions at Natzweiler.
2. Documents.
[Initials] SI
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-193 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 264
LETTER FROM SIEVERS TO RUDOLF BRANDT, 22 APRIL 1943, REGARDING PREVENTION OF DR. WIMMER’S TRANSFER TO ACTIVE DUTY WITH THE AIR FORCE
Copy
Ahnenerbe Society
The Reich Business Manager
Berlin-Dahlem, 22 April 43 G/H/6 S/No Note [Handwritten] Some information on W. is also in the files of Prof. Hirt Diary No. 41/8/43 G. Mue. To: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. R. Brandt Personal Staff Reich Leader SS Berlin SW 11, Prinz Albrecht Str. 8.
Subject: Dr. med. habil. Karl Wimmer, born on 24 October 1910, staff physician of the Luftwaffe, commanded by Air Gau Physician 7, Munich, for service with the Anatomical Institute of Strasbourg University. Co-worker at the Institute for Military Scientific Research of the Ahnenerbe Society, Department SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Hirt, Strasbourg. Re: Your letter of 10.42. No. AR/48/7/42. Our letter of 25.7.42.
Dear Comrade Brandt!
Effective immediately, Dr. Wimmer has been transferred to the XIth Fliegerkorps [subordinate operational Command of an Air Fleet], and according to information given by the Air Gau Medical Department 7 was to report today to Oberstabsarzt Dr. Jaeger, Berlin-Tempelhof, Manfred von Richthofenstr. 6./II. As Jaeger is going to be absent until 27 April, Dr. Wimmer will have to wait for a decision, until that date. The transfer of Dr. Wimmer means discontinuance of the gas experiments at Natzweiler and Strasbourg, as—
1. Replacement cannot be supplied due to the specialized knowledge necessary.
2. The practical knowledge gained by Dr. Wimmer through an extensive series of experiments can only be used by him.
3. On Dr. Wimmer’s leaving, SS Hauptsturmfueherer Prof. Dr. Hirt will have to take over his lectures and as he, considering his state of health, is already more than overworked, he can no longer go on with research work.
Interim report on experiment results up to now will follow next week to be submitted to the Reich Leader SS. The intensification of experiments and research, as well as the continuation of the work at all, as ordered by the Reich Leader SS on the basis of our discussion on 7 April, is out of the question, if the small staff of co-workers at the disposal of Prof. Dr. Hirt, especially Dr. Wimmer, is withdrawn. The problems to be solved constantly demand scientists with long years of experience and specialized knowledge. Dr. Wimmer would now be employed only as an army doctor, which is totally uneconomical considering his knowledge and abilities, as his services as an army doctor will never be of vital importance as regards the war, while this may well be said of his scientific activities. Obviously the Recruiting Office of the Waffen SS at that time contented itself with the information of the Reich Air Minister and Supreme Commander of the German Luftwaffe, without concluding a definite agreement. I request immediate steps for this to be remedied; the best would be to order Dr. Wimmer to the Waffen SS at least until 31.13.43 [sic] and if necessary the Reichsarzt SS should send an army doctor in his place to the Luftwaffe for the time Dr. Wimmer is assigned to the Waffen SS.
With best regards Heil Hitler! Yours [Signed] SIEVERS [typewritten]
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-099 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 268
REPORT BY HIRT AND WIMMER ON THE PROPOSED TREATMENT OF POISONING CAUSED BY LOST GAS
Top Secret
[Handwritten] Enclosure of Top Secret Z. I. A. H. No. 36 G. Tgb. S. 19, No. 170
From the Institute for Military Scientific Research Department H of the Research and Instruction Society Ahnenerbe (Reich Leader SS Personal Staff, Office “A”) Strasbourg, Anatomical Institute.
_Proposed treatment of poisoning caused by Lost [Gas]_
(By Professor Dr. A. Hirt, and Staff Surgeon of the Luftwaffe, Professor Dr. Wimmer, Strasbourg, 1944)
_General Observations_
The effect of Lost as a poison gas is immediate and, by causing other pathological reactions within the cells and organs, it damages the entire efficiency of the individual cell as well as that of the organs. The organism stands the best chance of absorbing the damage caused by Lost if there is a large vitamin reserve in the body. In administering the vitamin treatment after Lost damage has been inflicted, care must be taken that the medicaments are not administered indiscriminately. The vitamin combinations (A, B complex, C) taken orally or vitamin B_{1} administered intravenously in glucose suspension have proved most effective. Both methods aim at raising the resistance of the reticuloendothelial system, while simultaneously introducing therapeutic measures to protect the liver which can be further strengthened by food with a high carbohydrate and vitamin content. When definite damage to the organs (liver, cardiac muscles, kidneys) manifests itself, vitamin treatment has to be discontinued and injections of B_{1} glucose substituted, as the excretion of the surplus quantity of vitamins results in a temporary additional overstimulation of the cells of the excretory organs.
In addition the inter-connection between the effect of sulfanilamide and vitamin B complex should be noted. In the case of pulmonary complications (bronchial pneumonia, pulmonary abscess) which are treated with sulfanilamides, the administration of yeast is definitely not indicated.
The general treatment, as set forth, especially the administration of vitamin B_{1} glucose, also has a salutory effect on the healing of cutaneous necrosis. In average and serious cases, the length of the healing process can thereby be considerably decreased. Supporting measures to be taken are bandaging the affected limb in splints until the appearance of clean granulation or placing the patient in a suitable recumbent position as well as vigorous, systematic psychotherapy. The psychological influencing of the largely apathetic Lost patient constitutes an essential part of the treatment, due to the possibility of thereby influencing the parasympathetic system (circulation, circulatory system).
_Outline of treatment_
1. All the directions given for the elimination of the Lost poison are to be followed carefully. Only _after_ elimination of the poison has resulted may Lost patients be treated and accommodated together in enclosed rooms. (Inhalation of Lost vapors!)
2. Damp dressings with Rivanol (0.1-0.05 percent) and Trypaflavin (0.1 percent) have proved to be a successful treatment of the _skin symptoms_ (reddening, swelling, blisters) of the first to fourth day. If necessary, ointment dressings (10 percent cod liver oil tannic ointment, boric acid ointment, etc.) may be applied. With the opening of the blisters, the exposed corium of the skin becomes extremely sensitive to the drying reflex. Introductory treatment; daily bathing with a potassium permanganate solution, constant damp dressings of Rivanol-Trypaflavin solution; later on ointment dressings (5 percent cod liver oil tannic ointment, boric acid ointment). With the development of _cutaneous necrosis_ and increasing disinfection of the affected parts of the skin, the damp dressings are to be substituted—if only for nursing reasons—by ointment dressings, after bathing with a potassium permanganate solution at body temperature, which are to be changed daily. Usually after the 17th day, the necrotic spots on the skin can be removed by drying them up or better still by brushing them off (under narcosis if necessary) with a potassium permanganate solution. In this way the local healing process is considerably shortened.
With the beginning of the knitting of the skin granulation stimulating ointment dressings (alternately cod liver oil ointment, boric acid ointment, unguentine, etc.) are sufficient. Lexer’s cod liver ointment (only 2 hours, painful!) can provide a strong _stimulus_ should granulation formation be slow and drag itself out.
3. General treatment of average and serious Lost damage begins with administering a vitamin mixture compounded as follows:
Vitamin A (in the form of Vogane oil) increasing from 4 to 10 drops daily.
Vitamin C (Cantan—Cebion tablets) 2 tablets 3 times daily.
Yeast powder 3 teaspoonfuls daily.
One should consider whether a vitamin compound of similar preparation—if need be with the addition of glucose—should be produced for the combat troops. Such a powder mixture would have to be administered in increasing quantities as well. In all cases of absorbed Lost damage (liver damage indicated by increased secretion of urobilinogen in the urine, later icteric skin coloring, cardiac muscle damage with tachycardiacs, kidney damage with albumin secretion in the urine) treatment with vitamin mixtures is to be discontinued and to be substituted by injections of vitamin B_{1} glucose. (Betaxin—Betabion 2 cc.—also in larger dosages—intravenously with 10 cc. 20 percent glucose solution.) Injections are to be given slowly, since at the height of Lost damage the veins of the arms incline to thrombosis! In the latter case glucose has to be administered orally and vitamin B_{1} intramuscularly. There exists the possibility, in every case of considerable Lost damage, of a sudden failure of circulation (frequently between the 7th and 17th day) indicated by a weak response to heart and circulatory stimulants. Heart stimulants (strophanthin, caffeine, digitalis) and circulatory stimulants (sympatol, priscol, camphor, cardiazol) have therefore to be administered with care in serious cases. The therapeutic routine valid for all clinical treatment is particularly valid for cases of organic damage.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-005 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 279
LETTER FROM GRAWITZ TO HIMMLER, 22 NOVEMBER 1944, REQUESTING PRISONERS FOR EXPERIMENTS
The Reich Leader SS Reich Physician SS and Police _Diary No. 39/44 Top Secret_
Berlin W. 15, 22 November 1944 Knesebeckstrasse 50/51 Telephone: 924249.924374.924351.924406.
Top Secret
Subject: Experiment with N-substance. Reference: Order of Reich Leader SS of 15 May 1944 2 copies, 1st copy To: Reich Leader SS H. Himmler Field H. Q.
Reich Leader:
The Chief of the Technical Office in the SS Administrative Main Office, SS Gruppenfuehrer Schwab, contacted me in September of this year with the request to furnish him with two doctors, who as medical experts were to witness experiments with N-substance, which he was carrying out at the time by order of the Fuehrer. This was above all a matter of the clarification of the question whether N-substance was to be considered for chemical warfare or not.
For this purpose I have furnished my leading pathologist, SS Hauptsturmfuehrer University Teacher Dr. Sachs, as well as the doctor working on the Ahnenerbe, SS Hauptsturmfuehrer University Teacher Dr. Ploetner.
In accordance with the experiments carried out on 25 September 1944, the necessity has now arisen to carry out several experiments on human beings for the final clarification of the physiological effect of N-substance on and through the human skin. Five prisoners are necessary for the execution of these experiments. It is highly improbable that the experiments will cause any permanent damage.
In accordance with your order of 15 May 1944, Reich Leader, I have obtained the opinion of SS Gruppenfuehrer Professor Gebhardt, SS Gruppenfuehrer Gluecks, and SS Oberfuehrer Panzinger. They read as follows:
_1. SS Gruppenfuehrer Professor Dr. Gebhardt_
“I am certainly in agreement with suggestion, and request that the directions for the supervision of the experiments be issued directly by the Reich Physician SS and Police.”
_2. SS Gruppenfuehrer Gluecks_
“I have received your letter of 7 November 1944 with regard to the procurement of five prisoners for the experiments which are to be carried out with N-substance.
“For this purpose I have had five prisoners in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp who have been condemned to death placed in readiness, on whom these experiments can be carried out.”
_3. SS Oberfuehrer Panzinger_
“From the point of view of the criminal police the experiments to be carried out there are to be welcomed. Therefore, no misgivings exist against the handing over of prisoners for inoculation.
“If political prisoners should be considered, the Chief of Office IV, SS Gruppenfuehrer Mueller would still have to be consulted, but he will certainly also grant permission.”
I respectfully request the permission so that the experiments can be initiated.
Heil Hitler! [Signed] GRAWITZ
[stamp] Personal Staff of Reich Leader SS Received: 26 November 1944 No. 1991/44
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-1852 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 456
EXTRACT FROM REPORT ON MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS ADDRESSED TO KARL BRANDT
_Contents_
Report. (2d copy) 2 and 3 Phosgene experiments Ruehl 4 and 5 T-experiments Letz 6 Aerosol experiment Letz 7 Natzweiler (3d copy)
6. 1st copy 7. 1st copy
* * * * *
Top Secret 3 copies—3d copy
To the Fuehrer’s Plenipotentiary General for Health and Medical Services, Surgeon-General Professor Dr. Brandt, Berlin Ziegelstrasse 5/9 Surgical Clinic at the University
_7th Report_
On the protective effect of hexamethylentetramine in phosgene poisoning.
Experiments were carried out on 40 prisoners on the prophylactic effect of hexamethylentetramine in cases of phosgene poisoning. Twelve of those were protected orally, twenty intravenously, and eight were used as controls.
_The method_
The chamber has a capacity of 20 cbm. In experiments I to XIV the chamber was given a coat of paint which had a strong deteriorating effect on phosgene. This decrease in concentration was measured after experiment XI; the curves are shown on chart I [not reproduced].
The greatest decrease measured was taken as basis for the calculations of the average concentration for experiments I to XI. In experiments XII to XV, the initial concentration and its decrease were measured separately in each case. In the tables II and III, c_{o} stands for the quantity of phosgene infused into the chamber in mg/cbm, c_{m} for the calculated average concentration, _t_ for the time of reaction. c_{m} was measured as an arithmetic medium from 5 to 7 and calculated on the curve values obtained through interpolation.
B. The experimental subjects were all persons of middle age, almost all in a weak and underfed condition. On principle, the healthier ones were used as controls, only control number 39 (J. Rei) and the orally protected experimental subject No. 37 (A. Rei) had a localized cirrhotic productive tuberculosis of the lungs. With the others, no pulmonary disease could be found. In the first experiments up to 6g hexamethylentetramine were given orally, later despite the much higher concentrations 0.06 g/kg body weight, orally as well as intravenously.
_Results_
The intravenously protected experimental subjects, without exception, all survived the phosgene poisoning with a c. t. of 247 to 5,400. There were no symptoms of pulmonary oedema after intravenous protection even with a c. t. of 2,970. Only experiment No. 10 with a c. t. of 3,960 suffered pulmonary oedema of the first degree, which was overcome without any therapy and in experiment No. XIV the intravenous protection was penetrated to an extent to cause pulmonary oedema of the 3d degree, which however was overcome by oxygen inhalation. The experimental subject recovered.
All control subjects fell ill. With a c. t. of 768 and 1,180 a first degree pulmonary oedema resulted which was overcome. With a c. t. of 2,275, one control subject died, the second contracted a second degree pulmonary oedema but recovered. A c. t. of 5,400 killed one control subject after 4 hours, the other after 14 hours.
After oral protection, a c. t. of 247 to 768 was suffered without any oedema, even when the protective solution of hexamethylentetramine was drunk only 2-3 minutes before the inhalation of the phosgene. Two control subjects showed a marked oedema with a c. t. of 768. With a c. t. of 1,485 one protected subject fell seriously ill with a second degree oedema, a second subject likewise protected, having breathed the same phosgenic air, was unaffected. The cause of this striking difference must be sought in the different resorption of the hexamethylentetramine on the one hand and in the different reaction and the different volume of respiration of the experimental subjects on the other hand.
Even a c. t. of 2,275 resulted in only a slight pulmonary oedema in an orally protected test subject, whereas one control subject died after 4 hours, and a second contracted a second degree pulmonary oedema. The oral protection was penetrated by a c. t. of 5,400, the protected test subject died, as did the two control subjects.
Experiment XV is characteristic of the test schedule and its results, and will therefore again be specially described. Of four test subjects, the first was protected orally, the second intravenously, the third received an intravenous injection of hexamethylentetramine after the poisoning, in order once more to ascertain the effect of therapeutic treatment, the fourth was not treated at all. The four subjects were placed in the chamber in which a phial containing 2.7 grams of phosgene was smashed. The test subjects remained in this concentration for 25 minutes. The phosgene content was measured three times during the inhalation. The readings showed an average concentration of 91 mg. per cbm. The subject protected intravenously remained healthy, and did not show the least signs of difficulties or symptoms, the orally protected subject contracted a slight pulmonary oedema, subsequently bronchopneumonia and pleurisy, from which he recovered. One control subject also survived his pulmonary oedema; the second died a few hours later, and the autopsy showed the characteristics of very serious pulmonary oedema.
_Summary_
The conclusions of the experiment are impaired by the varying constitutions and the general poor state of nutrition and of physique of the experimental subjects, as well as by the different behavior and the different volume of respiration of the experimental subjects under gas, which was here demonstrated for the first time. But the experiments gave the following decisive conclusions:
1. A previous intravenous injection of 3 grams of hexamethylentetramine completely prevents serious toxic and fatal phosgene poisoning from a c. t. of 2,275.
2. An endurable quantity of hexamethylentetramine taken prophylactically weakens a fatal poisoning to such an extent that it can be overcome without treatment. c. t.=2,275.
3. Nonfatal but nevertheless oedema-producing poisonings are made positively ineffective by intravenous application, and are weakened by oral application, c. t. 250 to 1,980.
4. The oral application of hexamethylentetramine is no longer effective against phosgene poisoning of a c. t.=5,400, the intravenous injection, however, weakens the effect to such an extent that the protected subject is able to overcome a lung oedema.
5. The _dosis letalis minima_ (minimum lethal dose) based on these experiments cannot yet be determined with certainty. One c. t. of 2,275 resulted in the death of one experimental subject, and the second developed second degree oedema of the lungs which was cured.
6. Some of the protected experimental subjects who did not develop oedema of the lungs remained completely healthy, others suffered from slight bronchitis with a brief fever. In every case they recovered without treatment.
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-978 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 480
LETTER FROM SIEVERS TO GLUECKS, 11 SEPTEMBER 1942, CONCERNING MILITARY SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH WORK TO BE CONDUCTED AT NATZWEILER CONCENTRATION CAMP
The Reich Leader SS Personal Staff The Chief of the Office Ahnenerbe
Berlin-Dahlem, 11 September 42 Puecklerstr. 16
[handwritten] secret G/W/12
To: SS Brigadefuehrer Gluecks Berlin-Oranienburg
Subject: Military Scientific Research in Connection with the Natzweiler Concentration Camp. Reference: Personal discussion of the 9th inst.
Brigadefuehrer,
Based on my report that, as proposed by the Reich Leader SS, there is a good possibility for carrying out our military scientific research work in the Natzweiler concentration camp, I hereby summarize what awaits your approval:
1. Information to the commander’s office, Natzweiler concentration camp: SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Professor Dr. Hirt, Stabsarzt Dr. Wimmer, and Dr. Kieselbach are authorized to enter the Natzweiler concentration camp. During their activity in the Natzweiler concentration camp, they are to be provided with accommodations and board.
2. SS Oberscharfuehrer Walbert, at present supply sergeant in the administration of the Natzweiler concentration camp, is to be detached for service with the Institute for Military Scientific Research, Personal Staff Reich Leader SS, Strasbourg-Natzweiler section. Walbert will have to tend the animals under the supervision of SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Professor Dr. Hirt. It is requested that another man be assigned to the administration of the Natzweiler concentration camp in order to replace SS Oberscharfuehrer Walbert.
3. The transfer of two prisoners from the group which has been trained on the microtome for pathological research in the Buchenwald concentration camp is requested.
4. It is furthermore requested, that a younger physician be assigned to assist the camp medical officer, SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Blanke, in the Natzweiler concentration camp.
5. 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.
6. All the expenses arising out of our activity at Natzweiler will be covered by this office. I have already discussed the accounting procedure with the administrative leader, SS Obersturmfuehrer Faschingbauer.
In conclusion I would be very grateful to you, my dear Brigadefuehrer, if you would inform the commander of the Natzweiler concentration camp, that you have approved the execution of the work at Natzweiler, just as it was discussed with me there, and about which I reported to you in detail, and that you desire that we be given assistance in fulfilling the duties with which we have been entrusted by the Reich Leader SS.
Heil Hitler! [Signed] SIEVERS SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
2. To SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL BRANDT 12 KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 11
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. WALTHER SCHIEBER ON HIS EFFORTS TO PURCHASE EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS IN SPAIN AND BRING THEM TO GERMANY
_Affidavit 111_
I, Dr. Walther Schieber, at present in Nuernberg, Justice Prison, have been duly warned that I am liable to punishment if I make a false statement. I affirm under oath that my deposition corresponds to the truth and was made to be offered in evidence before Military Tribunal No. I at the Palace of Justice, at Nuernberg, Germany. During the summer of 1944, Professor Karl Brandt informed me during discussions concerning the execution of the especially urgently operated Brandt—and defense—program against chemical warfare agents that he was having considerable difficulties in procuring animals which were needed for test purposes concerning the effect of the top chemical warfare agents and for which he had requests from testing office.
At that time the problem was how to convert the production of chemical warfare agents on account of raw material shortage to the production of the top chemical warfare agent Sarin, the effect of which would not yet be finally determined.
To carry out these tests, an action to procure animals was started by me in Spain, instigated by Professor Karl Brandt; because of the biological reaction parallels to human beings, apes resembling men were allegedly needed. An assistant was sent there especially for this purpose. For this, the armament office offered approximately 200,000 Swiss francs, and after my resignation as Chief of the Armament Supply Office in October 1944 from the Speer Ministry I made strenuous efforts, together with Professor Karl Brandt, to have a large number of animals brought by extremely difficult air transportation from Spain to Germany. These were put at Professor Karl Brandt’s disposal for the testing offices.
[Signed] WALTHER SCHIEBER
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL BRANDT 101 KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 41
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. OTTO AMBROS,[39] 21 APRIL 1947, CONCERNING THE URGENCY OF EXPERIMENTS IN THE FIELD OF CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS AND THEIR COUNTERMEASURES
I, Dr. Otto Ambros, at present in Nuernberg, Justice Prison, having been duly informed that I shall render myself punishable if I submit a false affidavit, declare under oath that my statement is true and was made for presentation in evidence to Military Tribunal No. I in the Palace of Justice, Nuernberg, Germany.
During the war I was a director of I. G. Farben and had to work on chemical warfare agents and protective agents, and can therefore state the following:
I got into touch with Professor Dr. Karl Brandt during 1944. On that occasion Professor Brandt told me he had to take an interest in chemical warfare agents and countermeasures. At the same time he showed me a letter from Adolf Hitler referring to this subject. Furthermore, he stated that he did not understand very much about chemical warfare, as he was not an analytical chemist. His primary concern in this field was the question of the supply of materials for gas masks, i. e., activated charcoal and the synthetic materials and textiles which are necessary for these.
Professor Brandt visited two poison gas plants at Dyherrnfurth and Gendorf, to become generally acquainted with the nature of poison gas itself.
There was the greatest uneasiness at that time regarding protection against chemical warfare, as it was thought that the Allies would use poison gas. It was said that they had brought poison gas over with them when they landed at Tunis.
It was also said that the Russians had new gas masks which fact pointed to the possibility of the use of a new kind of poison gas.
On the German side, there was definitely a serious shortage of chemical warfare protective equipment, as not even the most urgently needed gas masks were available, nor was it even possible to produce the required number.
Nuernberg, 21 April 1947.
[Signature] DR. OTTO AMBROS
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL BRANDT 103 KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 42
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. WALTER MIELENZ, 21 APRIL 1947, CONCERNING THE ASSIGNMENT OF KARL BRANDT IN CONNECTION WITH CHEMICAL WARFARE
I, Dr. Walter Mielenz, born 20 November 1888 in Berlin, residing in Berlin-Friedenau, Ceciliengaerten 45 (business address: Berlin-Lichterfelde W, Kadettenweg 67, Telephone 245218), have been duly advised that I shall render myself liable to punishment if I give a false affidavit. I declare under oath that my statement is true and was made to be submitted in evidence to Military Tribunal No. I, at the Palace of Justice, Nuernberg, Germany.
From 1933 to 1945 I worked at the Reich Air Ministry as an analytical chemist, technical advisor on the question of the protection of the civilian population against gas.
I am familiar with the decree of 1 March 1944 in which special tasks were assigned to Professor Dr. Karl Brandt in connection with chemical warfare. As far as I remember, the decree was worded approximately as follows:
“I have ordered my Commissioner General for the Medical and Health Service (Professor Dr. Brandt) to take a major part in all matters concerning protection against chemical warfare (of the army and the civilian population) and to issue orders to the stations (military and civilian) established for this purpose. In questions of the protection of the civilian population against chemical warfare, he must obtain in advance the approval of the Reich Air Minister and Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe.”
The decree certainly did not contain any order for research in connection with chemical warfare agents.
The reason for the appointment of Professor Karl Brandt was the assumption that the initiation of chemical warfare by the enemy was shortly to be expected. This assumption was based on the fact that intelligence was accumulating, according to which gas was being prepared in large quantities by the enemy. Thus confidential agents reported that poison gas ammunition was being stored at Tunis and Dakar, and these reports were constantly being confirmed.
The greatest alarm was caused by the examination of captured Russian gas masks, which showed that they afforded protection against far stronger concentrations of poison gas than it had so far been believed possible to achieve at the front. Their protective capacity far surpassed that of the German Army and civilian gas masks. From this fact, it could be concluded that the scientists and technicians of the Red Army had succeeded in developing new and particularly effective methods of attack in chemical warfare for known or new chemical warfare agents.
The German measures for gas defense were totally inadequate in number, too. The civilian population in particular was exposed almost without defense to gas attacks because the issue of civilian and infants’ gas masks in many town and country districts was seriously behind schedule. The relevant figures for civilian gas masks in the different supply areas were between 10 and 70 percent of the population to be equipped, the average figure being about 32 percent, and for infants’ gas masks, about 7 percent. This estimate is based on the total number of civilian and infants’ gas masks manufactured up to that date, in relation to the total number of persons entitled to supply. This estimate did not take into consideration the fact that, without doubt a large part of the equipment which, in some cases had been in the hands of the population for years, was no longer completely fit for use on account of faulty unsuitable storage, or had been rendered useless by air raid damage, evacuation of the owners, and other reasons, or lost completely. The losses in civilian gas masks were estimated at about 15,000,000 (almost 50 percent of the total output up to that date) so that for the completion of the initial equipment (without reserves) the manufacture of 45,000,000 gas masks had to be planned.
In view of these facts, Professor Dr. Karl Brandt was assigned the task of providing with the utmost speed for the improvement of gas defense to avert the danger which threatened.
Through the initiative of Professor Brandt, the gas defense program was finally given the highest priority and had an equal standing with the program for the construction of fighter planes and tanks.
I know that Professor Dr. Brandt was most strongly opposed to the propaganda demand spread by extreme Party circles for the initiation of chemical warfare by Germany.
I regularly had to work with Professor Karl Brandt on gas defense and I know that in view of their importance and urgency, he dispatched all matters himself. The Department of Science and Research and its chief, Professor Rostock, were not concerned with these matters.
The N-agent was not one of the chemical warfare agents. It is an incendiary agent composed of chlorine and fluorine (ClF_{3}); this N-agent has never been mentioned in connection with gas defense.
I know that there existed in the Armament Ministry a special commission for the decontamination of drinking water; this had neither been established by Professor Brandt nor was it under his command. The task of this commission was the production of decontamination equipment but not the development of such equipment, and especially not the development of new processes for the decontamination of water. The repeated suggestions made by Professor Haase in this context were therefore beyond the field of activity of the commission. They were discussed, however, at a meeting in December 1944, at which I was present.
At this meeting the representatives of the army and the air raid protection service stated that for their sphere, i. e., for the gas defense of the troops and the civilian population, there was no need to continue this work. Professor Brandt who was present at the meeting had already agreed in advance with the general opinion that the efforts of Haase did not admit of the expectation of any improvement on the experiences presented for consideration, and that they should therefore be rejected. He therefore asked me to work towards this end.
As far as I know, the commission was never concerned with sea-water experiments. In particular, to my knowledge, the commission had no knowledge of human experiments for the testing of agents designed to render sea-water potable.
I can state with certainty that the undertaking of gas experiments on human subjects was never spoken of by Professor Brandt and myself. Moreover, during discussions with army experts concerned with gas defense and chemical warfare, I never heard that Professor Brandt in any way suggested human experiments or otherwise spoke of such experiments.
Nuernberg, 21 April 1947
[Signature] DR. WALTER MIELENZ
[39] Defendant in case of United States vs. Carl Krauch, et al. See Vols. VII and VIII.
5. SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS
a. Introduction
The defendants, Karl Brandt, Handloser, Rostock, Schroeder, Genzken, Gebhardt, Blome, Rudolf Brandt, Mrugowsky, Poppendick, Becker-Freyseng, Oberheuser, and Fischer were charged with special responsibility for and participation in criminal conduct involving sulfanilamide experiments (par. 6 (E) of the indictment). During the trial the prosecution withdrew this charge in the cases of Schroeder, Blome, and Becker-Freyseng. On this charge the defendants Karl Brandt, Handloser, Gebhardt, Mrugowsky, Oberheuser, and Fischer were convicted and the defendants Rostock, Genzken, and Poppendick were acquitted. Regarding the defendant Rudolf Brandt, the judgment makes no reference to this charge.
The prosecution’s summation of the evidence on the sulfanilamide experiments is contained in its final brief against the defendant Gebhardt. An extract from that brief is set forth below on pages 355 to 364. A corresponding summation of the evidence by the defense on these experiments has been selected from the closing brief for the defendant Gebhardt. It appears below on pages 364 to 370. This argumentation is followed by selections from the evidence on pages 371 to 391.
b. Selection from the Argumentation of the Prosecution
_EXTRACT FROM THE CLOSING BRIEF AGAINST DEFENDANT GEBHARDT_
* * * * *
A. SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS
Experiments to test the effectiveness of sulfanilamide on infections were conducted in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp from 20 July 1942 until August 1943. These experiments were performed by the defendants Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206._)
Gebhardt personally requested Himmler’s permission to carry out the sulfanilamide experiments and their execution was his responsibility. (_Tr. pp. 4024-5._) He himself carried out the initial operations. (_Tr. p. 4032._)
The experimental subjects consisted of 15 male concentration camp inmates, who were used during the preliminary experiments in July 1942, and 60 Polish women who were experimented on in 5 groups of 12 subjects each.
The purpose of the experiments was stated in a preliminary report by Gebhardt dated 29 August 1942, in which he stated:
“By order of the Reich Leader SS, I started on 20 July 1942 at Ravensbrueck concentration camp for women on a series of clinical experiments with the aim of analyzing the sickness known as gas gangrene, which does not take a uniform course, and to test the efficacy of the known therapeutic medicaments.
“In addition, the simple infections of injuries which occur as symptoms in war surgery had also to be tested; and a new chemo-therapeutic treatment, apart from the known surgical measures, had to be tried out.” (_NO-2734, Pros. Ex. 473._)
The sulfanilamide experiments, as substantially all of the experiments with which the case is concerned, were directly related to the German war effort. Allied propaganda about the “miracle drug” sulfanilamide was having considerable effect on the confidence of the German soldiers in their medical officers. Heavy casualties had been sustained from gas gangrene on the Russian front in the winter of 1941-42. The theoretical question to be answered by these experiments was whether the wounded should be treated surgically in the front line hospitals or should be treated by field medical officers with sulfanilamide and then sent down the long lines of communication to a base hospital for further treatment. (_Tr. pp. 4010-14._)
The same report cited above states that the defendant Fischer was appointed by Gebhardt as his assistant; Dr. Blumenreuter, a subordinate of the defendant Genzken, made available the surgical instruments and medicines; the defendant Mrugowsky put his laboratory and co-workers at the disposal of Gebhardt; and Dr. Lolling, chief medical officer of all concentration camps, assigned Dr. Schiedlausky and the defendant Oberheuser as co-workers.
This preliminary report concerns itself with the early experiments on 15 male subjects to determine a mode of infection with gangrene. Gebhardt was assisted by the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS, which made available the bacteria and gave advice on the method of bringing about gangrene infection artificially. The experimental technique was described in the report as follows:
“The point was to implant the lymph cultures on the damaged muscle tissue, to isolate the latter from atmospheric and humoral oxygen supply, and to subject it to internal tissue pressure. The inoculation procedure was as follows: a longitudinal cut of 10 centimetres over the musculus peroneus longus; after incision into the fascia the muscle was tied up with forceps in an area the size of a five-Mark piece; an anaemic peripheral zone was created by injection of 3 cc. adrenalin and in the area of the damaged muscle the inoculation material (a gauze strip saturated with bacteria) was imbedded under the fascia, subcutaneous adipose tissue and skin sutured in layers.” (_NO-2734, Pros. Ex. 473._)
In the first series of experiments the subjects were infected with staphylococci, streptococci, para oedema malignum, bacteria Fraenkel, and earth. The resulting infections were not considered serious enough, and a conference was held with the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS and the bacteria used in bringing about the infections were changed. Six additional male subjects were then infected, but again the results were not considered serious enough. After further consultation with the collaborators in the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS, the infectious material was changed by adding wood shavings. During the course of these experiments the subjects were treated with various types of sulfanilamides, including catoxyn and marfanil-prontalbin, the latter being strongly recommended by the Army Medical Inspectorate. Efforts continued to make the gangrene infection more serious, and the report concluded with the following paragraph:
“We are now investigating the problem as to why the gangrene in the present cases did not fully develop. Therefore, the injuring of the tissue and the exclusion of a muscle from the circulation of the blood were undertaken during a separate operating session, _and the large-scale necrosis resulting therefrom, was to be inoculated with bacteria strain which had already had one human passage_. For it is only when the really definite clinical picture of the gangrene has appeared that conclusions may be drawn on therapy with chemo-therapeutics in connection with surgical operations.” [Emphasis supplied.] (_NO-2734, Pros. Ex. 473._)
This report was certified as a correct copy by the defendant Poppendick.
In his zealousness to protect his fellow defendants, Gebhardt testified that neither the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS nor the defendant Mrugowsky played any part in these experiments, and that the infectious material was sent to him by Grawitz. (_Tr. p. 4179._) This is clearly contradicted by his own report cited above.
Following the conclusion of the preliminary experiments on the male prisoners, experiments were continued on female Polish inmates. The affidavit of the defendant Fischer states that three series of operations were performed, each involving 10 persons, one using the bacterial culture and fragments of wood, the second using bacterial culture and fragments of glass, and the third using culture plus glass and wood. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206._) These experiments were undertaken during the month of August 1942. While Fischer speaks of experimental groups of 10 persons each, the defendant Gebhardt testified that the groups were composed of 12 experimental subjects. (_Tr. p. 4056._) On 3 September 1942, after 36 women had been experimented on, Reich Physician SS Grawitz visited Ravensbrueck and inspected the experimental subjects. He asked Gebhardt how many deaths had occurred, and when it was reported that there had been none, he stated that the experiments did not conform to battlefield conditions. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206_; _Tr. p. 4057_.) In order to make the gangrene infections still more severe, a new series of experiments involving 24 Polish female inmates was carried out. In this series the circulation of blood through the muscles was interrupted in the area of infection by tying off the muscles on either end. This series of experiments resulted in very serious infections and a number of deaths occurred. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206._)
Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser all admit that three of the experimental subjects died as a result of the experiments. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206_; _Tr. pp. 4059, 5492_.) Other evidence, however, proves that five died as a direct result of the experiments and six were executed by shooting at a later date. (_Tr. pp. 1438, 1449, 797, 845, 863._)
Four of the Polish women who were subjected to these experiments testified before the Tribunal. Most of the women who were used as subjects had been active in a resistance movement. (_Tr. pp. 787, 816, 840, 857._) Only healthy inmates were used. (_Tr. pp. 786, 815, 836, 856, 860-1._) None of them volunteered for the experiments. (_Tr. pp. 789, 819, 842, 844-5, 861._) On the contrary, they protested against the experiments both orally and in writing. (_Tr. pp. 789, 794, 823-5._) They stated that they would have preferred death to continued experiments, since they were convinced that they were to die in any event. (_Tr. pp. 795, 824, 863._) They testified that 74 Polish women, 1 German, and 1 Ukrainian woman were experimented upon. (_Tr. pp. 1438, 796, 818, 862._) Since Gebhardt placed the total number of Polish female experimental subjects in the sulfanilamide experiments at 60, the additional 16 women mentioned by the witnesses may well have been subjects in the bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration experiments. (_Tr. p. 1462._)
The witness Kusmierczuk was one of the subjects in the sulfanilamide experiments. She is a Polish national and arrived in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp in the fall of 1941. (_Tr. p. 857._) She was operated on in October 1942 and a severe infection developed in her case. (_Tr. p. 858._) She remained in the hospital from October 1942 until April 1943, but her wound was still not healed at the time she was discharged from the hospital. Her condition deteriorated and she was readmitted to the hospital on 1 September 1943. (_Tr. p. 860._) She left the hospital the second time in February 1944, but her wound did not finally heal until June 1944. (_Tr. p. 861._) She identified the defendants Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser as having participated in the experiment upon her. (_Tr. p. 860._) Kusmierczuk suffered permanent injuries as a result of this experiment, and her condition was described by the expert witness Dr. Leo Alexander. (_Tr. pp. 864-9._) The post-operational care of this woman was not handled by Gebhardt and Fischer, but by the camp doctors. On the occasion of her second admission to the hospital in September 1943, Kusmierczuk was operated on by Dr. Treite in an effort to cure the deep-seated infection. (_Tr. p. 861._) [See photographs, pp. 898 to 908.]
The expert witness Maczka, who worked as an X-ray technician in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp during the course of the experiments, testified concerning deaths of the five Polish experimental subjects resulting from the sulfanilamide experiments. Weronica Kraska developed typical tetanus symptoms a few days after the experimental operation was performed on her. After a brief illness she died under cramps caused by tetanus. (_Tr. p. 1438._) Kazimiera Kurowska was artificially infected with gangrene bacillus. She was a healthy Polish girl of 23 years. From day to day her leg became blacker and more swollen. She was given care for only the first few days. After that she was taken to Room 4 in the hospital where she lay for days in unbelievable pain and finally died. Maczka was able to observe this case personally and in her opinion immediate amputation would have saved her life. (_Tr. pp. 1439-40._) It is quite clear that if a German soldier’s life had been endangered by gangrene infection, an amputation would have been undertaken immediately. In this experiment, where the very effort was to develop a serious gangrene infection and to test the effects of sulfanilamide preparations, it is equally clear why the leg of Kurowska was not amputated. Aniela Lefanowicz was infected with oedema malignum. Her leg kept swelling more and more, the blood vessels eroded, and she died from bleeding. Maczka testified that the blood vessels should have been tied off and an amputation carried out in order to save her life. She was completely neglected after the first 2 or 3 days. (_Tr. pp. 1440-1._) Zofia Kiecol died under similar circumstances. (_Tr. p. 1441._)
Alfreda Prus was infected with oedema malignum the same day as the witnesses Kusmierczuk, Kiecol, and Lefanowicz. She was a beautiful, young 21-year-old girl, and a university student. She proved to be stronger than Kiecol and Lefanowicz and for that reason she lived a few days longer. She suffered terrible pain and finally died of hemorrhage. (_Tr. pp. 1142-3._) Kusmierczuk was the only subject to survive that series of experiments. (_Tr. p. 1443._)
It is hardly necessary to point out that all of the experimental subjects suffered severe pain and torture. (_Tr. pp. 790-1, 802, 820, 842, 859_; _NO-876, Pros. Ex. 225_; _NO-871, Pros. Ex. 227_; _NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228._) The Tribunal was able to observe for itself the mutilations to which the Polish witnesses were subjected, and pictures of their scars were introduced to form a permanent part of the record. (_NO-1079a, b, and c, Pros. Ex. 209_; _NO-1081a, and b, Pros. Ex. 211_; _NO-1082a, b, and c, Pros. Ex. 214_; _NO-1080a-g, Pros. Ex. 219._)
The post-operational care of the experimental subjects was entirely inadequate. (_NO-873, Pros. Ex. 226._) Many of the subjects were given neither medicine nor morphine by order of defendant Oberheuser. (_NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228._) They were given bandages from time to time when the doctors felt like it. Sometimes they waited 3 days, sometimes 4 days. There was a terrible odor of pus in the rooms. The girls were forced to help each other. (_Tr. p. 1444._) Post-operational care, such as it was, was administered by the camp doctors. The witness Broel-Plater testified that:
“My leg pained me; I felt severe pain, and blood flowed from my leg. At night we were all alone without any care. I heard only the screaming of my fellow prisoners, and I heard also that they asked for water. There was nobody to give us any water or bed pans.” (_Tr. p. 790._)
The witness Karolewska testified that:
“I was in my room and I made the remark to fellow prisoners that we had been operated on under very bad conditions and were left here in this room, and that we were not given even the possibility to recover. This remark must have been heard by a German nurse who was sitting in the corridor because the door of our room leading to the corridor was open. The German nurse entered the room and told us to get up and dress. We answered that we could not follow her order because we had great pains in our legs and could not walk. Then the German nurse came into our room with Dr. Oberheuser. Dr. Oberheuser told us to dress and go to the dressing room. We put on our dresses; and, being unable to walk, we had to hop on one leg going to the operating room. After one hop we had to rest. Dr. Oberheuser did not allow anybody to help us. When we arrived at the operating room quite exhausted, Dr. Oberheuser appeared and told us to go back because a change of dressing would not take place that day. I could not walk, but somebody, a prisoner whose name I do not remember, helped me to get back to the room.” (_Tr. p. 822._)
At least five human lives were sacrificed in the sulfanilamide experiments, while an additional six were shot after having survived the operations. All the surviving victims suffered terrible pains and were crippled for life. Nevertheless, the experiments were not even scientifically successful. The results, as reported by Gebhardt and Fischer at the Third Conference of the Consulting Physicians of the Wehrmacht at the Military Medical Academy in Berlin in May 1943, were not adopted, and medical directives were issued which required the continued use of sulfanilamide. (_Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser 3, Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser Ex. 10._) The sulfanilamide experiments were entirely unnecessary, since similar results could have been achieved by the treatment of wound infections of German soldiers normally contracted during the course of the war. (_Tr. pp. 3334, 3338._)
Gebhardt does not seriously contend that the experimental subjects were volunteers. He admitted that he did not know whether the women consented. He testified he was not interested in that. He left it to the “legal authorities.” He did not discuss this matter with Himmler. (_Tr. p. 4214._) By legal authorities, Gebhardt meant Himmler who, as he said, “had the power to execute thousands of people by a stroke of his pen.” (_Tr. p. 4025._) Gebhardt, however, showed no interest whatever in the moral or legal character of that power. At one point in his testimony, he stated that the subjects were nonvolunteers forced to submit to the experiments by the State. (_Tr. p. 4064._) At still another point, they were “more or less volunteers, condemned persons.” (_Tr. p. 4021._)
Gebhardt’s defense, if it can be dignified with that word, is rather that the Polish women had been condemned to death for participation in a resistance movement and that by undergoing the experiments, voluntarily or otherwise, they were to have their death sentences commuted to some lesser degree of punishment whereby they would at least not be executed. This was no bargain reached with the experimental subjects; their wishes were not consulted in the matter. It was, according to Gebhardt, left to the good faith of someone unnamed to see to it the death sentence was not carried out on the survivors of the experiments. Certainly Gebhardt assumed no responsibility, or even interest, in this matter.
The prosecution points out, in connection with this alleged defense, that the proof shows that the experimental subjects who testified before this Tribunal were never so much as accorded a trial; they had no opportunity to defend themselves against whatever crimes they were said to have committed. They were simply arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo in Poland and sent to a concentration camp. They had never so much as been informed that they had been _marked for_, not sentenced to, death. (_Tr. p. 831._) Article 30 of the Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land annexed to the Hague Convention expressly provides that even a spy “shall not be punished without previous trial.” The alleged defense of Gebhardt is accordingly without merit.
Gebhardt would have the Tribunal believe that _but for_ the experiments all these Polish girls would be dead; that he preserved the evidence now being used against him. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no proof in the record that these women would have been executed if they had not undergone the experiments. The witness Maczka is living proof of the contrary. She was arrested for resistance activities on 11 September 1941, and shipped to Ravensbrueck on 13 September. (_Tr. p. 1433._) She was not an experimental subject yet she lives today. Substantially all the Polish experimental subjects arrived in Ravensbrueck in September 1941. (_Tr. pp. 788, 817, 840._) These girls had not been executed by August 1942 when the experiments began. Indeed, it was a surprise to Gebhardt, according to his testimony, that they were used at all since during July 1942 the experiments were conducted on men. There were some 700 Polish girls in that transport. (_NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228_; _Tr. p. 4216._) There is no evidence that a substantial number were ever executed even though most of them were not experimented on.
No, the proof has shown beyond controversy that these Polish women _could not have been legally executed_. The right to grant pardons in cases of death sentences was exclusively vested in Hitler by a decree of 1 February 1935, Reich Law Gazette [RGBl], I, page 74. (_NO-3070, Pros. Ex. 531._) On 2 May 1935, Hitler delegated the right to make _negative_ decisions on pardon applications to the Reich Minister of Justice. (_NO-3071, Pros. Ex. 532._) On 30 January 1940 (_RGBl, I, p. 399_), Hitler delegated to the Governor General for the occupied Polish territories the authority to grant pardons and to make denying decisions in pardon matters for the occupied Polish territories. (_NO-3072, Pros. Ex. 533._) By edict, dated 8 March 1940, VOB1 GGP I p. 99, the Governor General of occupied Poland ordered with reference to the execution of the right to pardon in the case of death sentences that:
“The execution of a death sentence pronounced by a regular court, a special court or a police court martial _shall take place only when my decision has been issued not to make use of my right to pardon_.” [Emphasis supplied.] (_NO-3073, Pros. Ex. 534._)
Assuming _arguendo_ that the experimental subjects had all committed substantial crimes, that they were all properly tried by a duly constituted court of law, that they were legally sentenced to death, it is still clear from the decrees set forth above that these women could not have been legally executed until such time as the Governor General of occupied Poland had decided in each case not to make use of his pardon right. There has been no proof that the Governor General had ever acted with respect to pardoning the Polish women used in the experiments, or, for that matter, any substantial number of those not used in the experiments.
The only reason these 700 Polish women were transported from Warsaw and Lublin to Ravensbrueck was because the Governor General had not approved their execution. Otherwise they would have been immediately executed in Poland. At the very least, these women were entitled to remain unmolested so long as the Governor General took no action. He may never have acted or, when he did, he may have acted favorably on the pardon.
The affidavit of Schiedlausky, the camp doctor at Ravensbrueck, shows that the Governor General had not turned down a pardon when the experiments started. He said on page four of the original:
“Polish women who had been sentenced to death by court martial and who were awaiting execution, after their sentences had been approved by the Governor General, were chosen as subjects.” (_NO-508, Pros. Ex. 224._)
At still a later point, on page 15 of the original, he said:
“During my tour of duty at Ravensbrueck, I estimate that about 25 women were executed by shooting. They were exclusively Polish women, who were already prisoners, _whose sentences were only approved after a long time by the Governor General_.” [Emphasis added.]
Schiedlausky was in Ravensbrueck from December 1941 until the middle of August 1943. During that long period of time only 25 of over 700 Polish inmates were made eligible for execution by action of the Governor General. Who is to say that the majority of these 700 Polish women did not live through the war even though they did not undergo the experiments? Certainly it was incumbent on the defense to prove the contrary by a preponderance of the evidence. This it did not do by any evidence.
The defendants Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser cannot claim that they believed in good faith that the Polish women could have been legally executed. Even the camp doctor Schiedlausky knew that the Governor General had to approve the execution. Moreover, the large number of 700 women being sentenced to death at this early stage of the war was enough to put any reasonable person on notice that something was wrong.
Additionally, the uncontradicted evidence proves that survival of the experiments was no guarantee whatever of avoiding execution in any event. _At least six of the experimental subjects were executed after having survived the experiments._ (_Tr. pp. 1449, 797, 845, 863._) The names of the Polish girls who were shot were Pajaczkowska, Gans, Zielonka, Rakowska, Sobolewska, and Gutek. (_NO-873, Pros. Ex. 226_; _NO-861, Pros. Ex. 232_.) It was not a question of experimentation _or_ execution but experimentation _and_ execution.
Indeed, in February 1945, an effort was made to execute all the experimental subjects. They were ordered to report to one block and remain there. They were informed that they would be transferred to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, but it was common knowledge that Gross-Rosen was already in the hands of the Allies. They, therefore, knew that they were going to be executed and so took different identification numbers and hid themselves. This was possible because of disorganization in the camp. (_Tr. pp. 1450-1, 862-3_; _NO-876, Pros. Ex. 225_; _NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228_.)
If one takes the case of the defense at its face value, the Tribunal is in effect asked to rule that it is legal for military doctors of a nation at war to experiment on political prisoners of an occupied country who are condemned to death, to experiment on them in such a way that they may suffer death, excruciating pain, mutilation, and permanent disability—all this without their consent and in direct aid of the military potential of their enemy. There is no valid reason for limiting such a decision to civilian prisoners; the experiment would certainly have been no worse had it been performed on Polish or American prisoners of war. It is impossible to consider seriously the ruling being sought for by the defense.