d. Evidence
_Prosecution Documents_
Pros. Ex. Doc. No. No. Description of Document Page NO-426 160 Extract from the affidavit of 842 defendant Brack, 14 October 1946, describing administrative details and procedure of the Euthanasia Program. 615-PS 246 Letter from Dr. Hilfrich, Bishop of 845 Limburg, to the Reich Minister of Justice, 13 August 1941, protesting against the killing of mentally ill people. NO-429 281 Extract from the affidavit of 847 defendant Hoven, 24 October 1946, concerning the transfer of concentration camp inmates to euthanasia stations for extermination. 630-PS 330 Letter from Hitler to Karl Brandt 848 and Bouhler, 1 September 1939, charging them with the execution of euthanasia. NO-1135 334 Confirmation, 30 August 1940, of the 848 transfer of mental patients with list of transferred patients attached. 1696-PS 357 Letter from Dr. Conti to the Mental 849 Hospital in Kaufbeuren, 16 November 1939, requesting that questionnaires (attached) be filled out for individual patients; letter from the General Sick Transport Company to the Mental Hospital in Kaufbeuren, 12 May 1941, stating that the company would remove mental patients; report from the Provincial Association for Social Welfare in Swabia, 6 May 1941, that all transferred patients had died; letter from Gaum, 24 November 1942, to Dr. Leinisch stating that epileptics would be made available for research. 3896-PS 372 Extract from the affidavit of Dr. 853 Ludwig Sprauer, 23 April 1946, concerning the organization of the Euthanasia Program. NO-520 374 Letter from the chief of the 854 institution for feeble-minded in Stetten to Dr. Frank, 6 September 1940, requesting that euthanasia be carried out only after legal basis was created. NO-660 377 Note by Sellmer, 6 December 1940, 855 describing the method of selection for euthanasia. NO-018 404 Letter from Himmler to Brack, 19 856 December 1940, requesting that Euthanasia Station Grafeneck be discontinued and that motion pictures be shown to dispel rumors. NO-842 405 Letter from Brack to Dr. 857 Schlegelberger, 18 April 1941, forwarding forms for euthanasia and suggesting that death notifications should not follow a stereotyped form. NO-158 410 Letter from Hirche, administrator of 858 the Mental Institution Bernburg, to camp commandant of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, 19 March 1942, with list of inmates transferred from the concentration camp to Bernburg. NO-907 412 Extract from letter from Dr. Fritz 861 Mennecke to his wife, 25 November 1941, concerning his activities as physician selecting inmates of concentration camp Buchenwald for euthanasia. NO-1007 413 Circular from Gluecks to 862 concentration camp commandants, 27 April 1943, stating that in the future only insane prisoners should be used for Action “14 f 13” (euthanasia). NO-891 414 Directive of the Reich Minister of 863 the Interior, 6 September 1944, ordering euthanasia extended to insane Eastern workers. 1553-PS 428 Extract from the field interrogation 865 of Kurt Gerstein, 26 April 1945, describing the mass gassing of Jews and other “undesirables.” NO-365 507 Unsigned draft letter from Dr. 870 Wetzel to Rosenberg, 25 October 1941, dealing with Brack’s collaboration in the construction of gas chambers for the extermination of Jews.
_Defense Documents_
Doc. No. Def. Ex. No. Description of Documents Karl Brandt 18 Karl Brandt Ex. Extracts from the affidavit of Dr. 871 15 Werner Kirchert, 29 January 1947, stating that Karl Brandt was not involved in the Euthanasia Program. Karl Brandt 19 Karl Brandt Ex. Affidavit of Alfred Rueggeberg, 23 872 16 January 1947, concerning radio discussions on euthanasia. Karl Brandt 23 Karl Brandt Ex. Affidavit of Eduard Woermann, 18 873 19 January 1947, concerning discussion of Karl Brandt and Pastor Bodelschwingh on euthanasia. Pokorny 19 Pokorny Ex. 27 Affidavit of Dr. Helmuth Weese, 19 874 March 1947, concerning use of caladium seguinum for sterilization.
_Testimony_ Page Extracts from the testimony of prosecution witness Dr. Mennecke 875 Extracts from the testimony of defendant Brack 876 Extract from the testimony of prosecution witness Walter E. Schmidt 890 Extracts from the testimony of defendant Karl Brandt 892
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-426 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 160
EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT BRACK, 14 OCTOBER 1946, DESCRIBING ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS AND PROCEDURE OF THE EUTHANASIA PROGRAM
* * * * *
_The Euthanasia Program_
4. The Euthanasia Program was initiated in the summer of 1939. Hitler issued a secret order to Professor Dr. Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Medical and Health Matters, and at that time personal physician to the Fuehrer, and to Philipp Bouhler, charging them with responsibility for the killing of human beings who were unable to live, that is, the according of a mercy death to incurably insane persons. Prior to the issuance of this secret order, Bouhler had a conference with Dr. Brandt and Dr. Leonardo Conti, the Reich Chief for Public Health and State Secretary in the Ministry of Interior. On the basis of this order of Hitler, Bouhler and Brandt were to select doctors to carry out this program. Inasmuch as the insane asylums and other institutions were functions of the Ministry of Interior, Dr. Herbert Linden became the representative of the Ministry of Interior. Dr. Karl Brandt and Philipp Bouhler appointed Professor Dr. Heyde and Professor Dr. Nietsche along with several other medical men to aid in the execution of this Euthanasia Program.
5. Professor Dr. Karl Brandt was in charge of the medical section of the Euthanasia Program. In this capacity, as shown in the chart I have drawn, dated 12 September 1946, Dr. Karl Brandt appointed as his deputies Professor Heyde and Professor Nietsche. In charge of the administrative office under Brandt was first Herr Bohne and later Herr Allers. Three different names were used by Brandt’s section in order to disguise the activities of the organization. The names of the organization are as follows:
Reich Association—Mental Institutions.
Charitable Foundation for Institutional Care.
General Patient Transport Company.
6. In the early stages of this program, Dr. Karl Brandt visited Philipp Bouhler and discussed with him many details of this program. As a matter of fact, after such meetings between Brandt and Bouhler, I received many orders, more often from Bouhler than from Brandt directly.
7. In my capacity as Chief of Office II of Bouhler’s Chancellery, I was ordered to carry out the administrative details of the Euthanasia Program. My deputy was Werner Blankenburg, who eventually became my successor, that is, in the beginning of 1942 when I joined the Waffen SS. Von Hegener, Reinh, Vorberg, and Dr. Hevelmann were members of my staff.
8. In the Ministry of the Interior, Dr. Linden was in charge of the Euthanasia Program and his deputy was Ministerialrat Franke. The Department for Public Health in the Ministry of the Interior had authority over all insane asylums of the Reich, and in this position, my department as well as the office of Dr. Brandt maintained close liaison in order to operate this Euthanasia Program efficiently.
_The Procedure_
9. By order of Dr. Linden, the directors of all insane asylums in the Reich had to complete questionnaires for each patient in their institutions. These questionnaires were drafted by Bouhler, Heyde, Nietsche, and others in several of their many conferences. The questionnaires were then forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior to be distributed to the various insane asylums and similar institutions. Theoretically, Dr. Linden’s office had the questionnaires returned and then forwarded them to the administrative section of the office of Dr. Brandt. The program was so arranged that photostats of each questionnaire were to be sent to four experts consisting of about 10 to 15 doctors. I do not remember the names of all the members of this panel, but Dr. Pfannmueller, Dr. Schumann, Dr. Faltlhauser, and Dr. Rennaux are fresh in my memory in this connection. Each of these experts indicated by making a certain comment on the questionnaire whether or not the patient could be transferred to an observation institution and eventually killed. The questionnaire was then forwarded to a senior expert. According to the regulation, the senior expert was only entitled to order the transfer of the patient when all four experts voted for the transfer. This senior expert also marked the questionnaire and then submitted it to Dr. Linden who ordered the insane asylum to transfer the patient to one of the observation institutions. Offhand I can remember, among others, the names of the following observation institutions: Eglfing-Haar, Kempten, Jena, Buch, Arnsberg.
10. At these institutions the patients were under the observation of the doctor in charge for a period of 1 to 3 months. The physician had the right to exempt the patient from the program if he decided that the patient was not incurable. If he agreed with the opinion of the senior expert, the patient was transferred to a so-called Euthanasia Institution. I can recall the names of the Euthanasia Institutions—
Grafeneck—under Dr. Schuman.
Brandenburg—under Dr. Hennecke.
Hartheim—under Dr. Rennaux.
Sonnenstein—under Dr. Schmalenbach.
Hadamar—(I do not remember under whose leadership).
Bernburg—under Dr. Behnke or Dr. Becker.
In these institutions the patient was killed by means of gas by the doctor in charge. To the best of my knowledge, about fifty to sixty thousand persons were killed in this way from autumn 1939 to the summer of 1941.
11. The order issued by the Fuehrer to Brandt and Bouhler was secret and never published. The Euthanasia Program itself was kept as secret as possible, and for this reason, relatives of persons killed in the course of the program were never told the real cause of death. The death certificates issued to the relatives carried fictitious causes of death such as heart failure. All persons subjected to the Euthanasia Program did not have an opportunity to decide whether they wanted a mercy death, nor were their relatives contacted for approval or disapproval. The decision was purely within the discretion of the doctors. The program was not restricted to those cases in which the person was “in extremis”.
12. Hitler’s ultimate reason for the establishment of the Euthanasia Program in Germany was to eliminate those people confined to insane asylums and similar institutions who could no longer be of any use to the Reich. They were considered useless objects and Hitler felt that by exterminating these so-called useless eaters, it would be possible to relieve more doctors, male and female nurses, and other personnel, hospital beds and other facilities for the armed forces.
_Reich Committee for Research on Hereditary Diseases and Constitutional Susceptibility to Severe Diseases_
13. This committee, which was also a function of the Euthanasia Program, was an organization for the killing of children who were born mentally deficient or physically deformed. All physicians assisting at births, midwives, and maternity hospitals were ordered by the Ministry of Interior to report such cases to the office of Dr. Linden in the Ministry of Interior. Experts in the medical section of Dr. Brandt’s office were then ordered to give their opinion in each case. As a matter of fact, the complete file on each case was sent to the offices of Bouhler and Dr. Brandt in order to obtain their opinions and to decide the fate of each child involved. In many cases these children were to be operated upon in such a manner that the result was either complete recovery or death. Death resulted in a majority of these cases. The program was inaugurated in the summer of 1939. Bouhler told me that Dr. Linden had orders to obtain the consent of the parents of each child concerned. I do not know how long this program continued, since I joined the Waffen SS in 1942.
_The Connection between the Euthanasia Program and SS Brigadefuehrer Globocnik_
14. In 1941 I received an oral order to discontinue the Euthanasia Program. I received this order either from Bouhler or from Dr. Brandt. In order to preserve the personnel relieved of these duties and to have the opportunity of starting a new Euthanasia Program after the war, Bouhler requested, I think after a conference with Himmler, that I send this personnel to Lublin and put it at the disposal of SS Brigadefuehrer Globocnik. I then had the impression that these people were to be used in the extensive Jewish labor camps run by Globocnik. Later, however, at the end of 1942 or the beginning of 1943, I found out that they were used to assist in the mass extermination of the Jews, which was then already common knowledge in higher Party circles.
15. Among the doctors who assisted in the Jewish extermination program were Eberle and Schumann; Schumann performed medical experiments on prisoners in Auschwitz. It would have been impossible for these men to participate in such things without the personal knowledge and consent of Karl Brandt. The order to send these men to the East could have been given only by Himmler to Brandt, possibly through Bouhler.
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TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 615-PS PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 246
LETTER FROM DR. HILFRICH, BISHOP OF LIMBURG, TO THE REICH MINISTER OF JUSTICE, 13 AUGUST 1941, PROTESTING AGAINST THE KILLING OF MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE
The Bishop of Limburg Limburg/Lahm, 13 August 1941 To the Reich Minister of Justice Berlin
Regarding the report submitted on July 16 (_sub. IV, pp. 6-7_) by the Chairman of the Fulda Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Dr. Bertram, I consider it my duty to present the following as a concrete illustration of destruction of so-called “useless life”.
About 8 kilometers from Limburg in the little town of Hadamar, on a hill overlooking the town, there is an institution which had formerly served various purposes and of late had been used as a nursing home. This institution was renovated and furnished as a place in which, by concensus of opinion, the above-mentioned euthanasia has been systematically practiced for months—approximately since February 1941. The fact is, of course, known beyond the administrative district of Wiesbaden because death certificates from the Hadamar-Moenchberg Registry are sent to the home communities. (Moenchberg is the name of this institution because it was a Franciscan monastery prior to its secularization in 1803.)
Several times a week busses arrive in Hadamar with a considerable number of such victims. School children of the vicinity know this vehicle and say: “There comes the murder-box again.” After the arrival of the vehicle, the citizens of Hadamar watch the smoke rise out of the chimney and are tortured with the ever-present thought of depending on the direction of the wind.
The effect of the principles at work here are that children call each other names and say, “You’re crazy; you’ll be sent to the baking oven in Hadamar.” Those who do not want to marry, or find no opportunity, say, “Marry, never! Bring children into the world so they can be put into the bottling machine!” You hear old folks say, “Don’t send me to a state hospital! When the feeble-minded have been finished off, the next useless eaters whose turn will come are the old people.”
All God-fearing men consider this destruction of helpless beings a crass injustice. And if anybody says that Germany cannot win the war, if there is yet a just God, these expressions are not the result of a lack of love for the Fatherland but of a deep concern for our people. The population cannot grasp the fact that systematic actions are carried out which in accordance with paragraph 211 of the German Penal Code are punishable with death. High authority as a moral concept has suffered a severe shock as a result of these happenings. The official notice that N. N. died of a contagious disease and, therefore, his body had to be burned, no longer finds credence, and official notices of this kind which are no longer believed have further undermined the ethical value of the concept of authority.
Officials of the Secret State Police, it is said, are trying to suppress discussion of the Hadamar occurrences by means of severe threats. In the interest of public peace, this may be well intended. But the knowledge, and the conviction, and the indignation of the population, cannot be changed by it; the conviction will be increased with the bitter realization that discussion is prohibited by threats, but that the actions themselves are not prosecuted under penal law.
_Facta loquuntur._
I beg you most humbly, Herr Reich Minister, in the sense of the report of the Episcopate of 16 July of this year, to prevent further transgressions of the Fifth Commandment of God.
[Signed] DR. HILFRICH
I am submitting copies of this letter to the Reich Minister of the Interior and to the Reich Minister for Church Affairs.
[Initialed by the above]
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-429 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 281
EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT HOVEN, 24 OCTOBER 1946, CONCERNING THE TRANSFER OF CONCENTRATION CAMP INMATES TO EUTHANASIA STATIONS FOR EXTERMINATION
AFFIDAVIT
I, Waldemar Hoven, being duly sworn, depose and state:
* * * * *
_Transfer of Inmates to the Bernburg Euthanasia Station for Extermination_
I became aware in 1941 that the so-called Euthanasia Program for the extermination of the mentally and physically deficient was being carried out in Germany. At that time, the camp commandant Koch called all the important SS officials of the camp together and informed them that he had received a secret order from Himmler to the effect that all mentally and physically deficient inmates of the camp should be killed. The camp commandant stated that higher authorities from Berlin had ordered that all the Jewish inmates of the Buchenwald concentration camp be included in this extermination program. In accordance with these orders 300 to 400 Jewish prisoners of different nationalities were sent to the euthanasia station at Bernburg for extermination. A few days later I received a list of the names of those Jews who were exterminated at Bernburg from the camp commandant and I was ordered to issue falsified death certificates. I obeyed this order. This particular action was executed under the code name “14 f 13”. I visited Bernburg on one occasion to arrange for the cremation of two inmates who died in the Wernigerode branch (Aussenkommando Wernigerode) of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
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TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 630-PS PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 330
LETTER FROM HITLER TO KARL BRANDT AND BOUHLER, 1 SEPTEMBER 1939, CHARGING THEM WITH THE EXECUTION OF EUTHANASIA
[Letterhead: A. HITLER]
Berlin, 1 September 1939
Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Brandt, M. D., are charged with the responsibility of enlarging the authority of certain physicians to be designated by name in such a manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death.
[Signed] A. HITLER [Handwritten note] Given to me by Bouhler on 27 August 1940 [Signed] DR. GUERTNER
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-1135 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 334
CONFIRMATION, 30 AUGUST 1940, OF THE TRANSFER OF MENTAL PATIENTS WITH LIST OF TRANSFERRED PATIENTS ATTACHED
CONFIRMATION
In accordance with the decision of the State Ministry of the Interior (Public Health Division), dated 8 January 1940, on orders from the Reich Association of Mental Institutions [Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der Heil und Pflegeanstalten] and as responsible chief of the General Sick Transport Company G.m.b.H. [Gemeinnuetzige Krankentransport G.m.b.H.], I have taken charge of the transfer to a Reich institution of the patients enumerated in the list below.
Eglfing, 30 August 1940 [Signature illegible] Commissioner of General Sick Transport Company G.m.b.H.[110]
* * * * *
TRANSFER MEMORANDUM FOR NIEDERNHART
Handed over were—
1. 149 patients with their own clothing, underwear, money, and belongings.
2. 149 files with personal records (case histories).
3. A list of the amount of money of each patient. A receipt was made out for this purpose.
4. A list of the names. Eglfing-Haar, 30-8-40
[Signed] Head Nurse LOTTE ZELL
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1696-PS PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 357
LETTER FROM DR. CONTI TO THE MENTAL HOSPITAL IN KAUFBEUREN, 16 NOVEMBER 1939, REQUESTING THAT QUESTIONNAIRES (ATTACHED) BE FILLED OUT FOR INDIVIDUAL PATIENTS; LETTER FROM THE GENERAL SICK TRANSPORT COMPANY TO THE MENTAL HOSPITAL IN KAUFBEUREN, 12 MAY 1941, STATING THAT THE COMPANY WOULD REMOVE MENTAL PATIENTS; REPORT FROM THE PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATION FOR SOCIAL WELFARE IN SWABIA, 6 MAY 1941, THAT ALL TRANSFERRED PATIENTS HAD DIED; LETTER FROM GAUM, 24 NOVEMBER 1942, TO DR. LEINISCH STATING THAT EPILEPTICS WOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH
The Reich Minister of the Interior
Berlin, NW 40, Koenigsplatz 6, 16 November 1939 IV g 4178 /39-5100
Telephone: Dept. Z, I, II, V, VIII 11 00 27 Dept. II, IV, VI (Unter den Linden 72); 12 00 34 Tel. Address: Reichsinnenminister.
To the Head of the Hospital for Mental Cases Kaufbeuren or his deputy in Kaufbeuren.
With regard to the necessity for a systemized economic plan for hospitals and nursing institutions, I request you to complete the attached registration forms immediately in accordance with the attached instruction leaflet and to return them to me. If you yourself are not a doctor, the registration forms for the individual patients are to be completed by the supervising doctor. The completion of the questionnaires is, if possible, to be _done on a typewriter_. In the column “Diagnosis” I request a statement as exact as possible, as well as a short description of the condition, if feasible.
In order to expedite the work, the registration forms for the individual patients can be dispatched here in several parts. The last consignment, however, must arrive in any case at this Ministry _at the latest_ by 1 January 1940. I reserve for myself the right, should occasion arise, to institute further official inquiries on the spot through my representative.
per proxi: DR. CONTI
Certified: (Sd.) [Illegible] Administrative Secretary.
Registration Form 1 To be typewritten Current No. Name of the Institution: At: Surname and Christian name of the patient: At birth Date of birth: Place: District: Last place of residence District: Unmarried, married, widow, widower, divorced: Religion: Race[111]: Previous profession: Nationality: Army service when? 1914-18 or from 1-9-39. War injury (even if no connection with mental disorder) Yes/No How does war injury show itself and of what does it consist?
Address of next of kin: Regular visits and by whom (address): Guardian or nurse (name, address): Responsible for payment: Since when in Institution Whence and when handed over: Since when ill: If has been in other institutions, where and how long: Twin? Yes/No Blood relations of unsound mind: Diagnosis: Clinical description (previous history, course, condition; in any case ample data regarding mental condition):
Very restless? Yes/No Bedridden? Yes/No Incurable physical illness: Yes/No (which) Schizophrenia: Fresh attack Final condition Good recovery Mental debility: Weak Imbecile Idiot Epilepsy: Psychological Average frequency of the attacks alteration Therapeutics (insulin, cardiazol, malaria, permanent result: Salvarsan, etc. when?) Yes/No Admitted by reason of par. 51, par. 42b German Penal Code, etc. through
Crime: Former punishable offenses: Manner of employment (detailed description of work): Permanent/Temporary employment, independent Worker? Yes/No Value of work (if possible compared with average performance of healthy person)
This space to be left blank.
Place, Date
Signature of the head doctor or his representative (doctors who are not psychiatrists or neurologists, please state same).
General Sick Transport Company, G.m.b.H. Dept. II/d, H/K
Berlin, W. 9, 12 May 1941 Potsdamer Platz 1.
To the Director of the Hospital of the District Association of Swabia, Kaufbeuren/Bavaria.
Dear Director,
By order of the Reich Defense Commissioner, I must remove mental cases from your institution and from the branch at Irrsee to another institution. A total of 140 persons are to be transported, 70 on 4 June and 70 on 5 June. I forward you herewith Transport Lists Nos. 8, 9, 10, and 11 in triplicate. The additional names on the lists are intended for possible deficits (discharged meanwhile, died, etc.).
The marking of the patients is most suitably done by means of a strip of adhesive tape, on which the name is written in indelible pencil, to be pasted between the shoulder blades. At the same time the name is to be put on an article of clothing.
The hospital reports and personal histories are to be prepared for the transportation and to be handed to our director of transport, Herr Kuepper; in the same way, the personal possessions of the patients, as well as money and articles of value.
I enclose property information cards and information cards as to the defrayer of the expenses, which must be completed accurately and handed in at the time of transportation. Money and articles of value, besides being noted on the property information cards, must also be noted on separate special lists (in duplicate).
Transportation takes place:
On 4 June, 8:46 a. m. from Kaufbeuren—70 patients
On 5 June, 8:46 a. m. from Kaufbeuren—70 patients
Our director of transport, Herr Kuepper, will visit you the previous day in order to discuss further details with you.
I further request you to provide the patients with food (2-3 slices of bread and butter each and some cans of coffee).
Heil Hitler! (sd) [Illegible] General Sick Transport Company, G.m.b.H.
PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATION FOR SOCIAL WELFARE SWABIA
Address: Augsburg 1, P. O. Box Regierungspraesident
Tel. No. 5842 Cashier’s Office: Principal Govt. Cashier’s Office Augsburg. Post Office check account: Munich No. 1624
Director Dr. Faltlhauser, of the Hospital, Kaufbeuren.
Your reference: 2080. Your letter of 13 November 1940.
Our reference: (must always be referred to).
II-B-7-2.
Augsburg, 6 May 1941
Concerning the transfer of patients.
I have the honor to inform you that the female patients transferred from your institution on 8 November 1940 to the institutions in Grafeneck, Bernburg, Sonnenstein, and Hartheim all died in November of last year.
[Signed] [Illegible]
Enclosures:
* * * * *
Copy
No. 5255 c 39 State Ministry of the Interior
Munich, 24 November 1942 to the Director of the Hospital, Kaufbeuren, Obermed. Rat Dr. Faltlhauser.
To: Chief Physician, Dr. W. Leinisch Guenzburg.
Re letter of 13-11-1942.
Dear Doctor,
In your letter of 13-11-1942 you requested me to send suitable epileptics for the carrying out of your research work. I had an opportunity to discuss this with the Obermedizinalraete Dr. Faltlhauser and Dr. Pfannmueller. Both will willingly deliver suitable patients to you. For various reasons patients from the Institution at Kaufbeuren are primarily to be chosen. If this institution has no suitable material, I agree to the transfer of patients from Eglfing-Haar to Guenzburg for your research work. I request that you get in touch with Dr. Faltlhauser.
Heil Hitler! [Signed] GAUM
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 3896-PS PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 372
EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DR. LUDWIG SPRAUER, 23 APRIL 1946, CONCERNING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EUTHANASIA PROGRAM
AFFIDAVIT
I, Dr. Ludwig Sprauer, born on 19 October 1884, now living at Konstanz, Baden, Salmannsweilergasse 2, make the following statement under oath:
I passed my state examination for medicine in Freiburg in 1907, and since 1919 was active in the civil service. During the following 14 years I was active as Bezirksarzt in Stockach, Oberkirch, Konstanz. I joined the NSDAP in 1933. From 1934 until 1944 I was the highest medical officer of Baden and held the title Ministerialrat. My highest superior was the Reich Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick. As Frick’s subordinate I traveled several times, perhaps every 2 to 3 months to Berlin, to take part in discussions, conferences, etc., in the Reich Ministry of the Interior.
These took place in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, Berlin, Unter den Linden 72-74; later in the Reich Ministry of the Interior office on Voss-Strasse. On one such occasion in Berlin, Dr. Linden, Ministerialdirigent in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, stated that it was planned to introduce a euthanasia law. For military-political reasons to create more space, the incurably insane were to be done away with. The asylums thus vacated were in part asked for by the SS to be used for national political educational institutions.
A transportation company was founded for the execution of all these measures. This company worked hand in hand with the so-called Reich Committee for Research into Hereditary Ailments. This Reich concern was managed by Frick’s Ministerialdirigent Dr. Linden.
In the course of these measures from 1941 through 1944, thousands of persons were transferred from Baden’s asylums to places like Hadamar, Grafeneck, etc., and were killed there. The killings, however, were not solely confined to the mentally sick. In the course of the same campaign, steps were taken by order of the Reich Ministry of the Interior to eliminate particularly old but also young people who were ill.
The persons killed in the course of this program included not only those who were mentally sick, but also those who suffered from arteriosclerosis, tuberculosis, cancer, and other ailments. Most of those were older people who were inmates of public institutions at the state’s expense, and who in a respectable society would have been taken care of from public funds. These people were brought from public asylums in Baden to Hadamar, Grafeneck, and other asylums and killed there. In what manner they were killed, I do not know. In this way space was made available in the institutions for the armed forces and for the National Socialist educational institutions.
The whole program was camouflaged on the outside and falsified death certificates were made out.
* * * * *
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-520 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 374
LETTER FROM THE CHIEF OF THE INSTITUTION FOR FEEBLE-MINDED IN STETTEN TO DR. FRANK, 6 SEPTEMBER 1940, REQUESTING THAT EUTHANASIA BE CARRIED OUT ONLY AFTER LEGAL BASIS WAS CREATED
L. Schlaich, Stetten i. R. Chief of the Institution for Feeble-Minded and Epileptics. Stetten, i. R., 6 September 1940 To the Reich Minister of Justice, Dr. Frank Berlin
Dear Reich Minister,
The measures at present being taken with mental patients of all kinds have caused a complete lack of confidence in justice among large groups of the people. Without the consent of relatives or guardians, such patients are being transferred to different institutions. After a short time they are notified that the person concerned has died of some disease. In view of the abundance of death notices people are convinced that these sick people are being done away with.
Since from the institution under my direction altogether 150 of the patients entrusted to me are to be transferred to such an institution (75 on the 10th and 75 on the 13th of September) I take the privilege of asking: Is it possible for such a measure to be carried out without a pertinent law having been promulgated? Is it not the duty of every citizen to resist under all circumstances an act not justified by law, even forbidden by law, even if such acts are carried out by state agencies?
On account of the complete secrecy and camouflage under which the measures are carried out, not only are the wildest rumors circulating among the people (for example, that people unable to work on account of age or injuries received during the World War have also been done away with or are to be done away with), but it seems as if the selection of the persons concerned is performed in a wholly arbitrary manner.
If the state really wants to carry out the extermination of these or at least of some mental patients, shouldn’t a law be promulgated, which can be justified before the people—a law which would give everyone the assurance of careful examination as to whether he is due to die or entitled to live and which would also give the relatives a chance to be heard, in a similar way, as provided by the law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Affected Progeny?
With regard to the patients entrusted to the care of our institutions in the future, I urgently pray that everything possible be done to suspend the execution of this measure until a clear legal situation has been established.
Heil Hitler! [Signed] SCHLAICH
I have forwarded a copy of this letter by the same mail to the chief of the Reich Chancellery, Reichsminister Dr. Lammers.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-660 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 377
NOTE BY SELLMER, 6 DECEMBER 1940, DESCRIBING THE METHOD OF SELECTION FOR EUTHANASIA
Subject: Mental Institutions
The following is for your personal information. Please destroy this sheet afterwards.
For some time the inmates of mental institutions have been visited by a commission which functions on orders from some very high office. The commission’s task is to find out which inmates should be selected for transport to certain other institutions. The commission bases its decision on the records of the institution. The patients who are then transferred are examined again in the institution designated by the commission and then the decision is made whether they should be released from their sufferings.
The body itself is cremated and the ashes are placed at the disposal of the relatives. Small mistakes in notifying are naturally always liable to occur, and in the future it will not be possible to avoid them. The commission itself is anxious to avoid all mistakes. I could give you further information but I would like to abstain from it and beg you to look me up when you visit the Gauleitung.
I believe that we National Socialists can welcome this action which is extraordinarily serious for the affected individual. I beg you, therefore, to oppose all rumors and grumblings with the necessary emphasis by representing our point of view in regard to these matters.
Nuernberg, 6 December 1940
Heil Hitler! [Signed] SELLMER Gaustabsamtsleiter [Stamp] National Socialist German Labor Party Gau Franconia
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-018 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 404
LETTER FROM HIMMLER TO BRACK, 19 DECEMBER 1940, REQUESTING THAT EUTHANASIA STATION GRAFENECK BE DISCONTINUED AND THAT MOTION PICTURES BE SHOWN TO DISPEL RUMORS
Top Secret 19 December 1940
SS Standartenfuehrer Viktor Brack Staff Leader at Reichsleiter Bouhler’s Office Berlin W 8
Dear Brack,
I hear there is great excitement on the Alb because of the Grafeneck Institution.
The population recognizes the gray automobile of the SS and think they know what is going on at the constantly smoking crematory. What happens there is a secret and yet is no longer one. Thus the worst feeling has arisen there, and in my opinion there remains only one thing, to discontinue the use of the institution in this place and in any event disseminate information in a clever and sensible manner by showing motion pictures on the subject of inherited and mental diseases in just that locality.
May I ask for a report as to how the difficult problem is solved?
Heil Hitler! [Initialled] H[EINRICH] H[IMMLER]
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-842 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 405
LETTER FROM BRACK TO DR. SCHLEGELBERGER[112], 18 APRIL 1941, FORWARDING FORMS FOR EUTHANASIA AND SUGGESTING THAT DEATH NOTIFICATIONS SHOULD NOT FOLLOW A STEREOTYPED FORM
Viktor Brack Oberdienstleiter Berlin, 18 April 1941 [Stamp] 21 [Penciled] 26 April 1941 Dept: [Illegible] [Handwritten] Gg. Strictly Confidential My dear Party comrade Dr. Schlegelberger, [Handwritten] Top Secret
According to agreement I send you herewith a _folder with forms_ needed for your ascertainment and partial medical preparation; also another folder with forms for further clerical elaboration resulting from the death of the patient.[113] The records are secret, however, and I would appreciate if you would keep them _under lock and key_. Some more things are, of course, necessary for proper recording and administrative routine, but I do not believe that they are of any interest to you. Thereto belong, for instance, the death notifications to the relatives of the patient. These are to be kept somehow different according to the district and kind of relatives; they must be altered frequently to avoid stereotype texts and therefore a sample letter would only irritate. I would like to call your attention especially to the card files Nos. 13 and 14. On their reverse sides you will find a list of authorities to be informed.
When again reviewing the files which you put at my disposal, I found some details which ought to be clarified and settled; I would be grateful to you for doing so. Therefore, I shall forward them to you separately on Monday or Tuesday next week.
Heil Hitler! Respectfully yours [Signed] BRACK
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-158 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 410
LETTER FROM HIRCHE, ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MENTAL INSTITUTION BERNBURG, TO CAMP COMMANDANT OF THE GROSS-ROSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP, 19 MARCH 1942, WITH LIST OF INMATES TRANSFERRED FROM THE CONCENTRATION CAMP TO BERNBURG
Mental Institution, Bernburg Bernburg, 19 March 1942 Reference: B e. vH. Box 266 Consultation only by appointment
To [Stamp] Camp Commandant Concentration Camp Gross-Rosen Concentration Camp Administration Gross-Rosen Received: 23 March 1942 Initials [Illegible]
Registered Subject: Transport of 19 March 1942
Enclosed you will find a list of the camp inmates who arrived here on 19 March 1942 from your concentration camp.
Heil Hitler! [Signed] HIRCHE
1 Enclosure
* * * * *
List of the camp inmates transferred on 19 March 1942 from the Gross-Rosen concentration camp to Bernburg
139/K1. 19-3-1942 Bernburg (Gross-Rosen) [Signed] [Signed]
[Signed] [Signed]
1942 26746 10423 BIER, Rudolf Koeln 2.11.1901 divorced 19.3. 26747 10424 BECKERS, Herm Hamburg 18.9.1923 single 19.3. 26748 10444 BAJGELMANN, Isaak Czenstochau 4.8.1909 single 19.3. 26749 10412 COHEN, Arthur Isr Dellwig-Westf. 15.8.1908 single 19.3. 26750 10468 ECKHAUS, Herm Berlin C 2, 1.12.1922 single 19.3. 26751 10395 EDEL, Gerh. Isr Nakel, 30.5.1914 single 19.3. 26752 10440 EISNER, Otto Bochtitz 26.4.1910. divorced 19.3. 26753 10439 FLEISCHNER, Rich Kolin/Elbe 20.12.1902 married 19.3. 26754 10438 FRIED, Hans, Isr Budweis 8.3.1919 single 19.3. 26755 10450 HAASE, Siegfried Schoenlanke 3.8.1920 single 19.3. 26756 10436 HAUSER, Max Kastel 15.12.1908 single 19.3. 26757 10394 HECHT, Jacob, Isr Hamburg-Altona 18.10.1896 single 19.3. 26758 10410 LUBNICKI, Jacob Wuppertal/Elberf. 28.6.1918 single 19.3. 26759 10409 MARKUSE, Esriel Warschau 14.3.1897 widower 19.3. 26760 10470 NACHMANN, Erich Ulm/D. 6.10.1907 married 19.3. 26761 10406 POLLAK, Heinr Lemberg 30.9.1904 married 19.3. 26762 10517 PUFE, Otto Osternburg 16.3.1917 single 19.3. 26763 10421 ROSENBAUM, Otto Isr Muehlheim/Ruhr 2.6.1894 married 19.3. 26764 10486 ROBALEWSKI, Leo Kl. Tarpen 15.12.1915 single 19.3. 26765 10595 ROSE, Reinhold Cochelna 4.5.1907 single 19.3. 26766 10579 REKEL, Josef Tarnow 10.1.1909 single 19.3. 26767 10405 ROUBICEK, Karl Horovice/Boehmen 16.6.1906 single 19.3. 26768 10577 RWASKI, Wladislaus Kszywystock 19.6.1919 single 19.3. 26769 10509 ROST, Hans Willi Apolda/Weimar 15.7.1920 single 19.3. 26770 10606 SCHUENSMANN, Wilh Wittenberge 23.8.1892 widower 19.3. 26771 10576 SKRATAK, Viktor Stazow 5.3.1909 married 19.3. 26772 10575 SMIGIELSKI, Stanislaus Coloneg 25.10.1918 single 19.3. 26773 10425 SOMMER, Arthur Isr. Frankfurt/M. 4.12.1900 single 19.3. 26774 10578 SIKORSKI, Stanislaw Lublin 27.1.192 single 19.3. 26775 10488 SOMMER, Wenzel Litzmannstadt 7.8.1907 married 19.3. 26776 10404 SEITMANN, Simon Warschau 17.12.1896 widower 19.3. 26777 10594 SARBACH, Heinz Erfurt 28.4.1921 single 19.3. 26778 10483 SCHROFF, Karl Reilingen/ Baden 11.6.1910 single 19.3. 26779 10484 SCHILLING, Aug Rake/Wohlau 9.3.1896 single 19.3. 26780 10516 SCHUELER, Manfred Sonneberg/ Thuer. Richard 17.9.21 single 19.3. 26781 10487 SCHMIDT, Johann Nuernberg 8.4.1900 divorced 19.3. 26782 10426 SCHINDLER, Ernst Isr. Sandhofen/Mannh. 7.6.1906 single 19.3. 26783 10427 SPIRA, Alfred Wien, 20.11.1908 single 19.3. 26784 10454 STERN, Zudik Rozniatow 28.9.1908 married 19.3. 26785 10485 STUKA, Wladimir Maehr. Sternberg 8.2.1907 married 19.3. 26786 10453 WEINBERGER, Erich, Isr. Wien 16.6.1916 single 19.3. 26787 10452 WEISZ, Ignaz Munkatesh/Ungarn 30.6.1914 single 19.3. 26788 10503 WALLZAK, Theophil Hohensalza 19.4.1907 single 19.3. 26789 10512 WELSER, Karl Pilgram/Prot. 10.11.1918 single 19.3. 26790 10505 WALCZYK, Josef Bokow 24.2.1908 married 19.3. 26791 10461 WUTKOWSKI, Willi Max Graudenz 16.4.1902 divorced 19.3. 25792 10506 WOZNICZKA, Ignac Kadziak 8.7.1916 single 19.3. 26793 10504 WASOLOWSKI, Marian Markstaedt 29.11.1909 single 19.3. 26794 10507 WENDOLOWSKI, Josef Warschau 7.1.1912 single 19.3. 26795 10604 WOLF, Karl Ged 10.5.1903 single 19.3. 26796 10595 ZBYTNIEWSKI, Zymunt Czekarzowice 1.1.1905 single 19.3. 26797 10592 ZBYTNIEWSKI, Zdzislaw Czekarzowice 2.3.1910 married 19.3. 26798 10502 ZUCHOWSKI, Felike Lietzendorf/W. 2.8.18. married 19.3. 26799 10565 ZIMMERMANN, Willi Dortmund 10.2.1917 single 19.3. 26800 10521 ZDYBIK, Wladislaus Borownica 5.4.1915 single 19.3. 26801 10480 ZIELKE, Karl Butow 4.2.1904 married 19.3. 26802 10422 BIRNBERG, Markus Kolomea 5.10.03 divorced 19.3.
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-907 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 412
EXTRACT FROM LETTER FROM DR. FRITZ MENNECKE TO HIS WIFE, 25 NOVEMBER 1941, CONCERNING HIS ACTIVITIES AS PHYSICIAN SELECTING INMATES OF CONCENTRATION CAMP BUCHENWALD FOR EUTHANASIA
Letter No. 8
Weimar, 25 November 1941, Hotel Elephant 2058 hours
At 7 o’clock tomorrow morning we will be awakened. At about 8 o’clock we will have our coffee and then we will drive out in Schmalenbach’s car, but he himself will soon leave for Dresden again. On Thursday and Friday a meeting will be held in Pirna in connection with the action in which problems of the future will be discussed and in which Schmalenbach will take part as the medical adjutant of Herr Brack (Jennerwein). No experts will be present * * *. The first working day at Buchenwald is over. At 8:30 this morning we were out there. At first I introduced myself to the authoritative leaders. The deputy of the camp commandant is SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Florstaedt; camp physician is SS Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Hoven. At first another 40 reports of a first portion of Aryans had to be completed. The two other colleagues worked on these yesterday already. Out of these 40 I worked up about 15. After this whole portion had been worked up, Schmalenbach left for Dresden. He will not return until our work here is done. Following this, the “examination” of the patients was carried out, i. e., a presentation of the individuals and a comparison with the entries taken from the files. We did not finish this work until noon, because the other two colleagues worked only in theory yesterday, so that I had to “re-examine” those whom Schmalenbach (and I myself this morning) had prepared and Mueller did his people. At 12 o’clock we stopped for lunch * * *.
Afterwards we continued our examination until about 4 o’clock. I myself examined 105 patients, Mueller 78 patients, so that finally a total of 183 reports were ready as a first group. As a second group a total of 1,200 Jews followed, all of whom do not need to be “examined”, but where it is sufficient to take the reasons for their arrest from the files (often very voluminous!) and to transfer them to the reports. Therefore, it is merely theoretical work which will certainly keep us busy until next Monday inclusive, perhaps even longer. Of this second group (Jews), we completed today. I myself did 17, and Mueller 15. At 5 o’clock sharp, “we threw away the trowel” and went for supper * * *.
Exactly as the day I described above, the following days will pass—with exactly the same program and the same work. After the Jews, another 300 Aryans follow as a third group who will again have to be “examined”. Therefore, we are busy here until the end of next week. Then on Saturday, 6 December, we shall go home.
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-1007 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 413
CIRCULAR FROM GLUECKS TO CONCENTRATION CAMP COMMANDANTS, 27 APRIL 1943, STATING THAT IN THE FUTURE ONLY INSANE PRISONERS SHOULD BE USED FOR ACTION “14 F 13” (EUTHANASIA)
SS Economic and Administrative Main Office Division Chief D Concentration Camps D I/1/File No.: 14 f 13/L/S.— Secret Journal No. 612/43
Oranienburg, 27 April 1943. Subject: Action 14 f 13 in Concentration Camps.
Re: Our Order—D I/1/File No. 14 f 13/Ot/S.—Secret Diary No.
32/43 of 15 January ’43. Enclosures: None.
[Stamp] Top Secret ——th copy
To the Camp Commanders of the Concentration Camps Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenbuerg, Neuengamme, Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Natzweiler, Stutthof, Ravensbrueck, Riga, Hertogenbosch, Lublin, and Bergen-Belsen.
Copy to: Chief of Amt DII, III in the building.
The Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police has decreed that in future only insane prisoners can be selected for the Action 14 f 13 by the medical commissions appointed for this purpose.
All other prisoners unfit for work (persons suffering from tuberculosis, bedridden invalids, etc.) are definitely to be excluded from this action. Bedridden prisoners are to be given suitable work which can be performed in bed.
The order of the Reich Leader SS must be strictly observed in the future.
Requests for gasoline for this purpose will therefore be discontinued.
[Signed] GLUECKS SS Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor of the Waffen SS
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-891 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 414
DIRECTIVE OF THE REICH MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, 6 SEPTEMBER 1944, ORDERING EUTHANASIA EXTENDED TO INSANE EASTERN WORKERS
Reich Minister of the Interior Berlin, 6 September 1944 _g 9255/44_ To: _a._ The Reich Governor [Reichsstatthalter] (State government) _b._ The Oberpraesidenten (administration of the provincial association) _c._ The County Presidents _d._ The Police President in Berlin _e._ The Lord Mayor [Oberbuergermeister] of the Reich capital Berlin.
Re: Mentally insane Eastern workers and Poles—Circular decrees of the Reich Minister of the Interior of—_A g 9255/44-5100_—.
1. Due to the considerable number of Eastern workers and Poles brought into the German Reich for employment, the assignment of mental cases among them to German asylums is constantly increasing. The purpose of such assignments must be in any case the speediest possible recovery to working ability. Thus every means of modern therapy must also be applied to those mentally insane people. But due to lack of space in German institutions there can be no justification for patients who are considered incurable and, therefore, unable to work again in a reasonably short time to remain permanently or for a long time in German institutions. In order to avoid this, the following is ordered:
2. In the following list I have established for each district in the Reich a collective list for incurable mentally insane Eastern workers and Poles. They should be assigned to those institutions immediately if possible. If this is impossible due to urgency or to transportation difficulties, the institution in question should deliver their Eastern or Polish patients to the collecting institution in their respective district within one month at the most. It is not necessary to carry out the removal if the patient is considered able to leave the institution within 6 weeks at the latest.
3. It is the task of the collecting institution to decide whether the restoration of working ability might be considered within a reasonable period of time.
4. The expenses from the date of registration in the collecting institution are to be taken over by the head of the Central Financial Clearing Office of the sanatorium in Linz/Upper Danube, P. O. Box 324, which has to be informed immediately of such assignments. The fixed rate for patients of the general class will be paid to the institutions. The Eastern workers and Poles already assembled in collecting institutions are to be reported on a list immediately to the Central Financial Clearing Office. The expenses for those patient are transferred as from 1 October 1944 to the Central Accounts Office.
5. After 4 weeks, at the latest, of the registration in the collecting institution a short report on the prognosis of the case and on the question of working ability has to be sent to the head of the Central Financial Clearing Office. It is the task of that office to direct the transportation of patients from the collecting institutions to nearby special asylums in their home district.
6. Only those people are to be considered as Poles who were brought into the Reich for employment. This decree does not apply to the local Polish population.
7. The leaders of mental institutions in the districts, etc., are to be informed by their superior officials, and the leaders of welfare and private institutions by their competent higher administrative authorities. The required copies are enclosed herewith.
_List of the collecting institutions_
1. For East Prussia, Danzig, and West Prussia and Wartheland: Mental Institution Tiegenhof.
2. For Upper and Lower Silesia and the Sudetengau: Mental Institution Lueben.
3. For Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Kurmark, and Berlin: Mental Institution Landsberg-Warthe.
4. For Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg: Mental Institution Schleswig.
5. For Bremen, Weser-Ems, Hanover-East, Hanover-South, and Brunswick: Mental Institution Lueneburg.
6. For the Rhine province, Westphalia, and Lippe: Mental Institution Bonn.
7. For Baden, Westmark, Wuerttemberg, and Hohenzollern: Mental Institution Schussenried.
8. For Bavaria: Mental Institution Kaufbeuren.
9. For Kurhesse, Nassau, and Land Hesse: Mental Institution Hadamar.
10. For Thuringia-Land and Province Saxony, Anhalt: Mental Institution Pfaffenrode.
11. For the Alps [Alpen] and Danube districts: Mental Institution Mauer-Oehling.
BY ORDER:
Wiesbaden, 11 September 1944 Landeshaus
11_a_ One copy to the County Mental Institution, Eichberg.
With the request to acknowledge and to take further steps.
BY ORDER: LANDESRAT
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1553-PS PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 428
EXTRACT FROM THE FIELD INTERROGATION OF KURT GERSTEIN, 26 APRIL 1945, DESCRIBING THE MASS GASSING OF JEWS AND OTHER “UNDESIRABLES”
_Deposition of Kurt Gerstein_
* * * * *
Hearing of the massacres of idiots and insane people at Grafeneck, Hadamar, etc., shocked and greatly affected me, having such a case in my family. I had but one desire—to gain an insight into this whole machinery and then to shout it to the whole world! With the help of two references written by the two Gestapo employees who had dealt with my case, it was not difficult for me to enter the Waffen SS.
From March 10 to June 2, 1941, I was given elementary instruction as a soldier at Hamburg-Langehorn, Arnhem, and Oranienburg, together with 40 doctors. Because of my twin studies—technology and medicine—I was ordered to enter the medical-technology branch of the SS Fuehrungshauptamt (SS Operational Main Office)—Medical Branch of the Waffen SS—Amtsgruppe D (Division D), Hygiene Department. Within this branch, I chose for myself the job of immediately constructing disinfecting apparatus and filters for drinking water for the troops, the prison camps, and the concentration camps. My close knowledge of the industry caused me to succeed quickly where my predecessors had failed. Thus, it was possible to decrease considerably the death toll of prisoners. On account of my successes, I very soon became lieutenant. In December 1941 the tribunal which had decreed my exclusion from the NSDAP obtained knowledge of my having entered the Waffen SS. Considerable efforts were made to remove and to persecute me but, due to my successes, I was declared sincere and indispensable.
In January 1942 I was appointed chief of the technical branch of disinfection, which also included the branch dealing with strong poison gases for disinfection. On 8 June 1942 SS Sturmbannfuehrer Guenther of the RSHA entered my office. He was in plain clothes and I did not know him. He ordered me to get a hundred kilograms of prussic acid and to accompany him to a place which was only known to the driver of the truck. We left for the potassium factory near Collin (Prague). Once the truck was loaded, we left for Lublin (Poland). We took with us Professor Pfannenstiel, Professor for Hygiene at the University of Marburg on the Lahn. At Lublin, we were received by SS Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik. He told us, “This is one of the most secret matters there are, even the most secret. Whoever talks of this shall be shot immediately. Yesterday, two talkative men died.” Then he explained to us that at the present moment—17 August 1942—there were three installations:
1. Belcec, on the Lublin-Lvov road, in the sector of the Russian demarcation line. Maximum 15,000 persons a day. Seen!
2. Sobiber, I do not know exactly where it is located. Not seen. 20,000 persons per day.
3. Treblinka, 120 kilometers NNE of Warsaw. 25,000 persons per day. Seen!
4. Maidanek, near Lublin. Seen—in the state of preparation.
Globocnik then said: “You will have to handle the sterilization of very large quantities of clothes, 10 or 20 times the amount of the clothing and textile collection, which is only arranged in order to conceal the source of these Jewish, Polish, Czech, and other clothes. Your other duties will be to change the method of our gas chambers (which are run at the present time with the exhaust gases of an old Diesel engine), using more poisonous material, having a quicker effect: prussic acid. But the Fuehrer and Himmler, who were here on August 15, the day before yesterday, ordered that I personally should accompany all those who are to see the installations.”
Then Professor Pfannenstiel asked: “What does the Fuehrer say?” Then Globocnik, now Chief of Police and SS, from the Adriatic Riviera to Trieste, answered: “Quicker, quicker! Carry out the whole program!” And then Dr. Herbert Linden, Ministerialdirektor in the Ministry of the Interior said: “But would it not be better to burn the bodies instead of burying them? A future generation might think differently of these matters!” * * * Globocnik replied: “But, gentlemen, if after us such a cowardly and rotten generation should arise that it does not understand our work which is so good and so necessary, then, gentlemen, all National Socialism will have been for nothing. On the contrary, bronze plaques should be put up with the inscription that it was we, we who had the courage to achieve this gigantic task. And Hitler said: ‘Yes, my good Globocnik, that is the word, that is my opinion, too.’”
The next day we left for Belcec, a small special station of two platforms against a hill of yellow sand, immediately to the north of the Lublin-Lvov road and railway. To the south, near the road were some service houses with a signboard: “Belcec, Service Center of the Waffen SS.” Globocnik introduced me to SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Obermeyer from Pirmasens, who with great restraint showed me the installations. No dead were to be seen that day but the smell of the whole region, even from the main road, was pestilential. Next to the small station there was a large barrack marked “Cloakroom,” and a door marked “Valuables.” Next to that, a chamber with a hundred “barber’s” chairs. Then came a corridor, 150 meters long, in the open air and with barbed wire on both sides. There was a signboard: “To the baths and inhalations”! Before us we saw a house, like a bathhouse, with concrete troughs to the right and left containing geraniums or other flowers. After climbing a small staircase, we came to 3 garage-like rooms on each side, 4 × 5 meters in size and 1.90 meters high. At the back were invisible wooden doors. On the roof was a Star of David made out of copper. At the entrance to the building was the inscription, “Heckenholt Foundation.” That was all I noticed on that particular afternoon.
Next morning, a few minutes before 7, I was informed that in 10 minutes the first train would arrive. And indeed, a few minutes later the first train came in from Lemberg [Lvov]; 45 cars, containing 6,700 persons, 1,450 of whom were already dead on arrival. Behind the little barbed-wire openings were children, yellow, half scared to death, women, and men. The train stopped; 200 Ukrainians, forced to do this work, opened the doors and drove all the people out of the coaches with leather whips. Then, through a huge loud-speaker, instructions were given to them to undress completely and to hand over false teeth and glasses—some in the barracks, others right in the open air. Shoes were to be tied together with a little piece of string handed to everyone by a small Jewish boy of 4 years of age; all valuables and money were to be handed in at the window marked “Valuables”, without receipt. Then the women and girls were to go to the hairdresser who cut off their hair in one or two strokes, after which it vanished into huge potato bags “to be used for special submarine equipment, door mats, etc.”, as the SS Unterscharfuehrer on duty told me.
Then the march began. To the right and left, barbed wire; behind, two dozen Ukrainians with guns. Led by a young girl of striking beauty they approached. With Police Captain Wirth, I stood right in front of the death chambers. Completely naked, they marched by, men, women, girls, children, babies, even one-legged persons, all of them naked. In one corner, a strong SS man told the poor devils in a strong deep voice: “Nothing whatever will happen to you. All you have to do is to breathe deeply; it strengthens the lungs. This inhalation is a necessary measure against contagious diseases; it is a very good disinfectant!” Asked what was to become of them, he answered: “Well, of course the men will have to work, building streets and houses. But the women do not have to. If they wish they can help in the house or the kitchen.” Once more, a little bit of hope for some of these poor people, enough to make them march on without resistance to the death chambers. Most of them, though, knew everything, the smell had given them a clear indication of their fate. And then they walked up the little staircase—and behold the picture: Mothers with babies at their breasts, naked, lots of children of all ages, naked too; they hesitate, but they enter the gas chambers, most of them, without a word, pushed by the others behind them, chased by the whips of the SS men. A Jewess of about 40 years of age, with eyes like torches, calls down the blood of her children on the heads of their murderers. Five lashes in her face, dealt by the whip of Police Captain Wirth himself, drive her into the gas chamber. Many of them say their prayers; others ask, “Who will give us the water for our death?” Within the chambers, the SS press the people closely together; Captain Wirth had ordered “Fill them up full.” Naked men stand on the feet of the others. 700-800 crushed together on 25 square meters, in 45 cubic meters! The doors are closed!
Meanwhile the rest of the transport, all naked, waited. Somebody said to me: “Naked, in winter! Enough to kill them!” The answer was: “Well, that’s just what they are here for!” And at that moment I understood why it was called the Heckenholt Foundation. Heckenholt was the man in charge of the Diesel engine, the exhaust gases of which were to kill these poor devils. SS Unterscharfuehrer Heckenholt tried to set the Diesel engine going, but it would not start! Captain Wirth came along. It was obvious that he was afraid because I was a witness of this breakdown. Yes, indeed, I saw everything and waited. Everything was registered by my stop watch. 50 minutes—70 minutes—the Diesel engine did not start! The people waited in their gas chambers—in vain. One could hear them cry. “Just as in a synagogue,” says SS Sturmbannfuehrer Professor Dr. Pfannenstiel, Professor for Public Health at the University of Marburg/Lahn, holding his ear close to the wooden door! Captain Wirth, furious, dealt the Ukrainian who was helping Heckenholt 11 or 12 lashes in the face with his whip. After 2 hours and 49 minutes—as registered by my stop watch—the Diesel engine started. Up to that moment the people in the four chambers already filled were still alive—4 times 750 persons in 4 times 45 cubic meters! Another 25 minutes went by. Many of the people, it is true, were dead by that time. One could see that through the little window as the electric lamp revealed for a moment the inside of the chamber. After 28 minutes only a few were alive. After 32 minutes all were dead! From the other side, Jewish workers opened the wooden doors. In return for their terrible job, they had been promised their freedom and a small percentage of the valuables and the money found. The dead were still standing like stone statues, there having been no room for them to fall or bend over. Though dead, the families could still be recognized, their hands still clasped. It was difficult to separate them in order to clear the chamber for the next load. The bodies were thrown out blue, wet with sweat and urine, the legs covered with excrement and menstrual blood. Everywhere among the others were the bodies of babies and children. But there is no time!—Two dozen workers were busy checking the mouths, opening them with iron hooks—“Gold on the left, no gold on the right!” Others checked anus and genitals to look for money, diamonds, gold, etc. Dentists with chisels tore out gold teeth, bridges, or caps. In the center of everything was Captain Wirth. He was on familiar ground here. He handed me a large tin full of teeth and said: “Estimate for yourself the weight of gold! This is only from yesterday and the day before! And you would not believe what we find here every day! Dollars, diamonds, gold! But look for yourself!” Then he led me to a jeweler who was in charge of all these valuables. After that they took me to one of the managers of the big store, Kaufhaus des Westens, in Berlin, and to a little man whom they made play the violin. Both were chiefs of the Jewish worker units. “He is a captain of the Royal and Imperial Austrian Army, and has the German Iron Cross 1st Class,” I was told by Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Obermeyer.
The bodies were then thrown into large ditches about 100 × 20 × 12 meters located near the gas chambers. After a few days the bodies would swell up and the whole contents of the ditch would rise 2-3 meters high because of the gases which developed inside the bodies. After a few more days the swelling would stop and the bodies would collapse. The next day the ditches were filled again, and covered with 10 centimeters of sand. A little later, I heard, they constructed grills out of rails and burned the bodies on them with Diesel oil and gasoline in order to make them disappear. At Belcec and Treblinka nobody bothered to take anything approaching an exact count of the persons killed. Actually, not only Jews, but many Poles and Czechs, who, in the opinion of the Nazis, were of bad stock, were killed. Most of them died anonymously. Commissions of so-called doctors, who were actually nothing but young SS men in white coats, rode in limousines through the towns and villages of Poland and Czechoslovakia to select the old, tubercular, and sick people and have them done away with shortly afterwards in the gas chambers. They were the Poles and Czechs of category No. III, who did not deserve to live because they were unable to work. Police Captain Wirth asked me not to propose any other kind of gas chamber in Berlin, but to leave everything the way it was. I lied—as I did in each case all the time—and said that the prussic acid had already deteriorated in shipping and had become very dangerous, that I was therefore obliged to bury it. This was done right away. The next day, Captain Wirth’s car took us to Treblinka, about 75 miles NNE of Warsaw. The installations of this death center scarcely differed from those at Belcec, but they were even larger. There were eight gas chambers and whole mountains of clothes and underwear about 35-40 meters high. Then a banquet was given in our “honor,” attended by all the employees of the institution. The Obersturmbannfuehrer, Professor Pfannenstiel, Hygiene Professor at the University of Marburg/Lahn, made a speech: “Your task is a great duty, a duty useful and necessary.” To me alone he talked of this institution in terms of “beauty of the task”; “humane cause”; and speaking to all of them he said: “Looking at the bodies of these Jews, one understands the greatness of your good work!”
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-365 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 507
UNSIGNED DRAFT LETTER FROM DR. WETZEL TO ROSENBERG, 25 OCTOBER 1941, DEALING WITH BRACK’S COLLABORATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS CHAMBERS FOR THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS
“Draft” [penciled notation]
Reich Ministry for the Occupied Territories Referent AGR. Dr. Wetzel Berlin, 25 October 1941 Secret Re: Solution of the Jewish Question. To the Reich Commissioner for the East.
Re: Your Report of 4 October 1941 Concerning Solution of the Jewish Question.
Referring to my letter of 18 October 1941, you are informed that Oberdienstleiter Brack of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer has declared himself ready to collaborate in the manufacture of the necessary shelters as well as the gassing apparatus. At the present time, the apparatus in question are not on hand in the Reich in sufficient number; they will first have to be manufactured. Since in Brack’s opinion the manufacture of the apparatus in the Reich will cause more difficulty than if manufactured on the spot, Brack deems it most expedient to send his people directly to Riga, especially his chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, who will have everything further done there. Oberdienstleiter Brack points out that the process in question is not without danger, so special protective measures are necessary. Under these circumstances, I beg you to turn to Oberdienstleiter Brack, in the Chancellery of the Fuehrer, through your Higher SS and Police Leader, and to request the dispatch of the chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, as well as of further aides. I draw attention to the fact that Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, the Referent for Jewish questions in the RSHA, is in agreement with this process. On information from Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, camps for Jews are to be set up in Riga and Minsk to which Jews from the old Reich territory may possibly be sent. At the present time, Jews being deported from the old Reich are to be sent to Litzmannstadt [Lodz], but also to other camps, to be later used as labor in the East, so far as they are able to work.
As affairs now stand, there are no objections against doing away with those Jews who are not able to work—with the Brack remedy. In this way occurrences would no longer be possible such as those which, according to a report presently before me, took place at the shooting of Jews in Vilna [Vilnyus] and which, considering that the shootings were public, were hardly excusable. Those able to work, on the other hand, will be transported to the East for labor service. It is self-understood that among the Jews capable of work, men and women are to be kept separate.
I beg you to advise me regarding your further steps.
“N. d. H. M.” [Lightly penciled notation, meaning copy for the Minister.] “Wet 25/10” [in ink]
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL BRANDT 18 KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 15
EXTRACTS FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DR. WERNER KIRCHERT, 29 JANUARY 1947, STATING THAT KARL BRANDT WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE EUTHANASIA PROGRAM
* * * * *
As a former medical officer of the Waffen SS, I had in 1939 a clinical assignment as medical assistant in the University Clinic of the Charité in Berlin. In September 1939 Reich Physician SS Dr. Grawitz summoned me and asked me to make a list of the German lunatic asylums and the number of their inmates, based on the data in the Reich medical calendar. The reason, I was told, was the fact that, due to the evacuation of the West Wall zone, the inmates had to be transferred to other asylums. After I had finished compiling the list and had handed it in, Grawitz sent me to Dr. Hevelmann at the Chancellery of the Fuehrer. There I learned that it was actually a matter of _euthanasia_ of the insane, and that the transfer was only a pretext. It was pointed out to me that it was on direct orders from the Fuehrer and that Reichsleiter Bouhler had been instructed to carry it out.
* * * * *
At first, three institutions in different parts of Germany were mentioned. The insane people who were to come under the program were to be selected, and Heyde, as chief expert, reserved the final decision for himself. Everything was to be based on strictly medical views and only such persons were to be selected who in a psychiatric sense could be called “siech” (incurably ill).
* * * * *
During all the negotiations the names which were mentioned of the persons who took part were Grawitz, Hevelmann, Heyde, Blankenburg, Brack, and Bouhler. Not a single word was said about Dr. Karl Brandt. Everything at that time was still in the early stages.
Later the problem arose again, when I was department head with Reich Health Leader Dr. Conti; that was at the end of the summer of 1941 when the Fuehrer’s order came that _euthanasia_ should be stopped. But here too the name of Professor Dr. Karl Brandt was never mentioned.
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF KARL BRANDT DOCUMENT 19 KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 16
AFFIDAVIT OF ALFRED RUEGGEBERG, 23 JANUARY 1947, CONCERNING RADIO DISCUSSIONS ON EUTHANASIA
I, Alfred Rueggeberg, factory owner in Marienheide, have been told by the certifying notary that I am liable to punishment if I make a false statement under oath.
I declare under oath that my statement is true and is being made to be presented as evidence to the Military Tribunal I, at the Palace of Justice in Nuernberg, Germany:
In summer 1945 I listened to a BBC broadcast from England, which was an interview between the English radio commentator (as far as I remember it was Mr. Robert Graham) and Pastor von Bodelschwingh of Bethel.
In the course of this interview Pastor von Bodelschwingh pointed out that a number of years ago the place now occupied by the radio commentator had been occupied by Professor Brandt and Herr Bouhler who, under Hitler’s orders, were discussing questions on euthanasia.
Questioned by the commentator, Pastor von Bodelschwingh said almost literally—in any case in effect—the following:
“You must not picture Professor Brandt as a criminal, but rather as an idealist.”
This radio talk left me under the impression that Pastor Bodelschwingh did not agree with the nature of Professor Brandt’s activities, yet he had a favorable opinion of his human qualities.
Gummersbach, 23 January 1947.
[Signed] ALFRED RUEGGEBERG
TRANSLATION OF KARL BRANDT DOCUMENT 23 KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 19
AFFIDAVIT OF EDUARD WOERMANN, 18 JANUARY 1947. CONCERNING DISCUSSIONS OF KARL BRANDT AND PASTOR BODELSCHWINGH ON EUTHANASIA
The Director of the Institution Bethel Dpt. Bethel-office
Bethel, near Bielefeld, 18 January 1947 AFFIDAVIT
I, the undersigned Pastor Eduard Woermann in Bethel near Bielefeld, have been informed that I am liable to punishment if I should give a false statement under oath. I hereby affirm the following:
The director of the Bodelschwingh institutions in Bethel near Bielefeld, Pastor D. Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, who died 4 January 1946, had several discussions with Professor Dr. Karl Brandt on the question of “the extirpation of life not worth living”, in February 1941 and during the following months. Pastor D. Bodelschwingh reported about this only very discreetly within a very close circle of coworkers, to which I belonged.
He emphasized then that—
1. Though they held fundamentally different views of these measures, he had met a willingness on Professor Dr. Brandt’s part to hear the objections.
2. Professor Dr. Brandt had talked about “completely extinguished life”, while other exponents of these measures based them upon the formula “incurable” or “hopeless”.
3. Professor Dr. Brandt was aware of the fallibility of these measures, and he was prompted to act, not by brutality, but by a certain idealism which was inherent in his conception of life.
I give my permission for this statement to be presented as evidence to the International Military Tribunal I in the Palace of Justice in Nuernberg.
[Signed] EDUARD WOERMANN
TRANSLATION OF POKORNY DOCUMENT 19 POKORNY DEFENSE EXHIBIT 27
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. HELMUTH WEESE, 19 MARCH 1947, CONCERNING USE OF CALADIUM SEGUINUM FOR STERILIZATION
I, the undersigned, Professor Dr. Helmuth Weese, resident of Wuppertal-Elberfeld, have first been duly warned that I shall be subject to punishment if I give a false affidavit. I declare under oath that my statement is true and was made to be introduced as evidence before the Military Tribunal I in the Palace of Justice of Nuernberg, Germany.
When the question is put to me whether it is to be assumed that a doctor, after studying the monograph by G. Madaus and Fr. E. Koch: “Studies of Animal Experiments,” pertaining to the question of sterilization by medication (by means of caladium seguinum (dieffenbachia seguina)), Journal for the Entire Experimental Medicine, vol. 109, p. 68, 1941, could become convinced that human beings can be sterilized with caladium seguinum, I have the following to say about it:
It is pointed out in the investigation referred to above that the authors succeeded in sterilizing rats by feeding them with extract of caladium seguinum. This is proved by mating experiments as well as by anatomical investigations. In order to effect this sterilization of both female and male rats, daily doses of ½ cc. for each rat weighing from 150-180 grams had to be administered 30-50 times and 40-90 times daily, respectively, without being certain of successful results. To apply this to a man weighing 70 kilograms, it would mean administering 200 grams of extract daily.
The investigations show abundantly that a considerable number of animals treated perished from the poisonous effects of the caladium extract. The extract therefore has no specific effect on the reproductive system. It is still completely unknown whether these harmful secondary effects are due to an element in the extract or some kind of accompanying ingredients.
Such types of unspecific injuries of the reproductive system are known to be caused in man in a similar manner also by other agents, for example, by the excessive misuse of nicotine, morphine, and the like, in which case, however, they too appear only along with most severe impairment of other functions.
First of all every doctor faces the question as to whether these experiments on rats are at all applicable to men. Madaus and Koch reject this from the start, because for them it is merely a question of determining whether the popular medical practice of making men impotent by administering sizable quantities of caladium extract can be corroborated by animal experiments.
The prerequisite for administering caladium extract to human beings in our countries would be the planting in Central Europe of caladium seguinum, the habitat of which is in tropical South America. This seems extremely improbable even to an only moderately experienced natural scientist. Even if the planting were successful, this would not necessarily mean that it produces, in our moderate zone, the same effective agents in a sufficient quantity.
Because of the unspecific effect of the caladium extract, its virulently poisonous quality, the doubt as to whether it can be planted and used in our moderate zone, I consider it extremely improbable that even a doctor of only average education will attempt with conviction the experiment of sterilizing human beings with caladium extract on the basis of the work of Madaus and Koch. Convincing papers for the problem referred to other than the work of Madaus and Koch are not known to me.
Wuppertal-Elberfeld
19 March 1947
[Signed] PROF. DR. HELMUTH WEESE EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF PROSECUTION WITNESS DR. MENNECKE[114]
_DIRECT EXAMINATION_
* * * * *
MR. MCHANEY: Doctor, were all the concentration camp inmates selected actually insane?
WITNESS MENNECKE: No.
Q. Will you explain your answer please?
A. By insanity we mean a disease which shows characteristic interferences with mental activity. I will not describe them but merely call them characteristics. That is what we mean by insanity. This condition was not prevalent in the majority of cases among inmates in the concentration camps.
Q. Were any inmates selected only for the reason that they were unable to work?
A. That is possible.
Q. Were people selected who had diseases other than those of the mind, such as tuberculosis?
A. Yes. Such people were also included.
* * * * *
_REDIRECT EXAMINATION_
* * * * *
MR. MCHANEY: The last question, Dr. Mennecke. Would you be willing to tell the Tribunal how you now feel about your participation in the “euthanasia” program?
WITNESS MENNECKE: Yes. I am willing to say something on that subject. I deeply regret the fact that I was drawn into this program in 1940. After the collapse, when the total extent of the extermination of human beings became known to the public—and to me for the first time—I was ashamed that I had ever had any part in this program (even though in a subordinated position), and I am still ashamed today. That is what I have to say.
MR. MCHANEY: Thank you, Dr. Mennecke. I have no further questions.
EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT BRACK[115]
_EXAMINATION_
JUDGE SEBRING: Witness, when adult persons were selected for euthanasia and sent by the transport to euthanasia stations for that purpose, by what methods were the mercy deaths given?
DEFENDANT BRACK: The patients went to a euthanasia institution after the written formalities were concluded—I need not repeat these formalities here, they were physical examination, comparison of the files, etc. Then the patients were led to a gas chamber and were there killed by the doctors with carbon monoxide gas (CO).
Q. Where was that carbon monoxide obtained, by what process?
A. It was in a compressed gas container, like a steel oxygen container, such as is used for welding—a hollow steel container.
Q. And these people were placed in this chamber in groups, I suppose, and then the monoxide was turned into the chambers?
A. Perhaps I had better describe this in some detail. Bouhler’s basic requirement was that the killing should not only be painless, but also imperceptible. For this reason, the photographing of the patients, which was only done for scientific reasons, took place before they entered the chamber, and the patients were completely diverted thereby. Then they were led into the gas chamber which they were told was a shower room. They were then in groups of perhaps 20 or 30. They were gassed by the doctor in charge.
Q. Have you ever been present when a mercy death was accorded to these people by that process?
A. Yes. I had to be present because Bouhler wanted a report on whether things were being done according to his orders, and in a dignified and not a brutal fashion.
Q. And you found from your inspection and witnessing these ceremonies that they were being done in accordance with Bouhler’s orders, in a dignified and painless sort of way?
A. Yes. But let me say I was already convinced that the method was painless. And I also saw that by this method the patient did not realize that he was about to be killed. There were benches and chairs in the chamber. A few minutes after the gas was let in, the patient became sleepy and tired and died after a few minutes. They simply went to sleep without even knowing that they were going to sleep, and that was one of the most essential requirements.
Q. When was the first time that you witnessed one of these procedures?
A. The first time was on the occasion of an experiment with four such patients. I think it must have been December 1939 or January 1940. I know there was snow on the ground at the time. That is why I remember these months. Bouhler, Conti, and I don’t know who else was there, there were a few other doctors witnessing it for the first time. On the basis of this experiment Hitler decided that only carbon monoxide was to be used for killing the patients.
Q. Well now, before or after that time had you tried any other gases or any other means of administering euthanasia to these people?
A. No, we—and by this I mean Bouhler’s organization—never used any other gas or any other means.
Q. You found the carbon monoxide quite satisfactory, so you never had to resort to any other means?
A. Yes. You can put it that way.
Q. Now, where was it that these four people were accorded the privilege of a mercy death in December, 1939 or 1940?
A. That was in the first euthanasia station in Brandenburg.
Q. And who were the subjects that were used for that experiment?
A. They were four mentally incurable persons.
Q. Do you know what institution they came from?
A. No. That I don’t know.
Q. Were they men or women?
A. Men.
Q. All men. What were their ages, were they young men, middle-aged men, or elderly men; how would you classify them?
A. I really don’t remember that.
Q. What can you say in regard to their nationality; do you know anything about that?
A. They must have been Germans, they could not have been anything but Germans, because according to regulations only German mentally defective persons were used for euthanasia.
Q. And you say Hitler was there?
A. No. Hitler was not there, Bouhler was there.
Q. Bouhler?
A. Bouhler was there, Conti was there, and I believe Brandt.
Q. Karl Brandt?
A. Yes, Karl Brandt.
Q. Do you remember any of the other defendants who were there?
A. None of the defendants here was present except myself.
Q. Well, then you remember that you, Bouhler, Conti, and Karl Brandt were there; now do you remember any of the other gentlemen there at the time?
A. Yes. I said there were some more doctors there, but none of the defendants here.
Q. Dr. Pfannmueller, perhaps?
A. No. Dr. Pfannmueller was certainly not there. They must have been Berlin doctors.
Q. When after December of 1939 or January of 1940 was it that you again witnessed a euthanasia procedure?
A. I should say that during 1940 in all the euthanasia institutions existing at that time I personally assured myself once or twice that the euthanasia was being correctly carried out. But I think I recollect that the Hadamar Institute was only set up in 1941 and in that year I did not witness euthanasia being carried out, so that this would eliminate the Hadamar Institute.
Q. The Institute at Hadamar, I think you said there were five other stations?
A. Yes. There were six altogether.
Q. So that during the year 1940, you assured yourself that each of the five stations on perhaps one, two or perhaps more visits that the procedure insisted upon by Bouhler was being carried out in a humane manner, in a painless manner by carbon monoxide?
A. Completely imperceptible.
Q. And now who were the people—let me put it this way—the first time at Brandenburg there were four people, all men?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, can you remember on your subsequent visits in 1940 to the other euthanasia stations who the people were, men or women?
A. Both, sometimes men and sometimes women.
Q. And what can you say in regard to their nationality?
A. I can only say that they were only Germans, because I am perfectly convinced that Bouhler’s regulations, which rested on an order from Hitler, namely that no foreigners were to be given euthanasia, were observed strictly by all the euthanasia institutions.
Q. Where were these stations located, Witness?
A. I don’t understand what you mean, where they were?
Q. In what part of Germany or in what part of Poland, or in what part of Czechoslovakia, in what part of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, in what part of Denmark, in what part of Holland, in what part of France, and in what part of Europe were these stations located?
A. Now I understand you correctly. The first one was in Brandenburg on the Havel in the neighborhood of Berlin about 70 or 80 kilometers away. The next was the Grafeneck Institute, that was in Wuerttemberg. Another institution was Sonnenstein and that is near Pirna near Dresden. There was the Hartheim Institute which was near Linz on the Danube in Austria. Then there was the Bernburg Institute on the Saale River near Dessau. The Hadamar Institute is in Hesse.
Q. Were any of these stations located in that portion of Poland which was occupied by the Germans in military occupation?
A. No.
Q. And the six stations you have just named were all the stations known to you that existed; there were just six?
A. Those were the only ones, yes.
Q. Witness, can you approximate the population of Germany as it existed in the year of 1939 or the year of 1940? Were there some fifty or sixty million people?
A. No, roughly eighty to eighty-five million.
Q. Now by that, when you say eighty to eighty-five million, you include the entire German Reich, including Austria, the Sudetenland, and the occupied territory?
A. Austria and the Sudetenland, but not the occupied territory.
Q. And you estimate roughly there were eighty-five million people?
A. Yes.
Q. Of that eighty-five million, how many Jews would you say were living in Germany at the time who were German nationals?
A. Maybe two or three million.
Q. You are talking now about the Greater German Reich, including Austria and the Sudetenland?
A. Yes.
Q. You estimate there were between two or three million who were German nationals?
A. Roughly, yes.
Q. Now with two or three million German Jews amalgamated into the German population of eighty-five million people who were German nationals, explain, if you will, to the Tribunal why it was that the German Jews were excluded from the Euthanasia Program, if as you say it was a salutary program according to people the privilege of a mercy death for taking them out of their misery; why was it that the German Jews were not included in that program?
A. I have already stated that. As Bouhler explained it, the blessing of euthanasia should be granted only to Germans.
Q. I understand that, but I thought you said at that time there were between two and three million Germans in Germany, German citizens who were Jews?
A. Yes. That is so.
Q. Why were they not included in the program, if the privilege of the program was going to be accorded to all Germans?
A. The reason possibly lies in the fact that the government did not want to grant this philanthropic act to the Jews.
Q. They wanted to grant this philanthropic act to all Aryan Germans, but did not want to grant it to German Jews, and they did not want to grant this philanthropic act to German soldiers of the first war, who had received mental injuries growing out of their war wounds. Is that correct?
A. As I have already said, that was a great inconsistency in this procedure and we often protested. However, it was determined by considerations of a military and psychological nature.
Q. Thank you.
* * * * *
Q. Witness, I think you said yesterday afternoon that these six euthanasia stations were located at Bernburg, Brandenburg, Hadamar, Hartheim, Grafeneck, and Sonnenstein, is that correct?
A. Yes. That is correct.
Q. When were the gas chambers at these euthanasia stations built?
A. When the institutions were set up as euthanasia institutions.
Q. Can you remember the approximate dates?
A. No. I cannot remember the dates. I just know the years when the institutions became euthanasia institutions—approximately. I know that Grafeneck and Brandenburg were the first institutions to become euthanasia institutions. It began at the end of 1939 at the earliest, the beginning of 1940 at the latest. Sonnenstein and Hartheim were set up in the early summer 1940. In the early summer or spring. The institution at Bernburg was established in the fall or winter of 1940, Hadamar, in the winter or spring of 1941. This is as accurate as I can give it.
Q. You said the winter or spring of 1941. Do you mean the winter of 1940 or the spring of 1941? You said the winter or spring of 1941.
A. If I say winter ’41, I mean January ’41, but it might have been March too, I don’t know.
Q. And you think that Hadamar was the last one that was set up?
A. I am quite certain that Hadamar was the last one.
Q. Now, of what materials were these gas chambers built? Were they movable gas chambers, very much like the low-pressure chambers that Professor Dr. Ruff talked about, or were they something that was built permanently into the camp or installation?
A. No special gas chamber was built. A room suitable in the hospital was used, a room of necessity attached to the reception ward and to the room where the insane persons were kept. This room was made into a gas chamber. It was sealed, given special doors and windows, and then a few meters of gas piping were laid, or some kind of piping with holes in it. Outside this room there was a container, a compressed gas container with the necessary apparatus, that is a pressure gauge, etc.
Q. Now what department had the responsibility for constructing or building these gas chambers, what department of the Party or of the government?
A. No office of the Party. I don’t understand the question.
Q. Somebody had to build these chambers. Who gave the orders and who had the responsibility of building them, was that your department?
A. I assume the orders were given by the head of the institution, but I don’t know who actually did give the orders.
Q. In other words, were these chambers not built according to some specifications, plans and specifications?
A. I can’t imagine that, every chamber was different. I saw several of them.
Q. Do you know what department gave the order for having the chambers built? Was that your department under Bouhler?
A. No. It was Bouhler himself.
Q. And he gave the order to the various heads of institutions to install this chamber, is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, how would the heads of each of these institutions know how to install a gas chamber unless there were certain plans and specifications given to them?
A. I never saw any such plan. I don’t know of any.
Q. Would you know how to go out and build a gas chamber unless some engineer or planner had told you? Certainly I wouldn’t.
A. I don’t know whether I would either. Presumably he called in an engineer.
Q. That’s what I’m trying to say. What engineer or group of engineers was responsible for seeing that these gas chambers were built so that they would do the job they were supposed to do?
A. There was certainly no group of engineers. I presume there was somebody at the institutions who had enough technical ability to do it. I don’t know.
Q. Then, so far as you know, someone at one of these institutions would be told by Bouhler to construct a gas chamber and he would call—the head of the institution then would call on someone, you don’t know whom, to go out and build the chamber? Is that correct?
A. That is how I imagine it.
Q. Well, wouldn’t it make a considerable difference whether the chamber was to be constructed for euthanasia by carbon monoxide or by some other means? Wouldn’t there have to be some technical information available to the head of the institution so that he could give directions to his mechanic to build the thing to do the thing it was supposed to do?
A. I must say honestly I really don’t know anything about that. I can’t judge.
Q. Do you know whether or not any department of the government, under Bouhler, or under Brandt, or under anybody else, was responsible for seeing that the gas apparatus was installed properly?
A. I don’t know, but I don’t believe so because I would probably have heard of it.
Q. How large were these gas chambers?
A. They were of different sizes. It was simply an adjoining room. I can’t remember whether they were 4 × 5 meters, or 5 × 6 meters. Simply normal sized rooms, but I can’t tell you the exact size. It was too long ago. I can’t remember.
Q. Were they as large as this courtroom?
A. No. They were just normal rooms.
Q. Well, a man of your intelligence must have some idea about the size of these rooms. The assertion “normal size” doesn’t mean anything in particular.
A. By that I mean the size of the normal room in a normal house. I didn’t mean an assembly room or a cell either. I meant a room, but I can’t tell you the exact size because I really don’t know it. It might have been 4 × 5 meters, or 5 × 6 meters, or 3½ × 4½, but I really don’t know. I didn’t pay much attention to it.
Q. Have you ever visited a concentration camp or a military camp of any kind?
A. I visited a concentration camp, and I was once in a military camp as a soldier.
Q. Have you ever seen a shower room or shower bath built into a camp of that kind where the inmates of concentration camps, or where soldiers in a military barracks, can take showers?
A. Yes, I have. In my own barracks.
Q. And would you say that this euthanasia room at the various institutions was about that dimension?
A. I think it was much smaller.
Q. Well, perhaps we can get at it this way. I thought perhaps you knew something about the mechanical construction that I supposed everybody knew something about. This room of yours that you talk about, how many people would it accommodate?
A. Yesterday I said that according to my estimate it might have been twenty-five or thirty people.
Q. And that is still your estimate today? I remember yesterday that you said that, and that is still your estimate today, it could comfortably take care of twenty-five or thirty people?
A. Yes. That’s my estimate.
Q. Now, the carbon monoxide gas that was used for the purpose of euthanasia, where did it come from? I know you said yesterday that it came out of tubes very much like oxygen came in, but where did the tubes come from? Do you know?
A. I don’t know. They were the normal steel containers which can be seen everywhere.
Q. Do you know how they reached the camp?
A. That I don’t know.
Q. Do you know whether any department of the government was responsible for furnishing the gas to the camp?
A. No. They were probably bought.
Q. You think then that perhaps the superintendent of the institution, if he wanted some carbon monoxide gas, would just walk down-town and walk into a store and buy a steel tube of it and put it under his arm and carry it on back to the camp; pay for it out of his pocket?
A. No, not out of his own pocket but through the institution. The institutions bought them, I mean.
Q. Do you know from what sources the institution bought it?
A. Yes. All the funds came from the Reich Ministry of the Interior. They were advanced by the Party treasurer.
Q. Well, now, at that time, wasn’t virtually everything in Germany of a critical nature on some sort of priority? Do you understand what I mean?
A. No.
Q. Would not the diversion of this carbon monoxide in tubes to the various institutions have to be given a priority rating and approved by someone or by some department in the government and thus be made available to the hospitals? Don’t you understand what I mean?
A. Yes, I understand. I have no idea, but I don’t believe so. Why?
Q. What was done with the bodies of these people after mercy deaths were given?
A. When the room had been cleared of gas again, stretchers were brought in and the bodies were carried into an adjoining room. There the doctor examined them to determine whether they were dead.
Q. Then what happened to the bodies?
A. When the doctor had determined death, he freed the bodies for cremation and then they were cremated.
Q. After he had freed the bodies, had determined that they were dead, they were then cremated? Is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. There was a crematory built for every one of these institutions?
A. Yes. Crematoriums were built in the institutions.
Q. Do you know whether or not—what department or agency, either under the government, that is, the Reich government, or under the superintendent of the various institutions, was responsible for this detail of cremation?
A. I don’t understand. Bouhler ordered the cremation. Bouhler ordered, on principle, that the bodies were to be cremated after death. There was no office for that.
Q. Was there any report made to anyone of the fact that certain people, who had been selected for euthanasia had finally arrived at these institutions, had actually been accorded the privilege of mercy deaths and then had been cremated?
A. No. I know nothing about that.
Q. No records were kept at all?
A. Oh, I thought you said reports. Now you mean records?
Q. I don’t care what you call it. There must have been a report or record of some kind kept of these people. Was there?
A. Yes, of course. Not only the case histories, but the personal data of the individual patients were collected at the euthanasia institution and there the death records were added and whatever else was available. In my direct examination I pointed out that there were announcements to the agencies concerned, for example, the guardianship court. All these files were sent to Tiergartenstrasse 4.
Q. They were finally sent to Tiergartenstrasse 4?
A. Yes.
Q. Isn’t it true that only in that way could an accurate record or report of this program be made?
A. I didn’t understand. Whether this fact created accurate records about the people, or whether records were kept?
Q. Records were kept, were they not, of this entire transaction of each individual from the time he was expertized?
A. Yes.
Q. Until finally he was cremated?
A. Yes.
Q. And those records were filed with T-4?
A. Yes. They were kept there.
Q. Now, I believe you said that these euthanasia chambers were built to resemble shower rooms?
A. Yes. That’s how I remember it.
Q. And the only people that were accorded euthanasia were people who were incurably insane, I think you said?
A. Yes.
Q. These were people who, as you put it, on ethical grounds did not have the mental capacity either to consent or to resist the decision to grant them euthanasia, and that consequently as you viewed it, it was a humane procedure to accord them a mercy death; is that correct, did I understand you correctly?
A. Yes.
Q. Now, were these people, the ones whom you saw, so insane as not to understand where they were or what was going on around them?
A. I can only say that of course I am not a doctor and therefore not in a position to judge the condition of such patients, but when I was at such institutions I myself saw that the patients, in as far as they were able to walk, went into these chambers or rooms where they were told to go without any objection and sat down on the benches or lay down and were quite quiet.
I don’t know to what extent they realized where they were. I do know, however, that they were not in any way worried, but perfectly calm. Bouhler had ordered that the doctors were to arrange things so that the patients would not realize what was being done to them.
Q. And that was the reason that the gas chambers were constructed to resemble shower rooms, I suppose?
A. Yes.
Q. And these people thought that they were going in to take a shower bath?
A. If any of them had any power of reasoning, they no doubt thought that.
Q. Well now, were they taken into the shower rooms with their clothes on, or were they nude?
A. No. They were nude.
Q. In every case?
A. Whenever I saw them, yes.
Q. And you said, I believe, yesterday that you witnessed perhaps some 10 to 12, or 15, or 20 occasions when groups were accorded mercy deaths?
A. No. I said that I visited each of the institutions, with the exception of Hadamar, at least once, perhaps twice.
Q. And on each occasion did you witness the according of a mercy death to a group?
A. Yes.
Q. And I believe you said yesterday that some of these groups were adults, that some groups were men, other groups were women, and that on some occasions the groups were made up of both men and women, is that correct?
A. No. Apparently I did not express myself clearly. They were either men or women, but I saw both.
Q. And you think perhaps you saw as many as 20 to 30 comfortably accommodated in the chamber?
A. Yes, quite comfortably. There was plenty of room.
* * * * *
_CROSS-EXAMINATION_
* * * * *
DR. HOCHWALD: You never cooperated in the program of extermination of the Jews, is that correct?
DEFENDANT BRACK: No. I personally never did.
Q. Is the name Eichmann, Obersturmbannfuehrer Adolf Eichmann, familiar to you?
A. Yes. I know the name now.
Q. You did not know him before? That is, during the war?
A. No, not to my knowledge.
Q. Did you know anything about his activities during the war from your own knowledge, not what you heard now?
A. I cannot remember ever having heard the name Eichmann before.
Q. In order to keep the record straight I would like to offer Document NO-2737. This is an excerpt from the judgment of the International Military Tribunal about the activities of Eichmann, and I would like to ask the Tribunal whether I should give an identification number to this document or whether the Tribunal will take judicial notice of the document.
PRESIDING JUDGE BEALS: While the Tribunal will take judicial notice of the document mentioned, it would be convenient to have an identification number for the purpose of identification only.
DR. HOCHWALD: So it will be Prosecution Exhibit 505 for identification; extract from the judgment of the International Military Tribunal:[116]
“In the summer of 1941, however, plans were made for the ‘final solution’ of the Jewish question in Europe. This ‘final solution’ meant the extermination of the Jews, which early in 1939 Hitler had threatened would be one of the consequences of an outbreak of war, and a special section in the Gestapo under Adolf Eichmann, as head of Section B-4 of the Gestapo, was formed to carry out the policy * * *
* * * * *
“* * * Adolf Eichmann, who had been put in charge of this program by Hitler, has estimated that the policy pursued resulted in the killing of 6,000,000 Jews, of which 4,000,000 were killed in the extermination institutions.”
Did you ever have any conferences or discussions with Eichmann concerning the extermination of the Jews and the solution of the Jewish problem?
DEFENDANT BRACK: I already said that I did not remember having heard the name Eichmann at all.
Q. I want to put to you NO-997, which is Prosecution Exhibit 506 for identification, your Honors. This is a draft of a letter from the Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories to the Reich Commissioner for the East:
“Solution of the Jewish Problem.
“Reference: Your report of 4 October 1941, concerning the solution of the Jewish problem.
“I have no objection against your suggestion for the solution of the Jewish problem. Attached please find a memorandum concerning the conversation between my expert consultant, Amtsgerichtsrat Dr. Wetzel, Oberdienstleiter Brack of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer, and Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, expert consultant to the Reich Security Main Office. Please note the details of the matter from this memo. Will you please take the necessary steps at the Reich Security Main Office and with Oberdienstleiter Brack from the Chancellery of the Fuehrer via your Higher SS and Police Leader. Please keep me informed.
[Handwritten] F. d. H. M. [For the Minister]
“2d Copy “(_a_) Reich Security Main Office “(_b_) Chancellery of the Fuehrer Attention: Oberdienstleiter Brack, Copy of (1), including enclosure for information.”
Did you receive a copy of this letter?
A. May I first ask you what the date of this letter is?
Q. Only 1941 is mentioned here. But that is the date I told you. Did you receive a copy of this letter, Herr Brack?
A. I did not receive a copy of it nor did I even see a copy of that letter, nor do I know this Amtsgerichtsrat Wetzel.
Q. Did you have a conference with Eichmann on this problem, on the solution of the Jewish question?
A. I already said I cannot even remember the name Eichmann, nor can I remember the name Wetzel.
Q. Do you know anything about the matters discussed at this conference concerning the solution of the Jewish problem?
A. No. I know nothing.
Q. You have no idea. You never made any suggestions as to what kind of treatment or what kind of gas chambers should be used for the solution of the Jewish problem? You never did that?
A. I can remember nothing in this connection.
Q. You were questioned by the Tribunal last Friday as to whether plans were made for the construction of the gas chambers in the euthanasia stations or whether an engineer or specialist was ordered to assist the directors of the stations in setting up such gas chambers, were you not?
A. Yes.
Q. You were not able to give any information to the Tribunal on that fact, were you?
A. No. I said I didn’t concern myself with these matters.
Q. Is the name Kallmeyer, K-a-l-l-m-e-y-e-r, familiar to you?
A. Yes. But I can’t remember in which connection.
Q. His wife executed an affidavit for you here. (_Brack 39, Brack Ex. 23._) Do you remember him now?
A. Yes. Yes, I remember him now.
Q. Was Kallmeyer the engineer, or was he a chemist, who made these plans for gas chambers and assisted the directors in euthanasia stations in setting up these gas chambers?
A. No. Kallmeyer had to check that the gas chambers were operating properly, but I don’t believe he made any plans for that purpose.
Q. Kallmeyer was the man who supervised these gas chambers, was he not?
A. I believe so, yes, but not for long, only for a short time.
Q. All right. And does the name Kallmeyer refresh your memory as to eventual plans you made together with Eichmann about the solution of the Jewish problem, Herr Brack?
A. No.
Q. I want to put to you Document NO-365, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 507 for identification, your Honors. This is a draft from the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Territories dated Berlin, 25 October 1941.
“Referent AGR. Dr. Wetzel
“Re: Solution of the Jewish Question
“1. To the Reich Commissioner for the East
“Re: Your Report of 4 October 1941 Concerning Solution of the Jewish question
“Referring to my letter of 18 October 1941, you are informed that Oberdienstleiter Brack of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer has declared himself ready to collaborate in the manufacture of the necessary shelters, as well as the gassing apparatus. At the present time the apparatus in question are not on hand in the Reich in sufficient number; they will first have to be manufactured. Since in Brack’s opinion the manufacture of the apparatus in the Reich will cause more difficulty than if manufactured on the spot, Brack deems it most expedient to send his people direct to Riga, especially his chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, who will have everything further done there. Oberdienstleiter Brack points out that the process in question is not without danger, so that special protective measures are necessary. Under these circumstances I beg you to turn to Oberdienstleiter Brack, in the Chancellery of the Fuehrer, through your Higher SS and Police Leader and to request the dispatch of the chemist Dr. Kallmeyer as well as of further aides. I draw attention to the fact that Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, the referent for Jewish questions in the RSHA, is in agreement with this process. On information from Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, camps for Jews are to be set up in Riga and Minsk to which Jews from the old Reich territory may possibly be sent. At the present time, Jews being deported from the old Reich are to be sent to Litzmannstadt, [Lodz] but also to other camps, to be later used as labor in the East so far as they are able to work.
“As affairs now stand, there are no objections against doing away with those Jews who are unable to work with the Brack remedy. In this way occurrences would no longer be possible such as those which, according to a report presently before me, took place at the shooting of Jews in Vilna and which, considering that the shootings were public, were hardly excusable. Those able to work, on the other hand, will be transported to the East for labor service. It is self-understood that among the Jews capable of work, men and women are to be kept separate.
“I beg you to advise me regarding your further steps.”
Herr Brack, are you still going to maintain what you said here in direct examination, namely, that you tried to protect the Jews and to save the Jews from their terrible fate and that you were never a champion of the extermination program?
A. I should even like to maintain that misuse, terrible misuse, was made of my name. I see from this letter and from the date of this letter that all these negotiations were carried out at a time when I was far away from Berlin, when I was on sick leave. If I have the possibility I hope I shall be able to bring witnesses who will testify to that effect. I must frankly admit that at this period something was going on which entirely contradicted my opinion, but this could only have been done under misuse of my name and my agency. I was not willing to participate in these things.
Q. Can you tell me, Herr Brack, where Riga and Minsk are located?
A. Riga is on the Baltic in Latvia, and Minsk is in Russia.
Q. These two places were outside Germany, were they not?
A. Yes.
Q. Prosecution has no further questions at this time.
EXTRACT FROM THE TESTIMONY OF PROSECUTION WITNESS WALTER E. SCHMIDT[117]
_CROSS-EXAMINATION_
* * * * *
DR. SERVATIUS: What kind of directives were given at that time about the execution of the Euthanasia Program?
WITNESS SCHMIDT: Well, the same directives as were finally carried out—to move the invalids from lunatic asylum to the euthanasia institution. I personally received subsequently the orders from the Reich committee which had already been discussed during that meeting.
Q. Did you at that time consider that an order for murder?
A. In no way at all. The jurists in Berlin told us that this was a legal matter, that it was a Hitler decree or a law which had been duly approved; also that the jurists had discussed whether Hitler was authorized to issue such a decree and decided in the affirmative, and we were told that this was a matter which was a quite legal—
Q. Witness, a little slower.
A. That it was a legal task of the State which had already been planned in 1932 and which was also being planned in other countries and that we would not incriminate ourselves in any way, on the contrary, a sabotage of this order would be a criminal offense. The question of secrecy was also discussed in detail and it was stated that this was a kind of law now; that the patients were not to have knowledge of such a measure beforehand because otherwise they would be excited, and that was probably the main reason why this law could not be published. In addition at that time we were at war and those kinds of measures should be kept secret in the interior.
Q. Who were the people to be concerned by the Euthanasia Program?
A. The incurably sick. However, it was not quite clear to me where the limit was to be drawn. For me personally, such a measure could only be considered in the cases of persons who were dying anyhow.
Q. Was there any mention made at that time of “useless eaters” and other economic points of view?
A. I never actually heard the words “useless eaters” at all during the war.
Q. Was it mentioned at the time that the institution had to be kept free for other purposes, and that that was the reason?
A. The reason for this measure was only touched upon briefly. We were told that these were tasks of the state which had become urgent because of the war and, yes, of a eugenic nature.
Q. How about the children?
A. At the time there was always talk about the last medical aid.
Q. Well, if I understood you correctly, the decisive viewpoint was the medical one?
A. Yes. I only observed it from the medical point of view.
Q. Now was the procedure actually carried out from this point of view? Or didn’t this so-called program actually go far beyond its limits in its execution?
A. The limits of the program were certainly exceeded to a great extent. I personally did not see it myself, but on the basis of the reports I received, I must say that excesses certainly took place.
Q. Witness, how was it in your institution with reference to excesses?
A. In my institution procedure was taken only on the basis authorized by law. We also had a therapy station. Of course, I must say, it was not very nice to watch these transports.
Q. Now, you said that later on Eastern workers were picked up?
A. Yes.
Q. Wasn’t that in excess of the original order which you received?
A. I cannot say that. I don’t know.
Q. Do you know where the order came from to transport these people away?
A. From the Ministry of the Interior. It was given to us by the superior office of the Ministry of the Interior.
Q. You mean the Reich Minister of the Interior?
A. Yes.
Q. You further mentioned that the action was concluded in August 1941, that it was stopped. Do you know the reason for this?
A. Yes. I do not know the official reason, but I heard of it unofficially. I heard that Herr von Galen protested, and that was probably why the whole procedure was stopped. I emphasize that I don’t know for certain, but anyway for me it was a reason.
Q. Well was this procedure actually stopped everywhere in the end?
A. No. When Hadamar was closed I immediately assumed that some other institution would continue this task or that the procedure would be followed up in some other way. That is also what Mr. von Hegener said when he was there.
Q. You said that these Eastern workers were collected by the same busses as before?
A. Yes. The busses were the same. They were big black busses, and we knew the drivers because they came frequently.
Q. To whom did the busses belong? To the Gauleiter’s office?
A. These busses were owned by the transport company. The Sick Transport Company in Berlin. Some of the personnel remained in Hadamar.
Q. Was there no medical personnel?
A. No. There was no medical personnel.
Q. You said something about the excesses with reference to the program.
A. One must differentiate between how things were until the action was stopped in 1941, and how it was later on.
Q. What excesses do you know of before the action was stopped in 1941?
A. You mean individually?
Q. Yes, in your institution.
A. There were none at all in our institution. The people were transported away.
Q. You acted according to directives?
A. Yes. I personally was not in charge of this action. My chief was in charge. But as far as I know no excesses were committed by the nursing personnel. Of course, some of the obstinate patients refused to enter the busses. That is natural.
Q. Were these all extreme cases which were sent for under this Euthanasia Program?
A. Of course, it depends where the limit is drawn. One can maintain the view that a large part of the patients, perhaps, might have undergone a certain change through modern shock treatment or some other modern method of treatment. But with those cases there in which the mental disease was in a very advanced stage, in my opinion, most of the patients no longer had any chance to enjoy life.
EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT KARL BRANDT[118]
_DIRECT EXAMINATION_
* * * * *
DR. SERVATIUS: Witness, you are charged with participation in the Euthanasia Program. I shall show you the decree of 1 December [1 September] 1939. (_NO-630, Pros. Ex. 330._) Please describe how this decree came about.
DEFENDANT KARL BRANDT: After the end of the Polish campaign in about October [sic], the Fuehrer was at Obersalzberg. I was called to him for some reason which I can no longer remember and he told me that because of a document which he had received from Reichsleiter Bouhler, he wanted to bring about a definite solution in the euthanasia question. He gave me general directives on how he imagined it, and the fundamentals were that insane persons who were in such a condition that they could no longer take any conscious part in life were to be given relief through death. General instructions followed about petitions which he himself had received, and he told me to contact Bouhler himself about the matter. I did so by telephone on the same day, and I then informed Hitler about my conversation with Bouhler. Thereupon he drafted a formulation of this decree, not in the form we have here, but in a similar form, and certain changes were made. My request was that a precaution be introduced because of the medical participation, and I used an expression for this which was familiar to me from expert opinions. It stated that euthanasia could be carried out on persons and then comes the formulation “who are incurable with a probability bordering on certainty.” Since this formulation was strange to him, “on the most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness” was added. Therefore, when this decree was signed about the end of October, the text read as follows: “Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Brandt are charged with the responsibility of extending the authority of certain doctors, to be designated by name in such a manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurably sick, can, on the most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death.”
Q. Did you talk to Bouhler?
A. At first I only talked to Bouhler on the telephone and even after the decree was signed I did not talk to him immediately but sent the signed decree to him in Berlin.
Q. And what was Hitler’s idea of euthanasia? What did he understand by it?
A. The decisive thing for him was also expressed here in the decree, namely, that incurably sick persons—actually it should have read insane persons—other persons were absolute exceptions—could be accorded a mercy death. That is, therefore, a measure dictated by purely humane considerations, and nothing else could be thought under any circumstances, and nothing else was ever said to me.
Q. You said that the Fuehrer gave you the assignment on the basis of a telephone call from Bouhler? The call from Bouhler could not have been the only reason. There must have been others.
A. It was not a telephone call. There was some kind of a documentary incident which was decisive. It may be that the Fuehrer already had these documents or that Bouhler spoke to him again about them. I don’t know exactly. But this was not the cause of the Euthanasia Program being started. In his book, “Mein Kampf,” Hitler had already referred to it in certain chapters, and the law for the “prevention of the birth of children suffering from hereditary diseases” is a proof that Hitler had definitely concerned himself with such problems earlier. The law for the “prevention of the birth of children suffering from hereditary diseases” is actually a law which followed the events. It certainly arose because children with congenital diseases existed. Proof that this is a problem which affects the whole world lies in the fact that similar laws with similar formulation and contents have been passed in other countries.
Dr. Gerhardt Wagner, who was Dr. Conti’s predecessor, discussed these questions at the Party rally in Nuernberg. I did not talk to Gerhardt Wagner at that time and had nothing to do with these things. However, I hear now that in 1935 Gerhardt Wagner had a film made presenting the problem of the insane. Apparently the film was made in asylums with insane persons.
Q. Witness, did not the requests received by Bouhler and the Fuehrer play a certain part?
A. Requests to this effect were certainly constantly received by Bouhler, and the Chancellery of the Fuehrer always received such things. I only know that these requests were afterwards passed on to the Reich Ministry of the Interior. I myself know of one request which was sent to the Fuehrer himself through his adjutant’s office in the spring of 1939. The father of a deformed child approached the Fuehrer and asked that this child or this creature should be killed. Hitler turned this matter over to me and told me to go to Leipzig immediately—it was in Leipzig—to confirm the fact on the spot. It was a child who was born blind, an idiot—at least it seemed to be an idiot—and it lacked one leg and part of one arm.
Q. Witness, you were speaking about the Leipzig affair, about this deformed child. What did Hitler order you to do?
A. He ordered me to talk to the physicians who were looking after the child to find out whether the statements of the father were true. If they were correct, then I was to inform the physicians in his name that they could carry out euthanasia.
The important thing was that the parents should not feel themselves incriminated at some later date as a result of this euthanasia—that the parents should not have the impression that they themselves were responsible for the death of this child. I was further ordered to state that if these physicians should become involved in some legal proceedings because of this measure, these proceedings would be quashed by order of Hitler. Martin Bormann was ordered at the time to inform Guertner, the Minister of Justice, accordingly about this case.
Q. What did the doctors who were involved say?
A. The doctors were of the opinion that there was no justification for keeping such a child alive. It was pointed out that in maternity wards under certain circumstances it is quite natural for the doctors themselves to perform euthanasia in such a case without anything further being said about it. No precise instructions were given in that respect.
Q. Was this problem of deformities dealt with anywhere else?
A. The problem of deformities was probably discussed before this Leipzig case. However, in the course of the summer it was worked on in a more concrete form, first of all by the Ministry of the Interior. In this case, Dr. Linden participated as a special consultant, probably as representative of Dr. Conti—who became Reich Minister for Health after the death of his predecessor Wagner, and then afterwards State Secretary in the Ministry of the Interior.
Q. Who was Dr. Linden?
A. Dr. Linden was Ministerialrat in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. He was a doctor and was the competent official who was later in charge of this office for the mental institutions, perhaps he already was at the time, I don’t know exactly. Later on, during the treatment of the euthanasia question he was appointed exponent of all these matters.
Q. What was the procedure at the time? Was Hitler informed about all these matters?
A. In August 1944 he ordered me to participate in a conference which took place between Dr. Linden, Mr. Bouhler, and some other people. The question of the registration of these deformities was discussed, and also how to set about this registration. Dr. Linden, on behalf of the Ministry of the Interior, submitted pertinent documents, questionnaires, etc., which were then discussed once more in detail. It was the preparatory work for the Reich Committee for the Registration of Serious Hereditary and Constitutional Diseases, which was subsequently established.
* * * * *
_CROSS-EXAMINATION_
* * * * *
MR. MCHANEY: Now, Witness, this is the first time that I have ever heard mentioned in connection with the Euthanasia Program that anybody’s consent had to be obtained, and I take it that it is a rather fundamental matter. Are you ready to swear to this Tribunal that the Reich committee never performed euthanasia on children without obtaining the consent of the parents of the child?
DEFENDANT KARL BRANDT: I said yesterday that the approval of the parents was necessary for the euthanasia of children, and I am of the opinion that such approval was actually given.
Q. Was the approval written approval or verbal approval?
A. That I don’t know. I cannot say.
Q. Have you ever seen any written approval?
A. I believe that during the first period when this authorization was submitted for signature to Bouhler and to me, all the other papers were together with it, such as approvals, etc. It may be that during the later period we were only concerned with the authorization papers and that the other papers were left with the Reich committee. However, I did see such letters of approval but I don’t believe that they were in writing in every case. I think they were partly given orally through the local physician or some other agency which dealt with the case.
Q. Well, Witness, let’s look at this letter again. I find some difficulty in reconciling your testimony about the necessity of consent by the relatives of the child with what’s written here in this letter. For example, the third line reads: “It seems that the relatives of Anna Gasse tried to obtain her release by every possible means.” If, Witness, it was necessary to obtain consent, why was there any question about releasing Anna Gasse?
A. I cannot say that either. According to my opinion, the child could not be kept in an institution if the parents wanted it at home.
Q. And the last sentence which reads, “If from a medical point of view such release is warranted, one could perhaps take into consideration whether one should not perhaps comply with such request in the interest of the good reputation of the institution.” Don’t you find that language just a bit restrained, Witness?
A. Yes. I think it is very restrained.
[93] Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. I, pp. 247, 301, Nuremberg, 1947.
[94] Defendant in case before International Military Tribunal. See Trial of the Major War Criminals, Vols. I-XLII, Nuremberg, 1947.
[95] Objection to admission in evidence sustained.
[96] Ibid.
[97] Objection to admission in evidence sustained.
[98] Defendant (in absentia) before International Military Tribunal. See Trial of the Major War Criminals, vols. I-XLII, Nuremberg, 1947.
[99] Code name for the killing of non-German nationals and Jews who were inmates of the concentration camps.
[100] Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. XX, pp. 490-1, Nuremberg, 1948.
[101] Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. I, p. 247, Nuremberg, 1947.
[102] United States _vs._ Alfons Klein, et al. See Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, vol. I, pp. 46-54, London, 1947.
[103] Ibid.
[104] Not introduced in evidence.
[105] Not introduced in evidence.
[106] United States _vs._ Alfons Klein, et al. See Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals, vol. I, pp. 46-54, London, 1947.
[107] Ibid.
[108] Final plea is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 18 July 1947, pp. 11220-11244.
[109] Defendant before International Military Tribunal. See Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. I, pp. 298-301, Nuremberg, 1947.
[110] Literally: Nonprofit Sick Transport Company.
[111] German or of similar blood (of German blood), Jew, Jewish mixed breed Grades I or II, Negro (mixed breed).
[112] Defendant in case of United States _vs._ Josef Altsetoetter, et al. See Vol. III.
[113] Enclosures were not available.
[114] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 16, 17 Jan. 1947, pp. 1866-1946.
[115] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19 May 1947, pp. 7413-7772.
[116] Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. I, pp. 250, 252-253, Nuremberg, 1947.
[117] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 16 Jan 1947, pp. 1816-1863.
[118] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Feb 1947, pp. 2301-2661.
E. Selections From Photographic Evidence of the Prosecution
POST-MORTEM DISSECTION OF HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECTS SHOWING AIR BUBBLES IN BLOOD VESSELS IN SUBARACHNOID SPACE OF BRAIN AND UNDER PLEURA OF ANTERIOR CHEST WALL
EXPOSURES OF THE WITNESS MARIA KUSMIERCZUK WHO UNDERWENT SULFANILAMIDE AND BONE EXPERIMENTS WHILE AN INMATE OF THE RAVENSBRUECK CONCENTRATION CAMP
DOCUMENT NO-1080 E PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 219 E
DOCUMENT NO-1080 F PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 219 F
DOCUMENT NO-1082 A PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 214 A
DOCUMENT NO-1082 C PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 214 C
VIII. EVIDENCE AND ARGUMENTS ON IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF THE CASE
A. Applicability of Control Council Law No. 10 to Offenses Against Germans During the War
a. Introduction
Under count III of the indictment, “Crimes against Humanity”, the prosecution alleged that the defendants had engaged in medical experiments “_upon German civilians_ and nationals of other countries” and that the defendants had participated in executing “the so-called ‘euthanasia program’ of the German Reich, in the course of which the defendants herein murdered hundreds of thousands of human beings, _including German civilians_, as well as civilians of other nations”. [Emphasis added.] Insofar as these offenses involved German nationals, the defense argued that international law was not applicable. The defense argued that under, the Charter annexed to the London Agreement, crimes against humanity within the meaning of the Charter do not exist unless offenses are committed “in the execution of, or in connection with, any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal”. Although the analogous provision of Control Council Law No. 10 does not include the words of limitation “in the execution of, or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal”, the defense argued that Control Council Law No. 10 was only “an implementation law” of the London Agreement and Charter, and hence could not increase the scope of the offenses defined by the London Charter. Pointing to the section of the judgment of the International Military Tribunal entitled “The law relating to war crimes and crimes against humanity”,[119] the defense noted that the IMT stated: “to constitute crimes against humanity, the acts relied on before the outbreak of war must have been in execution of, or in connection with, any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal”,[120] that is, crimes against peace or war crimes. Although the indictment in the Medical Case did not allege that crimes were committed against German nationals before the outbreak of the war on 1 September 1939, the defense further argued that any offenses against German nationals committed after 1939 had not been shown to be “in execution of, or in connection with” crimes against peace and war crimes and hence were not cognizable as crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.
Extracts from the closing statement of the prosecution appear below on pages 910 to 915. A summation of the evidence on this question by the defense has been taken from the closing brief for defendant Karl Brandt. It appears below on pages 915 to 925.
b. Selection from the Argumentation of the Prosecution
_EXTRACTS FROM THE CLOSING STATEMENT OF THE PROSECUTION_[121]
* * * * *
_The Law of the Case_
Before proceeding to outline the prosecution’s case, it may perhaps be desirable to anticipate several legal questions which will undoubtedly be raised with respect to war crimes and crimes against humanity, as defined in Article II of Control Council Law No. 10. Law No. 10 is, of course, the law of this case and its terms are conclusive upon every party to this proceeding. This Tribunal is, we respectfully submit, bound by the definitions in Law No. 10, just as the International Military Tribunal was bound by the definitions in the London Charter. It was stated in the IMT judgment that:[122]
“The jurisdiction of the Tribunal is defined in the Agreement and Charter, and the crimes coming within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, for which there shall be individual responsibility, are set out in Article 6. The law of the Charter is decisive and binding upon the Tribunal * * *.”
* * * * *
In outlining briefly the prosecution’s conception of some of the legal principles underlying war crimes and crimes against humanity, I shall, with the Tribunal’s permission, adopt some of the language from the opening statement of the prosecution in the case against Friedrich Flick, et al., now pending before Tribunal IV. [See Vol. VI.] General Taylor there said—
* * * * *
“Law No. 10 is * * * a legislative enactment by the Control Council and is therefore part of the law of and within Germany. One of the infirmities of dictatorship is that, when it suffers irretrievable and final military disaster, it usually crumbles into nothing and leaves the victims of its tyranny leaderless amidst political chaos. The Third Reich had ruthlessly hunted down every man and woman in Germany who sought to express political ideas or develop political leadership outside of the bestial ideology of nazism. When the Third Reich collapsed, Germany tumbled into a political vacuum. The declaration by the Allied Powers of 5 June 1945 announced the ‘assumption of supreme authority’ in Germany ‘for the maintenance of order’ and ‘for the administration of the country’, and recited that—
‘There is no central government or authority in Germany capable of accepting responsibility for the maintenance of order, the administration of the country, and compliance with the requirements of the victorious powers.’
“Following this declaration, the Control Council was constituted as the repository of centralized authority in Germany. Law No. 10 is an enactment of that body and is the law of Germany, although its substantive provisions derive from and embody the law of nations. The Nuernberg Military Tribunals are established under the authority of Law No. 10,[123] and they render judgment not only under international law as declared in Law No. 10, but under the law of Germany as enacted in Law No. 10. The Tribunals, in short, enforce both international law and German law, and in interpreting and applying Law No. 10, they must view Law No. 10 not only as a declaration of international law, but as an enactment of the occupying powers for the governance of and administration of justice in Germany. The enactment of Law No. 10 was an exercise of legislative power by the four countries to which the Third Reich surrendered, and, as was held by the International Military Tribunal:[124]
‘* * * the undoubted right of these countries to legislate for the occupied territories has been recognized by the civilized world.’”
War crimes are defined in Law No. 10 as atrocities or offenses in violation of the laws or customs of war. This definition is based primarily upon the Hague Convention of 1907 and the Geneva Convention of 1929, which declare the law of nations at those times with respect to land warfare, the treatment of prisoners of war, the rights and duties of a belligerent power when occupying territory of a hostile state, and other matters. The laws and customs of war apply between belligerents, but not domestically or among allies. Crimes by German nationals against other German nationals are not war crimes, nor are acts by German nationals against Hungarians or Romanians. The war crimes charged in this indictment all occurred after 1 September 1939, and it is therefore unnecessary to consider the somewhat narrow limitation of the scope of war crimes by the International Military Tribunal to acts committed after the outbreak of war. One might argue that the occupations of Austria and the Sudetenland in 1938, and of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, were sufficiently similar to a state of belligerency to bring the laws of war into effect, but such questions are academic for purposes of this case.
* * * * *
In connection with the charge of crimes against humanity, it is also anticipated that an argument will be made by the defense to the effect that crimes committed by German nationals against other German nationals cannot constitute crimes against humanity as defined by Article II of Control Council Law No. 10 and hence are not within the jurisdiction of this Tribunal. The evidence of the prosecution has proved that in substantially all of the experiments prisoners of war or civilians from German-occupied territories were used as subjects. This proof stands uncontradicted save by general statements of the defendants that they were told by Himmler or some unidentified person that the experimental subjects were all German criminals or that the subjects all spoke fluent German. Thus, for the most part, the acts here in issue constitute war crimes and hence, at the same time, crimes against humanity. Certainly there has been no proof whatever that an order was ever issued restricting the experimental subjects to German criminals as distinguished from non-German nationals. If, in this or that minor instance, the proof has not disclosed the precise nationality of the unfortunate victims or has even shown them to be Germans, we may rest assured that it was merely a chance occurrence.
Be that as it may, the prosecution does not wish to ignore a challenge to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal even though it is of minor importance to this case. One thing should be made clear at the outset: We are not here concerned with any question as to jurisdiction over crimes committed before 1 September 1939, whether against German nationals or otherwise. That subject has been mooted and is in issue in another case now on trial, but the crimes in this case all occurred after the war began.
Moreover, we are not concerned with the question whether crimes against humanity must have been committed “in execution of or in connection with any crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal.” The International Military Tribunal construed its Charter as requiring that crimes against humanity be committed in execution of, or in connection with, the crime of aggressive war. Whatever the merit of that holding, the language of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal which led to it is not included in the definition of crimes against humanity in Control Council Law No. 10. There can be no doubt that crimes against humanity as defined in Law No. 10 stand on an independent footing and constitute crimes _per se_. In any event, the crimes with which this case is concerned were in fact all “committed in execution of, or in connection with, the aggressive war.” This is true not only of the medical experiments, but also of the Euthanasia Program, pursuant to which a large number of non-German nationals were killed. The judgment of the International Military Tribunal expressly so holds.[125]
Thus, it is clear that the only issue which is raised in this case as to crimes against humanity is whether the Tribunal has jurisdiction over crimes committed by Germans against Germans. Does the definition of crimes against humanity in Control Council Law No. 10 comprehend crimes by Germans against Germans of the type with which this case is concerned? The provisions of Law No. 10 are binding upon the Tribunal as the law to be applied to the case.[126] The provisions of Section 1(c) of Article II are clear and unambiguous. Crimes against humanity are there defined as—
“Atrocities and offenses, including but not limited to murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, or other inhumane acts committed against any _civilian population_, or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds whether or not in violation of the domestic laws of the country where perpetrated.” [Emphasis supplied.]
The words “any civilian population” cannot possibly be construed to exclude German civilians. If Germans are deemed to be excluded, there is little or nothing left to give purpose to the concept of crimes against humanity. War crimes include all acts listed in the definition of crimes against humanity when committed against prisoners of war and the civilian population of occupied territory. The only remaining significant groups are Germans and nationals of the satellite countries, such as Hungary or Romania. It is one of the very purposes of the concept of crimes against humanity, not only as set forth in Law No. 10 but also as long recognized by international law, to reach the systematic commission of atrocities and offenses by a state against its own people. The concluding phrase of the definition of crimes against humanity, _which is in the alternative_, makes it quite clear that crimes by Germans against Germans are within the jurisdiction of this Tribunal. It reads “or persecutions on political, racial, or religious grounds _whether or not in violation of the domestic laws of the country where perpetrated_.” This reference to “domestic laws” can only mean discriminatory and oppressive legislation directed against a state’s own people, as for example, the Nuernberg Laws against German Jews. [Emphasis supplied.]
The matter is put quite beyond doubt by Article III of Law No. 10 which authorizes each of the occupying powers to arrest persons suspected of having committed crimes defined in Law No. 10, and to bring them to trial “before an appropriate tribunal.” Paragraph 1(d) of Article III further provides that—
“Such Tribunal may, in the case of crimes committed by persons of German citizenship or nationality against other persons of German citizenship or nationality, or stateless persons, be a German court, if authorized by the occupying authorities.”
This constitutes an explicit recognition that acts committed by Germans against other Germans are punishable as crimes under Law No. 10 according to the definitions contained therein in the discretion of the occupying power. This has particular reference to crimes against humanity, since the application of crimes against peace and war crimes, while possible, is almost entirely theoretical. If the occupying power fails to authorize German courts to try crimes committed by Germans against other Germans (and in the American zone of occupation no such authorization has been given), then these cases are tried only before non-German tribunals, such as these Military Tribunals.
What would be the effect of a holding that crimes by Germans against Germans can under no circumstances be within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal? Is this Tribunal to ignore the proof that tens of thousands of Germans were exterminated pursuant to a secret decree, because a group of criminals in control of a police state thought them “useless eaters” and an unnecessary burden, or that German prisoners were murdered and mistreated by thousands in concentration camps, in part by medical experimentation? Military Tribunal II in the Milch case held that crimes against nationals of Hungary and Romania were crimes against humanity. There is certainly no reason in saying that there is jurisdiction over crimes by Germans against Hungarians but not against Germans.
The judgment of the International Military Tribunal shows a clear recognition of its jurisdiction over crimes by Germans against Germans. After reviewing a large number of inhumane acts in connection with war crimes and crimes against humanity, the Tribunal concluded by saying that—
“* * * from the beginning of the war in 1939 war crimes were committed on a vast scale, which were also crimes against humanity; and insofar as the inhumane acts charged in the indictment, and committed after the beginning of the war, did not constitute war crimes, they were all committed in execution of, or in connection with the aggressive war, and therefore constituted crimes against humanity.”[127]
Since war crimes are necessarily also crimes against humanity, the broader definition of the latter can only refer to crimes not covered by the former, namely, crimes against Germans and nationals of countries other than those occupied by Germany. Moreover, the prosecution in that case maintained that the inhumane treatment of Jews and political opponents _in Germany_ before the war constituted crimes against humanity. The Tribunal said in this connection—
“With regard to crimes against humanity there is no doubt whatever that political opponents were murdered in Germany before the war, and that many of them were kept in concentration camps in circumstances of great horror and cruelty. The policy of terror was certainly carried out on a vast scale, and in many cases was organized and systematic. The policy of persecution, repression, and murder of civilians in Germany before the war of 1939, who were likely to be hostile to the government, was most ruthlessly carried out. The persecution of Jews during the same period is established beyond all doubt.”[128]
The Tribunal was there speaking exclusively of crimes by Germans against Germans. It held that such acts were not crimes against humanity, as defined by the Charter, not because they were crimes against Germans, but because they were not committed in execution of, or in connection with, aggressive war. Indeed, the Tribunal went on to hold that the very same acts committed after the war began were crimes against humanity. No distinction was drawn between the murder of German Jews and Polish or Russian Jews. And, moreover, no distinction was drawn between criminal medical experimentation on German and non-German concentration camp inmates or the murder of German and non-German civilians under the Euthanasia Program. The Tribunal held them all to be war crimes and/or crimes against humanity.