.., the laws and customs of war, the general principles of criminal law as derived from the criminal laws of all civilized nations, the internal penal laws of the countries in which such crimes were committed, and of Article II of Control Council Law No. 10."
Count Four - Membership in Criminal Organization:
The fourth count of the indictment alleges that the defendants Karl Brandt, Genzken, Gebhardt, Rudolf Brandt, Mrugowsky, Poppendick, Sievers, Brack, Hoven and Fischer are guilty of membership in an organization declared to be criminal by the International- Military Tribunal, in that each of these named defendants was a member of DIE SCHUTZSTAFFELN DER NATIONAL SOZIALISTISCHEN DEUTSCHEN ARBEITERPARTEI (commonly known as the SS) after 1 September 1939, in violation of Paragraph 1 (d) Article II of Control Council Law No. 10.
Before turning our attention to the evidence in the case we shall state the law announced by the International Military Tribunal with reference to membership in an organization declared criminal by the Tribunal:
"In dealing with the SS the Tribunal includes all persons who had been officially accepted as members of the SS including the members of the Allgemeine SS, members of the Waffen-SS, members of the SSTotenkopf Verbaende, and the members of any of the different police forces who were members of the SS. The Tribunal, does not include the so-called riding units....
"The Tribunal declares to be criminal within the meaning of the Charter the group composed of those persons who had been officially accepted as members of the SS as enumerated in the preceding paragraph who became or remained members of the organization with knowledge that it was being used for the commission of acts declared criminal by Article 6 of the Charter, or who were personally implicated as members of the organization in the commission of such crimes, excluding, however; those who were drafted into membership by the State in such a way as to give them no choice in the matter, and who had committed no such crimes.
The basis of this finding is the participation of the organization in War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity connected with the war; this group declared criminal cannot include, therefore, persons who had ceased to belong to the organizations enumerated in the preceding paragraph prior to 1 September 1939."
THE PRESIDENT: Judge Sebring will continue with the reading of the judgment.
JUDGE SEBRING: THE PROOF AS TOWARD CRIMES AND CRIMES
AGAINST HUMANITY Judged by any standard of proof the record clearly shows the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity substantially as alleged in counts two and three of the indictment.
Beginning with the outbreak of World War II criminal medical experiments on non--German nationals, both prisoners of war and civilians, including Jews and "asocial" persons, were carried out on a large scale in Germany and the occupied countries. These experiments were not the isolated and casual acts of individual doctors and researchists working solely on their own responsibility, but were the product of coordinated policymaking and planning at high governmental, military, and Nazi Party levels, conducted as an integral part of the total war effort. They were ordered, sanctioned, permitted or approved by persons in positions of authority who under all principles of law were under the duty to know about these things and to take steps to terminate or prevent then.
PERMISSIBLE MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS The great weight of the evidence before us is to the effect that certain types of medical experiments on human beings, when kept within reasonably well-defined bounds, conform to the ethics of the medical profession generally.
The protagonists of the practice of human experimentation justify their views on the basis that such experiments yield results for the good of society that are unprocurable by other methods or means of study.
All agree, however, that certain basic principles must be observed in order to satisfy moral, ethical and legal concepts:
1. The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.
This means that the person involved should have legal capacity to give consent; should be so situated as to be able to exercise free power of choice, without the intervention of any element of force, fraud, deceit, duress, overreaching, or other ulterior form of constraint or coercion; and should have sufficient knowledge and comprehension of the elements of the subject matter involved as to enable him to make an understanding and enlightened decision. This latter element requires that before the acceptance of an affirmative decision by the experimental subject there should be made known to him the nature, duration, and purpose of the experiment; the method and means by which it is to be conducted; all inconveniences and hazards reasonably to be expected; and the effects upon his health or person which may possibly come from his participation in the experiment.
The duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs or engages in the experiment. It is a. personal duty and responsibility which nay not be delegated to another with impunity.
2. The experiment should be such as to yield fruitful results for the good of society, unprocurable by other methods or means of study, and not random and unnecessary in nature.
3. The experiment should be so designed and based on the results of animal experimentation and a knowledge of the natural history of the disease or other problem under study that the anticipated results will justify the performance of the experiment.
4. The experiment should be so conducted as to avoid all unnecessary physical and mental suffering and injury.
5. No experiment should be conducted where there is an appropriate reason to believe that death or disabling injury will occur; except, perhaps, in those experiments where the experimental physicians also serve as subjects.
6. The degree of risk to be taken should never exceed that determined by the humanitarian importance of the problem to be solved by the experiment.
7. Proper preparations should be made and adequate facilities provided to protect the experimental subject against even remote possibilities of injury, disability, or death.
8. The experiment should be conducted. only by scientifically qualified persons. The highest degree of skill and care should be required through all stages of the experiment of those who conduct or engage in the experiment.
9. During the course of the experiment the human subject should be at liberty to bring the experiment to an end if he has reached the physical or mental state where continuation of the experiment seems to him to be impossible.
10. During the course of the experiment the scientist in charge must be prepared to terminate the experiment at any stage, if he has probable cause to believe, in the exercise of the good faith, superior skill and careful judgment required of him that a continuation of the experiment is likely to result in injury, disability, or death to the experimental subject.
Of the ton principles which have been enumerated, our judicial concern, of course, is with those requirements which are purely legal in nature -- or which at least are so closely and clearly related to matters legal that they assist us in determining criminal culpability and punishment. To go beyond that point would lead us into a field that would be beyond our sphere of competence. However, the point need not be labored.
We find from the evidence that in the medical experiments which have been proven, these ten principles were much more frequently honored in their breach than in their observance. Many of the concentration camp inmates who were the victims of these atrocities were citizens of countries other than the German Reich. They were non-German nationals, including Jews and "asocial persons", both prisoners of war and civilians, who had been imprisoned and forced to submit to these tortures and barbarities without so much as a semblance of trial. In every single instance appearing in the record, subjects were used who did not consent to the experiments; indeed, as to some of the experiments, it is not even contended by the defendants that the subjects occupied the status of volunteers. In no case was the experimental subject at liberty of his own free choice to withdraw from any experiment. In many cases experiments were performed by unqualified persons; were conducted at random for no adequate scientific reason, and under revolting physical conditions. All of the experiments were conducted with unnecessary suffering and injury and but very little, if any, precautions were taken to protect or safeguard the human subjects from the possibilities of injury, disability, or death. In every one of the experiments the subjects experienced extreme pain or torture, and in most of them they suffered permanent injury, mutilation, or death, either as a direct result of the experiments or because of lack of adequate follow up care.
Obviously all of these experiments involving brutalities, tortures, disabling injury and death were performed in complete disregard of international conventions, the laws and customs of war, the general principles of criminal law as derived from the criminal laws of all civilized nations, and Control Council Law No. 10. Manifestly human experiments under such conditions are contrary to "the principles of the laws of nations as they result from the usages established among civilized peoples, from the laws of humanity, and from the dictates of public conscience.
Whether any of the defendants in the dock are guilty of these atrocities is, of course, another question.
Under the Anglo-Saxon system of jurisprudence every defendant in a criminal case is presumed to be innocent of an offense changed until the prosecution, by competent, credible proof, has shown his guilt to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt. And this presumption abides with a defendant through each stage of his trial until such degree of proof has been adduced. A "reasonable doubt" as the name implies, is one conformable to reason -- a doubt which a reasonable man would entertain. Stated differently, it is that state of a case which, after a full and complete comparison and consideration of all the evidence, would leave an unbiased, unprejudiced, reflective person, charged with the responsibility for decision, in the state of mind that he could not say that he felt an abiding conviction amounting to a moral certainty of the truth of the charge.
If any of the defendants are to be found guilty under counts two or three of the indictment it must be because the evidence has shown beyond a reasonable doubt that such defendant, without regard to nationality or the capacity in which he acted, participated as a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abettel, took a consenting part in, or was connected with plans or enterprises involving the commission of at least some of the medical experiments and other atrocities which are the subject matter of these counts. Under no other circumstances may he be convicted.
Before examining the evidence to which we must look in order to determine individual culpability a brief statement concerning some of the official agencies of the German government and Nazi Party which will be referred to in this judgment seems desirable.
THE PRESIDENT: THE MEDICAL SERVICE IN GERMANY Adolf Hitler was the head of the Nazi Party, the German Government, and the German Armed Forces.
His title as Chief of the government was "Reich Chancellor". As Supreme Leader of the National Socialist German Worker's Party, commonly called the NSDAP or Nazi Party, his title was "Fuehrer". As head of Germany's armed military might he was "Supreme Commander in Chief of the German Armed forces, or Wehrmacht".
The staff through which Hitler controlled the German Armed Forces was known as the "Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht" (OKW). The chief of this staff was Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitell.
Under the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht were the Supreme Commands of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Supreme Command of the Navy (OKM) was headed by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. The Supreme Command of the Army (OKH) was headed by Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch until December 1941, and thereafter by Hitler himself. The Supreme Command of the Air Force (OKL) was headed by Reichmarshal Hermann Goering.
Each of the three branches of the Wehrmacht maintained its own medical service.
Army Medical Service: The defendant Handloser was the head of the Army Medical Service from 1 January 1941 to 1 September 1944. While in this position he served in two capacities, namely; as Army Medical Inspector and as Army Physician. These positions required the maintenance of two departments, each separate from the other. At one time or another there were subordinated to Handloser in these official capacities the following officers, among others: Generalarzt Prof. Schreiber and Prof. Rostock; Oberstabsarzt Drs. Scholz, Eyer, Bernhard Schmidt and Cremer; Oberstabsarzts Prof. Gutzeit and Prof. Wirth; Stabsarzt Prof. Kliewe and Prof. Kilian, and Stabsarzt Dr. Dohmen. Under his supervision in either or both of his official capacities were the Military Medical Academy, the Typhus and Virus Institutes of the OKH at Cracow and Lemberg, and the Medical School for Mountain Troops at St. Johann.
Luftwaffe Medical Service: From the beginning of the war until 1 January 1944 Hippke was Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. On that date the defendant Schroeder succeeded Hippke and remained in that position until the end of the war.
Subordinated to Schroeder as Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe were the following defendants: Rose, who was consulting medical officer on hygiene and tropical medicine; Weltz, who was chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Munich; BeckerFreyseng, a consultant for aviation medicine in Schroeder's office; Puff, the chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in the German Experimental Institute for Aviation in Berlin; Romberg, Ruff's chief assistant, who toward the end of the war attained the position of a Department head at the Institute; Schaefer, who, in the summer of 1942, was assigned to the Staff of the Research Institute for Aviation Medicine in Berlin to do research work on the problem of sea emergency; and Beiglboeck, a Luftwaffe officer who performed medical experiments on concentration camp inmates at Dachau in July 1944 for the purpose of determining the potability of processed seawater.
Under Schroeder's jurisdiction as Chief of the Luftwaffe Medical Service was the Medical Academy of the Luftwaffe at Berlin.
SS Medical Service: One of the most important branches of the Nazi Party was the Schutzstaffeln of the NSDAP, commonly known as the SS. Heinrich Himmler was chief of the SS with the title of Reichsfuehrer SS, and on his personal staff, serving in various and sundry official capacities was the defendant Rudolf Brandt.
The SS maintained its own medical service headed by a certain Dr. Grawitz, who held the position of Reich Physician SS and Police.
Medical Service of the Waffen-SS: The SS branch of the Nazi Party, in turn, was divided into several components, of which one of the most important was the Waffen, or Armed, SS. The Waffen SS was formed into military units and fought at the front with units of the Wehrmacht.
Such medical units of the Waffen-SS as were assigned to the field, became subordinated to the medical service of the Army, which was supervised by Handloser.
The Chief of the Waffen-SS Medical Service was the defendant Genzken. His immediate superior was Reich Physician SS and Police Grawitz.
Six other defendants in the dock were members of the Medical Service of the SS, under Grawitz, namely; Gebhardt, who in 1940 became surgical advisor to the Waffen-SS and who in August 1943 created and took over the position of Chief Clinical Officer of the Reich Physician SS and Police; Mrugowsky, who became Chief of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen-SS under Genzken in November 1940, and when the Institute was taken from Genzken's supervision on 1 September 1943 and placed under direct subordination to Grawitz, remained as Chief; Poppendick, who in 1941 was appointed Chief Physician of the Main Race and Settlement Office in Berlin and who in 1943 also became Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police; Hoven, who from the beginning of 1941 until July 1942, served as the assistant, and from then to September 1943, as Chief Physician, at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp; Fischer, an assistant physician to the defendant Gebhardt; and finally the defendant Oberhauser, who in December 1940 became a physician at the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, and thereafter, from June 1943 until the end of the war, served as an assistant physician under the defendant Gebhardt at Hohenlychen.
Civilian Medical Service: Throughout the war the Civilian Medical Services of the Reich were headed by a certain Dr. Leonard Conti. Conti had two principal capacities: (l) He was the Secretary of State for Health in the Ministry of the Interior of the Government; in this capacity he was a German civil servant subordinated to the Minister of the Interior -- first Wilhelm Frick and later, Heinrich Himmler. (2) he was the Reich Health Leader of the Nazi Party; in this capacity he was subordinated to the Nazi Party Chancellery, the chief of which was Martin Bormann.
In his capacity as Reich Health Leader, Conti had as his deputy the defendant Blome.
Reorganization of Wehrmacht Medical Service: In 1942 a reorganization of the various Medical Services of the Wehrmacht was effected. By a Fuehrer decree of 28 July 1942, Handloser became Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht, while at the same time retaining his position as Chief Physician of the Army and Army Medical Inspector. Under the decree referred to, Handloser was given power and authority to supervise and coordinate "all tasks common to the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS and the organizations and units subordinate or attached to the Wehrmacht." He was also commanded "to represent the Wehrmacht before the civilian authorities in all common medical problems arising in the various branches of the Wehrmacht, the Waffen-SS and organizations and units subordinate or attached to the Wehrmacht" and "to protect the interests of the Wehrmacht in all medical measures taken by the civilian authorities."
Handloser thus became supreme medical leader in the military field, as was Conti in the civilian health and medical service.
By a subsequent Fuehrer decree of 7 August 1944 Handloser was relieved of his duties as Chief Physician of the Army and Army Medical Inspector, but retained his position as Chief of the Wehrmacht Medical Service.
By the decree of 28 July 1942 pursuant to which Handloser became Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht, the defendant Karl Brandt became empowered, subordinate only to, and receiving instructions directly from, Hitler "to carry out special tasks and negotiations to readjust the requirements for doctors, hospitals, medical supplies, etc., between the military and the civilian sectors of the Health and Medical Services." The decree also directed that Brandt "is to be kept informed about the fundamental events in the medical service of the Wehrmacht and in the Civilian Health Service" and "is authorized to intervene in a responsible manner."
A subsequent decree issued 5 September 1943 extended the powers of the defendant Karl Brandt by providing: "The plenipotentiary for the Medical and Health Services... is charged with centrally coordinating and directing the problems and activities of the entire Medical and Health Service according to instructions. In this sense this order applies also to the field of medical science and research, as well as to the organizational institutions concerned with the manufacture and distribution of medical material. The plenipotentiary for the Medical and Health services is authorized to appoint and commission special deputies for this sphere of action."
By a later decree of 25 August 1944 Karl BRANDT was made Reich Commissioner for Sanitation and Health for the duration of the war; the decree providing:
"In this capacity his office ranks as highest Reich Authority" and he is "authorized to issue instructions to the offices and organizations of the State, Party, and Wehrmacht which are concerned with the problems of the Medical and Health Services."
Thus, by this series of decrees, the defendant Karl BRANDT, within this sphere of competence, became the supreme medical authority of the Reich subordinate to no one but Hitler.
Three of the defendants are not physicians.
The first is the defendant Brack who became subordinated to Bouhler at the time the latter was appointed Chief of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer, in 1934, and remained with Bouhler throughout the war.
The second is the defendant Rudolf BRANDT who, from the time he joined the staff of Himmler in 1933, served for a twelve year period in varying capacities. At first Rudolf Brandt was a mere clerk in the staff of the Reichfuehrer SS but by 1936 had risen to chief of the Personal Staff of Himmler. In 1938 or 1939 he became Himmler's liaison officer to the Ministry of the Interior and particularly to the Office of the Secretary of the Interior. When Himmler became Minister of Interior in 1943 Rudolf Brandt became Chief of the Ministerial Office when Himmler became President of the Ahnenerbe Society, Rudolf Brandt became liaison officer between Himmler and the Reich Secretary of the Ahnenerbe Society, defendant Wolfram Sievers.
The third is the defendant Sievers, who was a member of Himmler's personal staff and Reich Business Manager of the Ahnenerbe Society from 1 July 1935 until the end of the war.
THE AHNENERBE SOCIETY The Ahnenerbe Society, of which Sievers was Reich Business Manager, was in existence as an independent entity as early as 1933.
On 1 July 1935 the Ahnenerbe became duly registered as an organization to conduct or further "research on the locality, mind, deeds and heritage of the Northern race of Indo-Germans and to pass on the results of this research to the people in an interesting manner." On 1 January 1942 the Society became part of the Personal Staff of the Reichsfuehrer SS and thereby a section of the SS. Its management was composed of Heinrich Himmler as President, Prof. Dr. Wuest, Rector of the University of Munich, as Curator, and the defendant Sievers as Reich Business Manager.
Subsequently, during the same year, the Institute of Military Scientific Research was established as a part of the Ahnenerbe. Its purposes are defined in a letter written by Himmler to Sievers, which directed the following with reference to the Ahnenerbe:
"1. To establish an Institute for Military Scientific Research 2. To support in every possible way the research carried out by SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof.
Dr. Hirt and to promote all corresponding research and undertakings 3. To make available the required apparatus, equipment, accessories and assistants, or to procure them 4. To make use of the facilities available in Dachau.
5. To contact the Chief of the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office with regards to the costs which can be borne by the Waffen-SS."
In its judgment, the International Military Tribunal made the following findings of fact with reference to the Ahnenerbe:
"Also attached to the SS main offices was a research foundation known as the Experiments Ahnenerbe. The scientists attached to this organization are stated to have been mainly honorary members of the SS. During the war an institute for military scientific research became attached to the Ahnenerbe which conducted extensive experiments involving the use of living human beings. An employee of this institute was a certain Dr. Rascher, who conducted these experiments with the full knowledge of the Ahnenerbe, which was subsidized and under the patronage of the Reichsfuehrer SS who was a trustee of the foundation. We shall now discuss the evidence as it pertains to the individual defendants."
KARL BRANDT The defendant Karl Brandt is charged with special responsibility for, and participation, in Freezing, Malaria, Lost Gas, Sulfanilamide, Bone, Muscle and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation, Sea Water, Epidemic Jaundice, Sterilization, and Spotted Fever Experiments, as alleged under Counts Two and Three of the Indictment.
He is also charged in Counts Two and Three with criminality in connection with the planning and carrying out of the Euthanasia program of the German Reich. Under Count Four of the Indictment he is charged with Membership in the SS, an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal.
Karl Brandt was born 8 January 1904 at Muehlhausen, Alsace, then a portion of Germany, studied medicine, and passed his medical examination in 1928. He joined the National Socialist Party in January 1932, and became a member of the SA in 1933. He became a member of the Allgemeine--SS in July 1934 and was appointed Untersturmfuehrer on the day he joined that organization. During the summer of 1934 he became Hitler's "Escort Physician"--as he describes the office.
He was promoted to the grade of Obersturmfuehrer in the Allgemeine--SS on 1 January 1935; and in 1938 was classed as deferred in order that in case of war he might be free to serve on the staff of the Reich Chancellery in Hitler's headquarters. During the month of April 1939 Karl Brandt was promoted to the rank of Obersturmbannfuehrer in the Allgemeine-SS. In 1940 he was transferred from the Allgemeine-SS to the Waffen-SS, in which commissions were equivalent to those of the Army. On 30 January 1943; he received a grade equivalent to that of Major General in the Waffen-SS, and on 20 April 1944 was promoted to the grade of Lieutenant General in that organization. Having at some previous date been relieved as Hitler's escort physician, he was again appointed as such in the fall of 1944. On 16 April 1945 he was arrested by the Gestapo, and the next day was condemned to death by a court at Berlin. He was released from arrest by order of the provisional government under Doenitz on 2 May 1945. On 23 May 1945 he was placed under arrest by the British authorities.
By decree bearing date 28 July 1942, signed by Hitler, Keitel and Lammers, Karl Brandt was invested with high authority over the medical services, military and civilian, in Germany.
Paragraphs 3 and 4 of this decree, referring to Karl Brandt, read as follows:
"3. I empower Professor Dr. Karl Brandt, subordinate only to me personally and receiving his instructions directly from me, to carry out special tasks and negotiations to readjust the requirements for doctors, hospitals, medical supplies, etc., between the military and the civilian sectors of the Health and Medical Services.
"4. My plenipotentiary for Health and Medical Services is to be kept informed about the fundamental events in the medical Service of the Wehrmacht and in the Civilian Health Service. He is authorized to intervene in a responsible manner."
By decree bearing date 5 September 1943, signed, by Hitler and Lammers, Brandt's authority was strengthened. This decree reads as follows:
"In amplification of my decree concerning the Medical and Health Services of 28 July 1942 (RGB. I P. 515) I order:
"The plenipotentiary for the Medical and Health Services, General Commissioner Professor Dr. Med. Brandt, is charged with centrally coordinating and directing the problems and activities of the entire Radical and Health Services according to instructions. In this sense this order applies also to the field of Medical Science and Research, as well as to the organizational institutions concerned with the manufacture and distribution of medical material.
"The plenipotentiary for the Medical and Health Services is authorized to appoint and commission special deputies for his spheres of action."
By further decree bearing date 25 August 1944, signed by Hitler, Lammers, Bormann, and Keitel, Karl Brandt received further authority.
This decree reads:
"I hereby appoint the General Commissioner for Medical and Health matters, Professor Dr. Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Sanitation and Health as well, for the duration of this war.
In this capacity his office ranks as highest Reich authority.
"The Reich Commissioner for Medical and Health Services is authorized to issue instructions to the offices and organizations of the State, Party and Wehrmacht, which are concerned with the problems of the Medical and Health Services."
Prosecution Exhibit 445, a letter bearing date at Munich, 9 January 1943, signed by Conti and marked "Strictly Confidential", directed to the Leaders of Public Health Gau Offices of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, refersto a decree of the Fuehrer on "Suspending the Pledge to Secrecy in Special Cases." The letter continues:
"For your strictly confidential information I am sending attached Fuehrer decree and the circular letter I am writing on that subject to the heads of the medical chambers."
Another portion of the exhibit consists of a copy of Conti's letter, also bearing date 9 January 1943, to the heads of the medical chambers, and reads as follows:
"Strictly Confidential.
"Subject: Fuehrer decree on suspension of pledge to secrecy in special cases.
"Gentlemen:
"I am sending you enclosed a Fuehrer decree which I received from Professor Dr. Brandt...
"Communications having bearing on the Fuehrer decree should be directed to the following address: Professor Doctor Karl Brandt, Personal Attention, Berlin W-3, Reich Chancellory.
"It is left to the discretion of the physician who is handling the case whether he wishes to acquaint the patient with the information himself."
Hitler's decree, bearing date 23 December 1942, reads as follows:
CourtNo. I.
"I not only relieve physicians, medical practitioners and dentists of their pledge to secrecy towards my Commissioner-General Professor Dr, Med. Karl Brand, but I place upon them the binding obligation to advise him for my own information - immediately after a final diagnosis has established a serious disease, or a disease of illboding character, with a personality holding a leading position or a position of responsibility in the State, the Party, the Wehrmacht, in Industry, and so forth."
Concerning this matter, Karl Brandt testified that the decree "in special cases" relieved German physicians from one of the generally accepted principles of medical practice.
From the year 1942 to the end of the war Karl Brandt was a member of the Reich Research Council and was also a member of the Presidential Council of that body.
Karl Brandt, then, finally reached a position authorizing him to issue instructions to all the medical services of the State, Party, and Wehrmacht concerning medical problems (Hitler Decree bearing date 25 August 1944). The above decrees of Hitler disclose his great reliance upon Karl Brandt and the high degree of personal and professional confidence which Hitler reposed in him.
It may be noted that by the service regulation governing the Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht, issued by Keitel 7 August 1944, the chief of those medical services was required to pay due regard to the general rules of the Fuehrer's Commissioner General for Medical and Health Departments. The regulation contained the following:
"3. The Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht will inform the Fuehrer's Commissioner General about basic events in the field of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht."
By a pre-trial affidavit made by the defendant Handloser and put in evidence by the Prosecution, Handloser makes the statement that Karl Brandt was his "immediate superior in medical affairs."
SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS:
Certain Sulfanilamide experiments were conducted at Ravensbruck for a period of about a year prior to August 1933. These experiments were carried on by the defendants Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser -- Gebhardt being in charge of the project. At the third meeting of the consulting physicians of the Wehrmacht held at the Military Medical Academy in Berlin from 24 to 26 May 1943; Gebhardt and Fischer made a complete report concerning these experiments. Karl Brandt was present and heard the reports. Gebhardt testified that he made a full statement concerning what he had done, stating that experiments had been carried out on human beings. The evidence is convincing that statements were also made that the persons experimented upon were concentration camp inmates. It was stated that 75 persons had been experimented upon, that the subjects had been deliberately infected, and that different drugs had been used in treating the infections to determine their respective efficacy. It was also stated that three of the subjects died. It nowhere appears that Karl Brandt made any objection to such experiments or that he made any investigation whatever concerning the experiments reported upon, or to gain any information as to whether other human subjects would be subjected to experiments in the future. Had he made the slightest investigation, he could have ascertained that such experiments were being conducted on non-German nationals, without their consent, and in flagrant disregard of their personal rights; and that such experiments were planned for the future.
In the medical field Karl Brandt held a position of the highest rank directly under Hitler. He was in a position to intervene with authority on all medical matters; indeed, it appears that such was his positive duty. It does not appear that at any time he took any steps to check medical experiments upon human subjects. During the war he visited several concentration camps. Occupying the position he did, and being a physician of ability and experience, the duty rested upon him to make some adequate investigation concerning the medical experiments which he knew had been, were being; and doubtless would continue to be, conducted in the concentration camps.
EPIDEMIC JAUNDICE EXPERIMENTS:
Karl Brandt is charged with criminal responsibility for experiments conducted for the purpose of discovering an effective vaccine to bring about immunity from Epidemic Jaundice, Grawitz, by letter dated 1 June 1943, wrote Himmler stating that Karl Brandt had requested his assistance in the matter of research on the causes of Epidemic Jaundice. Grawitz stated that Karl Brandt had interested himself in this research and desired that prisoners be placed at his disposal. The letter further stated that up to that date experiments had been made only on animals; but that it had become necessary to pursue the matter further by inoculating human beings with virus cultures. The letter stated that depths must be anticipated; and that eight prisoners who had been condemned to death were needed for the experiments at the hospital of the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen.
Under date of 16 June 1943 Himmler acknowledged the letter from Grawitz and directed that eight criminals in Auschwitz, Jews of the Polish resistance movement condemned to death, should be used for experiments which should be conducted by Dr. Dohmen at Sachsenhausen. Karl Brandt's knowledge of experiments on non-German nationals is clearly shown by the foregoing.
LOST (MUSTARD) GAS EXPERIMENTS:
It is clear from the record that experiments with Lost gas were conducted on concentration camp inmates throughout the period covered by the indictment. The evidence is that over 200 concentration camp inmates, Russians, Poles, Czechs and Germans, were used as experimental subjects. At least 50 of these subjects, most of whom were non-volunteers, died as a direct or indirect result of the treatment received.
Karl Brandt knew of the fact that such experiments were being conducted. The evidence is to the effect that he knew of Lost gas experiments conducted by Bickenbach at Strasbourg during the fall of 1943, in which Russian prisoners were apparently used as subjects some of whom died.
A letter written by the defendant Sievers to the defendant Rudolf Brandt, dated 11 April 1944, points to the fact that Karl Brandt knew of still other such experiments. The letter states, that in accordance with instructions he, Sievers, had contacted Karl Brandt, at Beelitz, and had reported to him concerning the activities of a certain Dr. Hirt, who the evidence shows had been experimenting with Lost gas upon concentration camp inmates at Natzweiler. In the letter, Sievers states, further, that Karl Brandt had told him that he would be in Strasbourg in April and would then discuss details with Dr. Hirt.
Knowledge of the conduct of at least some of the experiments was confirmed by Karl Brandt when he testified in his own behalf. He stated that pursuant to competent authority he had engaged in studies concerning defense measures against poison gas.