Document No. NO-041 at page 63 will be Prosecution Exhibit No. 247, a letter written by Pohl of the same date as the previous letter of Gerland, that is 7 September 1942, and it is addressed to Rudolpf Brandt and he encloses, that is, Pohl enclosed copy of his letter to Gerland. Reading the second paragraph: "Please inform the Reich Leader of SS troops that I personally went to Radebeul last Tuesday to be convinced of the state of affairs. The matter is running smoothly. I have now interested SS-Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Lolling. We have agreed with Madaus to transfer the experiments to our concentration camp as soon as possible."
Document No. NO-043, on page 64 will be Prosecution Exhibit No. 248. A letter from Gerland dated 14 October 1942, to Rudolph Brandt on the personnel staff of Himmler, and he goes over the history of his suggestion that Gerland's suggestion for medicinal sterilization experiments be carried out and now says that his suggestion is obsolete, that is, that somebody else has already thought of it. He states that he has suggested to Pohl that certain Dr. Fehringer be allowed to try to produce a synthetic caladium segiunum, and he asked Rudolph Brandt if that would be permissible, that is, to have Dr. Fehringer collaborate with Pohl and Lolling.
On page 66 Document No. NO-048, Prosecution Exhibit No. 249, we have Rudolph Brandt's letters to Pohl of 25 October 1942, enclosing copy of Gerland's letter, which we have just introduced, and in which Rudolph Brandt said he could not consult with Himmler, that if he was there that Himmler would certainly welcome experiments to produce caladium seguinum synthetically, and instruct Pohl to see that Lolling contacts Dr. Fehringer.
That completes the series of documents on medicinal sterilization.
The next series concerns itself with the experiments by Dr. Clamberg, that is, the sterilization of women.
The first document is on page 67, Document NO-211, that will be Prosecution Exhibit No. 250. Letter dated 30 May 1942 from Clauberg to Himmler, in which he asked Himmler to support his sterilization experiments, and he outlined in this letter what his requirements would be.
It might be interesting for the Tribunal to know that he talks in here about Positive Population Policy and Negative Population Policy. The Positive Population Policy, as I understand it, was that policy of the Reich which desired to have certain groups of the population increased and reproduced. On the one hand they were making efforts to increase the population and the birthrate, which was that policy which permitted the selection from countries which had been overrun by Germany, such as the Czechs, and certain Slovak races, the selection of people whom they thought could be educated to support the Reich. That was known as the Positive Population Policy. The Negative Population Policy was that policy which meant the reduction of certain groups of the population, for example, the extermination of Jews was part of the Negative Population Policy; it was those groups which had been decided were worthless to the Third Reich. Of course, sterilization fits in with the Negative Population Policy, as he so states in this letter.
On page 68, in the middle of the page, he says: "Reichsfuehrer! Without wishing to anticipate your decision, I am taking the liberty of proposing that the experiments necessary for A and B be carried out at the Auschwitz Concentration camp and that the facilities there be used. As I already told you in the course of our oral conversation, I would be very much pleased to work under you as head of an experimental institute, directed exclusively by you."
On page 71, Document NO-216, which will be Prosecution Exhibit No. 251, is a memorandum by Rudolph Brandt on the conference held on July 1942 between Gebhardt, Gluecks, Klauberg and Himmler. The subject was the sterilization of Jewesses. He states in the memorandum beginning with the fourth line:
"The Reichsfuehrer-SS has promised SS-Brigadefuehrer Professor Kaluberg that the Auschwitz concentration camp will be at his disposal for his experiments on human beings and animals. By means of some fundamental experiments a method should be found which would lead to sterilization of persons without their knowledge. The Reichsfuehrer-SS wants to get another report as soon as the result of these experiments would become known, so that the sterilization of Jewesses could then be carried out in actuality."
On page 72, Document NO-213, which will be Prosecution's Exhibit No. 252, we have a letter from Rudolph Brandt dated 10 July 1942, to Klauberg, copies of which were sent to Pohl, Chief of the WVHA, and also as seen by the distribution list No. 4 to SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Klauberg, also noted as being a member of the WVHA, and again we see Item 5 of the distribution list that Guenther of the Jewish Amt of RSHA likewise got a copy. I might read a few paragraphs of this letter that Brandt wrote to Klauberg: "Today, the Reichsfuehrer-SS charged me with transmitting on his wish that you go to Ravensbruck after you have had another talk with SS-Obergruppenfuehrer POHL and the Camp Physician of the women's concentration camp Ravensbruck, in order to perform there the sterilization of the Jewesses according to your method. Before you start your job, the Reichsfuehrer-SS would be interested to learn from you how long it would take to sterilize a thousand Jewesses. The Jewesses themselves should not know anything about it. As the Reichsfuehrer-SS understands it, you could give the appropriate injections during a general examination."
Then he mentions the x-ray tests, whether or not the sterilization had been effective, and he also goes on to suggest what he calls the practical experiments in which it might be arranged to lock up a Jewess and a Jew together for a certain period, and to see then what results will be achieved thereby.
On page 75 of the Document NO-215, Prosecution Exhibit No. 253, is another file concerning a conference held on 8 July 1942 between Himmler, Gluecks, Gebhardt and Klauberg as an experimental station, and it states that Himmler agreed that the necessary material will be made available to Klauberg for all the experiments he intends to make. The Tribunal will recall that in Pohl's affidavit he admitted that Klauberg was in Auschwitz and he had talked to him there, and although I recall he was not very frank to stating just exactly what Klauberg was doing except he knew he was there on sterilization matters. However, we need not rely on the statements by the defendant Pohl.
Document NO-212 on page 76 is a letter of Klauberg to Himmler in which he gives him a report of how long it would take to sterilize a thousand Jewesses which was a question put to him about a year previous to this letter by the Reichsfuehrer. It states in the second paragraph: "The method I contrived to achieve the sterilization of the female organism without any operation is as good as perfected. It can be performed by a single injection made from the entrance of the uterus in the course of the usual customary gynaecologic examination as known to every physician."
Then he goes on and states, "However, minor improvements are to be made" and in the next paragraph he states: "As to the question which you, Reichsfuehrer, asked me almost one year ago, i.e., how much time would probably be required to sterilize 1000 women by using this method: Today I can answer you with regard to the future as follows: If my researches continue to have the same results as up to now, and there is no reason to doubt that - then the moment is no longer far off when I can say: 'by one adequately trained physician in one adequately equipped place with perhaps 10 assistants (the number of assistants in conformity with the desired acceleration) most likely several hundred - if not even 1000 per day!"
Page 78, document NO 210, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 255. Still another letter by Clauberg to Himmler, to the attention of Rudolf Brandt. Pardon me, it is addressed to Rudolf Brandt.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Me Haney, is there any way to identify the drug that Clauberg had in mind and was experimenting with here? Is it the same one that you referred to before?
MR. MC HANEY: Not at all. I am sure that it is not. However, the one drug we mentioned was Caladium Seguinum. That was a drug derived from the plan Schweigrohr. As I understand it, it could be taken orally or intravenously and was supposed to bring about sterilization of both males and females. Clauberg used some irritating solution, the content or description of which I do not know.
THE PRESIDENT: It is a different drug, to be introduced into the uterus?
MR. MC HANEY: That is, I am sure, quite true, Your Honor. Exhibit 255, a letter from Clauberg to Rudolf Brandt, dated 6 August, 1943. Here Clauberg is asking Rudolf Brandt to arrange for supplying him with another x-ray installation in Auschwitz. The document, of course, proves that Clauberg, in fact, was active in his experiments in Auschwitz, and he is here asking for a further installation.
The Tribunal will recall that the x-ray machines were apparently used after the sterilization had been accomplished, or at least the injection had taken place, to observe the results on the uterus presumably. In other words, the mention of x-rays sometimes in these documents might confuse the Court into thinking that Clauberg was using a method x-ray sterilization, which apparently is not the case.
The documents to which I now come do concern themselves with x-ray sterilization, the first one of which is on Page 81, Document NO 203, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 256. This is a letter by the defendant Viktor Brack in the Medical Case, directed to Himmler, dated 28 March 1941, and attached to it is a report on experiments concerning x-ray castration. Brack states in this memorandum which was written by him the advantages and disadvantages of x-ray sterilization.
He notes in here that if permanent sterilization is to be accomplished by the use of x-ray, then the dosage must be quite high and that it actually results in what would be similar to castration because the x-rays destroy the internal secretion of the ovary or of the testicles. This was considered to be somewhat undesirable because, quite naturally, the person who was sterilized with x-rays would in a short time realize what had happened to him.
It was pointed out that another difficulty was the x-ray burns which necessarily resulted if you used x-ray method without the subject knowing about it, because in that event there was no opportunity to use lead shields, for instance, on the inner thighs to prevent the x-ray dosage from causing x-ray burns to the thighs.
As a matter of fact, in the experiments they actually carried out in September, in September, in the letter part of 1943, on some young Polish boys, they actually took no precautions to prevent x-ray burns in any event, though the boys certainly knew what was happening to them, and we shall have a witness here who was very severely burned on both thighs by x-ray sterilization and who was thereafter castrated.
Brack makes the suggestion in here, which I am sure the Court is familiar with, that in spite of these disadvantages of the subject learning about having been sterilized within a matter of days or wees, that nonetheless they should perhaps use x-ray sterilization, and he says that by using a camouflage of having persons approach a counter to fill out forms of one type or another, an operator sitting behind the counter could operate the x-ray machines and perform the sterilization by x-ray while the person is standing in front of the counter, without their knowing about it. In that way he thought that, with the proper installation, they could accomplish as many as 3,000 to 4,000 sterilizations per day.
On page 84, Document NO 205, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 257, there is another letter from Brack to Himmler, dated 23 June 1942, and he refers in this letter to the Jewish extermination action being carried out by Brigadefuehrer Blobocnik. The Tribunal will recall that I mentioned Globocnik in connection with the extermination of the Jews in the opening statement. Globocnik was a man with whom a number of the defendants in this dock had some association. He particularly helped up in Lublin the Action Reinhardt and mustered all of the Jewish property of those who were exterminated in the General Government of Occupied Poland.
Brack here re-advances his suggestion of x-ray sterilization and points out that he has supplied some men to Globocnik to help him carry out the extermination action, but Brack really thought there were two or three million Jews among the ten million to be exterminated who should be preserved for work and that sterilization was the practical way of accomplishing that, and he again wants the Reichs fuehrer to consider sterilizing these two million to three million Jews who were able to work rather than exterminating them. The defendant Brack is very seriously advancing that as a strong defense to the charge of sterilization in the Medical Case.
On page 86, Document NO 206, Prosecution Exhibit 258, is a reply by Himmler to Brack's letter in 1942, dated 11 August 1942. Himmler says:
"Dear Brack: It is only today that I have the opportunity to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 23 June. I am positively interested in seeing that the sterilization by x-rays is tried out at least once in one camp in a series of experiments.
"I will be very much obliged to the Reichleader Bouhler if, to begin with, he would place the expert physicians for the series of experiments at our disposal.
"I will mail a copy of this letter to the Reich Physician SS and to the competent Chief of the Main Office for Concentration Camps."
As we can see, that was the defendant Pohl who got the copy of this letter.
This completes the documents on the sterilization experiments. As I stated before, the x-ray experiments were carried out in Auschwitz, and this will be proved by the testimony of a witness to be called later in the week.
THE PRESIDENT: Shall we start a fresh book in the morning?
MR. MC HANEY: That is quite suitable with me, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well. We shall recess until 9:30 tomorrow morning.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is in recess until 0930 hours tomorrow morning.
(The Tribunal recessed until 0930 hours 16 April 1947.)
Official transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the Unites States of America against Oswald Pohl, et al, defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 16 April 1947, 0930, Justice Toms presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the court room will please find their seats.
The Honorable, the Judge of Military Tribunal II.
Military Tribunal is now in session. God save the United States of America and this honorable Tribunal.
There will be order in the court room.
THE PRESIDENT: I have been asked by the interpreters to suggest to Defense Counsel that in examining witnesses you pause after each question and before such answer. They are having some difficulty in completing the translation of an answer before the next question is asked. You must realize that a translator is always about four or five words behind the witness, and they must have an opportunity to finish the translation of the answer before you ask the next question.
Will you be good enough to bear that in mind, for the sake of the translators?
MR. MC HANEY: May it please the Tribunal, this morning the Prosecution wishes to introduce documents from Prosecution Document Book No. 8, which is the third and last document book on medical experiments.
On page 1 of the document book we have Document NO-856--will the clerk tell me the next exhibit number?
THE MARSHAL: 259.
MR. MC HANEY: -- which will be Prosecution Exhibit 259.
This is an extract from the review of the trial by the Military Court in the case of the United States against Weiss, et al, and is the so-called Dachau Trial. Extracts which have been made from this review concern primarily malaria experiments carried out by Dr. Klause Karl Schilling in Dachau in the period from February 1942, until the early part of 1945.
The Tribunal will recall that this was one of the series of experiments as to which the Defendant Pohl admits knowledge.
I call your attention to page 2, the paragraph marked "A", which states that three to four hundred persons died as a result of the experiments carried out by Dr. Schilling. He was making an effort to discover a protective innoculation against malaria, as well as to find more effective means of treating the disease once it has been contracted. To do this, he artificially infected a large number of concentration camp inmates.
On page 3, about the middle or lower part of the page, it states that malaria was the direct cause of thirty deaths, and as a result of complications three hundred to four hundred more died.
At the bottom of page 3 the review sets out a portion of the statement made by Dr. Schilling before the trial, and it reads in part as follows:
"My name is Professor Doctor Claus Schilling. I have already worked on tropical diseases for forty-five years. I came to the experimental station in Dachau in February, 1942. I judge that I innoculated between nine hundred and one thousand prisoners. These were mostly innoculations for protection. These people, however, were not volunteers. The inmates whom I gave protective innoculations were not examined by me but by the present camp doctor. Before the innoculation there was usually an observation of several days. The last camp doctor was Dr. Hintemaier. As well as I can remember, in three years there were forty-nine patients were always released by me as cured only after one year. As remedy I used quinine, atabrine and neosalvarsan. I know for sure of six cases where I used pyramid on tablets to hold down the fever."
This document, which is Prosecution Exhibit 259, is the only exhibit which the Prosecution will offer on the malaria experiments. On page 10 we have Document NO-003 which will be Prosecution Exhibit 260. This is a letter dated 9 September 1942, from Pohl to Himmler, and on page 12 of the document book we see that Pohl had instituted the carrying out of experiments on concentration camp inmates with poisonous or slow poisonous food. At about the middle of the page, where he says, "As to 16) We shall have to make two groups of food experiments. First, such which cover the examination of poisonous ingredients of our food or such as are slowly growing poisonous."
"The prisoners can very well be used for these experiments. Secondly, however, experiments will perhaps be necessary concerning the amelioration by food. These experiments cannot yield valuable results when made on racially inferior people, i. e., inferior as to the bodily structure and psychical state. For this, volunteers have to put themselves at our disposal as usual, researchers who do not only note physical phenomena in themselves, but also psychical changes. Both of them play a part in appraising food."
Document NO-1422, on page 15, will be Prosecution Exhibit 261.
Early in 1943, the defendant Karl Brandt, a defendant in the Medical Case, had written a letter, as I recall, to Karl Wolff, who was on the staff of the Reichsfuehrer at that time, and asked Wolff to arrange for experiments on concentration inmates with a certain type of concentrated food which the Wehrmacht was studying. As I recall, the Fortress of Stalingrad was under severe attack at that time by the Russian forces and, of course, the Wehrmacht was trying very earnestly to supply their troops in Stalingrad by air; and this concentrated food was one of the ways in which they hoped to do that.
In any event, the scientist, the defendant Pohl, decided that Dr. Schenk had already really explored the field of food nutrition as far as it needed to be done, and he so advised Karl Brandt in this letter, dated 20 March 1943.
Wolff had forwarded Karl Brand's letter to the defendant Pohl, and this is Pohl's response. He states that ever since the beginning of the war; that is, Pohl stated that he had Dr. Schenk working on food problems and that he had been at the front lines, and so forth. On page 16 of the Document Book, the second paragraph from the top, he says:
"I would thus say that we are able to determine exactly and in every respect what the forces need. Nevertheless, in other connection, and with other aims in view, I am having nutrition experiments conducted in a concentration camp and shall be glad to work out there any special problems, if you have any such problems."
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. McHaney, it isn't claimed that any tragic results followed this particular experiment?
MR. MC HANEY: Indeed it is, Your Honor, yes.
THE PRESIDENT: The concentrated food experiments?
MR. MC HANEY: No, not the concentrated food experiments. They were not carried out, so far as I know. We do claim, however, that the poisonous and slow poisonous food experiments which were sponsored by our defendant Pohl did have deadly results. This letter shows that the food experiments by Pohl were in fact carried out, and we draw that conclusion from the paragraph I have just read, because he tells Karl Brandt that he -- Pohl -is now having experiments carried out in the concentration camp.
I turn now to page 16, which is document NO-1610, and will be Prosecution Exhibit 262. This is a letter from Rudolf Brandt to Pohl, and also distributed to the Reich Physician Dr. Grawitz, and to the RSHA. It is dated 2 August 1943; and Brandt advises Pohl that, on principle, the Reichsfuehrer -- that is, Himmler -wishes to be informed personally of any experiments being carried out on concentration camp inmates, and Brandt here requests Pohl to inform him once more just exactly what experiments Pohl was personally sponsoring.
And on the next page, page 19, we have -- which is part of the same document -- Pohl's reply to Rudolf Brandt, dated 16 August, and he states in the second paragraph of the letter, that such "investigations in which I have taken a personal interest are being carried out on:
"1) the large-scale nutrition experiments in Mauthausen and "2) the feeding of Biosyn vegetable sausage."
The last paragraph shows that Schenk, who was attached to the Amtsgruppe B of the WVHA, under Georg Loerner, was supervising the nutrition experiments which we now see were carried out in the Mauthausen concentration camp. This is the last exhibit in this book on the food experiments. However, the Prosecution will have additional proof to be offered at a later date which will show the consequences of these experiments.
I turn now to page 21 which begins a few documents on the sea-water experiments. Document NO-177 will be Prosecution Exhibit 263. This is a memorandum dated Berlin, 23 May 1944, which summarizes, or constitutes, the minutes of two meetings held in the RLM on the 19th and 20th of May 1944, and in these two meetings it was decided that experiments to test a new type, or new method of rendering sea-water drinkable, be carried out on concentration camp inmates.
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Mc Haney, Document 2176-PS is not offered? The affidavit of Professor Busek?
MR. MC HANEY: One moment please. Oh, did you find that in the index?
THE PRESIDENT: It is in the index but not in the body of the book.
MR. MC HANEY: Yes; well, I must say that this is a document which somehow has managed to become lost in some corner. I have personally read it some months ago, a sort of extract from a very voluminous report by the Third Army on the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, and Professor Busek made some reference to the food experiments.
We have been unable to locate the document. We will offer it if we find it.
THE PRESIDENT: All right.
MR. MC HANEY: We will offer other proof in any event.
Document NO-177, then, is Prosecution Exhibit 263. On page 22, I might say, preliminarily, that the sea water experiments were sponsored primarily by the Luftwaffe. I think these councils were also composed, as I recall, of representatives from the Navy, but it was the Luftwaffe who was particularly interested in that sea water problem, due to the fact that their aviators had to bail out over the Mediterranean or the North Sea and managed to stay afloat in emergency equipment, such as a life raft, but sometimes they were on the water for an extended period of time and had insufficient quantities of fresh water to drink. The Luftwaffe had developed two methods of rendering sea water drinkable. One of them was a method sponsored by the Defendant Schaefer in the medical case, which required the use of a rather substantial quantity of nitrate of silver, which was a short commodity in Germany during the war, and also required a rather large apparatus to distill the sea water which gave rise to some disadvantage to its use in emergency equipment in an airplace, because it was rather bulky. Consequently, they tried to develop some other method which would overcome those difficulties and one which gave some hope for this was developed by a person named Berka and was known as the Berka process or Berkatit and this method used little material and was easier to handle than the Schaefer process, so they were interested in using it, if it was in any way effective. As a matter of fact, it, I believe, did not remove the salt for the sea water, but simply disguised the taste, but it was hoped that even so a man might tolerate it for a certain minimum period of time which would permit him to be rescued and not die of thirst, so they went ahead and tried out the Berka Process in Dachau in August of 1944, and this is the matter here which laid the plans and carried out those experiments. On page 22, I should like to read some of the report, because it clearly points out that they had full knowledge that Berkatit was extremely dangerous and upon the advice of their doctor that it would cause death if used in close to ten days. They, in any event, went ahead and tested this drug and the first full paragraph on page 22 reads, "At this meeting Captain Dr. Becker-Freysing reported on the clinical experiments conducted by Colonel Dr. von Sirany, and came to the final conclusion that he did not consider them as being" and they probably mean "unobjective and conclusive enough for a final decision.
The Chief of the Medical Service is convinced that, if the Berka method is used, damage to health has to be expected not later than 6 days after taking Berkatit, which will result in permanent injuries to health, and - according to Dr. Schaefer - will finally result in death after not later than 12 days. External symptoms are to be expected such as drainage, diarrhea, convulsions, hallucinations, and finally death. As a result of the preliminary discussion it is agreed to arrange new series of experiments of short duration. A commission was to be set up for the arrangements of these series of experiments."
Then it outlines below the series of experiments to be given and it states under paragraph 1 that "persons were to be given sea water processed with Berka, persons to be given ordinary drinkingwater, persons without any drinking-water at all," and, finally persons to be given sea water processed by the Schaefer method and says further "In addition to these experiments a further experiment should be conducted as follows: Persons nourished with sea water and Berkatit, 2nd as diet also the emergency sea rations. Duration of Experiments: 12 days. Since in the opinion of the Chief of the Medical Service permanent injuries to health, that is, the death of the experiment subjects has to be expected, as experimental subjects such persons should be used as will be put at the disposal by Reichsfuehrer SS."
In short, since they were apt to kill a number of them, they would only use concentration camp inmates. On page 26, we see a distribution list. The Tribunal will note that a copy of this matter was sent to the Reichsfuehrer-SS.
On Page 28, Document NO-179 will be Prosecution Exhibit 263. This is a letter from Grawitz.
JUDGE PHILLIPS 264. Exhibit 264.
MR. McHANEY: Yes, that is correct, 264. This is a letter from Grawitz to Himmler dated 28 June 1944, dealing with the sea water experiments and giving us the usual series of Gebhardt, Gluecks, and Nebe, concerning the experiments. Paragraph 2, in paragraph 2, the subordinate of the Defendant Pohl, Gluecks, stated that "Referring to the above letter, we report that we have no objections whatsoever to the experiments requested by the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe to be conducted at the experimental station Rascher in the concentration camp Dachau. If possible, jews or prisoners held in quarantine are to be used."
We see some rather, what would appear to be, stupid comment in here by Nebe. He suggests using gypsies and then Dr. Grawitz, being a very marvelous doctor, apparently objects that the use of gypsies would not give reliable results because they have a different racial composition, so the whole operation was finally resolved by saying they would use gypsies and three others for control, and it appears a great bulk of them were gypsies.
On page 30, Document NO-183 will be Prosecution Exhibit 265. It is a letter from Rudolf Brandt to Grawitz stating that Himmler had adopted the suggestion of Nebe that gypsies should be used and in addition three other prisoners.
On page 31, Document NO-911 will be Prosecution Exhibit 266. This is an affidavit.
DR. SEIDL: (Attorney for the Defendant Oswold Pohl) May it please the Tribunal, I object to the admission of Document NO-911. In the index this document has been described as an affidavit. However, and regardless, it is not an affidavit at all. The statement of this Josef Tschofenig has neither been sworn to nor has his signature been certified. The document does not comply in other ways with the prerequisites which have to be given if it is to be recognized as an affidavit by the Tribunal in accordance with the existing rules and regulations.
MR. McHANEY: May it please the Tribunal, Dr. Seidl's objections are accurate in accordance with the photostatic copy appearing in the Exhibit folder, but his statements are not accurate in accordance with what we actually have. We had offered a similar statement to this in the medical case, which was taken from the files of the Austrian Police which had conducted the investigation into this matter. It is true that they were not certified. That is, the signature was not certified and it did not appear that an oath had been secured. However, upon objection in the medical case, we immediately returned the statements to the authorities in Austria and all of them had been re-signed after an oath had been administered and properly certified at this time to the translation in the document book, but, as frequently happens, in this Exhibit they have picked up the old document rather than the new and it has the same number. I would like to have the document provisionally accepted at this time and the prosecution will get the correct affidavit today.
THE PRESIDENT: On page 33 we have an elligible something or other. Does that show that the document was sworn to?
MR. MCHANEY: Yes, Your Honor.
THE PRESIDENT: We can't read it.
MR. MCHANEY: I shall read it, for you, if you like. "Before me," then comes the number, "280957, Lt. E. D. Nicholson, appeared Tschofenig, Josef, to me known and in my presence signed the foregoing," and the German words which mean "order" or "affidavit" consisting of 2 typewritten pages written in the German language and swore that the same was true, the 22nd day of January, 1947.
THE PRESIDENT: Doctor, Seidl, does that not meet your objection?
DR. SEIDL: May it please the Tribunal, in our Document Book this certification is not contained. We only have an order here on 7 February 1946. It has not been sworn to nor does it bear any certification whatsoever. However, the prosecution had this witness called and he has sworn to this affidavit afterwards and then I withdraw my objection.
I should like to read a short extract on page 31. It is at the last few lines of the second paragraph which states: "Sixty gypsies brought from Sachsenhausen concentration camp especially for this purpose were selected for these experiments. Professor Beiglboeck came with a staff of three Luftwaffe assistants and the experiments began, as far as I know, in various methods, starvation diets to begin with, sea water and salt diets, salt injections, and so on. The tortures led to enfeebling of the body which resulted in loss of consciousness and as far as I know in one death." He goes on to state that the experimental subjects became so thirsty that they threw themselves on the floor rags used by the hospital attendants and sucked the dirty water out of them and tried in every conceivable manner to secure potable water.
Turn now to page 34, Document NO-371, which will be Prosecution's Exhibit No. 267. It is an affidavit of Rudolf Brandt concerning the epidemic jaundice experiments carried out at Sachsenhausen in the middle of 1943. The affidavit speaks for itself and I shall not read it, especially since the following letters corroborate in every respect the affidavit of Brandt.
On page 36, Document NO-010, which will be Prosecution's Exhibit No. 268. This is a letter dated 1 June 1943 from Grawitz to Himmler and in this letter he states that a Dr. Dohmen of the Army Medical Expectorate itself, that he has discovered a virus which caused epidemic jaundice and that he has made animal to animal experiments and now wishes to make animal to human being experiments to see about the infection when experimenting on human beings, to see whether this virus could likewise bring on an epidemic jaundice.
I might say that this jaundice became one of the most serious diseases for the German army. Not so much that because it caused a great number of fatalities in and of itself, but in that it became so widespread and was, as named, undertook to reach epidemic proportions. Here again it is apparent that this disease rather unknown in Germany but having attacked it in the East caused considerable difficulty and that they had consider able difficulty with this disease, and we have been finding in captured documents that the Service was very much interested in trying to find the cause of it.
Whether it was caused by a virus or whether it was contagious and so forth, it is an effort in that direction and wish to call the Tribunal's attention to the fact that cases of death must be anticipated, Dr. Grawitz said, and he asked for prisoners condemned to death for these experiments.
On page 38, Document NO-011, which will be Prosecution's Exhibit No. 269, is the approval given by Himmler on 16 June 1943 for these experiments to be carried out. He made available eight criminals condemned in Auschwitz, that great institution of the judiciary; eight Jews of the Polish resistance movement should be used in the experiment and made available in Sachsenhausen. A copy of this letter was sent to the defendant Pohl.
Turn now to Document NO-228 on page 39, which will be Prosecution's Exhibit No. 270. This is a rather long affidavit by the defendant Fritz Ernst Fischer in the medical case and which, of course, concerns these so-called sulfanilamide experiments carried out at Ravensbrueck concentration camp during the period, roughly, August 1942 to around the end of 1942 or the early part of '43. I shall not read from this affidavit. I, however, recommend to the Tribunal this affidavit as it gives quite a clear picture of the sulfanilamide experiments. Here again we have an effort made to solve the military medical problem, as apparently German medical circles were somewhat disturbed by the British and American propaganda as to the tremendous effectiveness of the sulfa drug, and the Tribunal will recall they were frequently referred to as the secret weapon, but strangely enough that propaganda had some effect and also on the soldiers themselves because on being wounded they come to expect they would be treated with the sulfa drugs, and if they were not, their confidence in the German military medical authorities was somewhat shaken, but in any event some of their very good scientists undertook to discover just how effective the sulfa drugs were.