Chapter VII: Extracts From Argumentation and Evidence of Prosecution and Defense (13)

5. The experiments which are to be performed on prisoners are to be carried out in four rooms of an already existing medical barrack. Only slight changes in the construction of the building are required, in particular the installation of the hood which can be produced with very little material. In accordance with attached plan of the construction management at Natzweiler, I request that necessary orders be issued to same to carry out the reconstruction.

6. All the expenses arising out of our activity at Natzweiler will be covered by this office. I have already discussed the accounting procedure with the administrative leader, SS Obersturmfuehrer Faschingbauer.

In conclusion I would be very grateful to you, my dear Brigadefuehrer, if you would inform the commander of the Natzweiler concentration camp, that you have approved the execution of the work at Natzweiler, just as it was discussed with me there, and about which I reported to you in detail, and that you desire that we be given assistance in fulfilling the duties with which we have been entrusted by the Reich Leader SS.

Heil Hitler!
[Signed] SIEVERS
SS Obersturmbannfuehrer

2. To SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL BRANDT 12
KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 11

AFFIDAVIT OF DR. WALTHER SCHIEBER ON HIS EFFORTS TO PURCHASE
EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS IN SPAIN AND BRING THEM TO GERMANY

_Affidavit 111_

I, Dr. Walther Schieber, at present in Nuernberg, Justice Prison, have been duly warned that I am liable to punishment if I make a false statement. I affirm under oath that my deposition corresponds to the truth and was made to be offered in evidence before Military Tribunal No. I at the Palace of Justice, at Nuernberg, Germany. During the summer of 1944, Professor Karl Brandt informed me during discussions concerning the execution of the especially urgently operated Brandt—and defense—program against chemical warfare agents that he was having considerable difficulties in procuring animals which were needed for test purposes concerning the effect of the top chemical warfare agents and for which he had requests from testing office.

At that time the problem was how to convert the production of chemical warfare agents on account of raw material shortage to the production of the top chemical warfare agent Sarin, the effect of which would not yet be finally determined.

To carry out these tests, an action to procure animals was started by me in Spain, instigated by Professor Karl Brandt; because of the biological reaction parallels to human beings, apes resembling men were allegedly needed. An assistant was sent there especially for this purpose. For this, the armament office offered approximately 200,000 Swiss francs, and after my resignation as Chief of the Armament Supply Office in October 1944 from the Speer Ministry I made strenuous efforts, together with Professor Karl Brandt, to have a large number of animals brought by extremely difficult air transportation from Spain to Germany. These were put at Professor Karl Brandt’s disposal for the testing offices.

[Signed] WALTHER SCHIEBER

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL BRANDT 101
KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 41

AFFIDAVIT OF DR. OTTO AMBROS,[39] 21 APRIL 1947, CONCERNING THE URGENCY
OF EXPERIMENTS IN THE FIELD OF CHEMICAL WARFARE AGENTS AND THEIR
COUNTERMEASURES

I, Dr. Otto Ambros, at present in Nuernberg, Justice Prison, having been duly informed that I shall render myself punishable if I submit a false affidavit, declare under oath that my statement is true and was made for presentation in evidence to Military Tribunal No. I in the Palace of Justice, Nuernberg, Germany.

During the war I was a director of I. G. Farben and had to work on chemical warfare agents and protective agents, and can therefore state the following:

I got into touch with Professor Dr. Karl Brandt during 1944. On that occasion Professor Brandt told me he had to take an interest in chemical warfare agents and countermeasures. At the same time he showed me a letter from Adolf Hitler referring to this subject. Furthermore, he stated that he did not understand very much about chemical warfare, as he was not an analytical chemist. His primary concern in this field was the question of the supply of materials for gas masks, i. e., activated charcoal and the synthetic materials and textiles which are necessary for these.

Professor Brandt visited two poison gas plants at Dyherrnfurth and Gendorf, to become generally acquainted with the nature of poison gas itself.

There was the greatest uneasiness at that time regarding protection against chemical warfare, as it was thought that the Allies would use poison gas. It was said that they had brought poison gas over with them when they landed at Tunis.

It was also said that the Russians had new gas masks which fact pointed to the possibility of the use of a new kind of poison gas.

On the German side, there was definitely a serious shortage of chemical warfare protective equipment, as not even the most urgently needed gas masks were available, nor was it even possible to produce the required number.

Nuernberg, 21 April 1947.

[Signature] DR. OTTO AMBROS

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL BRANDT 103
KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 42

AFFIDAVIT OF DR. WALTER MIELENZ, 21 APRIL 1947, CONCERNING THE
ASSIGNMENT OF KARL BRANDT IN CONNECTION WITH CHEMICAL WARFARE

I, Dr. Walter Mielenz, born 20 November 1888 in Berlin, residing in Berlin-Friedenau, Ceciliengaerten 45 (business address: Berlin-Lichterfelde W, Kadettenweg 67, Telephone 245218), have been duly advised that I shall render myself liable to punishment if I give a false affidavit. I declare under oath that my statement is true and was made to be submitted in evidence to Military Tribunal No. I, at the Palace of Justice, Nuernberg, Germany.

From 1933 to 1945 I worked at the Reich Air Ministry as an analytical chemist, technical advisor on the question of the protection of the civilian population against gas.

I am familiar with the decree of 1 March 1944 in which special tasks were assigned to Professor Dr. Karl Brandt in connection with chemical warfare. As far as I remember, the decree was worded approximately as follows:

“I have ordered my Commissioner General for the Medical and
Health Service (Professor Dr. Brandt) to take a major part in
all matters concerning protection against chemical warfare (of
the army and the civilian population) and to issue orders to the
stations (military and civilian) established for this purpose.
In questions of the protection of the civilian population
against chemical warfare, he must obtain in advance the approval
of the Reich Air Minister and Commander in Chief of the
Luftwaffe.”

The decree certainly did not contain any order for research in connection with chemical warfare agents.

The reason for the appointment of Professor Karl Brandt was the assumption that the initiation of chemical warfare by the enemy was shortly to be expected. This assumption was based on the fact that intelligence was accumulating, according to which gas was being prepared in large quantities by the enemy. Thus confidential agents reported that poison gas ammunition was being stored at Tunis and Dakar, and these reports were constantly being confirmed.

The greatest alarm was caused by the examination of captured Russian gas masks, which showed that they afforded protection against far stronger concentrations of poison gas than it had so far been believed possible to achieve at the front. Their protective capacity far surpassed that of the German Army and civilian gas masks. From this fact, it could be concluded that the scientists and technicians of the Red Army had succeeded in developing new and particularly effective methods of attack in chemical warfare for known or new chemical warfare agents.

The German measures for gas defense were totally inadequate in number, too. The civilian population in particular was exposed almost without defense to gas attacks because the issue of civilian and infants’ gas masks in many town and country districts was seriously behind schedule. The relevant figures for civilian gas masks in the different supply areas were between 10 and 70 percent of the population to be equipped, the average figure being about 32 percent, and for infants’ gas masks, about 7 percent. This estimate is based on the total number of civilian and infants’ gas masks manufactured up to that date, in relation to the total number of persons entitled to supply. This estimate did not take into consideration the fact that, without doubt a large part of the equipment which, in some cases had been in the hands of the population for years, was no longer completely fit for use on account of faulty unsuitable storage, or had been rendered useless by air raid damage, evacuation of the owners, and other reasons, or lost completely. The losses in civilian gas masks were estimated at about 15,000,000 (almost 50 percent of the total output up to that date) so that for the completion of the initial equipment (without reserves) the manufacture of 45,000,000 gas masks had to be planned.

In view of these facts, Professor Dr. Karl Brandt was assigned the task of providing with the utmost speed for the improvement of gas defense to avert the danger which threatened.

Through the initiative of Professor Brandt, the gas defense program was finally given the highest priority and had an equal standing with the program for the construction of fighter planes and tanks.

I know that Professor Dr. Brandt was most strongly opposed to the propaganda demand spread by extreme Party circles for the initiation of chemical warfare by Germany.

I regularly had to work with Professor Karl Brandt on gas defense and I know that in view of their importance and urgency, he dispatched all matters himself. The Department of Science and Research and its chief, Professor Rostock, were not concerned with these matters.

The N-agent was not one of the chemical warfare agents. It is an incendiary agent composed of chlorine and fluorine (ClF_{3}); this N-agent has never been mentioned in connection with gas defense.

I know that there existed in the Armament Ministry a special commission for the decontamination of drinking water; this had neither been established by Professor Brandt nor was it under his command. The task of this commission was the production of decontamination equipment but not the development of such equipment, and especially not the development of new processes for the decontamination of water. The repeated suggestions made by Professor Haase in this context were therefore beyond the field of activity of the commission. They were discussed, however, at a meeting in December 1944, at which I was present.

At this meeting the representatives of the army and the air raid protection service stated that for their sphere, i. e., for the gas defense of the troops and the civilian population, there was no need to continue this work. Professor Brandt who was present at the meeting had already agreed in advance with the general opinion that the efforts of Haase did not admit of the expectation of any improvement on the experiences presented for consideration, and that they should therefore be rejected. He therefore asked me to work towards this end.

As far as I know, the commission was never concerned with sea-water experiments. In particular, to my knowledge, the commission had no knowledge of human experiments for the testing of agents designed to render sea-water potable.

I can state with certainty that the undertaking of gas experiments on human subjects was never spoken of by Professor Brandt and myself. Moreover, during discussions with army experts concerned with gas defense and chemical warfare, I never heard that Professor Brandt in any way suggested human experiments or otherwise spoke of such experiments.

Nuernberg, 21 April 1947

[Signature] DR. WALTER MIELENZ

-----

[39] Defendant in case of United States vs. Carl Krauch, et al. See Vols. VII and VIII.

5. SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS

a. Introduction

The defendants, Karl Brandt, Handloser, Rostock, Schroeder, Genzken, Gebhardt, Blome, Rudolf Brandt, Mrugowsky, Poppendick, Becker-Freyseng, Oberheuser, and Fischer were charged with special responsibility for and participation in criminal conduct involving sulfanilamide experiments (par. 6 (E) of the indictment). During the trial the prosecution withdrew this charge in the cases of Schroeder, Blome, and Becker-Freyseng. On this charge the defendants Karl Brandt, Handloser, Gebhardt, Mrugowsky, Oberheuser, and Fischer were convicted and the defendants Rostock, Genzken, and Poppendick were acquitted. Regarding the defendant Rudolf Brandt, the judgment makes no reference to this charge.

The prosecution’s summation of the evidence on the sulfanilamide experiments is contained in its final brief against the defendant Gebhardt. An extract from that brief is set forth below on pages 355 to 364. A corresponding summation of the evidence by the defense on these experiments has been selected from the closing brief for the defendant Gebhardt. It appears below on pages 364 to 370. This argumentation is followed by selections from the evidence on pages 371 to 391.

b. Selection from the Argumentation of the Prosecution

_EXTRACT FROM THE CLOSING BRIEF AGAINST
DEFENDANT GEBHARDT_

* * * * *

A. SULFANILAMIDE EXPERIMENTS

Experiments to test the effectiveness of sulfanilamide on infections were conducted in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp from 20 July 1942 until August 1943. These experiments were performed by the defendants Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206._)

Gebhardt personally requested Himmler’s permission to carry out the sulfanilamide experiments and their execution was his responsibility. (_Tr. pp. 4024-5._) He himself carried out the initial operations. (_Tr. p. 4032._)

The experimental subjects consisted of 15 male concentration camp inmates, who were used during the preliminary experiments in July 1942, and 60 Polish women who were experimented on in 5 groups of 12 subjects each.

The purpose of the experiments was stated in a preliminary report by Gebhardt dated 29 August 1942, in which he stated:

“By order of the Reich Leader SS, I started on 20 July 1942 at
Ravensbrueck concentration camp for women on a series of
clinical experiments with the aim of analyzing the sickness
known as gas gangrene, which does not take a uniform course, and
to test the efficacy of the known therapeutic medicaments.

“In addition, the simple infections of injuries which occur as
symptoms in war surgery had also to be tested; and a new
chemo-therapeutic treatment, apart from the known surgical
measures, had to be tried out.” (_NO-2734, Pros. Ex. 473._)

The sulfanilamide experiments, as substantially all of the experiments with which the case is concerned, were directly related to the German war effort. Allied propaganda about the “miracle drug” sulfanilamide was having considerable effect on the confidence of the German soldiers in their medical officers. Heavy casualties had been sustained from gas gangrene on the Russian front in the winter of 1941-42. The theoretical question to be answered by these experiments was whether the wounded should be treated surgically in the front line hospitals or should be treated by field medical officers with sulfanilamide and then sent down the long lines of communication to a base hospital for further treatment. (_Tr. pp. 4010-14._)

The same report cited above states that the defendant Fischer was appointed by Gebhardt as his assistant; Dr. Blumenreuter, a subordinate of the defendant Genzken, made available the surgical instruments and medicines; the defendant Mrugowsky put his laboratory and co-workers at the disposal of Gebhardt; and Dr. Lolling, chief medical officer of all concentration camps, assigned Dr. Schiedlausky and the defendant Oberheuser as co-workers.

This preliminary report concerns itself with the early experiments on 15 male subjects to determine a mode of infection with gangrene. Gebhardt was assisted by the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS, which made available the bacteria and gave advice on the method of bringing about gangrene infection artificially. The experimental technique was described in the report as follows:

“The point was to implant the lymph cultures on the damaged
muscle tissue, to isolate the latter from atmospheric and
humoral oxygen supply, and to subject it to internal tissue
pressure. The inoculation procedure was as follows: a
longitudinal cut of 10 centimetres over the musculus peroneus
longus; after incision into the fascia the muscle was tied up
with forceps in an area the size of a five-Mark piece; an
anaemic peripheral zone was created by injection of 3 cc.
adrenalin and in the area of the damaged muscle the inoculation
material (a gauze strip saturated with bacteria) was imbedded
under the fascia, subcutaneous adipose tissue and skin sutured
in layers.” (_NO-2734, Pros. Ex. 473._)

In the first series of experiments the subjects were infected with staphylococci, streptococci, para oedema malignum, bacteria Fraenkel, and earth. The resulting infections were not considered serious enough, and a conference was held with the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS and the bacteria used in bringing about the infections were changed. Six additional male subjects were then infected, but again the results were not considered serious enough. After further consultation with the collaborators in the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS, the infectious material was changed by adding wood shavings. During the course of these experiments the subjects were treated with various types of sulfanilamides, including catoxyn and marfanil-prontalbin, the latter being strongly recommended by the Army Medical Inspectorate. Efforts continued to make the gangrene infection more serious, and the report concluded with the following paragraph:

“We are now investigating the problem as to why the gangrene in
the present cases did not fully develop. Therefore, the injuring
of the tissue and the exclusion of a muscle from the circulation
of the blood were undertaken during a separate operating
session, _and the large-scale necrosis resulting therefrom, was
to be inoculated with bacteria strain which had already had one
human passage_. For it is only when the really definite clinical
picture of the gangrene has appeared that conclusions may be
drawn on therapy with chemo-therapeutics in connection with
surgical operations.” [Emphasis supplied.] (_NO-2734, Pros. Ex.
473._)

This report was certified as a correct copy by the defendant Poppendick.

In his zealousness to protect his fellow defendants, Gebhardt testified that neither the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS nor the defendant Mrugowsky played any part in these experiments, and that the infectious material was sent to him by Grawitz. (_Tr. p. 4179._) This is clearly contradicted by his own report cited above.

Following the conclusion of the preliminary experiments on the male prisoners, experiments were continued on female Polish inmates. The affidavit of the defendant Fischer states that three series of operations were performed, each involving 10 persons, one using the bacterial culture and fragments of wood, the second using bacterial culture and fragments of glass, and the third using culture plus glass and wood. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206._) These experiments were undertaken during the month of August 1942. While Fischer speaks of experimental groups of 10 persons each, the defendant Gebhardt testified that the groups were composed of 12 experimental subjects. (_Tr. p. 4056._) On 3 September 1942, after 36 women had been experimented on, Reich Physician SS Grawitz visited Ravensbrueck and inspected the experimental subjects. He asked Gebhardt how many deaths had occurred, and when it was reported that there had been none, he stated that the experiments did not conform to battlefield conditions. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206_; _Tr. p. 4057_.) In order to make the gangrene infections still more severe, a new series of experiments involving 24 Polish female inmates was carried out. In this series the circulation of blood through the muscles was interrupted in the area of infection by tying off the muscles on either end. This series of experiments resulted in very serious infections and a number of deaths occurred. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206._)

Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser all admit that three of the experimental subjects died as a result of the experiments. (_NO-228, Pros. Ex. 206_; _Tr. pp. 4059, 5492_.) Other evidence, however, proves that five died as a direct result of the experiments and six were executed by shooting at a later date. (_Tr. pp. 1438, 1449, 797, 845, 863._)

Four of the Polish women who were subjected to these experiments testified before the Tribunal. Most of the women who were used as subjects had been active in a resistance movement. (_Tr. pp. 787, 816, 840, 857._) Only healthy inmates were used. (_Tr. pp. 786, 815, 836, 856, 860-1._) None of them volunteered for the experiments. (_Tr. pp. 789, 819, 842, 844-5, 861._) On the contrary, they protested against the experiments both orally and in writing. (_Tr. pp. 789, 794, 823-5._) They stated that they would have preferred death to continued experiments, since they were convinced that they were to die in any event. (_Tr. pp. 795, 824, 863._) They testified that 74 Polish women, 1 German, and 1 Ukrainian woman were experimented upon. (_Tr. pp. 1438, 796, 818, 862._) Since Gebhardt placed the total number of Polish female experimental subjects in the sulfanilamide experiments at 60, the additional 16 women mentioned by the witnesses may well have been subjects in the bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration experiments. (_Tr. p. 1462._)

The witness Kusmierczuk was one of the subjects in the sulfanilamide experiments. She is a Polish national and arrived in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp in the fall of 1941. (_Tr. p. 857._) She was operated on in October 1942 and a severe infection developed in her case. (_Tr. p. 858._) She remained in the hospital from October 1942 until April 1943, but her wound was still not healed at the time she was discharged from the hospital. Her condition deteriorated and she was readmitted to the hospital on 1 September 1943. (_Tr. p. 860._) She left the hospital the second time in February 1944, but her wound did not finally heal until June 1944. (_Tr. p. 861._) She identified the defendants Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser as having participated in the experiment upon her. (_Tr. p. 860._) Kusmierczuk suffered permanent injuries as a result of this experiment, and her condition was described by the expert witness Dr. Leo Alexander. (_Tr. pp. 864-9._) The post-operational care of this woman was not handled by Gebhardt and Fischer, but by the camp doctors. On the occasion of her second admission to the hospital in September 1943, Kusmierczuk was operated on by Dr. Treite in an effort to cure the deep-seated infection. (_Tr. p. 861._) [See photographs, pp. 898 to 908.]

The expert witness Maczka, who worked as an X-ray technician in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp during the course of the experiments, testified concerning deaths of the five Polish experimental subjects resulting from the sulfanilamide experiments. Weronica Kraska developed typical tetanus symptoms a few days after the experimental operation was performed on her. After a brief illness she died under cramps caused by tetanus. (_Tr. p. 1438._) Kazimiera Kurowska was artificially infected with gangrene bacillus. She was a healthy Polish girl of 23 years. From day to day her leg became blacker and more swollen. She was given care for only the first few days. After that she was taken to Room 4 in the hospital where she lay for days in unbelievable pain and finally died. Maczka was able to observe this case personally and in her opinion immediate amputation would have saved her life. (_Tr. pp. 1439-40._) It is quite clear that if a German soldier’s life had been endangered by gangrene infection, an amputation would have been undertaken immediately. In this experiment, where the very effort was to develop a serious gangrene infection and to test the effects of sulfanilamide preparations, it is equally clear why the leg of Kurowska was not amputated. Aniela Lefanowicz was infected with oedema malignum. Her leg kept swelling more and more, the blood vessels eroded, and she died from bleeding. Maczka testified that the blood vessels should have been tied off and an amputation carried out in order to save her life. She was completely neglected after the first 2 or 3 days. (_Tr. pp. 1440-1._) Zofia Kiecol died under similar circumstances. (_Tr. p. 1441._)

Alfreda Prus was infected with oedema malignum the same day as the witnesses Kusmierczuk, Kiecol, and Lefanowicz. She was a beautiful, young 21-year-old girl, and a university student. She proved to be stronger than Kiecol and Lefanowicz and for that reason she lived a few days longer. She suffered terrible pain and finally died of hemorrhage. (_Tr. pp. 1142-3._) Kusmierczuk was the only subject to survive that series of experiments. (_Tr. p. 1443._)

It is hardly necessary to point out that all of the experimental subjects suffered severe pain and torture. (_Tr. pp. 790-1, 802, 820, 842, 859_; _NO-876, Pros. Ex. 225_; _NO-871, Pros. Ex. 227_; _NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228._) The Tribunal was able to observe for itself the mutilations to which the Polish witnesses were subjected, and pictures of their scars were introduced to form a permanent part of the record. (_NO-1079a, b, and c, Pros. Ex. 209_; _NO-1081a, and b, Pros. Ex. 211_; _NO-1082a, b, and c, Pros. Ex. 214_; _NO-1080a-g, Pros. Ex. 219._)

The post-operational care of the experimental subjects was entirely inadequate. (_NO-873, Pros. Ex. 226._) Many of the subjects were given neither medicine nor morphine by order of defendant Oberheuser. (_NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228._) They were given bandages from time to time when the doctors felt like it. Sometimes they waited 3 days, sometimes 4 days. There was a terrible odor of pus in the rooms. The girls were forced to help each other. (_Tr. p. 1444._) Post-operational care, such as it was, was administered by the camp doctors. The witness Broel-Plater testified that:

“My leg pained me; I felt severe pain, and blood flowed from my
leg. At night we were all alone without any care. I heard only
the screaming of my fellow prisoners, and I heard also that they
asked for water. There was nobody to give us any water or bed
pans.” (_Tr. p. 790._)

The witness Karolewska testified that:

“I was in my room and I made the remark to fellow prisoners that
we had been operated on under very bad conditions and were left
here in this room, and that we were not given even the
possibility to recover. This remark must have been heard by a
German nurse who was sitting in the corridor because the door of
our room leading to the corridor was open. The German nurse
entered the room and told us to get up and dress. We answered
that we could not follow her order because we had great pains in
our legs and could not walk. Then the German nurse came into our
room with Dr. Oberheuser. Dr. Oberheuser told us to dress and go
to the dressing room. We put on our dresses; and, being unable
to walk, we had to hop on one leg going to the operating room.
After one hop we had to rest. Dr. Oberheuser did not allow
anybody to help us. When we arrived at the operating room quite
exhausted, Dr. Oberheuser appeared and told us to go back
because a change of dressing would not take place that day. I
could not walk, but somebody, a prisoner whose name I do not
remember, helped me to get back to the room.” (_Tr. p. 822._)

At least five human lives were sacrificed in the sulfanilamide experiments, while an additional six were shot after having survived the operations. All the surviving victims suffered terrible pains and were crippled for life. Nevertheless, the experiments were not even scientifically successful. The results, as reported by Gebhardt and Fischer at the Third Conference of the Consulting Physicians of the Wehrmacht at the Military Medical Academy in Berlin in May 1943, were not adopted, and medical directives were issued which required the continued use of sulfanilamide. (_Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser 3, Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser Ex. 10._) The sulfanilamide experiments were entirely unnecessary, since similar results could have been achieved by the treatment of wound infections of German soldiers normally contracted during the course of the war. (_Tr. pp. 3334, 3338._)

Gebhardt does not seriously contend that the experimental subjects were volunteers. He admitted that he did not know whether the women consented. He testified he was not interested in that. He left it to the “legal authorities.” He did not discuss this matter with Himmler. (_Tr. p. 4214._) By legal authorities, Gebhardt meant Himmler who, as he said, “had the power to execute thousands of people by a stroke of his pen.” (_Tr. p. 4025._) Gebhardt, however, showed no interest whatever in the moral or legal character of that power. At one point in his testimony, he stated that the subjects were nonvolunteers forced to submit to the experiments by the State. (_Tr. p. 4064._) At still another point, they were “more or less volunteers, condemned persons.” (_Tr. p. 4021._)

Gebhardt’s defense, if it can be dignified with that word, is rather that the Polish women had been condemned to death for participation in a resistance movement and that by undergoing the experiments, voluntarily or otherwise, they were to have their death sentences commuted to some lesser degree of punishment whereby they would at least not be executed. This was no bargain reached with the experimental subjects; their wishes were not consulted in the matter. It was, according to Gebhardt, left to the good faith of someone unnamed to see to it the death sentence was not carried out on the survivors of the experiments. Certainly Gebhardt assumed no responsibility, or even interest, in this matter.

The prosecution points out, in connection with this alleged defense, that the proof shows that the experimental subjects who testified before this Tribunal were never so much as accorded a trial; they had no opportunity to defend themselves against whatever crimes they were said to have committed. They were simply arrested and interrogated by the Gestapo in Poland and sent to a concentration camp. They had never so much as been informed that they had been _marked for_, not sentenced to, death. (_Tr. p. 831._) Article 30 of the Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land annexed to the Hague Convention expressly provides that even a spy “shall not be punished without previous trial.” The alleged defense of Gebhardt is accordingly without merit.

Gebhardt would have the Tribunal believe that _but for_ the experiments all these Polish girls would be dead; that he preserved the evidence now being used against him. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is no proof in the record that these women would have been executed if they had not undergone the experiments. The witness Maczka is living proof of the contrary. She was arrested for resistance activities on 11 September 1941, and shipped to Ravensbrueck on 13 September. (_Tr. p. 1433._) She was not an experimental subject yet she lives today. Substantially all the Polish experimental subjects arrived in Ravensbrueck in September 1941. (_Tr. pp. 788, 817, 840._) These girls had not been executed by August 1942 when the experiments began. Indeed, it was a surprise to Gebhardt, according to his testimony, that they were used at all since during July 1942 the experiments were conducted on men. There were some 700 Polish girls in that transport. (_NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228_; _Tr. p. 4216._) There is no evidence that a substantial number were ever executed even though most of them were not experimented on.

No, the proof has shown beyond controversy that these Polish women _could not have been legally executed_. The right to grant pardons in cases of death sentences was exclusively vested in Hitler by a decree of 1 February 1935, Reich Law Gazette [RGBl], I, page 74. (_NO-3070, Pros. Ex. 531._) On 2 May 1935, Hitler delegated the right to make _negative_ decisions on pardon applications to the Reich Minister of Justice. (_NO-3071, Pros. Ex. 532._) On 30 January 1940 (_RGBl, I, p. 399_), Hitler delegated to the Governor General for the occupied Polish territories the authority to grant pardons and to make denying decisions in pardon matters for the occupied Polish territories. (_NO-3072, Pros. Ex. 533._) By edict, dated 8 March 1940, VOB1 GGP I p. 99, the Governor General of occupied Poland ordered with reference to the execution of the right to pardon in the case of death sentences that:

“The execution of a death sentence pronounced by a regular
court, a special court or a police court martial _shall take
place only when my decision has been issued not to make use of
my right to pardon_.” [Emphasis supplied.] (_NO-3073, Pros. Ex.
534._)

Assuming _arguendo_ that the experimental subjects had all committed substantial crimes, that they were all properly tried by a duly constituted court of law, that they were legally sentenced to death, it is still clear from the decrees set forth above that these women could not have been legally executed until such time as the Governor General of occupied Poland had decided in each case not to make use of his pardon right. There has been no proof that the Governor General had ever acted with respect to pardoning the Polish women used in the experiments, or, for that matter, any substantial number of those not used in the experiments.

The only reason these 700 Polish women were transported from Warsaw and Lublin to Ravensbrueck was because the Governor General had not approved their execution. Otherwise they would have been immediately executed in Poland. At the very least, these women were entitled to remain unmolested so long as the Governor General took no action. He may never have acted or, when he did, he may have acted favorably on the pardon.

The affidavit of Schiedlausky, the camp doctor at Ravensbrueck, shows that the Governor General had not turned down a pardon when the experiments started. He said on page four of the original:

“Polish women who had been sentenced to death by court martial
and who were awaiting execution, after their sentences had been
approved by the Governor General, were chosen as subjects.”
(_NO-508, Pros. Ex. 224._)

At still a later point, on page 15 of the original, he said:

“During my tour of duty at Ravensbrueck, I estimate that about
25 women were executed by shooting. They were exclusively Polish
women, who were already prisoners, _whose sentences were only
approved after a long time by the Governor General_.” [Emphasis
added.]

Schiedlausky was in Ravensbrueck from December 1941 until the middle of August 1943. During that long period of time only 25 of over 700 Polish inmates were made eligible for execution by action of the Governor General. Who is to say that the majority of these 700 Polish women did not live through the war even though they did not undergo the experiments? Certainly it was incumbent on the defense to prove the contrary by a preponderance of the evidence. This it did not do by any evidence.

The defendants Gebhardt, Fischer, and Oberheuser cannot claim that they believed in good faith that the Polish women could have been legally executed. Even the camp doctor Schiedlausky knew that the Governor General had to approve the execution. Moreover, the large number of 700 women being sentenced to death at this early stage of the war was enough to put any reasonable person on notice that something was wrong.

Additionally, the uncontradicted evidence proves that survival of the experiments was no guarantee whatever of avoiding execution in any event. _At least six of the experimental subjects were executed after having survived the experiments._ (_Tr. pp. 1449, 797, 845, 863._) The names of the Polish girls who were shot were Pajaczkowska, Gans, Zielonka, Rakowska, Sobolewska, and Gutek. (_NO-873, Pros. Ex. 226_; _NO-861, Pros. Ex. 232_.) It was not a question of experimentation _or_ execution but experimentation _and_ execution.

Indeed, in February 1945, an effort was made to execute all the experimental subjects. They were ordered to report to one block and remain there. They were informed that they would be transferred to the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, but it was common knowledge that Gross-Rosen was already in the hands of the Allies. They, therefore, knew that they were going to be executed and so took different identification numbers and hid themselves. This was possible because of disorganization in the camp. (_Tr. pp. 1450-1, 862-3_; _NO-876, Pros. Ex. 225_; _NO-877, Pros. Ex. 228_.)

If one takes the case of the defense at its face value, the Tribunal is in effect asked to rule that it is legal for military doctors of a nation at war to experiment on political prisoners of an occupied country who are condemned to death, to experiment on them in such a way that they may suffer death, excruciating pain, mutilation, and permanent disability—all this without their consent and in direct aid of the military potential of their enemy. There is no valid reason for limiting such a decision to civilian prisoners; the experiment would certainly have been no worse had it been performed on Polish or American prisoners of war. It is impossible to consider seriously the ruling being sought for by the defense.

c. Selection from the Argumentation of the Defense

_EXTRACT FROM THE CLOSING BRIEF FOR
DEFENDANT GEBHARDT_

* * * * *

_The Sulfanilamide Experiments_

Of all medical experiments forming the subjects of the indictment, the experiments for testing sulfanilamides were undoubtedly the most directly connected with the war. The problem of wound infection is one with which every nation at war must concern itself especially in modern warfare. This problem is not only one of great importance to the life and health of the individual wounded soldier, but it may have a decisive effect on the strategical position and on the outcome of the war itself through the resultant gaps in the ranks. Already the First World War showed that the majority of soldiers do not die on the battlefield itself and that in most cases death is not the direct result of a wound, but that the heavy losses must be attributed to infection of wounds received. These experiences have been confirmed in the Second World War and the special conditions prevailing in Russia and the climatic conditions due to the winter there have shown even more than in the First World War that wound infection was a medical and tactical problem of the highest importance for the troops and their health. As regards details, I refer to statements made in this connection on the witness stand by several defendants in these proceedings.

Consequently, it could not come as a surprise that in this war, too, efforts were made to deal with wound infection not only by using surgical measures, but that a way was sought to prevent the formation and spreading of bacterial infections or at least to confine them within reasonable limits by using chemical preparations.

Such efforts seemed the more called for as the war in the East not only meant an immense strain on the resources in material and personnel in general, but also in view of the fact that especially the supply of the army troops and the Waffen SS with medical officers and, above all, with trained field surgeons became more and more difficult. Had it been possible to assist the field medical officers at the front and at the main dressing stations with a reliable and effective chemo-therapeutic preparation against bacterial wound infection, progress of vast importance would have been achieved.

On the other hand, however, it was impossible to overlook the fact that the introduction of a chemo-therapeutic preparation which did not operate safely involved a certain amount of danger to an effective medical care of the wounded and consequently to the war potential of the wounded and consequently to the war potential of the German Wehrmacht and its striking power. In his lecture on the chemo-therapy of wound infection as delivered before the First Conference East of the Consulting Specialists on 18 May 1943, which I submitted as part of the report dealing with this conference, (_Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser 1, Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser Ex. 6._) Professor Dr. Rostock referred to the great danger of chemo-therapy, i. e., the possibility “of making negligent physicians careless in the surgical aspect of wound dressing, since they may place a certain trust in chemo-therapy.”

This warning was all the more in order since, at that time there was not only complete uncertainty as regards the effects of sulfanilamides, but also because there was a divergence in opinions as to the efficacy of this preparation. It has been clearly shown by the evidence that, in spite of close observation of the effects of sulfanilamides in peace time and in war, it was impossible to answer this question. Opinions were very much divided. While some were convinced of the efficacy of these preparations in connection with wound infections, and ascribed extraordinarily good results to them, others were of the opinion that these chemical preparations could at the best be used as a supplement and that if used by themselves, they did not have the properties to prevent bacterial infection resulting from combat wounds. With regard to the details I refer to the statements of the defendants Karl Brandt, Handloser, Rostock, Gebhardt, and Fischer and to Gebhardt Exhibits 6, 7, and 10 as submitted by me during the hearing of the evidence.

In this respect, it is highly interesting to review the scientific discussions of the consulting specialists as contained in the report on the First Conference East on 18 and 19 May 1942. (_Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser 1, Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser Ex. 6._) These discussions which took place prior to the sulfanilamide experiments comprising the subject of the indictment give a true picture of the situation as it was at that time with regard to the efficacy of sulfanilamides.

In this respect we are able to distinguish three sharply defined groups. In the group which rejected the chemo-therapeutic treatment of wound infection, Geheimrat Professor Sauerbruch was the leader. He emphatically voiced the opinion that these chemical preparations tend to obscure surgical work and to lead to perfunctory treatment. He requested that the preparations should be critically tested, that is to say, the test should be made by surgeons experienced in general surgery.

In the other camp there were surgeons who claimed to have obtained extraordinarily favorable results in the chemo-therapeutical treatment of bacterially infected wounds. Among them was Dr. Krueger, the Berlin professor of surgery, who claimed to have observed a favorable effect of sulfanilamide in as many as 5,000 cases.

To the third group belonged the surgeons, bacteriologists, and pathologists who took the view that nothing definite could be said as yet as to the effects and the efficacy of sulfanilamides as agents in the fight against bacterially infected wounds and that further tests along these lines would have to be made.

Thus it can be said that after the experiences of the Russian winter campaign of 1941-1942, the fight against bacterial wound infections, and the question of the efficacy of the sulfanilamides had become a military-medical and medical-tactical problem of the first importance, about which opinions differed widely. A solution of this problem was the more urgent as an answer had to be found quickly, and on the other hand the fact was not to be disregarded that the experiences gained during nearly 10 years of peace and war in clinics as well as in laboratories were insufficient to answer this question.

_The Order for the Execution of these Experiments_

The evidence has shown that the order to ascertain the effectiveness of the sulfanilamides by experiments on human beings was given directly by the Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Wehrmacht. Hitler’s order was not at first submitted by Himmler to the defendant Gebhardt, but to Dr. Grawitz, Reich Physician of the SS and police.

However, the evidence showed further that another circumstance arose which from the point of view of time at least caused the order for these experiments to be given, viz, the death of the Chief of the Reich Security Main Office, General of the Waffen SS Reinhardt Heydrich, who in May 1942 was assassinated in Prague. For the details I refer to the testimony of Gebhardt in the witness box on this matter. Heydrich’s death is connected with the experiments themselves only insofar as, at that time, the charge was leveled that Heydrich’s life could have been saved if sulfanilamides, and especially a certain sulfanilamide preparation, had been administered to the wounded man in sufficient quantities. The whole problem of sulfanilamide therapy came to the fore once more in this one case, and then in such an obvious manner that the Head of State himself gave the order to clarify by way of all-out experiments the question which for a long time had been of general importance for the fighting troops at the front.

Within the scope of this evaluation of evidence, it is irrelevant to enter into the details which resulted in the experiments being carried out by the defendant Gebhardt himself. Against the strict order of the Reich Physician SS Grawitz, Gebhardt carried out the experiments not by deliberately inflicting bullet wounds but by causing an infection while observing all possible precautionary measures.

It was further shown by the evidence that the experiments were started with 15 habitual criminals who had been sentenced to death and who had been transferred from the concentration camp Sachsenhausen to Ravensbrueck. In view of the fact that this part of the experiment is not a subject of the indictment, it seems to be unnecessary to enter into this matter. It should, however, be kept in mind that at the conference on 1 June 1942, at which the conditions for the experiments were determined in detail—the defendant Gebhardt has described this conference in detail and I am referring to this—it was understood that the experiments should be carried out with the male habitual criminals who had been sentenced to death and who were to be pardoned in case of survival.

_The Experimental Arrangements for the Sulfanilamide Experiments_

It was shown by the evidence that the experiments for testing the effectiveness of the sulfanilamides were carried out in three groups. The first group included 15 men (habitual criminals). This group has nothing to do with the charges of the indictment and it is therefore superfluous to enter into this matter more closely.

The second group included 36 female prisoners who had been members of the Polish Resistance Movement and who, for this reason, had been sentenced to death by the German court martial in the General Government. This second group was divided into 3 subgroups of 12 experimental persons each. As to the particulars of the provisions for the experiments, I refer to the testimony of the defendants Gebhardt and Fischer in the witness box. Contrary to the first group, contact substances were used in this second group to accelerate the process of infection. The contact substances were inserted into the open wound together with the germs. Sterile and pulverized glass and sterile wood particles were used as contact substances. These contact substances took the place of earth and uniform particles and were to produce war-like conditions for the wounds, without, however, producing at the same time the general dangers created by infection of the wound by earth and parts of clothing.

As in the case of the first group, staphylococci, streptococci, and gas gangrene bacilli were used as agents. But the contention of the indictment that tetanus germs were also used is incorrect. On the contrary, the evidence has proved that the treatment of tetanus did not come within the scope of these experiments. There was all the less reason for this as it was realized long ago by German military surgery that the sulfanilamide preparations are not suitable for the effective prevention of traumatic tetanus. Here I refer to the directives for the chemo-therapeutical treatment of wound infection which were issued at the First Working Conference East of the Consulting Specialists in May 1943 (_Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser 1, Gebhardt, Fischer, Oberheuser Ex. 6_)—that is prior to the performance of the sulfanilamide experiments charged in the indictment. In these directives it is expressly pointed out that the outbreak of traumatic tetanus cannot be prevented by means of the sulfanilamides and that tetanus anti-toxin has to be administered as usual.

During the presentation of evidence, only the witness Dr. Maczka maintained that tetanus was actually used in one individual case. This witness did not make her own observations of the case but drew conclusions based exclusively on the pathological picture presented by one of the experimental subjects according to her statements. In view of the fact that even according to the testimony of this witness tetanus bacilli were employed only in one individual case, the assertion of this witness can hardly be taken as a true representation of the facts, for if it had really been the intention of the defendant Gebhardt to determine the effect of sulfanilamides on tetanus too, one experimental subject would certainly not have been sufficient, and more experiments would have been necessary before a final decision regarding this question could possibly have been made.

The third group consisted of 24 experimental subjects who were not treated with any sort of contagion—unlike the procedure applied to the second group—but only had part of the muscle ligatured. The defendants Gebhardt and Fischer have given detailed evidence regarding these new experimental arrangements, how they originated, what considerations had to be regarded, and what part was played by SS Reich Physician Dr. Grawitz. With regard to these details I refer to the testimony of the defendants in the witness box.

The experimental subjects were treated with sulfanilamides as described by the defendants in the witness box. A few persons were not treated with sulfanilamides but were used as control subjects. But that did not mean that these persons were not treated at all. As the evidence has proved, all experimental subjects were treated, namely by surgical measures if the sulfanilamides did not prove effective against the inflammation. For this reason too the experimental subjects to whom sulfanilamides were applied, and where the inflammation did not pass away by itself, were given direct surgical treatment under observance of the generally recognized principles of surgery, particularly as developed in Germany by Gebhardt’s teacher Professor Dr. Lexer. This direct surgical treatment resulted in the scars which the court has seen on the experimental subjects questioned as witnesses. As explained by Professor Dr. Alexander, the expert produced by the prosecution, these scars are the result not of the bacteriological infection but of the operations performed in order to eliminate this infection. In the prosecution case, four experimental subjects were called to give evidence. In addition, the prosecution submitted a series of affidavits given by other persons used as experimental subjects. The statements of the four witnesses questioned in court coincide largely with the testimony given by the defendants Gebhardt, Oberheuser, and Fischer themselves in the witness box. For this reason alone it appears expedient and sufficient for the pronouncement of a just sentence and for the establishment of the true facts to base the sentence exclusively on the testimony of these four witnesses together with the statements of the defendants themselves. This is not only in accordance with the principle of direct and oral proceedings in court prevailing in any modern criminal procedure and which should not be departed from without urgent reason, but also such handling of the case seems suitable because the statements of the four witnesses are identical essentially so that they themselves, together with the statements given by the defendants, can be regarded as a safe basis for a finding—apart from one point which I shall go into later. In addition, the affidavits submitted by the prosecution not only differ in essential points from the statements made by the witnesses in court, but are inconsistent and contradictory in themselves as well. This is shown, above all, by the fact that in several of these affidavits contentions are quite obviously made which are not based on personal and factual observation, but have become known to these witnesses by hearsay. The affidavits, moreover, fail to represent the circumstances in clear chronological order, which makes the whole matter all the more doubtful, as it was proved by the evidence that in the Ravensbrueck camp experiments were obviously also performed by other physicians with whom the defendant in this case had no connection.

Considerable doubts also exist regarding the statements made by the witness Dr. Maczka. The prosecution has submitted two affidavits given by this witness as part of its evidence. When questioned in court, this witness could not maintain the most incriminating contentions which appeared in the two affidavits. Under these circumstances, the court has to consider whether it regards the statements of this witness as sufficiently reliable to enter into the judgment. I would answer this question in the negative, not only because she had to revoke the most essential points of her previous affidavits, but because a large part of her testimony was based not on her own observations, but either on information obtained from other prisoners or on conclusions drawn by her.

* * * * *

d. Evidence

_Prosecution Documents_

Doc. No. Pros. Ex. No. Description of Document Page
NO-228 206 Affidavit of defendant Fischer, 371
19 November 1946, concerning
sulfanilamide experiments
conducted in the concentration
camp Ravensbrueck.
NO-472 234 Affidavit of the defendant 376
Fischer, 21 October 1946,
supplementing his affidavit
concerning sulfanilamide
experiments.
NO-1080 A, E, F 219 A, E, F Exposures of the witness Maria 901
Kusmierczuk who underwent
sulfanilamide and bone
experiments while an inmate of
the Ravensbrueck concentration
camp. (_See Selections from
Photographic Evidence of the
Prosecution._)
NO-1082 A, C 214 A, C Exposures of the witness Jadwiga 903
Dzido who underwent
sulfanilamide and bone
experiments while an inmate of
the Ravensbrueck concentration
camp. (_See Selections from
Photographic Evidence of the
Prosecution._)

_Defense Documents_