Chapter X: Part I: , p. 1457.) Moreover, there is no proof that any of the (7)

“(_L_) _Incendiary Bomb Experiments._ From about November 1943
to about January 1944 experiments were conducted at the
Buchenwald concentration camp to test the effect of various
pharmaceutical preparations on phosphorus burns. These burns
were inflicted on experimental subjects with phosphorus matter
taken from incendiary bombs, and caused severe pain, suffering,
and serious bodily injury. The defendants Genzken, Gebhardt,
Mrugowsky, and Poppendick are charged with special
responsibility for and participation in these crimes.”

In addition to the medical experiments, the nature and purpose of which have been outlined as alleged, certain of the defendants are charged with criminal activities involving murder, torture, and ill-treatment of non-German nationals as follows:

“7. Between June 1943 and September 1944 the defendants Rudolf
Brandt and Sievers * * * were principals in, accessories to,
ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and were connected
with plans and enterprises involving the murder of civilians and
members of the armed forces of nations then at war with the
German Reich and who were in the custody of the German Reich in
exercise of belligerent control. One hundred twelve Jews were
selected for the purpose of completing a skeleton collection for
the Reich University of Strasbourg. Their photographs and
anthropological measurements were taken. Then they were killed.
Thereafter, comparison tests, anatomical research, studies
regarding race, pathological features of the body, form and size
of the brain, and other tests were made. The bodies were sent to
Strasbourg and defleshed.

“8. Between May 1942 and January 1944[57] the defendants Blome
and Rudolf Brandt * * * were principals in, accessories to,
ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and were connected
with plans and enterprises involving the murder and mistreatment
of tens of thousands of Polish nationals who were civilians and
members of the armed forces of a nation then at war with the
German Reich and who were in the custody of the German Reich in
exercise of belligerent control. These people were alleged to be
infected with incurable tuberculosis. On the ground of insuring
the health and welfare of Germans in Poland, many tubercular
Poles were ruthlessly exterminated while others were isolated in
death camps with inadequate medical facilities.

“9. Between September 1939 and April 1945 the defendants Karl
Brandt, Blome, Brack, and Hoven * * * were principals in,
accessories to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, and
were connected with plans and enterprises involving the
execution of the so-called ‘euthanasia’ program of the German
Reich in the course of which the defendants herein murdered
hundreds of thousands of human beings, including nationals of
German-occupied countries. This program involved the systematic
and secret execution of the aged, insane, incurably ill, of
deformed children, and other persons, by gas, lethal injections,
and divers other means in nursing homes, hospitals, and asylums.
Such persons were regarded as ‘useless eaters’ and a burden to
the German war machine. The relatives of these victims were
informed that they died from natural causes, such as heart
failure. German doctors involved in the ‘euthanasia’ program
were also sent to the eastern occupied countries to assist in
the mass extermination of Jews.”

Counts two and three of the indictment conclude with the averment that the crimes and atrocities which have been delineated “constitute violations 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, 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 the 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 SS Totenkopf 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 PROOF AS TO WAR 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 scientists working solely on their own responsibility, but were the product of coordinated policy-making 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 them.

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, over-reaching, 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 may 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 _a priori_ 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 probably 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 ten 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 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 proved, 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 law 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 charged 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, abetted, 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 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 Workers’ 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 [Supreme Commander 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 Keitel.

Under the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht were the Supreme [High] Commands of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Supreme [High] Command of the Navy (OKM) was headed by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. The Supreme [High] Command of the Army (OKH) was headed by Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch until December 1941, and thereafter by Hitler himself. The Supreme [High] Command of the Air Force (OKL) was headed by Reich Marshal 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 [Heeres] 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 Professor Schreiber and Professor Rostock; Oberstabsaerzte Drs. Scholz, Eyer, Bernhard Schmidt and Craemer; Oberstabsaerzte Professor Gutzeit and Professor Wirth; Stabsarzt Professor Kliewe and Professor Killian, and Stabsarzt Dr. Dohmen. Under his supervision in either or both of his official capacities were the Military Medical Academy, the Typhus and Virus Institute of the OKH at Cracow [Krakow] and Lemberg [Lvov], 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; Becker-Freyseng, a consultant for aviation medicine in Schroeder’s office; Ruff, 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 sea water.

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 Schutzstaffel 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 adviser 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 Oberheuser, who in December 1940 became a physician at the Ravensbrueck 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. Leonardo Conti. Conti had two principal capacities (1) he was the State Secretary 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 Reichsfuehrer 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 the 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, Professor 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 Professor 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 were subsidized and under the patronage
of the Reichsfuehrer SS who was a trustee of the
foundation.”[58]

We shall now discuss the evidence as it pertains to the cases of the individual defendants.

The evidence conclusively shows that the German word “_Fleckfieber_” which is translated in the indictment as “spotted fever” is more correctly translated by “typhus.” This is admitted, and in this judgment, in accord with the evidence, we use the word typhus instead of “spotted fever.”

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 Typhus 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 (RGBL. 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 Medical 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 [Reich Commissioner for Medical and Health
Services] 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, refers to 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 W8, 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:

“I not only relieve physicians, medical practitioners and
dentists of their pledge to secrecy towards my Commissioner
General Professor Dr. med. Karl Brandt, 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 ill-boding 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 Ravensbrueck for a period of about a year prior to August 1943. 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 deaths 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 nonvolunteers, 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. He admitted receiving a report from Hirt, and that one reading the report could reach the conclusion that human beings had been experimented upon in connection with injuries from Lost gas.

FREEZING, MALARIA, BONE, MUSCLE AND NERVE REGENERATION AND BONE TRANSPLANTATION, SEA-WATER, STERILIZATION, AND TYPHUS EXPERIMENTS

The evidence does not show beyond a reasonable doubt that Karl Brandt is criminally responsible on account of the experiments with which he is charged under these specifications.

The defendant Karl Brandt certainly knew that medical experiments were carried out in concentration camps upon human subjects, that the experiments caused suffering, injury, and death. By letter bearing date 26 January 1943 Karl Brandt wrote to Wolff at the Fuehrer’s (Hitler’s) headquarters asking if it were possible to carry out “nutritional experiments” in concentration camps. The nature of the desired experiments does not appear, nor does the evidence show whether or not such experiments were ever made. The letter, however, indicates Brandt’s knowledge of the fact that human subjects could be made available for experimentation.

Defendant Rudolf Brandt, by letter dated 4 September 1944, wrote Baumert, evidently a member of Himmler’s staff, stating that Karl Brandt had telephoned and requested that Himmler direct that 10 prisoners from Oranienburg should be made available as of the next day for two days to test a certain drug. The letter stated that the prisoners would not be injured by the test.

It appears from an official note filed by Kliewe of the Army Medical Inspectorate, dated 23 February 1944, referring to a conversation with the defendant Blome on that date, that experiments concerning biological warfare connected with plant parasites, etc., had been made; that up to that date no experiments had been conducted in the field of human medicine; but that such experiments were necessary and were in contemplation. The memorandum continues:

“Field Marshal Keitel has given permission to build;
Reichsfuehrer SS and Generalarzt Professor Brandt have assured
him of vast support. By request of Field Marshal Keitel the
armed forces are not to have a responsible share in the
experiments, since experiments will also be conducted on human
beings.”

It is significant that Hitler’s Chief of Staff should deem it advisable to direct that the Wehrmacht should have nothing to do with experiments on human subjects.

EUTHANASIA

Defendant Karl Brandt is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with criminal activities in connection with the euthanasia program of the German Reich, in the course of which thousands of human beings, including nationals of German occupied countries, were killed between 1 September 1939 and April 1945.

On his own letterhead Hitler, at Berlin, 1 September 1939, signed a secret order reading as follows:

“Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Brandt, M.D., are charged with the
responsibility of enlarging the authority of certain physicians
to be designated by name in such a manner that persons who,
according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most
careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a
mercy death.”

Bouhler was holding a high office in the NSDAP. He was not a physician.

The foregoing order was not based on any previously existing German law; and the only authority for the execution of euthanasia was the secret order issued by Hitler.

The evidence shows that Bouhler and Karl Brandt, who were jointly charged with the administration of euthanasia, entered upon the duties assigned them in connection with the setting up of processes for carrying out the order. A budget was adopted; the method of determining candidates for euthanasia was established; a patients’ transport corporation was organized to convey the selected patients to the gassing chambers. Questionnaires were prepared which were forwarded to the heads of mental institutions, one questionnaire to be accomplished concerning each inmate and then returned to the Ministry of the Interior. At the Ministry the completed questionnaires were examined by so-called experts, who registered their professional opinions thereon, returned them to the appropriate office for final examination, and orders were issued for those patients who by this process were finally selected for extermination. Thereafter the condemned patients were gathered at collection points, from whence they were transported to euthanasia stations and killed by gassing.

Utmost secrecy was demanded of the executioners throughout the entire procedure. Persons actively concerned in the program were required to subscribe a written oath of secrecy and were warned that violation of that oath would result in most serious personal consequences. The consent of the relatives of the “incurables” was not even obtained; the question of secrecy being deemed so important.

Shortly after the commencement of operations for the disposal of “incurables”, the program was extended to Jews, and then to concentration camp inmates. In this latter phase of the program, prisoners deemed by the examining doctors to be unfit or useless for labor were ruthlessly weeded out and sent to the extermination stations in great numbers.

Karl Brandt maintains that he is not implicated in the extermination of Jews or of concentration camp inmates; that his official responsibility for euthanasia ceased at the close of the summer of 1941, at which time euthanasia procedures against “incurables” were terminated by order of Hitler.

It is difficult to believe this assertion, but even if it be true, we cannot understand how this fact would aid the defendant. The evidence is conclusive that almost at the outset of the program non-German nationals were selected for euthanasia and exterminated. Needless to say, these persons did not voluntarily consent to become the subjects of this procedure.

Karl Brandt admits that after he had disposed of the medical decisions required to be made by him with regard to the initial program which he maintains was valid, he did not follow the program further but left the administrative details of execution to Bouhler. If this be true, his failure to follow up a program for which he was charged with special responsibility constituted the gravest breach of duty. A discharge of that duty would have easily revealed what now is so manifestly evident from the record; that whatever may have been the original aim of the program, its purposes were prostituted by men for whom Brandt was responsible, and great numbers of non-German nationals were exterminated under its authority.

We have no doubt but that Karl Brandt—as he himself testified—is a sincere believer in the administration of euthanasia to persons hopelessly ill, whose lives are burdensome to themselves and an expense to the state or to their families. The abstract proposition of whether or not euthanasia is justified in certain cases of the class referred to is no concern of this Tribunal. Whether or not a state may validly enact legislation which imposes euthanasia upon certain classes of its citizens is likewise a question which does not enter into the issues. Assuming that it may do so, the Family of Nations is not obligated to give recognition to such legislation when it manifestly gives legality to plain murder and torture of defenseless and powerless human beings of other nations.

The evidence is conclusive that persons were included in the program who were non-German nationals. The dereliction of the defendant Brandt contributed to their extermination. That is enough to require this Tribunal to find that he is criminally responsible in the program.

We find that Karl Brandt was responsible for, aided and abetted, took a consenting part in, and was connected with plans and enterprises involving medical experiments conducted on non-German nationals against their consent, and in other atrocities, in the course of which murders, brutalities, cruelties, tortures and other inhumane acts were committed. To the extent that these criminal acts did not constitute war crimes they constituted crimes against humanity.

MEMBERSHIP IN CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION

Under count four of the indictment Karl Brandt is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. The evidence shows that Karl Brandt became a member of the SS in July 1934 and remained in this organization at least until April 1945. As a member of the SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.