Chapter XLV: Section 2: A III f (10)

The Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich Adjutant’s office Adj. 2019-43 top secret

[Pencil note] For my files

Berlin W 8 Leipziger Str. #3
Telephone: 120044
Headquarters, 12 Nov. 1943

2 copies, 1st copy

[initialed] Mi 15 Nov.

To the State Secretary for Aviation and Inspector General of the Air Force, Field Marshal Milch.

Reich Air Ministry

Forwarded herewith for your attention and further handling are the uncorrected stenographic notes on the conference at the Reich Marshal’s [Office] on 28 October 1943.

Inclosure:

Notes on conference No. 116-13

Top Secret—4th copy.

[signature] BRAUCHITSCH
Lieutenant Colonel, GSC and Chief Adjutant

EXTRACTS FROM TESTIMONY OF DEFENSE WITNESS MAX KOENIG[136]

_DIRECT EXAMINATION_

DR. BERGOLD: Will you please give the Court your first name and second name?

WITNESS KOENIG: Max Koenig.

Q. When were you born?

A. 19 August 1897.

Q. What was your last position in the war with the Wehrmacht?

A. Lieutenant colonel in the reserve.

Q. And where were you?

A. With the commander of the Luftwaffe in Rechlin in charge of the testing station.

Q. Is it known to you, Witness, whether and what sort of orders, if at all, Milch gave with reference to the treatment of so-called terror pilots?

A. My department was subordinate to the GL, and therefore received orders from that office concerning the treatment of pilots who had made emergency landings, and such orders were to the effect to inform the Buergermeister [mayors] and the councillors that the prisoners who had made emergency landings should be sent to Oberursel at once.

Q. Then were these orders given or were they repeated in certain cases?

A. I myself went there in 1942 to that office and I remember very well that the first orders in this respect were given in 1943 and then in 1944.

Q. Have these orders provided for the taking of prisoners of all pilots by the Luftwaffe and taking them to Oberursel?

A. The GL ordered, followed by the threatening of heavy punishment if the orders were not followed, that all pilots who bailed out or made emergency landings should be taken at once in the quickest way possible to Oberursel.

Q. Did you transmit these orders to the mayors and councillors of your district?

A. These orders were passed on by the commander of the testing station to the ground organization of the base, passed on to all Buergermeister and the city councillors.

Q. Can you confirm that these orders came from Milch?

A. They came from the GL. It was even ordered how we should proceed. As far as I can recall we were ordered, among other things, that the contents of their pockets should be taken away from the pilots and sent to Oberursel with an accompanying letter.

Q. Did you know at that time that the Party wanted the pilots to be treated in a different manner?

A. I did not know that for we in Rechlin had hardly any contact with the Party.

Q. Therefore, you never corrected orders from the Party? Or would you have done this?

A. No. We were subordinate to the GL, and, therefore, we could only take orders from that superior office.

Q. Witness, what do you know within your office as to how concentration camp inmates were treated?

A. I should say this: When labor was requested for the building of a pillbox, we were given a detachment from Oranienburg. These prisoners were housed by the evacuating of our testing station, that means our German soldiers, in Laerz, and prisoners from the concentration camp at Oranienburg were moved into the billets of the German soldiers. There were about a thousand of these.

Q. Were the barracks in good condition?

A. They were not barracks in the bad sense of the word. They were the best billets which we had at our disposal in Laerz. They were new buildings and contained, apart from the living rooms, a theater room, and a big kitchen with, I believe, four stoves. I know the camp because I visited it repeatedly.

Q. Witness, what orders did you receive for treating of those people by the GL?

A. I remember two orders that were to the effect that all those who actually worked, whether foreigners or concentration camp inmates, should be treated well in order to save their good health and in order to increase their production.

Q. What has been done for that purpose?

A. As far as their health was concerned, under this order, I repeatedly saw to it that I obtained medical supplies from the hospital [Revier] of Rechlin.

Q. What you call the Revier is the hospital ward?

A. “Revier” is the sickroom which, considering the bigness of the agency, is approximately the equivalent to a hospital * * *.

Q. Let us go back to concentration camp inmates. What has been done in health matters?

A. Near Rechlin, there was an estate called Boek. This estate consisted of several thousand acres and apart from potatoes and turnips also produced wheat. On orders from the GL we received from that estate for the commando in Laerz and for the concentration camp and for the foreign workers large quantities of goods produced there.

Q. These concentration camp inmates; were they exploited unfairly?

A. I can say this—I myself was in the hall east from there up to the building of the commander, which was about a kilometer and a half. The foreign workers and concentration camp inmates lived in smaller and bigger groups and worked in such groups, but I could always observe them when I walked along the lanes. It seemed that when the civilian and other employees there were still working, the concentration camp groups had already stopped working because they had to be in their camp at a certain time. The time they needed to march to and fro was part of their working hours.

Q. Were they told to work particularly fast, or particularly heavy?

A. I can say this that I could really judge them because after all I saw them almost daily. Their work was not particularly slow, it wasn’t particularly fast. And one couldn’t say they were driven on.

Q. Were these people happy or did you hear complaints?

A. Should complaints have occurred I would have been the first to hear about them for it would have been my job to hear them, because I headed the particular office for food and treatment which was the liaison office between ourselves and the Stalags. I even listened at times to outbursts of joy. And from the liaison office we bought everything, beginning from cigarettes and other small gifts, foodstuffs, etc. This was used both in the camps and foreign workers, and the foreign workers were always running about freely there.

Q. Did your office ask for concentration camp inmates or were they sent to you by labor exchange on the basis of assignment of labor?

A. We had to use two ways, we had to use two channels here—one through labor exchanges and the other through the GL who ordered labor for us and on the basis of our application with the labor exchanges and the GL, this special commando and attachment came, whether on the basis of our application I really don’t know.

Q. Did you request concentration camp inmates or simply workers?

A. I may say quite frankly here I asked for German workers and I expected they would turn up but as we were under orders to maintain secrecy, neither did I think of foreign workers nor concentration camp inmates.

* * * * *

_CROSS-EXAMINATION_

MR. DENNEY: Just what was your job in Rechlin?

A. I was I B or I Bertha—that means an organization, and my job was looking after the army.

* * * * *

Q. Well, in your position having to do with figures you possibly were concerned with labor in Rechlin?

A. From Rechlin we were ordered to build a shelter in Laerz, and to carry this out we had to ask for labor.

Q. Didn’t they consolidate requests for labor and give them to you and you would send them up?

A. Requests were sent on to the labor offices on the one hand, and on the other hand to the GL.

Q. And they were sent by you?

A. They were sent by the commanding officer of the testing station, that is, to say, my superior officer.

Q. But you got them up and gave them to him to send them on?

A. I worked on them and passed them on to my commanding officer.

Q. You said that you had concentration camp workers—you also had foreign workers didn’t you?

A. There were about 1,000 concentration inmates and a certain number of foreign workers—Russians, French, and Italians.

Q. Did you have any prisoners of war?

A. Yes. We had some prisoners of war.

Q. How many people were employed there altogether?

A. In Rechlin, prisoners of war and foreign workers, Germans, altogether there were 4 to 5 thousand.

Q. Well, now we have got 1,000 concentration camp workers. So that leaves 3 to 4 thousand. How were those broken down among prisoners of war, foreign workers, and Germans?

A. Prisoners of war, roughly 500. There were about 300 foreigners, and the rest were German civilians and German military personnel.

Q. Now, these concentration camp workers, were they guarded?

A. They were guarded in their own camps and in some cases on trucks were taken to their places of work on the east Boek airstrip.

Q. And the foreigners, were they guarded?

A. I think they were at first a little guarded or, let us say, not at all.

Q. How about the prisoners of war?

A. The prisoners of war were under a similar condition as there were not very many guards at our disposal—guards were very few.

Q. You talked about the concentration camp people marching back and forth. Were they marching under guard?

A. Yes. They marched under guard.

Q. In the stockade?

A. They were in large camps or huts under stockade and under guard.

Q. Was there barbed wire around it?

A. Yes. There was barbed wire.

Q. And guards walking around?

A. And guards, yes.

A. Armed guards?

A. Yes. They were armed.

Q. Now, you told about passing on these orders about the terror fliers to the Buergermeister [mayor]. The order that you spoke of that you got from the defendant?

A. From the GL.

Q. The GL was Field Marshal Milch?

A. That was Herr Milch.

Q. And you gave those orders on to the Buergermeister about the so-called “terror fliers”?

A. The Buergermeister and county councillors.

Q. And then one day you heard about four fliers who had parachuted or made a forced landing—anyway they came down—and you sent your soldiers over there and you were told that they were not available?

A. No. The officer came back and said that the police had arrested the four pilots who had made a forced landing, contrary to our order and contrary to the regulations where the telephone number of our airfield had to be passed on to the Buergermeister. The report to the Buergermeister had the purpose to inform the airfield as quickly as possible so that from there a truck could pick up the pilots.

Q. Which police had taken these four fliers?

A. Unfortunately, I do not know. The officer of the airfield came back and reported that the police had fetched them. He didn’t see the police. He merely was informed by the Buergermeister of this.

Q. And then what did you do? Did you call the Buergermeister up?

A. No. We passed this on to the airfield and the airfield reported this to the Luftgau. The Luftgau is the next superior office above the airfield.

Q. Did they ever get these four fliers back?

A. No.

Q. They never got them back?

A. I do not know where they were taken to.

Q. You were the second man at Rechlin. You know that these orders were passed on to the Buergermeister that you received through your immediate superior from the Generalluftzeugmeister?

A. I was not the second man. I was E commander—commander of that office. I was purely an expert in I B. I was concerned in this because Colonel Petersen of the SD commando ordered the airfield should make investigations because of the Milch order to the effect that every pilot should be at once taken to Oberursel.

Q. At any rate, you didn’t do anything about this after you heard it?

A. Oh, yes. The report was immediately sent to the Luftgau that the pilots had been taken away.

Q. Did you send the report?

A. No. The report had to be sent by the competent office of the ground organization—namely, the airfield.

Q. You never made any effort to find out what happened to these four Allied fliers?

A. Oh, yes, that was passed on at once and the airfield having received it sent it on to the Luftgau and continued to work on this matter. What happened at the end I could not possibly find out because the Luftgau, the next highest office, had to report on it through those channels of command.

Q. You never tried to find out, did you? Did you ever call up anybody over at the Luftgau and ask them what happened to these four fliers?

A. No. I could hardly do that because I belonged to the testing station and there was a certain amount of dualism. It was rather like air activity on the one hand and the ground organization on the other.

Q. You knew what the Hitler order was about terror fliers, didn’t you?

A. Yes. I learned about this much, much later after this emergency landing in 1944. I heard about this in 1945 when I was interrogated in Munich by the Reich Marshal Special Court.

Q. What nationality were these pilots?

A. I could not say that. I assumed they were Americans, but I could not say that with certainty because we never saw the insignia of the aircraft nor even the pilots themselves as we did not take them prisoners.

Q. Were there any SD units around where you were?

A. In Rechlin itself, no, but my chief, Petersen, and I myself learned later on that we were supervised by the SD service.

Q. You say that in your position you would have heard complaints from any of the workers, of whom you had four to five thousand of whom approximately two-thousand were made up of concentration camp workers, prisoners of war, and foreign workers. You never got a single complaint from any of those people, is that right?

A. No. I can only confirm that repeatedly the foreign workers gave expressions of their gratitude for having this liaison office, which consisted of a sergeant, and for the additional supplies which they thus got from the Stalag. Strictly speaking, we would have been forbidden to enter the concentration camp compound because it was part of Oranienburg, and Oranienburg was an SS agency.

Q. So you never were inside, were you, in the concentration camp?

A. I went repeatedly there. I myself attended the hospital hours. That is to say, I looked at the ill people before they saw the doctor and I asked the doctor afterwards if he needed anything, and thereupon I got the medical supplies from the airfield and for that purpose I was able to do this because I was supported by the order of the GL.

Q. The Generalluftzeugmeister was able to arrange it so you could go into the camp and look around?

A. On the basis of the order where it was my duty to look after the people that they should be well-treated and well-looked after and, therefore, I was admitted into their compound.

Q. And the compound was under the jurisdiction of the SS who had jurisdiction over * * *.

A. (Interrupting) Yes. That was under the jurisdiction of the SS.

Q. And they had jurisdiction over all of the concentration camps?

A. I didn’t know that but all I know is that they came from Oranienburg and that the regulations concerning that compound came from Oranienburg.

Q. You knew that Himmler was head of the SS?

A. I heard about that in 1945.

Q. In 1945 you found out that Himmler was the Reich Leader SS?

A. Yes.

Q. I have no more questions.

JUDGE MUSMANNO: Witness, you mean you did not know, before 1945, of the power Himmler had in the SS?

A. No, your Honor. Particularly in the testing station we did not discuss that nor did we receive many reports there. The attitude of my chief—I may perhaps say here, of the GL himself—it was known what their attitude was towards the Party. We ourselves were under the Gauleiter of Mecklenburg who supervised us. Therefore, we went to no trouble to look into other matters.

PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: This testing station was in Germany, wasn’t it?

A. Yes. Rechlin is roughly 120 kilometers northeast of Berlin on the Muelef Lake [northwest of Berlin on Lake Mueritz].

Q. And an officer of the German army, 120 kilometers from Berlin, didn’t know who Himmler was until 1945?

A. Of course, I knew that Himmler was a Party member but that Himmler had all the concentration camps under him I really didn’t know until very much later.

Q. But you knew he was head of the SS?

A. I knew that he was an SS commander. I did not know until then that he was the head of the SS.

JUDGE PHILLIPS: How many concentration camp victims did you hear were killed up to 1945, starved to death and killed?

A. I did not know that and I only learned it from press notices which came out in connection with the Nuernberg trials.

Q. How many concentration camp workers were killed in your camp?

A. Nobody was tortured or killed in our camp; not even one man.

Q. Did any of them die a natural death while you were there?

A. Nobody died; I can confirm to the Court that both the health and the individuals’ happiness was such that there was neither case of death nor complaint.

PRESIDING JUDGE TOMS: The name of this concentration camp I must know. What was it?

A. The camp was near Rechlin and was an agency attached to Oranienburg.

Q. That was Oranienburg you were talking about?

A. It must have been a branch of Oranienburg. Up to my resignation on 31 January 1945, neither a torture nor a fatality occurred there. I said that before, your Honor, and I should like to repeat it.

Q. Don’t repeat it.

JUDGE MUSMANNO: How many inmates were there in this camp; what was the population of this camp?

A. The camp was roughly about 1,000 people strong.

Q. And how long were you there?

A. From October 1942 until 31 January 1945.

Q. And you say that in approximately three years’ time there was not one death in this camp?

A. Your Honor, the camp was not founded in 1942; as far as I can remember, it only came at the end of 1943 or early in 1944. I cannot give you the exact figure of the arrivals. I think it must have been at the end of 1943 or the beginning of 1944.

Q. And in all that time there was not one single death in the entire camp?

A. Your Honor, I had not heard of one single case of death. Should one case of death have occurred, it is possible that the SS in Oranienburg would have been told. We ourselves had not heard of one case of death in that camp, but during the day we assigned SS men in various groups.

Q. Do you mean this camp was functioning as a health resort?

A. On that, I can say, your Honor, that after the end of the war, I heard that before the end of the war when people left, they left very reluctantly, because there they were given food just as much as was corresponding to their performance and, in turn, they were actually able to work there.

-----

[134] Generalluftzeugmeister was translated as: Aircraft Master General, Air Ordnance Master General, Chief of Supply for the Air Forces, Chief of Air Forces Special Supply and Procurement Service, Director of Supplies, and Director General of Air Force Equipment.

[135] Word is missing in German original document.

[136] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 17 Feb. 47, pp. 1189-1204.

B. Medical Experiments

a. Introduction

The defendant Milch was charged with participation in criminal medical experiments. On this charge he was acquitted. Both the judgment and the concurring opinions deal extensively with this topic; also Volume I of this series, and the first part of the present volume, contains considerable documentation from Case I (the Medical Case) on the same medical experiments for participation in which the defendant Milch was indicted. Hence, only a small portion of the evidence on medical experiments offered in the Milch Case has been included in the present volume. Some of the prosecution documents which were directly related to the defendant Milch have been included here as well as the testimony of the defense witness SS General Wolff. Documents NO-285, NO-289, NO-224, 343-A-PS, and 343-B-PS, published as part of the Medical Case, were also introduced in the Milch Case. Further defense testimony on this topic may be found by consulting the official record.

The following defendants in Case I (the Medical Case) testified as witnesses for the defendant Milch: Hans Wolfgang Romberg, Wolfram Sievers, Hermann Becker-Freyseng, Georg August Weltz, and Rudolf Brandt. In addition, six other defense witnesses testified regarding the medical experiments: Erich Hippke, Walter Neff, Dr. Leo Alexander, Siegfried Ruff, Karl Wolff, and Gerhard Engel. See list of witnesses for dates and transcript page references on pages 889-90.

b. Evidence

PROSECUTION DOCUMENTS

Doc. No. Pros. Ex. No. Description of Document Page
NOKW-041 113 Sworn statement by Hermann 626
Goering, 27 September 1946,
concerning Milch’s position
as Inspector General of the
Luftwaffe.

NO-219 83 Letter from Dr. Rudolf Brandt 626
to Dr. Rascher, 27 April
1942, concerning medical
experiment report for Himmler
and Milch.

NO-261 89 Letter from Milch to Dr. 626
Hippke, 4 June 1942,
concerning availability of
low-pressure air chamber for
experiments.

1607-B-PS 115 Letter from Dr. Rascher to Dr. 627
Brandt, 20 July 1942,
concerning report on
high-altitude experiments.

1607-A-PS 115 Letter from Himmler to Milch, 628
25 August 1942, concerning
Dr. Rascher’s report on
high-altitude experiments.

1617-PS 111 Letter from Himmler to Milch, 629
13 November 1942, concerning
Rascher’s transfer to the
Waffen SS.

NO-262 119 Letter from Dr. Hippke to SS 631
Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff, 6
March 1943, concerning
Rascher’s transfer to the
Waffen SS.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-041
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 113

SWORN STATEMENT BY HERMANN GOERING, 27 SEPTEMBER 1946,
CONCERNING MILCH’S POSITION AS INSPECTOR GENERAL
OF THE LUFTWAFFE

I, Hermann Goering, swear, depose, and state:

That I am the former Reich Marshal of the German Reich and the former Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe, that I have personal knowledge of all the facts stated here, and that I know these facts because of the position and responsibility which I had in the German Reich.

That in approximately 1939 the former Field Marshal Erhard Milch was appointed Inspector General [Generalinspekteur] of the Luftwaffe and that as such he was directly responsible to me for the performance of his duties.

That the Inspector General of the Luftwaffe was in charge of all tasks and responsibilities, with the exception of those which were concerned with tactical operations (the latter were handled by my Chief of Staff). The supervision of the inspections, as well as the affairs of the health and medical inspections, was included in the tasks of the Office of the Inspector General. Special questions, however, such as the number of hospitals to be put at the disposal of the individual air fleets, fell within the province of my Chief of Staff.

That Generaloberstabsarzt [Lt. Gen., Medical Service] Dr. Erich Hippke was Chief of the Medical Service [Sanitaetswesen] of the Luftwaffe during the years 1941 till 1944 inclusive; that the Office of the Chief of the Medical Service was directly responsible for the execution of all medical research and experiments; that the Office of the Chief of the Medical Service, i.e., Hippke’s office, was directly subordinated to the Inspector General, the former Field Marshal Milch.

I have read the foregoing deposition consisting of two pages, in the German language, and declare that it is the full truth to the best of my knowledge and belief. I have had the opportunity to make changes and corrections in the above statement. I made this declaration voluntarily without any promise of reward, and I was not subjected to any duress or threat whatsoever. Nuernberg, 27 September 1946.

[Signed] HERMANN GOERING

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-219
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 83

LETTER FROM DR. RUDOLF BRANDT TO DR. RASCHER, 27 APRIL 1942, CONCERNING
MEDICAL EXPERIMENT REPORT FOR HIMMLER AND MILCH

Top Secret

XI a-59

Fuehrer Headquarters, 27 April 1942

1198/42 Bra-N

To SS Untersturmfuehrer Dr. Sigmund Rascher

Munich

56 Troger Street

Dear Comrade Dr. Rascher:

The Reich Leader [Himmler] has seen your letter of 16 April 1942. He has shown the same interest in this report as in the one you sent recently. He would like you to make up for him an over-all report on the experiments carried out to date, which he would like to present personally to Field Marshal Milch.

Kind regards to your wife and yourself,

Heil Hitler!
Yours

[initialed] R. Br.
SS Obersturmbannfuehrer

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-261
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 89

LETTER FROM MILCH TO DR. HIPPKE, 4 JUNE 1942, CONCERNING
AVAILABILITY OF LOW-PRESSURE AIR CHAMBER FOR EXPERIMENTS

The State Secretary for Aviation and Inspector General of the Luftwaffe

Berlin W 8, Leipziger Street 7, 4 June 1942
Telephone 12 00 47
Dear Herr Hippke!

According to the agreement with the Reich Leader SS the low-pressure air chamber for experiments in the neighborhood of Munich is still to be available for two further months.

Moreover, Stabsarzt Dr. Rascher is, in addition to his tests in the Luftwaffe, to be on duty for the present for the purposes of the Reich Leader SS.

Heil Hitler!
Yours

Generaloberstabsarzt Professor Dr. Hippke

Berlin-Tempelhof.

Copy

SS Obergruppenfuehrer and General of the Waffen SS Wolff

Berlin SW 11.

Heil Hitler!
and kind regards,
Yours,
[signature] MILCH

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1607-B-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 115

LETTER FROM DR. RASCHER TO DR. BRANDT, 20 JULY 1942, CONCERNING REPORT
ON HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS

Stabsarzt Dr. Rascher

Ahnenerbe RF-SS

Munich, 20 July 1942
Top Secret

SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. R. Brandt

Berlin, RF-SS.

Very esteemed Dr. Brandt,

Enclosed please find a copy of the work of myself and Romberg, “Experiments for Rescue from High Altitudes”.

On 14 July 1942, I was ordered by the Reich Leader SS to send you the above-mentioned report. The Reich Leader wants that report to be forwarded to Field Marshal Milch, accompanied by a letter from him, asking Milch to receive Romberg and me for a lecture. I believe to have understood correctly that the Reich Leader thought you would submit to him a letter to that effect for his signature.

I was very glad to hear that the Reich Leader was satisfied with the result of the work at Dachau and with the film, and that he ordered an intensive continuation of the work in that field.

I recommended Romberg for the War Merit Cross 2d Class [“Kriegsverdienstkreuz II. Klasse”] on the request of SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Sievers. SS Standartenfuehrer Dr. Wuest ordered me to notify you hereof.

The Reich Leader furthermore decided on 14 July 1942 that the prisoner Sobota and the two prisoners who work in the dissection room in Dachau should be released and transferred to the group “Dirlewanger.” The exact names are in possession of SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Sievers. The Reich Leader has also issued an order to that effect to Major Suchaneck.

I thank you cordially for everything and remain

Heil Hitler!
[handwritten] Very faithfully yours,
[Signed] DR. S. RASCHER

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1607-A-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 115[137]

LETTER FROM HIMMLER TO MILCH, 25 AUGUST 1942, CONCERNING
DR. RASCHER’S REPORT ON HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS

Field Headquarters, 25 August 1942

Field Marshal Milch

Secret
Dear Milch:

Enclosed please find a report about experiments for rescue from high altitudes, which have been carried out by Stabsarzt Dr. S. Rascher and Dr. med. H. W. Romberg. I saw a film[138] produced by Dr. Rascher.

I consider the results of those experiments as so important for the air force, that I beg you to receive Dr. Rascher and Dr. Romberg

I consider the results of those experiments as so important for the air force, that I beg you to receive Dr. Rascher and Dr. Romberg that, after having seen the film, you will also refer the matter to the Reich Marshal because of its importance.

I would be obliged if you could let me know your opinion in time.

Friendly greetings and
Heil Hitler!
H. H. [initials of Himmler]
27 August 1942
[initial illegible]

1 Enclosure

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1617-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 111

LETTER FROM HIMMLER TO MILCH, 13 NOVEMBER 1942, CONCERNING RASCHER’S
TRANSFER TO THE WAFFEN SS

The Reich Leader SS

Berlin, SW 11, 8 Prinz Albrecht Street

Field Command Post

13 November 1942
Secret

Dear Comrade Milch:

You will recall that through General Wolff I particularly recommended for your consideration the work of a certain SS Fuehrer Dr. Rascher, who is a medical officer of the air force reserve [Arzt des Beurlaubtenstandes der Luftwaffe].

These researches which deal with the behavior of the human organism at great heights, as well as with manifestations caused by prolonged cooling of the human body in cold water and similar problems which are of vital importance to the air force in particular, can be performed by us with particular efficiency because I personally assumed the responsibility for supplying asocial individuals and criminals, who deserve only to die [todeswuerdig], from concentration camps for these experiments.

Unfortunately, you had no time recently when Dr. Rascher wanted to report on the experiments at the Ministry of Aviation. I had put great hopes in that report, because I believed that in this way the difficulties, based mainly on religious objections to Dr. Rascher’s experiments—for which I assumed responsibility—could be eliminated.

The difficulties are still the same now as before. In these Christian medical circles the standpoint is being taken that it goes without saying that a young German aviator should be allowed to risk his life but that the life of a criminal—who is not drafted into military service—is too sacred for this purpose and one should not stain oneself with this guilt; at the same time it is interesting to note that credit is taken for the results of the experiments while excluding the scientist who performed them.

I personally have inspected the experiments, and have—I can say this without exaggeration—participated in every phase of this scientific work in a helpful and inspiring manner.

We two should not get angry about these difficulties. It will take at least another ten years until we can get such narrow-mindedness out of our people. But this should not affect the research work which is necessary for our young, splendid soldiers and aviators.

I beg you to release Dr. Rascher, Stabsarzt of the reserve, from the air force and to transfer him to the Waffen SS. I would then assume the sole responsibility for having these experiments made in this field and would put the results, of which we in the SS need only a part for the frost injuries in the East, entirely at the disposal of the air force. However, in this connection I suggest that with the liaison between you and Wolff, a “non-Christian” doctor should be entrusted who ought to be not only a fully qualified scientist but also a man not prone to intellectual theft and who could be informed of the results. This doctor should also have good contacts with the administrative authorities so that the results would really obtain a hearing.

I believe that this solution—to transfer Dr. Rascher to the SS, so that he could carry out the experiments under my responsibility and on my orders—is the best way. The experiments should not be stopped; we owe that to our men. If Dr. Rascher remained with the air force, there would certainly be much annoyance; because then I would have to submit to you a number of unpleasant details caused by the arrogance and presumptousness which Professor Dr. Holzloehner displayed in the Dachau military post—which is under my command—during conversations with SS Standartenfuehrer Sievers about my person. In order to save both of us this trouble, I suggest again that Dr. Rascher should be transferred to the Waffen SS as quickly as possible.

I would be grateful if you ordered the low-pressure chamber being put at our disposal again, together with the differential pumps [Stufenaggregatpumpen], as the experiments should be extended to even greater altitudes.

Cordial greetings and
Heil Hitler!

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-262
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 119

LETTER FROM DR. HIPPKE TO SS OBERGRUPPENFUEHRER WOLFF,
6 MARCH 1943, CONCERNING RASCHER’S TRANSFER
TO THE WAFFEN SS

The Inspector of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe

Berlin W 8, Leipziger Street 7, 6 March 1943

File No. 2299-43 secret Inspectorate

Dear Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff!

State Secretary Milch has given me your letter of 21 November last year—Diary No. 1426/42 top secret—regarding the release of Stabsarzt of the Luftwaffe Dr. Rascher to the Waffen SS.

I am prepared to release Stabsarzt Dr. Rascher from the Luftwaffe, even after the Reich Physician of the SS, SS Gruppenfuehrer Dr. Grawitz explained to me that he was unable to give me a replacement; I shall put him at the disposal of the Waffen SS if Rascher himself desires this release. I shall ask him about that.

Your conception that I, as the responsible director of all medical-scientific research work, would have been opposed to the chilling experiments on human beings and so retarded their development is erroneous. I immediately agreed to the experiments, because our own previous experiments on large animals were concluded and supplementary work was necessary. It is also highly improbable that I, who is responsible for the development of all possibilities for rescuing our airmen, would not do everything possible to further such work. When Rascher explained his wishes to me, I agreed with him immediately. The difficulties, Mr. Wolff, lie in an entirely different sphere: it is a question of vanity on the part of individual scientists, every one of whom _personally_ wants to bring out new research results, and very often it is only with great effort that they can be led to work unselfishly for the common good. None of them is without guilt in this respect; Rascher is not either.

If Rascher wants to build up his own research institute within the framework of the Waffen SS, I have no objection. All research work within the field of aviation medicine—that is, altitude—moreover, is under my scientific supervision in my capacity as director of German aviation medicine. This institute would then be under the supervision of the Reich Physician of the SS, SS Gruppenfuehrer Dr. Grawitz.

Momentarily, however, this work _cannot_ be carried on because its continuation would require a low-pressure chamber in which not only the _altitude_ of the stratosphere, but also the stratospheric _temperature_ can be established. But there is no such chamber available in Germany as yet; a large chamber is being built in the new Berlin Research Institute for Aviation Medicine, and I hope I shall be able to have it completed in the course of this year.

If Rascher, on the other hand, wishes to conduct other experiments not concerned with altitude and chilling problems, these would not be under _my_ supervision (_aviation_ medicine) but under the supervision of the Medical Inspector of the Army (_military_ medicine), whom he would have to contact.

I am going to talk over all these problems with Rascher in old comradeship, and I shall again notify you.

With respectful compliments and
Heil Hitler!
[Signed] HIPPKE

-----

[137] When this document was introduced, Dr. Bergold made the following statement (_Tr. p. 457_): “Please let me have the photostatic copy of the original, so that I can make a statement.

“I merely wanted to find out on the copy, whether there was any ‘receiving’ mark. Later on, in the course of the introduction of evidence, I shall prove that all letters which are not signed with a red pencil and do not carry the initials ‘Mi’ were never seen by the defendant Milch but were forwarded directly. This letter does not show the initials ‘Mi’.

(Stepping forward and showing the Tribunal the document) “May it please the Tribunal: Milch, whenever he received the letter, added his initials ‘Mi’; at all times, when Milch received a document, he indicated the receipt with a date; he initialed with a date. These letters, which do not show the initials, were received by his office but were not shown to him. At a later date, I can prove this. I just wanted, at this time, to call the Court’s attention to it.”

[138] When this document was read, Presiding Judge Toms asked (_Tr. p. 458_): “Mr. McMahon, do you know whether the film referred to in this letter is available?”

MR. MCMAHON: As far as we know, your Honor, it is not available. In regard to the one [letter] just referred to, I would like your Honor to understand that the copies which we have come from the secret files of Mr. Himmler, therefore, cannot show the initials of Milch, and so, in fact, would not show that Milch had seen that. This letter was received from the files of Himmler and would not have the initials of Milch, saying that he had received this particular letter.

C. Curriculum Vitae and Excerpts from the Testimony
of the Defendant Milch

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NOKW-269
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 59

_A SHORT CURRICULUM VITAE OF FIELD MARSHAL
ERHARD MILCH_

Date Position Activity
30.3.92 Date of birth.
24.2.10 Officer candidate First Foot Artillery Regt.
18.8.11 Lieutenant Recruit training.
1.8.14 Lieutenant Adjutant, 2d Bn., Reserve,
First Foot Artillery Regt.
2.7.15 Lieutenant Air Force, Reconnaissance
Observer.
18.8.15 First Lieutenant Air Force, Reconnaissance
Observer.
Winter 16-17 First Lieutenant Air Force, Adjutant of a unit.
1917 First Lieutenant Chief of the Fifth Air
Squadron.
1918 First Lieutenant Detached service, commander of
an Inf. Company; Detached
service, commander of a
Field Artillery Battery.
18.8.18 Captain Air Force, commander of 204th
Air Squadron, commander of
Sixth Fighter Group.
1919 Captain Commander of 412th Border
Guard Squadron.
1920 Captain Detached service, commander of
Police Air Squadron.
End of 1920 Captain Resigned from military
service.
1921 Lloyd-Ostflug, later Civilian air transport
Danziger Luftpost company, Operation chief;
Civilian air transport
company, Manager.
1922 Junkers-Luftverkehr & Head of Traffic
Danziger Luftpost Department—Organizer of air
lines with Switzerland,
Austria, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland.
1923 Junkers-Luftverkehr & Id.
Danziger Luftpost
1924 Junkers-Luftverkehr & Head of air expedition to
Danziger Luftpost South America. Business
travel to the U.S.A.
1925 Junkers-Luftverkehr Head of General
Administration.
Nov. 1925 Deutsche Lufthansa Member of Technical Board.
Summer 1928 Deutsche Lufthansa Id. and Business Director.
30.1.33 Id. and Deputy Reich Id. concurrently with
Commissioner for direction of aviation under
Aviation supervision of Goering.
March 33 Deutsche Lufthansa and Id. in the Reich Ministry of
State Secretary Aviation.
May 1933 Join NSDAP Party member without
assignment of tasks for
Party.
Sept. 1933 Activated as Colonel Party membership suspended.
1934 Brigadier General Reich Air Ministry and
Deutsche Lufthansa.
1935 Major General Reich Air Ministry and
Deutsche Lufthansa.
1936 Lieutenant General Reich Air Ministry and
(Air Force) Deutsche Lufthansa.
Inspector General of the Air
Force
1938 General
1.9.39 General To operational Air Force.
11.4.-5.5.40 General Commander of Fifth Air Fleet.
Since 10.5.40 General Inspector General.
19.7.40 Field Marshal Inspector General.
Nov. 41 Field Marshal Id. and Chief of Air Force
Material (Development,
testing, procurement of Air
Force material).
April 42 Field Marshal Central Planning Board;
Allocation of raw materials.
March 44 Field Marshal Establishment of “Jaegerstab”.
Raising output of fighter
craft.
20.6.44 Field Marshal Resign posts of State
Secretary and Chief of Air
Force Material.
Jan. 45 Resign post of Inspector
General.
March 45 Field Marshal Hitler declines my
reinstatement.
4.5.45 Field Marshal Taken into British custody in
Holstein.

1 November 1946. [Signed] ERHARD MILCH

EXCERPTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT MILCH[139]

[March 11]

Erhard Milch, the defendant, took the stand and testified as follows:

JUDGE MUSMANNO: The defendant will raise his right hand and repeat after me: I swear by God, the Almighty and Omniscient, that I will speak the pure truth and will withhold and add nothing.

(The defendant repeated the oath.)

JUDGE MUSMANNO: You may be seated.

_DIRECT EXAMINATION_

DR. BERGOLD: Witness, I do not have to tell you the same thing I tell all the other witnesses; namely, that you should speak slowly and all that. You have heard that several times.

Give your full name.

DEFENDANT MILCH: Erhard Milch.

Q. When and where were you born?

A. On 30 March 1892, in Wilhelmshaven.

Q. Who were your parents?

A. My father was a clerk with the Kriegsmarine [navy], and my mother was born Vetter.

Q. What education did you have?

A. I attended the Gymnasium in Wilhelmshaven, and then from 1905 on I went to the Joachimsthalsche Gymnasium in Berlin.

Q. When did you matriculate?

A. In February 1910.

Q. What did you study then?

A. I didn’t study, but four days later I went to the First Foot Artillery Regiment in Koenigsberg in East Prussia, and I joined that regiment as a cadet.

* * * * *

Q. Witness, what was your position in the Third Reich in 1933?

A. I was State Secretary at that time; at first, it was not called a ministry. It was called the Reich Commissar’s Office, because formal measures for the formation of a ministry had to be considered both with the Reich President as well as the Reichstag. At first, Goering was Reich Commissar and I was Deputy Reich Commissar for Aviation. I think it was in March that the Reich Ministry was formed; and at that moment I became State Secretary.

* * * * *

[March 12]

Q. * * * Witness, is it correct to say that in your capacity as Inspector General you had to make trips abroad too, that is, you had to take care of the comradely relationship with the air forces of other countries?

A. * * * Perhaps I can look up some notes to check the dates of my trips. The visits which I made were only, some of them, in my capacity as Inspector General. Some of them were made for purely personal reasons, relations with people. For instance, the first visit which I made at the request of Van Zeeland, the Belgian Prime Minister, that must have been about 1936. I visited Belgium. The Belgian Ambassador in Berlin, Count Kerkhove [Kerchove de Deuterghem], was a personal friend of mine. One day he asked me to go to Belgium with him; the Prime Minister Van Zeeland would like to see me. I was very astonished at this idea and I asked him what the matter was. I then told him that I had to have the permission of my superior officers. I received it. This was an entirely private journey. The purpose of the trip, as I realized in Belgium, was that Van Zeeland wished to come to terms with Germany, not only formally but full-heartedly. Belgium, since the First World War, had a treaty with France and was under an obligation to come to France’s aid militarily by agreement with France. Van Zeeland wished to renounce that treaty, and he wished to have similar terms with France as with Germany. Belgium was also prepared in economic matters, which was a very urgent point for Germany at the time, to make concessions, far-reaching concessions. The visit started with a brief call on the King, who did not refer to the purpose of the visit. This was purely a courtesy call, but this call gave support to my trip. I saw that the Prime Minister acted in accordance with his King. The plan as such—although as I emphasized several times I am not a politician and it was not my intention to interfere in foreign office matters, but here von Neurath entirely agreed with my visit. He had not the bureaucratic mind—the plan impressed me. Rather, I saw the possibility to create friendly relations between Germany and Belgium, and via Belgium to France, and later on via France to England itself.

I was convinced that the over-privileged policy of balance of power no longer applied since the First World War. The powers in Europe had been dislodged too much and joint friendship between France and Britain was definitely a British interest in that sense.

When I returned I reported orally to von Neurath who entirely agreed with that point of view. I also reported to Field Marshal von Blomberg, who, apart from Goering, was my military superior. He took the same line. I reported to Hitler and Goering. Both received my report but did not express their own opinion. To my question whether and what I could tell the Belgian Ambassador, I was told that would have to be done through other channels, not through me. My orders had come to an end by giving this report. This was my first visit and it was entirely unofficial.

Then I went to Belgium in May 1987. At that time, as a Luftwaffe man, I was officially received by the Commander in Chief of the Belgian Air Force, General Duvivier; also by the Minister of War and other officials. That was a very friendly visit which also led to very good personal relations between ourselves and their pilots.

I was particularly interested in Belgium because in the First World War Germany had marched through Belgium, had violated Belgian neutrality, and had to make up for this now. I believed that the views as expressed by Belgium on both occasions were aimed at finally burying the hatchet. I assumed that there was a direct connection between my Belgian visit and a visit by the French Ambassador Poncet who came to call on me in my office and extended an invitation by the French Government on the occasion of the International Exhibition. That visit took place from 4 to 9 October 1937 in Paris with the full approval of Goering and Hitler. The visit was most impressive since I believe it was the first time since 1867 that a German officer was able to pay an official friendly visit to France. The French told me with the greatest satisfaction that that was the first time the French Company of Honor had presented its arms since the Prussian Crown Prince had visited Paris in 1867.

The French made great efforts to make the visit a success and I must say they succeeded all along the line. The main point was joint military inspections. Very cordial words were exchanged with the generals of the French Air Force. I was accompanied by Udet and Count Kerkhove [Kerchove de Deuterghem] who also had very good relations with France from other times. The central point perhaps of the visit and its real purpose occurred after a lunch given by Pierre Cot, the Minister of Aviation. On my other side the Foreign Minister was sitting, and also the Minister of the Navy was there. After lunch the three French Ministers, Wilmer, the Commander in Chief of the French Air Force, Udet, and myself remained in a special room and the French Foreign Minister asked me to take home with me some propositions made by his office.

I should add that our German Ambassador in France was also there, also in the smaller circle. When I said that I didn’t want to interfere in his business, he himself did not take any notice of it. He said that the most important thing was to report to Hitler on my impressions. He himself could not approach Hitler. The Ambassador was then Count Welczeck. I was extremely surprised; I had no idea. I couldn’t imagine that the Head of State should not see his own Ambassador. On that basis I said I would only act as a postman, and as such would transmit what I would be told. I would give my very best own will.

The contents of the conversation were to have a far-reaching agreement between the two countries, the main purpose being to establish a really permanent and lasting peace between the two countries. I was able to take over this assignment with the best conscience in the world. After all, I said yesterday what I thought of military events in Europe in the last thousand years. My impression was that the Foreign Minister was very serious in this business, nor did I have any suspicions that this might be a political trap and the Air Minister Cot who was always described as communist in Germany, gave me a very good impression indeed, and our conversations were very intimate and very frank.

The French Foreign Minister at that time was called Delbos. The farewell on the Le Bourget Airfield led to fraternization between all of us, and between ourselves and five or six of the highest French generals. I must not forget that one of the oldest French generals, General Keller, expressed with tears in his eyes that he was convinced that the thousand years war between France and Germany was now a matter of the past. We also were deeply moved.

On 9 October I flew from Paris to Berchtesgaden and reported to Hitler at once. He ordered me to report to him as soon as I had returned. I may perhaps say quite generally I could only see Hitler if Goering gave me permission or ordered me to do so, or, of course, if Hitler himself ordered me to come and see him. I myself could not go and see him as I was merely a subordinate.

In the presence of Udet I gave a report to Hitler lasting over two hours on the evening of the 9th of October, when my impression was still very fresh. Hitler listened very attentively, asked a number of detailed questions. I could tell him all about the various details which we saw and heard, not so much the military ones, but the political details. I could never talk enough about these things. After all, it was a fairly long conversation with the Head of State. I recommended all these things very warmly and I asked him to take this extended hand and he would represent the greatest glory if he would succeed in coming to a lasting agreement with France based on the very far-reaching economic community between the two countries.

I compared this with the time of the German Customs League prior to 1870 when the German states were linked together only through this Customs League. I recalled to his memory that both countries, France and Germany, had been a unit and a community for centuries at one time, and what was greatness at that time today merely meant a normal state. I want to express in particular that nobody pleaded that the two countries should be politically linked together but that political collaboration was a necessity.

On 11 October, two days later, the Italian Ambassador called on me—

Q. Just a minute. I have to ask another question. Is it correct that during this conversation you also offered to go as a special envoy to France and to complete this task?

A. Oh yes, I told him that Count Welczeck should be called to Hitler in order to give a report. Hitler said no, that is not necessary. I then said that he must have somebody, if he wished to pursue this matter, who enjoyed his confidence and also the confidence of the government to which he was sent. I told him that I was prepared at all times to serve under Welczeck as a special envoy only for that one task. I explained to him that I regarded Welczeck as a man who enjoyed the confidence of the French Government, and that it would be a pity if Hitler would not see that man more frequently.

Q. Witness, did Hitler take a position on this question or did he keep silent again as he did before?

A. Apart from putting questions to me he didn’t say anything decisive at all. After all, I was not a Foreign Office official, and I could hardly expect him to do so. Perhaps later on I can describe what I did as far as Neurath is concerned.

Q. But before that I would ask you one more question. In Belgium and in France were you told why you of all persons were approached by these foreign countries and had the confidence of these countries?