1946-12-09, #4: Opening Statements continued

GENERAL TAYLOR: I was about to quote from a report written in May 1942 describing one of these high altitude tests on a Jewish subject.

Proceeding with the quotation:

Some of the experimental subjects died during a continued high altitude experiment; for instance, after on-half hour at a height of 12 kilometers. After tie skull had been opened under water, an ample amount of air embolism was found in the brain vessels and, in part, free air in the brain ventricles.

In order to find out whether the severe psychical and physical effects, as mentioned under No. 3, are due to the formation of embolism, the following was done: After relative recuperation from such a parachute descending test had taken place, however before regaining consciousness, some experimental subjects were kept under water until they died. When the skull and cavities of the breast and of the abdomen were opened under water, an enormous amount of air embolism was found in the vessels of the brain, the coronary vessels, and the vessels of the liver and the intestines.

The victims who did not die in the course of such experiments, surely wished that they had. A long report written in July 1942 by Rascher and by the defendants, Ruff and Romberg, describes an experiment on a former delicatessen clerk, who was given an oxygen mask and raised in the chamber to an atmospheric elevation of over 47,000 feet, at which point the mask was removed and a parachute descent was simulated. The report describes the victim's reactions -- "spasmodic convulsions", "agonal convulsive breathing", "clonic convulsions, groaning", "yells aloud", "convulses arms and legs", "grimaces, bites his tongue", "does not respond to speech", "gives the impression of someone who is completely out of his mind".

The evidence which we will produce will establish that the defendants, Ruff and Romberg, personally participated with Rascher in experiments resulting in death and torture; that the defendant, Sievers, watched the experiments for on entire day and made an oral report to Himmler on his observations; that the defendant Rudolf Brandt, was the agent of Himmler in providing the human subjects for these experiments and in making may other facilities available to Rascher and rendering him general assistance; and that the defendant, Weltz in his official capacity, repeatedly insisted on supervision over and full responsibility and credit for the experiments. The higher authorities of both the German Air Force and the SS were fully informed concerning what was going on. Extensive correspondence will be introduced, for example, concerning the availability of the low pressure chamber which the German Air Force furnished at Dachau, and concerning the availability of Rascher, who was an officer in the Air Force Medical Service, to conduct the experiments.

Knowledge of, participation in, and responsibility for these atrocious crimes on the part of the defendants here charged will be clearly shown by the evidence.

B. Freezing Experiments

The deep interest of the German Air Force in capitalizing on the availability of inmates of concentration camps for experimental purposes is even more apparent in the case of the freezing experiments.

These, too, were conducted at Dachau; they began immediately after the high altitude experiments were completed and they continued until the spring of 1943. Here again, the defendant, Weltz, was directly in charge of the experiments with Rascher as his assistant, as is shown in a letter written in May 1942 by Field Marshal Erhard Milch, the Inspector General of the German Air Force, to SS Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff, who is one of Heinrich Himmler's principal subordinates, and this letter specifically requested that the freezing experiments be carried out at Dachau under Weltz's supervision.

The purpose of these experiments was to determine the most effective way of rewarming German aviators who were forced to parachute into the North Sea. The evidence will show that in the course of these experiments, the victims were forced to remain outdoors without clothing in freezing weather from nine to fourteen hours. In other cases, they were forced to remain in a tank of iced water for three hours at a time. The water experiments are described in a report by Rascher written in August 1942. I quote:

Electrical measurements gave low temperature readings of 26.4° in the stomach and 26.5° in the rectum. Fatalities occurred only when the brain stem and the back of the head were also chilled. Autopsies of such fatal cases always revealed large amounts of free blood, up to ½ liter, in the cranial cavity. The heart invariably showed extreme dilation of the right chamber. As soon as the temperature in these experiments reached 28°, the experimental subjects died invariably, despite all attempts at resuscitation.

Other documents set forth that from time to time the temperature of the water would be lowered by 10° Centigrade and a quart of blood would be taken from an artery in the subject's throat for analysis. The organs of the victim who died were extracted and sent to the Pathological Institute at Munich.

Rewarming of the subjects was attempted by various means, most commonly and successfully in a very hot bath. In September, Himmler personally ordered that rewarming by the warmth of human bodies also be attempted, and the inhuman villains who conducted these experiments promptly produced four Gypsy women from the Ravensbruck Concentration Camp. When the women had arrived, rewarming was attempted by placing the chilled victim between two naked women.

A voluminous report on the freezing experiments conducted in tanks of ice water written in October 1942 contains the following:

If the experimental subject were placed in the water under narcosis, one observed a certain arousing effect. The subject began to groan and made some defensive movements. In a few cases, a state of excitation developed. This was especially severe in the cooling of the head and neck. But never was a complete cessation of the narcosis observed. The defensive movements ceased after about five minutes. There followed a progressive rigor, which developed especially strongly in the arm musculature; the arms were strongly flexed and pressed to the body. The rigor increased with the continuation of the cooling, now and then interrupted by tonic-clonic twitchings. With still more marked sinking of the body temperature, it suddenly ceased. These cases ended fatally, without any successful results from resuscitation efforts.

Experiments without narcosis showed no essential differences in the course of cooling.

Upon entry into the water, a severe cold shuddering: appeared. The cooling of the neck and back of the head was felt as especially painful, but already after five to ten minutes, a significant weakening of the pain sensation was observable. Rigor developed after this time in the same manner as under narcosis, likewise the tonic-clonic twitchings. At this point, speech became difficult because the rigor also affected the speech musculature.

Simultaneously with the rigor, a severe difficulty in breathing set in with or without narcosis. It was reported that, so to speak, an iron ring was placed about the chest. Objectively, already at the beginning of this breathing difficulty, a marked dilation of the nostrils occurred. The expiration was prolonged and visibly difficult. This difficulty passed over into a rattling and snoring breathing.

During the winter of 1942 to 1943, experiments with "dry" cold were conducted. And Rascher reported on these in another letter to Himmler:

Up to now, I have cooled off about 30 people stripped in the open air during nine to fourteen hours at 27° to 29°. After a time, corresponding to a trip of one hour, I put these subjects in a hot bath. Up to now, every single patient was completely warmed up within one hour at most, although some of them had their hands and feet frozen white.

The responsibility among the defendants from the freezing experiments is substantially the same as for the high altitude tests. The results were, if anything, even more widely known in German medical circles. In October 1942, a medical conference took place here in Nurnberg at the Deutscher Hof Hotel, at which one of the authors of the report from which I have just quoted spoke on the subject "Prevention and Treatment of Freezing", and the defendant, Weltz, spoke on the subject "Warming up after Freezing to the Danger Point." Numerous documents which we will introduce show the widespread responsibility among the defendants, and in the highest quarters of the German Air Force, for these sickening crimes.

C. Malaria Experiments

Another series of experiments carried out at he Dachau Concentration Camp concerned immunization for the treatment of malaria.

Over 1,200 inmates, of practically every nationality, were experimented upon. many persons who participated in these experiments have already been tried before a general military court held at Dachau, and the findings of that court will be laid before this Tribunal. The malaria experiments were carried out under the general supervision of a Dr. Shilling, with whom the defendant Sievers and other in the box collaborated. The evidence will show that healthy persons were infected by mosquitoes or by injections from the glands of mosquitoes. Catholic priests were among the subjects. The defendant Gebhardt kept Himmler informed of the progress of these experiments. Rose furnished Schilling with fly eggs for them, and others of the defendants participated in various ways which the evidence will demonstrate.

After the victims had been infected, they were variously treated with quinine, neo-salvarsan, pyramidon, antipyrin, and several combination of these drugs. Many deaths occurred from excessive doses of neo-salvarsan and pyramidon. According to the findings of the Dachau court, malaria was the direct cause of 30 deaths and 300 to 400 other died was the result of later subsequent complications.

D. Mustard Gas Experiments

The experiments concerning mustard gas were conducted at Sachsenhausen, Natzweiler, and other concentration camps and extended over the entire period of the war.

Wounds were deliberately inflicted on the victims, and the wounds were then infected with mustard gas. Other subjects were forced to inhale the gas, or to take it internally in liquid form, and still others were injected with the gas. A report of these experiments written at the end of 1939 described certain cases in which wounds were inflicted on both arms of the human guinea pigs and then infected and the report states:

The arms in most of the cases are badly swollen and pains are enormous.

The allege purpose of these experiments was to discover an effective treatment for the burns caused by mustard gas.

In 1944, the experiments were coordinated with a general program for research into gas warfare. A decree issued by Hitler in March 1944 ordered the defendant Karl Brandt to push medical research in connection with gas warfare. The defendant Rudolf Brandt sent copies of this decree to the defendant Sievers, to Grawitz and others, and transmitted Hitler's request that they confer soon with the defendant Karl Brandt "on account of the urgency of the order given him by the Fuehrer." Subsequently Sievers, who was thoroughly familiar with the mustard gas experiments being carried on in the concentration camps, reported the details of these experiments to the defendant Karl Brandt.

E and F. Ravensbrick Experiments concerning Sulfanilimade and Other Drugs; Bone, Muscle, and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation.

The experiments conducted principally on the female inmates of Ravensbruck Concentration Camp were perhaps the most barbaric of all. These concerned bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation, and experiments with sulfanilimide and other drugs. They were carried out by the defendants Fischer and Oberhauser under the direction of the defendant Gebhardt.

In one set of experiments, incisions were made in the legs of several of the camp inmates for the purpose of simulating battle-caused infections. A bacterial culture, or fragments of wood shavings, or tiny pieces of glass were forced into the wound. After several days, the wounds were treated with sulfanilimade. Grawitz, the head of the SS Medical Service, visited Ravensbruck and received a report on these experiments directly from the defendant Fischer Grawitz thereupon directed that the wounds inflicted on the subjects should be even more severe so that conditions more completely similar to these prevailing at the front lines would be more completely simulated.

Bullet wounds were simulated on the subjects by trying off the blood vessel at both ends of the incision. A gangrene-producing culture was then placed in the wounds. Severe infection resulted within twenty-four hours. Operations were then performed on the infected area and the wound was treated with sulfanilamide. In each of the many sulfanilamide experiments, some of the subjects were wounded and infected but were not given sulfanilimade, so as to compare their reactions with those who received treatment.

Bone transplantation from one person to another and the regeneration of nerves, muscles, and bones were also tried out on the women at Ravensbruck. The defendant Gebhardt personally ordered that bone transplantation experiments be carried out, and in one case the scapula of an inmate at Ravensbruck was removed and taken to Hohenlychen Hospital and there transplanted. We will show that the defendants did not even have any substantial scientific objective. These experiments were senseless, sadistic, and utterly savage.

The defendant Oberhauser's duties at Ravensbruck in connection with the experiments were to select young and healthy inmates for the experiments, to be present at all of the surgical operations, and to give the experimental subjects post-operative care. We will show that this care consisted chiefly of utter neglect of nursing requirements, and cruel and abusive treatment of the miserable victims.

Other experiments in this category were conducted at Dachau to discover a method of bringing about coagulation of the blood. Concentration camp inmates were actually fired upon, or were injured in some other fashion in order to cause something similar to a battlefield wound. These wounds were then treated with a drug known as polygal in order to test its capacity to coagulate the blood. Several inmates were killed. Sulfanilimide was also administered to some and withheld from other inmates who had been infected with the pus from a phlegmondiseased person. Blood poisoning generally ensued. After infection, the victims were left untreated for three or four days, after which various drugs were administered experimentally or experimental surgical operations were performed. Polish Catholic priests were used for those tests. Many died and others became invalids.

As a result of all of these senseless and barbaric experiments, the defendants are responsible for manifold murders and untold cruelty and torture.

G. Seawater Experiments

For the seawater experiments we return to Dachau.

They were conducted in 1944 at the behest of the German Air Force and the German Navy in order to develop a method of rendering seawater drinkable.

Meetings to discuss this problem were held in May 1944, attended by representatives of the Luftwaffe, the Navy, and I.G. Farben. The defendants Becker-Freyseng and Schaefer were among the participants. It was a greed to conduct a series of experiments in which the subjects, fed only with ship-wreck emergency rations, would be divided into four groups. One group would receive no water at all; the second would drink ordinary seawater; the third would drink seawater processed by the so called "Berka" method, which concealed the taste but did not alter the saline content; the fourth would drink seawater treated so as to remove the salt.

Since it was expected that the subjects would die, or, at least, suffer severe impairment of health, it was decided at the meeting in May 1944 that only persons furnished by Himmler could be used. Thereafter in June 1944 the defendant Schroeder set the program in motion by writing to Himmler and I quote form his letter:

Earlier you made it possible for the Luftwaffe to settle urgent medical matters through experiments on human beings. Today I again stand before a decision, which, after numerous experiments on animals and also on voluntary human subjects, demands final resolution: The Luftwaffe has simultaneously developed two methods for making seawater drinkable. The one method, developed by a Medical Officer, removes the salt from the seawater and transforms it into real drinking water; the second method, suggested by an engineer, only removes the unpleasant taste from the seawater. The latter method, in contrast to the first, requires no critical raw material. From the medical point of view this method must be viewed critically, as the administration of concentrated salt solutions can produce severe symptoms of poisoning.

As the experiments on human beings could thus far only be carried out for a period of four days, and as practical demands require a remedy for those who are in distress at sea up to 12 days, appropriate experiments are necessary.

Required are 40 healthy test subjects, who must be available for 4 whole weeks. As it is known from previous experiments, that necessary laboratories exist in the concentration camp Dachau, this camp would be very suitable.

Due to the enormous importance which a solution of this question has for soldiers of the Luftwaffe and Navy who have become shipwrecked, I would be great ly obliged to you, my dear Reich Minister, if you would decide to comply with my request.

Himmler passed this letter to Grawitz who consulted Gebhardt and other SS officials. A typical and nauseating Nazi discussion of racial question ensued.

One SS man suggested using quarantined prisoners and Jews; another suggested Gypsies. Grawitz doubted that experiments on Gypsies would yield results which were scientifically applicable to Germans. Himmler finally directed that Gypsies be used with three others as a check.

The tests were actually begun in July 1944. The defendant Beiglbeck supervised the experiments, in the course of which the Gypsy subjects underwent terrible suffering, became delirious or developed convulsions, and some died.

H. Epidemic Jaundice

The epidemic jaundice experiments, which took place at Sachesenhausen and Natzweiler concentration camps, were instigated by the defendant Karl Brandt.

A letter written in 1943 by Grawitz stresses the enermour military importance of developing an inoculation against epidemic jaundice, which had spread, extensively in the Waffen SS and the German Army, particularly in Southern Russia. In some companies, up to 60% casualties from epidemic jaundice had occurred. Grawitz further informed Himmler that, and I quote:

The General Kommissar of the Fuehrer, SS Brigadefuehrer Prof Dr. BRANDT has approached me with the request to help him obtain prisoners to be used in connection with his research on the causes of Epidemic Jaundice which has been furthered to a large degree by his efforts. *** In order to enlarge our knowledge, so far based only on inoculation of animals with germs taken from human beings, it would not be necessary to recorse the procedure and inoculate human beings with germs cultivated in animals. Casualties (Todesfalle) must be anticipated.

Grawitz also had been doing research on this problem with the assistance of a Dr. Dohmen, a medical officer attached to the Army Medical Inspectorate. Himmler made the following reply to the Grawitz letter:

Approve the 8 criminals condemned in Auschwitz (8 Jews of the Polish resistance movement condemned to death) should be used for these experiments.

Other evidence will indicate that the scope of these experiments was subsequently enlarged and that murder, torture, and death resulted from them.

I. Sterilization Experiments

In the sterilization experiments conducted by the defendants at Auschwitz Ravensbruck, and other concentration camps, the destructive nature of the Nazi medical program comes out most forcibly.

The Nazis were searching for methods of extermination, both by murder and sterilization, of large population groups by the most scientific and least conspicuous means. They were developing a new branch of medical science which would give them the scientific tools for the planning and practice of genocide. The primary purpose was to discover an inexpensive unobtrusive, and rapid method of sterilization which could be used to wipe out Russians, Poles, Jews and other people. Surgical sterilization was thought to be too slow and expensive to be used on a mass scale.

A method to bring about an unnoticed sterilization was thought desirable.

Medicinal sterilizations were therefore carried out. A Dr. Nadaus had stated that caladium seguinum, a drug obtained from a North American plant, if taken orally or by injection, would bring about sterilization. In 1941, the defendant Pokerny called this to Himmler's attention, and suggested that it should be developed and used against Russian prisoners of war. I quote one paragraph from Pokorny's letter written at that time:

If, on the basis of this research, it were possible to produce a drug which after a relatively short time, effects an imperceptible sterilization on human beings, then we would have a powerful new weapon at our disposal. The thought alone that the 3 million Belsheviks, who are at present German prisoners, could be sterilized so that they could be used as laborers but prevented from reproduction, opens the most far-reaching perspectives.

As a result of Pokorny's suggestion, experiments were conducted on concentration camp inmates to test the effectiveness of the drug. At the same time efforts were made to grow the plant on a large scale in hothouses.

At the Auschwitz concentration camp sterilization experiments were also conducted on a large scale by a Dr. Karl Clauberg, who had developed a method of sterilizing women, based on the injection of an irritating solution. Several thousand Jewesses and Gypsies were sterilized at Auschwitz by this method.

Conversely, surgical operations were performed on sexually abnormal inmates at Buchenwald in order to determine whether their virility could be increased by the transplantation of glands. Out of fourteen subjects of these experiments, at least two died.

The defendant Gebhardt also personally conducted sterilizations at Ravensbruck by surgical operation. The defendant Viktor Brack in March, 1941, submitted to Himmler a report on the progress and state of X-ray sterilization experiments. Brack explained that it had been determined that sterilization with powerful X-rays could be accomplished and that castration would then result. The danger of this X-ray method lay in the fact that other part of the body, if the were not protected with lead, were also seriously affected. In order to prevent the victims from realizing that they were being castrated, Brack made the following fantastic suggestion in his letter written in 1941 to Himmler from which I quote:

One way to carry out these experiments in practice would be to have those people who are to be treated line up before a counter. There they would be questioned and a form would be given them to be filled out, the whole process taking two or three minutes. The official attendant who sits behind the counter can operate the apparatus in such a manner than he works a switch will start both tubes together (as the rays have to come from both sides). With one such installation with two tubes about 150 to 200 persons could be sterilized daily, while 20 installations would take care of 3,000 to 4,000 persons daily. In my opinion the number of daily deportations will not exceed this figure.

In this same report the defendant Brack related that, and I quote":

... the latest X-ray technique and research make it easily possible to carry out mass sterilization by means of X-rays.

However, it appears to be impossible to take these measures without having these who were so treated finding out sooner or later that they definitely had been either sterilized or had been castrated by X-rays.

Another letter from Brack to Himmler in June, 1942, laid the basis for X-ray experiments which were subsequently carried out at Auschwitz. The second paragraph of this letter forms a fitting conclusion to this account of Nazi depravity, and I quote:

Among ten millions of Jews, in Europe there are, I figure, at least two to three million of men and women who are fit enough to work. Considering the extraordinary difficulties the labor problem presents us with, I held the view that these two to three millions should be specially selected and preserved. This can, however, only be done if at the same time they are rendered incapable to propagate. About a year ago I reported to you that agents of mine have completed the experiments necessary for this purposes. I would like to recall those facts once more. Sterilization, as normally performed on persons with hereditary diseases, is here out of the question because it takes too long and is too expensive. Castration by X-rays, however, is not only relatively cheap but can also be performed on many thousands in the shortest time. I think that at this time it is already irrelevant whether the people in question become aware of having been castrated after some weeks or months once they feel the effects.

J. Typhus (Fleckfieber) and Related Experiments.

From December, 1941, until near the end of the war, a large program of medical experimentation was carried out upon concentration camps inmates at Buchenwald and Natzweiler to investigate the value of various vaccines. This research involved a variety of diseases -- typhus, yellow fever, smallpox, paratyphoid A and B, cholera, and diptheria. A dozen or more of the defendants were involved in these experiments, which were characterized by the most cynical disregard of human life. Hundreds of persons died. The experiments concerning typhus, known in Germany as Fleckfieber or spot fever, but is not to be confused with American spotted fever, were particularly appalling.

The typhus experiments at Natzweiler were conducted by Dr. Eugen Haagen, an officer in the Air Force medical service and a professor at the University of Strasbourg. In the fall of 1943, through the defendant Sievers, Haagen obtained 100 concentration camp prisoners for experiments with typhus vaccines. Two hundred more prisoners were furnished in the summer of 1944. These experiments caused many fatalities among the prisoners.

The general pattern of these typhus experiments was as follows. A group of concentration camp inmates, selected from the healthier ones who had some resistance to disease, were objected with an anti-typhus vaccine, the efficacy of which was to be tested. Thereafter, all the persons in the group would be infected with typhus. At the same time, other inmates who had not been vaccinated were also infected for purposes of comparison -- these unvaccinated victims were called the "control" group. But perhaps the most wicked and murderous circumstance in this whole case is that still other inmates were deliberately infected with typhus with the sole purpose of keeping the typhus virus alive and generally available in the blood-stream of the inmates.

The typhus murders at Buchenwald were carried out in 1942 and 1943 under the direction of the defendants Genzken and Mrugowsky. Requests for the human guinea pigs were turned ever to and filled by the defendant Hoven. The bulk of the actual work was done by an infamous physician know as Dr. Ding, who committed suicide after the war. But Dr. Ding's professional diary has survived.

The first entry in Ding's diary, for December 29, 1941, reveals that here again the impetus for these murderous researches came from the Wehrmacht. This entry describes a conference sponsored by the defendant Handloser and Dr. Conti, respective heads of the military and civilian medical services of the Reich, which was also attended by the defendant Mrugowsky. Typhus had been making serious inroads on the German troops fighting in Russia. The account of this conference relates that, and I quote:

Since tests on animals are not of sufficient value, tests on human beings must be carried out.

Other entries in the Ding diary quoted below are typical of those made over a period of three years, and give some idea of the mortality among the victims.

10 Jan. 42: Preliminary test B: Preliminary test to establish a sure means of infection: Much as in smallpox vaccination, 5 persons were infected with virus through 2 superficial and 2 deeper cuts in the upper arm. All of the humans used for this test fell ill with true typhus. Incubation period up to 6 days.

20 Feb. 42. Chart of the case history of the preliminary tests to to establish a sure means of infection were sent to Berlin. 1 death out of 5 sick.

17 Mar. 42: Visit of Prof. GILDEMEISTER and Prof. ROSE (Department head for tropical medicine of the Robert Koch Institute) at the experimental station. All persons experimented on fell sick with typhus, except two, who, the fact was established later, already had been sick with typhus during an epidemic at the police prison in Berlin.

9 Jan. 43: By order of the surgeon general of the Waffen SS, SS-Gruppenfuehrer and Maj.Gen. of the Waffen SS, Dr. GENKEN, the hitherto existing typhus research station at the concentration camp Buchenwald becomes the 'Department for typhus and virus research'. The head of the department will be SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. DING. During his absence, the station medical officer of the Waffen SS, WEIMAR, SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer HOVEN will supervise the production of vaccines.

13 and 14 April 43: Unit of SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. Ding ordered to I G Farbenindustrie A.G., Hoechst. Conference with Prof LAUTENSCHLAEGER, Dr. WEBER and Dr. FUSSGAENGER about the experimental series 'Akridin Granulat and Rutenol' in the concentration camp Buchenwald. Visit to Geheimrat Otto and Prof PRIGGE in the institute for experimental therapeutics in Frahkfurt-on-Main.

24 April 1943: Therapeutic experiments Akridin-Granulat (A-GR2) and Rutonol (R-2) To carry out the therapeutic experiments Akridin-Granulat and Rutenol, 30 persons (15 each) and 9 persons for control were infected by intravenous injection of 2 cc each of fresh blood of a typhus sick person. All experimental persons got very serious typhus.

1 June 1943: Charts of case history completed. The experimental series was concluded with 21 deaths; of these, 8 were in Buchenwald, 8 at Rutene 1 and 5 control.

7 September 1943: Chart and case history completed. The experimental series was concluded with 53 deaths.

18 March 1944: It is suggested by Colonel of the air-corps, Prof ROSE, the vaccine 'Kopenhagen' produced from mouse liver by the national serum institute in Kopenhagen, be tested for its compatibility on humans. 20 persons were vaccinated for immunization by intramuscular injection. 10 persons were contemplated for control and comparison.

16 April 1944: The remaining experimental persons were infected on 16 April by subcutaneous injection of 1/20 cc typhus sick fresh blood. The following feel sick: 17 persons immunized: 9 medium, 8 seriously. 9 persons from the control: 2 medium, 7 seriously.

13 June 1944: Chart and case history completed and sent to Berlin. 6 deaths (3 'Kopenhagen') (3 control)

4 November 1944:Chart and case history completed. 24 deaths.

Copies of each of Dr. Ding's official reports went to the defendants Mrugowsky and Poppendick as well as to the I.G. Farben laboratories at Hoechst. Nowhere will the evidence in this case reveal a more wicked and murderous course of conduct by men who claimed to practice the healing art than in the entries of Dr. Ding's diary relating to the typhus experiments.

K. Poison Experiments

Here again the defendants were studying how to kill, and the scene is Buchenwald.

Poisons were administered to Russian prisoners-of-war in their food and German doctors stood behind a curtain to watch the reactions of the prisoner Some of the Russians died immediately, and the survivors were killed in order to permit autopsies.

The defendant Mrugowsky, in a letter written in September 1944, has provide us with a record of another experiment in which the victims were shot with p***** poisoned bullets, and I quote:

In the presence of SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. DING, Dr. WIDMANN and the undersigned, experiments with Aconitin nitrate projectiles were conducted on 11 September 1944 on 5 persons who had been condemned to death. The projectiles in question were of a 7.65 mm caliber, filled with crystallized poison. The experimental subjects, in a lying position, were each shot in the upper part of the left thigh. The thighs of two of them were cleanly shot through. Afterwards, no effect of the poison was to be observed. These two experimental subjects were therefore exempted.

During the first hour of the experiment the pupils did not show any changes. After 78 minutes the pupils of all three showed a medium dilation, together with a retarded light reaction. Simultaneously, maximum respiration with heavy breathing inhalations set in. This subsided after a few minutes. The pupils contracted again and their reaction improved. After 65 minutes the patellar and achilles tendon reflexes of the poisoned subjects were negative. The abdominal reflexes of two of them were also negative. After approximately 90 minutes, one of the subjects again started breathing heavily; this was accompanied by an increasing motor unrest. Then the heavy breathing changed into a flat, accelerated respiration, accompanied by extreme nausea. One of the poisoned persons tried in vain to vomit. To do so he introduced four fingers of his hand up to the knuckles into his throat, but nevertheless could not vomit. His face was flushed.

The other two experimental subjects had already early shown a pale face. The other symptoms were the same. The motor unrest increased so much that the persons flung themselves up and then down, rolled their eyes and made meaningless motions with their hands and arms. Finally the agitation subsided, the pupils dilated to the maximum, and the condemned lay motionless. *** Death occurred 121, 123, and 129 minutes after entry of the projectile.

I now turn to the charges in paragraphs 7 and 11 of the indictment.

L. Incendiary Bomb Experiments

THE PRESIDENT: At this time we'll take our noon recess and reconvene at 1:30 o'clock, p.m.