1946-12-10, #1: Doctors' Trial
Prosecution: documents, defendants, and organizations
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the matter of the United States of America, against Karl Brandt, et al, defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 10 December 1946, 0930-1430, Justice Beals, presiding.
THE MARSHAL: The honorable judges of Military Tribunal. Military Tribunal 1 is now in session. God save the United States of America and this Honorable Tribunal. There will be order in the court-room.
THE PRESIDENT: Will the Marshal ascertain if the defendants are all present.
THE MARSHAL: May it please your Honor, all defendants are present in the courtroom.
THE PRESIDENT: Secretary-General, will you note for the record the presence of the defendants in the courtroom.
The prosecution may proceed.
MR. McHANEY: May it please the Tribunal:
Before any evidence is presented, it is my purpose to show the process whereby documents have been procured and processed in order to be presented in evidence by the United States. I shall also describe and illustrate the plan of presenting documents to be followed by the prosecution in this case.
When the United States Army entered German territory it had specialized military personnel who duties were to capture and preserve enemy documents, records, and archives.
Such documents were assembled in temporary documents centers. Later each Army established fixed document centers in the U.S. Zone of Occupation where the documents were assembled and the slow process of indexing and cataloguing was begun. Certain of these document centers in the U.S. Zone of Occupation have since been closed and the documents assembled there sent to other document centers.
When the International Military Tribunal was set up, field teams under the direction of Major William M. Coogan were organized and sent out to the various document centers. Great masses of German documents and records were screened and examined. Those selected were sent to Nurnberg to be processed.
Those original documents were then given trial identification numbers in one of five series designated by the letters: "PS", "L", "R", "C", and "C", indicating the means of acquisition of the documents. Within each series, documents were listed numerically.
The prosecution in this case shall have occasion to introduce in evidence documents processed under the direction of Major Coogan. Some of these documents were introduce in evidence before the IMT and some were not. As to those which were, this Tribunal is required by Article XX of Ordinance No. 7 to take judicial notice thereof. However, in order to simplify the procedure, we will introduce photostatic copies of documents used in Case No. 1 before the IMT to which will be attached a certificate by Mr. Fred Niebergall, the Chief of our Document Control Branch, certifying that such document was introduced in evidence before the IMT and that is a true and correct copy thereof. Such documents have been and will be made available to defendants just as in the case of any other document.
As to these documents processed under the direction of Major Coogan which were not used in the case before the IMT, they are authenticated by the affidavit of Major Coogan dated 19 November 1945. This affidavit served as the basis of authentication of substantially all documents used by the Office of Chief of Counsel before the IMT. It was introduced in that trial as U.S.A. Exhibit 1. Since we will use certain documents processed for the IMT trial, I would not like to introduce as Prosecution Exhibit 1 the Coogan affidavit, in order to authenticated such documents. This affidavit explains the manner in and means by which captured German documents were processed for use in war crimes trial. I shall not burden the court with reading it as it is substantially the same as the affidavit of Mr. Niebergall to which I shall come in a moment.
I have thus far explained the manner of authentication documents to be used in this case which were processed under the direction of Major Coogan. I now come to the authentication of documents processed not for the IMT trial, but for subsequent trials such as this one. These documents are authenticated by the affidavit of Mr. Niebergall which I offer in evidence as Prosecution exhibit 2. Since this affidavit explains the procedure of processing documents by Office of Chief of Counsel for war crimes, I shall read it in full:
I, FRED NIEBERGALL, A.G.O. D-150636, of the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, do hereby certify as follows:
1. I was appointed Chief of the Document Control Branch, Evidence Division, Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes (hereinafter referred to as "CCC") on 2 October 1946.
2. I have served in the U.S. Army for more than 5 years, being discharged as a 1st Lieutenant, Infantry, on 29 October 1946. I am now a reserve officer with the rank of 1st Lieutenant in the Army of the U.S. of America. Based upon my experience as a U.S. Army Officer, I am familiar with the operation of the U.S. Army in connection with seizing and processing captured enemy documents. I served as Chief of Translations for CCC form 29 July 1945 until December 1945, when I was appointed liaison officer between Defense Counsel and Translation Division of CCC as assistant to the executive officer of the Translation Division. In my capacity as Chief of the Document Control Branch, Evidence Division, CCC, I am familiar with the processing, filing, translation, and photostating of documentary evidence for the United States Chief of Counsel.
3. As the Army overran German occupied territory and then Germany itself, certain specialized personnel seized enemy documents, records and archives. Such documents were assembled in temporary centers. Later fixed document centers were established in Germany and Austria where these documents were assembled and the slow process of indexing and cataloguing was begun. Certain of these document centers have since been closed and the documents assembled there sent to other document centers.
4. In preparing for the trial before the International Military Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as "IT") a great number of original documents, photostats, and microfilms were collected at Nurnberg, Germany. Major Coogan's affidavit of 19 November 1945 describes the procedures followed. Upon my appointment as Chief of the Document Control Branch, Evidence Division, OCC, I received custody, in the course of official business, of all these documents except the ones which were introduced into evidence in the IMT trial and are now in the IMT Document Room in Nurnberg.
Some have been screened, processed, and registered in accordance with Major Coogan's affidavit. The unregistered documents remaining have been screened, processed, and registered for us in trials before Military Tribunals substantially in the same way as described below.
5. In preparing for trials subsequent to the IMT trial personnel thoroughly conversant with the German language were given the task of searching for and selecting captured enemy documents which disclosed information relating to the prosecution of Axis war criminals. Lawyers and Research Analysts were placed on duty at various document centers and also dispatched on individual missions to obtain original documents or certified photostats thereof. The documents were screened by German speaking analysts to determine whether or not they might be valuable as evidence. Photostatic copies were then made of the original documents and the original documents returned to the files in the document centers. These photostatic copies were certified by the analysts to be true and correct copies of the original documents. German speaking analysts, either at the document center or in Nurnberg, then prepared a summary of the document with appropriate references to personalities involved, index headings, information as to the source of the document, and the importance of the documents to a particular division of OCC.
6. Next, the original document or certified photostatic copy was forwarded to the Document Control Branch, Evidence Division, OCC. Upon receipt of these document, they were duly recorded and indexed and given identification number in one of six series designated by the letters: "NC", "NI", "NM", "NOKW", "NG", and "NP", indicating the particular Division of OCC which might be most interested in the individual documents. Within each series documents were listed numerically.
7. In the case of the receipt of original documents, photostatic copies were made. Upon return from the Photostat Room, the original documents were placed in envelopes in fireproof safes in the Document Room.
In the case of the receipt of certified photostatic copies of documents, the certified photostatic copies were treated in the same manner as original documents.
8. All original documents or certified photostatic copies treated as originals are new located in safes in the Document Room, where they will be secured until they are presented by the Prosecution to a court during the progress of a trial.
9. Therefore, I certify in my official capacity as herein above states, that all documentary evidence relied upon by OCC is in the same condition as when captured by military forces under the command of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Forces; that they have been translated by competent qualified translators; that all photostatic copies are true and correct copies of the originals, and that they have been correctly filed, numbered, and processed as above outlined.
/s/ FRED NEIBERGALL.
The Niebergall affidavit is in substance the same as the Coogan affidavit which was accepted by the International Military Tribunal as sufficient authentication of documents used in Case No. 1. However, in addition to these affidavits, the prosecution in this case will attach to each document submitted in evidence, ether than self-proving documents such as affidavits signed by the defendants, a certificate signed by an employee of the Evidence Division of the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, reading, for example, as follows:
I, Donald Spencer, of the Evidence Division of the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, hereby certify that the attached document, consisting of one photostated page and entitled, 'Letter from John Doe to Richard Rod, dated 19 June 1943' is the original of a document which was delivered to me in my above capacity, in the usual course of official business, as a true copy of a document found in German archives, records and files captured by military forces under the command of the Supreme Commander, Allied Expeditionary Force.
To the best of my knowledge, information and belief, the original document is at the Berlin Document Center.
So much for the authentication of documents to be presented in this trial I turn now briefly to the distribution of documents which we will use. The prosecution made available to the Defendants' Information Center approximate a week ago three photostatic copies of the great bulk of the documents which will be used in our case-in-chief. These documents are of course in German. In addition, the prosecution has prepared document books in both German and English which contain, for the most part, mimeographed copies of the document arranged substantially in the order in which they will be presented in this court. Each document book contains an index giving the document number, description, and page number. A space is also provided for writing in the index number.
Twelve official copies of the German document books will be filed in the Defendants' Information Center at least 24 hours prior to the time that particular material will be introduced in court. In addition, defense counsel will receive seven so-called unofficial German document books, which will contain mimeograph copies prepared primarily for the German Press.
Five official copies of the German document books will be presented to the tribunal -- that part should read 6, your Honor -- one for each of the Justices on the bench and one for the Secretary General. Two of such document books will contain photostatic copies in order that the Tribunal may from time to time refer to the original. Document books will also be made available to the German interpreters and court reporters.
The English document books will contain certified translations of the documents in the German document books. The documents will be numbered and indexed identically in both the English and German versions. The Defendants' Information Center will receive four copies of the English document books at the same time the corresponding German document book is delivered. A representative group of the defense attorneys have agreed that four of the English document books is sufficient to meet their needs.
The Tribunal will receive six English document books and sufficient copies will also be made available to the interpreters and court reporters. Copies of all documents introduced in evidence will thereafter be made available to the Press.
The prosecution will sometimes have occasion to use documents which have just been discovered and are not in document books. In such cases we will try to have copies in the Defendants' Information Center a reasonable time in advance of their use in court. Now, I must point out to your Honors, and I do so without any embarrassment, that there will surely be some instances during the course of this trial when the prosecution falls to comply with one or the other of the court's rulings in view of the fact that few of our personnel were here to obtain experience and training in the technicalities in the course of case No. 1 before the International Military Tribunal, but be that as it may, we shall constantly endeavor to present our case as fairly, a clearly and as expeditiously as is humanly possible.
The prosecution, when presenting a document in court, will physically hand the original, or the certified photostatic copy serving as the original to the clerk of the Tribunal, and give the document a Prosecution Exhibit number.
In the IMT trial, the usual practice, to which there were many exception was that only those documents or portions of documents which had been read aloud in court were considered to be in evidence and part of the record. No this was due to the fact that the IMT trial was conducted in four (4) languages and only through that method were translations in all four (4) languages ordinarily available. However, the IMT Tribunal ruled several times, for example on 17 December 1945, in the original English document at pages 1054 and 1055 that documents which had been translated into all four languages and made available to defense counsel in the Defendants' Information Center were admissible in evidence without being read in full.
The prosecution believed that, under the circumstances of this trial, which will be conducted in German and English only, and will all the prosecution's documents translated into German, it will be both expeditious and fair to dispense with the reading in full of all documents or portions of documents. The prosecution will read some documents in full, particularly in the early stages of the trial, but will endeavor to expedite matters by summarizing documents when possible, or otherwise calling the attention of the Tribunal to such passages therein as are deemed important and relevant.
With respect to the order of trial, the prosecution intends to follow, to a large degree, the order in which the various experiments are set forth in the Indictment. There will be some exceptions to that; for instance, we will present the Sea Water Experiments, the proof of Sea Water Experiments following the Malaria Experiments, which will be third in order, and in time we will move to the proof of reading the Lost Gas Experiments because of the overlapping of the testimony of certain witnesses. In so far as possible, we will endeavor to present all f the evidence relating to a particular experiment at the same time. This will be impossible, of curse, where the testimony of witness overlaps several experiments.
Before proceeding to the introduction of evidence on the substantive crimes charged in the Indictment, the prosecution would like to admit proof the positions held by the defendants. For this purpose we have secured affidavits from the defendants giving their personal histories. During the curse of the presentation of these affidavits, there will be occasion to discuss the organizations within which certain of the defendants were active, such as the medical service of the Armed Forces, the Luftwaffe, or the SS. In order that the Tribunal may more easily comprehend these rather complicated organization we have had charts prepared and signed by certain of the defendants who held an important office within the particular organization. These charts have been enlarged for use in the court room and with the Tribunal's permission they will be placed at the appropriate time on the screen behind the witness box. One of them is now there. The court room charts are reproductions of charts which will be submitted in evidence except that they do not show the certification by the defendants or any notes which may be on the original. This matter is, of course, included in translations, which your Honor, has been received. Mr. Horlick-Hockwald, one of our associate prosecutors, will assist in the presentation by using a pointer to indicate the particular part of the chart under discussion. I shall discuss together those of the defendants who were active in the same organization and the chart of that organization will then be before the Tribunal.
I would first like to take up the defendants Karl Brandt and Restock who worked together in the Office of the Reich Commissioner for Health and Medical Services. I offer Document No.165, as Prosecution Exhibit 3, which is the chart of organization of the Office of the Reich Commissioner for Health and Medical Services. Karl Brandt was the Reich Commissioner and he has drawn this chart for us.
THE PRESIDENT: Has the Prosecution offered in evidence the two documents which he refers to as Coogan and Niebergall?
MR. McHANEY: Yes, sir; the Coogan affidavit went in as Prosecution's Exhibit 1, which authenticates all documents.
THE PRESIDENT: Do I understand, it has been formally offered in evidence?
MR. McHANEY: Yes, sir; the procedure is that I will give the particular evidence an identification number such as the one I just called out, which is document number No. 645. That is the identification number which was given this document in the Document Control Branch. I then call off this as Prosecution's Exhibit such-and-such.
THE PRESIDENT: I understood you to refer to them by identification numbers, but I did not remember that they had been formally offered in evidence.
MR. McHANEY: Yes, sir; we certainly intended to do that, both the Coogan affidavit and the Niebergall affidavit.
THE PRESIDENT: I assume, as in any court, they must be admitted by the court in evidence. They have been offered but not admitted; is that correct?
MR. McHANEY: That is very correct, your Honor. However, the procedure has normally been that in offering them, unless there is no objection raised at that time they will be considered to be admitted. In other words, at least, before the International Military Tribunal, the Tribunal did not make a formal ruling on the admissibility of each document as it went in.
THE PRESIDENT: That is a new procedure to me.
MR. McHANEY: Sir, that is a new procedure as far as I am concerned but it was so during the last time. In the Prosecution's identification, if any defendant has any objection to the admission of documents in evidence, that the objection may be stated at that time.
If no defendant registers any objection to the admission of a document in evidence it will be assumed that there is no objection.
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, in the trial before the International Military Tribunal such a procedure was used as the representative of the Prosecution has been saying. It has led to some difficulties because nobody knew when an objection should be raised to a document such as NO-645, which has now been presented as Exhibit 3. I have no objections to raise against it now, but I do not know when I should raise then.
THE PRESIDENT: We will first dispose of Exhibits 1 and 2, Coogan and Niebergall affidavits, which have not yet been admitted in evidence. Is there any objection on any part of the defendants to admitting in evidence Exhibits 1 and 2?
(No objection raised)
THE PRESIDENT: If there is no objection, Exhibit 1 and 2 will be received in evidence. Now, you are offering Exhibit 3?
MR. McHANEY: Yes, Your Honor. And, to say a few words on this point for the Prosecution -- The Prosecution will have no objection whatsoever to any Defense Counsel coming in at any time and objecting to the admissibility of any document which we will here present. In other words, I am not inclined to take the position that any Defense Counsel waves his right to object to any of our documents simply because he does not do so at the time it is offered.
THE PRESIDENT: I understand that, but it might be much easier if the objections were argued at the time the documents were offered rather than go back an hour or two hours and pick out some document which has been passed.
MR. McHANEY: Yes, sir; I understand, your Honor. I think, however, we will find that relatively few objections will be raised, certainly as to the authenticity of the documents, which in my opinion, is the substantial point. Any other objection would run to the materiality of the documents as against a particular defendant.
THE PRESIDENT: The objections are, of course, equally important as to the authenticity?
MR. McHANEY: Yes, indeed; as to that, your Honor, I think we will have to proceed and learn from experience.
JUDGE SEBRING: When you are about the offer on Exhibit in evidence, you indicate as much to the counsel for the defendants?
MR. McHANEY: Yes, of course, which, at that time, will be the signal for then to interpose such objections they may have, if any.
THE PRESIDENT: Then the court may rule on that, and I think we will have a more orderly record.
MR. McHANEY: Very well, your Honor.
We have offered without objection from the defense counsel, document NO-645, as Prosecution's Exhibit 3, which is the chart of the organization of the Office of the Official Commission for the Health and Medical Services.
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, I must raise an objection against the presentation of this document; at least to the extent that it is only a limited admissibility. This chart has been sworn to only to a limited extent by the defendant Karl Brandt. He has crossed out that this was a table of organization, and he has stated on the plan that it only shown the working procedure; that is, it describes which of the offices the connection was maintained. For example, it is obviously incorrect as an organization chart because it does not show any Chief of Civilian System of Health, Doctor Conti, and such an individual does not exist; that the subordination of the Chief of the Medical Services, Handloser, subordination of the Reich Services below Handloser had not existed either. This plan is composed of two other plans, and the statement of defendant Karl Brandt, the only reference to the fact that it is a composition, and his affidavit states:
I, Professor Karl Brandt, having been duly sworn herewith state that I was General Commissioner and Reich Commissioner for the Medical and Health Service.
Otherwise no other statement has been given. I, therefore, would like to avoid the impression, as this plan shows, the subordination, and thereby would show the supervisory duties which the defendant Karl Brandt would have under the circumstances. This is my statement.
MR. McHANEY: If your Honors please, if I may answer Dr. Servatius' objection at this time before the next gentleman speaks, I think that his remarks run more to the meaning or interpretation to be given to this charge, rather than to its admissibility. At the time of his objection we had not yet proceeded to explain how we interpret this chart and what it means; but as to its admissibility it was drawn and signed by the defendant Karl Brandt upon a translation which is now before the Tribunal. As I stated, they did not appear upon the large courtroom chart because there is not sufficient room; and we did not consider it desirable to put them on the large courtroom charts which are not in evidence themselves. They are simply being used to make the presentation a bit more clear.
DR. HANS PRIBILIA: Attorney Pribilla for Professor Rostock. I also have to object against that chart. To a large extent it is a correct picture; but it only covers a limited period of time. I believe such charts are very dangerous. They make a certain suggestion; and it is believed that things have been that way during the whole time about which the whole trial centers for the time being. This chart can be acknowledged if at the same time besides those names the date could be shown. Yesterday the prosecution said that Professor Rostock was a serious and competent scientist, the head of the University Clinic at Berlin.
Professor Rostock did maintain that position until the end of the war. First he was in charge of a very important and large surgical clinic. From this chart it appears as if the defendant had only been a collaborator of Karl Brandt. In addition to this the indictment deals with his crimes which cover a period of time from 1939 until 1945. My objection is this chart can only be at the same time. Next to it we can see before our eyes that the defendant Rostock, for example, during the whole time was head of one of the largest clinics in Germany, and at the same time, though, that only since February, 1944, he has entered this office of Professor Brandt.
THE PRESIDENT: Speak more slowly.
DR. PRIBILLA: There is not very much for me to add. I only would like to ask the High Tribunal to consider that and besides this picture to know that Rostock was only a collaborator since 1944; in 1944 the war had already progressed to such a stage in Germany that no uniform order existed any more; and that it can be very yell imagined that not everything that happened in other offices came at all to the knowledge of this office.
MR. McHANEY: If your Honors please, I am objecting to it.
THE PRESIDENT: The objection to the admissibility of this exhibit will be overruled. It will be admitted in evidence. If at any time in the future defendants desire to, they are not bound by this statement in the exhibit as the exhibit for the prosecution; and they may make any showing they like, either by cross examination or when their case is opened. Proceed
MR. McHANEY: The next remark that I was about to make before these objections were raised was that this chart shows the organization as it existed in the latter part of 1943. It does not purport to show the organization as it existed prior to that time. Office of the Reich Commissioner for Health and Medical Services developed as a gradual thing; and it did not start out in 1942 as shown by this chart. These things will be made perfectly clear during the course of our presentation. This chart is relatively simple. In the center, occupying the key position, is the defendant Karl Brandt. To the left is the defendant Handloser, Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht. To the right is Conti, Reich Health Leader and Chief of the Civilian Medical Services, who, as General Taylor told you yesterday, committed suicide in the Nurnberg jail last year.
Above is the defendant Rostock, Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research. And below is Admiral Fikentscher, Chief of the Office for Planning and Production.
It was the power and responsibility of the defendant Karl Brandt to coordinate and direct through these subordinates the activities of the entire Health and Medical Services of the German Reich. he was the fuehrer of the German medical world. It should be made clear that we do not take the position that the Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht, under Handloser, and the Office of the Reich Health Leader, under Conti, were subordinate to Brandt for all purposes. As Karl Brandt says in his explanatory note on the chart which is before your Honers, the Office for Medical Science and Research, under Rostock, and the Office for Medical Planning and Economy, under Fikentscher, were personally responsible to him.
We do take the position, however, that Handloser and Conti were subordinates to Karl Brandt insofar as medical and scientific research is concerned; and I think that the decrees which I will introduce in a moment will make that amply clear.
Before discussing the chart in any more detail, I should like to introduce and read the affidavit of Karl Brandt. This is Document NO-475 and is offered as Prosecution Exhibit 4. This is on Page 9 of the English Document Book before the Court.
I, Dr. Karl Franz Friedrich Brandt, being duly sworn, depose and states:
1. I was born on 8 January 1904 at Muehlhausen/Elsass, Germany.
I studied medicine at Jena, Freiburg, Munich, and Berlin, and passed my state examination in Freiburg in 1928. Thereafter, I became an assistant at the Bergmannsheil Hospital in Bochum, later at the Surgical Clinic of the University of Berlin.
2. I became a member of the National Socialist Party in January 1932. My Party number was 1,009,617. I became a member of the SA in 1933. In the summer of 1934 I became Hitler's personal physician and on 29 July 1934 I became a member of the General (Allgemeine) SS. My number was 260,353. I did not hold office either in the General SS or, later, in the Waffon SS.
3. I was appointed Untorsturmfuehrer in the General SS on 29 July 1934 and Obersturmfuehrer in the General SS on 1 January 1935. I received my military training with the replacement battalion (Ersatzbataillon) of the 12th Infantry Regiment at Blankenburg/Harz). Later I took part in military maneuvers at army hospitals in the military district of Berlin. On 11 May 1936 I was the recipient of the "Death-head Ring.
That, your Honors, is a ring given by the SS.
4. In 1938 I was deferred so that in case of war I might serve on the staff of the Reich Chancellery in Hitler's Headquarters. After the outbreak of war in 1939, I visited all fronts except the Balkan, Horway, Africa, Holland, and Denmark.
5. On 20 April 1939, I was promoted to the rank of Obersturmbannfuehrer of the General SS. By the Fuehrer Order of 1 September 1939, I, in conjunction with Reichsleiter Philipp Bouhler, was charged by Adolf Hitler with extending the authority of certain physicians so that, after most critical examination, they were able to accord a mercy death to certain incurably ill persons. I was transferred from the SS Central Office (SS Hauptamt) in Berlin to the Waffon SS.
10 Dec 46 M LJG Blakley 4-5 My position as personal physician to the Fuehrer remained unchanged.
My military status in the Army (Oberstabsarzt) was not affected by the transfer.
6. By order of the Fuehrer Decree dated 28 July 1942, I was appointed General Commissioner for Health and Sanitation (Generalkommissar dos Fuehrers fuer das Danitaets und Gesundheitswesen). In this position I was directly responsible to the Fuehrer Adolf Hitler. I was simultaneously promoted to the rank of Standartenfuehrer in the Waffen SS. On 30 January 19453 I was promoted to Brigadefuehrer Waffen SS.
7. On September 5, 1943, by Fuehrer Decree my responsibilities as General Commissioner were enlarged. I refer to the contents of this decree. On 20 April 1944, I was promoted to Gruppenfuehrer of the Waffen SS.
That, your Honors, is equivalent to the rank of Major General in the United States Army.
8. On 25 August, 1944, by decree of the Fuehrer, I was appointed Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation (Reichskemmissar fuer das Sanitaets- und Gesundheitswesen) and as such was authorized to issue instructions, within my sphere of dutied to all organizations of the State, Party, and Armed Forces in all matters concerned with the problems of sanitation and health. This decree did not become fully operative because a planned decree for a "Chief of Public Health" (Chef des zivilen Gesundheitswesens) was not issued due to administrative delay.
9. I became Dr. Paul Rostock's superior in 1943 after the second Fuehrer Decree of 5 September 1943, but only in regard to the administration of the Office of Science and Research (Amt Wissenschaft und Forschung). Rostock did not start his activities until 1944, when he took over the office Beolitz. That was about February or March. (The given dates were confirmed to be right.)
/s/ Karl Brandt
DR. SERVATIUS: Mr. President, Attorney Servatius, for defendant Carl Brandt. Because of a mistake in the translation, Mr. President, I am turning to you. Carl Brandt says that he had been escort physician. It has been translated as personal Physician. As far as I know Brandt was not the personal physician but he had to be ready to accompany Adolf Hitler whenever he drove away in his car. Thus, he mainly had to wit. He had nothing to do with the medical treatment of Adolf Hitler. This difference may be of importance to the defense. That is the reason why I want to direct the attention of the President to the fact.
THE PRESIDENT: Dr. Servatius, will you please point out in the document itself where you say that discrepancy occurs?
DR. SERVATIUS: It is under Point 2 in the third line. Later on the expression occurs again "escort physician." However, I have not followed it and I am not saying that translations were chosen.
BY JUDGE SEBRING: Are you referring to that portion of Paragraph 2 which reads: In the summer of 1934 I became Hitler's personal physician?"
DR. SERVATIUS: Yes.
BY JUDGE SEBRING: And you say that ------
DR. SERVATIUS: He was only the physician who had to accompany him, because he was not the physician who had to give medical treatment.
BY JUDGE SEBRING: You make the distinction then between "personal physician" and "escort physician?"
DR. SERVATIUS: I cannot give an estimation as to the correct English translation. Dr. Morrell was his personal physician.
MR. McHANEY: If your Honor please, I am not inclined to quibble about this translation. We translated it "personal physician." If he wants to make it "escort physician" that's all right with us.
BY THE PRESIDENT: That will be ordered.
MR. McHANEY: We, of course, do not accept his remarks that Karl Brandt in effect was some sort of chauffeur. Thus, we have in the defendant Karl Brandt a man who was a Major General in the SS, the escort physician to Hitler and Reich Commissioner of the Health and Medical Services. As to Brandt's position as Reich Commissioner, I would now like to introduce three decrees of the Fuehrer showing the evolution of this office.
They are taken the Reichgesetzblatt, which was an official German Government publication comparable to the Congressional Record. The First of these decrees is Document NO-080 and we offer it as Prosecution Exhibit No. 5. It reads as follows:
1. For the Wehrmacht I commission the Medical Inspector of the Army, in addition to his present duties, with the coordination of all tasks common to the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht, the Waffen SS and the organizations and units subordinate or attached to the Wehrmacht, as Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht.
The Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht is 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 will protect the interests of the Wehrmacht in all medical measures taken by the civilian authorities.
For the purpose of coordinated treatment of these problems a medical officer of the Navy and a medical officer of the Luftwaffe will be assigned to work under him, the latter in the capacity of Chief of Staff. Fundamental problems pertaining to the medical service of the Waffen SS will be worked out in agreement with the Medical Inspectorate of the Waffen SS.
MR. McHANEY: I have just completed the duties of the Office of Handloser which you see on the left on the chart. This decree covers work to be done by the defendant Handloser, by the defendant Karl Brandt and by the deceased Dr. Conti. The second paragraph deals with Conti and it reads as follows:
In the field of Civilian Health Administration the State Secretary, in the Ministry of Interior and Reich Chief for Public Health, Dr. Conti, is responsible for coordinated measures. For this purpose he has at his disposal the competent departments of the highest Reich authorities and their subordinate offices.
MR. McHANEY: And here some more to Karl Brandt.
I empower Prof. Dr. Karl Brandt, subordinate only to me personally and receiving his instructions directly from me, to carry out special tasks and negoti ations to readjust the requirements for doctors, hospitals, medical supplies, etc. between the military and the civilian sectors of the Health and Medical Services.
5. 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.
MR. McHANEY: That last paragraph is, of course, discussing Karl Brandt and it states he is to be kept between the defendant Handloser and between the deceased Doctor Conti and it also states that he is authorized to intervene in what is described as a "responsible manner." Signed by Adolf Hitler and Keitel. The second decree of the Fuehrer which I offer at this time is Document NO. 081 and as Prosecution Exhibit 6. This is from the Reichgesetzblatt, found on page 533. The second Fuehrer Decree concerned the Medical and Health Services, 5 September 1943.
In application of my decree concerning the Medical and Health Services of 28 July 1942
-- which I have just read --
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 service according to instructions. In this sense this order applies also the field of medical science and research as well as with 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.
/s/ by the Fuehrer and the Reich Minister and Chief of the Reich Chancellery, Dr. Lammers.
MR. McHANEY: Now Dr. Brandt will tell us that his job was simply to allocate doctors and medical supplies as between the military and health services. We do not deny that this was one of his functions but the decree I have just read very explicitly states that his power and responsibility extended to medical science and research.
It was on the occasion of this second decree that the defendant Rostock was appointed by Karl Brandt to the position as head of his office for Medical Science and Research. The third and final decree is Document NO. 082 which we offer as Proexecution Exhibit 7. This is from the 1944 Reichgesetzblatt Part 1, page 185. Fuehrer Decree Concerning the appointment of a Reich Commissioner for Medical and Health Services.
25 August 1944.
I hereby appoint the General Commissioner for Medical and Health Matters, Professor Dr. Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Sanitation and Health as well, for the duration of this war. In this capacity his office ranks as the highest Reich authority.
The Reich Commissioner for Medical and Health Services is authorized to issue instruction to the offices and organizations of the State, Party and Wehrmacht which are concerned with the problems of the Medical and Health Services.
Signed by the Fuehrer, Dr. Lammers, the Director of the Chancellory of the Party, Martin Bormann and the Chief of the OKW, Keitel.
MR. McHANEY: This decree promoted the defendant Karl Brandt to a rank equivalent to that of a Reich Minister. I turn now to the affidavit of the defendant Rostock, which is Document NO. 676 and which we offer as Prosecution Exhibit 8.
I, Dr. Paul Ludwig Ernst Rostock, being duly sworn, depose and stated:
1. I was born January 18, 1892 at Kranz, district of Meseritz, Germany. I studied medicine at the Universities of Groifswald and Jena. In 1921 I received my doctorate and was appointed Assistant Surgeon at the Surgical Clinic of Jena. From 1927 until 1933 I was Chief Surgeon at the Bergmannsheil Clinic of Jena.
2. In 1933 I was appointed Chief Surgeon at the Surgical Clinic in Berlin. Professor Magnus, who was Surgeon-in-Chief at the Clinic, went in 1936 to Munich and I was appointed deputy Surgeon-in-Chief at the Clinic, went in 1936 to Munich and I was appointed deputy Surgeon-in-Chief and charged with the duties of Surgeon-inChief. In 1941 I was officially appointed Chief of the Clinic.
3. I joined the NSDAP in 1938 or 1939, and received the rank of Generalarzt in the reserve.
MR. McHANEY: If your Honors please, that's rather purely written. It doesn't mean that he received the rank of Generalsrzt in the Nazi Party. It merely means that he was a General in the Medical Service in the Reserve of the Army.
From 1939 until the end of the war I was consulting Surgeon to the Army and subordinate to the Military Medical Academy in Berlin. Dr. Handloser was my superior.
4. In Winter of 1943 I was appointed Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research. This department belonged to the office of Dr. Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation. I remained in this position until the end of the war."
/s/ Paul Rostock.
MR. McHANEY: Thus Rostock was, until the latter part of 1943, a consulting surgeon to the army under the defendant Handloser. After that time he took the position under Karl Brandt as Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research. It was his job, among other things, to see to it that the scientific facilities of Germany were usefully employed and that there was no duplication of research work. This, of course, required that he have a detailed knowledge of medical and scientific research in Germany. On the chart before the Tribunal we see some of the scientific groups over which he had supervisory control in so far as research was concerned. These included the Reich Research Counsel, about which the Tribunal will hear more shortly.
MR. PRESIDENT: At this time the Tribunal will be in recess for 15 minutes.