1947-01-03, #4: Doctors' Trial (late afternoon)

THE PRESIDENT: The Tribunal is again in session.

DR. WEISGERBER: May I proceed, Mr. President?

THE PRESIDENT: You may proceed with the cross examination.

CROSS EXAMINATION (OF FERDINAND HOLL) RESUMED BY DR. WEISGERBER:

Q: Did the officer of the air corps, when he was making the injections in the crematory, was this medical officer the same one who was present during the case experiments?

A: I don't know what was in the crematorium.

Q: You said before that the injections were carried out in the rooms of the Ahnerbe?

A: Yes, in the Ahnerbe.

Q: Well, in that case you would have to know whom it was that conducted these experiments?

A: Yes, the medical officers of the Air Force.

Q: Were they the very same officers?

A: During the respective experiments the officers changed.

Q: Do you merely wish to differentiate between Professor Hirt and the air force officer, which you have mentioned previously?

A: I have said before Prof. Hirt was present during the experiments, but the experiments were conducted by the air force officers.

Q: Up until now you have merely spoken of one Luftwaffe officer?

A: I have said before the medical officer of the air force changed during the respective experiments.

Q: Well, in that case there were many air force officers?

A: Yes, there were many air force officers.

Q: How long did it take until these human subjects received the injections and were then brought into the crematorium?

A: That differed. For instance, in the camp every inmate had a number. The crematorium was not large enough to accommodate currently all the dead from the entire camp and burn them there. The dead were then brought to the cellar room, attached to the crematorium and then they were burned subsequently, the number of the inmate was noted down. It often occurred that some dead were burned immediately and others stayed there for eight or ten days.

Q: You did not quite understand my question. The experimental subjects who received these injections were immediately after the injection transferred into the crematorium?

A: Yes, there was a room there at the crematorium that was put at this disposal.

Q: Well, how long did it take for these people to die?

A: About five or six days. It may have been earlier. I have already said that the dead were all sent to the cellar.

Q: We have already heard that. We don't have to discuss the period of time when they were burned. Were the experimental subjects, who were transferred to the crematorium, were they dissected?

A: No, they were not dissected.

Q: Did Ahnenerbe have anything to do with F-13?

A: The Ahnenerbe had nothing to do with that.

Q: You stated previously that toward the end of 1943 you were transferred; is that correct?

A: Yes.

Q: Were you transferred by the administration of the camp?

A: Yes, the camp administration ordered that. I was sent to Dr. Schiedlauski, who was the camp physician and he was the one really who denounced me and then I was transferred to the camp at Iffesheim.

Q: Why; what was his denunciation?

A: He said that I was favoring the inmates too much.

Q: And that was reported by the camp commander to the SS Commander?

A: Yes, to the camp physician.

Q: Then, subsequently you repeatedly accompanied transports from Iffesheim to Natzweiler and then again fetched them from Natzweiler; is that correct?

A: Yes.

Q: Who selected these inmates which you brought back to Natzweiler?

A: They were always selected by the camp administration.

Q: Who was that?

A: That was the camp administration of the inmates, yes.

Q: And now about the selection of the inmate subjects; those selected in Natzweiler, was that done by the camp administration?

A: Yes, that was also done by the camp administration.

DR. WEISGERBER: I have no further questions to put to the witness, Mr. President.

THE PRESIDENT: Any further cross examination of this witness of the part of any other defense counsel?

Has the Prosecution any redirect examination of this witness?

MR. McHANEY: No redirect, your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: The witness is excused. You may stand aside.

(Witness excused)

MR. McHANEY: If the Tribunal please, we have one additional witness to testify with respect to the mustard gas experiments at Natzweiler. However it will not be expedient for us to call him until Monday morning which we shall do at that time.

I would like now to offer Document NO-881 which is on page 62 of your Honor's Document book, and I offer it. This is an affidavit taken from one, Rene-Colombin Wagner, and I offer it provisionally; that is to say, under the same conditions under which the affidavit of Rudolf Brandt was admitted this morning. The fact is that this affidavit was taken under an oath administered by Guy Favarger, who is a research analyst of the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes, and therefore I take it that under the Court's ruling this morning this affidavit also can be offered provisionally and the certificate which we will obtain from General Taylor will cover, I hope, all persons attached to the Office of Chief of Counsel who are authorized by him to administer oaths and to aid in the production of evidence.

THE PRESIDENT: The affidavit will be received provisionally under the same conditions as that received this morning.

MR. McHANEY: And this will be Prosecution Exhibit 280. The affidavit reads as follows:

I, the undersigned, Wagner, Rene-Colombin, being duly sworn, depose and state:

1. I was born on 30 July 1899 in Cernay (Haut-Rhin) France and I am a French citizen. I have attended the primary superior school in Strasbourt and Mulhouse. I am a scientific draftsman and have worked for various doctors.

2. On May 1, 1941, I started to work for Professor Hirt as a scientific draftsman. Professor Hirt's chief was SS Standartenfuehrer Wolfram Sievers, who was the general representative for scientific researches of the 'Ahnenerbe' Sievers was often in Strasbourg and was well informed all about the abovementioned questions.

He received regular reports on all the work that was undertaken by Professor Hirt in the University of Strasbourg and by Hirt he was informed of the work of Professor Haagen. I have myself often seen Sievers in Strasbourg in Hirt's office where I worked.

3. My direct collaborators were Meyer, Bong, Miss Elise Schmidt and Miss Bennemann. In the Franzeky Fort, in back of the Ruprechtsau in Strasbourg, we have made some experiments on animals and I know that the results of these experiments were to be used for other experiments on human beings in the Natzweiler Concentration Camp. I know the above-mentioned from conversations between the Doctors Hirt, Haagen, Wimmer, assistant of Hirt, and other doctors from the University and from phone calls that I have received myself from the Natzweiler Concentration Camp. I add that I had to sign a document, pledging myself to secrecy on all that I saw and heard, officially or not, in the University of Strasbourg. The breach of that promise would have meant death. This document, which I have undersigned, was signed by Hirt under Himmler's orders.

4. During the time that I was employed by Professor Hirt, meaning until the end of the war, I have seen documents and photostats from which it is certain that Hirt, Haagen and Dickerhof have done some experiments on human beings. These photostats give the results of experiments made with poison gas and other similar substances.

5. In August 1943, one morning between 7 and 7:30, I saw the unloading of women's bodies. I touched these bodies and ascertained that they were still warm. They all presented signs of nose bleeds and I deduced that they had very likely been asphyxiated or poisoned.

6. In the summer of 1944 Bong and Meyer received an order from Hirt to dissect these bodies. I know about that because I have seen Bong and Meyer at work. I have also seen cases containing quarters of bodies that have been sent to the municipal crematorium of Strasbourg.

7. After the departure of Hirt in November 1944, the former mechanic, Buhler, and myself have discovered in the furnace of the central heating system, a great number of documents, in which I could read that human beings were used as guinea pigs for experiments with gas (Lost).

8. For Professor Haagen, I had to make a chart of about 2 x 1 meters, on which were listed the various combat gases with their chemical formulas, and which gave indications on the dangers that men could encounter. I have deduced that experiments had been made on human beings.

9. I add that Professor Hirt had threatened me with death in case I should open my mouth to speak about anything, especially at the time of the arrival of the bodies of which I spoke under No. 5.

10. Miss Bennemann and Miss Schmidt were paid directly by the "Personlicher Stab Reichsfuehrer SS Versaltung" in Berlin.

/s/ C.R. Wagner.

The Court will of course see that this affidavit deals not only with the Lost experiments undertaken by Hirt and Haagen and Wimmer, but also with the atrocious skeleton collection about which the Prosecution has already presented considerable proof, and you will recall in that connection the names of Bong and Meyer, about whom the witness, Henri Pierre, testified here. Professor Haagen was also attached to the University of Strasbourg and it was through the good offices of Hirt, as we shall see later, that human experimental subjects were obtained for Haagen's typhus experiments at Natzweiler.

I would also like to point out that the affiant, Wagner, states that his direct collaborators were Meyer, Bong, Miss Elise Schmidt and Miss Bennemann. We shall have Miss Schmidt here to testify concerning the activities of Haagen at Strasbourg and Natzweiler. And this, with the exception of the witness to be called on Monday morning, completes the Prosecution's presentation with respect to the mustard gas experiments.

I would like at this time to turn to the typhus experiments, and if the Secretary General will pass up this document book, we can proceed. The typhus experiments are charged in Paragraph 6 (J) of the indictment as a war crime, and in Paragraph 11 as a crime against humanity. I think it might be well to read Paragraph 6 (J) of the indictment to summarize briefly the facts which the Prosecution expects to prove.

From about December 1941 to about February 1945 experiments were conducted at the Buchenwald and Natzweiler Concentration Camps for the benefit of the German Armed Forces to investigate the effectiveness of spotted fever and other vaccines. At Buchenwald numerous healthy inmates were deliberately infected with spotted fever virus in order to keep the virus alive; over 90% of the victims died as a result. Other healthy inmates were used to determine the effectiveness of different spotted fever vaccines and of various chemical substances. In the course of these experiments 75% of the selected number of inmates were vaccinated with one of the vaccines or nourished with one of the chemical substances and, after a period of three to four weeks, were infected with spotted fever germs. The remaining 25% were infected without any previous protection in order to compare the effectiveness of the vaccines and the chemical substances. As a result, hundreds of the persons experimented upon died. Experiments with yellow fever, smallpox, typhus, paratyphus A and B, cholera, and diphtheria were also conducted. Similar experiments with like results were conducted at Natzweiler Concentration Camp. The defendants Karl Brandt, Handloser, Rostock, Schroeder, Genzken, Gebhardt, Rudolf Brandt, Mrugowsky, Poppendick, Sievers, Rose, Becker-Freyseng, and Hoven are charged with special responsibility for and participation in these crimes.

The first document which I would like to submit is Document NO-429, and this is offered provisionally as Prosecution Exhibit 281, that is to say, under the same conditions which the affidavit of Rudolf Brandt was admitted this morning.

THE PRESIDENT: Counsel, in the document book before me this statement, while signed by Dr. Waldemar Hoven, does not purport to be sworn to by anyone or witnessed. Excuse me, I thought that was a translator's certificate, it is a verification by the US civilian. That is correct.

MR. McHANEY: Well, apparently -- there is, in fact, a jurat on it. It may be improperly titled as a certificate of translation, I don't know.

THE PRESIDENT: I know there is a certificate of translation. I did not read the jurat, I did not read the title.

DR. GAWLIK (Counsel for the defendant Hoven): I should like to ask that the affidavit of the defendant Dr. Hoven, the Document NO-429, be rejected for the following three reasons. Firstly, the affidavit was sworn to before a US civilian, de Vries. It has not been proved that Mr. de Vries has the capability to accept such a statement.

The second reason is as follows: The affidavit has not been made in the German language but in the English language. I should like to draw the attention of the Tribunal to page 6 of the English Document Book. Hoven is a German citizen. The defendant Dr. Hoven does not have the necessary knowledge of the English language in order to make such an affidavit in its full extent. The text of the affidavit was presented to the defendant Dr. Hoven in the English language. The discussion before that, however, took place in the German language. It would have been necessary that an interpreter should have been used who was placed under oath. This, however, was not done; and therefore this is a wrong procedure.

The third reason. It is a recognized principle of procedural rule of all states that a person has to be informed in advance when he is to make statements during the course of which he can incriminate himself. This is not only a principle of the German judicial system but also of the English and American law. With reference to the English judicial procedure, I beg to refer to Section 18 of the Evidence Act of 1848.

It is stated there expressly in what form such information has to follow. The wording is as follows -- I am translating from the English text: "You are not obliged to say anything unless you wish to do so. However, whatever you may say will be noted down and can be used as evidential material against you in a judicial procedure." This law was binding in the high Military Tribunal I in the case of the witness Neff. The witness Neff before his examination was told about his right to refuse to testify. I beg you to refer to the protocol of the 17th of December on page 640 of the German text. The defendant Dr. Hoven, therefore, before this affidavit was taken, should have been told about his right to refuse to give such a statement. This, at that time, was not done, only after the indictment had been served the defendant Hoven was notified about this right of his. The affidavit, therefore, has been made under violation of procedural laws and principles and I therefore ask you not to admit it.

THE PRESIDENT: It is the ruling of the Tribunal at this time that the objections will be overruled and it will be admitted provisionally. There is nothing on the affidavit that indicates that the defendant was under any interrogation or was asked any questions. If the defendant Hoven did not understand the English language, or if he was interrogated and the matter was not explained to him, he may later when on the stand himself and attack the affidavit, and if it appears to the Tribunal that it was improperly taken it will be stricken from the record. The admission now is without prejudice to the defendant Hoven to attack the affidavit later.

DR. GAWLIK: It didn't come through in the German, Your Honor.

THE PRESIDENT: I am sorry I spoke too fast. It is the ruling of the Tribunal that at this time the affidavit will be admitted subject to objections by the defendant Hoven which he may make at some later time. The affidavit does not show on its face that the defendant Hoven spoke in answer to any questions whatsoever. If he was interrogated without being warned, he can later state that on the witness stand on his own behalf. If he did not understand English and the affidavit was not translated to him, he may also explain that, but at this time the affidavit will be admitted in evidence provisionally without prejudice to the right of the counsel for defendant Hoven to later attack its admissibility.

Should it appear to the Tribunal that the affidavit should not be admitted into evidence, it will be stricken from the record.

MR. McHANEY: Document NO-429, then, has been conditionally admitted as Prosecution Exhibit 281. It reads as follows:

I, Waldemar Hoven, being duly sworn, depose and state:

1. I was born in Freiburg in Breisgau on the 10th of February 1903. I attended high school but did not complete my education until many years later. Between the years 1919 and 1933 I visited Denmark, Sweden, United States, and France. In 1933 I returned to Freiburg and completed my high school course and then attended the Universities of Freiburg and Munich. In 1939 I concluded my medical studies and joined the Waffen SS as a physician. The last rank I held in the Waffen SS was Hauptsturmfuehrer. In 1934 I had joined the Allgemeine SS.

2. In October 1939 I was assigned as an assistant medical officer in the SS hospital in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and held that position until 1941 when I was appointed the Medical Officer in charge of the SS troops stationed in the camp. At the end of 1941 I was transferred to the Camp Hospital and became the Assistant Medical Officer therein. This hospital was for the inmates of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. In July 1942 I was elevated to the position of Chief Physician and thereby had the full responsibility for the inmate patients in the hospital. I held this position until September 1943 when I was arrested by the SS Police Court of Kassel and remained under arrest until the 15th of March 1945.

3. Due to my various positions in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp during this period of nearly four years I became acquainted with all phases of the medical activities therein and am hereby able to make the following statement:

Spotted Fever and Virus Experiments.

4. In the latter part of 1 of various Spotted Fever vaccines.

This department was called the "Spotted Fever Experimental Station" and was under the direct supervision of Dr. Ding, alias Schuler. This experimental station was set up in Block 46 of the camp. The Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS in Berlin, under the command of Dr. Joachim Mrugowsky, received all the reports of these activities and Dr. Ding took orders from Mrugowsky. In the early days, that is, between 1941 and the summer of 1943, Dr. Ding had many meetings in Berlin with Dr. Karl Genzken concerning his work at Buchenwald in connection with the Spotted Fever experiments. Dr. Ding told me that Dr. Genzken had a special interest in these matters and that he sent him reports at various times. Dr. Ding also said that Dr. Karl Genzken was one of his superiors. From my association with Dr. Ding I understood that the chain of command in the supervision of the Spotted Fever Experimental Station was as follows: Reichsarzt SS Grawitz, Genzken, Mrugowsky, and Ding.

5. I can recollect that Dr. Genzken gave orders to Dr. Ding in January 1943 to enlarge the experimental station. At this time Block 50 was cleaned out and made into a station for the production of the various vaccines to be used in the experiments at Block 46. From this time on the experimental station was known as "Department for Spotted Fever and Virus Research of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS". Then in the summer of 1943 Dr. Genzken turned all his duties over to Dr. Mrugowsky and from that time on Genzken no longer actively participated in these matters. I can recall meeting Dr. Mrugowsky in the home of Dr. Ding on one of his visits to Buchenwald.

6. Inasmuch as I was constantly associated with Dr. Ding at Buchenwald we became very friendly. I frequently discussed matters with Ding and visited his experimental station from time to time. As a matter of fact, Dr. Ding had to go to Berlin for discussions with Dr. Mrugowsky and others, nearly 3 days out of every two weeks, and on such occasions I was in charge of the Spotted Fever Institute. However, when Ding went to Berlin the experiments were discontinued until he returned.

7. The experiments at Block 46 in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp were conducted as follows: One group of victims were first vaccinated with the spotted fever vaccine and then infected with the spotted fever virus. In order to contrast the effectiveness of the vaccine another group of inmates were merely infected with the spotted fever virus without any previous vaccination. Between the Autumn of 1942 and the Summer of 1943 about 500 inmates of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp were used in these experiments. During my time about 10% of the total number of the inmates used died as a result. I heard that a larger number of the victims died after my time, that is about 20%.

8. The selection of inmates to be used for the purposes of medical experiments in Block 46 by the Institute for Spotted Fever and Virus Research was as follows: Whenever Dr. Ding needed human beings for his work a request was made to the office of the Camp Commandant and referred to me for action. Usually a man named Schober, an SS Hauptsturm fuehrer, notified me to select the necessary number of prisoners for these purposes. In accordance with this request I selected various inmates, at random, from the roster of the camp. They were placed on a list over my signature and returned to Schober who often removed certain names from the list for political reasons. In the event that particular prisoners were removed from the list I was requested to select substitutes in order to provide Dr. Ding with the desired number of victims. After I returned the completed list to Schober it was given to Dr. Ding for approval. He made a final check to ascertain, from a medical point of view, the physical condition of the selected inmates and to determine whether or not they met with his requirements.

TRANSFER OF INMATES TO THE BERNBURG EUTHANASIA STATION FOR EXTERMINATION.

9. I became aware in 1941 that the so-called 'Euthanasia' program for the extermination of the mentally and physically deficient was being carried out in Germany. At that time the Camp Commander, Koch, called all the important SS officials of the camp together and informed them that he had received secret order from Himmler to the effect that all mentally and physically deficient inmates of the camp should be killed. The camp commander stated the higher authorities from Berlin ordered that all Jewish inmates of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp should be included in this extermination program. In accordance with these orders 300 to 400 Jewish prisoners of different nationalities were sent to the 'Euthanasia Station' at Bernburg for extermination. A few days later I received a list of the names of these Jews who were exterminated at Bernburg from the camp commander and was ordered to issue falsified statements of death. I obeyed this order. This particular action was executed under the code name '14 F 13'. I visited Bernburg on one occasion to arrange for the cremation of two inmates who died in the Wernigerode Branch of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

THE KILLING OF INMATES BY PHENOL AND OTHER MEANS.

10. In the camp we had a great many prisoners who were jealous of the positions held by a certain few of the inmates, that is, some of political prisoners held key positions and were able to get better living conditions than the average. Hence, many of the prisoners envied these positions and made every effort to discredit the men who held the key positions. Such traitorous actions became known through the 'grapevine' to the men in the key positions and then such traitors were immediately killed. In each case I was later notified in order to make out the death statements of the prisoners killed. These statements did not indicate the actual cause of death, but were made out to indicate that the prisoner died of natural causes.

11. In some instances I supervised the killing of these unworthy inmates by injections of phenol at the request of the inmates. These killings took place in the camp hospital and I was assisted by several inmates.

On one occasion Dr. Ding came to the hospital to witness such killings with phenol and said that I was not doing it correctly; therefore, he performed some of the injections himself. At that time three inmates were killed with phenol injections and they died within a minute.

12. The total number of traitors killed was about 150, of whom 60 were killed by phenol injections, either by myself or under my supervision in the camp hospital, and the rest were killed by various means, such as beatings by the inmates. /s/ Dr. Waldemar Hoven.

While we are now dealing in particular with the typhus experiments conducted at Buchenwald, the Court has seen that this affidavit also covers in part the Euthanasia program and we have just heard the witness Ferdinand Holl testify as to the action "F-13" and you will recall that the witness Walter Neff also testified to the action "F-13", which were described in both instances as the invalid transports sent from the concentration camps to the extermination centers; and here again we find the defendant Hoven explaining to us the meaning of the code name "14-F-13".

It is our position, of course, that the actions known to Neff and Ferdinand Holl as "F-13" were in effect the same as the action "14-F-13" and we have seen from all these sources that through this action, persons of all nationalities who were considered to be invalids and unfit for work were exterminated under the German Euthanasia Program. The other portion of the affidavit dealing with matters other than the typhus experiments, is Hoven's rather pathetic description of the part he personally played in the killing of some one hundred and fifty inmates who he has described as traitors to the good inmates of the concentration camp.

Part of the affidavit dealing with typhus experiments at Buchenwald gives us a thumb-nail picture of the beginning of this program and under whose jurisdiction it was carried out, that is, the immediate jurisdiction. We saw that it began in the latter part of 1941 in Block 46 of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and that at that time it was directly under the supervision of Ding who in turn was subordinated to Mrugowsky who was the chief of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS in Berlin, and that Mrugowsky in turn was subordinated to the defendant Genzken who was chief of the Medical Service of the Waffen SS, part of which was the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS; and the Tribunal will recall during our presentation on the organization of the SS that in August of 1943 a shift in subordination took place and at that time Mrugowsky and the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS were transferred under Dr. Grawitz who was the Reichsarzt SS.

However, from late 1941 until 1943 the chain of command as, as I described in the affidavit, first Genzken, Mrugowsky and then Ding. Hoven tells us how the inmates were selected, who were selected first by him and then screened by Schober and then passed on to Ding, and he very clearly states they were selected at random and, of course, were therefore not volunteers.

I pass now to document NO 423 which I offer conditionally as Prosecution Exhibit No.282.

DR. FLEMMING: Counsel Flemming for the defendant Mrugowsky. I object to the presentation of this document for two reasons. I should like to emphasize that my objection may have the same reservation about any future document as it was ruled by the High Tribunal with reference to the previous affidavit; I object firstly because this affidavit has the contents of an interrogation of the defendant Mrugowsky and at the same time of the defendant Genzken and it is summarizing both these interrogations. I am of the opinion that such a common interrogation of two defendants has to be taken down on record and I think that it is not admissible to interrogate one of these two defendants and ask him to submit an affidavit about the result of these interrogations. In addition, the defendant Mrugowsky neither during this common interrogation with Genzken nor before making the affidavit nor before signing that affidavit, was informed as to what extent he had the right to refuse making that testimony. Finally, this affidavit was sworn to in front of a civilian, so that the same statements apply to it that were made previously and repeatedly by the High Tribunal in other cases.

THE PRESIDENT: The objection will be overruled and the affidavit admitted provisionally, subject to the later attack on the part of the defendant's counsel and subject to the proper certification appearing of the person who purported to take the oath of the witness. The ruling of the Tribunal is without prejudice to the right of counsel later to renew his motion against the affidavit.

JUDGE SWEARINGEN: Mr. McHaney, in Document423, affidavit of defendant Mrugowsky, the certificate of translation refers to defendant Viktor Brack on Page 9 of my document book.

MR. McHANEY: It refers to what, your Honor?

JUDGE SWEARINGEN: It refers to the affidavit by Viktor Brack; the certificate placed on this affidavit of Mrugowsky refers to the affidavit of Viktor Brack.

MR. McHANEY: You are correct, your Honor; and we shall also rectify that. Obviously there has been a mistake made there because even the date of the affidavit does not conform to the one which we were forced to translate, so we will check back and ascertain who did in fact translate this document and have the proper certificate substituted.

THE PRESIDENT: This affidavit will also be received subject to the correction on the part of the certificate for translation.

MR. McHANEY: This document is an affidavit taken from the defendant Mrugowsky; and it reads as follows:

I, Joachim Ernst Albert Mrugowsky, being duly sworn, depose and state:

1. I was born in Rathenow, Germany, on August 15, 1905; and from 1925 to 1931 studied medicine and natural science, especially biology, at the University of Halle. In 1931 I passed my state examination. From 1935 until the collapse of Germany I was in active service of medical officer of the Waffen SS. I rose gradually in the ranks of the Waffen SS and was promoted to Oberfuehrer in 1943. In the Waffen SS I was chief of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS and chief of the Office XVI "Hygiene" in the operational main office. On September 1, 1943, this institute was put immediately under the Reich Physician SS and Police Dr. Ernst Grawitz; and I became chief of office III on the staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police.

I entered the NSDAP on March 1, 1930, and the SS on 15 October 1931. My party number is Number 210049 and my SS number is Number 25811. I received my doctor's degree for Hygiene and Bacteriology in 1937 at the University of Halle. In 1939 I became a lecturer for this field of science at the University in Berlin and was appointed professor of this university in 1944.

2. By reason of my position as Chief Hygiene Officer of the Waffen SS and Chief of Amt XVI in the SS operational Main Office and later of the Office III in the staff of the Reich physician SS and Police, I obtained full knowledge of the position and activities of Dr. Karl Genzken and of the position and work of Dr. Edwin Ding, who was Chief of the Department for Spotted Fever and Virus Research at the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. Several times I received reports to which charts were attached from Dr. Ding indicating the results of the experiments carried out there; and I reported on these matters to Dr. Genzken, an occasion which shall be described later. I visited the above-named department in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp several times. Supervision of the research and the manufacture of spotted fever vaccine carried out there was part of my scope of duties.

3. Due to my position I gained complete knowledge of the official connection between Dr. Genzken and Dr. Ding. Therefore, I am able to make this statement on that subject.

4. Genzken was my immediate superior from 1940 until September 1, 1943. At that time a reorganization of the SS Medical Service was carried out and I was placed directly under Dr. Grawitz, then Reich Physician SS and Police. In the beginning of 1942 Dr. Genzken ordered the foundation of the Department for Spotted Fever and Virus Research at the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp and appointed Dr. Ding as Chief of this department. As I was at that time Chief of Amt XVI "Hygiene" in the SS Operational Main Office, I was the immediate superior of Dr. Ding. The name of this department was chosen in order to make clear the similar purposes of this Institute for the Waffen SS and of the Institute for Spotted Fever and Virus Research of the OKH (Supreme Army Command) in Cracow under Dr. Major Eyer.

5. Dr. Genzken knew, as a matter of course, that the Institute was founded for the purpose of providing the Waffen SS with an efficient vaccine against spotted fever. In the Department for Spotted Fever and Virus Research at Buchenwald, medical experiments on inmates of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp were carried out by Dr. Ding in order to determine the effect of various spotted fever vaccines.

6. In April 1943 I made an oral report to Dr. Genzken on the results of experiments carried out thus far. In this report I gave the necessary explanations and showed Dr. Genzken some charts which were sent to me by Dr. Ding's office and which indicated the fever and pulse curves, the dates of the vaccination and artificial infection, the death rates, complication which arose, etc. One of the experimental series shown in the charts was carried out on people who were only infected but not vaccinated in order to find out the potency of the vaccines used in other cases.

7. I made a complete report to Dr. Genzken; and it is, therefore, absolutely impossible that Genzken as a doctor should have been ignorant of the fact that human beings ware used for these experiments and research.

/s/ Dr. Mrugowsky.

Indeed, I think it can safely be said that the Institute at Buchenwald could have had no purpose other that the testing of vaccines prior to the time that Block 50 war set up early in 1943 because it was then at Block 50 that the vaccines were manufactured. Prior to that time the experiments were carried out on inmates with vaccines supplied from other sources so of course there was really no purpose nor function to this spotted fever and virus at Buchenwald prior to 1943 other than the testing on human beings of various vaccines. In other words, it was not a vaccine manufacturing institute; and this affidavit of the defendant Mrugowsky makes it clear that the defendant Genzken was in the direct chain of command and had full information concerning the criminal activities at Buchenwald, at least prior to September, 1943.

I come now to Document Number --

THE PRESIDENT: We will consider no more documents this evening. The Tribunal desires to announce that it has under consideration the matter suggested the other day by one of the defense counsel in connection with the taking of affidavits to be used as evidence in the case; and an announcement will be made by the Tribunal concerning the method to be followed in connection with such a matter, probably Monday morning.

The Tribunal will now recess until 9:30 o'clock Monday morning.