THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session. OSKAR SCHROEDER — DIRECT EXAMINATION (Resumed) BY DR. MARX: Q: Witness, when did you hear for the first time of the Berka procedure? A: I think that this was in May 1944. At that time I heard, for the first time, of the experiments, which were carried out at the Aviation Hospital in Vienna by Oberstarzt Von Serani. At the time the situation was as follows: At that time two procedures were discussed? one which we had tested in Berlin, and the other one had been tested in Vienna from the technical side, independently from the medical aspect. Toward the end of May I was informed by the Section Head of the Medical Department, by Oberstarzt Merz, that those questions should now be decided, and he requested me to attend a lecture by Becker-Freyseng, who had participated in a meeting at the technical office. The technical office was an agency in the Luftwaffe which dealt with all technical questions, from the development of airplanes to the technical details, also with the equipment of aircraft and other things which were in any way connected with it. It was not always quite easy for us to work together with the technical office because very frequently the technical office worked on questions which pertained to the medical part without complying with the medical advice. Exactly the same thing was done in this case; they had developed this Berka process, and they had tried it as purely a technical matter, by finding a drug which was primarily developed on the sugar basis, and which also contained some component to improve its taste, and which was to be added to sea water. With this drug the salt in the sea water was not chemically tried and afterwards removed from the water. This was done in the Schaefer process, but only the taste of salt was improved by adding sugar and other aromatic materials. The technical office had also initiated experiments on its own initiative. The engineer of the technical office would have developed a Berka process, and he was at the Technical High School of learning in Vienna, and he had carried out his work in the laboratory there, and he then contacted one of our physicians.
1947-02-25, #5: Doctors' Trial (late morning)
1947-02-25, #5: Doctors' Trial (late morning)
1947-02-25, #5: Doctors' Trial (late morning)
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal is again in session. OSKAR SCHROEDER — DIRECT EXAMINATION (Resumed) BY DR. MARX: Q: Witness, when did you hear for the first time of the Berka procedure? A: I think that this was in May 1944. At that time I heard, for the first time, of the experiments, which were carried out at the Aviation Hospital in Vienna by Oberstarzt Von Serani. At the time the situation was as follows: At that time two procedures were discussed? one which we had tested in Berlin, and the other one had been tested in Vienna from the technical side, independently from the medical aspect. Toward the end of May I was informed by the Section Head of the Medical Department, by Oberstarzt Merz, that those questions should now be decided, and he requested me to attend a lecture by Becker-Freyseng, who had participated in a meeting at the technical office. The technical office was an agency in the Luftwaffe which dealt with all technical questions, from the development of airplanes to the technical details, also with the equipment of aircraft and other things which were in any way connected with it. It was not always quite easy for us to work together with the technical office because very frequently the technical office worked on questions which pertained to the medical part without complying with the medical advice. Exactly the same thing was done in this case; they had developed this Berka process, and they had tried it as purely a technical matter, by finding a drug which was primarily developed on the sugar basis, and which also contained some component to improve its taste, and which was to be added to sea water. With this drug the salt in the sea water was not chemically tried and afterwards removed from the water. This was done in the Schaefer process, but only the taste of salt was improved by adding sugar and other aromatic materials. The technical office had also initiated experiments on its own initiative. The engineer of the technical office would have developed a Berka process, and he was at the Technical High School of learning in Vienna, and he had carried out his work in the laboratory there, and he then contacted one of our physicians.