THE MARSHAL: Persons in the court room will please find their seats. The Tribunal is again in session. SIEGFRIED RUFF — Resumed DIRECT EXAMINATION (Continued) THE PRESIDENT: Witness may proceed. WITNESS: Before the recess I was just describing what reasons led to the experiments about escaping from high altitude. In order to be able to answer all the questions resulting from this problem efficiently, the results would, of course, have to be sufficiently guaranteed. There could not be any question of coincidence or accidental result since, otherwise, the technical developments for the apparatus would be put into false channels. Accidental results would result in directives for the aviators which might be false, and they might lead to accidents, even to fatal accidents. In order to safeguard such results of experiments adequately, it is necessary to carry out experiments on a large enough number of experimental subjects or to repeat the experiments on a smaller number of persons so often that accidental results are eliminated in the results. At our institute, when Weltz suggested to me that the experiments should be carried out in Dachau, there were only five or six experimental subjects available in the persons of my associates and myself, but since several other series of experiments were going on at the same time, these experimental subjects were involved in two or three experiments at the same time in part and were at the limit of their capacities. Moreover, we had just carried out a series of experiments with sudden drop in pressure, and these numerous increases of altitude had made some of us adapt to these heights because, if one carries out numerous ascents in altitude, the body gets used to the altitude. It becomes more resistant to altitude and, of course, such persons can no longer be considered normal subjects. For us in the institute it would, therefore, have been possible only to carry out the experiments through the course of many months; but the task was very urgent. For this reason, I agreed with Professor Weltz suggestion to carry out the second part of the experiments in Dachau.
1947-04-28, #2: Doctors' Trial (late morning)
1947-04-28, #2: Doctors' Trial (late morning)
1947-04-28, #2: Doctors' Trial (late morning)
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the court room will please find their seats. The Tribunal is again in session. SIEGFRIED RUFF — Resumed DIRECT EXAMINATION (Continued) THE PRESIDENT: Witness may proceed. WITNESS: Before the recess I was just describing what reasons led to the experiments about escaping from high altitude. In order to be able to answer all the questions resulting from this problem efficiently, the results would, of course, have to be sufficiently guaranteed. There could not be any question of coincidence or accidental result since, otherwise, the technical developments for the apparatus would be put into false channels. Accidental results would result in directives for the aviators which might be false, and they might lead to accidents, even to fatal accidents. In order to safeguard such results of experiments adequately, it is necessary to carry out experiments on a large enough number of experimental subjects or to repeat the experiments on a smaller number of persons so often that accidental results are eliminated in the results. At our institute, when Weltz suggested to me that the experiments should be carried out in Dachau, there were only five or six experimental subjects available in the persons of my associates and myself, but since several other series of experiments were going on at the same time, these experimental subjects were involved in two or three experiments at the same time in part and were at the limit of their capacities. Moreover, we had just carried out a series of experiments with sudden drop in pressure, and these numerous increases of altitude had made some of us adapt to these heights because, if one carries out numerous ascents in altitude, the body gets used to the altitude. It becomes more resistant to altitude and, of course, such persons can no longer be considered normal subjects. For us in the institute it would, therefore, have been possible only to carry out the experiments through the course of many months; but the task was very urgent. For this reason, I agreed with Professor Weltz suggestion to carry out the second part of the experiments in Dachau.