Guilt for the oppressions and crimes of the Third Reich is widespread, but it is the guilt of the leaders that is deepest and most culpable. Who could German medicine look to to keep the profession true to its traditions and protect it from the ravaging inroads of Nazi pseudo-science? This was the supreme responsibility of the leaders of German medicine—men like Rostock and Rose and Schroeder and Handloser. That is why their guilt is greater than that of any of the other defendants in the dock. They are the men who utterly failed their country and their profession, who showed neither courage nor wisdom nor the vestiges of moral character. It is their failure, together with the failure of the leaders of Germany in other walks of life, that debauched Germany and led to her defeat. It is because of them and others like them that we all live in a stricken world. ----- [7] Tr. pp. 12-74. [8] This chart is contained in Section VI, Organization of the German Medical Service, NO-645, Pros. Ex. 3, p. 91. [9] Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol. I, p. 269, Nuremberg, 1947. [10] Ibid., p. 271. [11] Trial of the Major War Criminals, vol I, p. 247, Nuremberg, 1947. [12] Ibid., p. 301. V. INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT ON THE PRESENTATION OF EVIDENCE MADE BY THE PROSECUTION, 10 DECEMBER 1946[13] 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 whose duties were to capture and preserve enemy documents, records, and archives. Such documents were assembled in temporary document centers. Later each Army established fixed document centers in the United States Zone of Occupation where their documents were assembled and the slow process of indexing and cataloging was begun. Certain of these document centers in the United States 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 H. 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 Nuernberg to be processed. These original documents were then given trial identification numbers in one of five series designated by the letters: “PS”, “L”, “R”, “C”, and “EC”, indicating the means of acquisition of the documents. Within each series, documents were listed numerically.