Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume IVarious
Philosophy
Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume I
Various
Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946; War crime trials -- Germany -- Nuremberg
Weltz’ only reaction to this document was that the date was wrong and
should read 28 February 1942 instead of 28 April 1942. (_Tr. p. 7099
ff._) Weltz conceded on cross-examination that, assuming the date 28
April 1942 was correct, then of course Rascher was still his subordinate
at that time. (_Tr. p. 7232._) The file memorandum of Sievers dated 3
May 1942 settled this question beyond any doubt. This memorandum reads
as follows:
“SS Untersturmfuehrer Stabsarzt Dr. Rascher reported in Munich
on 29 April 1942 about the result of the conference with
Oberstabsarzt Dr. Weltz. Weltz requested that Dr. Rascher be
withdrawn if by Friday, 1 May 1942 he (Weltz) were not taken
into consultation regarding the experiments. The Reich Leader SS
was informed accordingly. He ordered SS Obergruppenfuehrer Wolff
on 30 April 1942 to send a telegram to Field Marshal Milch
requesting that Dr. Rascher be ordered to the German Aviation
Research Institute [Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fuer Luftfahrt],
Dachau Branch, and there to be at the disposal of the Reich
Leader SS.” (_NO-1359, Pros. Ex. 493._)
After having been confronted with this document Weltz in effect conceded
that his previous testimony about the transfer of Rascher had been, to
say the least of it, incorrect. He said:
“Yes, now the entire matter looks somewhat different. If I had
this file note of Sievers in addition to my other documents, I
would have known that the note of Schnitzler was correct, and
that there must be another possibility to explain Mrs. Nini
Rascher’s letter. This letter, on the other hand, cannot be
explained now. I can only try to reconstruct the dates from the
documents which were available here, since I no longer know them
today.” (_Tr. p. 7239._)
On redirect examination by his defense counsel, Weltz was asked again to
clarify the situation with respect to Rascher’s subordination, and he
replied:
“Since my first attempt to clarify this contradiction came to
naught, I should not like to try again. I simply can see no way
to clarify it on the basis of the material before me.” (_Tr. p.
7251._)
In a letter of 20 May 1942 from Milch to Wolff it is again made evident
beyond any doubt that Rascher was subordinate to Weltz:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account