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
But it is not true that the chamber left Dachau on 20 May 1942 as they
perjuriously stated. They seized upon this date from Milch’s letter to
Wolff stating that the chamber was needed elsewhere. (_343-A-PS, Pros.
Ex. 62._) There clearly was an intention to transfer the chamber, but it
was _not_ in fact moved and this was undoubtedly due to the joint
efforts of Ruff, Romberg, and Rascher. Romberg was anxious to continue
his criminal work with Rascher in September 1942 as has been pointed out
above. In any event, on 4 June 1942, Milch authorized retention of the
chamber in Dachau _for two more months_. (_NO-261, Pros. Ex. 63._) On 25
June this order was passed on to Rascher by Heckenstaller, adjutant to
Wolff, reference being made to a letter of 5 June from Rascher.
(_NO-284, Pros. Ex. 64._) These documents prove beyond doubt that the
chamber remained in Dachau until July 1942.
The testimony of Neff not only proves that the experiments continued
until July 1942 but also that Romberg was presented with a remarkable
opportunity to discontinue the experiments without any trouble whatever.
Neff stated that Romberg told him in the latter part of May that the
chamber was to be transferred (undoubtedly as a result of Milch’s letter
of 20 May which was later countermanded) and, under the impression that
Romberg might not be in favor of any continuation of the experiments, he
sabotaged the chamber by breaking a glass barometer in order to make
sure the chamber would be sent away. Instead of seizing this opportunity
for stopping the experiments by removing the damaged chamber, Romberg
rushed to Berlin, obtained spare parts, and in a matter of 2 weeks had
the chamber functioning again for more murderous experiments. (_Tr. pp.
623-4._) The chamber was used for another 3 weeks after it was repaired
and five persons were killed on the last day of the experiments. (_Tr.
p. 624._) Although the defense attacked Neff on cross-examination
concerning the sabotage of the chamber (_Tr. p. 663_), by the time
Romberg took the stand they admitted the chamber was damaged but moved
the whole incident to the month of May instead of June. (_Tr. p. 6905._)
This was obviously done on the theory that the Tribunal could be
deceived into believing that very few experiments could have been
conducted in May since they contend the chamber was moved on 20 May. But
the documents and Neff’s testimony clearly established that the chamber
was there until July. Moreover, it matters little whether the chamber
was damaged in May or June. Romberg in no event took the opportunity to
stop the experiments on the ground of unavailable spare parts, although
this opportunity would not have been needed if he really wanted to
discontinue them. He need have done nothing more complex than to have
sent the chamber away or left himself.
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