Obedient Greetings, Heil Hitler! Yours [Signed] S. RASCHER TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1971-E-PS PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 53 TELETYPE FROM RUDOLF BRANDT TO SCHNITZLER, 21 OCTOBER 1942, CONCERNING THE PARDON GRANTED BY HIMMLER TELETYPE To SS Obersturmfuehrer Schnitzler Munich Please inform SS Untersturmfuehrer Dr. Rascher with regard to his teletype inquiry that the instruction given some time ago by the Reich Leader SS concerning amnesty of test persons does not apply to Poles and Russians. [Signed] BRANDT SS Obersturmbannfuehrer 21 October 1942 Bra/Dr. TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-218 PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 56 LETTER FROM RASCHER TO HIMMLER, 16 APRIL 1942, REPORTING ON HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS WITH FATAL RESULTS AND ON EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED TOGETHER WITH ROMBERG Munich, Trogerstrasse 56, 16 April 1942 Highly esteemed Reich Leader: May I thank you for your letter of 13 April. I am delighted with the great interest which you, highly esteemed Reich Leader, are taking in the experiments and their results. I thank you for the inspiration you have given me in your letter. The experiment described in the report of 4 April was repeated four times, each time with the same results. When Wagner, the last test person had stopped breathing, I let him come back to life by increasing pressure. Since test person “W . . .” was assigned for a terminal[23] experiment, as a repeated experiment held no prospect of new results, and since I had not been in possession of your letter at that time, I subsequently started another experiment through which Test Person Wagner did not live. Also in this case the results obtained by electrocardiographic registration were extraordinary. In accordance with your orders, I tried to contact Dr. Fahrenkamp immediately upon receipt of your letter. However, I could not speak to him since he is laid up with angina. In a few days I shall ask again if Dr. Fahrenkamp is available. Meanwhile, at times together with Dr. Romberg, I have carried out falling experiments from heights of from 16 to 20 kilometers. There, contrary to theoretical assumptions, it was proved that falling through space after jumping from an airplane in the stratosphere (pressure cabinplane) is quite possible, as after severe unconsciousness the test person regained complete consciousness in each case, at between 7 and 8 kilometers height when the parachute lever, installed in the chamber, was pulled.