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
“In connection with the administration of the concentration
camps, the SS embarked on a series of experiments on human
beings which were performed on prisoners of war or concentration
camp inmates. These experiments included freezing to death and
killing by poison bullets. The SS was able to obtain an
allocation of Government funds for this kind of research on the
grounds that they had access to human material not available to
other agencies.”
CRIMES COMMITTED IN THE GUISE OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH
(Counts two and three, pars. 6, 7, 11, and 12)
I turn now to the main part of the indictment and will outline at this
point the prosecution’s case relating to those crimes alleged to have
been committed in the name of medical or scientific research. The
charges with respect to “euthanasia” and the slaughter of tubercular
Poles obviously have no relation to research or experimentation and will
be dealt with later. What I will cover now comprehends all the
experiments charged as war crimes in paragraph 6 and as crimes against
humanity in paragraph 11 of the indictment, and the murders committed
for so-called anthropological purposes which are charged as war crimes
in paragraph 7 and as crimes against humanity in paragraph 12 of the
indictment.
Before taking up these experiments one by one, let us look at them as a
whole. Are they a heterogeneous list of horrors, or is there a common
denominator for the whole group?
A sort of rough pattern is apparent on the face of the indictment.
Experiments concerning high altitude, the effect of cold, and the
potability of processed sea-water have an obvious relation to
aeronautical and naval combat and rescue problems. The mustard gas and
phosphorous burn experiments, as well as those relating to the healing
value of sulfanilamide for wounds, can be related to air-raid and
battlefield medical problems. It is well known that malaria, epidemic
jaundice, and typhus were among the principal diseases which had to be
combated by the German Armed Forces and by German authorities in
occupied territories.
To some degree, the therapeutic pattern outlined above is undoubtedly a
valid one, and explains why the Wehrmacht, and especially the German Air
Force, participated in these experiments. Fanatically bent upon
conquest, utterly ruthless as to the means or instruments to be used in
achieving victory, and callous to the sufferings of people whom they
regarded as inferior, the German militarists were willing to gather
whatever scientific fruit these experiments might yield.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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