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
“* * * Prisoners will, of course, gladly be made available for the
high-flight researches.” (_1582-PS._)
Subsequently Rascher wrote directly to Rudolf Brandt asking for
permission to carry out the experiments at the Dachau concentration
camp, and he mentioned that the German Air Force had provided “a movable
pressure chamber” in which the experiments might be made. Plans for
carrying out the experiments were developed at a conference late in
1941, or early in 1942, attended by Dr. Rascher and by the defendants
Weltz, Romberg, and Ruff, all of whom were members of the German Air
Force Medical Service. The tests themselves were carried out in the
spring and summer of 1942, using the pressure chamber which the German
Air Force had provided. The victims were locked in the low-pressure
chamber, which was an airtight ball-like compartment, and then the
pressure in the chamber was altered to simulate the atmospheric
conditions prevailing at extremely high altitudes. The pressure in the
chamber could be varied with great rapidity, which permitted the
defendants to duplicate the atmospheric conditions which an aviator
might encounter in falling great distances through space without a
parachute and without oxygen.
The reports, conclusions, and comments on these experiments, which were
introduced here and carefully recorded, demonstrate complete disregard
for human life and callousness to suffering and pain. These documents
reveal at one and the same time the medical results of the experiments,
and the degradation of the physicians who performed them. The first
report by Rascher was made in April 1942, and contains a description of
the effect of the low-pressure chamber on a 37-year-old Jew.
(_1971-A-PS._) I quote:
“The third experiment of this type took such an extraordinary
course that I called an SS physician of the camp as witness,
since I had worked on these experiments all by myself. It was a
continuous experiment without oxygen at a height of 12
kilometers conducted on a 37-year-old Jew in good general
condition. Breathing continued up to 30 minutes. After 4 minutes
the experimental subject began to perspire and wiggle his head,
after 5 minutes cramps occurred, between 6 and 10 minutes
breathing increased in speed and the experimental subject became
unconscious; from 11 to 30 minutes breathing slowed down to
three breaths per minute, finally stopping altogether.
“Severest cyanosis developed in between and foam appeared at the
mouth.
“At 5 minute intervals electrocardiograms from three leads were
written. After breathing had stopped Ekg (electrocardiogram) was
continuously written until the action of the heart had come to a
complete standstill. About ½ hour after breathing had stopped,
dissection was started.”
Rascher’s report also contains the following record of the “autopsy”:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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