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
“We have a nearly complete collection of skulls of all races and
peoples at our disposal. Only very few specimens of skulls of
the Jewish race, however, are available with the result that it
is impossible to arrive at precise conclusions from examining
them. The war in the East now presents us with the opportunity
to overcome this deficiency. By procuring the skulls of the
Jewish-Bolshevik Commissars, who represent the prototype of the
repulsive, but characteristic subhuman, we have the chance now
to obtain a palpable, scientific document.
“The best, practical method for obtaining and collecting this
skull material could be handled by directing the Wehrmacht to
turn over alive all captured Jewish-Bolshevik Commissars to the
Field Police. They in turn are to be given special directives to
inform a certain office at regular intervals of the number and
place of detention of these captured Jews and to give them
special close attention and care until a special delegate
arrives. This special delegate, who will be in charge of
securing the ‘material’ has the job of taking a series of
previously established photographs, anthropological
measurements, and in addition has to determine, as far as
possible, the background, date of birth, and other personal data
of the prisoner. Following the subsequently induced death of the
Jew, whose head should not be damaged, the delegate will
separate the head from the body and will forward it to its
proper point of destination in a hermetically sealed tin can,
especially produced for this purpose and filled with a
conserving fluid.
“Having arrived at the laboratory, the comparison tests and
anatomical research on the skull, as well as determination of
the race membership of pathological features of the skull form,
the form and size of the brain, etc., can proceed. The basis of
these studies will be the photos, measurements, and other data
supplied on the head, and finally the tests of the skull
itself.”
After extensive correspondence between Himmler and the defendants
Sievers and Rudolf Brandt, it was decided to procure the skulls from
inmates of the Auschwitz concentration camp instead of at the front. The
hideous program was actually carried out, as is shown by a letter from
Sievers written in June 1943, which states in part (_NO-087_):
“I wish to inform you that our associate, Dr. Beger, who was in
charge of the above special project, has interrupted his
experiments in the concentration camp Auschwitz because of the
existing danger of epidemics. Altogether 115 persons were worked
on, 79 were Jews, 30 were Jewesses, 2 were Poles, and 4 were
Asiatics. At the present time these prisoners are segregated by
sex and are under quarantine in the two hospital buildings of
Auschwitz.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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