Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume IIVarious
Philosophy
Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg military tribunals under control council law no. 10, volume II
Various
Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946; War crime trials -- Germany -- Nuremberg
Further, three medical experiments are connected with the defendant Karl
Brandt. The hepatitis experiments, which he is said to have suggested,
were not carried out. While that research was continued during the
following years, Karl Brandt, who is said to have sponsored it
particularly, is mentioned by none of the numerous witnesses and
experts, and his name is not mentioned in any document. Is it not,
therefore, a plausible explanation that Grawitz confused the names?
The second case is the request to hand over 10 prisoners for two days
for an experiment not named. This cannot refer to a real medical
experiment, for such an experiment cannot be carried out in such a short
time with the necessary tests and observations. The speedy return of the
experimental subjects indicates that the experiment was not dangerous.
Finally, the defendant Karl Brandt is connected with the phosgene
experiments by Bickenbach, which caused the death of four Germans
sentenced to death. But precisely here Bickenbach’s affidavit shows that
the defendant Karl Brandt was outside the whole framework of the
experiment in Himmler’s sphere, and that he was merely approached to
mediate. The order came from Himmler. The experiments must have seemed
innocuous to the defendant Karl Brandt since Bickenbach wanted to carry
them out on himself.
On the other hand, there was the state emergency and the enormous
importance of the discovery that the taking of a few urotropin tablets
might give the ardently desired protection to all against the expected
gas attack and, as the result of the experiment shows, actually did so.
Now the prosecution endeavors to establish a connection of Karl Brandt
with the other experiments via the Reich Research Council. It is true
that one can establish such a connection theoretically on paper, but the
links of the chain break when one examines them closely. Only the head
of the specialized department decided on the so-called research
assignments, and he only investigated whether the aim was necessary for
war, not how the experiment was to be carried out. He could not inform
others of matters about which he did not know himself.
The defendant Karl Brandt is further charged with not having protested
in one case when he heard about deaths caused by experiments on persons
sentenced to death in the well-known lecture on sulfanilamide. I must
point out that even if this experiment had been inadmissible, silence
would not be a crime, for assent after the act is without importance in
criminal law, and one can only be connected with plans and enterprises
as long as they have not been concluded.
Now the prosecution has introduced in its closing brief a new charge
holding the defendant Karl Brandt responsible for negligence. In this
respect I should like to point out that no indictment for negligence has
been brought in, and that the concept of crime against humanity
committed by negligence cannot exist.
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