In spite of my good intentions, and this I say in answer to a question put in the beginning—in spite of my good intentions I was drawn into a guilt, I see it as a guilt into which human beings can be involved by tragic circumstances without any intention on their part. But the recognition of this guilt was sufficient to shake severely my mental and moral balance. J. Final Statement of Defendant Poppendick[42] I joined the SS at a time not to commit crimes, but because a number of my friends whom I knew to be idealists were members of the SS. Their membership caused me to join. That I thereby became a member of a criminal organization was unimaginable for me at that time, just as it is incomprehensible for me today. My activity in the Main Race and Settlement Office was devoted to the problem of the family, an activity which in view of the destructive tendencies during the period of the First World War seemed important to me. If my expectations as a physician were disappointed in more than one point, at least I considered myself justified to hope that in the end this activity would have positive results. The intentions were always toward a constructive policy for the good of the family. Never did I have anything to do with negative population policies, such as the sterilization program of the state. The assertion of the prosecution that positive and negative population policies belong together as the two sides of one and the same program, is erroneous. Then there were purely organizational reasons which brought about my direct subordination under the office of that man whose name today has such an inhuman sound—I mean Grawitz. The impression which the prosecution has rendered of my activity and position in Grawitz’ office is not in accordance with the facts, in spite of some features which seem to support the assertions made by the prosecution.