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
In fairness to the defendant it should be stated that he contests the
translation of the second sentence in the first paragraph of the letter
written by him to Himmler, which the prosecution interprets as meaning
that experiments could no longer be conducted on voluntary subjects, and
that the words “demands a final solution” meant that involuntary
subjects in concentration camps should be employed. Regardless of
whether or not the letter quoted by us is a correct translation of the
German original, the evidence shows that within a month after the letter
was sent to Himmler through Grawitz, sea-water experiments were
commenced at Dachau by the defendant Beiglboeck.
The method by which the experimental subjects were chosen is not known
to the defendant Schroeder. As he explained from the witness stand with
reference to his letter and the subsequent procedure, “I sent it away
only after I had consulted [about] the possibility of the experiment
with Grawitz, and after I had informed him how the whole thing was
thought [of] by us, so that he could pass on this information to Himmler
in case it became necessary. Then this letter was sent off, and after
possibly four weeks when Beiglboeck had arrived at Dachau—in the
meantime, he was given an opportunity to carry out this work. Whatever
lay in between that, how in the administrative way this was organized,
we never learned * * * it was an inter-office affair * * *. We only saw
the initial point and the end point of this route.”
Thus began another experiment conducted under the auspices of the
defendant Schroeder, wherein the initiator of the experiment failed to
exercise the personal duty of determining that only consenting human
subjects would be used, but left that responsibility to others. Again is
demonstrated the case of an officer in a position of superior command
who authorizes the performance of experiments by his subordinates while
failing to take efforts to prescribe the conditions which will insure
the conduct of the experiments within legally permissible limits.
The evidence shows conclusively that gypsies of various nationalities
were used as experimental subjects. Former inmates of Auschwitz
concentration camp were tricked into coming to Dachau with the promise
that they were to be used as members of a labor battalion. When they
arrived at Dachau they were assigned to the sea-water experimental
station without their consent. During the course of the experiment many
of them suffered intense physical and mental anguish.
The Tribunal finds that the defendant Schroeder was responsible for,
aided and abetted, and took a consenting part in, medical experiments
performed on non-German nationals against their consent; in the course
of which experiments deaths, brutalities, cruelties, tortures, and other
inhuman acts were committed on the experimental subjects. To the extent
that these experiments did not constitute war crimes they constitute
crimes against humanity.
CONCLUSION
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