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
“After a proper examination of all these considerations and
circumstances, the creation of a reservation, such as the
reservations for lepers, seems to be the most practicable
solution. Such a reservation should be able to be created in the
shortest time by means of the necessary settlement. Within the
reservation one could easily set up conditions for the strict
isolation of the strongly contagious.
“Even the case of the German consumptives represents an
extremely difficult problem for the Gau. But this cannot be
overcome, unless the problem of the Polish consumptives is
solved at the same time.”
The evidence shows that the letter from Greiser to Himmler, with Blome’s
suggestions enclosed, was acknowledged by Himmler on 3 December 1942
with the following final decision:
“Dear Party Comrade Greiser:
“I have received your letter of 21 November 1942. I, too,
believe that it would be better to take into consideration the
misgivings set forth by Party Member Dr. Blome. In my opinion it
is impossible to proceed with the sick persons in the manner
intended, especially since, as you have informed me, it will be
possible to exploit the practical results of the tests only in
six months.
“I suggest you look for a suitable area to which the incurable
consumptives can be sent. Besides the incurables, other patients
with less severe cases of tuberculosis could quite well be put
into this territory, too. This action would also, of course,
have to be exploited with the appropriate form of propaganda.
“Before writing you this letter I again thoroughly thought over
whether the original idea could not in some way be carried out.
However, I am convinced now that it is better to proceed the
other way.”
The prosecution maintains that this series of letters which have been
referred to establishes the criminal participation of the defendant
Blome in the extermination of tubercular Poles. We cannot follow the
argument. It is probable that the proposal to isolate tubercular Poles,
as suggested by Blome and approved by Himmler, was at least partially
carried out; although the record discloses but little with reference to
what actually transpired. It may be that in the course of such a program
Poles may have died as the result of being uprooted from their homes and
sent to isolation stations; but the record contains no direct credible
evidence upon the subject. Blome explained from the witness stand his
letter to Greiser by saying that it was written in order to prevent the
extermination program of tubercular Poles from being put into execution.
Certainly, his letter indicates on its face that he opposed the “special
treatment” suggested by Greiser.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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