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 the presence of SS Strumbannfuehrer Dr. Ding, Dr. Widmann,
and the undersigned, experiments with aconitin nitrate
projectiles were conducted on 11 September 1944 on 5 persons who
had been condemned to death. The projectiles in question were of
a 7.65-mm caliber, filled with crystalized poison. The
experimental subjects, in a lying position, were each shot in
the upper part of the left thigh. The thighs of two of them were
cleanly shot through. Even afterwards, no effect of the poison
was to be observed. These two experimental subjects were
therefore exempted.
“The entrance of the projectile did not show any peculiarities.
Evidently, the arteria femolaries of one of the subjects was
injured. A light stream of blood issued from the wound. But the
bleeding stopped after a short time. The loss of blood was
estimated as having been at the most ¾ of a liter, and
consequently was on no account fatal.
“The symptoms of the condemned three showed a surprising
similarity. At first no peculiarities appeared. After 20-25
minutes a motor agitation and a slight ptyalism set in but
stopped again. After 40 to 45 minutes a stronger salivation set
in. The poisoned persons swallowed repeatedly, but later the
flow of saliva became so strong that it could not even be
overcome by swallowing. Foamy saliva flowed from their mouths.
Then choking and vomiting set in.
“After 58 minutes the pulse of two of them could no longer be
felt. The third had a pulse rate of 76. After 65 minutes his
blood pressure was 90/60. The sounds were extremely low. A
reduction of blood pressure was evident.
“During the first hour of the experiment the pupils did not show
any changes. After 78 minutes the pupils of all three showed a
medium dilation together with a retarded light reaction.
Simultaneously, maximum respiration with heavy breathing
inhalations set in. This subsided after a few minutes. The
pupils contracted again and their reaction improved. After 65
minutes the patellar and achilles tendon reflexes of the
poisoned subjects were negative. The abdominal reflexes of two
of them were also negative. The upper abdominal reflexes of the
third were still positive, while the lower were negative. After
approximately 90 minutes, one of the subjects again started
breathing heavily, this was accompanied by an increasing motor
unrest. Then the heavy breathing changed into a flat,
accelerated respiration, accompanied by extreme nausea. One of
the poisoned persons tried in vain to vomit. To do so he
introduced four fingers of his hand up to the knuckles into his
throat, but nevertheless could not vomit. His face was flushed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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