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
Rose wrote to Haagen 13 December 1943, saying among other things “I
request that in procuring persons for vaccination in your experiment,
you request a corresponding number of persons for vaccination with
Copenhagen vaccine. This has the advantage, as also appeared in the
Buchenwald experiments, that the test of various vaccines simultaneously
gives a clearer idea of their value than the test of one vaccine alone.”
There is much other evidence connecting Rose with the series of
experiments conducted by Haagen but we shall not burden the judgment
further. It will be sufficient to say that the evidence proves
conclusively that Rose was directly connected with the criminal
experiments conducted by Haagen.
Doubtless at the outset of the experimental program launched in the
concentration camps, Rose may have voiced some vigorous opposition. In
the end, however, he overcame what scruples he had and knowingly took an
active and consenting part in the program. He attempts to justify his
actions on the ground that a state may validly order experiments to be
carried out on persons condemned to death without regard to the fact
that such persons may refuse to consent to submit themselves as
experimental subjects. This defense entirely misses the point of the
dominant issue. As we have pointed out in the case of Gebhardt, whatever
may be the condition of the law with reference to medical experiments
conducted by or through a state upon its own citizens, such a thing will
not be sanctioned in international law when practiced upon citizens or
subjects of an occupied territory.
We have indulged every presumption in favor of the defendant, but his
position lacks substance in the face of the overwhelming evidence
against him. His own consciousness of turpitude is clearly disclosed by
the statement made by him at the close of a vigorous cross-examination
in the following language:
“It was known to me that such experiments had earlier been
carried out, although I basically objected to these experiments.
This institution had been set up in Germany and was approved by
the state and covered by the state. At that moment I was in a
position which perhaps corresponds to a lawyer who is, perhaps,
a basic opponent of execution or death sentence. On occasion
when he is dealing with leading members of the government, or
with lawyers during public congresses or meetings, he will do
everything in his power to maintain his opinion on the subject
and have it put into effect. If, however, he does not succeed,
he stays in his profession and in his environment in spite of
this. Under circumstances he may perhaps even be forced to
pronounce such a death sentence himself, although he is
basically an opponent of that set-up.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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