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
The defendant Schaefer is charged under counts two and three of the
indictment with personal responsibility for and participation in
Sea-Water Experiments.
Konrad Schaefer was a scientist whose special field of research was
chemical therapy. In November 1941 he was drafted into the Luftwaffe. In
spring of the following year he was transferred to the Luftwaffe
Replacement Depot in Salow, and from there to the Luftwaffe base at
Frankfurt on the Oder. In summer of 1942 he was transferred to Berlin
and assigned to the staff of the Research Institute for Aviation
Medicine. His chief assignment at the Institute was to do research on
the problem of sea emergency for the Luftwaffe. This included research
work on various methods to render sea water potable. Schaefer remained
in his position at the Institute without ever having attained officer
rank.
In May of 1944 the defendant was ordered to be present at a meeting to
be held at the German Air Ministry in Berlin, called to consider further
research on making sea water potable. Some months previous to the
meeting Schaefer had developed a process which actually precipitated the
salts from sea water, but it was thought by the Chief of the Luftwaffe
Medical Service to be too bulky and expensive for military use by the
Luftwaffe.
Present at the meeting were Schaefer; Becker-Freyseng, research advisor
to Schroeder; Christensen, of the Technical Bureau of the Reich Ministry
of Aviation; and others. The subject of discussion was the feasibility
of using the Schaefer process, or of turning to another process known as
the Berka Method. The latter method, while cheap, did not precipitate
salts from sea water and was dangerous to health when used for a period
of time—as Schaefer, previous to the meeting, had already reported to
Schroeder. Nevertheless, those in command of the meeting agreed that
experiments should be conducted on concentration camp inmates to
determine the extent to which the Berka method might be usable.
The experiments later conducted have been described at length in dealing
with the case of Schroeder. Due to his attendance at this meeting,
Schaefer is sought to be held criminally responsible in connection with
the sea-water experiments.
The record has received careful attention from the Tribunal.
Nowhere have we been able to find that Schaefer was a principal in, or
accessory to, or was otherwise criminally involved in or connected with
the experiments mentioned. In fact, the record fails to show that the
defendant had anything to do with these experiments, except such as
might be implied from his attendance at several meetings of the parties
who were actively interested therein. Nowhere in the testimony or
elsewhere is it revealed that Schaefer voted for commencement or
prosecution of the experiments or in any other manner aided in their
execution.
CONCLUSION
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