D. Euthanasia (continued 2)

Pfannmueller letter to Reich Committee of 17 January 1941. (NO-1139, Pros. Ex. 346.) It refers to agreement of 10 December 1940 in connection with decision of 18 August 1939.

Kaufbeuren documents. (1696-PS, Pros. Ex. 357.) According to this, euthanasia was carried on in the Irrsee Institute, even after the occupation in 1945.

Supplement, Affidavit of Weese. (Karl Brandt 129, Karl Brandt Ex. 105.) Opinion on the state of disease was arrived at objectively by medical examination.

Legal basis. Legal basis was the authorization of 1 September 1939, which had not been suspended or annulled for the activity of the Reich Committee.

Decree regarding treatment of malformed children. (Brack 52, Brack Ex. 43.) Circular of 1 July 1940, published in the Ministerial Gazette. There, compulsory reporting of malformed and insane children is provided for.

Organization.

Affidavit of Sprauer, according to which the direction of the Reich Committee was in the hands of von Linden at the Reich Ministry and not under Karl Brandt. (3896-PS, Pros. Ex. 372.)

Testimony of Karl Brandt, according to which the direction was with Linden of the Reich Ministry of the Interior. (Tr. p. 2433.)

Affidavits of Engel and Schaub. Karl Brandt was attached to the Fuehrer’s General Headquarters. (Karl Brandt 81, Karl Brandt Ex. 85; Karl Brandt 80, Karl Brandt Ex. 98.)

Testimony of Mennecke. (Tr. p. 1903.) Mennecke never saw a document signed by Karl Brandt. He never saw him and never heard him speak. Karl Brandt was only available to give advice. In a few cases, he was consulted when there were doubts about the final expert opinion.

Testimony of Brack. (Tr. p. 7612.) According to this Bouhler and Brandt voiced their opinion on the judgment of experts only in questionable cases. Further observation was indicated if there were doubts at all.

Testimony of Karl Brandt. (Tr. p. 2532.) According to this, Karl Brandt resigned from the Reich Committee in the summer of 1942. He was not used as an expert.

Letter of the Reich Committee of 16 November 1943 regarding the child Anna Gasse. (NO-890, Pros Ex. 443.)

Testimony of Karl Brandt. (Tr. p. 2541.) By virtue of this letter, addressed to Karl Brandt, an inquiry by the Reich Committee is addressed to the Eichberg Institution. This incident is the outcome of the claim of an incompetent person. The letter shows precisely that Karl Brandt did not have an office of his own, but that he remitted the letter to the competent official authority.

Execution.

Registration was handled by the Reich Ministry of the Interior. (NO-1132, Pros. Ex. 341.)

The notification about the children was made, as required by law, by physicians, midwives, and clinics.

Testimony of Pfannmueller. (Tr. p. 7312.) According to this, the registration sheets were published in the gazette of the Reich Ministry.

Sick records had to be attached to the report. (NO-1133, Pros. Ex. 335.)

Directive issued by the Reich Ministry of the Interior to the effect that personnel and sick records are to be attached. (NO-1132, Pros. Ex. 341.)

Letter of 30 April 1941, with regard to the child Thalmeyer. (NO-1138, Pros. Ex. 349.) In that case a medical report on the child was especially required.

Testimony of Schmidt. (Tr. p. 1828.) According to this, the registration followed upon information obtained from health offices, midwives, and clinics for children.

Medical opinion was given by special advisers who cooperated with official physicians.

Affidavit of Weese. (Karl Brandt 129, Karl Brandt Ex. 105.)

The transfer of partly Jewish children has no connection with the Reich Committee.

Directive issued by the Provincial President Bernotat of 15 May 1943 concerning the collection of part Jews. (NO-893, Pros. Ex. 426.)

Consent of the parents.

Letter of the Reich Committee of 9 January 1943 to the health office at Tuttlingen. (Karl Brandt 40, Karl Brandt Ex. 84.) There the competent authority declares that a transfer of a child is not permissible in principle if the consent of the parents is not given.

Testimony of Brack. (Tr. p. 7612.) The consent of the parents was secured by the official physician or by the physician in charge, in other words, before the child was taken to the clinic.

It was up to the practicing physicians to inform the parents of the type of treatment which the child would undergo and of the prospects of success. (Brack 52, Brack Ex. 43.) The probability of death was stressed.

Testimony of Karl Brandt. (Tr. p. 2399.) According to this, the parents were treated with care while being questioned, in order that their conscience should not bother them later.

Testimony of Karl Brandt. (Tr. p. 2544.) According to this the consent of the parents was not put into writing but was given orally and then a note made of it in the files. No child was removed against the express wishes of the parents.

How the killing was done.

Testimony of Pfannmueller (Tr. p. 7331) rebuts affidavit of Jordans (3882-PS, Pros. Ex. 371). According to this, where treatment was not possible any more, putting to sleep by narcotics was effected by the physician of the institution. There was no National Socialist nursing staff to carry out the killing.

Testimony of Pfannmueller. (Tr. p. 7304.) Comment on the statement in the affidavit of Lehner according to which euthanasia was not practiced on children before the war.

Testimony of Pfannmueller. (Tr. p. 7329.) Comment on the conference of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior in 1942. According to this, the starvation process had not been ordered but on account of the general food situation no additional food supplies were permitted which exceeded the rations of the civilian population.

Affidavit of Weese. (Karl Brandt 129, Karl Brandt Ex. 105.) Graph indicating cases of death of insane persons in the Kaufbeuren Clinic from 1910 till 1944. (Karl Brandt 123, Karl Brandt Ex. 93.) The graph shows that during the membership of Karl Brandt in the Reich Committee the number of cases of death did not really exceed those of World War I. Only after his retirement does the curve rise suddenly.

Performance of experiments by Professor McCance on children not fit to live in the Military Hospital, Wuppertal, in 1946. (Karl Brandt 93, Karl Brandt Ex. 29.)

Testimony of Brack. (Tr. p. 7716.) According to this, the consent of the parents was secured in some form or other.

Authorization. The authorization was given for each case separately on the basis of the files.

Testimony of Pfannmueller. (Tr. p. 7304.) About the types of children in question.

Affidavit of Leusser. (3864-PS, Pros. Ex. 367.) There it is pointed out that the children stood at the lowest level of idiocy.

Testimony of Schmidt. (Tr. p. 1821.) The witness names the type of diseases in question. He says that the consultants and chief consultants gave the authorization.

Testimony of Pfannmueller. (Tr. p. 7314.) According to this, the authorization orders did not read that the life of the children was to be shortened, but it was only an authorization for treatment.

Affidavit of Schmidt. (3816-PS, Pros. Ex. 370.) The witness has seen many certificates of authorization, all of which were signed by Hegener.

Special authorization. The Reich Committee could not issue special authorizations for adults. The signature of Hegener in individual cases is in contradiction to issued directives. It was an arbitrary evasion of the decreed cessation of euthanasia.

EXTRACTS FROM THE FINAL PLEA FOR THE DEFENDANT BRACK^[108]

The defendants in this trial, who are doctors, were accused in General Taylor’s opening speech of having committed atrocities under the guise of medical science. The defendant Brack is not one of these doctors. Brack would probably not even have appeared before you as a war criminal had his superior Bouhler been still alive. Brack worked as an expert in the Fuehrer’s Chancellery and in his field of work had nothing to do with medical problems. Nor is Brack accused by the prosecution of having participated in medical experiments.

However, Brack is accused of participation in the genocide policy of the Third Reich insofar as he participated in the Euthanasia Program and the sterilization experiments, and was conscious of their destructive purpose.

In the judgment of the IMT the word “euthanasia” or “Euthanasia Program” is not used at all. It only mentions measures that were taken for the purpose of killing all the old, mentally ill, and all those who had incurable diseases, in special institutions; this included German nationals and foreign workers who were unable to work. In the separate judgment of the defendant Frick,^[109] too, only these measures are mentioned.

Any connection, or even the possibility of such a connection between these measures and persecution of the Jews, dealt with in a separate chapter, in particular with the plans drawn up in the summer of 1941 for a “final solution” of the Jewish question in Europe, was never established by the IMT nor even hinted at.

Until 1939 the word “euthanasia” was unknown to Brack as well as to large circles of the German population. That this word originally meant the “art” of dying, or to meet death with serene calm, had remained the secret of those scientists who were interested in the Greek language.

During the course of centuries the meaning of this word changed. It first became the expression for the attempt of the physician—originating in human compassion, developed by medical science—to alleviate the end of a dying person by soothing his pain. But then the meaning of the word, and with it the concept of euthanasia, was expanded, and towards the end of the 19th century it meant assistance in dying through an abbreviation of life if the life of the suffering person had lost its value in view of immediate and painful death, or as a result of an incurable disease.

It is a fact that this kind of euthanasia has been applied throughout the world since time began and can be traced back to the Twelve Tables of Ancient Rome and to the epoch of state socialism in antiquity.

The assertion of the prosecution that euthanasia was the product of National Socialism and its racial theories can be indisputably refuted by history.

Even if the prosecution is of a different opinion, the Tribunal cannot overlook the fact that the testimony of Karl Brandt, Brack, Pfannmueller, Hederich, Schultze, Grabe, Gertrud Kallmeyer, and Walter Eugen Schmidt, all stated independently that the measures started according to Hitler’s will in the autumn of 1939 only applied to incurable, mentally ill persons, and were suspended in 1941. For these measures, the participants used the word and the concept of “euthanasia” in the meaning of the final medical assistance, whether justly or injustly, will be discussed later.

It is not uninteresting to note that the word “Euthanasia Program” appears for the first time in the Brack affidavit (NO-426, Pros. Ex. 160), which was drawn up by the prosecution after several interrogations; Brack at that time was in a state of physical and mental exhaustion and, therefore, not in a position to realize clearly what he said.

The defense, in agreement with the prosecution, refrained from presenting an expert medical opinion, but did not, as the prosecution now asserts, refuse to present it.

I regret very deeply that the prosecution, when using the word “Euthanasia Program” coined by them, characterizes without sufficient proof the euthanasia applied in 1939-1941 for the incurably sick as the conscious and deliberate precursor of the different actions of annihilation which mark the milestones of the mental and moral ruins left to the German people by men who had become insane.

If the prosecution had been sure of their assumption, they would not have had to submit those extremely doubtful documents with which they tried to prove in cross-examination that the defendant Brack participated in planning the mass extermination of the Jews.

How, in the face of such insufficient evidence which is opposed by numerous cases of intervention for Jews in that period of time—I only recall the cases Warburg and Georgii—and in the face of Brack’s sworn statements about his attitude towards Jewry, can the prosecution assert that Brack participated in planning the extermination of the Jews? In this way, the prosecution closed the circle incriminating Brack, which they drew round the euthanasia of incurable mental patients, the Action 14 f 13, and the final measures to exterminate the Jews.

I wish to stress again that everything that happened after the stop in August 1941 in the way of abuse by the euthanasia institutions had nothing to do with the euthanasia of the incurably insane which was supported by Brack. An opposing view would only be suitable to make a historical record which is not supported by the weight of the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, but merely corresponds to a conjecture which in the decisive points themselves is void of every substantiated basis.

d. Evidence

Prosecution Documents

Pros. Ex.

Doc. No.No.Description of DocumentPage

NO-426160Extract from the affidavit of defendant Brack, 14 October 1946, describing administrative details and procedure of the Euthanasia Program.842

615-PS246Letter from Dr. Hilfrich, Bishop of Limburg, to the Reich Minister of Justice, 13 August 1941, protesting against the killing of mentally ill people.845

NO-429281Extract from the affidavit of defendant Hoven, 24 October 1946, concerning the transfer of concentration camp inmates to euthanasia stations for extermination.847

630-PS330Letter from Hitler to Karl Brandt and Bouhler, 1 September 1939, charging them with the execution of euthanasia.848

NO-1135334Confirmation, 30 August 1940, of the transfer of mental patients with list of transferred patients attached.848

1696-PS357Letter from Dr. Conti to the Mental Hospital in Kaufbeuren, 16 November 1939, requesting that questionnaires (attached) be filled out for individual patients; letter from the General Sick Transport Company to the Mental Hospital in Kaufbeuren, 12 May 1941, stating that the company would remove mental patients; report from the Provincial Association for Social Welfare in Swabia, 6 May 1941, that all transferred patients had died; letter from Gaum, 24 November 1942, to Dr. Leinisch stating that epileptics would be made available for research.849

3896-PS372Extract from the affidavit of Dr. Ludwig Sprauer, 23 April 1946, concerning the organization of the Euthanasia Program.853

NO-520374Letter from the chief of the institution for feeble-minded in Stetten to Dr. Frank, 6 September 1940, requesting that euthanasia be carried out only after legal basis was created.854

NO-660377Note by Sellmer, 6 December 1940, describing the method of selection for euthanasia.855

NO-018404Letter from Himmler to Brack, 19 December 1940, requesting that Euthanasia Station Grafeneck be discontinued and that motion pictures be shown to dispel rumors.856

NO-842405Letter from Brack to Dr. Schlegelberger, 18 April 1941, forwarding forms for euthanasia and suggesting that death notifications should not follow a stereotyped form.857

NO-158410Letter from Hirche, administrator of the Mental Institution Bernburg, to camp commandant of the Gross-Rosen concentration camp, 19 March 1942, with list of inmates transferred from the concentration camp to Bernburg.858

NO-907412Extract from letter from Dr. Fritz Mennecke to his wife, 25 November 1941, concerning his activities as physician selecting inmates of concentration camp Buchenwald for euthanasia.861

NO-1007413Circular from Gluecks to concentration camp commandants, 27 April 1943, stating that in the future only insane prisoners should be used for Action “14 f 13” (euthanasia).862

NO-891414Directive of the Reich Minister of the Interior, 6 September 1944, ordering euthanasia extended to insane Eastern workers.863

1553-PS428Extract from the field interrogation of Kurt Gerstein, 26 April 1945, describing the mass gassing of Jews and other “undesirables.”865

NO-365507Unsigned draft letter from Dr. Wetzel to Rosenberg, 25 October 1941, dealing with Brack’s collaboration in the construction of gas chambers for the extermination of Jews.870

Defense Documents

Doc. No.Def. Ex. No.Description of Documents

Karl Brandt 18Karl Brandt Ex. 15Extracts from the affidavit of Dr. Werner Kirchert, 29 January 1947, stating that Karl Brandt was not involved in the Euthanasia Program.871

Karl Brandt 19Karl Brandt Ex. 16Affidavit of Alfred Rueggeberg, 23 January 1947, concerning radio discussions on euthanasia.872

Karl Brandt 23Karl Brandt Ex. 19Affidavit of Eduard Woermann, 18 January 1947, concerning discussion of Karl Brandt and Pastor Bodelschwingh on euthanasia.873

Pokorny 19Pokorny Ex. 27Affidavit of Dr. Helmuth Weese, 19 March 1947, concerning use of caladium seguinum for sterilization.874

Testimony

Page

Extracts from the testimony of prosecution witness Dr. Mennecke875

Extracts from the testimony of defendant Brack876

Extract from the testimony of prosecution witness Walter E. Schmidt890

Extracts from the testimony of defendant Karl Brandt892

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-426

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 160

EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT BRACK, 14 OCTOBER 1946, DESCRIBING ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS AND PROCEDURE OF THE EUTHANASIA PROGRAM

The Euthanasia Program

4. The Euthanasia Program was initiated in the summer of 1939. Hitler issued a secret order to Professor Dr. Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Medical and Health Matters, and at that time personal physician to the Fuehrer, and to Philipp Bouhler, charging them with responsibility for the killing of human beings who were unable to live, that is, the according of a mercy death to incurably insane persons. Prior to the issuance of this secret order, Bouhler had a conference with Dr. Brandt and Dr. Leonardo Conti, the Reich Chief for Public Health and State Secretary in the Ministry of Interior. On the basis of this order of Hitler, Bouhler and Brandt were to select doctors to carry out this program. Inasmuch as the insane asylums and other institutions were functions of the Ministry of Interior, Dr. Herbert Linden became the representative of the Ministry of Interior. Dr. Karl Brandt and Philipp Bouhler appointed Professor Dr. Heyde and Professor Dr. Nietsche along with several other medical men to aid in the execution of this Euthanasia Program.

5. Professor Dr. Karl Brandt was in charge of the medical section of the Euthanasia Program. In this capacity, as shown in the chart I have drawn, dated 12 September 1946, Dr. Karl Brandt appointed as his deputies Professor Heyde and Professor Nietsche. In charge of the administrative office under Brandt was first Herr Bohne and later Herr Allers. Three different names were used by Brandt’s section in order to disguise the activities of the organization. The names of the organization are as follows:

Reich Association—Mental Institutions.

Charitable Foundation for Institutional Care.

General Patient Transport Company.

6. In the early stages of this program, Dr. Karl Brandt visited Philipp Bouhler and discussed with him many details of this program. As a matter of fact, after such meetings between Brandt and Bouhler, I received many orders, more often from Bouhler than from Brandt directly.

7. In my capacity as Chief of Office II of Bouhler’s Chancellery, I was ordered to carry out the administrative details of the Euthanasia Program. My deputy was Werner Blankenburg, who eventually became my successor, that is, in the beginning of 1942 when I joined the Waffen SS. Von Hegener, Reinh, Vorberg, and Dr. Hevelmann were members of my staff.

8. In the Ministry of the Interior, Dr. Linden was in charge of the Euthanasia Program and his deputy was Ministerialrat Franke. The Department for Public Health in the Ministry of the Interior had authority over all insane asylums of the Reich, and in this position, my department as well as the office of Dr. Brandt maintained close liaison in order to operate this Euthanasia Program efficiently.

The Procedure

9. By order of Dr. Linden, the directors of all insane asylums in the Reich had to complete questionnaires for each patient in their institutions. These questionnaires were drafted by Bouhler, Heyde, Nietsche, and others in several of their many conferences. The questionnaires were then forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior to be distributed to the various insane asylums and similar institutions. Theoretically, Dr. Linden’s office had the questionnaires returned and then forwarded them to the administrative section of the office of Dr. Brandt. The program was so arranged that photostats of each questionnaire were to be sent to four experts consisting of about 10 to 15 doctors. I do not remember the names of all the members of this panel, but Dr. Pfannmueller, Dr. Schumann, Dr. Faltlhauser, and Dr. Rennaux are fresh in my memory in this connection. Each of these experts indicated by making a certain comment on the questionnaire whether or not the patient could be transferred to an observation institution and eventually killed. The questionnaire was then forwarded to a senior expert. According to the regulation, the senior expert was only entitled to order the transfer of the patient when all four experts voted for the transfer. This senior expert also marked the questionnaire and then submitted it to Dr. Linden who ordered the insane asylum to transfer the patient to one of the observation institutions. Offhand I can remember, among others, the names of the following observation institutions: Eglfing-Haar, Kempten, Jena, Buch, Arnsberg.

10. At these institutions the patients were under the observation of the doctor in charge for a period of 1 to 3 months. The physician had the right to exempt the patient from the program if he decided that the patient was not incurable. If he agreed with the opinion of the senior expert, the patient was transferred to a so-called Euthanasia Institution. I can recall the names of the Euthanasia Institutions—

Grafeneck—under Dr. Schuman.

Brandenburg—under Dr. Hennecke.

Hartheim—under Dr. Rennaux.

Sonnenstein—under Dr. Schmalenbach.

Hadamar—(I do not remember under whose leadership).

Bernburg—under Dr. Behnke or Dr. Becker.

In these institutions the patient was killed by means of gas by the doctor in charge. To the best of my knowledge, about fifty to sixty thousand persons were killed in this way from autumn 1939 to the summer of 1941.

11. The order issued by the Fuehrer to Brandt and Bouhler was secret and never published. The Euthanasia Program itself was kept as secret as possible, and for this reason, relatives of persons killed in the course of the program were never told the real cause of death. The death certificates issued to the relatives carried fictitious causes of death such as heart failure. All persons subjected to the Euthanasia Program did not have an opportunity to decide whether they wanted a mercy death, nor were their relatives contacted for approval or disapproval. The decision was purely within the discretion of the doctors. The program was not restricted to those cases in which the person was “in extremis”.

12. Hitler’s ultimate reason for the establishment of the Euthanasia Program in Germany was to eliminate those people confined to insane asylums and similar institutions who could no longer be of any use to the Reich. They were considered useless objects and Hitler felt that by exterminating these so-called useless eaters, it would be possible to relieve more doctors, male and female nurses, and other personnel, hospital beds and other facilities for the armed forces.

Reich Committee for Research on Hereditary Diseases and Constitutional Susceptibility to Severe Diseases

13. This committee, which was also a function of the Euthanasia Program, was an organization for the killing of children who were born mentally deficient or physically deformed. All physicians assisting at births, midwives, and maternity hospitals were ordered by the Ministry of Interior to report such cases to the office of Dr. Linden in the Ministry of Interior. Experts in the medical section of Dr. Brandt’s office were then ordered to give their opinion in each case. As a matter of fact, the complete file on each case was sent to the offices of Bouhler and Dr. Brandt in order to obtain their opinions and to decide the fate of each child involved. In many cases these children were to be operated upon in such a manner that the result was either complete recovery or death. Death resulted in a majority of these cases. The program was inaugurated in the summer of 1939. Bouhler told me that Dr. Linden had orders to obtain the consent of the parents of each child concerned. I do not know how long this program continued, since I joined the Waffen SS in 1942.

The Connection between the Euthanasia Program and SS Brigadefuehrer Globocnik

14. In 1941 I received an oral order to discontinue the Euthanasia Program. I received this order either from Bouhler or from Dr. Brandt. In order to preserve the personnel relieved of these duties and to have the opportunity of starting a new Euthanasia Program after the war, Bouhler requested, I think after a conference with Himmler, that I send this personnel to Lublin and put it at the disposal of SS Brigadefuehrer Globocnik. I then had the impression that these people were to be used in the extensive Jewish labor camps run by Globocnik. Later, however, at the end of 1942 or the beginning of 1943, I found out that they were used to assist in the mass extermination of the Jews, which was then already common knowledge in higher Party circles.

15. Among the doctors who assisted in the Jewish extermination program were Eberle and Schumann; Schumann performed medical experiments on prisoners in Auschwitz. It would have been impossible for these men to participate in such things without the personal knowledge and consent of Karl Brandt. The order to send these men to the East could have been given only by Himmler to Brandt, possibly through Bouhler.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 615-PS

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 246

LETTER FROM DR. HILFRICH, BISHOP OF LIMBURG, TO THE REICH MINISTER OF JUSTICE, 13 AUGUST 1941, PROTESTING AGAINST THE KILLING OF MENTALLY ILL PEOPLE

The Bishop of Limburg

Limburg/Lahm, 13 August 1941

To the Reich Minister of Justice

Berlin

Regarding the report submitted on July 16 (sub. IV, pp. 6-7) by the Chairman of the Fulda Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Dr. Bertram, I consider it my duty to present the following as a concrete illustration of destruction of so-called “useless life”.

About 8 kilometers from Limburg in the little town of Hadamar, on a hill overlooking the town, there is an institution which had formerly served various purposes and of late had been used as a nursing home. This institution was renovated and furnished as a place in which, by concensus of opinion, the above-mentioned euthanasia has been systematically practiced for months—approximately since February 1941. The fact is, of course, known beyond the administrative district of Wiesbaden because death certificates from the Hadamar-Moenchberg Registry are sent to the home communities. (Moenchberg is the name of this institution because it was a Franciscan monastery prior to its secularization in 1803.)

Several times a week busses arrive in Hadamar with a considerable number of such victims. School children of the vicinity know this vehicle and say: “There comes the murder-box again.” After the arrival of the vehicle, the citizens of Hadamar watch the smoke rise out of the chimney and are tortured with the ever-present thought of depending on the direction of the wind.

The effect of the principles at work here are that children call each other names and say, “You’re crazy; you’ll be sent to the baking oven in Hadamar.” Those who do not want to marry, or find no opportunity, say, “Marry, never! Bring children into the world so they can be put into the bottling machine!” You hear old folks say, “Don’t send me to a state hospital! When the feeble-minded have been finished off, the next useless eaters whose turn will come are the old people.”

All God-fearing men consider this destruction of helpless beings a crass injustice. And if anybody says that Germany cannot win the war, if there is yet a just God, these expressions are not the result of a lack of love for the Fatherland but of a deep concern for our people. The population cannot grasp the fact that systematic actions are carried out which in accordance with paragraph 211 of the German Penal Code are punishable with death. High authority as a moral concept has suffered a severe shock as a result of these happenings. The official notice that N. N. died of a contagious disease and, therefore, his body had to be burned, no longer finds credence, and official notices of this kind which are no longer believed have further undermined the ethical value of the concept of authority.

Officials of the Secret State Police, it is said, are trying to suppress discussion of the Hadamar occurrences by means of severe threats. In the interest of public peace, this may be well intended. But the knowledge, and the conviction, and the indignation of the population, cannot be changed by it; the conviction will be increased with the bitter realization that discussion is prohibited by threats, but that the actions themselves are not prosecuted under penal law.

Facta loquuntur.

I beg you most humbly, Herr Reich Minister, in the sense of the report of the Episcopate of 16 July of this year, to prevent further transgressions of the Fifth Commandment of God.

[Signed] Dr. Hilfrich

I am submitting copies of this letter to the Reich Minister of the Interior and to the Reich Minister for Church Affairs.

[Initialed by the above]

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-429

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 281

EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT HOVEN, 24 OCTOBER 1946, CONCERNING THE TRANSFER OF CONCENTRATION CAMP INMATES TO EUTHANASIA STATIONS FOR EXTERMINATION

AFFIDAVIT

I, Waldemar Hoven, being duly sworn, depose and state:

Transfer of Inmates to the Bernburg Euthanasia Station for Extermination

I became aware in 1941 that the so-called Euthanasia Program for the extermination of the mentally and physically deficient was being carried out in Germany. At that time, the camp commandant Koch called all the important SS officials of the camp together and informed them that he had received a secret order from Himmler to the effect that all mentally and physically deficient inmates of the camp should be killed. The camp commandant stated that higher authorities from Berlin had ordered that all the Jewish inmates of the Buchenwald concentration camp be included in this extermination program. In accordance with these orders 300 to 400 Jewish prisoners of different nationalities were sent to the euthanasia station at Bernburg for extermination. A few days later I received a list of the names of those Jews who were exterminated at Bernburg from the camp commandant and I was ordered to issue falsified death certificates. I obeyed this order. This particular action was executed under the code name “14 f 13”. I visited Bernburg on one occasion to arrange for the cremation of two inmates who died in the Wernigerode branch (Aussenkommando Wernigerode) of the Buchenwald concentration camp.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 630-PS

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 330

LETTER FROM HITLER TO KARL BRANDT AND BOUHLER, 1 SEPTEMBER 1939, CHARGING THEM WITH THE EXECUTION OF EUTHANASIA

[Letterhead: A. HITLER]

Berlin, 1 September 1939

Reichsleiter Bouhler and Dr. Brandt, M. D., are charged with the responsibility of enlarging the authority of certain physicians to be designated by name in such a manner that persons who, according to human judgment, are incurable can, upon a most careful diagnosis of their condition of sickness, be accorded a mercy death.

[Signed] A. Hitler

[Handwritten note]

Given to me by Bouhler on 27 August 1940

[Signed] Dr. Guertner

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-1135

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 334

CONFIRMATION, 30 AUGUST 1940, OF THE TRANSFER OF MENTAL PATIENTS WITH LIST OF TRANSFERRED PATIENTS ATTACHED

CONFIRMATION

In accordance with the decision of the State Ministry of the Interior (Public Health Division), dated 8 January 1940, on orders from the Reich Association of Mental Institutions [Reichsarbeitsgemeinschaft der Heil und Pflegeanstalten] and as responsible chief of the General Sick Transport Company G.m.b.H. [Gemeinnuetzige Krankentransport G.m.b.H.], I have taken charge of the transfer to a Reich institution of the patients enumerated in the list below.

Eglfing, 30 August 1940 [Signature illegible]

Commissioner of General Sick Transport Company G.m.b.H.^[110]

TRANSFER MEMORANDUM FOR NIEDERNHART

Handed over were—

1. 149 patients with their own clothing, underwear, money, and belongings.

2. 149 files with personal records (case histories).

3. A list of the amount of money of each patient. A receipt was made out for this purpose.

4. A list of the names. Eglfing-Haar, 30-8-40

[Signed] Head Nurse Lotte Zell

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1696-PS

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 357

LETTER FROM DR. CONTI TO THE MENTAL HOSPITAL IN KAUFBEUREN, 16 NOVEMBER 1939, REQUESTING THAT QUESTIONNAIRES (ATTACHED) BE FILLED OUT FOR INDIVIDUAL PATIENTS; LETTER FROM THE GENERAL SICK TRANSPORT COMPANY TO THE MENTAL HOSPITAL IN KAUFBEUREN, 12 MAY 1941, STATING THAT THE COMPANY WOULD REMOVE MENTAL PATIENTS; REPORT FROM THE PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATION FOR SOCIAL WELFARE IN SWABIA, 6 MAY 1941, THAT ALL TRANSFERRED PATIENTS HAD DIED; LETTER FROM GAUM, 24 NOVEMBER 1942, TO DR. LEINISCH STATING THAT EPILEPTICS WOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH

The Reich Minister of the Interior

Berlin, NW 40, Koenigsplatz 6, 16 November 1939

IV g 4178 /39-5100

Telephone:

Dept. Z, I, II, V, VIII 11 00 27

Dept. II, IV, VI

(Unter den Linden 72); 12 00 34

Tel. Address: Reichsinnenminister.

To the Head of the Hospital for Mental Cases

Kaufbeuren

or his deputy in Kaufbeuren.

With regard to the necessity for a systemized economic plan for hospitals and nursing institutions, I request you to complete the attached registration forms immediately in accordance with the attached instruction leaflet and to return them to me. If you yourself are not a doctor, the registration forms for the individual patients are to be completed by the supervising doctor. The completion of the questionnaires is, if possible, to be done on a typewriter. In the column “Diagnosis” I request a statement as exact as possible, as well as a short description of the condition, if feasible.

In order to expedite the work, the registration forms for the individual patients can be dispatched here in several parts. The last consignment, however, must arrive in any case at this Ministry at the latest by 1 January 1940. I reserve for myself the right, should occasion arise, to institute further official inquiries on the spot through my representative.

per proxi: Dr. Conti

Certified:

(Sd.) [Illegible]

Administrative Secretary.

Registration Form 1To be typewritten

Current No.

Name of the Institution:

At:

Surname and Christian name of the patient:

At birth

Date of birth:Place:District:

Last place of residenceDistrict:

Unmarried, married, widow, widower, divorced:

Religion:Race^[111]:

Previous profession:Nationality:

Army service when? 1914-18 or from 1-9-39.

War injury (even if no connection with mental disorder) Yes/No

How does war injury show itself and of what does it consist?

Address of next of kin:

Regular visits and by whom (address):

Guardian or nurse (name, address):

Responsible for payment:

Since when in Institution

Whence and when handed over:

Since when ill:

If has been in other institutions, where and how long:

Twin? Yes/NoBlood relations of unsound mind:

Diagnosis:

Clinical description (previous history, course, condition; in any case ample data regarding mental condition):

Very restless? Yes/NoBedridden? Yes/No

Incurable physical illness: Yes/No (which)

Schizophrenia: Fresh attackFinal conditionGood recovery

Mental debility: WeakImbecileIdiot

Epilepsy: Psychological alteration Average frequency of the attacks

Therapeutics (insulin, cardiazol, malaria, permanent result:

Salvarsan, etc. when?)Yes/No

Admitted by reason of par. 51, par. 42b German Penal Code, etc. through

Crime:Former punishable offenses:

Manner of employment (detailed description of work):

Permanent/Temporary employment, independent Worker? Yes/No

Value of work (if possible compared with average performance of healthy person)

This space to be left blank.

Place, Date

Signature of the head doctor or his representative (doctors who are not psychiatrists or neurologists, please state same).

General Sick Transport Company, G.m.b.H.

Dept. II/d, H/K

Berlin, W. 9, 12 May 1941

Potsdamer Platz 1.

To the Director of the Hospital

of the District Association of Swabia,

Kaufbeuren/Bavaria.

Dear Director,

By order of the Reich Defense Commissioner, I must remove mental cases from your institution and from the branch at Irrsee to another institution. A total of 140 persons are to be transported, 70 on 4 June and 70 on 5 June. I forward you herewith Transport Lists Nos. 8, 9, 10, and 11 in triplicate. The additional names on the lists are intended for possible deficits (discharged meanwhile, died, etc.).

The marking of the patients is most suitably done by means of a strip of adhesive tape, on which the name is written in indelible pencil, to be pasted between the shoulder blades. At the same time the name is to be put on an article of clothing.

The hospital reports and personal histories are to be prepared for the transportation and to be handed to our director of transport, Herr Kuepper; in the same way, the personal possessions of the patients, as well as money and articles of value.

I enclose property information cards and information cards as to the defrayer of the expenses, which must be completed accurately and handed in at the time of transportation. Money and articles of value, besides being noted on the property information cards, must also be noted on separate special lists (in duplicate).

Transportation takes place:

On 4 June, 8:46 a. m. from Kaufbeuren—70 patients

On 5 June, 8:46 a. m. from Kaufbeuren—70 patients

Our director of transport, Herr Kuepper, will visit you the previous day in order to discuss further details with you.

I further request you to provide the patients with food (2-3 slices of bread and butter each and some cans of coffee).

Heil Hitler!

(sd) [Illegible]

General Sick Transport Company, G.m.b.H.

PROVINCIAL ASSOCIATION FOR SOCIAL WELFARE

SWABIA

Address: Augsburg 1, P. O. Box Regierungspraesident

Tel. No. 5842

Cashier’s Office: Principal Govt.

Cashier’s Office Augsburg.

Post Office check account: Munich No. 1624

Director Dr. Faltlhauser, of the Hospital,

Kaufbeuren.

Your reference: 2080. Your letter of 13 November 1940.

Our reference:

(must always be

referred to).

II-B-7-2.

Augsburg, 6 May 1941

Concerning the transfer of patients.

I have the honor to inform you that the female patients transferred from your institution on 8 November 1940 to the institutions in Grafeneck, Bernburg, Sonnenstein, and Hartheim all died in November of last year.

[Signed] [Illegible]

Enclosures:

Copy

No. 5255 c 39

State Ministry of the Interior

Munich, 24 November 1942

to the Director of the

Hospital, Kaufbeuren,

Obermed. Rat

Dr. Faltlhauser.

To: Chief Physician, Dr. W. Leinisch

Guenzburg.

Re letter of 13-11-1942.

Dear Doctor,

In your letter of 13-11-1942 you requested me to send suitable epileptics for the carrying out of your research work. I had an opportunity to discuss this with the Obermedizinalraete Dr. Faltlhauser and Dr. Pfannmueller. Both will willingly deliver suitable patients to you. For various reasons patients from the Institution at Kaufbeuren are primarily to be chosen. If this institution has no suitable material, I agree to the transfer of patients from Eglfing-Haar to Guenzburg for your research work. I request that you get in touch with Dr. Faltlhauser.

Heil Hitler!

[Signed] Gaum

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 3896-PS

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 372

EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DR. LUDWIG SPRAUER, 23 APRIL 1946, CONCERNING THE ORGANIZATION OF THE EUTHANASIA PROGRAM

AFFIDAVIT

I, Dr. Ludwig Sprauer, born on 19 October 1884, now living at Konstanz, Baden, Salmannsweilergasse 2, make the following statement under oath:

I passed my state examination for medicine in Freiburg in 1907, and since 1919 was active in the civil service. During the following 14 years I was active as Bezirksarzt in Stockach, Oberkirch, Konstanz. I joined the NSDAP in 1933. From 1934 until 1944 I was the highest medical officer of Baden and held the title Ministerialrat. My highest superior was the Reich Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick. As Frick’s subordinate I traveled several times, perhaps every 2 to 3 months to Berlin, to take part in discussions, conferences, etc., in the Reich Ministry of the Interior.

These took place in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, Berlin, Unter den Linden 72-74; later in the Reich Ministry of the Interior office on Voss-Strasse. On one such occasion in Berlin, Dr. Linden, Ministerialdirigent in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, stated that it was planned to introduce a euthanasia law. For military-political reasons to create more space, the incurably insane were to be done away with. The asylums thus vacated were in part asked for by the SS to be used for national political educational institutions.

A transportation company was founded for the execution of all these measures. This company worked hand in hand with the so-called Reich Committee for Research into Hereditary Ailments. This Reich concern was managed by Frick’s Ministerialdirigent Dr. Linden.

In the course of these measures from 1941 through 1944, thousands of persons were transferred from Baden’s asylums to places like Hadamar, Grafeneck, etc., and were killed there. The killings, however, were not solely confined to the mentally sick. In the course of the same campaign, steps were taken by order of the Reich Ministry of the Interior to eliminate particularly old but also young people who were ill.

The persons killed in the course of this program included not only those who were mentally sick, but also those who suffered from arteriosclerosis, tuberculosis, cancer, and other ailments. Most of those were older people who were inmates of public institutions at the state’s expense, and who in a respectable society would have been taken care of from public funds. These people were brought from public asylums in Baden to Hadamar, Grafeneck, and other asylums and killed there. In what manner they were killed, I do not know. In this way space was made available in the institutions for the armed forces and for the National Socialist educational institutions.

The whole program was camouflaged on the outside and falsified death certificates were made out.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-520

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 374

LETTER FROM THE CHIEF OF THE INSTITUTION FOR FEEBLE-MINDED IN STETTEN TO DR. FRANK, 6 SEPTEMBER 1940, REQUESTING THAT EUTHANASIA BE CARRIED OUT ONLY AFTER LEGAL BASIS WAS CREATED

L. Schlaich, Stetten i. R.

Chief of the Institution

for Feeble-Minded and Epileptics.

Stetten, i. R., 6 September 1940

To the Reich Minister of Justice, Dr. Frank

Berlin

Dear Reich Minister,

The measures at present being taken with mental patients of all kinds have caused a complete lack of confidence in justice among large groups of the people. Without the consent of relatives or guardians, such patients are being transferred to different institutions. After a short time they are notified that the person concerned has died of some disease. In view of the abundance of death notices people are convinced that these sick people are being done away with.

Since from the institution under my direction altogether 150 of the patients entrusted to me are to be transferred to such an institution (75 on the 10th and 75 on the 13th of September) I take the privilege of asking: Is it possible for such a measure to be carried out without a pertinent law having been promulgated? Is it not the duty of every citizen to resist under all circumstances an act not justified by law, even forbidden by law, even if such acts are carried out by state agencies?

On account of the complete secrecy and camouflage under which the measures are carried out, not only are the wildest rumors circulating among the people (for example, that people unable to work on account of age or injuries received during the World War have also been done away with or are to be done away with), but it seems as if the selection of the persons concerned is performed in a wholly arbitrary manner.

If the state really wants to carry out the extermination of these or at least of some mental patients, shouldn’t a law be promulgated, which can be justified before the people—a law which would give everyone the assurance of careful examination as to whether he is due to die or entitled to live and which would also give the relatives a chance to be heard, in a similar way, as provided by the law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Affected Progeny?

With regard to the patients entrusted to the care of our institutions in the future, I urgently pray that everything possible be done to suspend the execution of this measure until a clear legal situation has been established.

Heil Hitler!

[Signed] Schlaich

I have forwarded a copy of this letter by the same mail to the chief of the Reich Chancellery, Reichsminister Dr. Lammers.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-660

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 377

NOTE BY SELLMER, 6 DECEMBER 1940, DESCRIBING THE METHOD OF SELECTION FOR EUTHANASIA

Subject: Mental Institutions

The following is for your personal information. Please destroy this sheet afterwards.

For some time the inmates of mental institutions have been visited by a commission which functions on orders from some very high office. The commission’s task is to find out which inmates should be selected for transport to certain other institutions. The commission bases its decision on the records of the institution. The patients who are then transferred are examined again in the institution designated by the commission and then the decision is made whether they should be released from their sufferings.

The body itself is cremated and the ashes are placed at the disposal of the relatives. Small mistakes in notifying are naturally always liable to occur, and in the future it will not be possible to avoid them. The commission itself is anxious to avoid all mistakes. I could give you further information but I would like to abstain from it and beg you to look me up when you visit the Gauleitung.

I believe that we National Socialists can welcome this action which is extraordinarily serious for the affected individual. I beg you, therefore, to oppose all rumors and grumblings with the necessary emphasis by representing our point of view in regard to these matters.

Nuernberg, 6 December 1940

Heil Hitler!

[Signed] Sellmer

Gaustabsamtsleiter

[Stamp]

National Socialist German Labor Party

Gau Franconia

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-018

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 404

LETTER FROM HIMMLER TO BRACK, 19 DECEMBER 1940, REQUESTING THAT EUTHANASIA STATION GRAFENECK BE DISCONTINUED AND THAT MOTION PICTURES BE SHOWN TO DISPEL RUMORS

Top Secret

19 December 1940

SS Standartenfuehrer Viktor Brack

Staff Leader at Reichsleiter Bouhler’s Office

Berlin W 8

Dear Brack,

I hear there is great excitement on the Alb because of the Grafeneck Institution.

The population recognizes the gray automobile of the SS and think they know what is going on at the constantly smoking crematory. What happens there is a secret and yet is no longer one. Thus the worst feeling has arisen there, and in my opinion there remains only one thing, to discontinue the use of the institution in this place and in any event disseminate information in a clever and sensible manner by showing motion pictures on the subject of inherited and mental diseases in just that locality.

May I ask for a report as to how the difficult problem is solved?

Heil Hitler!

[Initialled] H[einrich] H[immler]

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-842

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 405

LETTER FROM BRACK TO DR. SCHLEGELBERGER^[112], 18 APRIL 1941, FORWARDING FORMS FOR EUTHANASIA AND SUGGESTING THAT DEATH NOTIFICATIONS SHOULD NOT FOLLOW A STEREOTYPED FORM

Viktor Brack Oberdienstleiter

Berlin, 18 April 1941

[Stamp]

21 [Penciled]

26 April 1941

Dept: [Illegible]

[Handwritten] Gg.

Strictly Confidential

My dear Party comrade Dr. Schlegelberger,

[Handwritten] Top Secret

According to agreement I send you herewith a folder with forms needed for your ascertainment and partial medical preparation; also another folder with forms for further clerical elaboration resulting from the death of the patient.^[113] The records are secret, however, and I would appreciate if you would keep them under lock and key. Some more things are, of course, necessary for proper recording and administrative routine, but I do not believe that they are of any interest to you. Thereto belong, for instance, the death notifications to the relatives of the patient. These are to be kept somehow different according to the district and kind of relatives; they must be altered frequently to avoid stereotype texts and therefore a sample letter would only irritate. I would like to call your attention especially to the card files Nos. 13 and 14. On their reverse sides you will find a list of authorities to be informed.

When again reviewing the files which you put at my disposal, I found some details which ought to be clarified and settled; I would be grateful to you for doing so. Therefore, I shall forward them to you separately on Monday or Tuesday next week.

Heil Hitler!

Respectfully yours

[Signed] Brack

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-158

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 410

LETTER FROM HIRCHE, ADMINISTRATOR OF THE MENTAL INSTITUTION BERNBURG, TO CAMP COMMANDANT OF THE GROSS-ROSEN CONCENTRATION CAMP, 19 MARCH 1942, WITH LIST OF INMATES TRANSFERRED FROM THE CONCENTRATION CAMP TO BERNBURG

Mental Institution, BernburgBernburg, 19 March 1942

Reference: B e. vH.Box 266

Consultation only by appointment

To[Stamp]

Camp CommandantConcentration Camp Gross-Rosen

Concentration CampAdministration

Gross-RosenReceived: 23 March 1942

Initials [Illegible]

Registered

Subject: Transport of 19 March 1942

Enclosed you will find a list of the camp inmates who arrived here on 19 March 1942 from your concentration camp.

Heil Hitler!

[Signed] Hirche

1 Enclosure

List of the camp inmates transferred on 19 March 1942 from the Gross-Rosen concentration camp to Bernburg

139/K1. 19-3-1942Bernburg (Gross-Rosen)

[Signed]

[Signed]

[Signed]

[Signed]

1942

2674610423Bier, RudolfKoeln

2.11.1901divorced 19.3.

2674710424Beckers, HermHamburg

18.9.1923single 19.3.

2674810444Bajgelmann, IsaakCzenstochau

4.8.1909single 19.3.

2674910412Cohen, Arthur IsrDellwig-Westf.

15.8.1908single 19.3.

2675010468Eckhaus, HermBerlin C 2,

1.12.1922single 19.3.

2675110395Edel, Gerh. IsrNakel,

30.5.1914single 19.3.

2675210440Eisner, OttoBochtitz

26.4.1910.divorced 19.3.

2675310439Fleischner, RichKolin/Elbe

20.12.1902married 19.3.

2675410438Fried, Hans, IsrBudweis

8.3.1919single 19.3.

2675510450Haase, SiegfriedSchoenlanke

3.8.1920single 19.3.

2675610436Hauser, MaxKastel

15.12.1908single 19.3.

2675710394Hecht, Jacob, IsrHamburg-Altona

18.10.1896single 19.3.

2675810410Lubnicki, JacobWuppertal/Elberf.

28.6.1918single 19.3.

2675910409Markuse, EsrielWarschau

14.3.1897widower 19.3.

2676010470Nachmann, ErichUlm/D.

6.10.1907married 19.3.

2676110406Pollak, HeinrLemberg

30.9.1904married 19.3.

2676210517Pufe, OttoOsternburg

16.3.1917single 19.3.

2676310421Rosenbaum, Otto IsrMuehlheim/Ruhr

2.6.1894married 19.3.

2676410486Robalewski, LeoKl. Tarpen

15.12.1915single 19.3.

2676510595Rose, ReinholdCochelna

4.5.1907single 19.3.

2676610579Rekel, JosefTarnow

10.1.1909single 19.3.

2676710405Roubicek, KarlHorovice/Boehmen

16.6.1906single 19.3.

2676810577Rwaski, WladislausKszywystock

19.6.1919single 19.3.

2676910509Rost, Hans WilliApolda/Weimar

15.7.1920single 19.3.

2677010606Schuensmann, WilhWittenberge

23.8.1892widower 19.3.

2677110576Skratak, ViktorStazow

5.3.1909married 19.3.

2677210575Smigielski, StanislausColoneg

25.10.1918single 19.3.

2677310425Sommer, Arthur Isr.Frankfurt/M.

4.12.1900single 19.3.

2677410578Sikorski, StanislawLublin

27.1.192single 19.3.

2677510488Sommer, WenzelLitzmannstadt

7.8.1907married 19.3.

2677610404Seitmann, SimonWarschau

17.12.1896widower 19.3.

2677710594Sarbach, HeinzErfurt

28.4.1921single 19.3.

2677810483Schroff, KarlReilingen/ Baden

11.6.1910single 19.3.

2677910484Schilling, AugRake/Wohlau

9.3.1896single 19.3.

2678010516Schueler, ManfredSonneberg/ Thuer.

Richard 17.9.21single 19.3.

2678110487Schmidt, JohannNuernberg

8.4.1900divorced 19.3.

2678210426Schindler, Ernst Isr.Sandhofen/Mannh.

7.6.1906single 19.3.

2678310427Spira, AlfredWien,

20.11.1908single 19.3.

2678410454Stern, ZudikRozniatow

28.9.1908married 19.3.

2678510485Stuka, WladimirMaehr. Sternberg

8.2.1907married 19.3.

2678610453Weinberger, Erich, Isr.Wien

16.6.1916single 19.3.

2678710452Weisz, IgnazMunkatesh/Ungarn

30.6.1914single 19.3.

2678810503Wallzak, TheophilHohensalza

19.4.1907single 19.3.

2678910512Welser, KarlPilgram/Prot.

10.11.1918single 19.3.

2679010505Walczyk, JosefBokow

24.2.1908married 19.3.

2679110461Wutkowski, Willi MaxGraudenz

16.4.1902divorced 19.3.

2579210506Wozniczka, IgnacKadziak

8.7.1916single 19.3.

2679310504Wasolowski, MarianMarkstaedt

29.11.1909single 19.3.

2679410507Wendolowski, JosefWarschau

7.1.1912single 19.3.

2679510604Wolf, KarlGed

10.5.1903single 19.3.

2679610595Zbytniewski, ZymuntCzekarzowice

1.1.1905single 19.3.

2679710592Zbytniewski, ZdzislawCzekarzowice

2.3.1910married 19.3.

2679810502Zuchowski, FelikeLietzendorf/W.

2.8.18.married 19.3.

2679910565Zimmermann, WilliDortmund

10.2.1917single 19.3.

2680010521Zdybik, WladislausBorownica

5.4.1915single 19.3.

2680110480Zielke, KarlButow

4.2.1904married 19.3.

2680210422Birnberg, MarkusKolomea

5.10.03divorced 19.3.

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-907

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 412

EXTRACT FROM LETTER FROM DR. FRITZ MENNECKE TO HIS WIFE, 25 NOVEMBER 1941, CONCERNING HIS ACTIVITIES AS PHYSICIAN SELECTING INMATES OF CONCENTRATION CAMP BUCHENWALD FOR EUTHANASIA

Letter No. 8

Weimar, 25 November 1941,

Hotel Elephant

2058 hours

At 7 o’clock tomorrow morning we will be awakened. At about 8 o’clock we will have our coffee and then we will drive out in Schmalenbach’s car, but he himself will soon leave for Dresden again. On Thursday and Friday a meeting will be held in Pirna in connection with the action in which problems of the future will be discussed and in which Schmalenbach will take part as the medical adjutant of Herr Brack (Jennerwein). No experts will be present * * *. The first working day at Buchenwald is over. At 8:30 this morning we were out there. At first I introduced myself to the authoritative leaders. The deputy of the camp commandant is SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Florstaedt; camp physician is SS Obersturmfuehrer Dr. Hoven. At first another 40 reports of a first portion of Aryans had to be completed. The two other colleagues worked on these yesterday already. Out of these 40 I worked up about 15. After this whole portion had been worked up, Schmalenbach left for Dresden. He will not return until our work here is done. Following this, the “examination” of the patients was carried out, i. e., a presentation of the individuals and a comparison with the entries taken from the files. We did not finish this work until noon, because the other two colleagues worked only in theory yesterday, so that I had to “re-examine” those whom Schmalenbach (and I myself this morning) had prepared and Mueller did his people. At 12 o’clock we stopped for lunch * * *.

Afterwards we continued our examination until about 4 o’clock. I myself examined 105 patients, Mueller 78 patients, so that finally a total of 183 reports were ready as a first group. As a second group a total of 1,200 Jews followed, all of whom do not need to be “examined”, but where it is sufficient to take the reasons for their arrest from the files (often very voluminous!) and to transfer them to the reports. Therefore, it is merely theoretical work which will certainly keep us busy until next Monday inclusive, perhaps even longer. Of this second group (Jews), we completed today. I myself did 17, and Mueller 15. At 5 o’clock sharp, “we threw away the trowel” and went for supper * * *.

Exactly as the day I described above, the following days will pass—with exactly the same program and the same work. After the Jews, another 300 Aryans follow as a third group who will again have to be “examined”. Therefore, we are busy here until the end of next week. Then on Saturday, 6 December, we shall go home.

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-1007

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 413

CIRCULAR FROM GLUECKS TO CONCENTRATION CAMP COMMANDANTS, 27 APRIL 1943, STATING THAT IN THE FUTURE ONLY INSANE PRISONERS SHOULD BE USED FOR ACTION “14 F 13” (EUTHANASIA)

SS Economic and Administrative Main Office

Division Chief D Concentration Camps

D I/1/File No.: 14 f 13/L/S.—

Secret Journal No. 612/43

Oranienburg, 27 April 1943.

Subject: Action 14 f 13 in Concentration Camps.

Re: Our Order—D I/1/File No. 14 f 13/Ot/S.—Secret Diary No.

32/43 of 15 January ’43.

Enclosures: None.

[Stamp]

Top Secret

——th copy

To the Camp Commanders of the Concentration Camps Dachau, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Flossenbuerg, Neuengamme, Auschwitz, Gross-Rosen, Natzweiler, Stutthof, Ravensbrueck, Riga, Hertogenbosch, Lublin, and Bergen-Belsen.

Copy to: Chief of Amt DII, III in the building.

The Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police has decreed that in future only insane prisoners can be selected for the Action 14 f 13 by the medical commissions appointed for this purpose.

All other prisoners unfit for work (persons suffering from tuberculosis, bedridden invalids, etc.) are definitely to be excluded from this action. Bedridden prisoners are to be given suitable work which can be performed in bed.

The order of the Reich Leader SS must be strictly observed in the future.

Requests for gasoline for this purpose will therefore be discontinued.

[Signed] Gluecks

SS Brigadefuehrer and Generalmajor of the Waffen SS

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-891

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 414

DIRECTIVE OF THE REICH MINISTER OF THE INTERIOR, 6 SEPTEMBER 1944, ORDERING EUTHANASIA EXTENDED TO INSANE EASTERN WORKERS

Reich Minister of the Interior

Berlin, 6 September 1944

g 9255/44

To:

a.The Reich Governor [Reichsstatthalter] (State government)

b.The Oberpraesidenten (administration of the provincial association)

c.The County Presidents

d.The Police President in Berlin

e.The Lord Mayor [Oberbuergermeister] of the Reich capital Berlin.

Re:Mentally insane Eastern workers and Poles—Circular decrees of the Reich Minister of the Interior of—A g 9255/44-5100—.

1. Due to the considerable number of Eastern workers and Poles brought into the German Reich for employment, the assignment of mental cases among them to German asylums is constantly increasing. The purpose of such assignments must be in any case the speediest possible recovery to working ability. Thus every means of modern therapy must also be applied to those mentally insane people. But due to lack of space in German institutions there can be no justification for patients who are considered incurable and, therefore, unable to work again in a reasonably short time to remain permanently or for a long time in German institutions. In order to avoid this, the following is ordered:

2. In the following list I have established for each district in the Reich a collective list for incurable mentally insane Eastern workers and Poles. They should be assigned to those institutions immediately if possible. If this is impossible due to urgency or to transportation difficulties, the institution in question should deliver their Eastern or Polish patients to the collecting institution in their respective district within one month at the most. It is not necessary to carry out the removal if the patient is considered able to leave the institution within 6 weeks at the latest.

3. It is the task of the collecting institution to decide whether the restoration of working ability might be considered within a reasonable period of time.

4. The expenses from the date of registration in the collecting institution are to be taken over by the head of the Central Financial Clearing Office of the sanatorium in Linz/Upper Danube, P. O. Box 324, which has to be informed immediately of such assignments. The fixed rate for patients of the general class will be paid to the institutions. The Eastern workers and Poles already assembled in collecting institutions are to be reported on a list immediately to the Central Financial Clearing Office. The expenses for those patient are transferred as from 1 October 1944 to the Central Accounts Office.

5. After 4 weeks, at the latest, of the registration in the collecting institution a short report on the prognosis of the case and on the question of working ability has to be sent to the head of the Central Financial Clearing Office. It is the task of that office to direct the transportation of patients from the collecting institutions to nearby special asylums in their home district.

6. Only those people are to be considered as Poles who were brought into the Reich for employment. This decree does not apply to the local Polish population.

7. The leaders of mental institutions in the districts, etc., are to be informed by their superior officials, and the leaders of welfare and private institutions by their competent higher administrative authorities. The required copies are enclosed herewith.

List of the collecting institutions

1. For East Prussia, Danzig, and West Prussia and Wartheland: Mental Institution Tiegenhof.

2. For Upper and Lower Silesia and the Sudetengau: Mental Institution Lueben.

3. For Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Kurmark, and Berlin: Mental Institution Landsberg-Warthe.

4. For Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg: Mental Institution Schleswig.

5. For Bremen, Weser-Ems, Hanover-East, Hanover-South, and Brunswick: Mental Institution Lueneburg.

6. For the Rhine province, Westphalia, and Lippe: Mental Institution Bonn.

7. For Baden, Westmark, Wuerttemberg, and Hohenzollern: Mental Institution Schussenried.

8. For Bavaria: Mental Institution Kaufbeuren.

9. For Kurhesse, Nassau, and Land Hesse: Mental Institution Hadamar.

10. For Thuringia-Land and Province Saxony, Anhalt: Mental Institution Pfaffenrode.

11. For the Alps [Alpen] and Danube districts: Mental Institution Mauer-Oehling.

By Order:

Wiesbaden, 11 September 1944

Landeshaus

11a One copy to the County Mental Institution, Eichberg.

With the request to acknowledge and to take further steps.

By Order:

Landesrat

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1553-PS

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 428

EXTRACT FROM THE FIELD INTERROGATION OF KURT GERSTEIN, 26 APRIL 1945, DESCRIBING THE MASS GASSING OF JEWS AND OTHER “UNDESIRABLES”

Deposition of Kurt Gerstein

Hearing of the massacres of idiots and insane people at Grafeneck, Hadamar, etc., shocked and greatly affected me, having such a case in my family. I had but one desire—to gain an insight into this whole machinery and then to shout it to the whole world! With the help of two references written by the two Gestapo employees who had dealt with my case, it was not difficult for me to enter the Waffen SS.

From March 10 to June 2, 1941, I was given elementary instruction as a soldier at Hamburg-Langehorn, Arnhem, and Oranienburg, together with 40 doctors. Because of my twin studies—technology and medicine—I was ordered to enter the medical-technology branch of the SS Fuehrungshauptamt (SS Operational Main Office)—Medical Branch of the Waffen SS—Amtsgruppe D (Division D), Hygiene Department. Within this branch, I chose for myself the job of immediately constructing disinfecting apparatus and filters for drinking water for the troops, the prison camps, and the concentration camps. My close knowledge of the industry caused me to succeed quickly where my predecessors had failed. Thus, it was possible to decrease considerably the death toll of prisoners. On account of my successes, I very soon became lieutenant. In December 1941 the tribunal which had decreed my exclusion from the NSDAP obtained knowledge of my having entered the Waffen SS. Considerable efforts were made to remove and to persecute me but, due to my successes, I was declared sincere and indispensable.

In January 1942 I was appointed chief of the technical branch of disinfection, which also included the branch dealing with strong poison gases for disinfection. On 8 June 1942 SS Sturmbannfuehrer Guenther of the RSHA entered my office. He was in plain clothes and I did not know him. He ordered me to get a hundred kilograms of prussic acid and to accompany him to a place which was only known to the driver of the truck. We left for the potassium factory near Collin (Prague). Once the truck was loaded, we left for Lublin (Poland). We took with us Professor Pfannenstiel, Professor for Hygiene at the University of Marburg on the Lahn. At Lublin, we were received by SS Gruppenfuehrer Globocnik. He told us, “This is one of the most secret matters there are, even the most secret. Whoever talks of this shall be shot immediately. Yesterday, two talkative men died.” Then he explained to us that at the present moment—17 August 1942—there were three installations:

1. Belcec, on the Lublin-Lvov road, in the sector of the Russian demarcation line. Maximum 15,000 persons a day. Seen!

2. Sobiber, I do not know exactly where it is located. Not seen. 20,000 persons per day.

3. Treblinka, 120 kilometers NNE of Warsaw. 25,000 persons per day. Seen!

4. Maidanek, near Lublin. Seen—in the state of preparation.

Globocnik then said: “You will have to handle the sterilization of very large quantities of clothes, 10 or 20 times the amount of the clothing and textile collection, which is only arranged in order to conceal the source of these Jewish, Polish, Czech, and other clothes. Your other duties will be to change the method of our gas chambers (which are run at the present time with the exhaust gases of an old Diesel engine), using more poisonous material, having a quicker effect: prussic acid. But the Fuehrer and Himmler, who were here on August 15, the day before yesterday, ordered that I personally should accompany all those who are to see the installations.”

Then Professor Pfannenstiel asked: “What does the Fuehrer say?” Then Globocnik, now Chief of Police and SS, from the Adriatic Riviera to Trieste, answered: “Quicker, quicker! Carry out the whole program!” And then Dr. Herbert Linden, Ministerialdirektor in the Ministry of the Interior said: “But would it not be better to burn the bodies instead of burying them? A future generation might think differently of these matters!” * * * Globocnik replied: “But, gentlemen, if after us such a cowardly and rotten generation should arise that it does not understand our work which is so good and so necessary, then, gentlemen, all National Socialism will have been for nothing. On the contrary, bronze plaques should be put up with the inscription that it was we, we who had the courage to achieve this gigantic task. And Hitler said: ‘Yes, my good Globocnik, that is the word, that is my opinion, too.’ ”

The next day we left for Belcec, a small special station of two platforms against a hill of yellow sand, immediately to the north of the Lublin-Lvov road and railway. To the south, near the road were some service houses with a signboard: “Belcec, Service Center of the Waffen SS.” Globocnik introduced me to SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Obermeyer from Pirmasens, who with great restraint showed me the installations. No dead were to be seen that day but the smell of the whole region, even from the main road, was pestilential. Next to the small station there was a large barrack marked “Cloakroom,” and a door marked “Valuables.” Next to that, a chamber with a hundred “barber’s” chairs. Then came a corridor, 150 meters long, in the open air and with barbed wire on both sides. There was a signboard: “To the baths and inhalations”! Before us we saw a house, like a bathhouse, with concrete troughs to the right and left containing geraniums or other flowers. After climbing a small staircase, we came to 3 garage-like rooms on each side, 4 × 5 meters in size and 1.90 meters high. At the back were invisible wooden doors. On the roof was a Star of David made out of copper. At the entrance to the building was the inscription, “Heckenholt Foundation.” That was all I noticed on that particular afternoon.

Next morning, a few minutes before 7, I was informed that in 10 minutes the first train would arrive. And indeed, a few minutes later the first train came in from Lemberg [Lvov]; 45 cars, containing 6,700 persons, 1,450 of whom were already dead on arrival. Behind the little barbed-wire openings were children, yellow, half scared to death, women, and men. The train stopped; 200 Ukrainians, forced to do this work, opened the doors and drove all the people out of the coaches with leather whips. Then, through a huge loud-speaker, instructions were given to them to undress completely and to hand over false teeth and glasses—some in the barracks, others right in the open air. Shoes were to be tied together with a little piece of string handed to everyone by a small Jewish boy of 4 years of age; all valuables and money were to be handed in at the window marked “Valuables”, without receipt. Then the women and girls were to go to the hairdresser who cut off their hair in one or two strokes, after which it vanished into huge potato bags “to be used for special submarine equipment, door mats, etc.”, as the SS Unterscharfuehrer on duty told me.

Then the march began. To the right and left, barbed wire; behind, two dozen Ukrainians with guns. Led by a young girl of striking beauty they approached. With Police Captain Wirth, I stood right in front of the death chambers. Completely naked, they marched by, men, women, girls, children, babies, even one-legged persons, all of them naked. In one corner, a strong SS man told the poor devils in a strong deep voice: “Nothing whatever will happen to you. All you have to do is to breathe deeply; it strengthens the lungs. This inhalation is a necessary measure against contagious diseases; it is a very good disinfectant!” Asked what was to become of them, he answered: “Well, of course the men will have to work, building streets and houses. But the women do not have to. If they wish they can help in the house or the kitchen.” Once more, a little bit of hope for some of these poor people, enough to make them march on without resistance to the death chambers. Most of them, though, knew everything, the smell had given them a clear indication of their fate. And then they walked up the little staircase—and behold the picture: Mothers with babies at their breasts, naked, lots of children of all ages, naked too; they hesitate, but they enter the gas chambers, most of them, without a word, pushed by the others behind them, chased by the whips of the SS men. A Jewess of about 40 years of age, with eyes like torches, calls down the blood of her children on the heads of their murderers. Five lashes in her face, dealt by the whip of Police Captain Wirth himself, drive her into the gas chamber. Many of them say their prayers; others ask, “Who will give us the water for our death?” Within the chambers, the SS press the people closely together; Captain Wirth had ordered “Fill them up full.” Naked men stand on the feet of the others. 700-800 crushed together on 25 square meters, in 45 cubic meters! The doors are closed!

Meanwhile the rest of the transport, all naked, waited. Somebody said to me: “Naked, in winter! Enough to kill them!” The answer was: “Well, that’s just what they are here for!” And at that moment I understood why it was called the Heckenholt Foundation. Heckenholt was the man in charge of the Diesel engine, the exhaust gases of which were to kill these poor devils. SS Unterscharfuehrer Heckenholt tried to set the Diesel engine going, but it would not start! Captain Wirth came along. It was obvious that he was afraid because I was a witness of this breakdown. Yes, indeed, I saw everything and waited. Everything was registered by my stop watch. 50 minutes—70 minutes—the Diesel engine did not start! The people waited in their gas chambers—in vain. One could hear them cry. “Just as in a synagogue,” says SS Sturmbannfuehrer Professor Dr. Pfannenstiel, Professor for Public Health at the University of Marburg/Lahn, holding his ear close to the wooden door! Captain Wirth, furious, dealt the Ukrainian who was helping Heckenholt 11 or 12 lashes in the face with his whip. After 2 hours and 49 minutes—as registered by my stop watch—the Diesel engine started. Up to that moment the people in the four chambers already filled were still alive—4 times 750 persons in 4 times 45 cubic meters! Another 25 minutes went by. Many of the people, it is true, were dead by that time. One could see that through the little window as the electric lamp revealed for a moment the inside of the chamber. After 28 minutes only a few were alive. After 32 minutes all were dead! From the other side, Jewish workers opened the wooden doors. In return for their terrible job, they had been promised their freedom and a small percentage of the valuables and the money found. The dead were still standing like stone statues, there having been no room for them to fall or bend over. Though dead, the families could still be recognized, their hands still clasped. It was difficult to separate them in order to clear the chamber for the next load. The bodies were thrown out blue, wet with sweat and urine, the legs covered with excrement and menstrual blood. Everywhere among the others were the bodies of babies and children. But there is no time!—Two dozen workers were busy checking the mouths, opening them with iron hooks—“Gold on the left, no gold on the right!” Others checked anus and genitals to look for money, diamonds, gold, etc. Dentists with chisels tore out gold teeth, bridges, or caps. In the center of everything was Captain Wirth. He was on familiar ground here. He handed me a large tin full of teeth and said: “Estimate for yourself the weight of gold! This is only from yesterday and the day before! And you would not believe what we find here every day! Dollars, diamonds, gold! But look for yourself!” Then he led me to a jeweler who was in charge of all these valuables. After that they took me to one of the managers of the big store, Kaufhaus des Westens, in Berlin, and to a little man whom they made play the violin. Both were chiefs of the Jewish worker units. “He is a captain of the Royal and Imperial Austrian Army, and has the German Iron Cross 1st Class,” I was told by Hauptsturmbannfuehrer Obermeyer.

The bodies were then thrown into large ditches about 100 × 20 × 12 meters located near the gas chambers. After a few days the bodies would swell up and the whole contents of the ditch would rise 2-3 meters high because of the gases which developed inside the bodies. After a few more days the swelling would stop and the bodies would collapse. The next day the ditches were filled again, and covered with 10 centimeters of sand. A little later, I heard, they constructed grills out of rails and burned the bodies on them with Diesel oil and gasoline in order to make them disappear. At Belcec and Treblinka nobody bothered to take anything approaching an exact count of the persons killed. Actually, not only Jews, but many Poles and Czechs, who, in the opinion of the Nazis, were of bad stock, were killed. Most of them died anonymously. Commissions of so-called doctors, who were actually nothing but young SS men in white coats, rode in limousines through the towns and villages of Poland and Czechoslovakia to select the old, tubercular, and sick people and have them done away with shortly afterwards in the gas chambers. They were the Poles and Czechs of category No. III, who did not deserve to live because they were unable to work. Police Captain Wirth asked me not to propose any other kind of gas chamber in Berlin, but to leave everything the way it was. I lied—as I did in each case all the time—and said that the prussic acid had already deteriorated in shipping and had become very dangerous, that I was therefore obliged to bury it. This was done right away. The next day, Captain Wirth’s car took us to Treblinka, about 75 miles NNE of Warsaw. The installations of this death center scarcely differed from those at Belcec, but they were even larger. There were eight gas chambers and whole mountains of clothes and underwear about 35-40 meters high. Then a banquet was given in our “honor,” attended by all the employees of the institution. The Obersturmbannfuehrer, Professor Pfannenstiel, Hygiene Professor at the University of Marburg/Lahn, made a speech: “Your task is a great duty, a duty useful and necessary.” To me alone he talked of this institution in terms of “beauty of the task”; “humane cause”; and speaking to all of them he said: “Looking at the bodies of these Jews, one understands the greatness of your good work!”

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-365

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 507

UNSIGNED DRAFT LETTER FROM DR. WETZEL TO ROSENBERG, 25 OCTOBER 1941, DEALING WITH BRACK’S COLLABORATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GAS CHAMBERS FOR THE EXTERMINATION OF JEWS

“Draft” [penciled notation]

Reich Ministry for the Occupied Territories

Referent AGR. Dr. Wetzel

Berlin, 25 October 1941

Secret

Re: Solution of the Jewish Question.

To the Reich Commissioner for the East.

Re: Your Report of 4 October 1941 Concerning Solution of the Jewish Question.

Referring to my letter of 18 October 1941, you are informed that Oberdienstleiter Brack of the Chancellery of the Fuehrer has declared himself ready to collaborate in the manufacture of the necessary shelters as well as the gassing apparatus. At the present time, the apparatus in question are not on hand in the Reich in sufficient number; they will first have to be manufactured. Since in Brack’s opinion the manufacture of the apparatus in the Reich will cause more difficulty than if manufactured on the spot, Brack deems it most expedient to send his people directly to Riga, especially his chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, who will have everything further done there. Oberdienstleiter Brack points out that the process in question is not without danger, so special protective measures are necessary. Under these circumstances, I beg you to turn to Oberdienstleiter Brack, in the Chancellery of the Fuehrer, through your Higher SS and Police Leader, and to request the dispatch of the chemist Dr. Kallmeyer, as well as of further aides. I draw attention to the fact that Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, the Referent for Jewish questions in the RSHA, is in agreement with this process. On information from Sturmbannfuehrer Eichmann, camps for Jews are to be set up in Riga and Minsk to which Jews from the old Reich territory may possibly be sent. At the present time, Jews being deported from the old Reich are to be sent to Litzmannstadt [Lodz], but also to other camps, to be later used as labor in the East, so far as they are able to work.

As affairs now stand, there are no objections against doing away with those Jews who are not able to work—with the Brack remedy. In this way occurrences would no longer be possible such as those which, according to a report presently before me, took place at the shooting of Jews in Vilna [Vilnyus] and which, considering that the shootings were public, were hardly excusable. Those able to work, on the other hand, will be transported to the East for labor service. It is self-understood that among the Jews capable of work, men and women are to be kept separate.

I beg you to advise me regarding your further steps.

“N. d. H. M.”

[Lightly penciled notation, meaning copy for the Minister.]

“Wet 25/10” [in ink]

PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT KARL

BRANDT 18

KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 15

EXTRACTS FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DR. WERNER KIRCHERT, 29 JANUARY 1947, STATING THAT KARL BRANDT WAS NOT INVOLVED IN THE EUTHANASIA PROGRAM

As a former medical officer of the Waffen SS, I had in 1939 a clinical assignment as medical assistant in the University Clinic of the Charité in Berlin. In September 1939 Reich Physician SS Dr. Grawitz summoned me and asked me to make a list of the German lunatic asylums and the number of their inmates, based on the data in the Reich medical calendar. The reason, I was told, was the fact that, due to the evacuation of the West Wall zone, the inmates had to be transferred to other asylums. After I had finished compiling the list and had handed it in, Grawitz sent me to Dr. Hevelmann at the Chancellery of the Fuehrer. There I learned that it was actually a matter of euthanasia of the insane, and that the transfer was only a pretext. It was pointed out to me that it was on direct orders from the Fuehrer and that Reichsleiter Bouhler had been instructed to carry it out.

At first, three institutions in different parts of Germany were mentioned. The insane people who were to come under the program were to be selected, and Heyde, as chief expert, reserved the final decision for himself. Everything was to be based on strictly medical views and only such persons were to be selected who in a psychiatric sense could be called “siech” (incurably ill).

During all the negotiations the names which were mentioned of the persons who took part were Grawitz, Hevelmann, Heyde, Blankenburg, Brack, and Bouhler. Not a single word was said about Dr. Karl Brandt. Everything at that time was still in the early stages.

Later the problem arose again, when I was department head with Reich Health Leader Dr. Conti; that was at the end of the summer of 1941 when the Fuehrer’s order came that euthanasia should be stopped. But here too the name of Professor Dr. Karl Brandt was never mentioned.

TRANSLATION OF KARL BRANDT DOCUMENT 19

KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 16

AFFIDAVIT OF ALFRED RUEGGEBERG, 23 JANUARY 1947, CONCERNING RADIO DISCUSSIONS ON EUTHANASIA

I, Alfred Rueggeberg, factory owner in Marienheide, have been told by the certifying notary that I am liable to punishment if I make a false statement under oath.

I declare under oath that my statement is true and is being made to be presented as evidence to the Military Tribunal I, at the Palace of Justice in Nuernberg, Germany:

In summer 1945 I listened to a BBC broadcast from England, which was an interview between the English radio commentator (as far as I remember it was Mr. Robert Graham) and Pastor von Bodelschwingh of Bethel.

In the course of this interview Pastor von Bodelschwingh pointed out that a number of years ago the place now occupied by the radio commentator had been occupied by Professor Brandt and Herr Bouhler who, under Hitler’s orders, were discussing questions on euthanasia.

Questioned by the commentator, Pastor von Bodelschwingh said almost literally—in any case in effect—the following:

“You must not picture Professor Brandt as a criminal, but rather as an idealist.”

This radio talk left me under the impression that Pastor Bodelschwingh did not agree with the nature of Professor Brandt’s activities, yet he had a favorable opinion of his human qualities.

Gummersbach, 23 January 1947.

[Signed] Alfred Rueggeberg

TRANSLATION OF KARL BRANDT DOCUMENT 23

KARL BRANDT DEFENSE EXHIBIT 19

AFFIDAVIT OF EDUARD WOERMANN, 18 JANUARY 1947. CONCERNING DISCUSSIONS OF KARL BRANDT AND PASTOR BODELSCHWINGH ON EUTHANASIA

The Director of the Institution Bethel

Dpt. Bethel-office

Bethel, near Bielefeld, 18 January 1947

AFFIDAVIT

I, the undersigned Pastor Eduard Woermann in Bethel near Bielefeld, have been informed that I am liable to punishment if I should give a false statement under oath. I hereby affirm the following:

The director of the Bodelschwingh institutions in Bethel near Bielefeld, Pastor D. Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, who died 4 January 1946, had several discussions with Professor Dr. Karl Brandt on the question of “the extirpation of life not worth living”, in February 1941 and during the following months. Pastor D. Bodelschwingh reported about this only very discreetly within a very close circle of coworkers, to which I belonged.

He emphasized then that—

1. Though they held fundamentally different views of these measures, he had met a willingness on Professor Dr. Brandt’s part to hear the objections.

2. Professor Dr. Brandt had talked about “completely extinguished life”, while other exponents of these measures based them upon the formula “incurable” or “hopeless”.

3. Professor Dr. Brandt was aware of the fallibility of these measures, and he was prompted to act, not by brutality, but by a certain idealism which was inherent in his conception of life.

I give my permission for this statement to be presented as evidence to the International Military Tribunal I in the Palace of Justice in Nuernberg.

[Signed] Eduard Woermann

TRANSLATION OF POKORNY DOCUMENT 19

POKORNY DEFENSE EXHIBIT 27

AFFIDAVIT OF DR. HELMUTH WEESE, 19 MARCH 1947, CONCERNING USE OF CALADIUM SEGUINUM FOR STERILIZATION

I, the undersigned, Professor Dr. Helmuth Weese, resident of Wuppertal-Elberfeld, have first been duly warned that I shall be subject to punishment if I give a false affidavit. I declare under oath that my statement is true and was made to be introduced as evidence before the Military Tribunal I in the Palace of Justice of Nuernberg, Germany.

When the question is put to me whether it is to be assumed that a doctor, after studying the monograph by G. Madaus and Fr. E. Koch: “Studies of Animal Experiments,” pertaining to the question of sterilization by medication (by means of caladium seguinum (dieffenbachia seguina)), Journal for the Entire Experimental Medicine, vol. 109, p. 68, 1941, could become convinced that human beings can be sterilized with caladium seguinum, I have the following to say about it:

It is pointed out in the investigation referred to above that the authors succeeded in sterilizing rats by feeding them with extract of caladium seguinum. This is proved by mating experiments as well as by anatomical investigations. In order to effect this sterilization of both female and male rats, daily doses of ½ cc. for each rat weighing from 150-180 grams had to be administered 30-50 times and 40-90 times daily, respectively, without being certain of successful results. To apply this to a man weighing 70 kilograms, it would mean administering 200 grams of extract daily.

The investigations show abundantly that a considerable number of animals treated perished from the poisonous effects of the caladium extract. The extract therefore has no specific effect on the reproductive system. It is still completely unknown whether these harmful secondary effects are due to an element in the extract or some kind of accompanying ingredients.

Such types of unspecific injuries of the reproductive system are known to be caused in man in a similar manner also by other agents, for example, by the excessive misuse of nicotine, morphine, and the like, in which case, however, they too appear only along with most severe impairment of other functions.

First of all every doctor faces the question as to whether these experiments on rats are at all applicable to men. Madaus and Koch reject this from the start, because for them it is merely a question of determining whether the popular medical practice of making men impotent by administering sizable quantities of caladium extract can be corroborated by animal experiments.

The prerequisite for administering caladium extract to human beings in our countries would be the planting in Central Europe of caladium seguinum, the habitat of which is in tropical South America. This seems extremely improbable even to an only moderately experienced natural scientist. Even if the planting were successful, this would not necessarily mean that it produces, in our moderate zone, the same effective agents in a sufficient quantity.

Because of the unspecific effect of the caladium extract, its virulently poisonous quality, the doubt as to whether it can be planted and used in our moderate zone, I consider it extremely improbable that even a doctor of only average education will attempt with conviction the experiment of sterilizing human beings with caladium extract on the basis of the work of Madaus and Koch. Convincing papers for the problem referred to other than the work of Madaus and Koch are not known to me.

Wuppertal-Elberfeld

19 March 1947

[Signed] Prof. Dr. Helmuth Weese

EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF PROSECUTION WITNESS DR. MENNECKE^[114]

DIRECT EXAMINATION

Mr. McHaney: Doctor, were all the concentration camp inmates selected actually insane?

Witness Mennecke: No.

Q. Will you explain your answer please?

A. By insanity we mean a disease which shows characteristic interferences with mental activity. I will not describe them but merely call them characteristics. That is what we mean by insanity. This condition was not prevalent in the majority of cases among inmates in the concentration camps.

Q. Were any inmates selected only for the reason that they were unable to work?

A. That is possible.

Q. Were people selected who had diseases other than those of the mind, such as tuberculosis?

A. Yes. Such people were also included.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

Mr. McHaney: The last question, Dr. Mennecke. Would you be willing to tell the Tribunal how you now feel about your participation in the “euthanasia” program?

Witness Mennecke: Yes. I am willing to say something on that subject. I deeply regret the fact that I was drawn into this program in 1940. After the collapse, when the total extent of the extermination of human beings became known to the public—and to me for the first time—I was ashamed that I had ever had any part in this program (even though in a subordinated position), and I am still ashamed today. That is what I have to say.

Mr. McHaney: Thank you, Dr. Mennecke. I have no further questions.

EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT BRACK^[115]

EXAMINATION

Judge Sebring: Witness, when adult persons were selected for euthanasia and sent by the transport to euthanasia stations for that purpose, by what methods were the mercy deaths given?

Defendant Brack: The patients went to a euthanasia institution after the written formalities were concluded—I need not repeat these formalities here, they were physical examination, comparison of the files, etc. Then the patients were led to a gas chamber and were there killed by the doctors with carbon monoxide gas (CO).

Q. Where was that carbon monoxide obtained, by what process?

A. It was in a compressed gas container, like a steel oxygen container, such as is used for welding—a hollow steel container.

Q. And these people were placed in this chamber in groups, I suppose, and then the monoxide was turned into the chambers?

A. Perhaps I had better describe this in some detail. Bouhler’s basic requirement was that the killing should not only be painless, but also imperceptible. For this reason, the photographing of the patients, which was only done for scientific reasons, took place before they entered the chamber, and the patients were completely diverted thereby. Then they were led into the gas chamber which they were told was a shower room. They were then in groups of perhaps 20 or 30. They were gassed by the doctor in charge.

Q. Have you ever been present when a mercy death was accorded to these people by that process?

A. Yes. I had to be present because Bouhler wanted a report on whether things were being done according to his orders, and in a dignified and not a brutal fashion.

Q. And you found from your inspection and witnessing these ceremonies that they were being done in accordance with Bouhler’s orders, in a dignified and painless sort of way?

A. Yes. But let me say I was already convinced that the method was painless. And I also saw that by this method the patient did not realize that he was about to be killed. There were benches and chairs in the chamber. A few minutes after the gas was let in, the patient became sleepy and tired and died after a few minutes. They simply went to sleep without even knowing that they were going to sleep, and that was one of the most essential requirements.

Q. When was the first time that you witnessed one of these procedures?

A. The first time was on the occasion of an experiment with four such patients. I think it must have been December 1939 or January 1940. I know there was snow on the ground at the time. That is why I remember these months. Bouhler, Conti, and I don’t know who else was there, there were a few other doctors witnessing it for the first time. On the basis of this experiment Hitler decided that only carbon monoxide was to be used for killing the patients.

Q. Well now, before or after that time had you tried any other gases or any other means of administering euthanasia to these people?

A. No, we—and by this I mean Bouhler’s organization—never used any other gas or any other means.

Q. You found the carbon monoxide quite satisfactory, so you never had to resort to any other means?

A. Yes. You can put it that way.

Q. Now, where was it that these four people were accorded the privilege of a mercy death in December, 1939 or 1940?

A. That was in the first euthanasia station in Brandenburg.

Q. And who were the subjects that were used for that experiment?

A. They were four mentally incurable persons.

Q. Do you know what institution they came from?

A. No. That I don’t know.

Q. Were they men or women?

A. Men.

Q. All men. What were their ages, were they young men, middle-aged men, or elderly men; how would you classify them?

A. I really don’t remember that.

Q. What can you say in regard to their nationality; do you know anything about that?

A. They must have been Germans, they could not have been anything but Germans, because according to regulations only German mentally defective persons were used for euthanasia.

Q. And you say Hitler was there?

A. No. Hitler was not there, Bouhler was there.

Q. Bouhler?

A. Bouhler was there, Conti was there, and I believe Brandt.

Q. Karl Brandt?

A. Yes, Karl Brandt.

Q. Do you remember any of the other defendants who were there?

A. None of the defendants here was present except myself.

Q. Well, then you remember that you, Bouhler, Conti, and Karl Brandt were there; now do you remember any of the other gentlemen there at the time?

A. Yes. I said there were some more doctors there, but none of the defendants here.

Q. Dr. Pfannmueller, perhaps?

A. No. Dr. Pfannmueller was certainly not there. They must have been Berlin doctors.

Q. When after December of 1939 or January of 1940 was it that you again witnessed a euthanasia procedure?

A. I should say that during 1940 in all the euthanasia institutions existing at that time I personally assured myself once or twice that the euthanasia was being correctly carried out. But I think I recollect that the Hadamar Institute was only set up in 1941 and in that year I did not witness euthanasia being carried out, so that this would eliminate the Hadamar Institute.

Q. The Institute at Hadamar, I think you said there were five other stations?

A. Yes. There were six altogether.

Q. So that during the year 1940, you assured yourself that each of the five stations on perhaps one, two or perhaps more visits that the procedure insisted upon by Bouhler was being carried out in a humane manner, in a painless manner by carbon monoxide?

A. Completely imperceptible.

Q. And now who were the people—let me put it this way—the first time at Brandenburg there were four people, all men?

A. Yes.

Q. Now, can you remember on your subsequent visits in 1940 to the other euthanasia stations who the people were, men or women?

A. Both, sometimes men and sometimes women.

Q. And what can you say in regard to their nationality?

A. I can only say that they were only Germans, because I am perfectly convinced that Bouhler’s regulations, which rested on an order from Hitler, namely that no foreigners were to be given euthanasia, were observed strictly by all the euthanasia institutions.

Q. Where were these stations located, Witness?

A. I don’t understand what you mean, where they were?

Q. In what part of Germany or in what part of Poland, or in what part of Czechoslovakia, in what part of the Protectorate of Bohemia-Moravia, in what part of Denmark, in what part of Holland, in what part of France, and in what part of Europe were these stations located?

A. Now I understand you correctly. The first one was in Brandenburg on the Havel in the neighborhood of Berlin about 70 or 80 kilometers away. The next was the Grafeneck Institute, that was in Wuerttemberg. Another institution was Sonnenstein and that is near Pirna near Dresden. There was the Hartheim Institute which was near Linz on the Danube in Austria. Then there was the Bernburg Institute on the Saale River near Dessau. The Hadamar Institute is in Hesse.

Q. Were any of these stations located in that portion of Poland which was occupied by the Germans in military occupation?

A. No.

Q. And the six stations you have just named were all the stations known to you that existed; there were just six?

A. Those were the only ones, yes.

Q. Witness, can you approximate the population of Germany as it existed in the year of 1939 or the year of 1940? Were there some fifty or sixty million people?

A. No, roughly eighty to eighty-five million.

Q. Now by that, when you say eighty to eighty-five million, you include the entire German Reich, including Austria, the Sudetenland, and the occupied territory?

A. Austria and the Sudetenland, but not the occupied territory.

Q. And you estimate roughly there were eighty-five million people?

A. Yes.

Q. Of that eighty-five million, how many Jews would you say were living in Germany at the time who were German nationals?

A. Maybe two or three million.

Q. You are talking now about the Greater German Reich, including Austria and the Sudetenland?

A. Yes.

Q. You estimate there were between two or three million who were German nationals?

A. Roughly, yes.

Q. Now with two or three million German Jews amalgamated into the German population of eighty-five million people who were German nationals, explain, if you will, to the Tribunal why it was that the German Jews were excluded from the Euthanasia Program, if as you say it was a salutary program according to people the privilege of a mercy death for taking them out of their misery; why was it that the German Jews were not included in that program?

A. I have already stated that. As Bouhler explained it, the blessing of euthanasia should be granted only to Germans.

Q. I understand that, but I thought you said at that time there were between two and three million Germans in Germany, German citizens who were Jews?