His name will also come up again in connection with certain food experiments carried out in the concentration camp at Mauthausen. Here we find the subordinate to the defendant Lolling visited the typhus experimental station in Bechenwald.
I also call the Tribunal's attention to two entries on page 6, These are the entries under Roman numeral headed: "Official Trips by the Head of the 'Department for Spotted Fever and Virus Research'" by Dr. Ding, and under the entries of 13 October and 21 October we find: "Inspection at 'Dora' and 'Laura' with the commandant of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp," and then again under 21 October, "Inspection of the branch commands Leipzig, Wernigerode, Schoenebeck and 'Dora' with the camp commandant." and the Tribunal will recall that the witness Karl Kahr has testified concerning conditions in Dora, which was in the beginning an outside camp at Buchenwald. You see Dora indicated on the map on the wall chart under "Nordhausen (Dora)" I think that it was in the middle or latter part of 1944 that Dora reached such a size that it was officially known as Nordhausen Concentration Camp, and as such was no longer considered to be an outside camp of Buchenwald, and was then one of the camps centrally administered by the WVHA in Berlin. These entries indicate that Ding made inspections at these outside camps undoubtedly for the purpose of taking necessary identical measures since Ding was the hygienist, and the witness Eugen Kogen will undoubtedly have something to say about these matters, and about his relationship with Dr. Ding.
I pass now to Document NO-265, which will be Prosecution's Exhibit No 219. This is a diary kept by Dr. Ding Schuler on the typhus experiments carried out in the Buchenwald Concentration Camp. This was one of the larger series of experiments, and this diary is a very complete summary report on substantially all of the experiments carried out in Buchenwald concentration camp upon concentration camp inmates. I do not wish to read this report, but I would state to the Tribunal that the analysis of the figures contained in this book proves that no less than 729 inmates were experimented on for typhus, and of those no less than 154 died.
The purposes of these tests in Buchenwald were to determine the effectiveness of the various types of typhus vaccine for the invasion of Russia. The German Army experienced typhus epidemics, and for one reason or another they were not well prepared to combat those epidemics. Normally there are two methods of attacking the epidemic, to try to keep down the typhus epidemic, one by using disinfectant to control the vermin, that is, the lice which carried the disease in one clothes, various hygienic methods, and another is through the use of protective vaccine. The German had a very effective vaccine known as the "Weigl" vaccine, and as I recall there was one at the outbreak of the war, one place in Germany where the "Weigl" vaccine was manufactured, and it is an exceedingly complicated process; the vaccine is a virus from the intestine of lice, which the court will appreciate and even the court know more about this than I do about a rather complicated and delicate matter; secondly, the efforts were made to develop new types of vaccine, one was vaccine developed in the yolk of an egg, and it was known as the "Cox-Haagen, Gildemeister" vaccine. Cox was an American, and had contributed to the development of the vaccine to a considerable extent. This was a new vaccine, and they were experimenting for their effective efficiency.
To carry them out the procedure was to select a certain number of inmates, to sot aside a given percentage of them--normally 25 per cent--as control persons, to vaccinate the remaining 75 per cent with two or three of the vaccines being tested. The Weigl vaccine, which they knew quite a lot about, was normally used in the group of 75 per cent, and they would also use one of the egg yolk vaccines. In about two weeks they would normally infect the whole of the experimental group with virulent typhus. In other words, they would artificially bring on the disease of typhus.
They did this in various ways. One that was most frequently used was the injection of infected blood. In any event, a substantial number of deaths were caused by these experiments.
In addition to the typhus experiments, experiments with yellow fever vaccines were also conducted and with incendiary bombs. Five persons were tested in the incendiary bomb experiment. They were curious to establish whether a certain drug would be effective in treating a wound caused by phosphorous matter in an incendiary bomb. Apparently they felt that testing it on persons who had been injured during the course of an air raid was too troublesome. In any event, they procured an English incendiary from the vicinity of Leipzig and and proceeded to burn five experimental subjects in Buchenwald and treat them with the drug and observe the development of it.
There were also two poison experiments carried out; one on 30 December 1943 in which four persons were experimented on, and again on 26 October 1944 when six persons were experimented upon.
All of these experiments are mentioned during the course of this diary. As to the poison experiments, they do not reflect that deaths occurred in the diary. However, that proof will be given by Eugene Kogen when he appears here.
I would ask the Tribunal to turn to page 10 of the document book, the entry in the diary dated 9 January 1943. It reads as follows:
"By order of the surgeon general of the Waffen SS, SS-Gruppenfuehrer and Major General of the Waffen SS, Dr. Genzken, the hitherto existing spotted fever research station at the concentration camp Buchenwald becomes the 'Department for spotted fever and virus research'. The head of the department will be SS-Sturnbannfuehrer Dr. Ding. During his absence, the station medical officer of the Waffen SS, Weimar, SS-Haupsturmfuehrer Hoven will supervise the production of vaccines. The chief of the economic and administrative headquarters, SS-Obergruppenfuehrer and Lt. General of the Waffen SS Pohl orders the extension of block of stone buildings."
This indicates that the WVHA, in addition to having an inspection by Lolling and Schenk, also assisted materially by extending the experimental blocks which were used in the course of these experiments. That, of course, would call into action Amtsgruppe C, which handled all building matters within the concentration camp, and as I mentioned during the work report for 1943, the previous document, we know that in August of that year a visit was made to Buchenwald by a member of the building inspectorate.
On page 13 of the document book, under the entry for 23 March 1943, it says:
"Conferences between SS Sturmbannfuehrer Barnewald, SS-Sturmbannfuehrer Dr. Ding and SS-Hauptacharfuehrer Schlesinger from Department W5, W and V.H.A., about the brooding of rabbits, guina pigs and mice as experimental animals for the experimental department."
It appears also that Office W-5 of Amtsgruppe W of the WVHA also was in Buchenwald conferring with Dr. Ding concerning experimental animals.
I turn how to page 23, which is document NO 370, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 219.
THE PRESIDENT: 220
MR. MC HANEY: Yes, your are correct, Your Honor, 220. We turn here to a document and a further series of documents dealing with typhus experiments carried out in the Natzweiler concentration camp by Dr. Eugene Haagen, together with Dr. Hirt, who was a professor of the University of Strasbourg, which, as I stated yesterday, was located rather close to the Natzweiler concentration camp. It appears also on the map. It is very close to Strasbourg and just inside the French border.
The experiments by Haagen were similar in character to those by Dr. Ding, although they were not so extensive. I think that during the course of these experiments Haagen used approximately 400 inmates and at least 50 of these were killed, as we shall see later.
This document, NO 370, Prosecution Exhibit 220, is an affidavit by Rudolf Brandt which states in a summary fashion what the course of these experiments was, together with some of the persons implicated in them.
I pass now to document NO 2466 on page 26. This will be Prosecution Exhibit 221. This is an extract of the testimony of the witness Edith Schmidt in U. S. against Karl Brandt. This is the Case Number I before Military Tribunal Number 1. I think it might be expedient if I read at least a protion of this extract, particularly since, during the course of the examination of the witness Schmidt a document was introduced.
The witness Schmidt had previously testified about certain experiments at Schirmock. She was then asked:
" Question: Do you know of any other experiments on concentration camp inmates by Dr. Haagen?"
The answer was: "Yes."
"Question: Will you please tell us about those?
Answer: At the end of 1943 I saw a letter which Professor Haagen wrote to an SS Office through Professor Dr. Hirt, a professor of the Anatomical Institute at Strasbourg. In this letter inmates of the concentration camp, I think Dachau, were requested in order to carry out typhus experiments. A second letter came to my knowledge. In this letter Professor Dr. Haagen wrote that the human material which had been sent him was not suitable for the experiments. A part of the concentration camp inmates of, I believe Dachau, who arrived at Schirmock were in a condition which would not have produced the same results from typhus vaccinations. Part of than had died on the way. Thereupon Professor Dr. Haagen demanded concentration camp prisoners in the health condition of a German soldier."
At this point Document NO 121 was handed to the witness, and she was asked to identify it as the letter which she had referred to. Upon identifying the letter, it was offered and admitted as Prosecution Exhibit 293. The letter appears in this extract. It is dated 15 November 1943. It is a letter from Haagen to Hirt:
"On 13 November 1943 an inspection was made of the prisoners that were furnished to me in order to determine their suitability for the tests which have been planned for the spotted fever vaccines. Of the 100 prisoners that have been selected in their former camp, 18 died during transport. Only 12 prisoners are in such a condition that they can be used for these experiments, provided they can be brought into a state of vigor. This should take about two to three months. The remaining prisoners are in such a condition that they can not be used at all for these purposes.
"I might point out that the experiments are for the purpose of testing a now vaccine. Such experiment only lead to fruitful results when they are carried out with normally nourished subjects whose physical powers are comparable with those of the soldiers. Therefore, experiments with the present group of prisoners can not yield usable results, particularly since a large part of then are apparently afflicted with maladies which made then unsuitable for these experiments. A long period of rest and of good nourishment would not alter this fact.
"I request, therefore, that you send no 100 prisoners of age between 20 and 40 years, who are healthy and who are so constituted physically that they furnish comparable material."
Signed, "Haagen."
The witness Schmidt went on to testify that still an additional 200 inmates were requested late in 1943 or early in 1944, that they were furnished, that she had an opportunity to road the notes prepared by Miss Grodel who was an assistant to Dr. Haagen, and from these notes she was able to determine that fifty experimental subjects died as a result of the typhus experiments. I might remark that Miss Schmidt was an employee of the Hygiene Institute of the University of Strassbourg.
I turn now to Document NO-123 on Page 30. This will be Prosecution Exhibit 222. This is a letter from Haagen to Hirt, dated 9 May 1944 and constitutes the letter requesting the 200 experimental subjects. He makes this request through Dr. Hirt, and the requested number of 200 is mentioned in the second paragraph.
The next document is NO-008 on Page 31 which will be Prosecution Exhibit 223. The letter to Hirt was passed on to the Defendant Sievers in the medical case. The reason for that was that Hirt was a member of the Institute for Military Scientific Research. Consequently the channel of command, or rather channel of request for prisoners went from Haagen to Hirt to Sievers and to Pohl as we see from this document. The letter from Haagen to Hirt was dated 9 May 1944. This letter, Prosecution Exhibit 223, is dated 19 May 1944. Sievers writes Pohl stating in the first paragraph that Pohl had complied with Sievers request on 30 September 1943 and has made available 100 suitable prisoners. Those, of course, were the hundred out of which eighteen died before they ever got to Natzweiler, and which none of whom were found to be satisfactory by Dr. Haagen. Consequently an additional 100 were requested and obtained, and now in this letter Sievers asks for an additional 200 as requested by Haagen to Hirt on 9 May.
Moreover, on Page 32, the second page of the letter, down at the bottom, Sievers asks Pohl about which offices of the SS should receive a credit line in the report to be written by Dr. Haagen to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe, among others, and he said, "I request your decision if one of the following is to be named as supporting agency of the SS." These supporting agencies for recommending his experiments, the first one listed is the Reichsffuehrer SS, second is the SS-Economic and Administrative Main Office under Pohl, and thirdly, the Institute for Military Scientific Research of the Waffen-SS.
The next document is NO-009 which will be Prosecution Exhibit 224. This is a letter from Rudolf Brandt to Sievers, who had received a copy of Sievers' letter to Pohl of 19 May 1944. In this letter dated 6 June 1944 Brandt passes on Himmler's opinion that all three offices should be mentioned as supporting the experiments of Haagen's. The last line says, "Moreover it might then also be said that the Reichsfuehrer SS has personally fostered the experiments."
On Page 35, Document NO-127 will be Prosecution Exhibit 225. It is a memorandum from Haagen to Hirt dated 27 June 1944. The subject is tests of dry vaccine for spotted fever or typhus. I should explain that in very many of these documents the Tribunal will find the word "spotted fever". That is an inaccurate translation of the German word "fleckfieber". It should be translated typhus, because we are not speaking of Rocky Mountain spotted fever or any disease of that character. In this letter Haagen states very clearly that the experiments were concerned with testing the vaccine, testing the effectiveness of the vaccine by artificially infecting the experimental subjects.
Several of the defendants in the medical case have taken the rather vigorous position that actually all that Haagen was doing was testing the compatibility of a human being to these typhus vaccines, in other words, that they simply injected the vaccine itself and then studied the reaction of the person to see whether there was a fever reaction to the vaccine itself, how long it was, and its severity. The Prosecution, on the other hand, has contended that the experiments were considerably more than that, that not only did they test the compatibility of the vaccine, but also the effectiveness of the vaccine as a protective agent, and to do that, to test its protective quality, they first vaccinated the person and then artificially brought on the disease, typhus, to see whether or not the person would be protected by the previously given vaccine, that is, to see whether he would get the disease at all, and if he got it whether it would be less severe than the typhus brought on in the control persons.
THE PRESIDENT: In other words, they first vaccinated and then inoculated.
MR. MC HANEY: That is correct, inoculated with infected typhus blood or typhus infection. This letter, we contend, shows quite clearly that they were artificially infecting these experimental subjects. The letter reads:
"With reference to and in amplification of my communication of 9 May 1944 --" which the Tribunal will recall we have previously introduced, the memorandum, Haagen to Hirt, requesting 200 persons. He continues: "I wish to advise that after the vaccination itself no prolonged reaction, as was observed in the preliminary experiments, is expected so that there should be little or no interruption of work."
He continues: "However, in the subsequent inoculations with virulent spotted fever which are to be made for the purpose of testing the protective vaccine, one must count on sickness particularly in the control group which has not received the protective vaccine. These after-inoculations are desirable in order to establish unequivocally the effectiveness of the protective vaccines. This time 150 persons will be used for the protective vaccine and 50 for the control inoculations."
In other words, he is stating that these 200 experimental subjects which he is requesting and which Sievers wrote to Pohl about, 150 of them are to be protectively vaccinated with this typhus vaccine he wants to test, 50 of them are not to be vaccinated. Then all 200 are to be artificially infected with typhus, and then in that way he tests the effectiveness of the vaccine.
This, incidentally, is the same series of experiments about which the Witness Schmidt testified to in the extract which we have here offered in evidence. The Tribunal will recall she mentioned 200, roughly 50 of them died.
I turn now to Page 36 of the document book, Document 129, which will be Prosecution Exhibit 226. This is a letter dated 10 July 1944 from Hirt to Haagen passing on the suggestion by Himmler that Haagen should mention in his report that the experiments had been personally furthered by the Reichsfuehrer as well as by the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office and the Institute for Military Scientific Research.
On Page 37, Document NO-131 will be Prosecution Exhibit 227. This again the Prosecution contends shows quite clearly that Haagen was using a virulent typhus virus in the course of his experiments and that he did in fact artificially infect experimental concentration camp inmates. This is a memorandum from Kahnt who was the Chief of Staff to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe, that is to say, at this time, the Defendant Handloser in the medical case. This memorandum was concerned with the typhus research order issued by the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe to Haagen. It concerns the research dealing with the dry typhus vaccine which, of course, has been mentioned in our previous exhibits.
In Paragraph 3 it says: "Please advise whether it may be assumed that the spotted fever epidemic prevailing at Natzweiler at present is connected with the vaccine research."
The Prosecution submits that any such comment or inquiry as that would be rather ridiculous unless Dr. Haagen was in fact using a virulent virus in the course of his research at Natzweiler, and the Chief of Staff to Handloser is here inquiring as to whether or not this research conducted by him has caused a wide-spread epidemic of typhus which was occurring at that time at Naztweiler.
If the Tribunal pleases, we are now turning to a series of documents dealing with a different set of experiments. If you would like to adjourn at this time, it would be a convenient point to break off.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well, we will recess until tomorrow morning at nine-thirty, to meet in Courtroom One and have there an exhibition of motion picture films involved in this case.
MR. McHaney: I assume that the Tribunal wishes to limit the session tomorrow to the exhibition of the pictures?
THE PRESIDENT: You are quite right.
THE MARSHAL: This Tribunal is in recess until 0930 tomorrow morning in Room 600.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 12 April 1947, at 0930 Hours.)
Official transcript of Military Tribunal II, Case 4, in the matter of the United States of America against Oswald Pohl, et all, defendants, sitting at Nurnbert, Germany, on 12 April 1947, 0930, Justice Toms, presiding.
THE MARSHAL: Persons in the Courtroom will please find their seats. The Honorable, the Judges of Military Tribunal II. Military Tribunal II is now in session. God save the United States of America and this honorable Tribunal. There will be order in the courtroom.
THE PRESIDENT: The Marshal will determine whether all of the defendants named in the indictment are present in Court.
THE MARSHAL: May it please Your Honors, all the defendants are present in the dock.
THE PRESIDENT: Very well.
MR. MC HANEY: May it please the Tribunal, the special session this morning has been called for the purpose of exhibiting three documentary films which show conditions in certain concentration camps immediately after those camps were over-run by one or the other of the allied armies. The first film is entitled "Auschwitz"; the second "Maidanek"; and the third "German Concentration Camps."
The first two films, "Auschwitz," and "Maidanek" were made under the supervision of Russian authorities, while the film "German Concentration Camps" was made under the supervision of American authorities.
Before these films are exhibited I would like to present first a certificate which reads as follows:
C E R T I F I C A T E "1. I, Howard J. McCracken, Captain, Army, U.S., Serial Number 0-1055665, do hereby certify that:
1. I am on active duty as the officer in charge of the Reproduction Division in the Office of the Chief of Counsel for war Crimes, APO 124-A. I have hold this position since the inception of the Office of Chief of Counsel for War Crimes under Brigadier General Telford Taylor and previously held the same position in the Office of Chief of Counsel under Mr. Justice Robert H. Jackson."
"2. The two documentary films entitled "Auschwitz" and "Maidanek" were obtained by this office from the Information Control Division, Office of Military Government for Land Greater Hesse."
"3. The film entitled "Nazi Concentration Camps" was introduced in evidence before the International Military Tribunal in Case Number 1, as USA Exhibit No. 79."
"4. These films are in the same condition as when received by this office and have not been altered, distorted, or changed in any manner."
HOWARD J. MC CRACKEN "Subscribed and sworn to before me this _______day of April 1947.
Charles W. Mays, Colonel" I also wish to present another certificate concerning the two Russian films.
This certification rends as follows:
9 April 1947 "The moving pictures, "Auschwitz" and "Maidanek" for lease through the Bureau of SOVEXPORTFILM in Germany, are documentary films."
"The documentary film "Auschwitz" is a 1945 release of the Central Order of the Red Banner Studio."
"It was filmed on the spot by M. Oshurkov, N. Rykov, K. Katub-Kade, A. Pavlov, and A Vorontnov."
"The documentary film, "Maidanek", a kino document of the Atrocities Perpetrated by the Germans in the Extermination Camp of Maidanek in the City of Lublin, was filmed by A sofin, R. Karmen and V. Schatland."
"This film is a release of the Central Order of the Red Banner Studio's documentary films for 1944."
"No changes in either film have been made after release."
"This certification is given to the American Lessee of the film."
"Representative, SOVEXPORTFILM in Germany - (signed) V. Balandin."
This certification is in Russian, and I shall have the original, together with English translations, filed with the Secretary-General.
The first film to be shown will be "Auschwitz," and is offered by the Prosecution as Exhibit 225. The second film "Maidanek" will continue more or less immediately following the showing of "Auschwitz," and is offered as Prosecution Exhibit 226.
I understand that there will be a short break following the showing of the first two films, and we will make our offer on the last film at the end of the recess.
DR. SEIDL: Mr. President, I do not object to the admissibility of the motion pictures which the Allied Forces have made. The reason I don't object is because we have had an opportunity earlier on to see the film. On the other hand, I am not in a position to make a similar declaration with regard to the other two films since the defense has so far not seen the other films. I , therefore, beg to reserve myself the right to object to the admissibility of these other two films if the occasion should arise, even after they have been shown.
THE PRESIDENT: It is obviously even impossible for you to object to something you haven't seen, and it is impossible for the court to rule on something that is hasn't seen, so you will reserve the right to object at any time to any of these exhibits.
DR. SEIDL: I should also like to make the following statement: The first film deals with conditions in concentration camps such as they existed when the Allied Forces arrived. I should like to add right now that during proceedings evidence will be submitted which will show that at the time when the enemy began to threaten the camps supervision of the camps was transferred from the main administrative office to the respective higher SS police leaders and that after that period they were responsible for conditions and that they particularly had to decide upon the question whether the camp was to be handed over or whether it should be evacuated.
THE PRESIDENT: You can make any explanations at the proper time.
(At this time the films "Auschwitz", Prosecution Exhibit 225, and "Maidanek", Prosecution Exhibit 226, were exhibited.)
THE MARSHAL: There will be a recess for 10 minutes. A recess was taken.
THE MARSHAL: The Tribunal II is again in session.
MR. Mc HANEY: If the Tribunal please, the next film, "Nazi Concentration Camps", will be Prosecution Exhibit 227.
(At this time the film "Nazi Concentration Camps", Prosecution Exhibit 227, was exhibited.)
THE PRESIDENT: The court will be in recess until 9:30 o'clock Monday Morning. The Marshal will so announce.
THE MARSHAL: The court will recess until 9:30 Monday morning.
(The Tribunal adjourned until 9:30 hours, Monady, 14 April 1947.)
Official Transcript of the American Military Tribunal in the Matter of the United. States of America against Oswald. Pohl, et al., defendants, sitting at Nurnberg, Germany, on 14 April 1947, 0930-1630, Justice Toms presiding.
MR. McHANEY: May it please the Tribunal, I would first like to correct two mistakes in the record. The first one is to remember the films which were exhibited on Saturday morning. The were given the exhibit numbers 225 for the Auschwitz film, 226 for the Majdanek, and 227 for the Nazi Concentration Camps. I should like to have those re-numbered in the proper sequence, which will be, for the Auschwitz film, Exhibit Number 228; for the Majdanek film, prosecution Exhibit 229; and for the Nazi Concentration Camps film, prosecution Exhibit Number 230.
The second mistake in the record is that at the close of the session on Friday, I had been presenting documents dealing with typhus experiments by Dr. Haagen in the Natzweiler concentration camp, and I called to the Tribunal's attention Document NO 131, which was Prosecution Exhibit 227. That is on Page 37, Document Book 9. That was a letter by Kahnt to Haagen and others, asking Haagen whether the typhus epidemic at Natzweiler was connected with his research work there. I had staked that Kahnt was Chief of staff to Handloser, which, of course, is incorrect. Kahnt was Chief of Staff to Schroeder. Schroeder was the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe, and I also had improperly identified Handloser with that position. Kahnt was, in fact, the Chief of Staff to Schroeder, who was Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe.
THE PRESIDENT: Schroeder was Chief Surgeon of the Luftwaffe or the Wehrmacht?
MR. HcHANEY: Luftwaffe. Handloser was Chief of the Medical Service of the Wehrmacht.
I would like at this time to have the Tribunal direct the Marshal to summon the witness Bielski to the stand again. He is subject to cross examination this morning.
However, with the Tribunal's permission, the Prosecution has a few additional questions which we would like to put to him before he is released to cross examination.
THE PRESIDENT: The Marshal will please bring the witness Bielski to the courtroom.
JERZY BIELSKI -- Continued CROSS EXAMINATION -- Resumed BY MR. ROBBINS:
Q. Herr Bielski, you understand that you are still under oath to tell the whole truth?
A. Yes, I do.
Q. Will you tell the Tribunal again what kind of work you were doing in Auschwitz concentration camp in the middle of 1944?
A. I was always in the electrical detachment, first as an assistant worker and then as a skilled worker, and sometimes as a clerk of the detachment.
Q. Did you in any of your work come into contact with work on the crematoriums or gas chambers?
A. Yes, I worked everywhere because our detachment had to work everywhere. All instalations, all constructions, all electrical equipment was our job, and I worked in the crematorium or gas chambers in Auschwitz perhaps twenty or more times.
Q. Did you have anything to do with requisitioning material for those places?
A. Yes, indeed.
Q. What was your job in that connection?
A. As clerk I had to keep a list of the requirements of the material that was needed for the work which the detachment carried out, and I also had to specify the quantity and the kind of materials and then they were assigned by the chief of the detachment, and then the requirements were approved by the head of the electrical department in the construction detachment concerned, and then they came hack to me, and I took the people and the trucks, and I went to what is called the construction place, where I actually picked up the material from the magazines.