I pass now to the facts of the case in hand. There are 23 defendants in
the box. All but three of them—Rudolf Brandt, Sievers, and Brack—are
doctors. Of the 20 doctors, all but one—Pokorny—held positions in the
medical services of the Third Reich. To understand this case, it is
necessary to understand the general structure of these state medical
services, and how these services fitted into the over-all organization
of the Nazi State.
[Illustration: Chart Showing German State Medical Services]
To assist the Court in this regard the prosecution has prepared a short
expository brief [not introduced into evidence] which is already in the
hands of the Court and which has been made available to defense counsel
in German and English. The brief includes a glossary of the more
frequent German words or expressions which will occur in this
trial—most of them from the vocabulary of military, medical, or
governmental affairs. It also includes a table of equivalent ranks [App.
Vol. II] between the American Army and the German Army and the SS, and
of the medical ranks used in the German Armed Forces and the SS.
Finally, it includes a chart [see p. 30] showing the subordination of
the several German medical services within the general framework of the
German State. This chart has been enlarged and is displayed at the front
of the courtroom.
Following this opening statement Mr. McHaney, in opening the
presentation of evidence on behalf of the prosecution, will offer in
evidence a series of detailed charts of the various German medical
services, which have been certified as accurate by the defendants
Handloser, Schroeder, Karl Brandt, Mrugowsky, and Brack. The chart to
which I am now directing the attention of the Tribunal is a composite
chart based upon those which Mr. McHaney will offer in evidence. The
chart in the front of the courtroom to which I now refer will not be
offered in evidence; it is intended merely as a convenient guide to the
Court and to defense counsel to enable them to follow the opening
statement and to comprehend the over-all structure of the German medical
services.
All power in the Third Reich derived from Adolf Hitler, who was at one
and the same time the head of the government, the leader of the Nazi
Party, and the commander in chief of the armed forces. His title as head
of the government was Reich Chancellor. He was the “Fuehrer” of the Nazi
Party, and the “Supreme Commander” of the Wehrmacht. Immediately
subordinate to Hitler were the chiefs of the armed forces, the principal
cabinet ministers in the government, and the leading officials of the
Nazi Party. The only defendant in the dock who was directly responsible
to Hitler himself is the defendant Karl Brandt.
The Court will observe that the defendants fall into three main groups.
Eight of them were members of the medical service of the German Air
Force. Seven of them were members of the medical service of the SS. The
remaining eight include the defendants Karl Brandt and Handloser, who
occupied top positions in the medical hierarchy; it included the three
defendants who are not doctors; the defendant Rostock, who was an
immediate subordinate of Karl Brandt; the defendant Blome, a medical
official of the Nazi Party; and the defendant Pokorny, whom we have
grouped under the SS for reasons which will appear later.
I will deal first with the military side of the case. Hitler, as Supreme
Commander of the German Armed Forces, exercised his authority through a
staff called the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces, better known by
its German initials, OKW (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht). The chief of this
staff, throughout the period with which this case will concern itself,
was Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.
Under the OKW came the High Commands of the three branches of the
Wehrmacht: the Navy (OKM), the Army (OKH) and the Air Force (OKL). Grand
Admiral Erich Raeder was the Commander in Chief of the German Navy until
1943, when he was succeeded by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. Prior to the
outbreak of the war, the Commander in Chief of the German Army was Field
Marshal von Brauchitsch. In December 1941 Brauchitsch was relieved and
Hitler himself took this position. Hermann Goering was the Commander in
Chief of the German Air Force with the rank of Reich Marshal, until the
very last month of the war.
Each of the three branches of the Wehrmacht had its own medical service.
For purposes of this case, the medical service of the Navy is not of
much importance. During most of the war the defendant Handloser was the
Chief of the Medical Service of the German Army; in 1944 he was
succeeded in this capacity by Dr. Walter. The Chief of the Medical
Service of the German Air Force until 1943 was Dr. Erich Hippke; from
January 1944 until the end of the war, it was the defendant Schroeder.
Subordinate to the defendant Schroeder are seven other defendants from
the Air Force Medical Service, whose functions I will briefly describe
later on.
I turn now to the second principal group of defendants—those affiliated
with the SS. The SS was nominally a part of the Nazi Party, and came
under Hitler in his capacity as Fuehrer of the NSDAP. In fact, during
the years of the Nazi regime, the SS expanded into a vast complex of
military, police, and intelligence organizations. The head of this
extraordinary combine was Heinrich Himmler, with the title of Reich
Leader SS. The SS had its own medical service, headed by Grawitz, who
bore the title Reich Physician SS.
The SS in turn was divided into many departments, of which one of the
most important was the Armed or Waffen SS. The members of the Waffen SS
were trained and equipped as regular troops, were formed into regular
military formations, and fought at the front side by side with the
troops of the Wehrmacht. By the end of the war there were some 30 SS
divisions in the line. The head of the Medical Service of the Waffen SS
was the defendant Genzken.
Six other defendants were members of the SS Medical Service and
therefore subordinated to Grawitz.
The German civilian medical services derived their authority both from
the German Government and from the Party. The medical chief on the
civilian side was Dr. Leonardo Conti, who committed suicide in October
1945. Dr. Conti occupied the position of State Secretary for Health in
the Reich Ministry of the Interior. In this capacity Conti was a
subordinate of the Minister of the Interior, Dr. Wilhelm Frick, until
1943, and thereafter to Heinrich Himmler who assumed the additional
duties of Minister of the Interior in that year.
Conti also held the title in the Nazi Party of Reich Health Leader. His
deputy in this capacity was the defendant Blome. As Reich Health Leader,
Conti was subordinate to the Nazi Party Chancellery, the chief of which
was Martin Bormann.
As the Court will see from the chart,[8] the three principal people in
the hierarchy of German state health and medicine are the defendants
Karl Brandt and Handloser, and the deceased Dr. Conti. In July 1942,
Hitler issued a decree, a copy of which will later be read before the
Court, which established the defendant Handloser as Chief of the Medical
Services of the Wehrmacht. Shown on the chart here Handloser’s name
appears in this capacity. Handloser was given supervisory and
professional authority over the medical services of all three branches
of the Wehrmacht. Inasmuch as the Waffen SS came to constitute an
important part of the armed forces, Handloser’s supervisory authority
also extended to the defendant Genzken, Chief of the Medical Service of
the Waffen SS. In this position Handloser was charged with the
coordination of all common tasks of the Medical Services of the
Wehrmacht and the Waffen SS. He thus became the principal figure in
German military medicine, just as Dr. Conti was the central figure in
the field of civilian medicine.
Handloser and Conti, as will be seen from the chart, were not directly
responsible to Hitler himself. Handloser’s responsibility ran to Hitler
through the OKW, and Conti’s through the Ministry of the Interior and
the chief of the Nazi Party Chancellery.
In 1942 Hitler for the first time established a medical and health
official under his direct control. This official was the defendant Karl
Brandt. A Hitler decree of July 1942 (_NO-080_) gave Brandt the title
Plenipotentiary for Health and Medical Services, and empowered him to
carry out special tasks and negotiations with reference to the
requirements for doctors, hospitals, medical supplies, etc., between the
military and civilian sectors of the health and sanitation systems.
Brandt’s role, therefore, was to coordinate the requirements of the
military and civilian agencies in the field of medicine and public
health.
Dr. Karl Brandt had been the personal physician to Hitler since 1934. He
was only 38 years old at the time he assumed the important duties
conferred by the 1942 decree. His rise continued.
In September 1943 Hitler issued another decree which gave Brandt the
title of General Commissioner for Sanitation and Health and empowered
him to coordinate and direct the problems and activities of the entire
administration for sanitation and health. (_NO-081._) This authority was
explicitly extended to the field of medical science and research.
Finally, in August 1944, Hitler appointed Dr. Brandt Reich Commissioner
for Sanitation and Health, and stated that in this capacity Brandt’s
office ranked as the “highest Reich authority.” (_NO-082._) Brandt was
authorized to issue instructions to the medical offices and
organizations of the government, to the party, and the armed forces, in
the field of sanitation and health.
Karl Brandt, as the supreme medical authority in the Reich, appointed
the defendant Paul Rostock as his immediate subordinate to head the
Office for Scientific and Medical Research. Rostock’s position reached
into the activities of the medical societies, the medical colleges, and
the Reich Research Council. Brandt also appointed Admiral Fikentscher,
who had theretofore been the chief medical officer of the German Navy,
as his subordinate to head the Office for Planning and Production. In
this field, Fikentscher dealt with the principal labor authorities, the
Ministry of Economics, and the Ministry for Armament and War Production.
As chief of the Medical Service of the German Air Force, the defendant
Schroeder also held one of the most important positions in the German
medical hierarchy. He and the defendant Handloser both held the rank of
Generaloberstabsarzt, the highest rank in the German medical service and
the equivalent of lieutenant general in the American Army. I do not
propose to go into detail concerning the positions held by the seven
defendants who were under Schroeder, inasmuch as Mr. McHaney will
introduce charts which show in great detail the structure of the German
Air Force Medical Service, and which have been authenticated by the
defendant Schroeder himself. The defendant Rose held a high rank in the
Air Force Medical Service equivalent to that of a brigadier general in
the American Army and was appointed special adviser to Schroeder on
matters pertaining to tropical medicine, held a chair at one of the most
important German medical institutes, and is one of the most
distinguished scientists in the dock. The defendant Becker-Freyseng
headed Schroeder’s department for aviation medicine. The defendant Weltz
was chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine at Munich. The
particular functions of the defendants Ruff, Romberg, Schaefer, and
Beiglboeck will appear as we proceed with the presentation of the
evidence.
I will likewise pass over very briefly the detailed functions of the six
SS physicians who were shown on the chart as the subordinates of
Grawitz. Detailed charts of the SS Medical Service, authenticated by the
defendant Mrugowsky, will shortly be introduced in evidence. The
defendant Gebhardt was Himmler’s personal physician and he held a rank
in the SS equivalent to that of a major general in the American Army. He
became the president of the German Red Cross. He was the chief surgeon
on Grawitz’s staff, and also headed the hospital at Hohenlychen, in
which capacity the defendants Oberheuser and Fischer were his
assistants. The defendant Poppendick was the chief of Grawitz’s personal
staff. The defendant Mrugowsky was Grawitz’s chief hygienist and also
headed the Hygienic Institute of the Waffen SS. The defendant Hoven was
the chief doctor of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
The defendant Pokorny is a private physician who had no official
connection with the governmental medical service. We have shown him on
the chart underneath the group of SS physicians for reasons which will
appear in the course of presenting the evidence concerning sterilization
experiments (par. 6 (I) of the indictment).
The three defendants who are not doctors are shown in the top right-hand
corner of the chart. Two of them—Rudolf Brandt and Brack—are
administrative officers. Rudolf Brandt had the rank of colonel in the
SS, was sort of personal adjutant, and held an administrative office
both in the SS and the Ministry of the Interior. Viktor Brack was the
chief administrative officer in Hitler’s personal chancellery
[Chancellery of the Fuehrer], the head of which was Philipp Bouhler.
The defendant Sievers, who held the rank of colonel in the SS, is a
special case. He was a direct subordinate of Heinrich Himmler in the
latter’s capacity as president of the so-called Ahnenerbe Society. The
name of this society literally means “ancestral heritage”, and it was
originally devoted to scientific and psuedo-scientific researches
concerning the anthropological and cultural history of the German race.
Later on an Institute for Military Scientific Research was set up within
the Ahnenerbe Society. Sievers was the manager of the society and the
director of the Institute for Military Scientific Research.
This concludes the general description of the German state medical
services under the Nazi regime, and of the positions which the
defendants occupied in the scheme of things. It is convenient at this
point to refer to count four of the indictment, which charges that 10 of
the defendants were members of an organization declared to be criminal
by the International Military Tribunal, and that such membership is in
violation of paragraph 1 (_d_) of Article II of Control Council Law No.
10. The organization in question is the SS.
This count concerns the defendant Karl Brandt, six of the defendants who
were affiliated with the Medical Service of the SS, and three defendants
who are not doctors. It does not concern any of the nine defendants on
the military side, nor the defendants Rostock, Blome, Oberheuser, or
Pokorny.
The International Military Tribunal’s declaration of criminality applies
to all persons who had been officially accepted as members of any branch
of the SS, and who remained members after 1 September 1939. The
prosecution will show that all 10 defendants charged in count four were
officially accepted as members of the SS and remained so after that
date. The defendants Karl Brandt, Genzken, and Gebhardt held ranks in
both the General or Allgemeine SS and the Waffen SS equivalent to that
of a major general in the American Army. The defendants Mrugowsky,
Hoven, Poppendick, and Fischer all held officer rank in the SS or Waffen
SS, and all four of them, together with the defendants Genzken and
Gebhardt, held positions in the SS Medical Service. The defendant Rudolf
Brandt held the rank of colonel in the General (Allgemeine) SS, and was
a personal assistant to Himmler in Himmler’s capacity as Reich Leader
SS. The defendant Brack held officer rank in both the SS and the Waffen
SS. The defendant Sievers held the rank of colonel in the SS, and was
manager of the Ahnenerbe Society, which was attached to the SS Main
Office.
The declaration of criminality by the International Military Tribunal
does not apply when it appears that a member of the SS was drafted into
membership in such a way as to give him no choice in the matter. Nor
does it apply if it appears that the member had no knowledge that the
organization was being used for the commission of criminal acts. For
purposes of this case, these questions, the prosecution believes, will
be academic. All of the defendants charged in count four held officer
rank in the SS, and most of them held senior rank. They were moving
spirits and personal participants in murder and torture on a large
scale, and in a variety of other crimes. In this connection we
respectfully invite the Tribunal’s attention to two statements by the
International Military Tribunal which, under Article X of Ordinance No.
7, constitute proof in the absence of substantial new evidence to the
contrary. In setting forth the criminal acts committed by the SS, the
International Military Tribunal stated:[9]
“Also attached to the SS main offices was a research foundation
known as the Experiments Ahnenerbe. The scientists attached to
this organization are stated to have been mainly honorary
members of the SS. During the war an institute for military
scientific research became attached to the Ahnenerbe which
conducted extensive experiments involving the use of living
human beings.”