Copy for your information.
by order [I. A.]
[initialed] BR. [Rudolf Brandt]
SS Sturmbannfuehrer
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1971-D-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 52
TELETYPE FROM RASCHER TO RUDOLF BRANDT, 20 OCTOBER 1942,
REQUESTING CLARIFICATION ON THE PARDON GRANTED BY
HIMMLER
REICH SECURITY MAIN OFFICE
Communication
Communication No. 11194 Urgent
RFSS Munich—Teletype No. 2020, 20 October 1942, 5:25 p. m.
To: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. Brandt
Field Command Post [Feldkommandostelle] Hegewald
Highly esteemed Obersturmbannfuehrer:
Will you please clarify the following case with the Reich Leader SS as
soon as possible?
In communication RFSS [Reich Leader SS] of 13-1-42 under paragraph 3 it
is ordered that if prisoners in Dachau condemned to death live through
experiments which have endangered their lives, they should be pardoned.
As up to now only Poles and Russians were available, some of whom had
been condemned to death, it is not quite clear to me yet as to whether
the above-mentioned paragraph also applies to them, and whether they may
be pardoned to concentration camp for life after having lived through
several very severe experiments.
Please answer by teletype via Adjutant’s Office, RFSS, Munich.
Obedient Greetings,
Heil Hitler!
Yours
[Signed] S. RASCHER
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 1971-E-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 53
TELETYPE FROM RUDOLF BRANDT TO SCHNITZLER, 21 OCTOBER 1942, CONCERNING
THE PARDON GRANTED BY HIMMLER
TELETYPE
To SS Obersturmfuehrer Schnitzler
Munich
Please inform SS Untersturmfuehrer Dr. Rascher with regard to his
teletype inquiry that the instruction given some time ago by the Reich
Leader SS concerning amnesty of test persons does not apply to Poles and
Russians.
[Signed] BRANDT
SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
21 October 1942
Bra/Dr.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-218
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 56
LETTER FROM RASCHER TO HIMMLER, 16 APRIL 1942, REPORTING ON
HIGH-ALTITUDE EXPERIMENTS WITH FATAL RESULTS AND ON EXPERIMENTS
CONDUCTED TOGETHER WITH ROMBERG
Munich, Trogerstrasse 56, 16 April 1942
Highly esteemed Reich Leader:
May I thank you for your letter of 13 April. I am delighted with the
great interest which you, highly esteemed Reich Leader, are taking in
the experiments and their results. I thank you for the inspiration you
have given me in your letter.
The experiment described in the report of 4 April was repeated four
times, each time with the same results. When Wagner, the last test
person had stopped breathing, I let him come back to life by increasing
pressure. Since test person “W . . .” was assigned for a terminal[23]
experiment, as a repeated experiment held no prospect of new results,
and since I had not been in possession of your letter at that time, I
subsequently started another experiment through which Test Person Wagner
did not live. Also in this case the results obtained by
electrocardiographic registration were extraordinary.
In accordance with your orders, I tried to contact Dr. Fahrenkamp
immediately upon receipt of your letter. However, I could not speak to
him since he is laid up with angina. In a few days I shall ask again if
Dr. Fahrenkamp is available.
Meanwhile, at times together with Dr. Romberg, I have carried out
falling experiments from heights of from 16 to 20 kilometers. There,
contrary to theoretical assumptions, it was proved that falling through
space after jumping from an airplane in the stratosphere (pressure
cabinplane) is quite possible, as after severe unconsciousness the test
person regained complete consciousness in each case, at between 7 and 8
kilometers height when the parachute lever, installed in the chamber,
was pulled.
Within the next few days, I shall report at length on these experiments
as well as on the above-mentioned Test Person Wagner.
I also have a request to make: May I take pictures of the various
dissection preparations in the dissecting room of the concentration camp
to make a record of the strange formations of air embolism? In this
connection, my wife has already written to SS Sturmbannfuehrer Dr.
Brandt.
Highly esteemed Reich Leader, allow me to close by assuring you that
your active interest in these experiments has a tremendous influence on
one’s working capacity and initiative.