Berlin-Dahlem, 27 June 1942
G/H/6, g/Sch/4, A/1/101 S/wo
To: SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. R. Brandt
Personal Staff of the Reich Leader SS
Berlin
Subject: Use of mustard gas for exterminating rats.
Re: Your letter of 13 July 1942—A 19/95/1942
Dear Comrade Brandt!
On request SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt, Strasbourg tells me:
“Mustard gas in a dilution of 1:100 is dangerous to human beings
if it contacts the body in an adequate amount. Above all,
mustard gas is dangerously effective to clothing, as is known,
even when greatly diluted, especially in connection with
dampness. Mustard gas touching the skin even in a dilution of
1:100 causes reddening, possibly it causes little cysts without
effecting necrosis. That is, the effect is much weaker than that
of pure mustard gas. In spite of that, coming in contact with
the clothes in sufficient quantities, especially in the regions
of perspiration as the armpit, or the inguinal region, it can
have exactly the same effect as concentrated mustard gas. For
this, only a trace of it is frequently sufficient. This I
experienced in a laboratory accident with a chemical student,
who touched his armpit with one of the rabbits only for a second
and a reddening ensued which spread over the entire body the
following day, however, without further consequences. In my
opinion, only a place which can be temporarily evacuated by
human inhabitants can be used for gassing. The use of mustard
gas in the vicinity of food stores, especially grain dumps, has
to be absolutely excluded because one cannot know to what extent
the rats carry the mustard gas there. Only gassing of rat holes
would be possible with full application of precautionary
measures. How this will work out technically, I cannot of course
determine. Proper experts would have to judge that. Probably the
case may be the same as with other poisons used for the
extermination of rats (Phosphor-arsenic, strychnine, etc.)—that
means that the use of every type of poison has two sides. In
spite of this, your idea to try the extermination of vermin by
means of poison gas does not seem strange at all, but an expert
on poison gas would have to determine if there are not other
means of killing rats which are less harmful to human beings.”
With kind regards
Heil Hitler!
[Signature] SIEVERS
P. S. I shall talk over this matter thoroughly with Professor Hirt one
of these days, and I will see which poison gas expert we might consult
for the solution of the problem.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-098
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 263
MEMORANDUM FROM SIEVERS TO RUDOLF BRANDT, 3 NOVEMBER 1942, CONCERNING
RESEARCH IN THE NATZWEILER CONCENTRATION CAMP
The Ahnenerbe
Reich Business Manager
Berlin-Dahlem, 3 November 1942
S/Wo G/H/6
Personal Staff Reich Leader SS [Filing stamp]
File Room Document No. Secret/51/16 [shorthand notation]
_Note_
Re: Research order SS Hauptsturmfuehrer, Professor Dr. August
Hirt, Strasbourg, at the Institute for Military Scientific
Research of the Ahnenerbe.
The Reich Leader SS [Himmler] ordered, in his letter of 13 July
1942—Journal number AR/48/7/42—that SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr.
Hirt carry out the research tasks assigned him, in conjunction with the
Natzweiler concentration camp. It was determined at a conference, for
which I drove, along with SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt, to
Natzweiler on 31 August 1942, that the necessary conditions exist in
Natzweiler. I reported on this orally on 9 September 1942, and
afterwards in writing on 11 September 1942 to SS Brigadefuehrer Gluecks,
who agreed and promised his full support. In view of the urgency of
these research tasks, I asked SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Professor Dr. Hirt to
go to Natzweiler again because until then no report on the beginning of
the work had arrived. SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Prof. Dr. Hirt reported the
following, among other things, concerning this conference which took
place at Natzweiler on 19 October 1942:
“The conference was due to the fact that until now nothing
besides the detachment of Oberscharfuehrer Walbert had been
accomplished. Nor had the installation of the laboratories been
started to date.
“It has now been decided to start with the laboratories this
week.
“It was further established that the camp for security suspects,
Schirmeck, would erect the sheds. Its commander fortunately is
ready, as he told us at once, to place the necessary people at
our disposal free of charge; whereas Natzweiler would not have
been in a position to do so owing to the overbearing and
inconvenient demands of the workers.
“We were furthermore informed that the prisoners who would later
be used for experiments would have to be paid for by us during
the period that experiments were being made upon them.
“We are to request that the prisoners of the Lost experiment
receive full rations (food for guards) to enable the experiments
to be carried out under the same conditions as the troops would
be under in a possible emergency. We intend for the time being
to take 10 prisoners as subjects for experiments.
“Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Blanke said that he was refused the
assistance of a second physician in supervising the experiments
on patients, so that he probably would not have enough time to
concern himself with the experiments.
“The X-ray apparatus which I could procure here has not yet been
definitely allocated by Berlin. We must get it immediately,
otherwise we may lose it.
“The installation of direct current causes difficulties. One,
however, gets the impression that the building operators had not
dealt with this problem at all. According to their opinion, a
transformer should be procured which is able to transform 220
volts alternating current into direct current. This is most
likely quite improbable at this place.
“To equip the laboratory, I would ship the needed things
(freezing microtome, incubators, etc.) from the stocks of the
Anatomical Institute to Natzweiler during the next week. They
remain, of course, the property of the Anatomical Institute. The
two prisoners trained in handling the microtome can then be put
to work. According to Hauptsturmfuehrer Dr. Blanke, both should
be proficient at it.”
On the basis of this report, I have the impression that not too much
interest in cooperative work exists at Natzweiler. As such cooperation
is ordered by the Reich Leader SS and as SS Brigadefuehrer Gluecks is
willing, the whole thing is not understandable to me. I was very much
surprised by the fact that the prisoners to be used for experiments
should be paid for. If we use only 10 prisoners for one experiment,
which might under certain circumstances last 10 months, the cost for the
prisoners alone would total approximately 4,000 RM. When I think of our
military research work conducted at the concentration camp Dachau, I
must praise and call special attention to the generous and understanding
way in which our work was furthered there and to the cooperation we were
given. Payment of [for] prisoners was never discussed. It seems as if at
Natzweiler they are trying to make as much money as possible out of this
matter. We are not conducting these experiments, as a matter of fact,
for the sake of some fixed scientific idea, but to be of practical help
to the armed forces and beyond that to the German people in a possible
emergency. The budget of the institute will be met, according to the
order of the Reich Leader of the SS and as already discussed by me in
detail with SS Standartenfuehrer Loerner, out of the funds of the Waffen
SS.
Under the supposition that the prisoners needed for experiments are in
the prescribed condition as regards nourishment by this time, the
experiments could start approximately on 10 November 1942.
Special treatment in Dachau was never the subject of special
instructions but was understood to be necessary and issued without
further ado. On the occasion of his personal inspection of the
experiments at Dachau, the Reich Leader SS also ordered special food as
an additional measure. Just as the Reich Leader SS appeared one day at
Dachau to have a look at the experiments there, this is possible at
Natzweiler too.
[Signature] SIEVERS
SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
1. To SS Obersturmbannfuehrer Dr. R. Brandt to read in reference to our
discussion of today and with the request for help in comradely fashion
in setting up the necessary conditions at Natzweiler.