To: Oberstarzt Professor Dr. Gutzeit
Consulting Physician to the Army Medical Inspector,
Medical Clinic of University of Breslau, Hobrechtufer 4
My dear colleague Gutzeit,
Many thanks for your letter of 24/6/44. I am glad that Herr Dohmen will
come here on 15 July. We shall then review all common hepatitis
questions and perhaps also set up the experiments together.
I cannot at present definitely answer your inquiry about human
experiments. As you know, I am working with Herr Kalk, Herr Buechner,
and Herr Zuckschwert. Naturally, I have already arranged with Herr Kalk
that we shall undertake that type of experiment with our material. I
must therefore first determine the point of view of the others
concerned.
I shall be very glad to begin work on the nephritis material from your
Oberstarzt K (?) [sic].
With best greetings,
Heil Hitler!
Yours
EXTRACT FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT KARL BRANDT[56]
_DIRECT EXAMINATION_
* * * * *
DR. SERVATIUS: The indictment mentions experiments with hepatitis. A
letter from Grawitz to Himmler says that you furthered these
experiments. Did you yourself do any clinical work on this question?
DEFENDANT KARL BRANDT: I never did any work in connection with hepatitis
epidemica, for that would have been during the war, as before the war
this disease was not given much importance in Germany. During the war I
did not deal with this question because I was too busy with other
things, and also because such a purely internal disease, although
perhaps of interest to the hygienist, was relatively uninteresting to me
as a surgeon.
Q. Did you allocate research assignments on this subject? How about Dr.
Dohmen?
A. I do not know why I should have given a research assignment to Dr.
Dohmen. Of course the question of hepatitis was a question which
interested everyone, for it was encountered everywhere in the East. But,
for that reason I would not have given special attention to that
disease. It had no relation to other things which were of more interest
to me as a surgeon. I know the letter. I was told about it last year. I
saw it here again for the first time this year. It says that I had asked
Grawitz to have special hepatitis work carried out by Dr. Dohmen. Dr.
Dohmen, the letter goes on, was to obtain seven or eight prisoners for
that purpose and the lives of these prisoners would be endangered. It is
not clear to me in what connection, and for what reason, my name was
mentioned as the instigator of hepatitis research, for in all the rest
of the correspondence, and in all the other documents, there is not even
the slightest hint that I had any particular interest in this question,
or that I was so interested that I would have started the research. I
never really knew that the experiments were actually carried out, and I
never received any report of results. There are indications contrary to
the sense of this letter, especially when it says these experiments are
to be carried out on persons condemned to death. Hepatitis epidemica is
not a disease as dangerous as all that. I have inquired meanwhile, and
know that compared with malaria, for example, it is only about a fifth
or a tenth as dangerous. I have already discussed today my relationship
with Himmler and with Grawitz. I did not invent that; that was actually
the truth. On the other hand, it is interesting to note that in all the
correspondence concerning hepatitis, one year later, after the first
letter failed to have the desired effect, Professor Schreiber sought a
way to approach Himmler in order to have hepatitis research work
continued.
Schreiber was the deputy for epidemic control in the Reich Research
Council, so that I may assume that, for some reason which is not quite
dear to me, Grawitz possibly confused Schreiber and me in the first
letter. That is conceivable. The letter is dated 1 June 1943. A short
time before that there was a meeting of the Military Medical Academy,
and probably Grawitz, who was present, talked to Schreiber as well. In
any case I am not able to give any information about this question of
hepatitis, and certainly not about any experiments which actually took
place. I have no information; I received no report; and I have not heard
from any other source even now that these experiments were really
conducted. It seems to me significant that the witness Schmidt, who was
heard here, testified that the experiments were certainly not conducted
in Strasbourg, as Dohmen, who wanted to conduct them, was there for only
two or three days himself.
* * * * *
-----
[54] Final plea is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 14-15 July 1947,
pp. 10818-10849.
[55] Defendant in Case of United States _vs._ Oswald Pohl, et al. See
Vol. V.
[56] Complete testimony is recorded in mimeographed transcript, 3, 4, 5,
6, 7 Feb. 1947, pp. 2301-2661.