Furthermore, Kogon states that Dr. Ellenbeck carried out the taking of
blood in the small camp to obtain a stock of blood serum. (_Tr. p.
1192._) Kogon further states that in the part of the Buchenwald
concentration camp, where blood was taken, there were enough volunteers
and they received additional food. He answered the question as to
whether anybody died as a consequence of the taking of blood as follows:
“* * * It is impossible to establish whether anybody died
directly or indirectly as a consequence of the taking of blood *
* *.”
Dr. Ellenbeck made the following statement concerning that question:
“From the fall of 1944 onwards, as far as I know by request of
the leading physician of the concentration camps, the department
for the conservation of blood produced a conserved blood serum
to be used for the emergency treatment of prisoners since drugs
became more and more scarce. I had nothing whatsoever to do with
the drawing of blood and the supply. I had the blood sent to
Berlin. On account of reasons to be found in the aerial warfare,
the production of this conserved blood serum was only very
small.
“Kogon maintained that SS medical personnel from Berlin drew the
blood for this conserved blood serum. That is untrue. No SS
medical personnel came from Berlin to Buchenwald in order to
fetch blood, but ordinary couriers came who were not in a
position to draw the blood.” (_Mrugowsky 120, Mrugowsky Ex.
110._)
Therefore these amounts of blood, too, were only small. Ellenbeck can
state positively that such stocks of serum were not made for other
purposes in his laboratory. The medical officer of the concentration
camp gave him the order. The stocks of serum he had prepared were made
available to him again. * * *
“To the question as to whether people died after the removal of
blood, I refer to the above-quoted statements of the
specialists, Professor Dr. Vollhardt and Professor Dr. Siebeck.”
I would also like to point out that according to Kogon’s statement, Dr.
Ellenbeck himself saw to it that the prisoners actually received their
additional food after the removal of blood. The prisoners volunteered
for the removal of blood and received additional food for it. That
somebody died as a consequence of the removal of blood is a statement
without any basis.
I cannot imagine how a criminal character can be attached to this
removal of blood. The taking of blood from volunteers is not criminal in
any way.
* * * * *
d. Evidence
_Prosecution Documents_
Doc. No. Pros. Ex. No. Description of Document Page
NO-429 281 Extract from the affidavit of defendant 555
Hoven, 24 October 1946, concerning
typhus and virus experiments.
NO-265 287 Diary of the division for typhus and 557
virus research at the Institute of
Hygiene of the Waffen SS, 1941 to 1945
(Ding diary).
NO-257 283 Extract from the affidavit of Dr. Erwin 572
Schuler, 20 July 1945, concerning
typhus experiments.
NO-571 285 1943 work report for department for 573
typhus and virus research.
NO-121 293 Letter from Haagen to Hirt, 15 November 578
1943, concerning prisoners to be used
as experimental subjects for tests with
typhus vaccine.
NO-122 298 Letter dictated by Rose, addressed to 579
Haagen, 13 December 1943, concerning
experimental subjects for vaccine
experiments.
NO-123 303 Letter from Haagen to Hirt, 9 March 1944, 580
concerning experiments conducted with
typhus vaccine and requesting
experimental subjects.
NO-139 317 Letter from Dr. Grunske to Haagen, 7 581
March 1944, concerning reports on
yellow fever virus experiments
requested by a Japanese medical
officer.
_Defense Documents_
Doc. No. Def. Ex. No. Description of Document Page
Rose 16 Rose 12 Extracts from the affidavit of Professor 581
Otto Lenz, director of the Robert Koch
Institute in Berlin.
Rose 46 Rose 20 Extract from a certified statement, 4 582
March 1947, of J. Oerskov, M. D.,
director of the State Serum Institute
in Copenhagen.
_Testimony_
Extracts from the testimony of prosecution witness Eugen Kogon 583
Extracts from the testimony of defendant Rose 586
Extract from the testimony of defendant Mrugowsky 595
Extracts from the testimony of defense witness Dr. Eugen Haagen 606
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-429
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 281
EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT HOVEN, 24 OCTOBER 1946,
CONCERNING TYPHUS AND VIRUS EXPERIMENTS
I, Waldemar Hoven, being duly sworn, depose and state:
* * * * *
_Typhus and Virus Experiments_
4. In the latter part of 1941 an experimental station was established in
the Buchenwald concentration camp in order to determine the
effectiveness of various typhus vaccines. This section was called the
“Typhus Experimental Station—Division for Typhus and Virus Research”
and was under the direct supervision of Dr. Ding, alias Schuler. This
experimental station was set up in Block 46 of the camp. The Hygiene
Institute of the Waffen SS in Berlin, under the command of Dr. Joachim
Mrugowsky, received all the reports of these activities and Dr. Ding
took orders from Mrugowsky. In the early days, that is, between 1941 and
the summer of 1943, Dr. Ding had many meetings in Berlin with Dr. Karl
Genzken concerning his work at Buchenwald in connection with the typhus
experiments. Dr. Ding told me that Dr. Genzken had a special interest in
these matters and that he sent him reports at various times. Dr. Ding
also said that Dr. Karl Genzken was one of his superiors. From my
association with Dr. Ding, I understood that the chain of command in the
supervision of the typhus experimental station was as follows:
Reichsarzt SS Grawitz, Genzken, Mrugowsky, and Ding.
5. I can recollect that Dr. Genzken gave orders to Dr. Ding in January
1943 to enlarge the experimental station. At this time Block 60 was
cleaned out and made into a station for the production of the various
vaccines to be used in the experiments at Block 46. From this time on
the experimental station was known as the “Division for Typhus and Virus
Research of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS”. Then in the summer
of 1943, Dr. Genzken turned all his duties over to Dr. Mrugowsky, and
from that time on Genzken no longer actively participated in these
matters. I can recall meeting Dr. Mrugowsky in the home of Dr. Ding on
one of his visits to Buchenwald.
6. Inasmuch as I was constantly associated with Dr. Ding at Buchenwald,
we became very friendly. I frequently discussed matters with Ding and
visited his experimental station from time to time. As a matter of fact,
Dr. Ding had to go to Berlin for discussions with Dr. Mrugowsky and
others nearly 3 days out of every two weeks, and on such occasions I was
in charge of the typhus institute. However, when Ding went to Berlin the
experiments were discontinued until he returned.
7. The experiments in Block 46 in the Buchenwald concentration camp were
conducted as follows: One group of victims was first vaccinated with the
typhus vaccine and then infected with the typhus virus. In order to
contrast the effectiveness of the vaccine, another group of inmates was
merely infected with the typhus virus without previous vaccination.
Between the autumn of 1942 and the summer of 1943 about 500 inmates of
the Buchenwald concentration camp were used in these experiments. During
my time about 10 percent of the total number of the inmates used, died
as a result. I heard that a larger number of the victims died after my
time, that is, about 20 percent.
8. The selection of inmates to be used for the purposes of medical
experiments in Block 46 by the Division for Typhus and Virus Research
was as follows: Whenever Dr. Ding needed human beings for his work, a
request was made to the office of the camp commandant and referred to me
for action. Usually a man named Schober, an SS Hauptsturmfuehrer,
notified me to select the necessary number of prisoners for these
purposes. In accordance with this request I selected various inmates, at
random, from the roster of the camp. They were placed on a list over my
signature and returned to Schober, who often removed certain names from
the list for political reasons. In the event of particular prisoners
being removed from the list, I was requested to select substitutes in
order to provide Dr. Ding with the desired number of victims. After I
returned the completed list to Schober, it was given to Dr. Ding for
approval. He made a final check to ascertain, from a medical point of
view, the physical condition of the selected inmates and to determine
whether or not they met with his requirements.
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-265
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 287
DIARY OF THE DIVISION FOR TYPHUS AND VIRUS RESEARCH AT THE INSTITUTE OF
HYGIENE OF THE WAFFEN SS, 1941 TO 1945 (DING DIARY)
_29 Dec 41_:
Conference between Army Sanitation Inspection [Inspector], General Chief
Surgeon Professor Dr. Handloser; State Secretary for the Department of
Health of the Reich, SS Gruppenfuehrer Dr. Conti; President Professor
Reiter of the Health Department of the Reich; President Professor
Gildemeister of the Robert Koch Institute (Reich Institute to Combat
Contagious Diseases) and SS Standartenfuehrer and Lecturer [Dozent] Dr.
Mrugowsky of the Institute of Hygiene, Waffen SS, Berlin.
It has been established that the need exists to test the efficacy of,
and resistance of the human body to, the typhus serum extracted from the
egg yolks. Since tests on animals are not of sufficient value, tests on
human beings must be carried out.
_2 Jan 42_:
The concentration camp Buchenwald is chosen for testing the typhus
vaccines. SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Ding is charged with these tests.
_5 Jan 42_:
Preliminary test A:
Preliminary test to determine the surest and most practical way of
infecting human beings artificially. Five experimental subjects received
intramuscular and subcutaneous injections of vitelline membrane diluted
1:25 with an emulsified Rickettsia-Prowazeki strain from the Robert Koch
Institute in doses of 1 cc. Infection was not possible.
DR. DING
SS Hauptsturmfuehrer
_10 Jan 42_:
Preliminary test B:
Preliminary test to establish a sure means of infection: Much as in
smallpox vaccination, 5 persons were infected with vitelline membrane
culture virus (strain Rickettsia-Prowazeki, Robert Koch Institute)
through 2 superficial and 2 deeper cuts in the upper arm.
All experimental subjects used for this test fell ill with genuine
typhus. Incubation period 2 to 6 days.
_20 Jan 42_:
Preliminary report of reactions to vaccinations. Through continuous
blood pictures a strong surplus of neutrophile myelocytes was
discovered.
_20 Feb 42_:
Case history and charts of the preliminary tests to establish a sure
means of infection sent to Berlin.