At the end of 1942 I took part at a conference in the Military Academy
of Medicine in Berlin. The topic of discussion was the fatal effect of
gas gangrene serum on wounded men.
Present: Generalarzt Professor Schreiber, hygienist of the Military
Academy of Medicine; SS Oberfuehrer Professor Mrugowsky, hygienist;
Oberstabsarzt Professor Killian, professor in the University of Breslau,
surgeon; a medical officer (surgeon) whose name I did not know; and
myself, as department chief of the Central Institute for the Combating
of Epidemics, Berlin.
Killian and Mrugowsky gave reports on soldiers who had been given gas
gangrene serum in high quantities (up to 1,500 cc.) and hours
afterwards, while feeling perfectly well, had died suddenly without any
visible reason. Mrugowsky suspected that the cumulative effect of the
phenol content of the injections was responsible for the deaths.
In the presence of the other gentlemen, Mrugowsky ordered me to take
part in euthanasia with phenol in a concentration camp and to describe
the result in detail, since neither I nor Mrugowsky had ever seen a case
of death by phenol. Mrugowsky himself could not take part in the
euthanasia because of an urgent trip to the East, on the other hand the
affair was urgent for the fighting troops, and the publication of a new
circular for the troop doctors.
A few days later I asked Dr. Hoven in Buchenwald to notify me when he
performed euthanasia with phenol. The next evening he asked me to come
to the operating theater in the inmates’ hospital. Besides himself and
another doctor—probably Dr. Plaza—only two other prison male nurses,
whom I cannot remember, were present.
I talked to the doctor about the composition of the phenol injection
and, as far as I can remember, it consisted of undiluted raw phenol,
which was to be administered in doses of 20 cc.
One by one, four or five prisoners were led in. The upper part of the
body was naked so that their nationality patch [on their clothing] could
not be distinguished. The condition of their bodies was bad and their
age was advanced. I do not remember a diagnosis as to why euthanasia was
to take place, but probably I did not ask about it either.
They sat down quietly on a chair, that is without any sign of
excitement, near a light. A male nurse blocked the vein in the arm and
Dr. Hoven quickly injected the phenol. They died in an immediate total
convulsion during the actual injection without any sign of other pain.
The time between the beginning of the injection and death I estimate at
about ½ second. The rest of the dose was injected as a precautionary
measure, although part of the injection would have been enough for the
fatal result (I estimate 5 cc.).
The dead were carried into an adjoining room by the nurses—I estimate
the time of my presence at 10 minutes.