To the Reich Leader SS and Chief of the German Police
Heinrich Himmler,
Berlin SW 11, Prinz Albrecht Str. 8
Dear Reich Leader,
On the instructions of Reich Leader [Reichsleiter] Bouhler I placed some
of my men—already some time ago—at the disposal of Brigadefuehrer
Globocnik to execute his special mission. On his renewed request I have
now transferred additional personnel. On this occasion Brigadefuehrer
Globocnik stated his opinion that the whole Jewish action should be
completed as quickly as possible so that one would not get caught in the
middle of it one day if some difficulties should make a stoppage of the
action necessary. You, yourself, Reich Leader, have already expressed
your view, that work should progress quickly for reasons of camouflage
alone. Both points which in principle arrive at the same result are more
than justified as far as my own experience goes; nevertheless would you
kindly allow me to submit the following argument:
Among 10 millions of Jews in Europe there are, I figure, at least 2-3
millions of men and women who are fit enough to work. Considering the
extraordinary difficulties the labor problem presents us with, I hold
the view that those 2-3 millions should be specially selected and
preserved. This can, however, only be done if at the same time they are
rendered incapable to propagate. About a year ago I reported to you that
agents of mine had completed the experiments necessary for this purpose.
I would like to recall these facts once more. Sterilization, as normally
performed on persons with hereditary diseases, is here out of the
question, because it takes too long and is too expensive. Castration by
X-ray however is not only relatively cheap, but can also be performed on
many thousands in the shortest time. I think, that at this time it is
already irrelevant whether the people in question become aware of having
been castrated after some weeks or months once they feel the effects.
Should you, Reich Fuehrer, decide to choose this way in the interest of
the preservation of labor, then Reichsleiter Bouhler would be prepared
to place all physicians and other personnel needed for this work at your
disposal. Likewise he requested me to inform you that then I would have
to order the apparatus so urgently needed with the greatest speed.
Heil Hitler!
Yours,
[Signed] VIKTOR BRACK
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-206
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 164
LETTER FROM HIMMLER (COUNTERSIGNED BY RUDOLF BRANDT), 11 AUGUST 1942,
ADDRESSED TO BRACK, CONCERNING HIMMLER’S INTEREST IN STERILIZATION
EXPERIMENTS
The Reich Leader SS
1314/42 [Handwritten]
XIa/126 [Handwritten]
11 August 1942
Figure 11—[Handwritten]
SS Senior Col. (SS Oberfuehrer) Brack Field Headquarters
Berlin W 8 Voss-Strasse 4
Top Secret
4 copies
4th copy
Dear Brack:
It is only today that I have the opportunity of acknowledging the
receipt of your letter of 23 June. I am positively interested in seeing
that sterilization by X-rays is tried out at least once in one camp in a
series of experiments.
I will be very much obliged to Reichsleiter Bouhler if, to begin with,
he would place the expert physicians for the series of experiments at
our disposal.
I will mail a copy of this letter to the Reich Physician SS and to the
competent Chief of the Main Office for concentration camps.
Heil Hitler!
Yours,
[Signed] H. HIMMLER
SS Obergruppenfuehrer Pohl
SS Gruppenfuehrer Dr. Grawitz
For information.
By order [Handwritten] BR.
SS Obersturmbannfuehrer
[Stamp] 11 August 1942
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-208
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 166
LETTER FROM BLANKENBURG TO HIMMLER, 29 APRIL 1944, REGARDING EMPLOYMENT
OF DR. HORST SCHUMANN ON EXPERIMENTS CONCERNING THE INFLUENCE OF X-RAYS
ON HUMAN GENITAL GLANDS IN CONNECTION WITH SIMILAR EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED
AT CONCENTRATION CAMP AUSCHWITZ
Chancellery of the Fuehrer of the NSDAP
File No: IIa/Kt.
Berlin W 8, Vosstrasse 4, 29 April 1944
Telephone No.: local 120054
Long distance 126621