The transfer of partly Jewish children has no connection with the Reich
Committee.
Directive issued by the Provincial President Bernotat of 15 May
1943 concerning the collection of part Jews. (_NO-893, Pros. Ex.
426._)
Consent of the parents.
Letter of the Reich Committee of 9 January 1943 to the health
office at Tuttlingen. (_Karl Brandt 40, Karl Brandt Ex. 84._)
There the competent authority declares that a transfer of a
child is not permissible in principle if the consent of the
parents is not given.
Testimony of Brack. (_Tr. p. 7612._) The consent of the parents
was secured by the official physician or by the physician in
charge, in other words, before the child was taken to the
clinic.
It was up to the practicing physicians to inform the parents of
the type of treatment which the child would undergo and of the
prospects of success. (_Brack 52, Brack Ex. 43._) The
probability of death was stressed.
Testimony of Karl Brandt. (_Tr. p. 2399._) According to this,
the parents were treated with care while being questioned, in
order that their conscience should not bother them later.
Testimony of Karl Brandt. (_Tr. p. 2544._) According to this the
consent of the parents was not put into writing but was given
orally and then a note made of it in the files. No child was
removed against the express wishes of the parents.
_How the killing was done._
Testimony of Pfannmueller (_Tr. p. 7331_) rebuts affidavit of
Jordans (_3882-PS, Pros. Ex. 371_). According to this, where
treatment was not possible any more, putting to sleep by
narcotics was effected by the physician of the institution.
There was no National Socialist nursing staff to carry out the
killing.
Testimony of Pfannmueller. (_Tr. p. 7304._) Comment on the
statement in the affidavit of Lehner according to which
euthanasia was not practiced on children before the war.
Testimony of Pfannmueller. (_Tr. p. 7329._) Comment on the
conference of the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior in 1942.
According to this, the starvation process had not been ordered
but on account of the general food situation no additional food
supplies were permitted which exceeded the rations of the
civilian population.
Affidavit of Weese. (_Karl Brandt 129, Karl Brandt Ex. 105._)
Graph indicating cases of death of insane persons in the
Kaufbeuren Clinic from 1910 till 1944. (_Karl Brandt 123, Karl
Brandt Ex. 93._) The graph shows that during the membership of
Karl Brandt in the Reich Committee the number of cases of death
did not really exceed those of World War I. Only after his
retirement does the curve rise suddenly.
Performance of experiments by Professor McCance on children not
fit to live in the Military Hospital, Wuppertal, in 1946. (_Karl
Brandt 93, Karl Brandt Ex. 29._)
Testimony of Brack. (_Tr. p. 7716._) According to this, the
consent of the parents was secured in some form or other.
_Authorization._ The authorization was given for each case
separately on the basis of the files.
Testimony of Pfannmueller. (_Tr. p. 7304._) About the types of
children in question.
Affidavit of Leusser. (_3864-PS, Pros. Ex. 367._) There it is
pointed out that the children stood at the lowest level of
idiocy.
Testimony of Schmidt. (_Tr. p. 1821._) The witness names the
type of diseases in question. He says that the consultants and
chief consultants gave the authorization.
Testimony of Pfannmueller. (_Tr. p. 7314._) According to this,
the authorization orders did not read that the life of the
children was to be shortened, but it was only an authorization
for treatment.
Affidavit of Schmidt. (_3816-PS, Pros. Ex. 370._) The witness
has seen many certificates of authorization, all of which were
signed by Hegener.
_Special authorization._ The Reich Committee could not issue special
authorizations for adults. The signature of Hegener in individual cases
is in contradiction to issued directives. It was an arbitrary evasion of
the decreed cessation of euthanasia.
_EXTRACTS FROM THE FINAL PLEA FOR THE DEFENDANT
BRACK_[108]
* * * * *
The defendants in this trial, who are doctors, were accused in General
Taylor’s opening speech of having committed atrocities under the guise
of medical science. The defendant Brack is not one of these doctors.
Brack would probably not even have appeared before you as a war criminal
had his superior Bouhler been still alive. Brack worked as an expert in
the Fuehrer’s Chancellery and in his field of work had nothing to do
with medical problems. Nor is Brack accused by the prosecution of having
participated in medical experiments.
However, Brack is accused of participation in the genocide policy of the
Third Reich insofar as he participated in the Euthanasia Program and the
sterilization experiments, and was conscious of their destructive
purpose.
In the judgment of the IMT the word “euthanasia” or “Euthanasia Program”
is not used at all. It only mentions measures that were taken for the
purpose of killing all the old, mentally ill, and all those who had
incurable diseases, in special institutions; this included German
nationals and foreign workers who were unable to work. In the separate
judgment of the defendant Frick,[109] too, only these measures are
mentioned.
Any connection, or even the possibility of such a connection between
these measures and persecution of the Jews, dealt with in a separate
chapter, in particular with the plans drawn up in the summer of 1941 for
a “final solution” of the Jewish question in Europe, was never
established by the IMT nor even hinted at.
Until 1939 the word “euthanasia” was unknown to Brack as well as to
large circles of the German population. That this word originally meant
the “art” of dying, or to meet death with serene calm, had remained the
secret of those scientists who were interested in the Greek language.
During the course of centuries the meaning of this word changed. It
first became the expression for the attempt of the
physician—originating in human compassion, developed by medical
science—to alleviate the end of a dying person by soothing his pain.
But then the meaning of the word, and with it the concept of euthanasia,
was expanded, and towards the end of the 19th century it meant
assistance in dying through an abbreviation of life if the life of the
suffering person had lost its value in view of immediate and painful
death, or as a result of an incurable disease.
It is a fact that this kind of euthanasia has been applied throughout
the world since time began and can be traced back to the Twelve Tables
of Ancient Rome and to the epoch of state socialism in antiquity.
The assertion of the prosecution that euthanasia was the product of
National Socialism and its racial theories can be indisputably refuted
by history.
Even if the prosecution is of a different opinion, the Tribunal cannot
overlook the fact that the testimony of Karl Brandt, Brack,
Pfannmueller, Hederich, Schultze, Grabe, Gertrud Kallmeyer, and Walter
Eugen Schmidt, all stated independently that the measures started
according to Hitler’s will in the autumn of 1939 only applied to
incurable, mentally ill persons, and were suspended in 1941. For these
measures, the participants used the word and the concept of “euthanasia”
in the meaning of the final medical assistance, whether justly or
injustly, will be discussed later.
It is not uninteresting to note that the word “Euthanasia Program”
appears for the first time in the Brack affidavit (_NO-426, Pros. Ex.
160_), which was drawn up by the prosecution after several
interrogations; Brack at that time was in a state of physical and mental
exhaustion and, therefore, not in a position to realize clearly what he
said.
The defense, in agreement with the prosecution, refrained from
presenting an expert medical opinion, but did not, as the prosecution
now asserts, refuse to present it.
I regret very deeply that the prosecution, when using the word
“Euthanasia Program” coined by them, characterizes without sufficient
proof the euthanasia applied in 1939-1941 for the incurably sick as the
conscious and deliberate precursor of the different actions of
annihilation which mark the milestones of the mental and moral ruins
left to the German people by men who had become insane.
If the prosecution had been sure of their assumption, they would not
have had to submit those extremely doubtful documents with which they
tried to prove in cross-examination that the defendant Brack
participated in planning the mass extermination of the Jews.
* * * * *
How, in the face of such insufficient evidence which is opposed by
numerous cases of intervention for Jews in that period of time—I only
recall the cases Warburg and Georgii—and in the face of Brack’s sworn
statements about his attitude towards Jewry, can the prosecution assert
that Brack participated in planning the extermination of the Jews? In
this way, the prosecution closed the circle incriminating Brack, which
they drew round the euthanasia of incurable mental patients, the Action
14 f 13, and the final measures to exterminate the Jews.
I wish to stress again that everything that happened after the stop in
August 1941 in the way of abuse by the euthanasia institutions had
nothing to do with the euthanasia of the incurably insane which was
supported by Brack. An opposing view would only be suitable to make a
historical record which is not supported by the weight of the judgment
of the International Military Tribunal, but merely corresponds to a
conjecture which in the decisive points themselves is void of every
substantiated basis.
* * * * *
d. Evidence
_Prosecution Documents_
Pros. Ex.
Doc. No. No. Description of Document Page
NO-426 160 Extract from the affidavit of 842
defendant Brack, 14 October 1946,
describing administrative details
and procedure of the Euthanasia
Program.
615-PS 246 Letter from Dr. Hilfrich, Bishop of 845
Limburg, to the Reich Minister of
Justice, 13 August 1941,
protesting against the killing of
mentally ill people.
NO-429 281 Extract from the affidavit of 847
defendant Hoven, 24 October 1946,
concerning the transfer of
concentration camp inmates to
euthanasia stations for
extermination.
630-PS 330 Letter from Hitler to Karl Brandt 848
and Bouhler, 1 September 1939,
charging them with the execution
of euthanasia.
NO-1135 334 Confirmation, 30 August 1940, of the 848
transfer of mental patients with
list of transferred patients
attached.
1696-PS 357 Letter from Dr. Conti to the Mental 849
Hospital in Kaufbeuren, 16
November 1939, requesting that
questionnaires (attached) be
filled out for individual
patients; letter from the General
Sick Transport Company to the
Mental Hospital in Kaufbeuren, 12
May 1941, stating that the company
would remove mental patients;
report from the Provincial
Association for Social Welfare in
Swabia, 6 May 1941, that all
transferred patients had died;
letter from Gaum, 24 November
1942, to Dr. Leinisch stating that
epileptics would be made available
for research.
3896-PS 372 Extract from the affidavit of Dr. 853
Ludwig Sprauer, 23 April 1946,
concerning the organization of the
Euthanasia Program.
NO-520 374 Letter from the chief of the 854
institution for feeble-minded in
Stetten to Dr. Frank, 6 September
1940, requesting that euthanasia
be carried out only after legal
basis was created.
NO-660 377 Note by Sellmer, 6 December 1940, 855
describing the method of selection
for euthanasia.
NO-018 404 Letter from Himmler to Brack, 19 856
December 1940, requesting that
Euthanasia Station Grafeneck be
discontinued and that motion
pictures be shown to dispel
rumors.
NO-842 405 Letter from Brack to Dr. 857
Schlegelberger, 18 April 1941,
forwarding forms for euthanasia
and suggesting that death
notifications should not follow a
stereotyped form.
NO-158 410 Letter from Hirche, administrator of 858
the Mental Institution Bernburg,
to camp commandant of the
Gross-Rosen concentration camp, 19
March 1942, with list of inmates
transferred from the concentration
camp to Bernburg.
NO-907 412 Extract from letter from Dr. Fritz 861
Mennecke to his wife, 25 November
1941, concerning his activities as
physician selecting inmates of
concentration camp Buchenwald for
euthanasia.
NO-1007 413 Circular from Gluecks to 862
concentration camp commandants, 27
April 1943, stating that in the
future only insane prisoners
should be used for Action “14 f
13” (euthanasia).
NO-891 414 Directive of the Reich Minister of 863
the Interior, 6 September 1944,
ordering euthanasia extended to
insane Eastern workers.
1553-PS 428 Extract from the field interrogation 865
of Kurt Gerstein, 26 April 1945,
describing the mass gassing of
Jews and other “undesirables.”
NO-365 507 Unsigned draft letter from Dr. 870
Wetzel to Rosenberg, 25 October
1941, dealing with Brack’s
collaboration in the construction
of gas chambers for the
extermination of Jews.
_Defense Documents_
Doc. No. Def. Ex. No. Description of Documents
Karl Brandt 18 Karl Brandt Ex. Extracts from the affidavit of Dr. 871
15 Werner Kirchert, 29 January 1947,
stating that Karl Brandt was not
involved in the Euthanasia
Program.
Karl Brandt 19 Karl Brandt Ex. Affidavit of Alfred Rueggeberg, 23 872
16 January 1947, concerning radio
discussions on euthanasia.
Karl Brandt 23 Karl Brandt Ex. Affidavit of Eduard Woermann, 18 873
19 January 1947, concerning
discussion of Karl Brandt and
Pastor Bodelschwingh on
euthanasia.
Pokorny 19 Pokorny Ex. 27 Affidavit of Dr. Helmuth Weese, 19 874
March 1947, concerning use of
caladium seguinum for
sterilization.
_Testimony_
Page
Extracts from the testimony of prosecution witness Dr. Mennecke 875
Extracts from the testimony of defendant Brack 876
Extract from the testimony of prosecution witness Walter E. Schmidt 890
Extracts from the testimony of defendant Karl Brandt 892
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-426
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 160
EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT BRACK, 14 OCTOBER 1946,
DESCRIBING ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS AND PROCEDURE OF THE EUTHANASIA
PROGRAM
* * * * *
_The Euthanasia Program_
4. The Euthanasia Program was initiated in the summer of 1939. Hitler
issued a secret order to Professor Dr. Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner
for Medical and Health Matters, and at that time personal physician to
the Fuehrer, and to Philipp Bouhler, charging them with responsibility
for the killing of human beings who were unable to live, that is, the
according of a mercy death to incurably insane persons. Prior to the
issuance of this secret order, Bouhler had a conference with Dr. Brandt
and Dr. Leonardo Conti, the Reich Chief for Public Health and State
Secretary in the Ministry of Interior. On the basis of this order of
Hitler, Bouhler and Brandt were to select doctors to carry out this
program. Inasmuch as the insane asylums and other institutions were
functions of the Ministry of Interior, Dr. Herbert Linden became the
representative of the Ministry of Interior. Dr. Karl Brandt and Philipp
Bouhler appointed Professor Dr. Heyde and Professor Dr. Nietsche along
with several other medical men to aid in the execution of this
Euthanasia Program.
5. Professor Dr. Karl Brandt was in charge of the medical section of the
Euthanasia Program. In this capacity, as shown in the chart I have
drawn, dated 12 September 1946, Dr. Karl Brandt appointed as his
deputies Professor Heyde and Professor Nietsche. In charge of the
administrative office under Brandt was first Herr Bohne and later Herr
Allers. Three different names were used by Brandt’s section in order to
disguise the activities of the organization. The names of the
organization are as follows:
Reich Association—Mental Institutions.
Charitable Foundation for Institutional Care.
General Patient Transport Company.
6. In the early stages of this program, Dr. Karl Brandt visited Philipp
Bouhler and discussed with him many details of this program. As a matter
of fact, after such meetings between Brandt and Bouhler, I received many
orders, more often from Bouhler than from Brandt directly.
7. In my capacity as Chief of Office II of Bouhler’s Chancellery, I was
ordered to carry out the administrative details of the Euthanasia
Program. My deputy was Werner Blankenburg, who eventually became my
successor, that is, in the beginning of 1942 when I joined the Waffen
SS. Von Hegener, Reinh, Vorberg, and Dr. Hevelmann were members of my
staff.
8. In the Ministry of the Interior, Dr. Linden was in charge of the
Euthanasia Program and his deputy was Ministerialrat Franke. The
Department for Public Health in the Ministry of the Interior had
authority over all insane asylums of the Reich, and in this position, my
department as well as the office of Dr. Brandt maintained close liaison
in order to operate this Euthanasia Program efficiently.
_The Procedure_
9. By order of Dr. Linden, the directors of all insane asylums in the
Reich had to complete questionnaires for each patient in their
institutions. These questionnaires were drafted by Bouhler, Heyde,
Nietsche, and others in several of their many conferences. The
questionnaires were then forwarded to the Ministry of the Interior to be
distributed to the various insane asylums and similar institutions.
Theoretically, Dr. Linden’s office had the questionnaires returned and
then forwarded them to the administrative section of the office of Dr.
Brandt. The program was so arranged that photostats of each
questionnaire were to be sent to four experts consisting of about 10 to
15 doctors. I do not remember the names of all the members of this
panel, but Dr. Pfannmueller, Dr. Schumann, Dr. Faltlhauser, and Dr.
Rennaux are fresh in my memory in this connection. Each of these experts
indicated by making a certain comment on the questionnaire whether or
not the patient could be transferred to an observation institution and
eventually killed. The questionnaire was then forwarded to a senior
expert. According to the regulation, the senior expert was only entitled
to order the transfer of the patient when all four experts voted for the
transfer. This senior expert also marked the questionnaire and then
submitted it to Dr. Linden who ordered the insane asylum to transfer the
patient to one of the observation institutions. Offhand I can remember,
among others, the names of the following observation institutions:
Eglfing-Haar, Kempten, Jena, Buch, Arnsberg.
10. At these institutions the patients were under the observation of the
doctor in charge for a period of 1 to 3 months. The physician had the
right to exempt the patient from the program if he decided that the
patient was not incurable. If he agreed with the opinion of the senior
expert, the patient was transferred to a so-called Euthanasia
Institution. I can recall the names of the Euthanasia Institutions—
Grafeneck—under Dr. Schuman.
Brandenburg—under Dr. Hennecke.
Hartheim—under Dr. Rennaux.
Sonnenstein—under Dr. Schmalenbach.
Hadamar—(I do not remember under whose leadership).
Bernburg—under Dr. Behnke or Dr. Becker.
In these institutions the patient was killed by means of gas by the
doctor in charge. To the best of my knowledge, about fifty to sixty
thousand persons were killed in this way from autumn 1939 to the summer
of 1941.
11. The order issued by the Fuehrer to Brandt and Bouhler was secret and
never published. The Euthanasia Program itself was kept as secret as
possible, and for this reason, relatives of persons killed in the course
of the program were never told the real cause of death. The death
certificates issued to the relatives carried fictitious causes of death
such as heart failure. All persons subjected to the Euthanasia Program
did not have an opportunity to decide whether they wanted a mercy death,
nor were their relatives contacted for approval or disapproval. The
decision was purely within the discretion of the doctors. The program
was not restricted to those cases in which the person was “in extremis”.
12. Hitler’s ultimate reason for the establishment of the Euthanasia
Program in Germany was to eliminate those people confined to insane
asylums and similar institutions who could no longer be of any use to
the Reich. They were considered useless objects and Hitler felt that by
exterminating these so-called useless eaters, it would be possible to
relieve more doctors, male and female nurses, and other personnel,
hospital beds and other facilities for the armed forces.
_Reich Committee for Research on Hereditary Diseases and Constitutional
Susceptibility to Severe Diseases_
13. This committee, which was also a function of the Euthanasia Program,
was an organization for the killing of children who were born mentally
deficient or physically deformed. All physicians assisting at births,
midwives, and maternity hospitals were ordered by the Ministry of
Interior to report such cases to the office of Dr. Linden in the
Ministry of Interior. Experts in the medical section of Dr. Brandt’s
office were then ordered to give their opinion in each case. As a matter
of fact, the complete file on each case was sent to the offices of
Bouhler and Dr. Brandt in order to obtain their opinions and to decide
the fate of each child involved. In many cases these children were to be
operated upon in such a manner that the result was either complete
recovery or death. Death resulted in a majority of these cases. The
program was inaugurated in the summer of 1939. Bouhler told me that Dr.
Linden had orders to obtain the consent of the parents of each child
concerned. I do not know how long this program continued, since I joined
the Waffen SS in 1942.
_The Connection between the Euthanasia Program and SS Brigadefuehrer
Globocnik_
14. In 1941 I received an oral order to discontinue the Euthanasia
Program. I received this order either from Bouhler or from Dr. Brandt.
In order to preserve the personnel relieved of these duties and to have
the opportunity of starting a new Euthanasia Program after the war,
Bouhler requested, I think after a conference with Himmler, that I send
this personnel to Lublin and put it at the disposal of SS Brigadefuehrer
Globocnik. I then had the impression that these people were to be used
in the extensive Jewish labor camps run by Globocnik. Later, however, at
the end of 1942 or the beginning of 1943, I found out that they were
used to assist in the mass extermination of the Jews, which was then
already common knowledge in higher Party circles.
15. Among the doctors who assisted in the Jewish extermination program
were Eberle and Schumann; Schumann performed medical experiments on
prisoners in Auschwitz. It would have been impossible for these men to
participate in such things without the personal knowledge and consent of
Karl Brandt. The order to send these men to the East could have been
given only by Himmler to Brandt, possibly through Bouhler.
* * * * *
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT 615-PS
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 246
LETTER FROM DR. HILFRICH, BISHOP OF LIMBURG, TO THE REICH MINISTER OF
JUSTICE, 13 AUGUST 1941, PROTESTING AGAINST THE KILLING OF MENTALLY ILL
PEOPLE
The Bishop of Limburg
Limburg/Lahm, 13 August 1941
To the Reich Minister of Justice
Berlin
Regarding the report submitted on July 16 (_sub. IV, pp. 6-7_) by the
Chairman of the Fulda Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Dr. Bertram, I
consider it my duty to present the following as a concrete illustration
of destruction of so-called “useless life”.
About 8 kilometers from Limburg in the little town of Hadamar, on a hill
overlooking the town, there is an institution which had formerly served
various purposes and of late had been used as a nursing home. This
institution was renovated and furnished as a place in which, by
concensus of opinion, the above-mentioned euthanasia has been
systematically practiced for months—approximately since February 1941.
The fact is, of course, known beyond the administrative district of
Wiesbaden because death certificates from the Hadamar-Moenchberg
Registry are sent to the home communities. (Moenchberg is the name of
this institution because it was a Franciscan monastery prior to its
secularization in 1803.)
Several times a week busses arrive in Hadamar with a considerable number
of such victims. School children of the vicinity know this vehicle and
say: “There comes the murder-box again.” After the arrival of the
vehicle, the citizens of Hadamar watch the smoke rise out of the chimney
and are tortured with the ever-present thought of depending on the
direction of the wind.
The effect of the principles at work here are that children call each
other names and say, “You’re crazy; you’ll be sent to the baking oven in
Hadamar.” Those who do not want to marry, or find no opportunity, say,
“Marry, never! Bring children into the world so they can be put into the
bottling machine!” You hear old folks say, “Don’t send me to a state
hospital! When the feeble-minded have been finished off, the next
useless eaters whose turn will come are the old people.”
All God-fearing men consider this destruction of helpless beings a crass
injustice. And if anybody says that Germany cannot win the war, if there
is yet a just God, these expressions are not the result of a lack of
love for the Fatherland but of a deep concern for our people. The
population cannot grasp the fact that systematic actions are carried out
which in accordance with paragraph 211 of the German Penal Code are
punishable with death. High authority as a moral concept has suffered a
severe shock as a result of these happenings. The official notice that
N. N. died of a contagious disease and, therefore, his body had to be
burned, no longer finds credence, and official notices of this kind
which are no longer believed have further undermined the ethical value
of the concept of authority.
Officials of the Secret State Police, it is said, are trying to suppress
discussion of the Hadamar occurrences by means of severe threats. In the
interest of public peace, this may be well intended. But the knowledge,
and the conviction, and the indignation of the population, cannot be
changed by it; the conviction will be increased with the bitter
realization that discussion is prohibited by threats, but that the
actions themselves are not prosecuted under penal law.
_Facta loquuntur._
I beg you most humbly, Herr Reich Minister, in the sense of the report
of the Episcopate of 16 July of this year, to prevent further
transgressions of the Fifth Commandment of God.
[Signed] DR. HILFRICH
I am submitting copies of this letter to the Reich Minister of the
Interior and to the Reich Minister for Church Affairs.
[Initialed by the above]
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-429
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 281
EXTRACT FROM THE AFFIDAVIT OF DEFENDANT HOVEN, 24 OCTOBER 1946,
CONCERNING THE TRANSFER OF CONCENTRATION CAMP INMATES TO EUTHANASIA
STATIONS FOR EXTERMINATION