I, Dr. Ludwig Sprauer, born on 19 October 1884, now living at Konstanz,
Baden, Salmannsweilergasse 2, make the following statement under oath:
I passed my state examination for medicine in Freiburg in 1907, and
since 1919 was active in the civil service. During the following 14
years I was active as Bezirksarzt in Stockach, Oberkirch, Konstanz. I
joined the NSDAP in 1933. From 1934 until 1944 I was the highest medical
officer of Baden and held the title Ministerialrat. My highest superior
was the Reich Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick. As Frick’s
subordinate I traveled several times, perhaps every 2 to 3 months to
Berlin, to take part in discussions, conferences, etc., in the Reich
Ministry of the Interior.
These took place in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, Berlin, Unter
den Linden 72-74; later in the Reich Ministry of the Interior office on
Voss-Strasse. On one such occasion in Berlin, Dr. Linden,
Ministerialdirigent in the Reich Ministry of the Interior, stated that
it was planned to introduce a euthanasia law. For military-political
reasons to create more space, the incurably insane were to be done away
with. The asylums thus vacated were in part asked for by the SS to be
used for national political educational institutions.
A transportation company was founded for the execution of all these
measures. This company worked hand in hand with the so-called Reich
Committee for Research into Hereditary Ailments. This Reich concern was
managed by Frick’s Ministerialdirigent Dr. Linden.
In the course of these measures from 1941 through 1944, thousands of
persons were transferred from Baden’s asylums to places like Hadamar,
Grafeneck, etc., and were killed there. The killings, however, were not
solely confined to the mentally sick. In the course of the same
campaign, steps were taken by order of the Reich Ministry of the
Interior to eliminate particularly old but also young people who were
ill.
The persons killed in the course of this program included not only those
who were mentally sick, but also those who suffered from
arteriosclerosis, tuberculosis, cancer, and other ailments. Most of
those were older people who were inmates of public institutions at the
state’s expense, and who in a respectable society would have been taken
care of from public funds. These people were brought from public asylums
in Baden to Hadamar, Grafeneck, and other asylums and killed there. In
what manner they were killed, I do not know. In this way space was made
available in the institutions for the armed forces and for the National
Socialist educational institutions.
The whole program was camouflaged on the outside and falsified death
certificates were made out.
* * * * *
PARTIAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-520
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 374
LETTER FROM THE CHIEF OF THE INSTITUTION FOR FEEBLE-MINDED IN STETTEN TO
DR. FRANK, 6 SEPTEMBER 1940, REQUESTING THAT EUTHANASIA BE CARRIED OUT
ONLY AFTER LEGAL BASIS WAS CREATED
L. Schlaich, Stetten i. R.
Chief of the Institution
for Feeble-Minded and Epileptics.
Stetten, i. R., 6 September 1940
To the Reich Minister of Justice, Dr. Frank
Berlin
Dear Reich Minister,
The measures at present being taken with mental patients of all kinds
have caused a complete lack of confidence in justice among large groups
of the people. Without the consent of relatives or guardians, such
patients are being transferred to different institutions. After a short
time they are notified that the person concerned has died of some
disease. In view of the abundance of death notices people are convinced
that these sick people are being done away with.
Since from the institution under my direction altogether 150 of the
patients entrusted to me are to be transferred to such an institution
(75 on the 10th and 75 on the 13th of September) I take the privilege of
asking: Is it possible for such a measure to be carried out without a
pertinent law having been promulgated? Is it not the duty of every
citizen to resist under all circumstances an act not justified by law,
even forbidden by law, even if such acts are carried out by state
agencies?
On account of the complete secrecy and camouflage under which the
measures are carried out, not only are the wildest rumors circulating
among the people (for example, that people unable to work on account of
age or injuries received during the World War have also been done away
with or are to be done away with), but it seems as if the selection of
the persons concerned is performed in a wholly arbitrary manner.
If the state really wants to carry out the extermination of these or at
least of some mental patients, shouldn’t a law be promulgated, which can
be justified before the people—a law which would give everyone the
assurance of careful examination as to whether he is due to die or
entitled to live and which would also give the relatives a chance to be
heard, in a similar way, as provided by the law for the Prevention of
Hereditarily Affected Progeny?
With regard to the patients entrusted to the care of our institutions in
the future, I urgently pray that everything possible be done to suspend
the execution of this measure until a clear legal situation has been
established.
Heil Hitler!
[Signed] SCHLAICH
I have forwarded a copy of this letter by the same mail to the chief of
the Reich Chancellery, Reichsminister Dr. Lammers.
TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-660
PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 377
NOTE BY SELLMER, 6 DECEMBER 1940, DESCRIBING THE METHOD OF SELECTION FOR
EUTHANASIA