1. Though they held fundamentally different views of these measures, he
had met a willingness on Professor Dr. Brandt’s part to hear the
objections.
2. Professor Dr. Brandt had talked about “completely extinguished life”,
while other exponents of these measures based them upon the formula
“incurable” or “hopeless”.
3. Professor Dr. Brandt was aware of the fallibility of these measures,
and he was prompted to act, not by brutality, but by a certain idealism
which was inherent in his conception of life.
I give my permission for this statement to be presented as evidence to
the International Military Tribunal I in the Palace of Justice in
Nuernberg.
[Signed] EDUARD WOERMANN
TRANSLATION OF POKORNY DOCUMENT 19
POKORNY DEFENSE EXHIBIT 27
AFFIDAVIT OF DR. HELMUTH WEESE, 19 MARCH 1947, CONCERNING USE OF
CALADIUM SEGUINUM FOR STERILIZATION
I, the undersigned, Professor Dr. Helmuth Weese, resident of
Wuppertal-Elberfeld, have first been duly warned that I shall be subject
to punishment if I give a false affidavit. I declare under oath that my
statement is true and was made to be introduced as evidence before the
Military Tribunal I in the Palace of Justice of Nuernberg, Germany.
When the question is put to me whether it is to be assumed that a
doctor, after studying the monograph by G. Madaus and Fr. E. Koch:
“Studies of Animal Experiments,” pertaining to the question of
sterilization by medication (by means of caladium seguinum
(dieffenbachia seguina)), Journal for the Entire Experimental Medicine,
vol. 109, p. 68, 1941, could become convinced that human beings can be
sterilized with caladium seguinum, I have the following to say about it:
It is pointed out in the investigation referred to above that the
authors succeeded in sterilizing rats by feeding them with extract of
caladium seguinum. This is proved by mating experiments as well as by
anatomical investigations. In order to effect this sterilization of both
female and male rats, daily doses of ½ cc. for each rat weighing from
150-180 grams had to be administered 30-50 times and 40-90 times daily,
respectively, without being certain of successful results. To apply this
to a man weighing 70 kilograms, it would mean administering 200 grams of
extract daily.
The investigations show abundantly that a considerable number of animals
treated perished from the poisonous effects of the caladium extract. The
extract therefore has no specific effect on the reproductive system. It
is still completely unknown whether these harmful secondary effects are
due to an element in the extract or some kind of accompanying
ingredients.
Such types of unspecific injuries of the reproductive system are known
to be caused in man in a similar manner also by other agents, for
example, by the excessive misuse of nicotine, morphine, and the like, in
which case, however, they too appear only along with most severe
impairment of other functions.
First of all every doctor faces the question as to whether these
experiments on rats are at all applicable to men. Madaus and Koch reject
this from the start, because for them it is merely a question of
determining whether the popular medical practice of making men impotent
by administering sizable quantities of caladium extract can be
corroborated by animal experiments.
The prerequisite for administering caladium extract to human beings in
our countries would be the planting in Central Europe of caladium
seguinum, the habitat of which is in tropical South America. This seems
extremely improbable even to an only moderately experienced natural
scientist. Even if the planting were successful, this would not
necessarily mean that it produces, in our moderate zone, the same
effective agents in a sufficient quantity.
Because of the unspecific effect of the caladium extract, its virulently
poisonous quality, the doubt as to whether it can be planted and used in
our moderate zone, I consider it extremely improbable that even a doctor
of only average education will attempt with conviction the experiment of
sterilizing human beings with caladium extract on the basis of the work
of Madaus and Koch. Convincing papers for the problem referred to other
than the work of Madaus and Koch are not known to me.