a. Introduction
Both by testimony and argument the defense claimed that the medical experiments had generally been useful in furthering medical science, that in some cases the experiments alleged as criminal had increased the speed of the progress of medical science, and that in some cases there was no other alternative for the development of medical science except to conduct experiments on human beings. The prosecution, in addition to arguing that voluntary participation by the subject of experimentation was a prerequisite of legal experiments, argued that the experiments turned out to be entirely useless for medical science and human progress, and that in some cases it was doubtful if considerations of medical science played any controlling role in the decision to conduct the experiments.
Selections from the defense argumentation have been made from the final pleas for the defendants Becker-Freyseng and Beiglboeck. Extracts from these final pleas appear below on pages 62 to 64. A part of the opening statement of the prosecution (vol. I, p. 37 ff.) was devoted to this topic. Defense evidence on the usefulness of the experiments has been selected from the direct examination of the defendants Mrugowsky and Rose. Extracts from their testimony appear below on pages 66 to 70.
b. Selections from the Argumentation of the Defense
EXTRACT FROM THE FINAL PLEA FOR
DEFENDANT BECKER-FREYSENG[[16]]
At the moment I consider one factor above all to be material. It is the following question: Was everything done, when the sea-water experiments were being planned, to furnish all data required for establishing the necessity of the experiments? And I think I can definitely answer this question in the affirmative.
The defense has proved the high sense of responsibility applied to the inquiry on the necessity of the sea-water experiments. Scientists of international reputation, like Professor Dr. Eppinger and Professor Heubner, were consulted, and they definitely answered this question in the affirmative. More cannot be expected or demanded in the way of a sense of responsibility. In my opinion, the mere fact that these scientists were asked their opinion on the issue in question shows that everything was done on the part of the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe and his office to reach the right decision in this question.
With regard to the purely objective judgment of the sea-water experiments and their necessity, I should like to refer to the statements made in my closing brief for Dr. Becker-Freyseng.
At this point, I should, however, like to add the following: The prosecution has tried to make out that it was the purpose of these sea-water experiments to decide whether Berkatit removes the salt from sea water. This contention of the prosecution has in no way been proved. I must stress here again, most emphatically, that this was never the purpose of the sea-water experiments.
All people concerned realized that Berkatit does not remove the salt from sea water. The question which was to be clarified and which necessitated the experiments was rather the following: Under the action of the vitamins contained in Berkatit, will the kidneys be capable of producing a urine with a higher sodium chloride concentration than is normally the case? Dr. Eppinger answered this question neither in the affirmative nor in the negative; he stated that this question could be decided only by experiment.
In addition there was another question to be decided, as to whether in case of shipwreck it would be more desirable to endure thirst, or whether marooned fliers should be advised to drink small quantities of salt water. In 1942-1944 this question was also raised in the United States and England and there, too, human experiments were carried out. But all these individual questions were only part of the great issue of how shipwrecked persons could be helped to escape the agony and danger of dying from thirst. These issues were the basis for the experiments conducted in 1944. In my opinion it is not admissible to construe arbitrarily another issue today and to contend on the basis of such issue, which never existed, that these experiments were not necessary. These medical issues alone necessitated the experiments. There were other issues too, to which I want to make short reference.
Until 1944 the world lacked an agent to make sea water drinkable. Such an agent was an absolute necessity. Nobody denied even then that Wofatit, developed by the defendant Schaefer, would have been an ideal agent for this purpose. It was, however, equally clear that this agent could only be manufactured by withdrawing the necessary raw material, namely silver, from other war-essential uses.
Furthermore, it was not denied that Berkatit did not require critical raw materials in the same measure. Another circumstance to be considered was that Berkatit could have been produced in existing plants, whereas it would have been necessary to erect new plants for the production of Wofatit. Accordingly, these technical reasons favored the introduction of Berkatit. It can hardly be denied that it was necessary for a medical officer conscious of his responsibilities in war to consider these reasons when reaching a decision. Incidentally, the expert of the prosecution, Professor Ivy, also stated that these reasons were definitely worthy of consideration.
Accordingly it had to be clarified, whether Berkatit could not, after all, be introduced for distribution to persons facing the risk of shipwreck, and the inquiry into this question was all the more necessary as, according to the opinion of Professor Eppinger and Professor Heubner, Berkatit apparently contained vitamins which eliminated the risks incurred by human beings when drinking sea water. Whether the opinion of the experts, Heubner and Eppinger, was right or not, could, at that time as today, only be established by experiment.
Hence if the defendant Dr. Becker-Freyseng, who examined all these factors and applied all precautions possible, became convinced in 1944 that the experiments could not be avoided, and if, from this viewpoint, in his official capacity as a consultant (Referent) he reported to his highest authority at that time, Professor Dr. Schroeder, that he considered the experiments necessary, then, in my opinion, he can in no way be charged under criminal law on that account.
Therefore, in my opinion, it has been proved that Dr. Becker-Freyseng considered these experiments necessary and that he was entitled to consider them necessary. And this question alone can be made the basis for an inquiry into his guilt under criminal law.
With regard to this point, I would like in conclusion to refer to the testimony of Professor Dr. Vollhardt. This world-famous physician, this research scientist, recognized as such in international circles, upon whom, only a few weeks ago, on the occasion of his 75th birthday, the highest German decoration of science was bestowed, namely the Goethe Medal for Art and Science, a ceremony in which nearly all European countries, also America, joined, stated before this high Tribunal, and I quote:
“I regarded it as sign of a sense of responsibility that in view of the increasing number of flying accidents, the sea-emergency question was taken up and these experiments were launched.”
Insofar, I consider it proved that the planning of these experiments was in no way objectionable.
EXTRACT FROM THE FINAL PLEA FOR
DEFENDANT BEIGLBOECK[[17]]
Even medical science on both sides had to assist warfare. I have before me the index of the best known scientific English periodicals from the war period, “The Lancet” and “Nature”. Now, after the war, General T. J. Betts of the United States War Department and Professor W. T. Sinsteat of the British Supply Office declared that the captured German scientific results accomplished during the war were of the greatest use for the economic progress of British and American industry. Even the terrible freezing experiments of Dr. Rascher proved to be of greatest use for America in the war against Japan. (Becker-Freyseng 31, Becker-Freyseng Ex. 18.)
c. Evidence
| Defense Documents | |||
| Doc. No. | Def. Ex. No. | Description of Document | Page |
| Becker-Freyseng | Becker-Freyseng | Extracts from Harper’s | [65] |
| 31 | Ex. 18 | Magazine entitled “Secrets by the Thousand” by C. Lester Walker. | |
| Testimony | |
| Extract from the testimony of defendant Mrugowsky | [66] |
| Extracts from the testimony of defendant Rose | [69] |
BECKER-FREYSENG DEFENSE EXHIBIT 18
EXTRACTS FROM HARPER’S MAGAZINE ENTITLED “SECRETS BY THE THOUSAND” BY C. LESTER WALKER
Someone wrote to Wright Field recently saying he understood this country had got together quite a collection of enemy war secrets, that many were now on public sale, and could he, please, be sent everything on German jet engines. The Air Documents Division of the Army Air Force answered: “Sorry—but that would be fifty tons.”
Moreover, that fifty tons was just a small portion of what is today undoubtedly the biggest collection of captured enemy war secrets ever assembled. If you always thought of war secrets—as who hasn’t—as coming in sixes and sevens, as a few items of information readily handed on to the properly interested authorities, it may interest you to learn that the war secrets in this collection run into the thousands, that the mass of documents is mountainous, and that there has never before been anything quite comparable to it.
One Washington official has called it “the greatest single source of this type of material in the world—the first orderly exploitation of an entire country’s brainpower”.
How the collection came to be goes back, for beginnings, to one day in 1944 when the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff set in motion a colossal search for war secrets in occupied German territory. They created a group of military-civilian teams, termed the Joint Intelligence Objectives Committee, which was to follow the invading armies into Germany and uncover all her military, scientific, and industrial secrets for early use against Japan. These teams worked against time to get the most vital information before it was destroyed, and in getting it performed prodigies of ingenuity and tenacity.
III
In matters of food, medicine, and branches of the military art, the finds of the search teams were no less impressive. And in aeronautics and guided missiles they proved to be downright alarming.
“As for medical secrets in this collection”, one Army surgeon has remarked, “some of them will save American medicine years of research; some of them are revolutionary—like, for instance, the German technique of treatment after prolonged and usually fatal exposure to cold.”
This discovery—revealed to us by Major Alexander’s search already mentioned—reversed everything medical science thought about the subject. In every one of the dread experiments the subjects were most successfully revived, both temporarily and permanently, by immediate immersion in hot water. In two cases of complete standstill of heart and cessation of respiration, a hot bath at 122° brought both subjects back to life. Before our war with Japan ended, this method was adopted as the treatment for use by all American Air-Sea Rescue Services, and it is generally accepted by medicine today.
EXTRACT FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT MRUGOWSKY[[18]]
DIRECT EXAMINATION
Dr. Flemming: I further submit an excerpt from the testimony of Generalarzt Dr. Schreiber which he made on 26 August 1946 before the International Military Tribunal. This can be found in the transcript of the International Military Tribunal for that date. This is Mrugowsky Document 27. I offer it as Mrugowsky Exhibit 45. Answering the question, “What scientific value did the experiments [typhus experiments in Buchenwald] of the specialist Ding have”? Generalarzt Dr. Schreiber answered, “In my opinion they had no scientific value at all because during the war we had already gained much experience and collected a great deal of data in this field. We were thoroughly acquainted with the composition and qualities of our vaccine and no such tests were required any longer. Many of the vaccines examined by Ding were not used any more at all and were rejected.”
Would you define your position to that statement?
Defendant Mrugowsky: I do not know how Schreiber could have expressed that opinion, nor do I know whether he is in possession of full knowledge of the results of this work. I never discussed this question with him and I therefore cannot examine it. This much is clear, however, that Schreiber is speaking of a later period of time, for the vaccines that were no longer produced were not produced because the experiments of Ding had proved their inferiority. The epidemiological examination of the various vaccines during the war only originates from a later period, in particular the years 1943 and 1944. The exploitation of these experiences only originates from the last years of the war and it is, therefore, my opinion that this testimony of Schreiber is incorrect.
Q. I am interrupting you and I shall have Handloser Exhibit 14 shown to you. We are here concerned with an excerpt of a scientific thesis by Geheimrat Otto. Do you know Geheimrat Otto?
A. Yes, I know Geheimrat Otto. He is probably the best typhus expert not only in Germany but in Europe, who has dealt with typhus all his life.
Q. From this excerpt you will see that Geheimrat Otto says, still in 1943:
“While the efficacy of lice vaccines has already been tested on a large scale in Poland, Ethiopia, and China, and the vaccine has proved its value, it is still necessary to gather large-scale practical experiences with lung and vitelline membrane vaccines. In animal experiments they have proved of equal value with the former.”
Would you say something on that?
A. Professor Otto says here that even in the year 1943 the vitelline membrane vaccine and the vaccines from lungs of animals were not sufficiently known. That confirms what I have just testified and that is in answer to Dr. Schreiber’s statement.
Q. The witness Bernhard Schmidt, who was interrogated here, stated that human experiments were superfluous for the purpose of testing vaccines and that the value of the individual typhus vaccines could have been ascertained in an epidemiological way. What is your opinion in that connection?
A. This is my opinion also. It is my opinion that these tests could have been carried out in an epidemiological manner. I represented that point of view before Grawitz and Himmler from the very beginning.
Q. You stated yesterday that to test this matter in an epidemiological way, a large number of persons would have had to be vaccinated and compared with a large number of persons who were not vaccinated. Would such a long experiment have been possible considering the circumstances prevailing during the war?
A. Such a test would have been possible. It was actually introduced by me within the framework of the ministry. It is a matter of course, however, that the results can only be collected at a very late date and can only be exploited at a much later date. In the case of the entire experiment we were concerned with bridging over this space of time.
Q. In carrying out this examination one could have found that one vaccine has only a very small effectiveness, as was actually found out in the case of the Behring vaccine. In that case would you say that the mortality of persons vaccinated with the inferior vaccine would have been much greater than the entire amount of fatalities as they occurred in Buchenwald? You know that the statement regarding the fatality figures fluctuated between 100 and 120.
A. That could be assumed to be the case with certainty. A comparison is the manner in which all tests are carried out in this field. I shall give you a few examples for that. When Emil von Behring in the year 1890 discovered the diphtheria serum, it was at first used by a physician of the Berlin Charité in the case of diphtheria-infected children. He treated about 1,200 children suffering from diphtheria with that serum. He registered a mortality rate in the case of these children, in spite of the treatment, of approximately 22 percent. Just as many children did not receive the serum but were treated in a different manner. In this group the mortality rate was double, approximately 44 percent. These 240 or 250 children who died, and who were in that control group could certainly have been saved if they had been given the blessing of that diphtheria serum. But that was in reality the purpose of that test and one had to take into account that a larger ratio of fatalities would result in the group to be compared and that then the value of the serum would be recognized.
Q. I think that this example will suffice. In that case you are really admitting that an objection against experiments in Buchenwald could not be justified?
A. During the war I did not work on any disease as ardently as on typhus. I treated thousands of patients who fell ill with typhus and examined them. I believe that in the case of such an experience one gains some knowledge of the disease. I often considered that question and I hold the opinion that my objection at the time was perhaps not justified by events. On the other hand, it is my opinion that in the case of every task one has to keep the question in mind whether one is in a position to execute that task. I must admit even today that in spite of the success of the experiments, which cannot be denied, I would act similarly in yet another position and would assume the same attitude as I assumed at that time. Even today I would not be prepared to carry out any such experiments personally or have them carried out upon my responsibility, although success undoubtedly would come about.
EXTRACTS FROM THE TESTIMONY OF DEFENDANT ROSE[[19]]
DIRECT EXAMINATION
Dr. Fritz: What do you know about the reasons for this protest (against experiments) being ignored and the typhus experiments being carried out in spite of it?
Defendant Rose: The Buchenwald experiments (with typhus vaccine) had four main results. First of all, they showed that belief in the protective effect of Weigl vaccine was a mistake, although this belief seemed to be based on long observation. Secondly, they showed that the useful vaccines did not protect against infection, but almost certainly prevented death, under the conditions of the Buchenwald experiments. Thirdly, they showed that the objections of the biological experts to the vitelline membrane vaccines and to the lice vaccines were unjustified, and that vitelline membrane, rabbit lungs, and lice intestines were of equal value. We learned this only through the Buchenwald experiments. This left the way open to mass production of typhus vaccines.
The Buchenwald experiments showed in time that several vaccines were useless. First, the process according to Otto and Wohlrab, the process according to Cox, the process of Rickettsia Prowazeki and Rickettsia murina, that is, vaccine from egg cultures; secondly, the vaccines of the Behring works which were produced according to the Otto process, but with other concentrations; finally the Ipsen vaccines from mouse liver. The vaccines of the Behring works were in actual use at that time in thousands of doses. They always represented a danger to health. Without these experiments the vaccines, which were recognized as useless, would have been produced in large quantities because they all had one thing in common: their technical production was much simpler and cheaper than that of the useful vaccines. In any case, one thing is certain, that the victims of this Buchenwald typhus test did not suffer in vain and did not die in vain. There was only one choice, the sacrifice of human lives, of persons determined for that purpose, or to let things run their course, to endanger the lives of innumerable human beings who would be selected not by the Reich Criminal Police Office but by blind fate.
How many people were sacrificed we cannot figure out today; how many people were saved by these experiments we, of course, cannot prove. The individual who owes his life to these experiments does not know it, and he perhaps is one of the accusers of the doctors who assumed this difficult task.