The letter is signed, “Mentzel, Ministerial Director.”
Thus it was because the SS was in a position to supply material for the program of experiments that it took the lead in that field of endeavor.
THE PRESIDENT: Does the letter on Page 4 mean that the Defendant Göring was President of the Reich Research Department?
MAJOR FARR: Page 4 of the translation? That I understand to be the case. The point of the letter being that Göring had laid down the rule that during the war there was to be no duplication of experimental facilities. Therefore, the Reich Research Department to whom the Minister of Finance had turned for an opinion, asked the Reich Surgeon, “Why do you want to carry out this program of experiments?”
THE PRESIDENT: I was only asking whether the President of the Reich Research Department was the Defendant Göring.
MAJOR FARR: That is what is stated in the letter. I understand that to be the case.
THE PRESIDENT: Then what do the words, “President of the Reich Research Department” on Page 1 mean? Does that mean that the letter went to the Defendant Göring?
MAJOR FARR: No. The letterhead bears the notation “President of the Reich Research Department,” and the letter proceeds from an office of that department, Head of the Executive Council. The letter was addressed to the Reich Minister of Finance.
THE PRESIDENT: I see.
MAJOR FARR: I have concluded the concentration camp phase.