Q. In these vaccinations on members of the institute and students, you tested the tolerability of the vaccine; the immunizing effect of the vaccine, if I understood you correctly, could not be proved by these experiments?
A. Yes. The immunizing effect can also be determined. One merely needs to make the Weil-Felix reaction, which has been mentioned in this trial. That is, to ascertain whether the blood serum already contains protective bodies against the typhus germ. This test (I mention this because mistakes have been made here) is used not only to diagnose the disease, but also, since it is a definite immunity reaction, to find the protective bodies after vaccination.
Q. We will come back to that later, Witness. Now when did you achieve your aim, when did you have a vaccine of the type described, and when did you develop it far enough to be used?
A. In the spring of 1943.
Q. And when was this vaccine first actually used on a large scale, or when was it first used at all?
A. The first vaccinations were carried out in May 1943 in the Schirmeck internment camp, which belonged to the Natzweiler concentration camp. The vaccinations were performed on persons in special danger.
Q. This morning, Witness, you mentioned the request of a camp doctor of the Natzweiler concentration camp, and Schirmeck was no doubt under him; may I ask whether these Schirmeck vaccinations go back to the request of the camp physician?
A. I do not quite understand your question.
Q. Please tell me whether the vaccinations performed in Schirmeck originated with the request of the camp physician?
A. Yes. Schirmeck and Natzweiler belong together. My vaccinations there were in connection with all the work of the camp.