The evidence, however, has further shown that after having learned of the letter of Reich Physician SS Grawitz of 29 August 1942 (NO-409, Pros. Ex. 249) and with the object of convincing Himmler of the futility of these experiments, the defendant Gebhardt himself performed experiments on patients with these biochemical remedies in his clinic at Hohenlychen, and that he succeeded in convincing Himmler of the inefficacy of these remedies. In this connection I refer to the statements of the defendant Gebhardt himself and to the affidavits of Dr. Jaedicke and Dr. Brunner, which I submitted to the Tribunal.

When examining the legal conclusions which can be drawn from the facts presented above, we may arrive at the following results:

The defendant Gebhardt did not commit any act which had any causative connection with these experiments. He learned about these experiments only after the event, and then he did everything in his power to prevent further experiments of this kind. The prosecution was not able to produce evidence that such experiments had been carried out at all after 3 September 1942. All this proves that in view of the missing causal connection and absence of premeditation there cannot be any question of criminal action on the part of the defendant Gebhardt. It is acknowledged in the criminal law of all civilized nations that knowledge acquired after events is not sufficient to prove the existence of a criminal action.

d. Evidence

Prosecution Documents
Doc. No.Pros. Ex.Description of DocumentPage
No.
NO-409249Report from Grawitz to Himmler, 29 August 1942, concerning experiments with biochemical remedies conducted at the Dachau and Auschwitz concentration camps.[657]
NO-2734473Extracts of letter from Grawitz to Himmler, 7 September 1942, and report on gas gangrene experiments.[660]
Testimony
Extract from the testimony of prosecution witness Heinrich W. Stoehr[664]
Extract from the testimony of defendant Gebhardt[667]

TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENT NO-409

PROSECUTION EXHIBIT 249

REPORT FROM GRAWITZ TO HIMMLER, 29 AUGUST 1942, CONCERNING EXPERIMENTS WITH BIOCHEMICAL REMEDIES CONDUCTED AT THE DACHAU AND AUSCHWITZ CONCENTRATION CAMPS

The Reich Leader SSBerlin W 15, 29 August 1942
Reich Physician SS and PoliceKnesebeckstr. 50/51
Telephone: 924249.924351.924373. [Stamp]
924406Personal Staff
Az.: 738/IV/42Reich Leader SS
G 213
Subject:Biochemical treatment of sepsis, etc., with biochemical remedies.
To the Reich Leader SS H. Himmler
Berlin SW 11 Prinz Albrechtstrasse 8