“The demands and extent of this total war, as well as the relationship between needs and availability of personnel and material, require measures, also in military and medical fields, which will serve the unification and unified leadership. It is not a question of ‘marching separately and battling together’, but marching and battling must be done in unison from the beginning in all fields.
“As a result, with respect to the military sector, the Wehrmacht Medical Service and with it the Chief of the Medical Services of the Wehrmacht came into being. Not only in matters of personnel and material—even as far as this is possible in view of special fields and special tasks which must be considered—but also with a view to medical scientific education and research, our path in the Wehrmacht Medical Service must and will be a unified one. Accordingly, the group of participants in this Second Work Conference East, which I have now opened, is differently composed from the First Work Conference in May of this year. Then it was a conference of the army; today the three branches of the Wehrmacht, the Waffen SS and Police, the Labor Service and the Organization Todt are participating and unified.
“You will surely permit that I greet you with a general welcome and with the sincere wish that our common work may be blessed with the hoped for joint success.
“I would, however, like to extend a special greeting to the Reich Chief of Health Services, Under Secretary Conti, who holds the central leadership of medical services in the civilian sector. I see in his presence not only an interest in our work themes, but the expression of his connection with the Wehrmacht Medical Service and his understanding of the special importance of the Wehrmacht in the field as well as at home. I need not emphasize that we are as one in the recognition of the necessity to assure and ease the mind of the soldier, that he need not worry about the physical well-being of the homeland as far as this is within the realm of possibility in wartime.” (NO-922, Pros. Ex. 435.)
Again, at the Fourth Meeting of Consulting Physicians in May 1944 the defendant Karl Brandt stressed the importance of Handloser’s position, saying—
“Generaloberstabsarzt Handloser, you, a soldier and a physician at the same time, are responsible for the use and the performance of our medical officers.
“I believe, and this probably is the sole expectation of all concerned, that this meeting which today starts in Hohenlychen will be held for the benefit of our soldiers. The achievements to date of your physicians, Herr Generaloberstabsarzt, confirm this unequivocally, and their readiness to do their share makes all of us proud and—I may also say—confident.
“It is good simply to call these things by their names and to look at them as they are. This meeting is the visible expression of it—it is, it shall be, and it must be so in every respect; the consulting physicians are gathered around their medical chief. When I look at these ranks, you Generaloberstabsarzt Handloser, are to be envied; medical experts, with the best and most highly trained special knowledge, are at your disposal for care of the soldiers. In reciprocal action between yourself and your medical officers, the problem of our medical knowledge and capacity are kept alive.” (NO-924, Pros. Ex. 437.)