Under the Anglo-Saxon system of jurisprudence every defendant in a criminal case is presumed to be innocent of an offense charged until the prosecution, by competent, credible proof, has shown his guilt to the exclusion of every reasonable doubt. And this presumption abides with a defendant through each stage of his trial until such degree of proof has been adduced. A “reasonable doubt” as the name implies is one conformable to reason—a doubt which a reasonable man would entertain. Stated differently, it is that state of a case which, after a full and complete comparison and consideration of all the evidence, would leave an unbiased, unprejudiced, reflective person, charged with the responsibility for decision, in the state of mind that he could not say that he felt an abiding conviction amounting to a moral certainty of the truth of the charge.
If any of the defendants are to be found guilty under counts two or three of the indictment it must be because the evidence has shown beyond a reasonable doubt that such defendant, without regard to nationality or the capacity in which he acted, participated as a principal in, accessory to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, or was connected with plans or enterprises involving the commission of at least some of the medical experiments and other atrocities which are the subject matter of these counts. Under no other circumstances may he be convicted.
Before examining the evidence to which we must look in order to determine individual culpability, a brief statement concerning some of the official agencies of the German Government and Nazi Party which will be referred to in this judgment seems desirable.
THE MEDICAL SERVICE IN GERMANY
Adolf Hitler was the head of the Nazi Party, the German Government, and the German Armed Forces. His title as Chief of the Government was “Reich Chancellor”. As Supreme Leader of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, commonly called the NSDAP or Nazi Party, his title was “Fuehrer”. As head of Germany’s armed military might he was “Supreme Commander in Chief of the German Armed Forces [Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces], or Wehrmacht”.
The staff through which Hitler controlled the German Armed Forces was known as the “Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht” (OKW). The chief of this staff was Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel.
Under the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht were the Supreme [High] Commands of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. The Supreme [High] Command of the Navy (OKM) was headed by Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz. The Supreme [High] Command of the Army (OKH) was headed by Field Marshal Walter von Brauchitsch until December 1941, and thereafter by Hitler himself. The Supreme [High] Command of the Air Force (OKL) was headed by Reich Marshal Hermann Goering.
Each of the three branches of the Wehrmacht maintained its own medical service.
Army Medical Service. The defendant Handloser was the head of the Army Medical Service from 1 January 1941 to 1 September 1944. While in this position he served in two capacities, namely; as Army Medical Inspector and as Army [Heeres] Physician. These positions required the maintenance of two departments, each separate from the other. At one time or another there were subordinated to Handloser in these official capacities the following officers, among others: Generalarzt Professor Schreiber and Professor Rostock; Oberstabsaerzte Drs. Scholz, Eyer, Bernhard Schmidt and Craemer; Oberstabsaerzte Professor Gutzeit and Professor Wirth; Stabsarzt Professor Kliewe and Professor Killian, and Stabsarzt Dr. Dohmen. Under his supervision in either or both of his official capacities were the Military Medical Academy, the Typhus and Virus Institute of the OKH at Cracow [Krakow] and Lemberg [Lvov], and the Medical School for Mountain Troops at St. Johann.
Luftwaffe Medical Service. From the beginning of the war until 1 January 1944 Hippke was Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. On that date the defendant Schroeder succeeded Hippke and remained in that position until the end of the war.