(See “Trial of the Major War Criminals,” Vol. 1, p. 257.)
In weighing the punishment, if any, which should be meted out to the defendant for his guilt by reason of the charge contained in count four of the indictment, this Tribunal will give such consideration to the recommendations of the International Military Tribunal as may under the premises seem meet and proper.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds the defendant Helmut Poppendick not guilty under counts two and three of the indictment, and finds and adjudges the defendant Helmut Poppendick guilty as charged in the fourth count of the indictment.
SIEVERS
The defendant Sievers is charged under counts two and three of the indictment with special responsibility for, and participation in, High-Altitude, Freezing, Malaria, Lost Gas, Sea-Water, Epidemic Jaundice, and Typhus Experiments, and with extermination of Jews to complete a skeleton collection. Under count four of the indictment, he is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS.
The prosecution has abandoned the charge of participation in the Epidemic Jaundice experiments, and hence, this charge will not be considered further.
Sievers is one of the three defendants who are not physicians. He joined the NSDAP in 1929 and renewed his membership in the Nazi Party in 1933. He joined the SS at the end of 1935 on the suggestion of Himmler. In this organization he attained the rank of a Standartenfuehrer (colonel).
From 1 July 1935 until the war ended, Sievers was a member of Himmler’s personal staff and Reich Business Manager of the Ahnenerbe Society. According to a statute of 1 January 1939, the purpose of the Ahnenerbe was to support scientific research concerning the culture and heritage of the Nordic race. The Board of Directors was composed of Himmler as president, Dr. Wuest as curator, and Sievers as the business manager. Sievers was responsible for the business organization administration and the budget of the Ahnenerbe. The place of business was Berlin. Sievers supported and participated in the medical experiments which are the subject of the indictment, primarily through the Institute of Military Scientific Research which was established by order of Himmler dated 7 July 1942 and was administratively attached to the Ahnenerbe.
On 1 January 1942 Himmler ordered the establishment of an entomological institute; in March 1942 the Institute Dr. Rascher in Dachau; and in the first month of the year 1942, the Institute Dr. Hirt, at Strasbourg. These subsequently became part of the Institute for Military Scientific Research.