Under these facts Sievers is specially chargeable with the criminal aspects of these experiments.
FREEZING EXPERIMENTS
Before the high-altitude experiments had actually been completed, freezing experiments were ordered to be performed at Dachau. They were conducted from August 1942 to the early part of 1943 by Holzloehner, Finke and Rascher, all of whom were officers in the Medical Services of the Luftwaffe. Details of the freezing experiments have been given elsewhere in this judgment.
In May 1943 Rascher was transferred to the Waffen SS and then proceeded alone to conduct freezing experiments in Dachau until May 1945. Rascher advised the defendant Rudolf Brandt that Poles and Russians had been used as subjects.
The witness Neff testified that the defendant Sievers visited the experimental station quite frequently during the freezing experiments. He testified further that in September 1942 he received orders to take the hearts and lungs of 5 experimental subjects killed in the experiments to Professor Hirt in Strasbourg for further scientific study; that the travel warrant for the trip was made out by Sievers; and that the Ahnenerbe Society paid the expenses for the transfer of the bodies. One of the 5 experimental subjects killed was a Dutch citizen.
Neff’s testimony is corroborated in large part by the affidavits of the defendants Rudolf Brandt and Becker-Freyseng, by the testimony of the witnesses Lutz, Michalowsky and Vieweg, and by the documentary evidence in the record. In the Sievers’ diary, there are numerous instances of Sievers’ activities in the aid of Rascher. On 1 February 1943 Sievers noted efforts in obtaining apparatus, implements and chemicals for Rascher’s experiments. On 6 and 21 January 1944 Sievers noted the problem of location. Rascher reported to Sievers periodically concerning the status and details of the freezing experiments.
It is plain from the record that the relationship of Sievers and Rascher in the performance of freezing experiments required Sievers to make the preliminary arrangements for the performance of the experiments to familiarize himself with the progress of the experiments by personal inspection, to furnish necessary equipment and material, including human beings used during the freezing experiments, to receive and make progress reports concerning Rascher, and to handle the matter of evaluation and publication of such reports. Basically, such activities constituted a performance of his duties as defined by Sievers in his letter of 28 January 1943 to Rudolf Brandt, in which he stated that he smoothed the way for research workers and saw to it that Himmler’s orders were carried out.
Under these facts Sievers is chargeable with the criminal activities in these experiments.
MALARIA EXPERIMENTS
Details of these experiments are given elsewhere in this judgment. These experiments were performed at Dachau by Schilling and Ploetner. The evidence shows that Sievers had knowledge of the nature and purpose of these criminal enterprises and supported them in his official position.