On 16 August 1943, when Haagen was preparing to transfer his typhus experiments from Schirmeck to Natzweiler, he requested Sievers to make available a hundred concentration camp inmates for his research. This is seen from a letter of 30 September 1943 from Sievers to Haagen in which he states that he will be glad to assist, and that he is accordingly contacting the proper source to have the “desired personnel” placed at Haagen’s disposal. As a result of Sievers’ efforts, a hundred inmates were shipped from Auschwitz to Natzweiler for Haagen’s experiments. These were found to be unfit for experimentation because of their pitiful physical condition. A second group of one hundred was then made available. Some of these were used by Haagen as experimental subjects.
That the experiments were carried out in the Ahnenerbe experimental station in Natzweiler is proved by excerpts from monthly reports of the camp doctor in Natzweiler. A number of deaths occurred among non-German experimental subjects as a direct result of the treatment to which they were subjected.
POLYGAL EXPERIMENTS
Evidence has been introduced during the course of the trial to show that experiments to test the efficacy of a blood coagulant “polygal” were conducted on Dachau inmates by Rascher. The Sievers’ diary shows that the defendant had knowledge of activities concerning the production of polygal, and that he lent his support to the conduct of the experiments.
JEWISH SKELETON COLLECTION
Sievers is charged under the indictment with participation in the killing of 112 Jews who were selected to complete a skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg.
Responding to a request by the defendant Rudolf Brandt, Sievers submitted to him on 9 February 1942 a report by Dr. Hirt of the University of Strasbourg on the desirability of securing a Jewish skeleton collection. In this report, Hirt advocated outright murder of “Jewish Bolshevik Commissars” for the procurement of such a collection. On 27 February 1942, Rudolf Brandt informed Sievers that Himmler would support Hirt’s work and would place everything necessary at his disposal. Brandt asked Sievers to inform Hirt accordingly and to report again on the subject. On 2 November 1942 Sievers requested Brandt to make the necessary arrangements with the Reich Main Security Office for providing 150 Jewish inmates from Auschwitz to carry out this plan. On 6 November, Brandt informed Adolf Eichmann, the Chief of Office IV B/4 (Jewish Affairs) of the Reich Main Security Office to put everything at Hirt’s disposal which was necessary for the completion of the skeleton collection.
From Sievers’ letter to Eichmann of 21 June 1943, it is apparent that SS Hauptsturmfuehrer Beger, a collaborator of the Ahnenerbe Society, carried out the preliminary work for the assembling of the skeleton collection in the Auschwitz concentration camp on 79 Jews, 30 Jewesses, 2 Poles, and 4 Asiatics. The corpses of the victims were sent in three shipments to the Anatomical Institute of Hirt in the Strasbourg University.
When the Allied Armies were threatening to overrun Strasbourg early in September 1944, Sievers dispatched to Rudolf Brandt the following teletype message:
“Subject: Collection of Jewish Skeletons.