POKORNY
The defendant Pokorny is charged with special responsibility for, and participation in, criminal Sterilization Experiments, as set forth in counts two and three of the indictment.
It is conceded by the prosecution that, in contradistinction to all other defendants, the defendant Pokorny never held any position of responsibility in the Party or State Hierarchy of Nazi Germany. Neither was he a member of the Nazi Party or of the SS. Formerly a Czechoslovakian citizen, he became a citizen of the Greater German Reich under the Munich Agreement of October 1938. During the war he served as a medical officer in the German Army and attained the rank of captain.
The only direct evidence bearing on the guilt of the defendant is a letter written by Pokorny to Himmler in October 1941, suggesting the use of a drug, caladium seguinum, as a possible means of medical sterilization of peoples of the occupied territories. The letter follows:
“To the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Folkdom,
SS Himmler, Chief of Police,
Berlin.
“I beg you to turn your attention to the following arguments. I have requested Professor Hoehn to forward this letter to you. I have chosen this direct way to you in order to avoid the slower process through channels and the possibility of an indiscretion in regard to the eventually enormous importance of the ideas presented.
“Led by the idea that the enemy must not only be conquered but destroyed, I feel obliged to present to you, as the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Folkdom the following:
“Dr. Madaus published the result of his research on a medicinal sterilization (both articles are enclosed). Reading these articles, the immense importance of this drug in the present fight of our people occurred to me. If, on the basis of this research, it were possible to produce a drug which, after a relatively short time, effects an imperceptible sterilization on human beings, then we would have a new powerful weapon at our disposal. The thought alone that the 3 million Bolsheviks, at present German prisoners, could be sterilized so that they could be used as laborers but be prevented from reproduction, opens the most far-reaching perspectives.