I make the following application for reduction of penalty with even greater emphasis, because the defendant has already been amply punished for his SS membership. His family has lost all its property and has not a pfennig left. His wife must support her four little children aged 3 to 7 by the labor of her hands under the most primitive conditions, without having a chance during her husband’s entire term of imprisonment to obtain the slightest financial assistance for herself and her children.
The defendant used his considerable abilities as a physician to help many people, both Germans and foreigners, during the long years of his medical practice, without ever even mentioning this during the trial, because it is a physician’s duty to help suffering humanity. The defendant, who is not involved in the crimes dealt with by this Tribunal, suffers sufficiently under his outward discrimination as an SS member.
In view of all these circumstances and with the request for careful examination of the case, I make in conclusion the
Application
1. For the sentence of imprisonment for ten years inflicted on defendant Helmut Poppendick to be reduced to a tolerable term of imprisonment, perhaps to be commuted into a shorter term of confinement in a labor camp, and at the same time
2. For the 2¼ years’ detention already served by the defendant to be included in the then newly-determined term of imprisonment.
[Signature] G. Boehm,
Attorney-at-Law.
[59] According to German terminology a “Referent” (plural: “Referenten”) is an official with expert knowledge of a specialized subject in a government or private organization.