Dr. Flemming: You know that General Taylor, in his opening speech, said that this experiment with aconitine had not been conducted in order to find an antidote to aconitine but in order to ascertain how long it takes to kill a human being in this manner. Please tell the Tribunal whether this concerned an experiment.
Defendant Mrugowsky: This was not an experiment in the actual sense of the word. It was the legal execution of five thieves, and some special facts were to be ascertained during this execution. The details were as follows: One day the chemist of the Reich Criminal Police Office, Dr. Wittmann, came to me. He asked me to attend an execution as the official doctor. As the reason for this request he added that in the General Government in Poland a high official had been injured when he was attacked with a revolver; that the bullet had inflicted only a harmless flesh wound, but nevertheless the person had died after a few hours with symptoms of poisoning. The person who had attacked him had been arrested, and the rest of the ammunition was a hollow ball which contained a crystallized poison. The Chemical Institute of the Reich Criminal Police Office tested this and found that it was aconitine. The ammunition was of Russian origin. There is no aconitine in Germany; it is imported. The question was whether this was the first case of the beginning of poison warfare against Germany. We had been expecting such a method of warfare for some time. For that reason there was not only criminal interest in clearing up this case but a general interest of the greatest importance. This ammunition was to be tested on five thieves who were to be executed anyhow, and it was to be seen whether this crystallized poison contained another poison which had not been found in the chemical tests. The remainder of the original Russian ammunition was to be used, and also German ammunition which had been made in imitation of the Russian. At the same time—and this was the main purpose of the experiment—it was to be discovered how much time would elapse between the injury and the appearance of the symptoms of poisoning, in order, if necessary, to be able to use an antidote. This question was of such great importance because an antidote to aconitine is hardly known, and if this had actually been the beginning of poison warfare, then efforts would have to be made immediately to find an antidote. Therefore, the head of the Reich Criminal Police Office asked me, and the Chief of the Criminal Technical Office also asked me, to participate in the execution myself, although that was not actually my work; but Dr. Wittmann said he did not know of any toxicologist except one in Berlin; they had all been drafted, and as a bacteriologist I had a certain amount of experience in symptoms of poisoning connected with bacteria and, therefore, he asked me to take over this job. I was rather unwilling to do so. I pointed out to Dr. Wittmann that the regular police in Vienna had a pharmacologist who was very experienced and I suggested that he should be called upon; but this was not done because of the poor communications resulting from the air warfare. Since, on the other hand, this question was doubtless of great significance and should not be postponed, I finally declared myself willing to fulfill this request. In accordance with the purpose of this job, I made not only the usual report, but a rather more detailed report on the symptoms of poisoning. There is the report which we have here in this prosecution document.
Q. You have said that this ammunition which was captured was of Russian production. How can that be proved?
A. The prosecution itself proved that. To this Document NO-201, Prosecution Exhibit 290, some files were attached which were not included in my report. There are three drawings of cross-sections of these bullets which were made and handed in to the Institute. The heading is “Poison bullet from a Russian pistol, calibre 7.65” and details about the construction of this bullet.
Q. You say that this photostatic copy of the drawings of the bullet was not part of your report. How is that shown? Will you compare the stamps in the diary?
A. The report which I handed in is dated 12 September 1944, and then the next day it was received by the Criminal Technical Office, and the receipt stamp carried the number “Secret 53”. The drawings, however, have a different secret journal number, that is, 15-1944. If the number G-53 was in September then, if the distribution of letters received is assumed to be even throughout the year, I should assume that the Reich Criminal Police Office received these drawings in March of the same year. At that time I did not know anything about this attack, and the experiment had not been started yet. Nor did I know any details about the possibility of such poison warfare.
Q. Who was present at the execution?
A. Dr. Ding, who happened to be in Berlin and whom I took with me in order to support my observations; it was he who conducted the actual medical examination. I, myself, merely ascertained the occurrence of death. Also Dr. Wittmann, representing the Criminal Technical Institute; also a representative of the camp commandant, I believe the adjutant; and an Untersturmfuehrer who performed the execution, that is, actually shot the people. It is possible that there were others whom I do not remember and whose names I do not know.
Q. Did you investigate in any way who these people were who were executed, and by what court they had been condemned to death?
A. I talked with the people; they understood German; they were apparently Germans. I considered them ethnic Germans [Volksdeutsche] of whom we had large numbers in Germany at that time. On the other hand, I knew that in concentration camps executions were carried out, and I had been told that this was an official matter and that there had to be an official representative of the camp commandant present. The fact that such a representative was present at this execution was sufficient for me to assume that the matter actually was official and, on the other hand, I had no opportunity to be informed of the sentence or anything like that.