At the moment I consider one factor above all to be material. It is the following question: Was everything done, when the sea-water experiments were being planned, to furnish all data required for establishing the necessity of the experiments? And I think I can definitely answer this question in the affirmative.
The defense has proved the high sense of responsibility applied to the inquiry on the necessity of the sea-water experiments. Scientists of international reputation, like Professor Dr. Eppinger and Professor Heubner, were consulted, and they definitely answered this question in the affirmative. More cannot be expected or demanded in the way of a sense of responsibility. In my opinion, the mere fact that these scientists were asked their opinion on the issue in question shows that everything was done on the part of the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe and his office to reach the right decision in this question.
With regard to the purely objective judgment of the sea-water experiments and their necessity, I should like to refer to the statements made in my closing brief for Dr. Becker-Freyseng.
At this point, I should, however, like to add the following: The prosecution has tried to make out that it was the purpose of these sea-water experiments to decide whether Berkatit removes the salt from sea water. This contention of the prosecution has in no way been proved. I must stress here again, most emphatically, that this was never the purpose of the sea-water experiments.
All people concerned realized that Berkatit does not remove the salt from sea water. The question which was to be clarified and which necessitated the experiments was rather the following: Under the action of the vitamins contained in Berkatit, will the kidneys be capable of producing a urine with a higher sodium chloride concentration than is normally the case? Dr. Eppinger answered this question neither in the affirmative nor in the negative; he stated that this question could be decided only by experiment.
In addition there was another question to be decided, as to whether in case of shipwreck it would be more desirable to endure thirst, or whether marooned fliers should be advised to drink small quantities of salt water. In 1942-1944 this question was also raised in the United States and England and there, too, human experiments were carried out. But all these individual questions were only part of the great issue of how shipwrecked persons could be helped to escape the agony and danger of dying from thirst. These issues were the basis for the experiments conducted in 1944. In my opinion it is not admissible to construe arbitrarily another issue today and to contend on the basis of such issue, which never existed, that these experiments were not necessary. These medical issues alone necessitated the experiments. There were other issues too, to which I want to make short reference.
Until 1944 the world lacked an agent to make sea water drinkable. Such an agent was an absolute necessity. Nobody denied even then that Wofatit, developed by the defendant Schaefer, would have been an ideal agent for this purpose. It was, however, equally clear that this agent could only be manufactured by withdrawing the necessary raw material, namely silver, from other war-essential uses.
Furthermore, it was not denied that Berkatit did not require critical raw materials in the same measure. Another circumstance to be considered was that Berkatit could have been produced in existing plants, whereas it would have been necessary to erect new plants for the production of Wofatit. Accordingly, these technical reasons favored the introduction of Berkatit. It can hardly be denied that it was necessary for a medical officer conscious of his responsibilities in war to consider these reasons when reaching a decision. Incidentally, the expert of the prosecution, Professor Ivy, also stated that these reasons were definitely worthy of consideration.
Accordingly it had to be clarified, whether Berkatit could not, after all, be introduced for distribution to persons facing the risk of shipwreck, and the inquiry into this question was all the more necessary as, according to the opinion of Professor Eppinger and Professor Heubner, Berkatit apparently contained vitamins which eliminated the risks incurred by human beings when drinking sea water. Whether the opinion of the experts, Heubner and Eppinger, was right or not, could, at that time as today, only be established by experiment.
Hence if the defendant Dr. Becker-Freyseng, who examined all these factors and applied all precautions possible, became convinced in 1944 that the experiments could not be avoided, and if, from this viewpoint, in his official capacity as a consultant (Referent) he reported to his highest authority at that time, Professor Dr. Schroeder, that he considered the experiments necessary, then, in my opinion, he can in no way be charged under criminal law on that account.