a. Introduction
The practice of medical experimentation upon human beings in other countries was brought out by the defense in an effort to show that the medical experimentation in which these defendants engaged was not criminal. Extracts from the argumentation of the defense have been selected from the closing briefs for the defendants Karl Brandt and Ruff. These appear below on pages 90 to 93. From the evidence on this question, the following appear below on pages 95 to 121: Selections from defense documents, followed by extracts from the cross-examination of one of the prosecution’s expert witnesses Dr. Andrew C. Ivy and an extract from the cross-examination of the defendant Rose.
b. Selections from the Argumentation of the Defense
EXTRACT FROM THE CLOSING BRIEF FOR
DEFENDANT KARL BRANDT
Reference has furthermore been made to the extraordinarily large number of persons available for experiments. With regard to the experiments made and on the basis of the evidence of this trial, experiments on a large scale have been made only in rare cases, and these may be compared in size with experiments on a large scale outside of Germany, as they were made even in peacetime; reference is made once more to the malaria experiment. (Karl Brandt 1, Karl Brandt Ex. 1.)
If one considers the number of persons sentenced to death who were subjected to experiments, the number is comparable to those eleven condemned persons for the poison experiment in Manila. (Becker-Freyseng 60a, Becker-Freyseng Ex. 59.)
One should compare, among others, the plague experiments by Strong in 1912 on 900 convicts, including an experiment on 42 persons some of whom were persons sentenced to death, and the typhus experiments by Hamdi on 153 persons. (Becker-Freyseng 60a, Becker-Freyseng Ex. 59.)
If the number of condemned persons used for experiments in these proceedings appears high, it should be taken into consideration that the number of persons sentenced to death under the laws of war is also unusually high. For the protection of the country, criminal laws are, during wartime, applied more rigorously in all countries in order to guarantee safety at home during the absence of the male population at the front. The number of ordinary criminals who have been punished on account of acts committed by taking advantage of war conditions, and especially of the blackout, is already unusually high; it is, therefore, not even necessary to include herein the persons sentenced for political crimes.
In this connection the viewpoint of the English scholar Mellenby of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine deserves special consideration. (Becker-Freyseng 60, Becker-Freyseng Ex. 58.) In the well-known medical journal “The Lancet” of 1 December 1946, this doctor quotes particularly the political conditions in Germany as decisive and as an excuse for the accused persons. One may not, therefore, subsequently refer to the general conditions in Germany during the war years in order to judge the acts committed during this time more severely.