The Nizkor Project: Remembering the Holocaust (Shoah)

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Last-Modified: 1998/04/01

                                                  [Page 131]

Mr. President, Gentlemen, in regard to the participation of
the defendant Goering in Crimes against Humanity, notably in
connection with the concentration camps, I shall not dwell
upon this, but I shall ask the Tribunal, when they have
time, to refer to a few paragraphs in which I briefly
outline this point. But this is a document which -- as far
as I know -- has not been submitted to the Tribunal and
which I should like to submit to-day. It concerns pseudo-
medical experiments which I believe have not yet been
discussed.

You have frequently been told of Dr. Rascher's experiments
in the exposure of certain persons to alternate heat and
cold, but there is a question which I treat on Page 17 of my
brief and which concerns the document which I submit to-day
as Exhibit RF 1427. This is a document which originally had
the number 170-L. It is a report made by Major Leo Alexander
of the British Army, on an institution known as the "Kaiser
Wilhelm Institute." Major Leo Alexander, at the time of the
defeat of Germany by the Allied Forces, had to conduct
certain investigations. He conducted one in connection with
experiments made by Dr. Rascher, and another in connection
with these carried out in the "Kaiser Wilhelm Institute."
This report which I submit to the Tribunal is entitled
"Neuropathology and Neurophysiology, including Electro-
Encephalography, in Wartime Germany." This "Kaiser Wilhelm
Institute" was an institute for cerebral research. It had
formerly been in Berlin-Buch (Page 18 in my brief), and was
subdivided into three establishments, the first in Munich,
the third in Goettingen. The second, the one which interests
me, was established at Dillenburg, in Hessen-Nassau, where
there was a special department for pathology directed by Dr.
Hallervorden. What is interesting, Mr. President...

THE PRESIDENT: Could we see the original?

M. MOUNIER: The original? Here it is, Mr. President.

(A document was handed to the President.)

THE PRESIDENT: Is the series "L" referred to in Major
Coogan's affidavit?

M. MOUNIER: Mr. President, I would like to point out that
this number 170-L refers to Major Leo Alexander's document
book concerning the experiments of Dr. Rascher. It is the
same number.

THE PRESIDENT: As this document has already been produced in
evidence in the series "L" -- it is 170-L I think -- the
Tribunal will treat it for the moment as being in evidence
and will further consider its admissibility.

M. MOUNIER: Yes, sir. At all events, I should like to remind
the President, who has certainly noticed it, that I
reproduce in this brief which has already been communicated
to the defence, the passage which I regard as relevant to my
brief. The passage is quoted in full in my brief.

THE PRESIDENT: Which passage do you wish to refer to?

M. MOUNIER: Pages 20 and 21 in my brief.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes; do you wish to read them?

M. MOUNIER: I accept the decision of the Tribunal. If the
Tribunal  considers this reading superfluous, I shall limit
myself to pointing out that what I find striking in this
document is the manner in which Dr. Hallervorden ordered the
delivery of brains for examination:

     "I had heard that they were going to do that, that is,
     to say, to kill some men in different establishments by
     means of carbon monoxide," Dr. Hallervorden explained
     to his British interrogator, Major Alexander.
     
     "I went to them and I said, `Listen, my friends, since
     you are going to kill all those people there, at least
     keep the brains so that we can use them.'
     
     Then they asked me `How many can you examine?' `An
     unlimited number, the more the better,' I told them. I
     gave them clips, jars, boxes and the necessary
     instructions for removing and fixing the brain."
     
                                                  [Page 132]
     
I call the attention of the Tribunal to the truly horrible
nature of the measures taken in regard to the people who
were to be killed merely to have their brains examined, for
they were -- so he said --  picket out in the different
establishments by an excessively simple and rapid method.
Most of the establishments did not have enough doctors, so
either through excess of work or through indifference they
had shifted the task of selecting the patients to be killed
on to the nurses, both male and female. Whoever seemed tired
or represented a "case" from the nurses' point of view, was
entered on a list and taken to the Death Centre.

The worst of the matter was the brutality of the personnel.
They selected those whom they disliked and put them on the
list.

I shall stop my citation here, Mr. President, but what I
should like to do subsequently, unless the Tribunal is going
to call upon Dr. Stahmer to speak...

THE PRESIDENT: Yes, we are now going to hear what Dr.
Stahmer wants to say.

DR. OTTO STAHMER (counsel for the defendant Goering): I am
sorry that I must contradict what has just been said, for
there is no proof that these things took place or that the
defendant Goering is responsible. The defendant Goering
states that he was quite unaware of these events and that he
had nothing whatever to do with matters of that kind. As far
as I know, the prosecution itself ...

THE PRESIDENT: I have to interrupt you, Dr. Stahmer. You
will have a full opportunity of presenting arguments to us
to show that the evidence which is adduced, which is brought
forward now against the defendant Goering, has really no
reference to him. You will have a full opportunity to do
that at the appropriate stage when you present the defence.
The only question we are considering now, the technical
question, is whether this document is a document which is
admissible. We are considering it, of course, but it is not
the appropriate time for you to present your argument that
the document does not refer to Goering and that Goering had
no knowledge of it. That will be your defense. It is not an
objection to the admissibility of the document. It is an
argument to show that Goering didn't know anything about the
document and didn't know anything about the experiments.
Do you understand what I mean?

DR. STAHMER: Yes, sir.

M. MOUNIER: Mr. President, I only wanted, by introducing...

THE PRESIDENT: M. Mounier, continue.

M. MOUNIER: I would like to tell you, Mr. President, in
citing that short passage...

THE PRESIDENT: Perhaps the Tribunal had better keep the
original document for the present.

M. MOUNIER: My aim, Mr. President, in citing this short
passage, is to demonstrate the truly atrocious way in which
they treated people in order to procure the necessary
material for these so-called experiments. According to the
prosecution this relates to Hermann Goering, for the
Tribunal will take into account the fact that these
experiments were made for the purpose of obtaining
information of a scientific or pseudo-scientific nature
concerning the effects upon the brains of airmen of all the
accidents which might happen to them.

These experiments are connected with those of Dr. Rascher,
concerning which some correspondence took place. The
defendant Hermann Goering cannot have been ignorant of this
correspondence, for it directly concerned the Air Force,
which he commanded. I cite, for instance, a letter dated
24th October, 1942, which was addressed by Himmler to Dr.
Rascher and which I submit to the Tribunal as Exhibit RF
1409. To save the time of the Tribunal I shall not read this
letter. I shall simply refer to another document which

                                                  [Page 133]
                                                            
has already been cited as Document 343-PS. It was submitted
by the American prosecution as Exhibit USA 463 on 20th
December 1945 (as Exhibit RF 1428), and it is a letter which
proves that as early as 20th May, 1942, Field Marshal Milch
was charged by the defendant Goering with the task of
transmitting to the S.S., his special thanks for the aid
which they had given the Luftwaffe with these pseudo-medical
experiments.

Consequently, we consider that in this respect the
responsibility of the defendant Hermann Goering is clearly
established.

Mr. President and Gentlemen, I have concluded the points
concerning the defendant Hermann Goering to which I wanted
to draw the attention of the Tribunal. There is a conclusion
in my brief against the defendant Hermann Goering. With the
permission of the Tribunal I shall not read it. I shall say
that this conclusion is an extract from an old book dating
from 1669, which is certainly known to everyone in Germany
at least. Its title is "Simplizius Simplizissimus" by
Grimmelshausen. It is a work in which persons are seen
invoking dreams. Unfortunately the realisation seems to have
been achieved by the National Socialist regime.

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