NMT01-T495
Volume I · Page 495
[ac...] cordingly, an intensive effort was made to discover the causes of and vaccinations against epidemic jaundice. Dohmen and Gutzeit of the Army Medical Inspectorate and Haagen of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe were among the doctors working on this subject.
Dohmen and Gutzeit were attached to the Military Medical Academy and directly subordinated to Schreiber. (Tr. p. 2752.) The Military Medical Academy was, of course, subordinated to Handloser as Army Medical Inspector. (Tr. p. 2740.) Gutzeit was also consulting internist to Handloser. (Tr. p. 2700.) Dohmen was one of the first to isolate a virus which was claimed to be the cause of jaundice. This was accomplished by inoculating animals with germs taken from human beings suffering from the disease. (Tr. p. 2695.) However, considerable divergence of opinion still existed as to whether jaundice was caused by bacteria or a virus. (Tr. p. 3045.) On 1 June 1943, Grawitz, Reich Physician of the SS, requested Himmler to make concentration camp inmates available for infection by Dolmen with his virus. He stated that cases of death among the experimental subjects were to be anticipated. (NO-010, Pros. Ex. 187.) It was not stated whether the deaths were to be brought about for the purpose of performing autopsies (as in the cases of the high-altitude experiments), or whether they were to be expected from the disease itself (as in the cases of the typhus experiments).
Himmler consented to the use of eight Polish Jews, who had been condemned to death in the Auschwitz concentration camp, and to Dolmen's conducting the experiments. (NO-011, Pros. Ex. 188.) The experiments were carried out by Dohmen in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, and according to the affidavit of the defendant Rudolf Brandt, some of the experimental subjects died as a result. (NO-371, Pros. Ex.186.) Even the defense witness Gutzeit, who collaborated closely with Dohmen, admits that Dohmen worked in Sachsenhausen, but stated that this was merely a ruse to avoid turning over the jaundice virus to Grawitz, and in reality no infection experiments were performed. (Tr. p. 2722.) Gutzeit did not explain. however, why Dohmen, who was in no way subordinated to Grawitz, should have engaged in such ridiculous scientific "horseplay." (Tr. p. 2758.)
In weighing the credibility of the testimony of Gutzeit, consideration should be given to the fact that he was a member of the SS himself and that he was closely associated with Dohmen in his work. (Tr. p. 2760.)
In June 1944, a conference of experts was called by Handloser for the purpose of coordinating jaundice research. This conference took place at Breslau and was presided over by Schreiber. (Tr. p. 7252.) Handloser, Gutzeit, and Haagen, a consulting hygienist of the Air Fleet, were all present at this conference. (Tr. p. 2717.) Schreiber assigned groups of physicians to work together on jaundice problems.
