NMT01-T510
Volume I · Page 510
(car...) ried out in Block 46, the so-called Clinical Block, with the exception of a few experiments early in 1942. In the autumn of 1943, a vaccine production department was established in Block 50. Both Blocks 46 and 50 were part of the Division for Typhus and Virus Research. The defendant Hoven was the deputy to Ding in both blocks. (NO-265, Pros. Ex. 287; Tr. pp. 1155-1156. )
Criminal experiments on concentration camp inmates without their consent were carried out in Block 46 to test typhus, yellow fever, smallpox, typhoid, para-typhoid A and B, cholera, and diphtheria vaccines.
The typhus experiments in Buchenwald were carried out on a very large scale and resulted in many deaths. The manner of execution and the results of the experiments are proved in great detail by the Ding diary and the testimony of Kogon as well as other evidence. The first experiment began on 6 January 1942 with the vaccination of 135 inmates with the Weigl, Cox-Haagen-Gildemeister, Behring Normal, or Behring Strong vaccines. All vaccinations were completed by 1 February. On 3 March 1942, all of the vaccinated subjects and 10 inmates who had not been vaccinated (known as the "control group") were artificially infected with virulent virus of Rickettsia-Prowazeki furnished by the Robert Koch Institute. The experiment was concluded on 19 April 1942. Five deaths occurred, three in the control group and two among the vaccinated subjects. (NO-265, Pros. Ex. 287; Mrugowsky 10, Mrugowsky Ex. 20.)
In later experiments the number of experimental subjects usually varied between 40 and 60, but the proportion of control subjects was increased. Approximately two-thirds of the experimental subjects were vaccinated while one-third remained without protection. A few weeks after vaccination, all experimental subjects were artificially infected with typhus. The course of the disease was then observed in the protected and control groups and the effectiveness of the Vaccine was determined. (Tr. p. 1168.) Therapeutic experiments were conducted in the same manner with various drugs. For example, between 21 April and 1 June 1943, experiments were performed to test the effect of acridine granulate and rutenol on typhus. Of a total of 39 inmates used, 21 died. (NO-582, Pros. Ex. 286.)
Artificial infection was accomplished in various ways. In the beginning the skin was lacerated and infected with a typhus culture. Contagious lice were used to a limited extent. For the most part, however, infection was brought about by the intravenous or intramuscular injection of fresh blood containing the typhus virus. For the sole purpose of maintaining a constant source of infected fresh blood, 3 to 5 inmates per month were artificially infected with typhus. The use of these so-called "passage persons" began at least as early as April 1943 and continued until March 1945. Substantially all of
