The Mazal Library

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.	NUERNBERG MILITARY TRIBUNAL Volume II · Page 61

	Q. Witness, if a soldier at the front is exposed to an epidemic and can be almost certain that he will catch typhus and deserts and hides behind the protecting walls of a prison, would you not consider it justifiable if he is persuaded to volunteer for an experiment that concerns itself with typhus? A. Will you read the question again? Q. If a soldier deserts from the front where typhus is raging for fear that he too will contract typhus and prefers to be imprisoned in order thus to save himself, do you think it is right for him to be persuaded while he is serving his sentence to subject himself to a typhus experiment? A. As a volunteer? Yes. Q. I see. And would you not take a step further, if this prisoner says, "No, I refuse, because if I do this there wouldn't have been any point in my deserting; I deserted in order to save myself. My buddies may die but I would just prefer not to." A. The answer to that question is no. Q. Don't you admit that one can hold a different view in this matter? A. Yes, but I don't believe it could be justified. * * * * * * * * * * H. Usefulness of the Experiments a. Introduction Both by testimony and argument the defense claimed that the medical experiments had generally been useful in furthering medical science, that in some cases the experiments alleged as criminal had increased the speed of the progress of medical science and that in some cases there was no other alternative for the development of medical science except to conduct experiments on human beings. The prosecution, in addition to arguing that voluntary participation by the subject of experimentation was a prerequisite of legal experiments, argued that the experiments turned out to be entirely useless for medical science and human progress, and that in some cases it was doubtful if considerations of medical science played any controlling role in the decision to conduct the experiments. Selections from the defense argumentation have been made from the final pleas for the defendants Becker-Freyseng and Beiglboeck. Extracts from these final pleas appear below on pages 62 to 64. A part of the opening statement of the prosecution (vol. I, p. 37 ff.) was devoted to this topic. Defense evi- [...dence] 61