. NMT02-T0216
Volume II · Page 216
the treatment. Herr Himmler decided that gypsies, plus three others for control purposes, should be utilized.
In fairness to the defendant it should be stated that he contests the translation of the second sentence in the first paragraph of the letter written by him to Himmler, which the prosecution interprets as meaning that experiments could no longer be conducted on voluntary subjects, and that the words "demands a final solution" meant that involuntary subjects in concentration camps should be employed. Regardless of whether or not the letter quoted by us is a correct translation of the German original, the evidence shows that within a month after the letter was sent to Himmler through Grawitz, sea-water experiments were commenced at Dachau by the defendant Beiglboeck.
The method by which the experimental subjects were chosen is not known to the defendant Schroeder. As he explained from the witness stand with reference to his letter and the subsequent procedure, "I sent it away only after I had consulted [about] the possibility of the experiment with Grawitz, and after I had informed him how the whole thing was thought [of] by us, so that he could pass on this information to Himmler in case it became necessary. Then this letter was sent off, and after possibly four weeks when Beiglboeck had arrived at Dachau — in the meantime, he was given an opportunity to carry out this work. Whatever lay in between that, how in the administrative way this was organized, we never learned * * * it was an inter-office affair * * *. We only saw the initial point and the end point of this route."
Thus began another experiment conducted under the auspices of the defendant Schroeder, wherein the initiator of the experiment failed to exercise the personal duty of determining that only consenting human subjects would be used, but left that responsibility to others. Again is demonstrated the case of an officer in a position of superior command who authorizes the performance of experiments by his subordinates while failing to take efforts to prescribe the conditions which will insure the conduct of the experiments within legally permissible limits.
The evidence shows conclusively that gypsies of various nationalities were used as experimental subjects. Former inmates of Auschwitz concentration camp were tricked into coming to Dachau with the promise that they were to be used as members of a labor battalion. When they arrived at Dachau they were assigned to the sea-water experimental station without their consent. During the course of the experiment many of them suffered intense physical and mental anguish.
The Tribunal finds that the defendant Schroeder was respon-[sible]
