. NMT02-T0222
Volume II · Page 222
he overlooked that. I had no cause to point it out to him in particular since I was not reporting to him about Ding's series of experiments but was only reporting to him about the protective value of various vaccines which he, as medical chief, had to know. These were two completely different points of view."The Tribunal is convinced that prior to 1 September 1943, Genzken knew the nature and scope of the activities of his subordinates, Mrugowsky and Ding, in the field of typhus research; yet he did nothing to insure that such research would be conducted within permissible legal limits. He knew that concentration camp inmates were being subjected to cruel medical experiments in the course of which deaths were occurring; yet he took no steps to ascertain the status of the subjects or the circumstances under which they were being sent to the experimental block. Had he made the slightest inquiry he would have discovered that many of the human subjects used were non-German nationals who had not given their consent to the experiments.
As the Tribunal has already pointed out in this judgment, "the duty and responsibility for ascertaining the quality of the consent rests upon each individual who initiates, directs, or engages in the experiment. It is a personal duty and responsibility which may not be delegated to another with impunity."
We find that Genzken, in his official capacity, was responsible for, aided and abetted the typhus experiments, performed on non-German nationals against their consent, in the course of which deaths occurred as a result of the treatment received. To the extent that these experiments did not constitute war crimes they constituted crimes against humanity.
MEMBERSHIP IN CRIMINAL ORGANIZATION
Under count four of the indictment Genzken is charged with being a member of an organization declared criminal by the judgment of the International Military Tribunal, namely, the SS. The evidence shows that Genzken became a member of the SS on 1 March 1936 and voluntarily remained in that organization until the end of the war. As a high-ranking member of the Medical Service of the Waffen SS he was criminally implicated in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity, as charged under counts two and three of the indictment.
CONCLUSION
Military Tribunal I finds and adjudges the defendant Karl Genzken guilty, under counts two, three, and four of the indictment.
