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[manu...] factured by Farben and supplied by Farben to officials of
the SS were used in experimentations upon * * * enslaved persons in
concentration camps throughout Europe. Experiments on human beings (including
concentration-camp inmates) without their consent were conducted by Farben to
determine the effect of * * * vaccines and related products.”
The
prosecution asserts, and it asks us to find, that the defendants
Lautenschlaeger, Mann, and Hoerlein each participated in supplying Farben
pharmaceuticals and vaccines to the SS for the purpose of having them tested,
knowing that the tests would he conducted by medical experimentations upon
concentration-camp inmates without their consent; that each of said defendants
took the initiative in getting Farben products tested by the SS through the
means of criminal medical experiments; and that these criminal medical
experiments resulted in bodily harm and death to a number of persons.
We may say, without further elaboration, that the evidence has
convinced us that healthy inmates of concentration camps were deliberately
infected with typhus against their will and that drugs produced by Farben,
which were thought to have curative value in combating said disease, were
administered to such persons by way of medical experimentation, as a result of
which many of such persons died. That such practices are criminal and a
violation of international law was conclusively determined by United States
Military Tribunal I in the case of the United States vs. Brandt, et al. Our
problem is, therefore, that of saying whether the evidence establishes beyond a
reasonable doubt that the defendants, or any of them, “were principals in,
accessories to, ordered, abetted, took a consenting part in, were connected
with plans and enterprises involving. (or) were members of organizations or
groups, including Farben, which were connected with, the commission of said
crimes,” as charged in the indictment.
We deduce from the evidence
that typhus or spotted fever is communicated to a human being by the bite of a
louse. There is always danger of an epidemic of this disease where a large
number of persons are thrown together amid unsanitary conditions, such as are
frequently found on army fronts and in concentration camps. Typhus first made
its appearance on the Eastern Front during the war, and the responsible
officials of Germany were very apprehensive that it would spread to the
civilian population. Desperate efforts were made, therefore, to find a remedy
that would cure. the disease or at least immunize against it. At the time thus
problem became acute, the generally recognized method of producing an efficient
typhus immunization vaccine was the so-called Weigl process. This vaccine was
developed from the intestines of infected lice, and a skilled scientist could
only produce in 1 day enough of it to treat ten persons. |
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