The Doctors' Trial (officially United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al. ) was the first of 12 trials for war crimes that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany after the end of World War II. War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including These trials were held before U. S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after The trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials", formally the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT). The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (more formally the Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals) were a series of twelve U
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Twenty of the 23 defendants were medical doctors (Brack, Rudolf Brandt, and Sievers being Nazi officials) and all were accused of having been involved in Nazi human experimentation. Nazi human experimentation was a series of controversial medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners by the German Nazi regime in its Concentration
The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal I, were Walter B. Beals (presiding judge) from Washington, Harold L. Sebring from Florida, and Johnson T. Washington ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Harold L "Tom" Sebring ( 1898 - July 26, 1968) was a Florida Supreme Court judge a judge at the Nuremberg Trials and while Florida ( is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the Crawford from Oklahoma, with Victor C. Oklahoma ( is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. Swearingen, a former special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, as an alternate judge. In most Common law jurisdictions the Attorney General, or Attorney-General, is the main legal advisor to the government and in some jurisdictions may in addition The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor and the chief prosecutor James M. Telford Taylor ( February 24, 1908 - May 23, 1998) was a US Lawyer best known for his role in the Counsel for the Prosecution McHaney. The indictment was filed on October 25, 1946; the trial lasted from December 9 that year until August 20, 1947. In the Common law legal system an indictment (ɪnˈdaɪtmənt (in-DITE-mint is a formal accusation of having committed a criminal offense Events 1147 - The Portuguese, under Afonso I, and Crusaders from England and Flanders conquer Lisbon after a Year 1946 ( MCMXLVI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 536 - Byzantine General Belisarius enters Rome while the Ostrogothic garrison peacefully leaves the city Events 636 - Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine Year 1947 ( MCMXLVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1947 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Of the 23 defendants, seven were acquitted and seven received death sentences; the remainder received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.
Indictment
The accused faced four charges:
- Conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity as described in counts 2 and 3;
- War crimes: performing medical experiments, without the subjects' consent, on prisoners of war and civilians of occupied countries, and participation in the mass murder of concentration camp inmates. War crimes are "violations of the laws or customs of war" including but not limited to "murder the ill-treatment or deportation of civilian residents of an occupied In Public international law, a crime against humanity is an act of Persecution or any large scale atrocities against a body of people and is the highest level of Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people commonly in large groups without trial
- Crimes against humanity: committing crimes described under count 2 also on German nationals.
- Membership in a criminal organization, the SS. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the
The SS had been declared a criminal organization by the IMT. The Nuremberg Trials were a series of trials most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political military and economic leadership of Nazi Germany after
All defendants pleaded not guilty.
The tribunal largely dropped count 1, stating that the charge was beyond its jurisdiction.
Defendants
| Name | Function | Charges | Sentence | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |||
| Hermann Becker-Freyseng | Stabsarzt in the Luftwaffe (Captain, Medical Service of the Air Force); and Chief of the Department for Aviation Medicine of the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe | I | G | G | 20 years' imprisonment, commuted to 10 years | |
| Wilhelm Beiglböck | Consulting Physician to the Luftwaffe | I | G | G | 15 years' imprisonment, commuted to 10 years | |
| Kurt Blome | Deputy [of the] Reich Health Leader (Reichsgesundheitsführer); and Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research in the Reich Research Council | I | I | I | acquitted | |
| Viktor Brack | Oberführer (Senior Colonel) in the SS and Sturmbannführer (Major) in the Waffen SS; and Chief Administrative Officer in the Chancellery of the Führer of the NSDAP (Oberdienstleiter, Kanzlei des Führers der NSDAP) | I | G | G | G | death |
| Karl Brandt | Personal physician to Adolf Hitler; Gruppenführer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation (Reichskommissar für Sanitäts- und Gesundheitswesen); and member of the Reich Research Council (Reichsforschungsrat) | I | G | G | G | death |
| Rudolf Brandt | Standartenführer (Colonel); in the Allgemeine SS; Personal Administrative Officer to Reichsführer SS Himmler (Persönlicher Referent von Himmler); and Ministerial Counsellor and Chief of the Ministerial Office in the Reich Ministry of the Interior | I | G | G | G | death |
| Fritz Fischer | Sturmbannführer (Major) in the Waffen SS; and Assistant Physician to the defendant Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen | I | G | G | G | lifetime imprisonment, commuted to 15 years |
| Karl Gebhardt | Gruppenführer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; personal physician to Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler; Chief Surgeon of the Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police (Oberster Kliniker, Reichsarzt SS und Polizei); and President of the German Red Cross | I | G | G | G | death |
| Karl Genzken | Gruppenführer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; and Chief of the Medical Department of the Waffen SS (Chef des Sanitätsamts der Waffen SS) | I | G | G | G | lifetime imprisonment, commuted to 20 years |
| Siegfried Handloser | Generaloberstabsarzt (Lieutenant General, Medical Service); Medical Inspector of the Army (Heeressanitätsinspekteur); and Chief of the Medical Services of the Armed Forces (Chef des Wehrmachtsanitätswesens) | I | G | G | lifetime imprisonment, commuted to 20 years | |
| Waldemar Hoven | Hauptsturmführer (Captain) in the Waffen SS; and Chief Doctor of the Buchenwald concentration camp | I | G | G | G | death |
| Joachim Mrugowsky | Oberführer (Senior Colonel) in the Waffen SS; Chief Hygienist of the Reich Physician SS and Police (Oberster Hygieniker, Reichsarzt SS und Polizei); and Chief of the Hygienic Institute of the Waffen SS (Chef des Hygienischen Institutes der Waffen SS) | I | G | G | G | death |
| Herta Oberheuser | Physician at the Ravensbrück concentration camp; and Assistant Physician to the defendant Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen | I | G | G | 20 years' imprisonment, commuted to 10 years | |
| Adolf Pokorny | Physician, Specialist in Skin and Venereal Diseases | I | I | I | acquitted | |
| Helmut Poppendick | Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS; and Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police (Chef des Persönlichen Stabes des Reichsarztes SS und Polizei) | I | I | I | G | 10 years imprisonment, commuted to none |
| Hans Wolfgang Romberg | Doctor on the Staff of the Department for Aviation Medicine at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation | I | I | I | acquitted | |
| Gerhard Rose | Generalarzt of the Luftwaffe (Brigadier General, Medical Service of the Air Force); Vice President, Chief of the Department for Tropical Medicine, and Professor of the Robert Koch Institute; and Hygienic Adviser for Tropical Medicine to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe | I | G | G | lifetime imprisonment, commuted to 20 years | |
| Paul Rostock | Chief Surgeon of the Surgical Clinic in Berlin; Surgical Adviser to the Army; and Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research (Amtschef der Dienststelle Medizinische Wissenschaft und Forschung) under the defendant Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation | I | I | I | acquitted | |
| Siegfried Ruff | Director of the Department for Aviation Medicine at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt); still researching and publishing in the field of aviation as late as 1989[1] | I | I | I | acquitted | |
| Konrad Schäfer | Doctor on the Staff of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Berlin | I | I | I | acquitted | |
| Oskar Schröder | Generaloberstabsarzt (Lieutenant General Medical Service); Chief of Staff of the Inspectorate of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe (Chef des Stabes, Inspekteur des Luftwaffe-Sanitätswesens); and Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe (Chef des Sanitätswesens der Luftwaffe) | I | G | G | lifetime imprisonment, commuted to 15 years | |
| Wolfram Sievers | Standartenführer (Colonel) in the SS; Reich Manager of the "Ahnenerbe" Society and Director of its Institute for Military Scientific Research (Institut für Wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung); and Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board of Directors of the Reich Research Council | I | G | G | G | death |
| Georg August Weltz | Oberfeldarzt in the Luftwaffe (Lieutenant Colonel, Medical Service, of the Air Force); and Chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Munich | I | I | I | acquitted | |
I — Indicted G — Indicted and found guilty
Those sentenced to death were hanged on June 2, 1948 in Landsberg prison, Bavaria. ( German 'luftvafe is a generic German term for an Air force. Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Prof Dr Wilhelm Beiglböck (born October 10, 1905, Hochneukirchen, Lower Austria, Austria &ndash November 22 1963 Kurt Blome (1894 - 1969 was a high-ranking Nazi scientist before and during World War II. In Criminal law, an acquittal is a verdict of not guilty, or some similar end of the proceeding that terminates it with prejudice without a verdict Viktor Brack ( November 9, 1904 - June 2, 1948) was the organiser of the Euthanasia Programme Operation T4 where the Nazi state systematically The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the The Waffen-SS ( German for "Armed SS" literally "Weapons SS" was the Combat arm of the Schutzstaffel ("Protective Squadron" The, officially National Socialist German Workers' Party, ( abbreviated NSDAP) was a Political party in Germany between 1919 and 1945 The Reichsforschungsrat was created in Germany in 1937 under the Education Ministry for the purpose of centralized planning of all basic and applied research with the exception of aeronautical Rudolf Brandt ( June 2, 1909, Frankfurt (Oder - June 2, 1948) was a SS officer and civil servant Heinrich Luitpold Himmler ( 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945 was a Nazi German politician and head of the Schutzstaffel (SS. Fritz Fischer (born October 5 1912 was a German Medical doctor who under the Nazi regime, had participated in " medical experiments " Karl Gebhardt ( 23 November 1897 in Haag &ndash 2 June 1948 in Landsberg am Lech was a German medical doctor personal physician Karl August Genzken (born June 8, 1885 in Preetz, Holstein &ndash October 10, 1957 in Hamburg, Germany Siegfried Adolf Handloser ( 25 March, 1895 - 3 July, 1954) was a Doctor Prof Waldemar Hoven ( February 10, 1903 &ndash June 2, 1948) was a Nazi and a physician at Buchenwald concentration camp. Buchenwald concentration camp (German Konzentrationslager or 'KZ' Buchenwald) was a Nazi concentration camp established on the Ettersberg (Etter Mountain near Joachim Mrugowsky ( August 15 1905 in Rathenow – June 2 1948) Hygienist Herta Oberheuser (born 15 May 1911 in Cologne, Germany; died 24 January 1978 in Linz am Rhein, Germany was Ravensbrück (ʁaːvənsˈbʁʏk was a notorious women's Concentration camp during in World War II, located in northern Germany 90 km north of Berlin Adolf Pokorny was born on July 26 1895 in Vienna, Austria He was Dermatologist and Medical Doctorate Helmut Poppendick ( &ndash) Internist Medical Doctorate Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police Gerhard Rose ( November 30, 1886 – January 13, 1992) was a German expert on Tropical medicine who was tried for War Paul Rostock ( January 18, 1892 - June 17, 1956) was a German Official, surgeon, and university Professor The Ahnenerbe was a Nazi German Think tank that promoted itself as a "study society for Intellectual Ancient History The Reichsforschungsrat was created in Germany in 1937 under the Education Ministry for the purpose of centralized planning of all basic and applied research with the exception of aeronautical Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death Events 455 - The Vandals enter Rome, and plunder the city for two weeks Year 1948 ( MCMXLVIII) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the 1948 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Landsberg Prison is a penal facility located in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about 30 miles (65 km Bavaria ( German:, with an area of 70553 Km² (27241 square miles and almost 12
Generally, the difference between receiving a prison term and the death sentence was membership of "an organization declared criminal by the judgement of the International Military Tribunal", the SS. The ( German for "Protective Squadron" abbreviated SS - or ( Runic)- was a major Nazi organization under Adolf Hitler and the
See also
- Command responsibility
- Declaration of Geneva
- Declaration of Helsinki
- Medical ethics
- Medical torture
- Hippocratic Oath
- Nazi eugenics
- Nuremberg Code
- Nuremberg Principles
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
References
- ^ Ruff, Siegfried, et al. Command responsibility, sometimes referred to as the Yamashita standard or the Medina standard, is the doctrine of hierarchical accountability in cases of This article pertains to the medical profession There is also the Geneva Declaration on the Future of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the 1923 Geneva This article is about the set of medical ethics principles regarding human experimentation Medical ethics is primarily a field of Applied ethics, the study of Moral values and judgments as they apply to Medicine. Medical torture (also known as a medical interrogation) describes the involvement and sometimes active participation of medical professionals in acts of Torture, either The Hippocratic Oath is an oath traditionally taken by physicians pertaining to the ethical practice of medicine Nazi eugenics were Nazi Germany 's race-based social policies that placed the improvement of the race through Eugenics at the center of their The Nuremberg Code is a set of Research ethics principles for Human experimentation set as a result of the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials at the end of the The Nuremberg Principles were a set of guidelines for determining what constitutes a War crime. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights ( UDHR) is a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly ( 10 December 1948 at Palais Sicherheit und Rettung in der Luftfahrt. Koblenz : Bernard & Graefe, c1989.
Further reading
- Hanauske-Abel, H. (1996). "Not a slippery slope or sudden subversion: German medicine and National Socialism in 1933". BMJ 313 (7070): 1453–1463. ISSN 0959-8138. An International Standard Serial Number ( ISSN) is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic Periodical publication. PMID 8973235.
- Pellegrino, E. (1997-08-15). Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Events 778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed "The Nazi Doctors and Nuremberg: Some Moral Lessons Revisited". ACP 127 (4): 307–308. The American College of Physicians (ACP is a national organization of doctors of Internal medicine (internists physicians who specialize in the prevention detection and treatment
- Seidelman, W. (1996). "Nuremberg lamentation: for the forgotten victims of medical science". BMJ 313: 1463–1467. ISSN 0959-8138. An International Standard Serial Number ( ISSN) is a unique eight-digit number used to identify a print or electronic Periodical publication. PMID 8973236.
External links
- Nazi war criminals
- Trial proceedings (first part) and Trial proceedings (second part) from the Mazal library.
- Description from the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
- Opening and closing statements and eyewitness testimony, at the U. S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
- The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments
- Life Unworthy of Life
- Biddiss M. (1997). "Disease and dictatorship: the case of Hitler's Reich" United States National Library of Medicine 1997 Jun;90(6):342-6. The United States National Library of Medicine ( NLM) operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest Medical library.
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