NMT01-T675
Volume I · Page 675
was produced its witness by the prosecution,* the latter will hardly want to declare the testimony, sworn to by Neff, to be untrue.
The verdict of 16 April 1947 against Field Marshal Milch quoted above, states explicitly that medical experiments are punishable only when carried out without the consent of the subjects. Furthermore, punishability presumes that the experiments were a "torture" for the experimental subject or jeopardized his life. Both conditions obviously do not apply to polygal. Thus one comes to the conclusion that it would have been better not to mention within the limits of this trial subjects where even the closest observer has to look very carefully to see whether he could not possibly find anything to object to.
This applies especially to the report of the Institute for Military Scientific Research (Department Rascher), on coagulation of blood. (NO-438, Pros. Ex. 240.) In this report, the author, Dr. Rascher, emphasizes the importance of "Polygal 10" for combat troops and in operations and describes five operations where polygal was used with good results. There can be no doubt that those were five bona fide operations which were performed on patients in an entirely legitimate way and which tested polygal's effectiveness in stopping bleedings in an absolutely proper manner, as it is usually done, with similar drugs. It is inconceivable how a conclusion of illegal "experiments" could have been drawn from that report.
One of these five legitimate operations, by the way, is described in a report by the camp physician Dr. Kahr, dated 12 October 1943 [10 December 1943] (NO–656, Pros. Ex. 247); it does not offer any basis for assuming an "experiment". In this connection it is worthwhile to note that Dr. Blome himself, in his affidavit of 25 October 1946 (NO–471, Pros. Ex. 238), under section 8 describes the use of polygal in cases of "battle wounds and operations", but deals with "experiments on human beings" only in the next section, 9. Therefore, Dr. Blome knew from the beginning that polygal had nothing to do with "experiments on human beings".
| Prosecution Documents | |||
| Doc. No. | Pros.
Ex. No. |
Description of Document | Page |
| NO-1424 | 462 | Affidavit of Fritz Friedrich Karl Rascher, M. D., 31 December 1946, concerning the life and activities of Dr. Sigmund Rascher. | 676 |
| NO-438 | 240 | Report from the Institute for Military Scientific Research, (Department Dr. Rascher) on "Polygal 10." | 676 |
| NO-656 | 247 | Memorandum by SS
Obersturmbannfuehrer Wolff, 8 May 1944; letters from Dr. Kahr to Rascher, 10
and 16 December 1943. |
680 |
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*Neff was called as witness by the Tribunal.
