NMT01-T677
Volume I · Page 677
4. In August 1942 I heard from my nephew in Munich that he had taken over the laboratory at Dachau and that he would work there extensively. Knowing the great diligence and the ambition of my nephew I was not surprised that he accepted this job.
At that time I drove with my nephew by car up to the entrance of the concentration camp, but did not enter. The only thing I heard from my nephew at that time was that he had carried out high-altitude tests on himself.
5. In August 1943 I was with my nephew twice in the Dachau concentration camp. The first time I went only to his private quarters and did not see the laboratory. The second time he showed me his laboratory and introduced me to his colleagues. I still remember the following names: Dr. Punzengruber and Dr. Feix. I inspected the chemical exploitation of blood coagulation. At that time he also told me of freezing experiments. He said that he had carried these out on himself at first and then he introduced to me one of his colleagues who had volunteered three times for these experiments. If I remember rightly, Himmler is supposed to have been present at one of these experiments and to have pardoned the man who was condemned to death. During the absence of my nephew, I accidentally found the following document in his desk:
It refers to a report about the shooting (execution) of four people for the purpose of experimenting with the hemostatic preparation "Polygal 10". As far as I remember they were a Russian Commissar and a cretin, I do not remember who the other two were. The Russian was shot in the right shoulder from above by an SS man who stood on a chair. The bullet emerged near the spleen. It was described how the Russian twitched convulsively, then sat down on a chair and died after about 20 minutes. In the dissection protocol the rupture of the pulmonary vessels and the aorta was described. It was further described that the ruptures were tamponed by hard blood clots. That could have been the only explanation for the comparatively long span of life after the shot. After reading this first protocol I was so shocked that I did not read the others. At the, time I took a sample of the hemostatic preparation from the desk which I submit herewith to the files.
6. On the way to Munich after this visit to Dachau, which was my last, I called my nephew to account. He raved when he learned that I knew of this matter. After appealing to his conscience, from the scientific as well as from the humane point of view, he broke down and cried: "I dare not think, I dare not think." In Munich my nephew and I continued this conversation during the whole night. Dr. Sigmund Rascher admitted at the time that he was on the wrong path but that he didn't see any possibility of resigning from it.
835622 — 49 — vol. 1 — 45
