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| DOCTOR TRIALS
The Doctors' trial was the first of 12 trials for war crimes that the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany. These 12 trials were all held before U.S. Military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms. The 23 defendants were all medical doctors and were accused of having been involved in Nazi human experimentation. The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal 1 were:
The Chief of Council for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor. The Chief Prosecuter in this case was James M. McHaney. The indictment was filed on Oct. 25, 1946. The trial lasted from Dec. 9, 1946 until August 20, 1947. Of the 23 defendants, 5 were acquitted, 7 received death sentences, the remaining 11 doctors received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment. The accused faced the following charges:
The SS had been declared a criminal organization previously by the International Military Tribunal. All defendants pleaded "not guilty". The Tribunal largely dropped count number 1, stating that the charge was beyond it's jurisdiction. |
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The Defendants
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Viktor Brack Sentenced to DEATH Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Senior Colonel in the SS, Major in the Waffen SS, Chief Administrative Officer in the Chancellory. |
Karl Brandt Sentenced to DEATH Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Personal physician to Hitler. Gruppenfuhrer in the SS, Major General in Waffen SS, Reich Commissioner of Health & Sanitation, member of Reich Research Council. |
Rudolf Brandt Sentenced to DEATH Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Colonel in the Allgeeine SS, Personal Admin. Officer to Himmler, Ministerial Counselor and Chief in the Ministerial Office in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. |
Karl Gebhardt Sentenced to DEATH Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Gruppenfuhrer in the SS, Major General in the Waffen SS, Himmler's personal physician, Chief Surgeon of the Staff at the Reich Physician SS and Police, Pres. German Red Cross. |
Waldemar Hoven Sentenced to DEATH Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Captain in the Waffen SS, Chief Doctor of Buchenwald Concentration Camp. |
Joachim Mrugowsky Sentenced to DEATH Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Senior Colonel in the Waffen SS, Chief Hygienist of the Reich Physician SS and Police, and Chief of the Hygienic Institute of the Waffen SS |
Wolfram Sievers Sentenced to DEATH Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Colonel in the SS, Reich Manager of the Ahnenerbe Society and Director of Institute of Military Scientific Research, and Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board of Directors of the Reich Research Council. |
Dr. Med. Fritz Fischer Sentenced to Lifetime Imprisonment, Commuted to 15 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Major in the Waffen SS, Assistant Physician to Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen. |
Karl Genzken Sentenced to Lifetime Imprisonment, Commuted to 20 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Member of Criminal Org. Gruppenfuhrer in the SS and Major General in the Waffen SS, Chief of the Medical Dept.of the Waffen SS. |
Siegfried Handloser Sentenced to Lifetime Imprisonment, Commuted to 20 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Lieutenant General in Medical Service, Medical Inspector of the Army, Chief of Medical Services of Armed Forces. |
Gerhard Rose Sentenced to Lifetime Imprisonment, Commuted to 20 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Brigadier General, Medical Service of the Air Force. Vice-President, Chief of Dept. for Tropical Medicine, Professor of the Robert Koch Institute, Hygienic Advisor to Chief of Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. |
Oskar Schroder Sentenced to Lifetime Imprisonment, Commuted to 15 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Lieutenant General in Medical Service, Chief of Staff of the Inspectorate of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe, Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. |
Hermann Becker-Freyseng Sentenced to 20 Years Imprisonment, Commuted to 10 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Captain in Medical Service of the Air Force, Chief of the Dept. of Aviation Medicine for the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe. |
Herta Oberheuser Sentenced to 20 years Imprisonment, Commuted to 10 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Physician at Ravensbruck Concentration Camp, and Assistant Physician to Karl Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen. |
Wilhelm Beiglbock Sentenced to 15 years Imprisonment, Commuted to 10 years. Guilty of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Consulting Physician to the Luftwaffe. |
Helmut Poppendick Sentenced to 10 years Imprisonment, Commuted to NONE. Guilty of Member of a Criminal Organization, the SS. Senior Colonel in the SS, Chief of the Personal Staff of Reich Physician SS and Police. |
Kurt Blome Acquitted Indicted of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Deputy Reich Health Leader, Plenipotentiary (meaning: person with "full powers") for Cancer Research in the Reich Research Council. |
Adolf Pokorny Acquitted Indicted of Conspiracy, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Physician, Specialist in Skin and Venereal Diseases. |
Hans Wolfgang-Romberg Acquitted Indicted on Conspiracy, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Doctor on the Staff of Dept. for Aviation Medicine at the German Experimental Institute. |
Paul Rostock Acquitted Indicted on Conspiracy, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Chief Surgeon of the Surgical Clinic in Berlin, Surgical Advisor to the Army, Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research under Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation. |
Siegfried Ruff Acquitted Indicted on Conspiracy, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Director of the Dept. for Aviation Medicine at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation. |
Konrad Schafer Acquitted Indicted on Conspiracy, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Doctor on the Staff of the Institue for Aviation Medicine in Berlin. |
Georg August Weltz Acquitted Indicted of Conspiracy, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity Lieutenant Colonel in the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe, Chief of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Munich. |
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Conclusion of Doctor Trials
Those defendants sentenced to death were hanged on June 2, 1948 in Landsberg Prison, Bavaria. Generally the difference between a prison term and the death sentence was membership in "an organization declared criminal by the judgement of the International Military Tribunal" - Namely the SS
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