A
war crimes investigation photo of Vladislava Karolewska, a survivor
from Ravensbrueck, who
was subjected to medical
experiments with sulphonamide drugs in 1942. The experiments were conducted by Dr. Fritz Fischer,
Prof. Karl Gebhardt, Dr. Stumpfegger and Ravensbrueck camp doctor,
Herta Oberheuser. This photograph was entered as evidence for the
prosecution at the Medical
Trial in Nuremberg.
The disfiguring scars on the woman's right leg
resulted from incisions made by medical personnel that were purposely
infected with bacteria, dirt and slivers of glass, in order to
simulate the combat wounds of German soldiers fighting in the war.
The inflamed area was then treated with sulphonamide drugs. Many of
the prisoners subjected to these treatments died from their wounds.
On 25 October 1946, the US Military Government for
Germany established the Military Tribunal I, which conducted the
first of the subsequent Nuremberg
trials, that against Nazi Physicians. On 5 November indictments were served to twenty-three defendants, most of them former Nazi
doctors.
The indictment listed four charges, the first
being participation in the Common Design or Conspiracy. The second
and third charges were War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity, which
alleged that the defendants committed "murders, brutalities,
cruelties, tortures, atrocities, and other inhuman acts" on
German civilians and nationals of other countries through a series of
specific medical experiments dealing with the effects of high-altitude, malaria, and sterilization,
among other things. The final count charged ten of the defendants
with membership in the SS, which had earlier been ruled a criminal
organization by the IMT.
The Tribunal arraigned the defendants on 21
November, with all pleading not guilty, and the trial began with US
Chief of Counsel Brigadier General Telford Taylor's opening statement
on 9 December. After all the evidence had been introduced and the
arguments made for both sides, the defendants made their personal
statements and the trial ended on 19 July 1947. The trial had lasted
one hundred and thirty-nine days, with eighty-five witnesses called,
and one thousand, four hundred and seventy-one documents used as
evidence.
On 20 August, the Tribunal announced it had found
fifteen of the defendants guilty, seven not guilty, and one (Helmut
Poppendick) guilty of membership in the SS but not of participating
in the medical experiments. The next day, sentences were handed down,
with seven sentenced to hang, five to life in prison, two to twenty
years in prison, one to fifteen, and Poppendick to ten for his
membership in the SS. Those sentenced to death were hanged 2 June
1948 in the Landsberg prison.
