Sterilization Memoranda
(1981)
Letter from SS-Oberführer Viktor Brack to
Reichsführer-SS Himmler, June 23, 1942 (Documents on the Holocaust - Edited by Y. Arad, Y. Gutman, A. Margaliot, NY, Ktav Pub. House in
Association with Yad-Vashem, 1981, p. 272):
Honorable Mr. Reichsführer!
On instruction from Reichsleiter Bouhler I placed a part
of my men at the disposal of Brigadeführer Globocnik some considerable
time ago for his special task. Following a further request from him, I have
now made available more personnel. On this occasion Brigadeführer
Globocnik pressed the view that the whole action against the Jews should be
carried out as quickly as it is in any way possible, so that we will not
some day be stuck in the middle should any kind of difficulty make it
necessary to stop the action. you yourself, Mr. Reichsführer, expressed
the view to me at an earlier time that one must work as fast as possible,
if only for reasons of concealment. Both views are more than justified
according to my own experience, and basically they produce the same
results. Nevertheless I beg to be permitted to present the following
consideration of my own in this connection:
According to my impression there are at least 2-3
million men and women well fit for work among the approx. 10 million
European Jews. In consideration of the exceptional difficulties posed for
us by the question of labor, I am of the opinion that these 2-3 million
should in any case be taken out and kept alive. Of course this can only be
done if they are in the same time rendered incapable of reproduction. I
reported to you about a year ago that persons under my instruction have
completed the necessary experiments for this purpose. I wish to bring up
these facts again. The type of sterilization which is normally carried out
on persons with genetic disease is out of the question in this case, as it
takes too much time and is expensive. Castration by means of X-rays,
however, is not only relatively cheap, but can be carried out on many
thousands in a very short time. I believe that it has become unimportant at
the present time whether those affected will then in the course of a few
weeks or months realize by the effects that they are castrated.
In the event, Mr. Reichsführer, that you decide to
choose these means in the interest of maintaining labor-material,
Reichsleiter Bouhler will be ready to provide the doctors and other
personnel needed to carry out this work. He also instructed me to inform
you that I should then order the required equipment as quickly as possible.
Letter from Dr. Pokorny to Reichsführer-SS
Himmler, October 1941 (Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression - Washington,
U.S Govt. Print. Off., 1946, Supp. A, p. 1279):
Prompted by the thought that the enemy must not only be
conquered but exterminated, I feel obliged to submit the following to you
as the Reich Plenipotentiary for the Consolidation of German Folkdom:
Dr. Madous is publishing the results of his research
into sterilization by medicaments (I enclose both works). In reading this
article, I was struck by the enormous importance of this medicament in the
present struggle of our people. Should it be possible to produce as soon as
possible, as a result of this research, a medicament which, after a
comparatively brief period, would cause an unnoticed sterilization in
individuals, we would have in our disposal a new and very effective weapon.
The thought alone that the 3 million Bolsheviks now in German captivity
could be sterilized, so that they would be available for work but precluded
from propagation, opens up the most far-reaching perspectives.
Letter from SS-Oberführer Gund to Reichsführer-SS
Himmler, August 24, 1942 (Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg
Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S Govt. Print. Off., 1949-1953, Vol.
I, p. 717):
At the orders of Gauleiter Dr. Jury, his staff have
hitherto busied themselves especially with the problems of population,
racial policy, and antisocial elements. Since the prevention of
reproduction by the congenitally unfit and racially inferior belongs to the
duties of our National Socialist racial and demographic policy, the present
director of the District Office for Racial Policy, Gauhauptstellenleiter
Dr. Fehringer, has examined the question of sterilization and found that
the methods so far available, castration and sterilization, are not
sufficient in themselves to meet expectations. Consequently, the obvious
question occurred to him whether impotence and sterility in could not be
produced in men and women by the administration of medicine or
injections....
The director of my race policy office points out that
the necessary research and human experiments could be undertaken by an
appropriately selected medical staff, basing their work on the Madaus
animal experiments in cooperation with the pharmacological institute of the
Faculty of Medicine of Vienna, on the persons of of the inmates of the
Gypsy camp of Lackenbach in Lower Danube.
Letter from Reichsführer-SS Himmler to SS-Oberführer
Brack, August 11, 1942 (Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg
Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S Govt. Print. Off., 1949-1953, Vol.
I, p. 722):
Dear Brack,
It is only today that I have the opportunity of
acknowledging the receipt of your letter of June 23. I am positively
interested in seeing the sterilization by X-rays tried out at least once in
one camp in a series of experiments.
Letter from Blankenburg to Reichsführer-SS
Himmler, April 29, 1944 (Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg
Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S Govt. Print. Off., 1949-1953, Vol. I,
723):
By order of Reichsleiter Bouhler I submit to you as an
enclosure a work of Dr. Horst Schumann on the influence of X-rays on human
genital glands.
Previously you have asked Oberführer Brack to perform
this work, and you supported it by providing the adequate material in the
concentration camp Auschwitz. I point especially to the second part of this
work, which shows that by those means castration of males is almost
impossible or requires an effort which does not pay. As I have convinced
myself, operative castration requires not more than 6 to 7 minutes, and
therefore can be performed more reliably and quicker than castration by
X-rays.
Soon I will be able to submit a continuation of this
work to you.
Letter from SS-Obersturmbannführer Brandt to
Prof. Clauberg, July 10, 1942 (Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg
Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S Govt. Print. Off., 1949-1953, Vol. I,
p. 729):
Today the Reich Leader SS charged me with transmitting
to you his wish that you go to Ravensbrueck after you have had another talk
with SS-Obergruppenführer Pohl and the camp physician of the women's
concentration camp Ravensbrueck, in order to perform the sterilization of
Jewesses according to your method....
Thorough experiments should be conducted to investigate
the effect of the sterilization largely in a way that you find out after a
certain time, which you would have to fix, perhaps by X-rays, what kind of
changes have taken place. In some cases a practical experiment might be
arranged by locking up a Jewess and a Jew together for a certain period and
then seeing what results are achieved.
Memorandum of SS-Obersturmbannführer Brandt on
discussion between Himmler, Gebhart, Gluecks, and Clauberg concerning
sterilization experiments conducted on Jewesses (Trials of War Criminals
Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S Govt. Print.
Off., 1949-1953, Vol. I, p. 728):
Führer Headquarters, July 1942
On 7 July 1942 a discussion took place between the Reich
Leader SS, SS-Brigadeführer Professor Dr. Gebhart, SS-Brigadeführer
Gluecks, and SS-Brigadeführer Clauberg, Koenigshette. The topic of the
discussion was the sterilization of Jewesses. The Reich Leader SS has
promised Brigadeführer Professor Clauberg that Auschwitz concentration
camp will be at his disposal for his experiments on human beings and
animals. By means of some fundamental experiments, a method should be found
which would lead to sterilization of persons without their knowledge. The
Reich Leader SS wanted to get another report as soon as the result of these
experiments was known, so that the sterilization of Jewesses could then be
carried out in actuality.
It should also be examined, preferably in cooperation
with Professor Dr. Hohlfelder, an X-ray specialist in Germany, what way
sterilization of men could be achieved by X-ray treatment.
The Reich Leader SS called the special attention of all
gentlemen present to the fact that the matter involved was most secret and
should be discussed only with the officers in charge and that the persons
present at the experiments had to pledge secrecy.
Letter from Professor Clauberg to Himmler, June
7, 1943, on his research concerning sterilization of women (Trials of
War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals - Washington, U.S
Govt. Print. Off., 1949-1953, Vol 1, p. 730):
Dear Reich Leader,
Today I am fulfilling my obligation to report to you
from time to time about the state of my research work....
The method I contrived to achieve the sterilization of
the female organism without operation is as good as perfected. It can be
performed by a single injection made through the entrance of the uterus in
the course of the customary gynecological examination known to every
physician. If I say that the method is "as good as perfected"
this means:
1. Still to be worked out are only minor improvements of
the method.
2. Already today it could be put to practical use in the
course of our regular eugenic sterilization and could thus replace the
operation.
As to the question which you, Reich Leader, asked me
almost a one year ago, i.e., how much time would probably be required to
sterilize 1,000 women by using this method. Today I can answer you with
regard to the future as follows:
If my researches continue to have the same results as up
to now - and there is no reason to doubt that - then the moment is not far
off when I can say:
"One adequately trained physician in one adequately
equipped place, with perhaps 10 assistants (the number of assistants in
conformity with the speed desired) will most likely be able to deal with
several hundred, if not even 1,000 per day."
Sources: Shamash
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