Doctors' Trial
The Doctors' Trial was the trial of several Nazi medical researchers for war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Nuremberg Code, following the Nuremberg Trials of military and political leadership figures.The doctors were accused of having been involved in the horrors of Nazi human experimentation.
The trials were held from December 9, 1946 to August 20, 1947
The verdicts and sentences were as follows:
- Herman Becker-Freyseng - Stabsarzt in the Luftwaffe (Captain, Medical Service of the Air Force); and Chief of the Department for Aviation Medicine of the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe - guilty - 20 years imprisonment, commuted to 10 years
- Wilhelm Beiglböck - Consulting Physician to the Luftwaffe - guilty - 20 years imprisonment, commuted to 10 years
- Viktor Brack - Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS and Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) in the Waffen SS; and Chief Administrative Officer in the Chancellery of the Fuehrer of the NSDAP (Oberdienstleiter, Kanzlei des Fuehrers der NSDAP) - guilty - 20 years imprisonment
- Kurt Blome - Deputy [of the] Reich Health Leader (Reichsgesundheitsfuehrer); and Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research in the Reich Research Council - not guilty
- Karl Brandt - Personal physician to AdoIf Hitler; Gruppenfuehrer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation (Reichskommissar fuer Sanitaets- und Gesundheitswesen); and member of the Reich Research Council (Reichsforschungsrat) - guilty - death
- Rudolf Brandt - Standartenfuehrer (Colonel); in the Allgemeine SS; Personal Administrative Officer to Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler (Persoenlicher Referent von Himmler); and Ministerial Counsellor and Chief of the Ministerial Office in the Reich Ministry of the Interior - guilty - death
- Fritz Fischer - Sturmbannfuehrer (Major) in the Waffen SS; and Assistant Physician to the defendant Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen - guilty - life imprisonment, commuted to 15 years
- Karl Gebhardt - Gruppenfuehrer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; personal physician to Reichsfuehrer SS Himmler; Chief Surgeon of the Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police (Oberster Kliniker, Reichsarzt SS und Polizei); and President of the German Red Cross - guilty - death
- Karl Genkzen - Gruppenfuehrer in the SS and Generalleutnant (Major General) in the Waffen SS; and Chief of the Medical Department of the Waffen SS (Chef des Sanitaetsamts der Waffen SS) - guilty - life imprisonment, commuted to 20 years
- Siegfriend Handloser - Generaloberstabsarzt (Lieutenant General, Medical Service); Medical Inspector of the Army (Heeres-sanitaetsinspekteur); and Chief of the Medical Services of the Armed Forces (Chef des Wehrmachtsanitaetswesens) - guilty - life imprisonment, commuted to 20 years
- Waldemar Hoven - Hauptsturmfuehrer (Captain) in the Waffen SS; and Chief Doctor of the Buchenwald Concentration Camp - guilty - death
- Joachim Mrugowsky - Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the Waffen SS; Chief Hygienist of the Reich Physician SS and Police (0berster Hygieniker, Reichsarzt SS und Polizei); and Chief of the Hygenic Institute of the Waffen SS (Chef des Hygienischen Institutes der Waffen SS) - guilty - death
- Herta Oberheuser - Physician at the Ravensbrueck Concentration Camp; and Assistant Physician to the defendant Gebhardt at the Hospital at Hohenlychen - guilty - 20 years imprisonment, commuted to 10 years
- Adolf Pokorny - Physician, Specialist in Skin and Venereal Diseases - not guilty
- Helmut Poppendick - Oberfuehrer (Senior Colonel) in the SS; and Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reich Physician SS and Police (Chef des Persoenlichen Stabes des Reichsarztes SS und Polizei) - guilty - 10 years imprisonment, commuted to none
- Gerhard Rose - Generalarzt of the Luftwaffe (Brigadier General, Medical Service of the Air Force); Vice President, Chief of the Department for Tropical Medicine, and Professor of the Robert Koch Institute; and Hygienic Adviser for Tropical Medicine to the Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe - guilty - life imprisonment, commuted to 20 years
- Paul Rostock - Chief Surgeon of the Surgical Clinic in Berlin; Surgical Adviser to the Army; and Chief of the Office for Medical Science and Research (Amtschef der Dienststelle Medizinische Wissenschaft und Forschung) under the defendant Karl Brandt, Reich Commissioner for Health and Sanitation - not guilty
- Siegfried Ruff - Director of the Department for Aviation Medicine at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt fuer Luftfahrt) - not guilty
- Konrad Shäfer - Doctor on the Staff of the Institute for Aviation Medicine in Berlin - not guilty
- Oskar Schröder - Generaloberstabsarzt (Lieutenant General Medical Service); Chief of Staff of the Inspectorate of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe (Chef des Stabes, Inspekteur des Luftwaffe-Sanitaetswesens); and Chief of the Medical Service of the Luftwaffe (Chef des Sanitaetswesens der Luftwaffe) - guilty - life imprisonment, commuted to 15 years
- Wolfram Sievers - Standartenfuehrer (Colonel) in the SS; Reich Manager of the "Ahnenerbe" Society and Director of its Institute for Military Scientific Research (Institut für Wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung); and Deputy Chairman of the Managing Board of Directors of the Reich Research Council - guilty - death
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" — in other words, the Nazi Party.