Doctors' trial

The Doctors' Trial (officially known as the United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.) was the first of 12 trials for war crimes of German doctors and administrators that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone in Nuremberg, Germany, after the end of World War II. These trials were held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms at the Palace of Justice.

Background

The Doctors' Trial was part of the subsequent Nuremberg Trials, which followed the main Nuremberg Trials of major war criminals. The trial focused on the involvement of medical professionals in the Nazi human experimentation and euthanasia programs. These programs were part of the Nazi regime's efforts to "purify" the German race and involved unethical medical experiments on prisoners and the systematic killing of those deemed "unworthy of life."

Charges

The defendants were charged with:

• War crimes: Violations of the laws and customs of war, including murder, ill-treatment, and deportation of civilian populations.
• Crimes against humanity: Atrocities and offenses committed against any civilian population, including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts.
• Membership in a criminal organization: The SS (Schutzstaffel), which had been declared a criminal organization by the International Military Tribunal.

Defendants

The trial involved 23 defendants, including:

• Karl Brandt, personal physician to Adolf Hitler and head of the euthanasia program.
• Viktor Brack, organizer of the euthanasia program.
• Hermann Becker-Freyseng, involved in high-altitude and freezing experiments.
• Herta Oberheuser, the only female defendant, known for her brutal experiments on women and children.

Proceedings

The trial began on December 9, 1946, and concluded on August 20, 1947. The prosecution presented evidence of the horrific medical experiments conducted on concentration camp inmates, including:

• High-altitude experiments
• Freezing experiments
• Malaria experiments
• Mustard gas experiments
• Sulfonamide experiments
• Bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation experiments
• Sea-water experiments
• Epidemic jaundice experiments
• Sterilization experiments
• Poison experiments
• Incendiary bomb experiments

Verdicts

The tribunal delivered its verdicts on August 20, 1947:

• 7 defendants were acquitted.
• 7 defendants were sentenced to death by hanging.
• 9 defendants received prison sentences ranging from 10 years to life imprisonment.

Legacy

The Doctors' Trial was significant in the development of medical ethics and led to the creation of the Nuremberg Code, a set of research ethics principles for human experimentation. The trial highlighted the need for informed consent and the protection of human subjects in medical research.

Also see

• Nuremberg Trials
• Nazi human experimentation
• Nuremberg Code
• War crimes
• Crimes against humanity