A medical inquiry commission, investigating charges that Jewish children were used as guinea pigs in medical experiments in at least one Vienna hospital, announced today that it would submit the evidence gathered to the public prosecutor for action.
Earlier the Ministry of the Interior orddred the arrest of Professor Primarius Zikowski, chief of service at the Steinhof hospital where I.R.O. officials conducted an investigation last week. Zimbowski, who served in the hospital throughout the Hazi occupation, is officially listed as a pre-war Nazi.
The commission included Professor Fritz Reuter, chief of the Austrian Public Health Department, Dr. M.R. Rogoff, chief medical officer of the Joint Distribution Committee in Austria, Dr. John Gerber, of the I.R.O. medical staff, Dr. L.L. Wolken, chief physican of the Rothschild Hospital and other leading Austrian doctors.
In a unanimous resolution, the commission members said that lumbar punctures “might” be performed legally if evidence for their need existed, but expressed skepticism that the skin incisions were performed only for diagnostic reasons. The commission members asserted, however, that they were convinced that the operations were not made for racial reasons.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.