A dramatic story of tortures in the “interests of science” related today by a 26-year-old Polish Jew at the trial of 23 Nazi doctors charged with war crimes, summed up the evidence presented by American prosecutors in one of the most brutal cases to come to trial since the end of the war.
The man, who wished to remain anonymous, described his life since the Nazis invaded Poland and placed him, his parents and sisters in the Warsaw ghetto. Later the family was sent to the Oswiecim concentration camp where the parents were gassed and he and his sisters were placed in a labor camp where they were frequently beaten into insensibility.
In Oct., 1943, he noticed a group of Jews taken into a segregated building. When they returned, none of them would talk of their experiences. A few days later he was sent to the mysterious building where he was exposed to sterilizing X-rays. The burn scars are still visible on his body, the witness said.
His testimony punctuated by sobs, the young Jew continued his story, telling of a later operation during which he was castrated by German camp doctors.
Other evidence, introduced at earlier court sessions, proved that the defendants had advocated and conducted sterilization experiments, and in letters to Hitler and Himmler had suggested various methods which could be used.
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.
