ABSTRACT
On October 26, 1946 an American military tribunal was formed to judge those responsible for the medical experiments that had been conducted under the National Socialist regime. The doctors’ trial was the first of twelve trials called “Subsequent Proceedings” or “Proceedings Involving Various Groups of Professionals” that took place in Nuremberg following the trials of Nazi war criminals who had been brought before the International Military Tribunal. As far as the medical experiments are concerned, it is worthy of note that eye-witness testimonies confirm their reality. For the Nazis killing was considered a “merciful death” and not murder; the eradication of all “pathogens” was permitted for reasons of empathy, as in the struggle for survival. The unscientific nature of the Nazi experiments is all the more surprising in that they pursued a goal that was directly associated with the war.
