Constructing the Doctors’ Trial

Abstract

In the weeks preceding the opening of the trial detailed discussions about the nature of German medical science and the principles of permissible and non-permissible experiments on humans emerged as a result of concerted efforts among the US prosecution to construct a legally viable prosecution case, and ultimately secure the conviction of as many of the accused as possible. The prosecution case was far from complete or satisfactory when Alexander and other senior members arrived at Nuremberg. The pressure for those on the ground at Nuremberg was enormous. To establish a trial with a shortage of qualified lawyers and staff, together with improvised organisational structures and communication facilities in an occupied zone where the population was more or less hostile towards the undertaking, was one thing; to constantly defend the rationale for the trials in a shifting political climate was quite another. While relations with the Soviet Union were deteriorating, support for war crimes trials was rapidly disappearing in Washington after the completion of the IMT. These factors contributed to a sense of emergency and need for improvisation among the prosecution team. Taylor and his staff knew that they had to ‘win’ the medical case if they wanted to hold further war crimes trials. They also knew that they were creating a precedent for future trials. Although the IMT offered them some guidance as far as the rules of procedure was concerned, the US prosecution found itself on quite unfamiliar legal territory in November 1946.