The “Doctors Trial” or ”Medical Case”- officially designated United States of America, vs. Karl Brandt, et al. (Case No. l) – was tried at the Palace of Justice in Nuernberg before Military Tribunal I.
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The following is an extract from the testimony of Prosecution witness Jadwiga Dzido
:MR. HARDY :
Witness, what is your full name? (WITNESS)DZIDO: Jadwiga Dzido.
Q. Do you.spell that J-a-d-w-i-g-a, last name spelled D-z-i-d-o ?
A. Yes.
Q. Witness, you were born on 26 January 1918?
A. Yes.
Q. You are a citizen of Poland?
A. Yes.
Q. Have you come here to Nuernberg voluntarily to testify? [.]
Q. Witness, are you married?
A. No.
Q. Are your parents living?
A. No [.]
Q. What education did you receive?
A. I graduated from high school and in 1937 I started to study pharmacology at the University of Warsaw.
Q. Did you graduate from the University in Warsaw?
A. No.
Q. What had happened that you didn’t?
A. I started studying pharmacology at the University and when I was in my second
year, the war broke out.
Q. What did you do after the war broke out?
A. In 1939 I was working in a pharmacy during the holidays.
Q. Were you a member of the Resistance Movement?
A. In the autumn of 1940 I entered the Resistance Underground.
Q. What did you do in the Resistance Movement?
A. I was a messenger.
Q. Then were you later captured by the Gestapo and placed under arrest?
A. I was arrested by the Gestapo on 28 March 1941.
Q. What happened to you after your arrest by the Gestapo?
A. I was interrogated by the Gestapo in Lublin, Lukow, and Radzin.
Q. And what happened after that?
A. In Lublin, I was beaten while naked.
Q. Did you then receive any further treatment from the Gestapo, or were you released?
A. I stayed in Lublin 6 weeks in the cellar of the Gestapo building.
Q. Then were you sent to the Ravensbrueck concentration camp?
A. On 23 September 1941, I was transported to the Ravensbrueck concentration camp.
Q. Were you told why you were sent to the concentration camp in Ravensbrueck?
A. No, I was not told.
Q. Were you ever given a trial in any German court?
A. Never.
Q. Who sent you to Ravensbrueck concentration camp?
A. All the prisoners in the prison at Lublin were sent there, and I went with them. –
Q. Now will you tell the Court, Miss Dzido, in your own words what happened to you after you arrived at Ravensbrueck?
A. When I arrived in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp, I thought that I would stay there till the end of the war. The living conditions in the prison were such that we could not live there any longer. In the camp we had to work, but in the camp it was not so dirty, and there were not so many lice as used to be in the prison.
Q. What work did you do in the camp, Witness?
A. I did physical work inside or outside the camp.
Q. Were you ever operated on in the Ravensbrueck concentration camp?
A. I was operated on in November 1942.
Q. Will you kindly explain the circumstances of this operation to the Tribunal?
A. In 1942 great hunger and terror reigned in the camp. The Germans were at the zenith of their power. You could see haughtiness and pride on the face of every SS woman. We were told every day that we were nothing but numbers; that we had to forget that we were human beings; that we had nobody to think of us, that we would never return to our country, that we were slaves, and that we had only to work. We were not allowed to smile, to cry, or to pray. We were not allowed to defend ourselves when we were beaten. There was no hope of going back to my country.
Q. Now, Witness, did you say that you were operated on in the
Ravensbrueck concentration camp on 22 November
A. Yes.
Q. Now, on 22 November 1942, the day of this operation, will you kindly tell the Tribunal all that happened during that time?
A. That day the policewoman, camp policewoman, came with a piece of paper where my name was written down. The policewoman told us to follow her. When I asked her where we were going, she told me that she didn’t know. She took us to the hospital. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me. It might have been an execution, transport for work, or operation.
Dr. Oberheuser appeared and told me to undress and examined me. Then I was X-rayed. I stayed in the hospital. My dress was taken away from me. I was operated on 22 November 1942 in morning. A German nurse came, shaved my legs, and gave me some- thing to drink. When I asked her what she was going to do with me she did not give me any answer. In the afternoon I was taken to the operating room on a small hospital trolley. I must have been very exhausted and tired and that is why I don’t remember whether I got an injection or whether a mask was put on my face. I didn’t see the operating room.
When I came back I remember that I had no wound on my leg, but a trace of a sting. From that time I don’t remember anything till January. I learned from my comrades who lived in the same room that my leg had been operated on. I remember what was going on in January, and I know that the dressings had been changed several times.
Q. Witness, do you know who performed the operation upon your leg?
A. I don’t know.
Q. Now, you say that you had dressings changed. Who changed the’ dressings on your leg?
A. The dressings were changed by Drs. Oberheuser, Rosenthal, and Schiedlausky.
Q. Did you suffer a great deal while these dressings were being changed?
A. Yes, very much.
Q. Witness, will you step down from the witness box and walk over to the defendants’ dock and see if you can recognize anyone in that dock as being at Ravensbrueck concentration camp during the time that you were operated on?
A. (Witness points.)
Q. Will you point to the person again that you recognized, Witness?
A. (Witness points.)
Q. And who is that, Witness?
A. Dr. Oberheuser.
MR.HARDY: May we request that the record so show that the witness has identified the defendant Oberheuser ?
PRESIDINGING JUDGE BEALS: The record will so show.
Mr. HARDY: Do you recognize anyone else in that dock, Witness?
WITNESS DZIDO: Yes.
Q. Point out who else you recognize, Witness!
A. (Witness points.)
Q. Who is that, Witness?
A. This man I saw only once in the camp.
Q. Do you know who that man is, Witness?
A. I know.
Q. Who is that man, Witness?
A. Dr. Fischer.
MR.HARDY:Will the record so show that the witness has properly identified the defendant Fischer as being at the Ravensbrueck concentration camp ?
PRESIDING JUDGE BEALS :The record will so show.
Alexander G. Hardy, prosecutor from Bostonu – the author’s remark
Trials of war criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council law no. 10;