[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9609-S9610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 69--RELATIVE TO EUTHANASIA DURING WORLD
WAR II
Mr. SANTORUM (for himself and Mrs. Feinstein) submitted the following
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations:
S. Con. Res. 69
Whereas Dr. Hans Joachim Sewering was a member of the Nazi
party beginning on November 11, 1933, as well as a member of
the SS;
Whereas Dr. Sewering served as staff physician and medical
director at the Schoenbrunn Sanitarium beginning in 1942;
Whereas, between 1943 and 1945, under Dr. Sewering's
supervision, 909 German Catholic mentally and physically
disabled patients, mainly children, were transferred from the
sanitarium to a ``Healing Center'' at Eglfing-Haar;
Whereas, subsequently, these patients were killed by
starvation and an overdose of a sleeping drug, Luminal;
Whereas there is documentation with Dr. Sewering's
signature on its that transfers a 14-year-old epileptic girl
names Babette Frowis from the sanitarium to the healing
center on October 26, 1943;
Whereas Babette Frowis was pronounced dead on November 16,
1943, just 15 days after being transferred there by Dr.
Sewering;
Whereas Dr. Sewering has enjoyed a successful and lengthy
medical career after the war, most recently acting as the
President of the Federal Physicians Chamber in Germany;
Whereas 4 Franciscan nuns, who worked in the sanitarium at
the time these acts occurred, came forward in January of 1993
to corroborate the accusations against Dr. Sewering made by
physicians in Germany;
[[Page S9610]]
Whereas these nuns broke a 50-year-long vow of silence at
the suggestion of the Bishop of Munich to expose Dr. Sewering
and share their accounts of the patients;
Whereas these being elected president-elect of the World
Medical Association in 1993, protest by the American Medical
Association about his alleged crimes led Dr. Sewering to
resign as president-elect;
Whereas the German Government has never conducted a
criminal inquiry or indicted Dr. Sewering;
Whereas the German Government has all of the patient
records, including the signature of the doctor that ordered
the transfers to the ``Healing Center'', in a government
archival center, and these records have never been examined
by government prosecutors; and
Whereas the German Government has so far protected this
criminal: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that the
German Government should investigate and prosecute Dr. Hans
Joachim Sewering for his war crimes of active euthanasia and
crimes against humanity committed during World War II.
Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a concurrent
resolution with my colleague Senator Feinstein and to give a few
remarks on the Holocaust. Mr. President, many Americans probably have
the opinion that we have closed the door on the Holocaust. In fact, we
have a museum here in Washington that stands as a reminder of this
black mark in our history. Unfortunately, the very submission of this
concurrent resolution tells us that this chapter has not yet been
closed.
By way of background, my father- and mother-in-law, Dr. Ken and Betty
Lee Garver, have done extensive research on the medical history of Nazi
war time. In their continued work within the medical community, they
have come in contact with Dr. Michael Franzblau from California. It is
Dr. Franzblau who brought to our attention the background and history
of a German doctor who was a member of the Nazi party and referred many
of Germany's disabled and afflicted to ``healing centers'' or death
camps during the 1940's.
Of the millions of victims of World War II, it is the faces of the
children we remember most, like the face of Babette Frowis. Babette
Frowis was a 14-year-old child who suffered from epilepsy. She was sent
to the Schoenbrunn Sanitarium in 1943 when Adolf Hitler began
``cleansing'' the German race. The Medical Director of the Sanitarium,
Dr. Hans Joachim Sewering, then transferred her to the Healing Center
at Eglfing-Haar on October 26, 1943. Twenty-one days later, on November
16, 1943, she was pronounced dead.
Babette Frowis was not the only one. It is estimated that between
1942 and 1945, 909 patients, the overwhelming majority of whom were
children, were transferred to the ``Healing Center'' for extermination,
under Dr. Sewerings' command. At Eglfing-Haar, the children were
subjected to a mixture of starvation and an overdose of a sleeping
drug, Luminal. Authorities at the center saw this method as a low cost
way of disposing of disabled children.
Dr. Sewering was a member of the Nazi party, as well as the Medical
Director of the Sanitarium. When the war ended, Dr. Sewering went on to
enjoy a full and rewarding medical career in Bavaria. In 1993 he became
the president-elect of the World Medical Association, but after protest
he resigned. Shortly after this, the Department of Justice placed Dr.
Sewering on the ``watch list'' thereby preventing his entry into the
United States. Dr. Sewering, at the age of 78, still practices medicine
in Bavaria.
I have been in contact with the German Ambassador on this matter
requesting an explanation and information on behalf of the German
Government as to why Dr. Sewering has not been investigated and why the
documents regarding the transfer of patients have not been made public.
This concurrent resolution expresses the Sense of Congress that the
German Government should investigate and prosecute Dr. Sewering for his
war crimes of active euthanasia and crimes against humanity committed
during World War II.
I appreciate the interest and joint sponsorship of Senator Feinstein,
and look forward to working with her as we continue to draw the
attention of Congress to this situation and ultimately action by the
German Government.
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