Waltraud Haeupel (translated from German):

My name is Waltraud Haeupel. I come from a very different side – I am a representative of a victim who was killed. My youngest sister at Spiegelgrund – Mr. Zawrel talked about it. In 1942 she was killed there. I found out about this only 4 years ago through a coincidence. Apparently, until then they looked for the relatives of the victims. I just happened through someone I know from London. She happened to have read it in a paper in very small print.

I would like to first of all first say: some of you or many of you will not know what the Spiegelgrund is. It was the psychiatric hospital in Vienna, is in wonderful grounds with 60 pavillons and at the beginning of the last century it was built by Otto Wagner and is now under preservation order. There are 60 pavillons there and of these in 1940 nine pavillons were separated off for the so-called "children euthenasia and detention home for juveniles", that had been deemed "anti-social" or were from damaged families, supposedly. Two of these nine pavillons were pavillon 15 and 17 – Mr. Zawrel talked about these. Pavillon 17 was the preparation pavillon for pavillon 15 and the murdering was done in pavillon 15. 

I would just like to say a little bit very briefly about my sister. First of all Mr. Zawrel I would like to say -  I forgot – that his life has been terrible. Last week in ......... Verlag a new book was published. You can find a few copies of it at the reception. Dr. Gross, who was a doctor and still lives in Vienna. The abused life of Friedrich Zawrel – he forgot to tell you about this because he was so upset.

His life-story was typical of his time. These "difficult to educate" children and young people – as they were called then – had to go through. We went together from Vienna to Berlin in the sleeping coach, despite the fact that it was a sleeping coach. I thought about this, I thought about how the doctors went to Berlin, to go to the Brandenburg, Goerden district to be trained. Dr. Gross, Dr. Ealing, who was the consulting doctor. And these thoughts wouldn't let me sleep and so I thought: "Right, now you're in this train yourself, so you can go and see what it looks like where these doctors went to". Luckily I found people here that you can talk to, that are friendly, that you don't have to be afraid of. And on the other hand, doctors from Berlin, Tiergartenstrasse No.4 and the Goerden district of Berlin, these murdering doctors went to Austria on to this Spiegelgrund children and juvenile ward. They came to see whether everything was being done the way they wanted, if everything was being done the way Adolf Hitler had ordered it. The things they were committed to do, they did 150%, even much more than they were told to do. 

When Mr. Zawrel's book appeared last week, strangely enough after many decades, something unusual happened. Dr. Gross, who was set up after the war in the Bolzmann Institute for the scientific processing of the brains of the children that he had killed, the new president of the Bolzmann Institute contacted us. I called him this morning and spoke to a secretary. I told her that we were here and that we are very thankful, because this news even reached us in the paper before we left.

I'd like to read the statement of the new president of the Bolzmann Institute because of the book about Mr. Zawrel that has been published. He is the first person who says sorry in the name of science and begs forgiveness for the abuse. "The darkest chapter of our history has shadows on the future, if in the present we are not in the position to make the right conclusions and we need more than a sense of concern and upset. The suffering about victims and their relations, the experiments on children have to lead us to make concrete steps today. Particularly those, who have no particular guilt or personal guilt and those who have the mercy of being born after the facts. The Ludwig Bolzmann Institute therefore will promote all work to find out the historical truths."

You can imagine, how we felt on our long trip from Vienna to Berlin. We were pleased, we were strengthened that finally there is someone who wants to help us. For years we have worked to raise awareness about what had happened. Our lives as children were just ruined, you could say. We go to exhibitions, we talk to people and the young people that we meet are behind us and everyone asks: "How could this happen and why is nothing being done about it?" I think it is our task, as Dr. Conrad, the new president says, "We must do something otherwise the shadows of the past will be thrown into the future, so we have to change our perspective." 

Thank God I can talk about the hideous story of my small sister. It is something I couldn't always do. I knew that I was older than my sister, who was born on the 8th of May, 1938. I can remember when she was born because I had to wait in the kitchen while her little head came out. And when it had just come out I heard her cry and I ran in and saw her coming out. And I remember that she had such a lot of curly hair. But I was immediately grabbed and whisked out again. It wasn't considered something appropriate for children. Little Annemarie was born at home and the children had to be kept out. And I remember her – she was a lovely child, a little dolly for her older sister. And then suddenly she was gone. 

I have to say that we only had a very small sort of damp room with kitchen inside and at that time we were told that if there was a sick child in a small flat like that then she had to be taken out. And then there was the fear that the mother wouldn't have enough time to look after the children or maybe the father won't be able to work. This was this sort of decree; single parents, single mothers for example. They took the children away from single parents and forced them into service so that they could do that. 

I don't want to go into my sister's story too much. I'd just like to summarize it a little bit here. I remember very well what happened – I was three years older and so only I went to school. And then one morning the mail carrier brought a telegram, which said: "Your daughter, Annemarie, died this morning." My mother was doing the laundry and I went to her in the laundry kitchen where she was doing it and I heard the word "experimental guinnea-pig". And my mother began to cry bitterly but the children weren't supposed to feel the troubles of the parents and so I wasn't told what had happened – I was sent into the flat but I knew my little sister had died. 

Decades past but I was not able to learn what happened to my sister. Parents didn't talk about their concerns, so I was not allowed to ask. I remember that once I planted a small tree. We received however the corpse and we were allowed to bury her. This was quite terrible as well. However, nobody could answer my question so my memory keeps: Spiegelgrund, Annemare, pneumonia, guinnea-pigs for medical experiments and all this I kept in my mind. For almost 40 years I was active in the educational field and I dedicated all my work to young people. 

In 1997 by a short message on TV, breaking news – this couldn't be held in Austria because Prof. Seidenmann in Toronto had found out together with his work group that in Austria at the time an anatomical atlas was still being used, in which there were pictures of Nazis (National Socialism). So that was the point of no return. Finally the moment had arrived where something had to be done in the public realm but once again this was only a cosmetic operation, as we put it. Once again, full light was not shed on this affair.

Some scientists studied the issue and it was found out that at this institution Spiegelgrund in Vienna more than 400 brains of the children killed are still stored in the storage rooms. I have taken this article with me. And a child's entire skull, head. Since I joined the forensic association I have come to learn who this child was. It was very young – not even 12 years old. It is in the minutes reserved for Dr. Gross. So this child's head was hidden from the American Commission, the director of the clinic, Baumgartner. It was simply transferred to another room and locked up. However, Enst Klee knew about it already, he knew that it existed. 

No, the medical director said that it is not possible to show it, because it is too disgusting. Briefly, incidentally I also received a quite complete medical record of my sister. I think I wouldn't receive it any longer because something had been done about it. Based on this medical record, I did further research and thanks to the surviving witnesses, because I found 20 of those witnesses and I was able to compile a sort of patchwork, what the children at Spiegelgrund had gone through.

About my sister, I do know that after her arrival, after the official doctor had classified her as "not handicapped, neither physically nor mentally", not even admitable to an institution for mentally ill children, she was able to receive education. However, she was in need of medical treatment because she had rachitis, which was in the process of healing – that was her handicap. When I then finally came across photographs taken by Dr. Gross immediately after the admission to the hospital, I went over to our medical friends [and asked], "Please, can you tell me what's wrong, what's unhealthy about this child? You have taken all these photographs to document that this life is unworthy of living." And they all told me, "Nothing, we cannot find anything!". 

It was quite a dear child, 2 cm smaller than the average of her age. Half a year later, this child that had been admitted at age 2 ½ and weighed 12,7 kg. had lost 3 kg. in weight. So, just imagine: the child growing up, but losing weight! In the medical records it reads quite cynically: "She is falling behind mentally, cannot speak, is resting all day long". In the therapy lists you'll find nothing about any therapeutic attempt. The food rations are typically 200g coffee, white bread... 200g coffee, white bread... Four months before her death there is no record whatsoever. However her temperature was taken twice a day. This is also on record: sometimes my sister must have defended herself twice a day. When I found out, only once. The medical personell was not allowed to record it. "Luminal". Then I realized that this child had received "Luminal". This "Luminal" in overdosis created this pneumonia. 

When Dr. Gross was asked later on: "Didn't you notice that so many children died of pneumonia? The cause of death in most medical histories is pneumonia". He replied: "Well, it must have been an epidemic." Fourteen days prior to the death of Annemarie, she weighed only 9,3 kg, four years after her admission. Dr. Gross once again, subjected her to an encephalography. This is a type of examination where liquid is withdrawn from the spinal chord and air is pumped into the brain. It is a proven fact that many children who were already weakened, died from this type of examination. Nonetheless, this child was once again able to sit and stand. The medical record says: "Very hungry. Eats whatever she gets hold of." However she doesn't get anything – nothing is on the record. One day prior to her death, it is recorded quite cynically: "Bad message to parents" and the next day at 8 o' clock she was dead. Her parents couldn't even see her once again. 

Well, I've reflected a lot, what may have happened. In the medical history I found out – and this is a new aspect and which is quite risky for the future. Once again, we must be very vigilant. My mother during a questioning once said that one of my father's cousins had a hydrocephalis. This cousin was a decendant from a very renowned family of Vienna philharmonics. And the youngest one had this hydrocephalis, what we in German call a "water-head". He was a good handicapped child and I noticed that it was always written down in the medical record that this relative had a hydrocephalis. So it's not about the .......... but about this strong relative, who had a hydrocephalis. 

So then you read about the long, thick hair of my sister. Up to the very end, in the death registers it was only said surreptitiously, I could read, as an extract from the official death register that the cause of death was "heart failure". And the second idiocy ... So, this was the medical diagnosis: "heart failure". Second: "imbicility". Dr. Gross treated my sister, as I told you, in Vienna at the time. It was deemed that something had to be done about it. Twice there was a symposium on "euthanasia". I was allowed to talk about it twice. I am permitted to attend a burial of the brains of my sister and of the other victims. 

In 1981, the head of the archive in Vienna, a medical doctor of the university clinic for children, know there is no-one around anymore – all of them have been buried a long time ago. A few years ago it turned out that these were all lies. So Austria has managed to cover up all this past and all these atrocities up to this present day. Well, the surface is cracking up to remove it.  

George Alexander:
I know how difficult it is to give this testimony and I regret sincerely interrupting you, but the precious time makes it necessary to see if we have some questions. Thank you so much for your testimony. Are there questions from the jury? Are there questions from the audience? I thank you both for your testimony. It has been very helpful. I want the record at this point to note that, as horrible as the testimony about the Nazi era detention centers was, that the testimony of the last two witnesses has made clear the point that the horrible events of that day have been carried forward to this day.

We are not only talking about a history, we are talking about a present effect, we are talking about brains that are still being used in Austria. We are talking about the atlas that is still available, we are talking about the testimony of Mr. Zawrel, where statements made in that period have not only not been repudiated but have in fact been regenerated and used again without even apparent embarrasment. So our point has been not only to show the past during a terrible period of history but to show that that terrible period is not that unique.

Thomas Szasz:
This is a terribly important point, of course, which I second very strongly, that Prof. Alexander has made. And I would like to add to it, what is obvious but perhaps is not obvious: in both of these accounts, even the pretence of mental illness, mental problems, psychiatric problems was really quite peripheral. Yet the fact remains that the murderers – and I refuse to call them "doctors" – the MURDERERS were always psychiatrists! How come they were not neurologists of dermatologists, or gynaecologists? They were always psychiatrists, because psychiatrists love to control and if you control enough, it leads to murder.