[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9609-S9610]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing 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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