Authors: Leon Uris
Abe sighed and turned his eyes away from his son, dreading to bring up what had been tormenting him all day. “I saw you and Yossi with the military attaché from the Israel embassy.”
“The situation is not good, Dad,” Ben said.
“God damned Russian son of a bitches,” Abe said. “They’re putting them up to it. When in the name of God are we going to have a day of peace?”
“On the plains of heaven,” Ben whispered.
“Ben ... now you listen to me. Son ... for Christ sake ... don’t be a hot pilot.”
21
A
BLEARY-EYED
A
BRAHAM
Cady and his bleary-eyed son entered the court. A man’s lavatory stood between the two consultation rooms. Abe made to the urinal. He felt someone next to him and looked over his shoulder. It was Adam Kelno.
“Here’s one pair of Jewish balls you’re not getting,” he said.
“Silence!”
Helene Prinz was small and pertly dressed and moved into the courtroom with more assurance than any of the other women. Although outwardly she was the leader of them, Sheila felt she was extremely high strung and the most apt to break.
Through a French translator she said that she was from Antwerp, gave her birth date in 1922, and read off her tattoo number. It had been done many times but never failed to affect those who saw it.
“You continued to carry your maiden name of Blanc-Imber even though you and your sister Tina were married after the outbreak of the war.”
“Well, we were not really married. You see, the Germans were sending away married couples so both my sister and I took our vows in a secret ceremony by a rabbi but it was never officially registered. Both our husbands perished at Auschwitz. I married Pierre Prinz after the war.”
“Am I given leave to lead the witness?” Bannister asked.
“No objection.”
“You were taken to Barrack III in the spring of 1943 with your sister Tina and subjected to irradiation treatment. Now, so this is quite clear, this was all done some time before the two other sets of twins the Lovino and Cardozo sisters from Trieste arrived at the barrack.”
“That is quite correct. We were irradiated and operated on quite some time before the other twins arrived.”
“At that time a female doctor, a Polish woman, Gabriela Radnicki, was in charge. She is the one who committed suicide and was replaced by Maria Viskova?”
“That is correct.”
“Now then, a month or so after you were irradiated you were taken to Barrack V and will you tell us what happened?”
“Dr. Boris Dimshits examined us.”
“How did you know it was Dr. Dimshits?”
“He introduced himself.”
“Do you recall his appearance?”
“He seemed very old and somewhat feeble and absent-minded and I remember his hands were covered with eczema.”
“Yes, continue please.”
“He sent Tina and me back to Barrack III. He said our irradiation wound had not healed sufficiently to undergo an operation.”
“Was anyone else present?”
“Voss.”
“Well, did Voss protest and tell him to operate anyhow?”
“He complained, but he did nothing. After two weeks the black spots faded and we were taken back to Barrack V. Dr. Dimshits said he was going to operate on us and promised us he would leave a healthy ovary. I was injected in the arm and it made me very sleepy. Then, I remember being wheeled into an operating room, and I was put to sleep.”
“Do you know what kind of anesthetic you were given?”
“Chloroform.”
“How long were you bedridden after this operation?”
“Many, many weeks. I had complications. Dr. Dimshits visited us often but could hardly see in the semi-darkness. He was failing fast.”
“And afterward you heard that he had been sent to the gas chamber?”
“Yes.”
“And Dr. Radnicki committed suicide.”
“Yes, in the barrack.”
“And towards the latter part of the year after the Lovino and Cardozo sisters came to Barrack III you were submitted to X-ray again.”
“This time Tina and I became frantic.”
She described the scene of bedlam in the waiting room of Barrack V. “I struggled. Tina and I fought not to be separated, but they held me and injected my spine. I was injected but my body did not become numb. I could still feel everything.”
“It did not take effect?”
“No.”
“And when you were taken into the operating room you were not given anything to put you under, were you?”
“I was terrified. I could feel everything, and I told them that. I was able to sit up and get off the table. Two of them twisted my arms behind me and dragged me back on the table. The doctor hit me in the face several times and across my breast and shouted at the top of his lungs. ‘
Verlichte Judin
...
you damned Jewess.
’ I begged him to kill me for I could not stand the pain. Only because of Dr. Tesslar was I able to survive.”
“Were you quite ill after the operation?”
“I ran a very high fever and was half out of my mind. I remember through the haze hearing Tina screaming ... and then I heard nothing. I don’t know how much time passed until I was able to think clearly. It may have been days. I asked about Tina, then Dr. Viskova told me Tina died of a hemorrhage the first night.”
She swayed and her fists pounded on the witness box rail. Suddenly she sprang to her feet and pointed down to Adam Kelno. “Murderer! Murderer!” A wail of agony shrieked out from her.
Abe pushed down the aisle knocking people out of his way. “That’s enough!” He shoved past the press box and put his arms around her. “I’m taking her out of here,” he said.
The usher looked to the judge, who gestured to leave them alone, and as Abe half carried her from the courtroom she cried that she had failed him.
Gilray wanted to start a speech admonishing the scene and serving warning, but he was unable to. “Are you going to wish to cross-examine the witness, Sir Robert?”
“No. The witness is obviously too distressed to carry on.”
“The jury has seen and heard all this,” the judge answered. “They aren’t apt to forget it. Members of the jury,” Gilray said in a drained and tired voice, “Sir Robert has made the kind of gesture one would expect of an English barrister. When I am summarizing the evidence for you later I will ask you in all sense of fair play to bear in mind that there was no cross-examination of this witness. Shall we stand adjourned?”
22
“I
SHOULD LIKE TO
call to the stand, Mr. Basil Marwick,” Brendon O’Conner said. Marwick was totally British of the old school in dress and manner. He took the oath on the New Testament. Marwick gave his name and a Wimpole Street address. It was established that he had a long credential as an anesthesiologist, teacher, and author of numerous papers covering a period of twenty-five years.
“Would you explain to my Lord and the jury the two major types of anesthetics? “
“Certainly. There is the general anesthetic in which the patient is rendered unconscious and the local anesthetic to deaden the part of the body being operated on.”
“And a surgeon, of course, makes the choice and he would make it alone if there were no anesthetist for consultation.”
“Yes. Sometimes he may give a combination.”
“What general anesthetics, those to render a patient unconscious, were available in the early forties in Central and Eastern Europe?”
“Ether, ethyl chloride, chloroform, Evipal, nitrous oxide mixed with oxygen, and others.”
“I must rise,” Highsmith said. “We have heard testimony from two surgeons at Jadwiga that general anesthetic was not usually available.”
“And we dispute that,” O’Conner snapped back.
“I see,” Gilray mused. “You are suggesting general anesthetic was readily available in Jadwiga.”
“Well, we’ve heard testimony from Dr. Kelno’s own witnesses that they were put under,” O’Conner said. “You heard the testimony of Mrs. Prinz that in her first operation by Dr. Dimshits she was put under. I suggest that Dr. Kelno found no general anesthetic available only when it came to his Jewish patients.”
“Mr. O’Conner, I’m going to allow you to continue, but I suggest you are on thin ice. I am advising the members of the jury that until this is entered as evidence, this part of Mr. Marwick’s testimony is for the purpose of background.”
O’Conner did not bother to thank his Lordship, but plunged ahead restlessly. “So some of these anesthetics are given for short operations and others for longer operations.”
“Yes, a surgeon’s choice.”
“You have told us what general anesthetics were available in that area of Europe in the 1940s. Would you tell us what local anesthetics were available?”
“Procaine, also known as novocaine, most commonly used by dentists. There was, let me see, percaine and pontocaine and decicaine and others.”
“All used as spinals?”
“Yes. By introduction into the spinal cord it would render the adjacent nerve trunks insensitive or deaden them.”
“Just how is this done?”
“Well, it has been my practice to minimize the discomfort. At the site of the injection I would first inject a little local anesthetic with a very fine needle to deaden the immediate area which will take the larger needle necessary to infiltrate the deeper tissues.”
“Speaking again of the 1940s. Was it standard practice in Poland to first inject the patient with a smaller needle before the main injection?”
“Absolutely. In every text I have seen in that time or today.”
“You heard or read the testimony of four female and six male witnesses who were victims of experiments in Jadwiga. Had you been involved at that time, would you have used a preliminary injection of morphia?”
“I may have refused to be involved. I do not know. But in any event the circumstances called for morphia.”
“Much obliged. And would you have used local or general anesthetic for the operations?”
“My Lord,” Highsmith interrupted. “We are back to the same thing. My client has testified that when he gave a spinal he used a preliminary injection of morphia.”
“Which a number of witnesses have disputed,” O’Conner said.
“There is still no evidence before this court that Dr. Kelno performed these operations,” Highsmith argued.
“That’s our case,” O’Conner answered. “Each of our ten witnesses has not been challenged in that Dr. Tesslar was in the operating room. You are aware of Dr. Tesslar’s statement and what he is going to testify to.”
“I am going to give the same ruling,” Gilray said. “The jury will consider all of this as hypothetical expert testimony as to general background and not evidence. When I instruct you later I’ll define what evidence was brought forth on whether or not Dr. Kelno performed the operations in question.”
“But would you say,” O’Conner insisted, “that you would use a general anesthetic?”
“Yes.”
“Not a spinal?”
“No.”
“Well, exactly why would you put them under?”
“For humane reasons.”
“If there were no preliminary injection is a spinal likely to be painful?”
“Acutely painful.”
“How many spinals do you reckon you’ve given?”
“Between fifteen hundred and two thousand.”
“Is it always easy to find the exact site to inject the larger needle.”
“No, one must take great care about that.”
“Well, would you carry out a spinal if the patient is screaming and struggling?”
“Certainly not.”
“Why?”
“The actual placing of the needle must be done with extreme accuracy. It is inserted between two bones with very little room to maneuver. It must be in midline and angulated to the curvature of the patient’s back. One simply cannot do it without the total cooperation of the patient. I’d say it was impossible. You see, any violent movement of the patient could run the risk of breaking the needle.”
“You heard testimony that a needle broke. What would happen then?”
“If it breaks beneath the skin it could be a frightful disaster. It could cause permanent injury if not retrieved successfully. The pain would be unbearable. Of course if the needle breaks outside, you’d pull it out of the skin.”
“You’ve heard or read testimony that several of these people still feel the pain today.”
“Considering how they said they were treated, I’d rather suspect they do feel it.”
“Do you have with you in court the kind of needles used in 1940?”
Marwik produced a kit and showed the fine needle for the preliminary injection and then the larger one. They were marked as an exhibit and passed to the jury. The maneuver had its effect by the grimaces as the needle was passed from one to the other.
“Now, in the application of a spinal, we are very concerned, are we not, that the anesthetic stay in the lower part of the body?”
“Yes. If it rises and, say, reaches the nipple line it could produce a fall in blood pressure resulting in the brain being deprived of blood and the patient would become dizzy and faint.”
“You heard the testimony of Mr. Bar Tov that he passed out. Was it likely because of this?”
“Oh yes.”
“And you heard the other witnesses say they were quite conscious. Does this surprise you?”
“Not from their testimony.”
“Is morphia always given in surgery?”
“Always.”
“Would you expect people premedicated with morphia to stand in a queue and wait for their operation?”
“Of course not.”
“And if they were ill nourished and debilitated by brutal treatment would morphia tend to be more effective?”
“They would be very dazed by it, all right.”
“It would certainly be difficult for them to struggle with morphia.”
“They could, I suppose, but not effectively.”
“No further questions.”
Highsmith arose as the needle left the jury box and was placed on the associate’s table. The shorthand writers changed as Adam Kelno seemed fixed on the kit. His hands drew up as though for an instant he had an unstoppable urge to take up the needle. Smiddy tapped his wrist and his attention turned to Marwick.
“Mr. Marwick, did you read or hear testimony of Dr. Boland given in behalf of Dr. Kelno?”