Nazi human experimentation

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During World War II, the Nazi regime in Germany conducted human medical experimentation on large numbers of people held in its concentration camps.

At Auschwitz concentration camp, Dr. Josef Mengele carried out medical experiments of this kind. These included placing subjects in pressure chambers, testing various drugs on them, freezing them to death, and various other usually fatal traumas. Of particular interest to Mengele were twins, gypsies, dwarves, and infants; beginning in 1943, twins were selected and placed in special barracks.

Almost all of Mengele's experiments were of dubious scientific value, including attempts to change eye color by injecting chemicals into children's eyes, various amputations and other brutal surgeries, and in at least one case attempting to create artificial conjoined twins by sewing the veins in two twins together; this operation was not successful and only caused the hands of the children to become badly infected.

The full extent of his work will never be known because the two truckloads of records he sent to Dr. Otmar von Verschuer at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute were destroyed by the latter. Subjects of Mengele's experiments were almost always murdered afterward for dissection, if they survived the experiment itself.

While Mengele's experiments were the most notorious, his behavior was not an isolated aberration. Other Nazi physicians also engaged in human experimentation at several concentration camps, including Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, Sachsenhausen, and Natzweiler concentration camps.

According to the indictment at the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, these experiments included:

  • High altitude experiments. In early 1942 prisoners at Dachau concentration camp were tortured so the Nazi German Air Force (Luftwaffe) could find out the capacity of the human body to endure and survive high altitude. A low-pressure chamber was used to duplicate altitude conditions of up to 68,000 feet. Subjects were then forced into these simulated altitudes within the chamber.
  • Freezing experiments. Later in 1942 the Luftwaffe conducted experiments to learn how to treat hypothermia. One study forced subjects to endure a tank of ice water, sometimes for as long as 3 hours. Another study placed prisoners naked in the open for several hours with temperatures below freezing. Nazi experimenters assessed different ways of rewarming survivors. Many people died as a result of these experiments.
  • Malaria experiments. From about February 1942 to about April 1945 experiments were conducted at the Dachau concentration camp in order to investigate immunization for treatment of malaria. Healthy concentration-camp inmates were infected by mosquitoes or by injections of extracts of the mucous glands of mosquitoes. After having contracted malaria the subjects were treated with various drugs to test their relative efficiency. Over 1,000 involuntary subjects were used in these experiments, many of whom died.
  • LOST (mustard) gas experiments. At various times between September 1939 and April 1945 experiments were conducted at Sachsenhausen, Natzweiler, and other concentration camps, to investigate the most effective treatment of wounds caused by LOST gas, a poison commonly known as mustard gas. Wounds were inflicted on the subjects who were tested with LOST. Some of the subjects died as a result of these experiments.
  • Sulfonamide experiments. From about July 1942 to about September 1943 experiments to investigate the effectiveness of sulfonamide were conducted at the Ravensbrück concentration camp. Wounds inflicted on the experimental subjects were infected with bacteria such as streptococcus, gas gangrene, and tetanus. Circulation of blood was interrupted by tying off blood vessels at both ends of the wound to create a condition similar to that of a battlefield wound. Infection was aggravated by forcing wood shavings and ground glass into the wounds. The infection was treated with sulfonamide and other drugs to determine their effectiveness. Some subjects died as a result of these experiments.
  • Bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation experiments. From about September 1942 to about December 1943 experiments were conducted at the Ravensbrück concentration camp to study bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration, and bone transplantation from one person to another. Sections of bones, muscles, and nerves were removed from the subjects.
  • Sea water experiments. From about July 1944 to about September 1944 experiments were conducted at the Dachau concentration camp to study various methods of making sea water drinkable. Some of the subjects were deprived of all food and given only chemically processed sea water.
  • Epidemic jaundice experiments. From about June 1943 to about January 1945 experiments were conducted at the Sachsenhausen and Natzweiler concentration camps to investigate the causes of, and inoculations against, epidemic jaundice. Experimental subjects were deliberately infected with epidemic jaundice, some of whom died as a result.
  • Sterilization experiments. From about March 1941 to about January 1945 sterilization experiments were conducted at the Auschwitz and Ravensbrück concentration camps, and other places. The purpose of these experiments was to develop a method of sterilization which would be suitable for sterilizing millions of people with a minimum of time and effort. These experiments were conducted by means of X-ray, surgery, and various drugs. Thousands of victims were sterilized. (Aside from its experimentation, the Nazi government sterilized around 400,000 individuals as part of its compulsory sterilization program)
  • Typhus (Fleckfieber) experiments. From about December 1941 to about February 1945 experiments were conducted at the Buchenwald and Natzweiler concentration camps to investigate the effectiveness of spotted fever and other vaccines. At Buchenwald numerous healthy inmates were deliberately infected with typhus bacteria in order to keep the bacteria alive; over 90 percent of the victims died as a result. Other healthy inmates were used to determine the effectiveness of different spotted fever vaccines and of various chemical substances. In the course of these experiments 75 percent of the selected number of inmates were vaccinated with one of the vaccines or nourished with one of the chemical substances and, after a period of 3 to 4 weeks, were infected with spotted fever germs. The remaining 25 percent were infected without any previous protection in order to compare the effectiveness of the vaccines and the chemical substances. As a result, hundreds of the persons experimented upon died. Experiments with yellow fever, smallpox, typhus, paratyphus A and B, cholera, and diphtheria were also conducted. Similar experiments with like results were conducted at Natzweiler concentration camp.
  • Experiments with poison. In or about December 1943, and in or about October 1944, experiments were conducted at the Buchenwald concentration camp to investigate the effect of various poisons upon human beings. The poisons were secretly administered to experimental subjects in their food. The victims died as a result of the poison or were killed immediately in order to permit autopsies. In or about September 1944 experimental subjects were shot with poison bullets and suffered torture and death.
  • Incendiary bomb experiments. From about November 1943 to about January 1944 experiments were conducted at the Buchenwald concentration camp to test the effect of various pharmaceutical preparations on phosphorus burns. These burns were inflicted on experimental subjects with phosphorus matter taken from incendiary bombs.

After the war, these crimes were tried at what became known as the Doctors' Trial, and revulsion at the abuses perpetrated led to the development of the Nuremberg Code of medical ethics.

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See also

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References

Jewish Virtual Library: Medical Experiments Table of Contentsfr:Expérimentation médicale nazie it:Esperimenti nazifascisti su cavie umane pl:Eksperymenty medyczne i pseudomedyczne w Auschwitz sv:Människan som försöksdjur i nazistisk forskning

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