Nazi human experimentation
Nazi Germany conducted medical experiments on prisoners in its concentration camps mainly between 1942 and 1945. There were 15,754 documented victims of various nationalities and ages, although the true number is believed to be more. About a quarter of documented victims were killed and survivors generally experienced severe permanent injuries. At Auschwitz and other camps, under the direction of Eduard Wirths, selected inmates were subjected to various experiments that were designed to help German military personnel in combat situations. These efforts aimed to develop new weapons and aid in the recovery of injured military personnel. The research also sought to advance Nazi racial ideology and eugenics through twin experiments led by Josef Mengele. Aribert Heim conducted similar medical experiments at Mauthausen.
Sigmund Rascher experimented with the effects of Polygal, a substance made from beet and apple pectin, which aided blood clotting. He predicted that the preventive use of Polygal tablets would reduce bleeding from surgery or gunshot wounds sustained during combat. Subjects were given a Polygal tablet, shot through the neck or chest, or had their limbs amputated without anesthesia. Bruno Weber was the head of the Hygienic Institution at Block 10 in Auschwitz and injected his subjects with blood types that differed from their own. This caused the blood cells to congeal, and the blood was studied. When the Nazis removed blood from someone, they often entered a major artery, causing the subject to die of major blood loss. From about September 1942 to about December 1943, experiments were conducted at the Ravensbrück concentration camp for the benefit of the German Armed Forces. In these experiments, subjects had their bones, muscles and nerves removed without anesthesia. As a result of these operations, many victims suffered intense agony, mutilation, and permanent disability. On the 12th of August 1946, a survivor named Jadwiga Kamińska gave a deposition about her time at Ravensbrück concentration camp. She described how she was operated on twice involving one of her legs while in extreme pain.
In 1941, the Luftwaffe conducted experiments with the intent of discovering means to prevent and treat hypothermia. There were 360 to 400 experiments and 280 to 300 victims, indicating that some victims suffered more than one experiment. Sigmund Rascher, an SS doctor based at Dachau, reported directly to Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. He publicised the results of his freezing experiments at the 1942 medical conference entitled Medical Problems Arising from Sea and Winter. Himmler suggested that the victims could be warmed by forcing them to engage in sexual contact with other victims. An example included how a hypothermic victim was placed between two naked Romani women. In early 1942, prisoners at Dachau concentration camp were used by Sigmund Rascher in experiments to aid German pilots who had to eject at high altitudes. A low-pressure chamber containing these prisoners was used to simulate conditions at altitudes of up to 18,000 meters. Of the 200 subjects, 80 died outright, and the others were murdered. In a letter from the 5th of April 1942 between Rascher and Heinrich Himmler, Rascher explains the results of a low-pressure experiment performed on people at Dachau Concentration camp.
On the 19th of August 1947, the doctors captured by Allied forces were put on trial in USA vs. Karl Brandt et al., commonly known as the Doctors' Trial. At the trial, several of the doctors argued in their defense that there was no international law regarding medical experimentation. The issue of informed consent had previously been controversial in German medicine in 1900, when Albert Neisser infected patients with syphilis without their consent. Despite Neisser's support from most of the academic community, public opinion, led by psychiatrist Albert Moll, was against Neisser. While Neisser went on to be fined by the Royal Disciplinary Court, Moll developed a legally based contract theory of the patient-doctor relationship. Eventually, the minister for religious, educational, and medical affairs issued a directive stating that medical interventions other than for diagnosis, healing, and immunization were excluded under all circumstances if the human subject was a minor or not competent for other reasons. This directive was not legally binding but set a precedent for future ethical debates.
In response, Drs. Leo Alexander and Andrew Conway Ivy, the American Medical Association representatives at the Doctors' Trial, drafted a ten-point memorandum entitled Permissible Medical Experiment. It went on to be known as the Nuremberg Code. The code calls for such standards as voluntary consent of patients, avoidance of unnecessary pain and suffering, and that there must be a belief that the experimentation will not end in death or disability. The Code was not cited in any of the findings against the defendants and never made it into either German or American medical law. This code comes from the Nuremberg Trials where the most heinous of Nazi leaders were put on trial for their war crimes. Some object to the data's use purely on ethical grounds, disagreeing with the methods used to obtain it. Others have rejected the research only on scientific grounds, criticizing methodological inconsistencies. Those in favor of using the data argue that if it has practical value to save lives, it would be equally unethical not to use it.
Andrew Conway Ivy stated the Nazi experiments were of no medical value. Data obtained from the experiments, however, has been used and considered for use in multiple fields, often causing controversy. Arnold S. Relman, editor of The New England Journal of Medicine from 1977 until 1991, refused to allow the journal to publish any article that cited the Nazi experiments. The results of the Dachau freezing experiments have been used in some late 20th-century research into the treatment of hypothermia. At least 45 publications had referenced the experiments as of 1984, though the majority of publications in the field did not cite the research. In a 1990 review of the Dachau experiments, Robert Berger concludes that the study has all the ingredients of a scientific fraud. He argues that the data cannot advance science or save human lives. In 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency considered using data from Nazi research into the effects of phosgene gas. They eventually decided against using it, on the grounds it would lead to criticism and similar data could be obtained from later studies on animals.
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Common questions
When did Nazi Germany conduct medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners?
Nazi Germany conducted medical experiments on prisoners in its concentration camps mainly between 1942 and 1945. The true number of victims is believed to be higher than the documented figure of 15,754.
Who directed human experimentation at Auschwitz under Eduard Wirths?
Eduard Wirths directed selected inmates at Auschwitz and other camps to undergo various experiments designed to help German military personnel in combat situations. Josef Mengele led twin experiments to advance Nazi racial ideology and eugenics while Aribert Heim conducted similar medical experiments at Mauthausen.
What happened during Sigmund Rascher's freezing experiments at Dachau concentration camp in early 1942?
Prisoners at Dachau concentration camp were used by SS doctor Sigmund Rascher in experiments to aid German pilots who had to eject at high altitudes. Of the 200 subjects placed in a low-pressure chamber simulating conditions up to 18,000 meters, 80 died outright and the others were murdered.
When did the Doctors' Trial take place regarding Nazi human experimentation?
On the 19th of August 1947, doctors captured by Allied forces were put on trial in USA vs. Karl Brandt et al., commonly known as the Doctors' Trial. This legal proceeding addressed the lack of international law regarding medical experimentation at that time.
Who drafted the Nuremberg Code following the Nazi human experimentation trials?
Drs. Leo Alexander and Andrew Conway Ivy, representing the American Medical Association at the Doctors' Trial, drafted a ten-point memorandum entitled Permissible Medical Experiment. It went on to be known as the Nuremberg Code which calls for voluntary consent of patients and avoidance of unnecessary pain and suffering.