16 Medical Experimentation (Holocaust: Auschwitz)
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This article is from the Holocaust FAQ, by Ken McVay kmcvay@nizkor.org with numerous contributions by others.
16 Medical Experimentation (Holocaust: Auschwitz)
Several of the seventy or more medical-research projects conducted by
the Nazis between the fall of 1939 and spring of 1945 were conducted
at Auschwitz. These projects involved experiments conducted with
human beings against their will, and at least seven thousand were so
treated, based upon existing documents and personal testimonies;
there were undoubtedly many more for which no documentation or
personal testimony remains.
About two hundred German medical doctors were involved in the
concentration camp experiments, conducting 'Selektionen,' medical
services, and research. They maintained close professional ties with
the German medical establishment, and used the universities and
research institutes in Germany and Austria in their work.
Dr. Ernst Robert Grawitz, SS Chief Medical Officer, received all
requests for authority to perform experimentation, and obtained two
opinions before passing them to Himmler with his recommendation.
Grawitz used Dr. Karl Gebhardt, Himmler's personal physician, for
one opinion, and Richard Glu"cks and Arthur Nebe for the other. He
then passed his report to Himmler, who took great interest in the
experiments and often interfered with them.
There were three broad classes of experiments. The German Air Force
conducted experiments at Dachau (and elsewhere) dealing with survival
and rescue, including research into the effects of high altitude,
freezing temperatures, and the ingestion of seawater.
Medical treatment constituted a second class, and involved research
into the treatment of battle injuries, gas attacks, and the
formulation of immunization compounds to treat contageous and
epidemic diseases.
Finally, there were racial experiments, including research into
dwarfs and twins, serological research, and skeletal examination. It
is this class of horrors that returns us to Auschwitz.
(Encyclopedia, Vol. 3, 957-958)
During his interrogation of Adolf Eichmann, Israeli police Captain
Avner Less brought up the subject of Eichmann's complicity in medical
'research' projects which had been approved by the Reichsfu"hrer-SS,
Heinrich Himmler, and read three documents to him. What follows is
the text of Less's interrogation at that point...
LESS: I have some photostats of documents that were submitted in
the first Nuremberg war crimes trial, the trial of the
physicians. The sender of this letter is the business manager
of Ahnenerbe. I'll read it to you. "Berlin, November 2, 1942.
Secret. To SS-Obersturmbannfu"hrer Dr. Brandt. Dear Comrade
Brandt: As you know, the Reichsfu"hrer-SS gave orders some time
ago to the effect that SS-Hauptsturmfu"hrer Prof. Dr. Hirt
should be supplied with everything he requires for his research.
For certain anthropological investigations -- I have already
reported to the Reichsfu"hrer-SS on the subject -- 150 skeletons
of prisoners or Jews are needed, and these are to be made
available by the Auschwitz concentration camp." Etc. etc. It's
signed: "With comradely greetings, Heil Hitler, Yours, Sievers."
The second document is a report by this Professor Hirt. "Re:
Procurement of the skulls of Jewish-Bolshevistic commissars for
scientific research at the University of Strassburg." I quote:
"Extensive skull collections from nearly all races and people
are in existence. It is only of Jews that so few skulls are
available to science that work on them admits of no secure
findings. The war in the East now offers us an opportunity to
make good this deficiency. In the Jewish-Bolshevistic
commissars, who embody a repulsive and characteristic type of
subhuman, we have the possibility of acquiring a reliable
scientific document by acquiring their skulls. The smoothest
and most expeditious way of obtaining and securing this
provision of skulls would be to instruct the Wehrmacht to hand
over all Jewish-Bolshevistic commissars immediately to the
military police. The person charged with securing this material
(a young physician or medical student belonging to the Werhmacht
or better still to the military police) is to prepare a
previously specified series of photographs and anthropoligical
measurements. After the subsequently induced death of the Jew,
whose head must not be injured, he will separate the head from
the trunk and send it, immersed in a preserving fluid, in
well-sealed lead containers made especially for this purpose, to
the designated address."
And now the next document. A letter of June 21, 1943. From
Ahnenerbe. Top secret. "To Reich Security Headquarters IVB4,
Attention: SS-Obersturmfu"hrer Eichmann. Re: Skeleton
collection. With reference to your letter of September 25,
1942, and the consultations held since then regarding the
above-mentioned matter, we wish to inform you that Dr. Bruno
Beger, our staff member charged with the above-mentioned special
mission, terminated his work in the Auschwitz concentration camp
on June 15, 1943, because of the danger of an epidemic. In all,
115 persons, 79 male Jews, 2 Poles, 4 Central Asians, and 30
Jewesses, were processed. These inmates have been placed, men
and women separately, in the concentration-camp sick quarters,
and quarantined. For the further processing of these selected
persons, immediate transfer to Natzweiler concentration camp is
desirable and should be effected as quickly as possible in view
of the danger of infection in Auschwitz. A list of the selected
persons is appended. You are requested to send the necessary
instructions."
And now for the last document. "The Reichsfu"hrer-SS Personal
Staff, Field Headquarters, November 6, 1942. Secret. To Reich
Security Headquarters IVB4. Attention: SS-Obersturmfu"hrer
Eichmann. The Reichsfu"hrer-SS has ordered that Dr. Hirt, head
of the Anatomy Department in Strassburg, should be supplied with
everything needed for his research. In the name of the
Reichsfu"hrer-SS, I therefore request you to help establish the
projected skeleton collection. per. proc.
SS-Obersturmbannfu"hrer Brandt." (von Lang, 169-171)
Thus the German government's full complicity in the crimes committed
at Auschwitz under the guise of "medical research" is clear, with a
chain of evidence reaching all the way to Himmler.
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