Medical Experimentation During the Holocaust

Matis 1

Emily Matis

English 4th Period

Mr. Pitcher

March 14, 2010

Medical Experimentation during the Holocaust

Between 1939 and 1945, more than seventy medical and research experiments were conducted at Auschwitz, Dachau, and Birkenau. Over two hundred doctors experimented on 70,000 to 100,000 victims. These victims were held against their will and the experimentation usually resulted in a painful death. They experimented on twins, dwarfs, pregnant women, children, and anyone with unusual physical characteristics.

These victims were thought to be inferior to the human race. The Germans accepted these horrific practices because of Nazi propaganda. The Nazis justified the torture of their prisoners for three main reasons. They first and foremost wanted to conduct genetic testing to prove that they were a superior race. Secondly, they felt they could further scientific progress through their experiments. Finally, they were hoping the results from some of the tests would benefit their soldiers in the war effort.

Selection

Upon arriving to Auschwitz, the Jews were divided into two lines. Those who were sent to the right line went directly to the concentration camp. Those who were sent to the left line were immediately sent to the gas chambers. German doctors played a big role in selecting prisoners for gassing and cremation. The victims who were sent to the gas chambers were usually children, women with children, all the elderly, and those who Matis 2 were not physically fit. Those who qualified for medical experimentation were sent to the medical building to be analyzed. (Rosenberg)

Genetic

The Nazi’s most important goal was achieving an Aryan Race. This was the main part of their plan. They worshipped men with blonde hair and blue eyes. They wanted to create a race that was purely made up of blue eyes and blonde hair. Blacks, Hispanics,

Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, and anyone else who didn’t fit that category were put to death. Hitler and his followers made a list of rules for the Nazis to follow. They had to be tested to insure racial purity. The tests were very complex, but the Nazis needed propaganda to prove all other races were inferior. They measured heads, eyes, noses, and took blood samples. They basically manipulated the data so any other race was inferior.

For example, “it was determined Gypsies had different blood and were inclined to criminal behavior.” (Korn)

Dr. Mengele was the main doctor who worked with twins. He was often called

“Uncle Mengele” by the children but was known as the “Angel of Death” to his victims.

He would be nice to them by offering them candy and saying nice things to them. Every day, he would have their blood drawn. Sometimes when the kids were very young, they would have to take blood from their necks, which is very painful. Another experiment involved injecting chemicals into the victim’s eyes to try and change the color to blue.

“This resulted in severe pain, infections, and temporary or permanent blindness.” The doctors would also inject a bacteria or a virus into one of the twins through his spine. The other twin would get nothing. If the one twin died, then they would kill the other twin to Matis 3 compare the results. The doctors also performed surgeries without anesthesia including organ removal, castration, and amputation. Dr. Mengele also sewed twins together to try to create conjoined twins. (Tran)

One twin wrote: “One day, my twin brother, Tibi, was taken away for some special experiments. Dr. Mengele had always been more interested in Tibi, I am not sure why – perhaps because he was the older twin. Mengele made several operations on Tibi.

One surgery on his spine left my brother paralyzed. He could not walk anymore. Then they took out his sexual organs. After the fourth operation, I did not see Tibi anymore. I cannot tell you how I felt. It is impossible to put into words how I felt. They had taken away my father, my mother, my two older brothers – and now, my twin.” (Rosenberg)

The pathologist, Dr. Nyiszli performed the autopsies on twins. Some were killed on purpose so they could gather data on measurements right after death. Some of the twins had been stabbed with a needle that pierced their heart and then were injected with chloroform or phenol which caused immediate blood coagulation and death. Then their tissues would be sent to Verschuer for more studies. Dr. Mengele ended up experimenting on over 1,500 sets of twins. At the end, less than 500 sets of twins survived. He was curious to examine genetics and eugenetics of twins. Also, he wanted to see if twins could be physically manipulated. (Tran)

Dwarfs

Dr. Mengele also experimented on dwarfs. A dwarf family, the Ovitz family, was in the gas chamber when Dr. Mengele “saved” them. Because the family had two normal sized sisters, he wanted to conduct some experiments on the whole family. He had their Matis 4 teeth and bone marrow extracted to see signs of hereditary disease because he thought dwarfism was a disease. They were the only whole family to survive Auschwitz. (Tran)

Freezing/Hypothermia/Hypobaric Chambers

Many experiments were conducted to benefit the German troops. Dr. Sigmund

Rascher at Birkenau, Dachau, and Auschwitz conducted freezing/ hypothermia experiments. The experiments were conducted on men to simulate the freezing conditions the German men suffered on the front. Thousands of soldiers froze to death or were debilitated by cold injuries like frostbite. The Nazi high command wanted to help their soldiers. There were two parts to the freezing experiments. The first part was meant to establish how long it took to lower the body temperature until the victim died. The second part was to determine what the best way was to revive a frozen victim. The victims were either put in an icy tub of water or put outside naked in freezing temperature. A thermometer was put up the rectum to measure the temperature. It was learned that most victims lost consciousness and died when the body temperature dropped to 23˚C. (Korn)

“Part of the objectives in conducting tests involving extremes of cold temperature was to determine the best methods in reviving victims close to the point of death. This in itself was perhaps more cruel and inhumane than allowing the victims to die.” (Loft)

Methods included infusions of warm to hot water in bodily orifices, forcing victims to engage in sexual intercourse, scalding hot baths, sun lamp, as well as various experimental drugs and substances. Few survived to undergo a second attempt. The resuscitation or warming experiments were just as cruel and painful as the freezing experiments. Matis 5

Another experiment involved hypobaric chambers. Victims were placed in hypobaric chambers to determine at what point oxygen depletion caused unconsciousness and death. There were hundreds of repetitions to get information for the German air force. They needed this information so they could better understand conditions and better equip their pilots for the harsh conditions they would face on the battle field. (Bulow)

Disease and Infection

Sometimes the Nazis would deliberately inflict wounds on their victims. Then they would apply dirt, bacteria, ground glass or any other things that would cause an infection. The victims were observed for awhile and then the doctor would decide whether to let the infection continue until death, or try experimental treatments and see if they worked.

In Dachau, they used prisoners for malaria experiments. Healthy prisoners would be infected by mosquitoes with malaria. A thousand prisoners were experimented on.

Over half of them died from the experiments.

In one particularly gruesome experiment, 20 children (10 boys and 10 girls) were brought from Auschwitz to Neuengamme (another concentration camp). Dr. Heissmeyer used these children as human guinea-pigs. He removed their “lymph glands for analysis, and he injected living tuberculosis bacteria in their veins and directly into their lungs to determine if they had any natural immunities to tuberculosis.”(Historiography) They were observed and they all became very ill. Just months later, near the end of the war, the doctor decided to kill the children to hide the evidence of this particular experiment.

They moved the children to a different location and taken to a basement. The children were told that they were going to vaccinated, but instead were injected with morphine. Matis 6

They were then hanged from hooks on the walls. They were so light from malnutrition and disease that the hook didn’t kill them. One of the officers had to use his weight to finish the job. None of the children cried.

Pregnant Women

When the new recruits arrived, the pregnant women were sent to special barracks.

In these barracks, premature birth was induced by injection. Women who resisted were put to death. Sofya Isakovna Flax, an ex-prisoner from Cracow gave her story:

“I was in the seventh month of my pregnancy. SS Dr. Koenig, who examined me, sent me to barracks V-3, Birkenau. There were sixty-five women there in similar condition. Three days later I was given an injection in the hip to induce premature birth. The injections were given four days in succession. On the fifth day I gave birth, and my child was taken away.” (Historiography)

In December 1942, Professor Carl Clauberg came to Auschwitz and conducted his medical experiments. He injected chemical substances into wombs. Thousands of Jewish and Gypsy women were subjected to this treatment. They were sterilized by the injections, producing horrible pain, inflamed ovaries, bursting stomach spasms, and bleeding. The injections seriously damaged the victim’s ovaries. The ovaries were then sent to Berlin to be studied. Some of the women who survived could never have children after being experimented on. (Bulow)

Sterilization

From March 1941 to about January 1945, sterilization experiments were conducted at Auschwitz by Dr. Clauberg. The goal of these experiments was to develop a method of sterilization which would sterilize millions of people with minimal time and Matis 7 effort. He tried x-rays, surgeries, and various drugs. Radiation treatment was the most successful. The victims unknowingly became sterile and many suffered radiation burns.

Conclusion

During the Holocaust, Nazi doctors and scientists used human subjects for medical experimentation that more often than not killed the victims. In many ways, the majority who were killed in the gas chambers were much better off than the survivors that had no idea what horrors awaited them. Survivors have testified of these horrors inflicted upon them. Though the medical field has gained some knowledge about how the body reacts to freezing temperatures and how the human body reacts to various infection, the methods used to gain this knowledge are hardly justifiable.

The Nazis had their own reasons for conducting their medical experiments. Dr.

Schuebbe stated, “Of course we, the circle of German physicians,” he said, “were aware of the importance of this job. I still maintain the following: that just as one prunes a tree by removing old, undesirable braches in the spring, so for its own interest, a certain hygienical supervision of the body of a people is necessary from time to time.”

(Historiography) The Nazis felt they were justified in the killings and experimentation because they were trying to find scientific ways to produce an Aryan Race. In their minds, the victim’s lives were worthless because they weren’t like the Nazis. If they gave up their lives to further the race and medical progress, the Nazis felt it was worth it. They also conducted some of the experiments to help their troops by simulating the various conditions and wounds that the soldiers would encounter.

After World War II, in October 1946, the Nuremberg Medical Trial began, lasting until August of 1947. Twenty three German physicians and scientists were accused of Matis 8 performing vile and potentially lethal medical experiments on victims between 1933 and

1945. Dr. Mengele, “Angel of Death” was not among the accused. Matis 9

Bibliography

1.Bulow, Louis. Gate to Hell- Auschwitz.2010.

2.Discover, SIRS. Genocide. 2006. >.

3.Historiography, Holocaust. http://www.historiography-project.com/top/copyright.html. 1946. 2008 .

4.Korn, Joseph. Medical Experiments of the Holocaust and Nazi Medicine. 25 April 1995. .

5.Loft, Ian. Medical Experimentation during the Holocaust. 2002. .

6.Pisar, Samuel. "Out of Auschwitz." New York Times 28 January 2010.

7.Reeves, Erick. "Genocide in Darfur-How the Horror Began." Sudan Tribune (2005).

8.Rosenberg, Jennifer. Mengele's Children- The Twins of Auschwitz. 2010 .

9.Tran, Can. Medical experimentation during the Holocaust. 2002. 2010 .

10.Wallace, Bruce. "Rwandan Genocide Aftermath ." Canadian Encycloopedia (1995).

11. Zusak, Markus, The Book Thief, published 2006 by Knopf