In 1932, Jacqueline Morgenstern Was Born in Paris, France. Her Parents Suzanne and Karl Morgenstern Were Owner of a Beauty Parlor in Central Paris
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In 1932, Jacqueline Morgenstern was born in Paris, France. Her parents Suzanne and Karl Morgenstern were owner of a beauty parlor in central Paris. Because of their Jewish background they were arrested by German soldiers during the Second World War and deported to the concentration camp Auschwitz. Jacqueline was separated from her parents and sent together with 19 other children to death camp Neuengamme, Hamburg. Four female adult prisoners, two Polish nurses and a Hungarian pharmacist and Polish doctor Paula Trocki accompanied them. Paula was the only survivor of this group and would later give testimony after the war about what she witnessed. SS doctor Kurt Heissmeyer was eager to obtain a professorship. In order to achieve that, he needed to present original research. He removed the children’s lymph glands and injected living tuberculosis bacteria in their veins, and also directly into their lungs. He intended to determine if they had any other natural immunity to tuberculosis. The children were observed, examined and photographed as the disease progressed. The condition of all children deteriorated very rapidly and became extremely ill. On Adolf Hitler’s 56 birthday, 20th April 1945 approaching British Forces less than 3 miles away from the camp prompted Heissmeyer and SS-Obersturmführer Arnold Strippel to kill the children in an effort to hide evidence of the experiment. The SS-men transported the children to the former Bullenhuser Damm School and lead them to the basement where they were injected with morphine. Then SS-Untersturmführer Johann Frahm tried to hang the children from hooks on the wall “just like pictures”, as he later recalled. However, the children were so light from malnutrition that the rope wouldn’t strangle them. Frahm used his own body weight to pull down on them and kill the children. Just before dawn, the SS-men had finished their gruel work and proceeded to drink their morning coffee. Not one of the children was older than twelve years of age. Only three weeks later, the Second World War ended. After the war, Johann Frahm was convicted, sentenced to death and hanged on 8 October 1946, age 45. SS doctor Kurt Heissmeyer returned to his home in Magdeburg, Germany, and resumed medical practice. He became a much admired, highly regarded lung and tuberculosis specialist. However, he was eventually tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1966 and died one year later. A former concentration camp prisoner recognized SS-Obersturmführer Arnold Strippel in 1948 in the streets of Frankfurt. After a deliberate delay of criminal proceedings he eventually was sentenced to 21-year life terms and served 20 years in prison. Strippel died on 1 May 1994. A memorial in the cellar of the former school has been erected. The room has been kept in its original state. .