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Nazi human experimentation

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Nazi human experimentation was medical experimentation on large numbers of people by the German Nazi regime in its concentration camps during World War II. At Auschwitz, under the direction of Dr. Eduard Wirths, selected inmates were subjected to various experiments which were supposedly designed to help German military personnel in combat situations, to aid in the recovery of military personnel that had been injured, and to advance the racial ideology backed by the Third Reich.[1] 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.

Experiments

According to the indictment at the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials[2][3], these experiments included the following:

Experiments on twins

Experiments on twin children in concentration camps were created to show the similarities and differences in the genetics and eugenics of twins, as well as to see if the human body can be unnaturally manipulated. The central leader of the experiments was Dr. Josef Mengele, who performed experiments on over 1,500 sets of imprisoned twins, of which fewer than 200 individuals survived the studies.[4] Whilst attending University of Munich (located in the city that remained one of Adolf Hitler’s focal points during the revolution) studying Philosophy and Medicine with an emphasis on Anthropology and Paleontology, Mengele got swept up in the Nazi hysteria and even said that "this simple political concept finally became the decisive factor in my life."[5] Mengele’s newfound admiration for the "simple political concept" led him to mix his studies of medicine and politics as his career choice. Mengele received his PhD for his thesis entitled "Racial Morphological Research on the Lower Jaw Section of Four Racial Groups,” which suggested that one could define a person’s race by the shape of his or her jaw.[6] The Nazi Organization saw his studies as talents, and Mengele was asked to be the leading physician and researcher at Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland in May of 1943.[7] There, Dr. Mengele organized the testing of genetics in twins. The twins were arranged by age and sex and kept in barracks in between the tests, which ranged from the injection of different chemicals into the eyes of the twins to see if it would change their colors to literally sewing the twins together in hopes of creating conjoined twins.[8][9]

Freezing experiments

A cold water immersion experiment at Dachau concentration camp presided over by Professor Ernst Holzlohner (left) and Dr. Sigmund Rascher (right). The subject is wearing a Luftwaffe garment.

In 1941 the Luftwaffe conducted experiments to learn how to treat hypothermia. One study forced subjects to endure a tank of ice water for up to three hours. Another study placed prisoners naked in the open for several hours with temperatures below freezing. The experimenters assessed different ways of rewarming survivors.[10]

The freezing/hypothermia experiments were conducted for the Nazi high command. The experiments were conducted on men to simulate the conditions the armies suffered on the Eastern Front, as the German forces were ill prepared for the bitter cold.

The experiments were conducted under the supervision of Dr. Sigmund Rascher at the concentration camps at Birkenau, Dachau and Auschwitz. Rascher reported directly to Heinrich Himmler, and publicized the results of his freezing experiments at the 1942 medical conference entitled "Medical Problems Arising from Sea and Winter". [11]

The freezing experiments were in two parts. First, to establish how long it would take to lower the body temperature to death, and second how to best resuscitate the frozen victim.

The icy vat method proved to be the fastest way to drop the body temperature. The selections were made of young healthy Jews or Russians. They were usually stripped naked and prepared for the experiment. An insulated probe which measured the drop in the body temperature was inserted into the rectum. The probe was held in place by an expandable metal ring which was adjusted to open inside the rectum to hold the probe firmly in place. The victim was put into an air force uniform, then placed in the vat of cold water and started to freeze. It was learned that most subjects lost consciousness and died when the body temperature dropped to 77 °F (25 °C).[12]

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 inmates were infected by mosquitoes or by injections of extracts of the mucous glands of female mosquitoes. After contract, the subjects were treated with various drugs to test their relative efficacy. Over 1,000 people were used in these experiments, and of those, more than half died as a result.[13]

Mustard gas experiments

At various times between September 1939 and April 1945, experiments were conducted at Sachsenhausen, Natzweiler, and other camps to investigate the most effective treatment of wounds caused by mustard gas. Mustard gas wounds were inflicted on the subject, who were then tested to see what the most effective treatment of the wounds.[14]

Sulfonamide experiments

From about July 1942 to about September 1943, experiments to investigate the effectiveness of sulfonamide, a synthetic antimicrobial agent, were conducted at Ravensbrück.[15] Wounds inflicted on the subjects were infected with bacteria such as Streptococcus, gas gangrene, and tetanus. [16] 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.

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. At one point, a group of roughly 90 Gypsies were deprived of food and given nothing but sea water to drink by Dr. Hans Eppinger, leaving them gravely injured.[11] They were so dehydrated that others observed them licking freshly mopped floors in an attempt to get drinkable water.[17]

Sterilization experiments

From about March 1941 to about January 1945, sterilization experiments were conducted at Auschwitz, Ravensbrück, and other places by Dr. Carl Clauberg.[14] 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.[18] Intravenous injections of solutions speculated to contain iodine and silver nitrate were successful, but had unwanted side effects such as vaginal bleeding, severe abdominal pain, and cervical cancer.[19] Therefore, radiation treatment became the favored choice of sterilization. Specific amounts of exposure to radiation destroyed a person’s ability to produce ova and sperm. The radiation was administered through deception. Prisoners were brought into a room and asked to fill out forms, which took two to three minutes. In this time, the radiation treatment was administered and, unbeknownst to the prisoners, they were rendered completely sterile. Many suffered severe radiation burns. [20]

Typhus (Fleckfieber) experiments

From about December 1941 to about February 1945, experiments were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of spotted fever and other vaccines. [14]At Buchenwald, numerous healthy inmates were deliberately infected with typhus bacteria in order to keep the bacteria alive; over 90% of victims died.[21] 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% of the selected inmates were vaccinated with one of the vaccines or nourished with one of the chemical substances and, after a period of three to four weeks, were infected with spotted fever germs. The remaining 25% were infected without any previous protection in order to compare the effectiveness of the vaccines and the chemical substances. Hundreds of the subjects 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.[22]

Experiments with poison

In or about December 1943 and October 1944, experiments were conducted at Buchenwald to investigate the effect of various poisons. 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 September 1944, experimental subjects were shot with poisonous bullets and suffered torture and often died. [14]

Incendiary bomb experiments

From about November 1943 to about January 1944, experiments were conducted at Buchenwald to test the effect of various pharmaceutical preparations on phosphorus burns. These burns were inflicted on subjects with phosphorus matter taken from incendiary bombs. [14]

High altitude experiments

In early 1942, prisoners at Dachau concentration camp were used by 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 20 km (68,000 ft). It was rumored that Rascher performed vivisections on the brains of victims who survived the initial experiment.[23] Of the 200 subjects, 80 died outright, and the others were executed.[11]

Aftermath

Many of the subjects died as a result of the experiments conducted by the Nazis, while many others were murdered after the tests were completed or to study the effect post mortem.[24] Those who survived were often left mutilated, suffering permanent disability, weakened bodies, and mental duress.[25][11] On August 19, 1947, the doctors captured by Allied forces were put on trial in USA vs. Karl Brandt et. al., which is 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. In response, Drs. Leo Alexander and Andrew Conway Ivy drafted a ten point memorandum entitled Permissible Medical Experiment that went on to be known as the Nuremberg Code.[26] 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 disabilities.[27] However, the Code was not cited in any of the findings against the defendants and never made it into either German or American medical law.[26]

Modern ethical issues

The modern body of medical knowledge about how the human body reacts to freezing to the point of death is based almost exclusively on these Nazi experiments. This, together with the recent use of data from Nazi research into the effects of phosgene gas, has proved controversial and presents an ethical dilemma for modern physicians who do not agree with the methods used to obtain this data.[17] Similarly, controversy has arisen from the use of results of biological warfare testing done by the Imperial Japanese Army's Unit 731.[28] However, the results from Unit 731 were kept classified by the United States and the majority of doctors involved were given pardons.[29]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Nazi Medical Experimentation". US Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  2. ^ "Medical Experiment". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  3. ^ "The Doctors Trial: The Medical Case of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  4. ^ Josef Mengele and Experimentation on Human Twins at Auschwitz, Children of the Flames; Dr. Josef Mengele and the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz, Lucette Matalon Lagnado and Sheila Cohn Dekel, and Mengele: the Complete Story by Gerald Posner and John Ware.
  5. ^ Lynott, Douglas B. "Dr. Josef Mengele". The Crime Library. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  6. ^ Wyschogrod, Edith (2006). Crossover Queries: Dwelling with Negatives, Embodying Philosophy's Others. Fordham University Press. ISBN 0823226077. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  7. ^ "Josef Mengele". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  8. ^ Black, Edwin (2004). War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race. United States: Thunder's Mouth Press. ISBN 1568582587. Retrieved 2008-04-14.
  9. ^ Berenbaum, Michael (1993). The world must know: the history of the Holocaust as told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Boston: Little, Brown. pp. p. 194–5. ISBN 0-316-09134-0. {{cite book}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  10. ^ Bogod, David. "The Nazi Hypothermia Experiments: Forbidden Data?", Anaesthesia, Volume 59 Issue 12 Page 1155, December 2004.
  11. ^ a b c d Tyson, Peter. "Holocaust on Trial: The Experiments". NOVA Online. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  12. ^ "The Doctors Trial: Testimony". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  13. ^ Distel, Barbara (1972). "Text of Museum booklet about Dachau Concentration Camp". Scrapbookpages.com. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  14. ^ a b c d e "Introduction to NMT Case 1: U.S.A. v. Karl Brandt et al". Harvard Law Library, Nuremberg Trials Project: A Digital Document Collection. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  15. ^ Schaefer, Naomi. The Legacy of Nazi Medicine, The New Atlantis, Number 5, Spring 2004, pp. 54-60.
  16. ^ Spitz, Vivien (2005). Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans. Sentient Publications. ISBN 1591810329. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  17. ^ a b Cohen, Baruch C. "The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments". Jewish Law: Articles. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  18. ^ Piotrowski, Christa (2000-07-21). "Dark Chapter of American History: U.S. Court Battle Over Forced Sterilization". CommonDreams.org News Center. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  19. ^ Meric, Vesna (2005-01-27). "Forced to take part in experiments". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  20. ^ "Medical Experiments at Auschwitz". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  21. ^ "The horrors of Buchenwald". guardian.co.uk. 1945-04-18. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  22. ^ "Medical experiments at the Natzweiler-Struthof". Scrapbookpages.com. Retrieved 2008-03-22.
  23. ^ Cockburn, Alexander (1998). Whiteout:The CIA, Drugs, and the Press. Verso. ISBN 1859841392. Retrieved 2008-01-04.
  24. ^ Rosenberg, Jennifer. "Mengele's Children - The Twins of Auschwitz". about.com. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  25. ^ "Sterilization Experiments". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  26. ^ a b "The Nuremberg Code". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  27. ^ "Regulations and Ethical Guidelines: Reprinted from Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10, Vol. 2, pp. 181-182". Office of Human Subjects Research. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. 1949. Retrieved 2008-03-23.
  28. ^ "Unit 731: Japan's biological force". BBC News. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  29. ^ Reilly, Kevin (2003). Racism: A Global Reader. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0765610590. Retrieved 2008-03-27. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Further information

  • Baumslag, N. (2005). Murderous Medicine: Nazi Doctors, Human Experimentation, and Typhus. Praeger Publishers ISBN 0-275-98312-9
  • In The Shadow Of The Reich: Nazi Medicine. Dir. John Michalczyk. First Run Features, 1997. (video)
  • Rees, L. (2005). Auschwitz: A New History. Public Affairs. ISBN 1-58648-357-9
  • Weindling, P.J. (2005). Nazi Medicine and the Nuremberg Trials: From Medical War Crimes to Informed Consent. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 1-4039-3911-X

Controversy regarding use of findings

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