Nazi human experimentation 447856 224255298 2008-07-08T00:45:09Z Thijs!bot 1392310 robot Modifying: [[es:Experimentación médica nazi]] {{Nazism}} '''Nazi human experimentation''' was medical [[human experimentation|experimentation on large numbers of people]] by the [[Germany|German]] [[National Socialist German Workers Party|Nazi regime]] in its [[concentration camp]]s during [[World War II]]. At [[Auschwitz concentration camp|Auschwitz]], under the direction of [[Eduard Wirths|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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10005168 |title=Nazi Medical Experimentation |accessdate=2008-03-23 |work= US Holocaust Memorial Museum}}</ref> 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]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Medical Experiment |work=Jewish Virtual Library |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/medtoc.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Doctors Trial: The Medical Case of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings |work=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=http://www.ushmm.org/research/doctors/indiptx.htm |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref>, 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 [[Josef Mengele]], who performed experiments on over 1,500 sets of imprisoned twins, of which fewer than 200 individuals survived the studies.<ref>[http://www.longwood.k12.ny.us/lhs/science/mos/twins/mengele.html 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.</ref> Whilst attending [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich|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".<ref>{{cite web |author=Lynott, Douglas B. |title=Dr. Josef Mengele |work=The Crime Library |url=http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/mengele/nazi_3.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> 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 a thesis entitled "Racial Morphological Research on the Lower Jaw Section of Four Racial Groups", which suggested that a person's race could be identified by the shape of the jaw.<ref name=Wyschogrod>{{cite book |last=Wyschogrod |first=Edith |title=Crossover Queries: Dwelling with Negatives, Embodying Philosophy's Others |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HnBniBgWylYC&pg=PA560&lpg=PA560&dq=%22racial+morphological+research+on+the+lower+jaw+section+of+four+racial+groups%22&source=web&ots=ug5X54WxDq&sig=LFW_Zxj4zeuolpgwIhfeS-NfiOw |accessdate=2008-01-04 |year=2006 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=0823226077 }}</ref> 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 [[1943]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Josef Mengele |work=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007060 |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> There, Mengele organized [[genetics|genetic]] experiments on twins. The twins were arranged by age and sex and kept in [[barrack]]s between experiments, which ranged from injection of different chemicals into the eyes of twins to see whether it would change their colors to literally sewing twins together to try creating [[conjoined twins]].<ref name="WEAK">{{cite book |last=Black |first=Edwin |title=War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qfliJPdl9V4C&pg=PA358&lpg=PA358&dq=mengele+conjoined+sew&source=web&ots=YCXtN_WdTt&sig=jvObL5km02rlette5vbexaDBrFc&hl=en |accessdate=2008-04-14 |date=2004 |publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press |location=United States |isbn=1568582587}}</ref><ref name=Berenbaum194>{{cite book |author=Berenbaum, Michael |title=The world must know: the history of the Holocaust as told in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |publisher=Little, Brown |location=Boston |year=1993 |pages=p. 194–5 |isbn=0-316-09134-0 |oclc= |doi=}}</ref> ===Freezing experiments=== [[Image:Dachau cold water immersion.jpg|right|thumb|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.<ref name=Bogod>Bogod, David. [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2044.2004.04034.x "The Nazi Hypothermia Experiments: Forbidden Data?"], ''Anaesthesia'', Volume 59 Issue 12 Page 1155, December 2004.</ref> 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 (World War II)|Eastern Front]], as the German forces were ill prepared for the bitter cold. The experiments were conducted under the supervision of [[Dachau concentration camp|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". <ref name="NOVA">{{cite web |author=Tyson, Peter |title=Holocaust on Trial: The Experiments |work=NOVA Online |url= http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/holocaust/experiside.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> 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).<ref>{{cite web |title=The Doctors Trial: Testimony |work=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=http://www.ushmm.org/research/doctors/miechptx.htm |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> ===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 gland]]s 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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Distel, Barbara |title=Text of Museum booklet about Dachau Concentration Camp |date=1972 |work=Scrapbookpages.com |url=http://www.scrapbookpages.com/DachauScrapbook/DachauGuidebookText.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> ===Mustard gas experiments=== At various times between September 1939 and April 1945, experiments were conducted at [[Sachsenhausen concentration camp|Sachsenhausen]], [[Natzweiler]], and other camps to investigate the most effective treatment of wounds caused by [[sulfur mustard|mustard gas]]. Mustard gas wounds were inflicted on the subjects, who were then tested to find the most effective treatment for the wounds.<ref name="trials">{{cite web |title=Introduction to NMT Case 1: U.S.A. v. Karl Brandt et al. |work= Harvard Law Library, Nuremberg Trials Project: A Digital Document Collection|url=http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/php/docs_swi.php?DI=1&text=medical |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> ===Sulfonamide experiments=== From about July 1942 to about September 1943, experiments to investigate the effectiveness of [[sulfonamide (medicine)|sulfonamide]], a synthetic antimicrobial agent, were conducted at Ravensbrück.<ref name="Schaefer"> Schaefer, Naomi. ''[http://www.thenewatlantis.com/archive/5/schaefer.htm The Legacy of Nazi Medicine]'', ''The New Atlantis'', Number 5, Spring 2004, pp. 54-60.</ref> Wounds inflicted on the subjects were infected with [[bacterium|bacteria]] such as ''[[Streptococcus]]'', [[gas gangrene]], and [[tetanus]]. <ref name=Spitz>{{cite book |last=Spitz |first=Vivien |title=Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=_VH-7oeT4lEC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4&dq=sulfonamide+nazi+tetanus&source=web&ots=7OMyTBC1eF&sig=A_3K9WRxdMyS4j7qWAaXpK0m7GE |accessdate=2008-01-04 |year=2005 |publisher=Sentient Publications |isbn=1591810329 }}</ref> 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 Roma were deprived of food and given nothing but sea water to drink by [[Hans Eppinger|Dr. Hans Eppinger]], leaving them gravely injured.<ref name="NOVA"/> They were so dehydrated that others observed them licking freshly mopped floors in an attempt to get drinkable water.<ref name="ETHIC">{{cite web |author=Cohen, Baruch C. |title=The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments |work=Jewish Law: Articles |url=http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/NaziMedEx.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> ===Sterilization experiments=== From about March 1941 to about January 1945, sterilization experiments were conducted at Auschwitz, [[Ravensbrück]], and other places by [[Carl Clauberg|Dr. Carl Clauberg]].<ref name="trials"/> 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 [[medication|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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Piotrowski, Christa |title=Dark Chapter of American History: U.S. Court Battle Over Forced Sterilization |date=2000-07-21 |work=CommonDreams.org News Center |url=http://www.commondreams.org/views/072100-106.htm |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |author=Meric, Vesna |title=Forced to take part in experiments |date= 2005-01-27 |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4212061.stm |accessdate=2008-01-04 }}</ref> Therefore, radiation treatment became the favored choice of sterilization. Specific amounts of exposure to radiation destroyed a person’s ability to produce ova or sperm. The radiation was administered through deception. Prisoners were brought into a room and asked to complete forms, which took two to three minutes. In this time, the radiation treatment was administered and, unknown to the prisoners, they were rendered completely sterile. Many suffered severe [[radiation burns]]. <ref>{{cite web |title=Medical Experiments at Auschwitz |work=Jewish Virtual Library |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/aumed.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> ===Typhus (''Fleckfieber'') experiments=== From about December 1941 to about February 1945, experiments were conducted to investigate the effectiveness of spotted fever and other vaccines. <ref name="trials"/>At Buchenwald, numerous healthy inmates were deliberately infected with [[typhus]] bacteria in order to keep the [[bacteria]] alive; over 90% of victims died.<ref>{{cite web |title=The horrors of Buchenwald |date= 1945-04-18 |work=guardian.co.uk |url=http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,,127783,00.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Medical experiments at the Natzweiler-Struthof |work=Scrapbookpages.com |url=http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Natzweiler/MedicalExperiments.html |accessdate=2008-03-22 }}</ref> ===Experiments with poison=== In or about December 1943 and October 1944, experiments were conducted at [[Buchenwald concentration camp|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 [[autopsy|autopsies]]. In September 1944, experimental subjects were shot with poisonous bullets and suffered torture and often died. <ref name="trials"/> ===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 bomb]]s. <ref name="trials"/> ===High altitude experiments=== In early 1942, prisoners at Dachau concentration camp were used by Rascher in experiments to aid German pilots who had to [[ejection seat|eject]] at high altitudes. A [[pressure vessel|low-pressure chamber]] containing these prisoners was used to simulate conditions at altitudes of up to 20 km (66,000 ft). It was rumored that Rascher performed [[Human experimentation#Human vivisection|vivisections]] on the brains of victims who survived the initial experiment.<ref name=Cockburn>{{cite book |last=Cockburn |first=Alexander |title=Whiteout:The CIA, Drugs, and the Press |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=s5qIj_h_PtkC&pg=PA149&dq=%22sigmund+rascher%22+brain&sig=hik0GQjMaPj9LF-YDkYdp0S9Otc |accessdate=2008-01-04 |year=1998 |publisher=Verso |isbn=1859841392 }}</ref> Of the 200 subjects, 80 died outright, and the others were executed.<ref name="NOVA"/> ==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 examination|post mortem]].<ref name="CHILD">{{cite web |author=Rosenberg, Jennifer |title=Mengele's Children - The Twins of Auschwitz |work=about.com |url=http://history1900s.about.com/od/auschwitz/a/mengeletwins.htm |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> Those who survived were often left mutilated, suffering permanent disability, weakened bodies, and mental duress.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sterilization Experiments |work=Jewish Virtual Library |url=http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/sterilexp.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref><ref name="NOVA"/> 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. However, [[informed consent]] in German medicine was not original to issues surrounding WWII. In 1900, Dr. Albert Neisser infected patients (mainly prostitutes) with syphilis without their consent. Despite support from most of the academic community, public opinion was against Neisser, led by psychiatrist Albert Moll. While Neisser went on to be fined by the Royal Disciplinary Court, Moll developed "a legally based, positivistic contract theory of the patient-doctor relationship" that was not adopted into German law.<ref name="BMJ">{{cite web |url=http://www.bmj.com/archive/7070nd1.htm |title=Informed consent in human experimentation before the Nuremberg code| last= Vollman |first=Jochen |coauthor= Rolf Winau| work-BMJ |accessdate=2008-04-08}}</ref> 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" or if the subject had not given his or her "unambiguous consent" after a "proper explanation of the possible negative consequences" of the intervention. However, this was not legally binding.<ref name="BMJ"/> 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]].<ref name="USHMM">{{cite web |title=The Nuremberg Code |work=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |url=http://www.ushmm.org/research/doctors/code_expl.htm |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=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 |publisher=Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office |date=1949 |work=Office of Human Subjects Research |url=http://ohsr.od.nih.gov/guidelines/nuremberg.html |accessdate=2008-03-23 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="USHMM"/> ===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 [[biomedical research|research]] into the effects of [[phosgene]] gas, has proved controversial and presents an [[medical ethics|ethical]] dilemma for modern physicians who do not agree with the methods used to obtain this data.<ref name="ETHIC"/> Similarly, controversy has arisen from the use of results of [[biological warfare]] testing done by the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]'s [[Unit 731]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Unit 731: Japan's biological force |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/correspondent/1796044.stm |accessdate=2008-03-27 }}</ref> However, the results from Unit 731 were kept classified by the United States and the majority of doctors involved were given pardons.<ref>{{cite book |last=Reilly |first=Kevin |coauthors=Stephen Kaufman, Angela Bodino |title=Racism: A Global Reader |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=E_xkU5a5Ts0C&pg=PA300&lpg=PA300&dq=unit+731+pardoned&source=web&ots=1NObOgO-EA&sig=qeLLZBRtUpooDLMpwszezMK3KCo&hl=en |accessdate=2008-03-27 |year=2003 |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |isbn=0765610590 }}</ref> ==See also== * [[Torture]] * [[Unit 731]] * [[Japanese human experimentations]] * [[Henry K. Beecher|Dr. Henry Beecher]] ==References== {{Reflist|2}} ==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 ==External links== * [http://isurvived.org/TOC-I.html#I-6_MedExp The Infamous Medical Experiments] * United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Online Exhibition: [http://www.ushmm.org/research/doctors/ Doctors Trial] * United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Online Exhibition: [http://www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/online/deadlymedicine/ Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race] * United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Library Bibliography: [http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/bibliography/index.php?content=medical_experiments Medical Experiments] * [http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/medtoc.html Jewish Virtual Library: Medical Experiments Table of Contents] ===Controversy regarding use of findings=== *Campell, Robert. "Citations of shame;scientists are still trading on Nazi atrocities.", [[New Scientist]], [[28 February]] [[1985]], 105(1445), pp.31.[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=11655677&dopt=Abstract][http://www.medscape.com/medline/abstract/11655677] *[http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v14p328y1991.pdf Citing Nazi ‘Research’: To Do So Without Condemnation Is Not Defensible] *[http://www.geocities.com/pennpuab/foundations/naziresearch.html On the Ethics of Citing Nazi Research] *[http://www.garfield.library.upenn.edu/essays/v8p265y1985.pdf Remembering the Holocaust, Part 2] * [http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/NaziMedEx.html The Ethics Of Using Medical Data From Nazi Experiments] [[Category:The Holocaust]] [[Category:Human experimentation by country]] [[Category:Political repression in Nazi Germany]] [[de:Medizin im Nationalsozialismus]] [[es:Experimentación médica nazi]] [[fr:Expérimentation médicale nazie]] [[it:Esperimenti nazisti su esseri umani]] [[he:ניסויים רפואיים בבני אדם בתקופת השואה]] [[pl:Eksperymenty medyczne i pseudomedyczne w Auschwitz]] [[sv:Förintelsen#Medicinska_experiment]]