Sara Shmalo
Bronwen
Blaney

Medical Experiments in
Auschwitz

In order to understand how brutal and
realistic the medical experiments in Auschwitz were, a modern student,
Stephen M. Scott, is quoted as defining a doctor and noting how such a
modern-day definition of a doctor differs from that of the Nazi doctors
in the mid-twentieth century.  "Think of your family doctor and try
to associate as many words as you can to describe the nature of that
individual.  Most people are able to come up with words like
`compassionate', `professional' and `knowledgeable'.  We count on
our doctors to care for our health and provide strategies toward
maintaining that health.  Doctors are some of the most respected
and intelligent individuals in our society.  So how is it that a
doctor can compromise everything that he or she has learned in medical
school in favor of political objectives and self-interested
advancement?  How is it that a doctor can be transformed from a
healer into a systematic killer?  One needs only to look into the
recent past to see the horrific truth:  doctors were some of the
most instrumental figures in the Holocaust and its atrocities.  It
has been said that "The Nazi doctor was a physician turned inside
out."  Inside the barbed-wire fences of Auschwitz and other Nazi
concentration camps, unthinkable deeds were performed by individuals
whom society puts the most trust
in--doctors.

"Not only were the experiments which the
doctors conducted unethical by nature, but they added nothing of real
significance to medical knowledge!  In order to insure that these
events do not occur again, doctors must understand the pressures and
mechanisms that were operating within the minds of the Nazi
doctors.  Codes and declarations have since been issued to create a
framework of consent and responsibility, and councils have been set up
in order to assure that the events do not occur again.  We must all
face up to the legacy left behind by the Holocaust and its
practitioners.  Understanding the crimes that Nazi doctors
willingly committed under the supervision of the state is crucial in
insuring that this awful segment of history will never be
repeated."

Relation of Medical
Experiments to Nazi Ideology

In Mein Kampf, Hitler states that
"anyone who wants to cure this era, which is inwardly sick and rotten,
must first of all summon up the courage to make clear the causes of the
disease," (Lifton 212).  As the cause of the disease, he was
referring to Jews, gypsies and all those accused of racial contamination
who were supposedly detrimental to the German race.  Thus the first
stage of the medical experiments which led to the gas chambers at
concentration camps, specifically the experiments concerning methods of
"euthanasia" (the medicalized killing of those who were a "danger" to
society), was directly related to and supposedly justified by Nazi
ideology since it purged the German race of its unwanted
elements.

At
places like Auschwitz the killing was regarded as a means of healing
Germany and curing it of the racial disease, thus leading to what has
been called the "healing-killing paradox" wherein SS doctors could get
around issues of moral and ethical conscience concerning their
medicalized killing and experimentation because they equated killing
with healing.  Murder was to them a furthering of their commitment
as doctors to the preservation and enhancement of life, as it was seen
ideologically as purification (Lifton 224).  Therefore their sense
of guilt was minimized and, with the support and endorsement of the
National Socialist party, the doctors in question became capable of
otherwise unimaginable atrocities, all because of the twisted way in
which the Nazi ideology interpreted life and
murder.

Within the
context of the struggle to form the perfect Aryan race, the Holocaust
was seen by Nazis and many others as a necessary evil, as the victims
had been reduced to a subhuman level and thus did not deserve to be
treated ethically.  They supposedly did not even deserve to live
unless to serve some purpose, such as medical experimentation or
labor.  Thus the experiments which took place were justified as in
the name of science, and science as defined by the Nazis at that time
concerned any research that could be implemented to help Nazi troops or
to further the purification of the German race.  As such,
experiments either tested methods of sterilization or murder to purge
the race of its "unclean elements", or they tested ways of actually
genetically engineering humans to create the perfect blond-haired,
blue-eyed
race.

Therefore, all
the medical experiments that took place at Auschwitz and other such
concentration camps were done to further the cause of the Aryan race on
German soil.  The same cause was being fought abroad as Germany
waged war and tried to dominate whole countries and cultures to
accommodate Hitler's theory of Lebensraum, the living space necessary
for the survival of his perfect race.

Background on
Mengele

Dr. Josef Mengele, the Auschwitz
"Angel of Death" was for many years one of the most wanted Nazi war
criminals, due to his medical experiments.  This geneticist
disregarded the Hippocratic Oath and sent thousands to their death in
the name of science (Gutman 317).
Mengele's career and
his involvement in criminal medical practices began with his interest in
genetics, which overlapped with Nazi ideology.  The scientific
basis for the theory of superiority of the Germanic race came in the
form of eugenics, a term conceived in the mid-19th century by Sir
Francis Galton, an English professor (Gutman 317).  Galton believed
that the inherited traits of an individual  would benefit society
and humankind by identifying them and improving positive ones while
eliminating negative ones (Gutman
317).

Eugenics did not
become popular until after Hitler's rise to power, when it changed
toward racial genetics.  Eugenics provided the Nazis with a
scientific foundation for removing and killing persons suffering from
mental illness, incurable disease, and the sterilization of those
suspected of carrying hereditary
deformation.

In 1937,
Mengele, a young promising scientist, joined the Institute of Heredity
and Racial Hygiene at the Frankfurt University, headed by Professor
Otmar Freihörer von Verschauer, the academic center of racial
genetics.  Interested in Mengele's work in racial genetics,
Professor von Verschauer hired the young researcher as his assistant
(Gutman 318).

Mengele's
interest in twins dates from his early collaboration with von
Verschauer, who pursued research on twins as "the most efficient method
to ascertain inherited human traits, particularly diseases (Gutman
318)."  Here Mengele acts but does not think.  Verschauer has
a large impact on his ideas and experiments at Auschwitz.  All
experiments Mengele embarks upon can be traced back to Verschauer.
This shows that what Verschuer was not willing to complete Mengele would
automatically do, hence arose the in depth "research" on twins.
Mengele was molded by Verschauer and followed his lead in the search for
an Aryan race.

Experimentation on
Twins

Mengele's "scientific" work at Auschwitz
mostly consisted of identical twins.  His study of twins was
motivated by a desire to learn how to induce multiple births, in order
to repopulate the world with Germans (Lifton 218).  It is seen he
clearly lost sight of the role of a scientist when he used humans as
guinea pigs and specimen samples.  When Mengele was not
experimenting with the twins he was quite gentle with the children under
his care, made sure they received enough food, and even gave them toys
and sweets.  Children repaid him with trust and called him "good
uncle" (Gutman
320).

Beginning in the middle
of may 1944, experimental subjects were picked during selections on the
unloading ramp from among Jewish transports headed toward the gas
chambers (Gutman 321).  Knowing Mengele wanted twins, mothers gave
up their children hoping they would receive special
treatment.
Mengele was involved in four types of experimentation:
anthropometric, morphological, x-ray, and psychiatric evaluation (Gutman
323).

Anthropological
Exam

In the anthropological exam, each body part
was precisely measured; twins were measured together and results
compared.  Documentation includes descriptions of such details as
shape of the mouth, nose, and the auricle, color of the eyes, and
coloring of the skin in various parts of the body.  Mengele
conducted the measurements personally, using the latest Swiss precision
measuring instruments, assisted by Martyna Puzyna, a Polish prisoner and
a doctor of anthropology.  During measurements, which often lasted
several hours, the twins stood naked in an unheated room, which was
particularly exhausting for small children.  Mengele often
personally photographed the objects of his interest or entrusted this
task to the photographic workshop (Erkennungsdienst) in the main camp
(Gutman 323).
-- Morphological, X-ray, Surgical
examinations, and Sight, Hearing, and Dental
checks

In the course of
dental examinations, plaster casts of the jaws of twins were made.
During ophthamological examinations, drops of a liquid unknown to the
prisoners were put into their eyes, which resulted in suppuration; in
extreme cases, children suffered partial loss of sight (Gutman
323-24).  In an excerpt from Children of the Flames Hedvah
and Leah Stern give a description of their experience with the eye
testing.  It appears that these experiments were related to
attempts to change eye color by injecting unknown chemical substances
into children's eyes (Gutman 326).

Hedvah and Leah Stern

"Mengele was trying to
change the color of our eyes.  One day, we were given
eye-drops.  Afterwards, we could no see for several days.
We thought the Nazis had made us
blind.
"We were very
frightened of the experiments.  They took a lot of blood from
us.  We fainted several times, and the SS guards were very
amused.
"We were not very
developed.  The Nazis made us remove our clothes, and then they
took photographs of us.

"The SS guards would point to us and laugh.  We stood naked in
front of these Nazi thugs, shaking from cold and fear, and they
laughed (Lagnado 66)."

Up to 20 cubic centimeters of blood was
collected from each pair of twins.  Blood, urine, stool, and saliva
samples were sent for analysis to the lab of the Hygiene
Institute.  Archives of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum contain
numerous requests for analysis bearing Mengele's signature (Gutman
324).  As part of morphological research, Mengele performed Blood
transfusion between twins, observing their reactions.  Since these
experiments were not preceded by blood cross-matching, they often led to
serious complications.  There is also evidence that Mengele
performed ghastly experiments on children for no medical purpose (Gutman
324).  Vera Alexander, a Jewish prisoner posted to the barracks for
twins in the Gypsy camp, testified:

"One day Mengele
brought chocolate and special clothes.  The next day an SS man,
on Mengele's instructions, took away two children, who happened to be
my favorites: Guido and Nino, aged about four.  Two, perhaps
three days later the SS man brought them back in a frightening
condition.  They had been sewn together like Siamese twins.
The hunchbacked child was tied to the second one on the back and
wrists.  Mengele had sewn their veins together.  The wounds
were filthy and they festered.  There was a powerful stench of
gangrene.  The children screamed all night long.  Somehow
their mother managed to get hold of morphine and put an end to their
suffering. (Gutman 324)"

The documentation of Mengele's research,
including photographs, drawings, accounts, and analyses, was preserved
in special files, one for each person subjected to experiments.
The twins were constantly being tested and compared to one another even
after death.  After weeks of tortuous medical examinations they
were taken to the dissection laboratory.  Using two doctors, each
twin was simultaneously given an injection in the heart, taking their
lives.  They were dissected and their organs were sent to the
Institute of Biological Racial and Evolutionary Research in Berlin
(Medical Experiments 4).

Other Medical
Experiments

Though
the general attitude in the early forties concerning concentration camps
and extermination of Jews was that the whole process should be dealt
with as quickly as possible for reasons of pragmatism, many Nazis felt
that they should at the same time exploit the labor potential of their
prisoners.  However since the whole point of the Holocaust was to
purge the German race of any "inferior humans" in order to create the
perfect Aryan race, if any Jewish workers were to be kept alive they
needed to be sterilized to prevent further racial contamination
(I).

Thus began experiments into mass sterilization
testing operative castration, castration by means of X-rays or
injection, preferably administered through a method that left the person
unaware of the sterilization.  This was all justified by the Nazis
as in the interest of obtaining labor material, and ethics had no place
in the decision or experimentation process as the subjects were
condemned to death anyway (I).  "With no ethical considerations at
issue, a more opportunistic surgical laboratory than Auschwitz could
hardly be imagined (Gutman 304)."

Almost all medical
experimentation received official encouragement as they were viewed as a
direct expression of racial theory and policy, such as that which Hitler
clarified when he maintained the necessity of not just sterilizing but
eliminating "life unworthy of life".  The sterilization and
castration experiments conducted at Auschwitz by doctors Carl Clauberg
and Horst Schumann (Gutman 302-303) were supported by SS official
Himmler as he provided the adequate research materials to the
concentration camp
(I).

Clauberg was the
main doctor involved with mass sterilization at Auschwitz, as the
concentration camp was placed at his disposal for his experiments on
human beings and animals (I).  He worked out of "Block 10", also
known as "Clauberg's block", which was also the site of Schumann's
castration and X-ray experiments on males, trying to develop a method of
cheap and effective mass sterilization of females that could be
implemented immediately.  Clauberg developed such a method by 1943
involving a single injection of a caustic substance through the cervix
that would obstruct the fallopian tubes (II) and was made during the
course of a customary gynecological exam, leaving the patient unawares
and achieving sterilization without operation.  He estimated that
one physician properly equipped could sterilize 1,000 women per day
(I).

Medical experiments that
involved exposing prisoners to freezing temperatures or high altitudes
to determine the affects of hypothermia or low pressure on humans were
typically carried out in concentration camps other than Auschwitz, such
as Dachau.  However, they were of the same nature as the Auschwitz
medical experiments, justified by the Nazis as scientific research that
would benefit their troops.  The subjects would be taken up to high
altitudes, or would be placed in snow or cold water in different manners
to determine the various human reactions to such environments
(I).

When the subject
died, as they typically did, they would be dissected with special
attention being paid to the large amounts of either free air or free
blood typically found in the cranial cavity.  Such were the
experiments performed in the name of science.  Though Auschwitz did
not focus on such things because it was more a concentration camp known
more so for medicalized killing, it still played its part by providing
subjects for other camps' experiments.  Auschwitz not only supplied
such things as skeletons of prisoners for anthropological research (I),
but it also exported prisoners, as the supply therein was so
plentiful.  For example, it sent children away to be used in
tuberculosis experiments and shipped prepared specimens to Dr. August's
anatomical "museum" (Gutman
304).

Many other experiments
were conducted at Auschwitz on a smaller scale, such as Dr. Eduard
Wirth's studies of precancerous growths of the cervix of women, which
involved the surgical removal of most or all of the cervix and often
ended in complications or deaths.  Wirth also tested typhus
vaccines by intentionally infecting prisoners with the disease, as
German military and civilian personnel were particularly susceptible to
the illness (Lifton 218).  One of the more brutal experiments
associated with Auschwitz was that conducted by Dr. Herta Oberheuser,
wherein she would "kill prisoners with oil and evipan injections, remove
their limbs and vital organs, and rub crushed glass and sawdust into the
wounds of the deceased (II)."

Historical Implications of the
Experiments

Besides
resulting in the deaths of countless prisoners, the ruthless medical
experiments conducted as Auschwitz and other concentration camps during
the Holocaust resulted in the Nuremburg and Helsinki Codes.  After
the war was over and the camps were liberated, 24 German physicians were
brought to trial at the Nuremberg Medical Trial, which began in October
of 1946 and lasted until August of 1947.  Eight of the defendants
were acquitted and fifteen were found guilty, of which seven were given
the death penalty and eight were imprisoned.  Dr. Herta Oberheuser
received twenty years in prison and served only ten, and Dr. Mengele was
not even among the 24 accused
(II).

From this trial
the Nuremberg Codes were developed, "a 10-point code of human
experimentation ethics which sets the general agenda for all future
ethical and legal questions pertaining to the conduct of human
experimentation."  These codes were developed to ensure that
history would not repeat itself, but they in time became insufficient as
in 1947 when they were developed, most human experimentation was of a
non-therapeutic design and was more directed to exploring basic
processes.  Thus, in 1964 the World Medical Association issued the
Helsinki Declaration which differentiated between therapeutic and
non-therapeutic clinical research
(II).

The Declaration
did not have an absolute requirement of informed consent concerning
therapeutic research as it introduced the concept of guardianship as
sufficient means of obtaining consent.  Such a condition seemed to
undermine the Nuremberg Codes in that it potentially allowed for the
doctor to take advantage of the patient in acting as his caretaker, just
as the Nazi doctors had in "taking care" of their imprisoned patients
(II).  Nonetheless, between the two declarations much has been done
to define the area of medical experimentation to avoid any repeat of the
Holocaust atrocities, and modern-day doctors remain well aware of the
issues at stake and the necessity for the preservation of human rights
and ethics in every situation.

Works Cited

Gutman,
Yisrael and Michael Berenbaum.  Anatomy of
the
Auschwitz Death Camp.  Indiana University Press:
Indianapolis, 1994.

Lagnado, Lucete Matalon and Sheila Cohn
Dekel.  Children of the Flames:  Dr. Josef Mengele and the
Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz.  William Morrow and
Company:  New York, 1991.

Lifton, Robert Jay.  The Nazi
Concentration Camps:  Medicalized Killing in Auschwitz.
Yad Vashem:  Israel, 1984. p. 207-55.

I.   http://www.vwc.edu/wwwpages/dgraf/nazidocs.txt
II.
http://www2.kenyon.edu/people/scotts/projects/nazi.htm

Works
Consulted
III.  http://www.remember.org/educate/medexp.html
IV.
http://shamash.org/holocaust/images/Krema3.jpg
V.
http://modb.oce.ulg.ac.be/schmitz/Holocaust/medexp01.html
VI.
http://shamash.org/holocaust/images/MedExp04.jpg