GRUELING MEDICAL EXPERIMENTS

NOT YOUR AVERAGE FLU SHOT

• In the lush and lavish life of the 21 Century, when we think of the term medical experiments, we may often think of testing animals for a new perfume, or even testing a new prescription drug for a common cold or flu.

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• However, during the reign of Adolf Hitler and the extremist political group The Nazis, a different picture comes to mind.

Thesis

• Following the construction of Death and Concentration camps during Hitler's rule of Germany, hundreds of German physicians conducted inhumane and horrendous medical experiments on over 7,000 prisoners; all in attempt to seek out evidence further radical racial ideology and "better" the supposed Aryan race.

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• Before enacting the Final Solution plan to exterminate any and all Jews, (along with the Polish, African Americans, Gypsies, Prisoners of War ,Homosexuals and many others), the Nazi Party found new and innovative ways to exterminate Jews while also providing research for various medical questions of interest.

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• Several concentration camps, such as Auschwitz and Ravensbrueck, found it in good favor to conduct highly lethal and inhumane medical experiments to test a wide range of topics. Throughout a total of more than 70 experiments, they can be divided into three main topics: Finding a cure for commonplace disease, finding ways for the survival of German Troops, and finally, proving the Nazi racial ideology.

Medical Procedures

• Although very few kinds of these experiments were actually enacted, the testing of new cures for medical diseases took the lives of over 250 Jews and Gypsies. These type of experiments focused primarily on find cures for diseases such as Tuberculosis, yellow fever, malaria and many more, while also finding ways to transfer limbs to amputees and finding an antidote for gas poisoning.

Dr. Kurt Heissmeyed

• The main example of this obscene horror was conducted by physician Doctor. Kurt Heissmeyed at Neuengamme concentration camp. Heissmeyed's main goal was to find a way to cure tuberculosis, while also testing to see if humans had a natural immunity to the diseases.

Dr. Kurt Hessimeyed

• After injecting over 250 children and adults with live tubercula bacilli into their lungs, the Doctor would then try and find a successful cure, and after several days, would leave the patient to die. Towards the end of the war, 200 adult patients had been killed by the disease, and 20 children were hung at Auschwitz Death camps to hide Heissmeyed's cruel experiments.

Troop Survival

• Along with these horrifying disease experiments, another cruel torture for the victimless Jews was survival tests. These experiments were aimed at improving troop survival for Nazi soldiers in the Russian and American front. Out of all the tested experiments, the most popular were: finding a cure for hypothermia, high altitude experiments, and ultimately the most painful, making seawater drinkable.

Hypothermia Experiments

• A major problem the Nazi soldiers on the Russian front often encountered was hypothermia (or, the condition of having inadequately low boy temperature). In order to combat this issue, the German physicians at the camps of Dachau and Auschwitz would often times subject their prisoners to horrific and deadly experiments to test ways to raise the body temperature after having it dropped significantly.

Hypothermia con.

• The main prosecutor of these experiments was Doctor Sigmund Rascher, a SS solider and former physician. When conducting these tests, Rascher would put victims into freezing tanks of water for up to five hours at a time, even sometimes having them strapped down naked outside in the freezing winter.

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• Frequently, these victims (whom were often Jews and Russian P.O.W) would foam at the mouth and then lose consciousness. While this process occurred, doctors would examine and monitor the patients heart rate, temperature muscle reflexes, and many other factors.

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• After the patients body temperature dropped to around 70 degrees Fahrenheit Rascher and his team would then find ways to raise the patients body temperature back to normal. Some of these methods included blistering sun lamps, scalding baths, or even forcing female prisoners to engage in kudus with these victims.

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• In the end, the doctors found that overall, sun lamps were the best cure, despite the hundreds of people that died from these experiments.

High Altitude

• Besides conducting freezing experiments, in 1942 Doctor Sigmund Rascher also carried out high altitude tests, meant to see the highest altitude a team with a broken fighter jet could exceed before they could parachute to safety.

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• Rascher and his team at Dachau Concentration camp would put Jewish inmates into chambers that simulated altitudes as high as 68,000 feet high. The doctors would examine the patients physiological response while also dissecting there brains to prove that the sick feeling was caused by tiny bubbles in the blood vessels.

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• After all these horrors, 80 out of the 200 patients died, while the rest were later murdered.

Seawater

• One of the biggest quests during the era of the 20th (and still part of the 21) Century was finding a way to take seawater (which is 3.5% salt and extremely detrimental to consume) , and turn it into accessible and drinkable water for humans. As such a quest, during the years at Dachau Concentration camp, Doctor Hans Eppinger sought out a way to prove that seawater could become potable.

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• Eppinger selected approximately 90 Gypsies and forced them to drink nothing but seawater, while providing them with no food or any other substances. Some report from SS doctors say that some of the victims became so dehydrated and desperate for water, that they would lick the freshly mopped floors just for an once of freshwater.

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• Although these projects had little scientific backing and lacked a way to turn the water into something drinkable, they still are considered one of the most pain wrenching and miserable experiments during the Holocaust.

Auschwitz

• Out of the over 20,000 concentration and death camp during the years of the Holocaust, the most well known and most deadly death camp is known to be Auschwitz, responsible for the mass murder of over 1.1 million Jews, pols, and many other innocent victims.

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• Out of the over 20,000 concentration and death camp during the years of the Holocaust, the most well known and most deadly death camp is known to be Auschwitz, responsible for the mass murder of over 1.1 million Jews, pols, and many other innocent victims.

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• However, this giant camp (which had to be divided into three sections and several subsections) was not just the main gassing center during the execution of The Final Solution, but also for some of the most grueling medical experiments said to ever be conducted.

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• Run entirely by German physician Doctor Josef Mengele, whom would pick out victims of Gypsies decent, those with abnormalities such as dwarfism, and Mengele's particular favorite, twins. In order to easily lure these patients, especially those whom were children, Mengele told them they would be receiving "special care", to which parents enthusiastically agreed, and many patients even volunteered themselves for.

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• Before the experiments, the patients would stay much cleaner barracks, were given three course meals, and were even allowed to keep their regular clothes. However, despite all the positive outlook, it was only a cover for the obscene horrors that these victims were soon to endure.

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• Besides being famous for causing the murder of (number) Jews and others during the Holocaust, the Nazi party is ultimately most remembered for their raical and often slurred ideology. As such, in order to seek out evidence to support and prove these fanatical ideals. Although there were several types of experiments testing Nazi ideology, the most astounding are that of mass scale sterilization, race testing, and twins.

Sterlization

• Said to have been the first type of medical experiments during the years of the Holocaust, large scale sterilization was the Nazi's extreme way to stop the advance of other inferior races by preventing them from breeding and eventually stopping there further population overall. After mass individual sterilizations of both men and women during the early years prier to the war, doctors searched endlessly for new and innovative ways to quickly sterilize mass quantities of Jews in the shortest amount of time as possible.

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• The main experiments conducted were at Auschwitz and Ravensbrueck, were several methods for sterilization were tested to find the most effective procedure . Out of all the tests used by the doctors, the most gruesome for males was the process of radiating the genitalia, after which they would then castrate the victims to study them for further research.

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• However, the most efficient (and deadly) method for female victims was much more painful and often caused internal pain, bleeding, and stomach spasms. During the course of these experiments, only 300 women survived, to which they were then gassed.

Twins

• Twins have always been one of the most interesting phenomenon that has puzzled humans for all of history. How is their genetic makeup equal? How does the human body produce twins? These, along with several others, are the background questions for the topic of research conducted at Auschwitz death camp during the Holocaust.

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• According to some, the experimentation by Josef Mengele on twins is said to be by far the most interesting and painful experimentation out of all of the experiments conducted during the Holocaust.

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• A German physician and SS doctor, Josef Mengele was reported to have an unhealthy obsession with seeking information on the miraculous sensation of twins. So In order to combat his thirst, Mengele would undergo experiments on pairs of twins to find the secrets of multiple birth and figure a way to multiple the Aryan race. Some of the more deadly and torturous tests Mengele conducted included dissecting organs, injecting toxins into their eyes to change their eye colors, and stitching and removing body parts and limbs to one another.

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• However, nothing is said to have compared to the torturous "Siamese" twin created by Mengele himself. Curious as to whether or not a man-made Siamese twin could be created, Mengele took a pair of twin little girls around the ages of 6, an then proceeded to remove their orangs and stich them together through the side and back area. Eventually, after three painstaking days of pure shrieking and wailing, the twin died due to organ failure.

Dr. Josef Mengele

• Out of all the Physicians and Doctors responsible for these cruel and horrendous acts, none was worse (in terms of cruelty and death count) AS Doctor Josef Mengele, a former German Physician and a high ranking official in the SS. What notably sets Mengele apart from other Nazi Doctors was him extreme politeness and patience towards the prisoners (especially women and children), and his extreme obsession with twins.

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• Doctor Josef Mengele is considered a rare figure in the Holocaust as not only did he experiment on twins, but he also commanded the gassing decision process at the front gates at Auschwitz. As the freshly imported Jews would be dropped off at the supposed "cheery" gates. Mengele would then examine every prisoner and assign them to either a right line or a left line; one meaning freedom and a chance of survival, and the other meaning immediate gassing.

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• However, not only did he act very patient and protective of the ladies, but it was also reported that many of the children often looked up to him, and would call him "Papa” or “Uncle" Mengele, as he was very sweet and even had a "kindergarten" built for them.

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• Despite his kind and loving exterior and personality, Mengele was responsible for some of the most inhumane and horrific tests and experiments in the Holocaust. Doctor Mengele's preferred area of research was twins, where he would inject lethal chemicals into their eyes, amputee their legs, and do many other horrendous things.

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• Often, these experiments were meant to painfully and slowly kill the victims, instead of providing research for the greater good of humanity.All in all, Mengele is said to be responsible for the death of over 400 prisoners during the years of the Holocaust.

Nuremberg Trails

• In fall of 1945, after the war had ended and the camps were liberated, the Nuremberg Trails went into process. These trails put high ranking Nazi officials and their counterparts on trail for their horrendous crimes against humanity and their deadly actions and ideals. However, these trails did not just include SS men and soldiers, but was also extended to the 26 physicans located at numerous camps for there heinous medical experimentation which took the lives of over 7,000 prisoners.

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• When the trails began, only 23 doctors were put on trail, while Auschwitz and sterilization doctor Horst Schumann had been captured by the American army, Doctor Josef Mengele had left the country hiding out in various places around the world (predominantly, Latin America) and Physician Carl Clauberg was later tried in the Soviet Union.

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• After weeks of testimonies and trails, the court reached the conclusion: out of 23 men, seven were sentenced to immediate death, nine were to serve long term prison sentences, and seven were allowed to walk free.

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• In accordance with this decision, the court also announced the Nuremberg Laws, which were a series of ten laws that a doctor experimenting on a patient had to follow for the experiment to be legal. Some examples of these laws included a patients consent to the test along with the notion that no intentional harm would come to the patient without their consent as well.

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• By the end of the Nuremberg trails, most ,if not almost all, of the Nazis had been hunted down and convicted for their intolerable acts against humanity, with the exception of Doctor Josef Mengele. After fleeing Auschwitz on January 17, 1945, weeks before its liberation. Upon leaving, Mengele hid in several places around Europe, before fleeing away to Latin America, to which he and his family lived until his death in 1979 around the age of 71.

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• All in all, though we may wish to forget the horrific incidents that occurred during the time of the Holocaust, we must not forget the 6 million innocent men and women who lot their lives during the Holocaust. Whether it be by gassing our these horrendous medical tests, everyone who died under these horrible conditions must be avenged for their unjust and gruesome deaths.

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