When Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist (Nazi) party assumed power in January 1933, Hermann Goering was appointed minister of security. This post not only gave him control of the German police force, but also enormous influence in shaping Nazi policy during the Third Reich. On November 24, 1933, Goering approved the Reich Animal Protection Act, which prohibited the use of animals in any experiment that might cause pain or injury to the animal. As a result, German physicians were obliged to use human beings in medical research. But where did human experimentation subjects come from?
Nazi Detention Camps Imprison 'Enemies of the State'
As early as 1933, the Nazis began constructing detention (or concentration) camps in Germany. Originally, the purpose of these camps was to hold political prisoners. As the Nazis expanded their military power throughout Europe, camps were built in vanquished territories. Over time, the camps expanded to include anyone considered an 'enemy of the State,' such as Jews, communists, homosexuals, sexual deviants, and the mentally ill.
According to estimates by the United States Holocaust Museum (2009), approximately 20,000 German concentration camps were in operation from 1933 to 1945. Although the camps were run by the German military, other personnel were recruited to perform special services. In late 1933, German medical journals openly advertised for physicians to work in these camps.
Using Medicine to Rid Germany of Impure Influences
At one time, medical ethics in Germany was noted for its strict guidelines and regulations concerning human experimentation. With the rise of National Socialism (Nazism) in 1933, however, German physicians openly embraced new policies that promised to rid Germany of impure influences. By 1942, nearly half of all registered physicians in Germany were members of the Nazi party.
Ironically, Nazi policies protected animals more than human beings — especially those classified as 'undesirable.' As Chief U.S. Military Prosecutor Telford Taylor later noted, “If the principles announced in [the Reich Animal Protection Act] had been followed for human beings as well, this indictment [against Nazi physicians] would never have been filed.” But what types of experiments did the German medical profession perform on concentration camp prisoners?
The Scope of Medical Experimentation
German doctors were given free reign to experiment on concentration camp inmates in any way that might help the Third Reich. In general, a wide range of human testing occurred in three broad categories:
- Experiments Related to Disease: These experiments were intended to investigate possible disease treatments (e.g., by direct injection of cancer, typhus, hepatitis, or gonorrhea), injury alternatives (e.g., bone regeneration, limb transplantation), poison antidotes (e.g., 'mustard gas'), chemical burn studies (e.g., phosphorous), or blood substitute trials.
- Experiments with a Military Purpose: These experiments were designed to improve the survival of German infantrymen, airmen, and sailors under battle conditions. Typical experiments included freezing/hypothermia studies, high altitude/low pressure tests, and desalinization/seawater tests.
- Experiments for Ideological Purposes: German geneticist Fritz Lenz always maintained that Nazism was nothing more than 'applied biology.' In this research category, German physicians sterilized the mentally ill, or performed euthanasia on disabled children as well as on the elderly.
Nazi Medical Experimentation in Context
Many accounts of Nazi medical experimentation tend to focus on the specific treatment of Jews in concentration camps. The Third Reich, however, committed horrors against 'undesirables' of all different ethnic, social, and political backgrounds.
Marrus (1999) estimated that German physicians sterilized some 400,000 German citizens after the Nazi sterilization law went into effect on January 1, 1934. Another 70,000 to 100,000 people of all nationalities — men, women, and children — were killed during the Nazi euthanasia campaign that began in October 1939. By contrast, no more than a few thousand victims died as a result of medical experiments conducted in German concentration camps from 1933 to 1945.
By concentrating on Nazi medical research performed on non-German political prisoners, the larger horrors of Nazi crimes against German civilians tend to be overshadowed.
References
-------. 2009. Nazi camps. Holocaust Encyclopedia. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum website.
Marrus MR. 1999. The Nuremberg Doctors’ Trial in historical context. Bulletin of the History of Medicine. 73:106–123.
Taylor T. 1946. Opening Statement of the Prosecution December 9, 1946. In: GJ Annas & MA Grodin (Eds.). 1992. The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code: Human Rights in Human Experimentation (pp. 67–93). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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