As the Nazi doctor Josef Mengel once said, “The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe it.” These were the words of a man whose psychotic nature could rival Hitler’s. The quote shows that the prisoners in the camps lived in a world of delusion while they were being experimented, tortured, and/or killed. At each concentration camp, a series of experiments were conducted on the prisoners. In total, there were three categories an experiment would fall under. The first array was the Racially Motivated experiments whose main purpose was to eradicate anyone deemed as an undesirable. Then there was the Medico-Military research which was used to enhance the German army and medical resources. The final branch of experiments were the Miscellaneous, Ad Hoc experiments which were pure torture with no reasoning. In conclusion, the experiments conducted by the Nazis will forever be known as the most inhumane and cruel acts man has done to man.
Incidentally, the Nazis looked at the undesirables as lesser beings making them the perfect guinea pigs for the Racially Motivated experiments. The first and largest experiment conducted under the Racially Motivated category was the Twin experiments. They were led by Josef Mengele, better known as the “Angel of Death”. Josef’s goal was to save the future with “pure people” which were integrated into some of the experiments (Rosenburg). In particular, he had tried to turn brown eyed Jews into blue eyed Germans by making Aryan women give birth to them. However, this goal was far from reachable without furthering the knowledge of heredity and genetics. Thus the Twin experiments began as it was easy to identify and compare certain parts of their anatomy. Twins were not the only kind to be experiments on, the others were anyone with a unique trait (like clubfoot).Eventually Mengele gained a reputation which would make more and more Jews would hide from him. In fact, many would prefer to die at the hands of the gas showers than to be experimented on by Josef. However, if a twin was found then they would be given a special tattoo that would make them one of Mengele’s children (Rosenburg). This would give them an advantage as the everyday life of a twin was different from that of a regular Jew or undesirable. For one, they would have to report every day to Josef’s lab to have blood extracted and on occasion have a blood transfusion with their twin. Both acts were unnecessary as neither provided any data. After having blood extracted from them, a Jew’s anatomy would be measured and compared to their twin’s anatomy. Everything up to the next part was the “easy parts”. The most painful part was when Josef conducted his true research. Josef would dissect a child to examine the insides and if they survived he would stitch them back up, all without the use of anesthesia. Many of the tests/experiments were too painful for the children as they were done while conscious. To think, this was the man who often had chocolates or candy in his pocket to give to “his” children. To make matters seem more revolting, some children even called him Uncle Mengele. The final test was preparing a Jew to become blond haired with blue eyes. First Mengele would inject chloroform directly into their hearts to see if they were worth saving. If a child survived (none ever did), they would have a special blue dye injected into their corneas. However, due to the extremity of the final phase, no one would survive and the death total was over 3,000 (Rosenburg). All of this and more showed why many twins preferred to die a quick death than be one of Mengle’s children.
Another experiment within the Racially Motivated section was the impregnation and sterilization of the undesirables. Both were conducted/led by Doctor Carl Clauberg who managed to treat an infertile woman. When news of this spread, Dr. Clauberg’s reputation grew leading to his recruitment into the SS. His original task was to study reproduction on women with no child-bearing experiences. (Broder). This alone was despicable for he killed hundreds if they were not fertile. To make matters worse, he would tease the women by telling them they were impregnated with animal semen. Aside from this, the experiments did not result in any deaths. The sterilization is another story. This series of experiments were used to make the undesirables infertile or incapable of reproducing. The two approaches to reaching their goals was to expose a man’s genitals to radiation causing the death of sperm while the other method was injecting a caustic liquid into a female. Both would make the subject undergo agonizing pain and in many cases death. All in all, the goals set for the Racially Motivated trails could never be achieved and luckily for the Jews never will.
Germany’s medical and military were one of the best, but the Medico-Military experiments only furthered their power. One part of the experiments was the freezing experiment. In it, the Nazis would put a prisoner into artic cold water while recording the effect it had on the body. This research was used help the Nazi soldiers combat the cold in countries were temperature was near artic like Russia (Cohen). The second experiment was the High Altitude experiment. During these experiments, a subject would be put in a decompression chamber. The chamber was able to mimic the effects of high altitudes. If the subject survived, they were dissected and examined thoroughly. Through this research the Nazis discovered that high altitude sickness was caused by air bubbles in the brain (Cohen). Of the 200 tested, only 80 survived and would later be sent to be executed. One of the greatest of injuries for the Nazi army was the gas grenades. Many countries had used this, especially Russia. It is because of this that an entire series of experiments were known as the Sulfanilamide experiments. In hopes of finding a way to combat these grenades, Jewish prisoners were given war wounds similar to a soldier’s. After that they were treated by a new drug. The drug was pure torture to the subjects because it stopped the blood circulation (Cohen). This would leave the wound vulnerable to infections. It is because of the drug that no one survived in this set of experiments. Ultimately, the experiments managed to enhance the Nazi forces but not enough for them to win the war and achieve their goals.
The last series of experiments that were conducted tested the limits of the human body, mind, and soul. They were called the Miscellaneous, Ad Hoc experiments that had a unique blend of torture and relief. Each subject was chosen and tortured through one of the experiments then taken back to camp if they survived. When they thought they were “safe”, the subject would once again be taken to be tortured (Nazi Medical Experiments). In some cases they would conduct these experiments in secrecy. One form was to put different types of poison into a Jew’s food. Each case varied and the time until they were killed depended on the poison and the person. Some took hours while others killed within seconds. Towards the end of the war, the experiment would be furthered and instead of putting poison in food, they would shoot the undesirables with poisonous bullets. Another part of this branch was the wound experiments. This was the only one with any real scientific reasoning. It is called the Wound experiments and were devoted to finding a cure to hemorrhages. Beforehand, there was already an experimental blood coagulant designed by Doctor Rascher which had a possibility of treating hemorrhages (Nazi Medical Experiments). However, it was highly experimental which is why it had not been used yet. These experiments provided guinea pigs to test the coagulant. The only thing missing was the hemorrhages which was arranged after some SS soldiers shot prisoners in non-fatal areas. Other forms of extracting blood was cutting off limbs. All of this was in vain however and hundreds died. The final series of experiments were the Transplant Experiments. As stated before, this experiment had little to no reasoning and in the end had no results. In the Transplant experiments, the limbs of other prisoners were transferred to another person. People from other experiments were involved in this one such as the people from the Twin and Wound experiment (Nazi Medical Experiments). Once again, the experiments were a failure and few survived. If someone did survive, their nervous system would be completely destroyed meaning they had no control over the limbs. Overall, the experiments stretched the limits of human beings which in some ways helped but in many more ways hurt every being involved.
Once again, the experiments conducted by the Nazis will forever be known as the most inhuman and cruel act man has done to man. For one, the Racially Motivated experiments were aimed towards either making an undesirable “pure” or simply ridding the world of their kind. Secondly, the Medico-Military experiments whose goal was to further Nazi power had been reached but at a high death toll making it seem like anything but a success. Lastly the Miscellaneous Ad Hoc experiments were simply torture with no reasoning. In conclusion, these horrific experiments were done by humans who believed it was for the advancement of the sciences, are examples of events that can never be forgiven and must never be forgotten.
Photos
Twins being examined by a Nazi doctor. The experiment is listed under the Racially Motivated section.
A subject being frozen to test the limits of human. Done under the Medico-Military section.
A subject's scarred leg. Done during the Wound experiment which is in the Miscellaneous Ad Hoc.