Medical Knowledge Gained from the Holocaust

During the holocaust prisoners of concentration camps were faced with evil, torture and death every day. Some of the prisoners in these camps were selected for Nazi medical experiments. Nazi doctors performed several different human experiments on prisoners throughout the Holocaust. A specifically horrific experiment was the twin experiments. This experiment was performed by Dr. Joseph Mengele and several of his assistants in Auschwitz. He is known for performing some of the most inhumane experiments during the holocaust.

Did you know the Nazis have been doing research on diseases? In the book, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,” Skloot explains how the Nazis are associated with using prisoners to do research on diseases.

The last very excruciatingly painful experiment was the interrogation and torture experiments. These experiments were supposed to test people’s limits, endurance, and existence. They simulated extremely high altitudes with and without oxygen. Theses experiments were executed in Dachau concentration camp. There were four experiments conducted slow falling with and without oxygen, and falling with and without oxygen.

When looking at the holocaust, it is widely known the devastation and pain that was caused by the Nazis; however when inspecting the holocaust on a deeper level, it is evident that the Jews were exposed to unimaginable treatment and experimentation often overlooked in history discussions. When looking at “Night”, Elie Wiesel was helped by the doctors in the camp when his foot was severely infected; although this is not the experience he had, many Jews were mistreated and even killed by the doctors. Many Nazi doctors that were assigned to Jewish patients were later found to have exposed the patients to horrific medical experiments and unnecessary treatments that commonly led to their death.

These experiments were not only full of hate but also used for the advancement of medicine and effective treatment of the patient. Some were just out of fascination and believed they were for the better of the Aryan race. Injecting prisoners with chemicals, raising and lowering body temperature, and comparing the vitals of twins under extreme conditions are just three ways doctors of the Holocaust used prisoners for medical advancement. Since that age and time we have strived to move forward from that period and time and focus more on the patient's well being rather than the

The ignoble experiments of the nazi regime included exposure to freezing/ hypothermia, tests on the genetics of an individual, exposure to infectious diseases, undergoing of interrogation and torture, most effective and inexpensive methods of killing/ mass genocide, exposure to conditions resembling high altitude, pharmacological tests, sterilization of an individual, the undergoing of different surgeries, and inflicting traumatic injuries on the patent undergoing the experiment. The experiments done by nazis on prisoners were in an effort to find ways to cure burns, hypothermia, infections, and ways to mass exterminate the jews in the most cost efficient way possible.

Usually when you see a red cross you think you start to have positive thoughts but most of all a sense of hope if you are sick or injured. That was not the case with the with the red crosses you would see on the vans parked outside of Auschwitz. Although there were medical procedures being done at Auschwitz, they were not being done for the benefit of the prisoners. This illusion that legitimate medical procedures were being conducted was not only used to deceive the Jews in order for them to not put up any form of resistance. However, interestingly enough this illusion was also for the Nazi doctors to believe that they were doing legitimate medical procedures at the camp. However something that stood out to me was that the first experimentations were not conducted

During the Holocaust, many innocent people were killed at the hands of the Nazis. Although this was a horrific event, some people suffered a fate even worse than death, medical experimentation. Most of the time, these medical experiments resulted in the death of the subject, but some lived. Even though they survived, they were almost always left in excruciating agony and most of the time disabled. The doctors who performed these experiments showed absolutely no mercy and tortured, mutilated, and murdered men, women, and children.

Doctors would conduct these high altitude experiments on prisoners at Dachau. The Dachau concentration camp was one of the first Nazi concentration camps opened in Germany. It mostly held political prisoners or victims who spoke up against Nazi Germany. They would place inmates in low-pressure chambers. This would simulate altitudes as high as 68,000 feet and monitored their physiological response as they died.

The Holocaust in World War II is one the many cases of genocide. Millions of people were killed, or injured during the war. People were held in places called concentration camps. In the camps, people were dehumanized. They were treated like animals, and hurt. Sometimes they were even put through unethical treatments and medical experiments. Medical experiments are often talked about during times of war, as most of the time they are unethical, and a crime against humanity, as in the case of the experiments during the Holocaust. The medical experiments, and the trials that followed were the first trials for the crimes against humanity. The medical experiments of the Holocaust were a horrendous crime against humanity because they needlessly slaughtered

Millions of people lost their lives in the holocaust, a portion of them dying at the hands of corrupt doctors. During the holocaust, over 200 doctors stationed at various concentration camps performed violent, inhumane medical experiments that took hundreds of lives.(United) Experiments were done to further the Nazi beliefs, as well as the performing doctor's own career. For example, experiments benifiting soldiers, and genetic experiments supporting the government's views increased their ranking in Nazi society and allowed the physican special treatment. Similarly, information learned about diseases and medicines could be sold to pharmecutical companies for a profit. (www.auschwitz.org) Consequentally, many of the doctors only cared about

Hubertus Strughold was an extremely knowledgeable man who had great expertise in the field of aviation medicine however, he did not always use his expertise for good and should be held responsible for his involvement in the Dachau concentration camps. Dr. Strughold was listed as one of thirteen people associated with the cold experiments being conducted at the Dachau concentration camps in which “inmates were used, and typically died, as subjects exposed to freezing conditions” in order to see if German pilots shot down into the frigid seas could survive the cold water temperatures and be rescued (Lagnado 1). Strughold claims to have no connection with the experiments, however at a “cold” conference he was documented as stating “it is of

The Nuremberg Doctor’s trial of 1946 involves human experimentation performed by the Nazi doctors. These physicians were accused of conducting torturous “experiments” with concentration camp inmates. During these studies, physicians conducted treatments that were not permitted and caused severe injuries to the participants, and in some cases, participants died as a result of this. Prisoners were left to freeze to study more on hypothermia. Later, during December 9th, 1946 to August 20th, 1947 representatives establish a Nuremberg trial to prosecuted these doctors for the atrocities that they committed and 23 out 15 were found guilty. As a result, the Nuremberg code was created to

Mengele preferred to operate on twins, the greater population consisted of individuals. A lot of his experiments were performed on both twins and regular people. He did a series of experiments which can be used for military advantages. His high altitude experiment was to find out the limits of the human endurance at extremely high altitudes. These experiments were done for benefit of the German Air Force. The subjects were placed in low pressure chambers and had the pressure raised to simulate raising altitude up to 68,000 feet (Commercial Airplanes Have a cruising altitude of 30,000-40,000 feet). Most of the subjects died, or suffered injury related to the extremely high atmospheric pressure. Freezing experiments were also done for benefit of the German Air Force, to learn the most effective way to treat a victim who had been severely chilled or frozen. One type of the experiments used was to place subjects in a tub of ice water for up to three hours. In another set of freezing experiments subjects were kept naked outside for hours with temperatures below freezing, the screams could be heard throughout the camp as their bodies slowly froze. Numerous died in the course of both sets of experiments, those who survived were rewarmed in various means to see which worked best. Mustard gas experiments were performed for the German Armed Forces. These experiments were used to find the best way to treat victims of Mustard Gas. Wounds were caused on the body in various

The wounds were intentionally infected with mustard gas. Some victims died and some suffered intense pain due to theses experiments. The pharmaceutical testing were performed in Sachsenhausen, Dachau,Natzweiler, Buchenwald, and Neuengamme by other scientists. The scientists, “tested immunization compounds and sera for the prevention and treatment of contagious diseases, including malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, yellow fever, and infectious hepatitis,” as said in the Holocaust Encyclopedia. Some prisoners’ legs were amputated or broken. They had also attempted transplants.