Who+were+the+main+Nazi+doctors+who+performed+experiments+on+their+patients?

Throughout the Concentration camps across Nazi germany and Nazi controlled land, there were many doctors offices and infirmaries where painful and deadly experiments were held. Many of these doctors were appointed by Heinrich Himmler or even Adolf Hitler himself to carry out these dreadful experiments.

Josef Mengele, also known as the "Angel of Death", was considered the most notorious of the Nazi Physicians. As the Chief Doctor at Auschwitz, he was in charge of all the deadly operations that took place. When speaking about Mengele, a Historian named Klaus P. Fischer once wrote, "Yet his murderous activities were conducted within the constraints of fanatical order and with mind-numbing padantry, for, according to him, this research had a noble purpose," (Rice 79). He was said to have been deceitful in the way he treated children and his other patients. people say that he would always be nice to children just to send them off to the crematorium.

Over 50 doctors were responsible for the human experimentation during the holocaust. Among these 50 or so physicians, 23 of them were put on trial for there crimes in Nuremberg. Hermann Becker-Freysing was responsible for what are called the "Famine Experiments". His work at Dachau included starving prisoners and then forcing them to drink chemically altered sea water to test if it was drinkable. Siegfried Ruff worked along side Becker-Freysing at Dachau. He was accused over killing over 80 prisoners in high and low altitude experiments. However he was found not guilty in Nuremburg. These two, among others, worked under the high ranking Nazi scientist Kurt Blome. Although he was acquitted in Nuremburg, it is generally accepted that he participated in this experimentation and euthenasia through previous admissions of his crimes. Operation Paperclip.

Some of the lesser doctors of the Holocaust include Dr. Heinrich Berning, Carl Clauberg, Leonardo Conti, Dr. Dering, Auther Dietzsch, Arnold Dohmen, Dr. Eisele, Dr. Ellenback, Berthhold Epstien, Karl Gebhart, Erwin Gohbandt, Kurt Gutzeit, Julius Hallervoden, Dr. Holzloehner, Waldemar Hoven, Dr. Lolling, Theodor Morell, Miklos Nyiszli. Adolf Porkorny, Ferdinand Sauerbach, Herman Stieve, Ludwig Stumpfegger, and others (all people listed were official doctors). Although these doctors were not as famous, many of them were were still in charge of terrible and gruesome experiments. Karl Gebhart wounded his patients and then injected the wounds with sulfanilamide. none of Gebhart's patients survived. Many of these doctors were working under some of the more notorious doctors. Dr. Holzloehner worked under Dr. Rascher and Dr. Finke with the Hypothermia experiments that were performed at Dachau. He would eventually work with Dr. Finke to write a reasearch report called "Freezing Experiments with Human Beings". It is important to understand that there were many doctors who committed crimes against humanity, not just the 23 doctors who were defendants in the Nuremberg trials.

Some of the more notorious nazi doctors other than Josef Mengele include people like Irma Grese, and Karl Brandt. Irma Grese was often reffered to as the "Blond Angel of Death" for the experiments she performed on female patients at Auschwitz. She was often in control of experiments which included the removal of female's breasts. Although not in the Nuremberg Trials, she was sentenced to the death penalty after the war was over. Karl Brandt was one of Hitler's personal physicians. He was put in charge of the early euthanasia program program in 1939. He was the main defendant in the doctor's trial's and was sentenced to death.

By: Matt Kirchner

For a list of some of the doctors and a brief description of what they did, click [|here]. for citation, click here.



A photograph of a large Typhus Ward where many sick prisoners were either treated or killed