The victims of unethical human experiments and coerced research under National Socialism

Abstract

There has been no full evaluation of the numbers of victims of Nazi research, who the victims were, and of the frequency and types of experiments and research. This paper gives the first results of a comprehensive evidence-based evaluation of the different categories of victims. Human experiments were more extensive than often assumed with a minimum of 15,754 documented victims. Experiments rapidly increased from 1942, reaching a high point in 1943. The experiments remained at a high level of intensity despite imminent German defeat in 1945. There were more victims who survived than were killed as part of or as a result of the experiments, and the survivors often had severe injuries.

Keywords: Auschwitz; Concentration camps; German National Socialism; Gypsy victims; Holocaust; Jewish victims; Mengele; Nazi euthanasia; Unethical human experiments.

Figure 1

Malaria card of Father Bruno Stachowski from Claus Schilling's research at Dachau. Approximately 1000 cards were kept back from destruction by the prisoner assistant Eugène Ost. International Tracing Service, source number 1079406301.

Figure 2

Carl Clauberg and Horst Schumann at Block 10 in Auschwitz. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum W/S #67417.

Figure 3

Clandestine photograph of a mutilated leg of the Polish political prisoner Bogumiła Babińska-Dobrowska at Ravensbrück concentration camp. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Anna Hassa Jarosky and Peter Hassa W/S #69340.

Figure 4

Age of victims at the start of experiment.

Figure 5

A gypsy used for seawater experiments in Dachau to test methods of making seawater drinkable, ca. July–September 1944. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of National Archives and Records Administration, College Park W/S #78688.

Figure 6

Start year of experiments.

Figure 7

Victims by start year of each experiment.

Figure 8

Twins Frank (lt) and Otto (rt) Klein attend a world gathering of survivors of Dr. Joseph Mengele's medical experiments at Auschwitz. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum W/S #05586.