WWII Medical Experiments

Ok obviously the title of this topic is pretty vuage so maybe i should clear up what i was more interested in.

Studying World War 2 is one of my hobbies, and recently iv been learning about a Nazi scientist called Josef Mengele who was one of Hitler's top medical scientists. He was responsible for over 50% of the atrocities and horrors comitted in German concentration camps. But one of his more disturbing experiments was one involving night vision Trials.

In one account i came across it stated that subject had some sort of reflective fluid injected into the back his eyes, i can only assume that Mengele hypothisised that when even the smallest ammount of light entered the patients eye that it would be reflected back through the fluid and obviously enhance the night vision of the person. (kinda like Riddick i guess)

There wasnt really much to go on apart from that. So i was just wondering if anyone had any more information, or knew anything else about this, just because its something that caught my eye (excuse the pun :lol

Ah the "'Angel of Death'' AKA Dr. Mengele

The only eye thing he did that I was aware of was because he was trying to change the colour of inmate's eyes to blue with injections of chemicals directly into the eyeball. Trying to create Ayran traits like Blue eyes I think. He was indeed a monster. He did alot of horrible medical experiments on Twins. One twin serves as a control while the other endures the experiments.

link

quick google'd this but it's an interesting read. plus there's pics of the nazi "doctors"

www.auschwitz.dk...

(Graphic)

[edit on 12/12/2005 by Amorymeltzer]

nazi..._medical.tripod.com/pictures.html

They also did a lot of altitude experiments and hyperthermia experiments too.

A sad story really.

"Foreword
Many lives were lost in the Holocaust, all of them unnecessary. The brutality and inhumanity was magnanimous, and completely barbaric. Doctors have always seemed to be the islands of healing in a world of pain, and they have, through history, been trusted to always help with the upkeep of well-being. This image of the practice of healing was shattered in so shocking a way through the medical practice of the Third Reich, it may never be repaired. One of the worst facts, however, is that many of the criminals that called themselves "doctors" and "scientists" escaped their accusations and lived on, in a normal life, unlike their "patients", who never again would have that chance.


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Freezing/Hypothermia
The freezing / hypothermia experiments were conducted for the Nazi high command. The experiments were conducted on men to simulate the conditions the armies suffered on the Eastern Front. The German forces were ill prepared for the bitter cold. Thousands of German soldiers died of freezing or were debilitated by cold injuries.

The experiments were conducted under the supervision of Dr. Sigmund Rascher at Birkenau, Dachau and Auschwitz . Dr. Rascher reported directly to Himmler. Dr. Rascher publicized the results of his freezing experiments at the 1942 medical conference entitled "Medical Problems Arising from Sea and Winter".

The freezing experiments were divided into two parts. First, to establish how long it would take to lower the body temperature to death and second how to best resuscitate the frozen victim.

The two main methods used to freeze the victim were to put the person in a icy vat of water or to put the victim outside naked in sub-zero temperatures.

The icy vat method proved to be the fastest way to drop the body temperature. The selections were made of young healthly Jews or Russians. They were usually stripped naked and prepared for the experiment. A insulated probe which measured the drop in the body temperature was inserted into the rectum. The probe was held in place by a expandable metal ring which was adjusted to open inside the rectum to hold the probe firmly in place. The victim was then placed in the vat of cold water and started to freeze. It was learned that most victims lost consciousness and died when the body temperature dropped to 25 C.

Two Russian men were seen by a prisoner doctor in the cold vat. They were very strong men and had said a comment to the SS doctor performing the experiment. The prisoner doctor was shocked at how long the Russian men could take the cold without loosing consciousness. He asked the directing doctor to take them out of the tank. He did not allow this and increased the temperature slightly to prolong their pain. They died after a long painful stay in the tank.

The second way to freeze a victim was to strap them to a stretcher and place them outside naked. The extreme winters of Auschwitz made a natural place for this experiment.

The resuscitation or warming experiments were just as cruel and painful as the freezing experiments.

Sun Lamp

The victims were placed under sun lamps which were so hot they would burn the skin. One young homosexual victim was repeatedly cooled to unconsciousness then revived with lamps until he was pouring sweat. He died one evening after several test sessions.

Internal Irrigation

The frozen victim would have water heated to a near blistering temperature forcefully irrigated into the stomach, bladder, and intestines. All victims appeared to have died from the treatment.

Warm Bath

The victim was placed in warm water and the temperature was slowly increased. This method proved to be the best. Many victims died do to shock if they were warmed up to quickly.

Warming By Body Heat

Heinrich Himmler sugested to Dr. Rascher that he try to use women to warm the frozen men. He suggested that the victim and a women copulate. This perverted experiment occured with some success. However it was not as successful as the Warm Bath.


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Genetic Experiments
The Nordic or Aryan Race was the most important goal of the Nazis. It was the largest part of the over all plan. The blonde hair, blue eye, super men were to be the only race. The Blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and anyone else that did not meet the race requirements were to by cleansed from society through genocide. Hitler and the German High command made a list rules for the fellow Nazis to follow. The new rules required all SS before marriage must submit to general testing to insure racial purity. The rules for marriage were unbelievably complex. Thousands of marriages were denied. If the laws for marriage were broken it could mean the death penalty.

Dr. Sigmund Rascher and his wife learned what not following the marriage laws would hold for their lives. Mrs. Rascher was sterile. They were not illegally married; they adopted two children. They were later investigated by the Gestapo and executed for the crime. In this case, after his medical experimentation, it seems fitting that this killer was caught up by his own party.

Early in power the National Science groups were pushed into research of the race and experiments commenced. First the party needed propaganda to prove all other races were inferior. Measurements of heads, eyes, nose, blood were required. The vast majority of the early experiments were a propaganda sham. It was determined Gypsies had different blood and were inclined to criminal behavior. The same type of findings were made of all races other than the Nazis.

After the camps were started, vast genetic experiments were undertaken. The range of the testing was broad and specialized. The two major groups of experiments were first to refine the master race and second to determine the cause of defects.

Dr. Josef Mengele research on twins and Gypsies exemplifies the quest for the genetic studies. Dr. Mengele was known as the "Angel of Death". He would be at every selection when the new trains would arrive at Auschwitz. After the victims were unloaded off the trains and stripped naked and divided into men, women, and children, he would sort through the thousands of people. Most went straight to the gas chambers and others to hard labor in the camps. The twins, dwarfs, and unique physical specimens were selected to be assigned to the experimental blocks. In many ways the majority who where killed in the gas chambers were much better off than the survivors that had no idea what horrors awaited them.


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Experiments on Twins
The twins were examined from head to toe. Measurements of every inch were taken. Dr. Mengele demanded specific and careful exams. If any detail was missed the staff, usually a prisoner doctor, would be punished. The twins were allowed to keep their hair for the first several days of the examination. After all the living data was taken the twins would be killed by a single injection of chloroform in the heart. Care was taken to insure the twins died at the same time. The twins were then dissected with the organs being sent to research centers.

Prisoner doctors tell of the fate of two Hungarian twins who arrived at Auschwitz late in 1943. Dr. Mengele was at the camp selection. The train arrived in the very early morning. Three sets of twins were found. They were taken to the experimental block. Dr. Mengele ordered the two Hungarian twins be placed in the examination room. The two Hungarian twins young men age 18 were described as "extremely athletic and handsome." They had much body hair and were allowed to keep it for the first few weeks. The twins were showered and returned nude to the examination room. The examination started at the head . All parts of their heads were examined. The head examination took almost days. They were then completely X-rayed . The next part of the examination consisted of tubes being forced through their noses and into their lungs. They were then ventilated with a gas which caused them to cough so severely they had to be restrained. The sputum from the lungs was collected for examination.

The twins were then photographed for several days . The purpose of the photographs were to show hair patterns. They were each forced to stand, bend, and kneel in many positions to accomplish the photographs. For example, they were required to stand with their arms lifted for many hours so the under arm hair could be photographed.

After the photographs were finished they were awoken very early in the morning. They were taken into a room with tables and a hot water vat. The water in the vat was very hot. They were made to sit in the water until they were ready to pass out from the heat. They were then strapped to a table where their hair was plucked out trying to save the hair root. They were put back into the hot vat several times. After enough hair was collected, they were totally shaven of every hair on their body. The twins were then again extensively photographed without hair.

The twins then received several two liter enemas which caused them much pain and discomfort. The boys on different days were strapped over a bench table and their rectums were hyper descended after which they received an extensive lower gastric intestinal examination. This extensive procedure was performed without any anesthesia. The young men were crying so loud that Doctor Mengele ordered they be gagged. The next day they received a painful and humiliating urological examination. In this examination tissue samples were taken from the kidneys, prostate, and testicles. Several semen samples were forcefully taken over two days.

After this three weeks of tortuous medical examinations they were taken two the dissection laboratory. Using two doctors, each twin was simultaneously given an injection in the heart, taking their lives. They were dissected and their organs were sent to the Institute of Biological Racial and Evolutionary Research Berlin."

Wow thanks for that one Denied, that won't keep me up for days of anything! It does make me wonder though what the Nazis were actually trying to achive? I mean obvioulsy they were attempting to make an Aryan race, but what did they expect to find on the people who they
specified were certainly not part of it?

Also, what was Mengele's obsession with twins? I heard of the Soviets experimenting with mind links etc. with indentical twins during the cold war, but obvioulsy that was some time after the war.

One of the worst facts, however, is that many of the criminals that called themselves "doctors" and "scientists" escaped their accusations and lived on, in a normal life, unlike their "patients", who never again would have that chance.

I recall reading about a doctor Herta Oberheuser, who was one of Mengele's close staff, directly involved in some of the worst experiments. She was put on trial after the war and sentenced to 20 years inprisonment, however she was released in 1952, and then went on to become a GP in a place called Stocktese in Germany! (Can you believe that! ) Fortunately her licence was revoked in 1958.

With experiments like the hypothermia and altitude ones, they were investigating how long a downed pilot would be able to last in the sea and develop various clothes to keep them warm and other such things.

Alot of the data the Nazis got with human test subjects in altitude experiments, G force experiments was later used by the Allies after the War.

Tally Ho as for what Nazi's where trying to Achieve. IMHO its clear they wanted to create a super race to some extent. They had breeding programs and such for just this goal. Not saying all their experiments had that goal cause they didnt but some did. They technology wasn't really there back then IMHO to do anything better then breeding programs.

If they had the technology we have today in terms of cloning, Genetic engineering etc.. they might very well have created some scary stuff.

If they had the technology we have today in terms of cloning, Genetic engineering etc.. they might very well have created some scary stuff.

Wow i dont think iv ever thought of that, just tryin to imagine some of the things they would have came out with freaks me out. There might have been some full on Wolverines running about today

Originally posted by Tally Ho
i can only assume that Mengele hypothisised that when even the smallest ammount of light entered the patients eye that it would be reflected back through the fluid and obviously enhance the night vision of the person.

I'll get this one. There were studies done under MKUltra that handled this area, but it is not medical but psychological. Think of a time you are under stress like a car wreck, you have supper high endurance, perfect recall, acute sence memory, time even seems to slow down. You also have better visual and hearing including night vision. Then when stress subsides you return to normal

This fact was studied for two reasons, one was for spying, I'll skip over that, the other was for soldiering. They wanted to know how to keep someone in that mode of hightened awareness for extended time. They solved the problem by finding that accute trauma over extended periods creates a segmentation in the mind that a person can go to and find those modes. Sort of like when a athelete says they are in 'The Zone' When in this mode a person operates more from that segment. Memories made in that segment are clearer then others and vice versa. In young childeren still developing there minds they found it actualy can create Split personalities.

The Training of special forces is used to harness this. The reason they freeze them in the ocean and deprive sleep is to create and sustain this mode until it becomes a permenant part they can reenter in times of combat. Then they get all the benifits of that hightened awareness mode. Problem is when they are at home with wife if they slip into this new mode they do not have memories or morals of normal living mode they only have direct access to their training memories, hence some of the news reports.

search for MKULTRA you can check Monarch program also.

To think sometimes I am scared of bumps in the night. It makes me a little ashamed of myself, because clearly reading this I see that I need to be more afraid of Humans than the deceased. It is truly frightening what we can do to each other. Thanks for the reasearch.

[edit on 21/9/07 by gogosam]

lest you think the nazis were the only ones doing this, take a look at the "research" the Japanese engaged in:
Unit 731

Originally posted by random hero
lest you think the nazis were the only ones doing this

Most assuredly, Nazis were not alone in their medical experimentation on living humans. As you point out in you post, the Japanese were also guilty of patently inhumane medical experiments.

I would suppose that many other countries are equally guilty of medical experimentation on living human beings -- willing and unwilling.

Before we singularly condemn the Nazis and the Japanese of such immoral acts on human subjects, we should take a close look at medical atrocities committed by American Doctors and scientists on living human subjects. I believe that you will see a pattern here. For some reason, "in the name of science", men can delude themselves into believing that anything is possible and that the "end justifies the means".

Human medical experimentation in the United States: The shocking true history of modern medicine and psychiatry (1833 - 1965)



[edit on 9/22/2007 by benevolent tyrant]

reply to post by benevolent tyrant


Quite right. This would be the case most people know about(from your link):

(1932-1972) The U.S. Public Health Service in Tuskegee, Ala. diagnoses 400 poor, black sharecroppers with syphilis but never tells them of their illness nor treats them; instead researchers use the men as human guinea pigs to follow the symptoms and progression of the disease. They all eventually die from syphilis and their families are never told that they could have been treated.

However, I had no idea there were so many more.

One point is: would you personally refuse medical treatment that at some point was developed through the suffering of innocents? Do you know if you have already received such treatment (however seemingly trivial) ?

reply to post by Now_Then



That's the tricky part, isn't it? That's one thing that seperates the nazi tests from our own sins, at least. The Nazi tests were almost uniformly riddled with bad science and(contrary to what some will say here) yielded little to no useful data. If you want a conspiracy though, the US DID offer clemency to many of the japanese scientists in return for their chemical warfare data.

Over the years, there have been many debates on this very subject. Is it ethical to use data from the notorious Nazi medical experiments?

In 1989, for example, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) barred the use of data from Nazi medical experimentation on humans (imprisoned Jews, Russians, Poles etc) in research on the use of Phosgene. The EPA deemed it unethical to use medical research data that was obtained by the Nazis.

Another side of the argument...

Doctor John Hayward is a Biology Professor at the Victoria University in Vancouver, Canada. Much of his hypothermia research involves the testing of cold water survival suits that are worn while on fishing boats in Canada's frigid ocean waters. Hayward used Rascher's recorded cooling curve of the human body to infer how long the suits would protect people at near fatal temperatures. This information can be used by search-and-rescue teams to determine the likelihood that a capsized boater is still alive.

According to Kristine Moe's survey in the Hasting Center Report, Hayward justified using the Nazi hypothermia data in the following way:

"I don't want to have to use the Nazi data, but there is no other and will be no other in an ethical world. I've rationalized it a bit. But not to use it would be equally bad. I'm trying to make something constructive out of it. I use it with my guard up, but it's useful." [Emphasis Added]

Hayward continued to rely on the data even though the subjects were lean, malnourished, and emaciated prisoners, with little or close to no insulating body fat (and therefore unrepresentative of the general populace to be benefitted from the study). Hayward still trusted the data because the general linear shape of Doctor Rascher's cooling curve (as the prisoners neared death) appeared to be consistent with the cooling curve at warm temperatures.

Since a better knowledge of survival in cold water has direct and immediate practical benefits for education in cold water safety, and in the planning of naval rescue missions at sea, Pozos and Hayward see it criminal not to use the available data, no matter how tainted it may be. SOURCE

For some, it can be quite a dilemma: Is it unethical to use medical data that has been developed through inhumane methods, such as the Nazis used, or should we use this "knowledge" even though countless numbers of humans suffered unimaginable pain and anguish?

Do we use the Nazi medical research -- experimentation on human beings that could never be done today -- for the betterment of all mankind or do we just pretend that such data simply does not exist?

Originally posted by Now_Then
One point is: would you personally refuse medical treatment that at some point was developed through the suffering of innocents? Do you know if you have already received such treatment (however seemingly trivial) ?

To answer your question, Now_Then[/i], personally, I would accept medical treatment even though it may have been developed through unethical means. In my mind, it is a way to make the tragic loss of human life and suffering at the hands of the Nazis a loss that was not in vane.

The Ethics of Using Medical Data from Nazi Experiments