A Time of Terror

Some of the experiments done to the Jews recreated situations that the military would go through, and find solutions to their problems. most of these experiments were conducted at Bircnau, Dachau, and Auschwitz. One type of experiment was the freezing experiment. These experiments showed how long the German army could survive the frozen waters of the North Sea. In conjunction to this, the Nazis tried to revive a frozen body. This helped not only the Germans to survive, but also doctors of today. Dr. John Hayward from Victoria University in Vancouver, Canada used the Nazi data in his hypothermia research, which benefited education in cold water safety for fishermen. Tests were also performed to see how to treat common wounds of German soldiers effectively. Jews would be cut and then infected to find treatments for war injuries. These tests were very effective in finding hygienic solutions to common problems of the German army.

Another set of experiments were aimed to benefit the German Air Force. There were two main tests that were beneficial to the sky-bound Germans. One was the high altitude experiments. Prisoners were subjected to temperatures and pressures similar to those of high altitudes. The results helped to see human limitation at extremely high heights. The second of the two main tests was the experiments on sea water. Nazis studied how to make sea water drinkable for the German Air force and Navy. They discovered how much salt was needed in the human body before it becomes dehydrated, but never how to make seawater drinkable. They also closely observed the different stages of dehydration. With all the information that they gathered, Nazi doctors discovered how much fresh water is needed for the body to go back to a healthy state again. Both the high altitude and the seawater tests were greatly beneficial.

Aside from benefiting the German Air and Militant Force, Nazi medical experimentation was beneficial to medical treatment for diseases. Many prisoners were intentionally wounded then infected with deadly diseases so that different treatment methods could be tested on them. The diseases included malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, typhoid fever, yellow fever, and infectious hepatitis. After the prisoners became disease-ridden, Nazi doctors would then test different treatment methods. These tests helped to prevent epidemics in the German Aryan society.

The Germans also did tests that benefited them, not medically, but racially. The tests were used as propaganda to promote Hitler’s views on races other than his perfect Aryan race. Measurements of heads, noses, eyes, and blood were taken from “inferior” races, such as the Jews and the Roma, to show scientifically that the Germans were better than all other groups of people. The characteristics of the poster Aryan child included blonde hair and blue eyes. In one experiment, dye was injected into prisoners with brown eyes in an attempt to change their eye color. With all these tests, only the German race benefited.

Another medical experiment meant to reach the ultimate goal of Nazi domination was the sterilization experiments. These sterilization experiments were meant to find the fastest and most efficient way of sterilizing a mass group of people. Multiple sterilization methods were tested on Jews, Poles, Gypsies, Priests, and others. They carried out these experiments by bombarding men with x-rays and injecting chemicals into the wombs of women. This helped the Nazis eliminate undesirable racial and genetic groups to a certain extent.

Bibliography

This entry was posted on Monday, May 30th, 2011 at 6:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.