Examples Of Human Experiments During Ww2

Quynhvi Nguyen Mrs. Joanne Gilhoran PEAKS ELA 8 27 March 2024.

Human Experimentation in World War II A world where normal citizens are taken away from their home, stripped of their identity, and thrown into ghettos with no idea of what could happen to them seems unimaginable to many people. They would be separated from their families and abused, killed, and tested on with no consent. This, and so much worse, was the reality of people from many different backgrounds during World War II. Throughout World War II, there were a total of 11 million deaths, roughly 6 million being Jewish people. Nazis would target Jews, Roma and Sinti people, Slavic, the disabled, homosexuals, and anyone who did not fit their image of the “superior” race (Hitler’s

The Nazis performed numerous unethical human experiments during World War II such as drug/treatment testing, twin experiments, and musculoskeletal transplants. While searching for causes and solutions to many illnesses that their soldiers contracted, the Schutzstaffel physicians conducted cruel experiments on their prisoners. As stated by Peter Tyson at PBS, “Doctors at the Ravensbruck concentration camp performed studies to test the effectiveness of sulfanilamide and other drugs in curbing such infections. They inflicted battlefield-like wounds in victims, then infected the wounds with bacteria such as streptococcus, tetanus, and gas gangrene.” After forcing the infection, doctors would continue to irritate the wound by depositing shards of broken glass and wood shavings to imitate how the infection would react to their soldiers on the field. “There were also largescale experiments with the use of substances called Be1032, Be1034, 3582, rutenol and periston.”, said by Z. Ryn at the Medical Review of Auschwitz. After using these substances, patients would begin experiencing nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fainting, and

“Some of the twins had been stabbed with a needle that pierced their hearts, which were injected with chloroform or phenol, causing near-immediate blood coagulation and death.”, as described by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. In order to examine them closer, organs, eyes, and samples of blood and tissue would sometimes be sent to a Nazi professor. After the patients had passed, the “final experiment” was the autopsies performed on the bodies. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum states that “The medical professionals who conducted experiments at Auschwitz did not seek the prisoners’ consent or inform them of their treatment or possible effects.” Medical staff were told to record all details and characteristics on the bodies of the twins. Mengele would draw large quantities of blood, inject the twins with unknown substances, and perform surgeries without anesthetic. In order to study the corpses of the twins, Mengele would kill sets of them to conduct autopsies and send their organs elsewhere. As these twin experiments were performed to reproduce the “superior” German race quicker and more