Nazi Experiments During The Holocaust

During the Second World War, the most horrific loss of human life occurred. The Jews of Europe were hunted down, caught, and sent to prison camps, to work long hours, in poor conditions, and eventually die. But during the Holocaust, science took a sudden turn, with new discoveries and experiments taking place, specifically on the human subjects of the prison camps. Modern medicine has gained a lot from the research done by Nazi scientists during the Holocaust, with vaccinations being developed for diseases like typhus, and malaria. Nazi experiments conducted during the Second World War were a way to further the agenda of the Nazi party, to create a perfect Aryan society in Europe, and possibly the world.

Malaria was one of the deadliest diseases

Otherwise known as the angel of death, Dr. Mengele was infamous for his research on twins, and genetic experiments. Operating out of Auschwitz, Mengele was often in charge of selecting which Jews would live, and work in the camps, and who would be sent to the crematoria. He also was there to select the test subjects for his experiments. Anyone with a birth defect, like dwarfism, or twins were selected for Mengele’s research. He would examine traits such as blood, eye color, or skull structure in each subject. When studying eye color, Mengele would try to fabricate blue eyes by putting a mix of chemicals into the subjects eyes, causing blindness and extreme pain. The goal of Mengele’s experiments was to maintain and implement a genetically pure Aryan race into society, inspired by Hitler’s idea of a perfect human. When one twin died during procedure, Mengele would order the other twin be found and killed, for research purposes. Although his experiments were cruel, and maniacal, Mengele would often treat the children kindly, to the point where the kids called him “Uncle Mengele”. (Rosenberg, page

One way of create this perfect race, was to get rid of all the others. Throughout the war, Jewish, gypsy, and any other undesirable prisoner was sterilized. The extent of this sterilization didn’t just limit itself to the camps, but also in Nazi Germany’s own cities. Ordinary citizens would go to special facilities, all sorts of physical test would be conducted; blood, hair, eye color etc. If the subject didn’t conform to the standards, he/she would be sterilized. This was a law created in 1933 called the “Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases”. The sterilization process was involuntary, people with and undesirable qualities, like a history of mental illness or a physical handicap, wouldn’t be able to breed. It is likely that if the Nazis won the war, this program would have extended throughout most of Europe, furthering the Nazi