Monday, December 18, 2017

Nazi Medical Experiments and the Pharmaceutical Industry

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The pseudo-scientific experiments carried out by doctors on Jews, Gypsies and other genetically inferior inmates at over 30 concentration camps and ghettos were carried out under the guise of practical applications for the Germans. One type of experiment was aimed at facilitating the survival of Axis military personnel.The second category of experimentation was aimed at developing and testing pharmaceuticals and treatment methods for injuries and illnesses which German military and occupation personnel encountered in the field. A third category of medical experimentation sought to advance the racial and ideological tenets of the Nazi worldview.

Scientists also tested a number of methods in their effort to develop an efficient and inexpensive procedure for the mass sterilization of Jews, Roma, and other groups that Nazi leaders considered to be racially or genetically undesirable. .According to some testimonies, a total of 178 different types of experiments was performed.  (more...)


A particular sponsor and beneficiary of these experiments was I.G. Farben:

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I.G. Farben was a German conglomerate of eight leading German chemical manufacturers, including Bayer, Hoechst and BASF, which at the time were the largest chemical firms in existence. When Hitler came to power in 1933, I.G. Farbenindustrie AG faced the question of how to position itself vis-à-vis this new government. In the 12 years of the Nazi “Third Reich,” the attitude and behavior of I.G. Farben was characterized by swift adaptation to the political parameters inside Germany; this included firing Jewish employees and setting of war production as a top priority. I.G. Farben also actively participated in shaping National Socialist policies domestically and abroad – such as the appropriation of related enterprises in the conquered territories and the massive employment of forced laborers.

I.G. Auschwitz, was founded in Kattowitz on April 7, 1941, and was intended to be the largest chemical factory in Eastern Europe. In addition to German skilled workers and forced laborers from all over Europe, increasing numbers of prisoners from the Auschwitz concentration camp were deployed at the gigantic construction site in Auschwitz. In 1942 I.G. Auschwitz built its own corporate concentration camp, Buna/Monowitz.

After the defeat of the Third Reich at the International Military Tribunal held in Nuremberg, the United States, as the occupying power, conducted trials against the top officials of three major industrial concerns- Krupp, Flick, and I. G. Farben. The I.G. Farben Trial was the largest of all industrial trials. All defendants were indicted for planning and waging of wars of aggression, conspiracy for this purpose, economic plundering, and forced labour and enslavement of prisoners of wars, deported persons, and concentration-camp inmates.  (more...)


This historical legacy is an indictment of a whole industry, with ramifications that continue to haunt us today:

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The death of an abortifacient salesman



Could Honey have read this article?

I knew the son of an Austrian Nazi officer who studied at the University of Toronto's Institute for Aerospace Studies. There certainly were connections to Germany's post-war Nazi milieu. Did Sherman fall into this boy's club during his studies in "rocket science"? Did it influence his business in the pharmaceutical industry?

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