393:. The victims were locked in the chamber, the interior pressure of which was then lowered to a level corresponding to very high altitudes. The pressure could be very quickly altered, allowing Rascher to simulate the conditions which would be experienced by a pilot freefalling from altitude without oxygen. After viewing a report of one of the fatal experiments, Himmler remarked that if a subject should survive such treatment, he should be "pardoned" to life imprisonment. Rascher replied to Himmler that the victims had to date been merely Poles and Soviets, and that he believed they should be given no amnesty of any sort. 80 out of the 200 subjects died outright because of the experiment and the rest were murdered.
121:
433:. Rascher's victims were forced to remain outdoors naked in freezing weather for up to 14 hours, or kept in a tank of icewater for three hours, their pulse and internal temperature measured through a series of electrodes. Warming of the victims was then attempted by different methods, most usually and successfully by immersion in hot water; at least one witness, an assistant to some of these procedures, later testified that some victims were thrown into boiling water for rewarming.
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352:. Rascher's connection with Himmler gave him immense influence, even over his superiors. Though it is unclear as to the precise nature of Diehl's connection to Himmler, she frequently corresponded with him and interceded with him on her husband's behalf; it is suggested that Diehl may have been a former lover of Himmler's.
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had been possible as such experiments were highly dangerous and nobody volunteered for them. Rascher asked
Himmler to place human subjects at his disposal, stating quite frankly that the experiments might prove fatal, but that previous tests made with monkeys had been unsatisfactory. The letter was answered by
521:
Attempting to please
Himmler through demonstrating that population growth could be accelerated by extending female childbearing age, Rascher publicized the fact that his wife, Karoline, had given birth to three children even after reaching 48 years of age, and Himmler used a photograph of Rascher's
376:
s
Medical Service, that high-altitude/low-pressure experiments be carried out on human beings. While taking a course in aviation medicine at Munich, he wrote Himmler a letter in which he said that his course included research into high-altitude flight and it was regretted that no tests with humans
436:
Himmler attended some of the experiments, and told
Rascher he should go to the North Sea region and find out how ordinary people there warmed victims of extreme cold. Himmler reportedly said he thought "that a fisherwoman could well take her half-frozen husband into her bed and revive him in that
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sustained during combat or during surgery. Subjects were given a
Polygal tablet, and shot through the neck or chest, or their limbs amputated without anaesthesia. Rascher published an article on his experience of using Polygal, without detailing the nature of the human trials and also set up a
429:, who had been the true source of the ideas for Rascher's experiments. The experiments were conducted at Dachau after the high-altitude experiments had concluded. The purpose was to determine the best way of warming German pilots who had been forced down in the North Sea and suffered
541:. In December 1943, Rascher's lab assistant and housekeeper, Julie Muschler, disappeared while on a mountain trip with the couple. When her body was found in April 1944, both Raschers came under strong suspicion of murder. Mutschler had once lived in an apartment with the Raschers.
201:, to whom his wife Karoline "Nini" Diehl had direct connections. When police investigations uncovered that the couple had defrauded the public with their supernatural fertility by 'hiring' and kidnapping babies, she and Rascher were arrested in April 1944. He was accused of
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A week after first meeting
Himmler, Rascher presented a paper, "Report on the Development and Solution to Some of the Reichsfuehrer's Assigned Tasks During a Discussion Held on April 24, 1939". Rascher became involved in testing a plant extract as a cancer treatment.
31:
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on
Himmler's direct order by shooting him through the cell observation and food delivery door, then kicking his body with the words 'You pig, now you've got the punishment you deserve'. Around the same time, Karoline was executed by hanging in RavensbrĂĽck.
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family as propaganda material. However, during her fourth "pregnancy", Karoline
Rascher was arrested while attempting to kidnap a baby. An investigation later revealed that her other three children had been either purchased or kidnapped.
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judged his experiments as inhumane and criminal. In 1990, a thorough review of his hypothermia research revealed serious experimental flaws (beyond the ethical context) as well as evidence of the falsification of data.
384:
Rascher subsequently wrote back to Brandt, asking for permission to carry out his experiments at Dachau, and plans for the experiments were developed at a conference in early 1942 attended by
Rascher and members of the
364:, favoured testing the extract on rodents but Rascher insisted on using human test subjects. Himmler took Rascher's side and a Human Cancer Testing Station was established at Dachau. Blome worked on the project.
1226:
556:. Both were held in bunkers meant for special prisoners. Sigmund remained in Buchenwald following his arrest in 1944, until the camp's evacuation in April 1945. He and other prisoners were then taken to
292:. The exact day of his joining is uncertain: Rascher insisted that it was on 1 March, whereas documents show 1 May. This is relevant because the first date is 4 days before the Nazi victory in the
1201:
484:, who ultimately carried out the experiments. While working in Dachau, Rascher developed the standard cyanide capsules, which could be easily bitten through, either deliberately or accidentally.
560:, where he was shot on 26 April 1945, three days before the camp was liberated by American troops. In another first hand account, a fellow SS officer witnessed Rascher's execution by SS-
317:(SA). From 1936 to 1938 Rascher worked on cancer diagnostics, supported by a DFG stipend under Prof. Trumpp in Munich. Until 1939 he was an assistant physician at Munich's hospital
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which was to be based on his research failed, however, at Munich, Marburg, and
Frankfurt, due to the formal requirement that results be made available for public scrutiny.
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Medical Service. The experiments were carried out in the spring and summer of the same year, using a portable pressure chamber supplied by the
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on 300 test subjects without their consent. American investigators later concluded that Rascher had been merely a convenient front for
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in two presentations named "Prevention and Treatment of Freezing", and "Warming Up After Freezing to the Danger Point".
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manner" and added that everyone believed "animal warmth" had a different effect than artificial warmth. Four
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In addition to acting as an accessory in the kidnappings of the three infants, Rascher was also accused of
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provided space and materials to doctors at Dachau to undertake "seawater experiments", chiefly through
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with the rank of Private. That same year, Rascher denounced his father, and was conscripted into the
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Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals, Vol. 1, Case 1: The Medical Case
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1132:"This fraudulent and sadistic Nazi doctor was executed in the same camp where he once worked"
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The Fall of the House of Rascher. The bizarre life and death of the SS-doctor Sigmund Rascher
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Himmler, enraged that the Raschers had exploited him, had both of them sent without trial to
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In October 1942, results of the experiments were presented at a medical conference in
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SS Geiseln in Der Alpenfestung, Hans-Guenter Ricardi, Bolzano: Raetia, 2015, Loc 4644
508:. He predicted that the preventive use of Polygal tablets would reduce bleeding from
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and warming was attempted by placing the hypothermic victim between two naked women.
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The Nazi doctors and the Nuremberg Code: human rights in human experimentation
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The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law
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After his medical internship, Rascher worked with his now divorced father in
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Testing the Limits: Aviation Medicine and the Origins of Manned Space Flight
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Medicine, Ethics, and the Third Reich: Historical and Contemporary Issues
476:. Sievers is known to have visited Dachau on 20 July 1944, to speak with
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1014:(Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1949-1950), pp. 249–251.
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Similar experiments were conducted from July to September 1944, as the
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Doctors From Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans
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Alexander L. (July 1949). "Medical science under dictatorship".
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339:. A relationship with and eventual marriage to former singer
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Rascher posing with one of the children kidnapped by his wife
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Book Review Siegfried Bär: The Fall of the House of Rascher.
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company to manufacture the substance, staffed by prisoners.
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People from Bavaria executed in Nazi concentration camps
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Rascher suggested in early 1941, while a captain in the
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approach to education. He came under the influence of
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The Master Plan: Himmler's Scholars and the Holocaust
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Heller, Kevin (2011). Oxford University Press (ed.).
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German people who died in Dachau concentration camp
928:"Nazi Science — the Dachau Hypothermia Experiments"
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1010:Letter from Rascher to Himmler, 17 Feb 1943 from
232:judged his experiments as inhumane and criminal.
455:Rascher, who had by now been transferred to the
409:, taken by American authorities after his arrest
188:pertaining to high altitude, freezing and blood
178:(12 February 1909 – 26 April 1945) was a German
862:. Oxford University Press US. pp. 71–73.
825:Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans
794:Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans
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228:before being executed. After his death, the
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1187:Executed Nazi concentration camp personnel
977:. Texas A&M University Press. p.
29:
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1237:Nazis executed by Nazi Germany by firearm
1197:Extrajudicial killings by the Nazi regime
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492:Rascher experimented with the effects of
311:in 1936. In May 1936, Rascher joined the
896:Hippkes letter to Wolff of 6 March 1943.
771:. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 95.
248:. Therefore, Rascher attended the first
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1192:Extrajudicial killings in World War II
7:
329:In 1939, Rascher transferred to the
272:in 1930 or 1931—he used both dates.
1177:Dachau concentration camp personnel
691:. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1222:People from the Kingdom of Bavaria
969:Mackowski, Maura Phillips (2006).
413:Rascher also conducted so-called "
294:March 1933 German federal election
14:
689:Critical Muslim 5: Love and Death
1130:Aron, Nina Renata (2017-11-15).
608:. 500pp, e-book, Size: 1436 KB,
137:
119:
933:New England Journal of Medicine
687:; Yassin-Kassab, Robin (2013).
1182:Executed German mass murderers
926:Berger, Robert L. (May 1990).
554:RavensbrĂĽck concentration camp
443:RavensbrĂĽck concentration camp
276:Education and Party membership
256:, a school based on Steiner's
1:
913:(NĂĽrnberger Document NO-262).
796:. Routledge. pp. 60–61.
550:Buchenwald concentration camp
488:Blood coagulation experiments
1217:Physicians in the Nazi Party
827:. Routledge. pp. 7–17.
792:Moreno, Jonathan D. (2001).
767:Michalczyk, John J. (1994).
343:gained him direct access to
240:Sigmund Rascher was born in
186:deadly experiments on humans
1232:Nazi human subject research
1057:10.1056/NEJM194907142410201
947:10.1056/NEJM199005173222006
674:Lab Times, 5 February 2015.
517:Personal life and execution
288:, where he also joined the
280:In 1933, he began to study
16:German Schutzstaffel doctor
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741:. UNC Press. p. 125.
737:Kater, Michael H. (2000).
184:(SS) doctor. He conducted
1088:Dr. med. Sigmund Rascher.
911:Nuremberg Trials Project.
713:"Hitler Becomes Dictator"
552:and Karoline was sent to
368:High altitude experiments
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74:Dachau concentration camp
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1111:by Vivien Spitz, p. 225.
527:financial irregularities
496:, a substance made from
203:financial irregularities
319:Schwabinger Krankenhaus
192:under the patronage of
1212:Physicians from Munich
548:. Sigmund was sent to
480:and the non-Ahnenerbe
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362:Reich Research Council
580:After his death, the
441:women were sent from
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341:Karoline "Nini" Diehl
149:Years of service
93:Execution by shooting
1090:S. 212 f., 214.
739:Doctors under Hitler
415:freezing experiments
397:Freezing experiments
1242:SS-HauptsturmfĂĽhrer
1032:Kater, pp. 125–126.
821:Moreno, Jonathan D.
546:concentration camps
417:" on behalf of the
262:Ehrenfried Pfeiffer
226:concentration camps
110:paramilitary career
89:Cause of death
1099:Michalczyk, p. 97.
1077:Michalczyk, p. 96.
905:2015-12-31 at the
882:Pringle, Heather,
670:2019-06-27 at the
482:Wilhelm Beiglboeck
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325:Career with the SS
886:, Hyperion, 2006.
856:Michael A. Grodin
717:The History Place
217:, and brought to
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563:HauptscharfĂĽhrer
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230:Nuremberg Trials
215:scientific fraud
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163:HauptsturmfĂĽhrer
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190:coagulation
1161:Categories
1146:2022-06-14
722:27 October
614:B00MBOFX5K
500:and apple
374:Luftwaffe'
358:Kurt Blome
290:Nazi Party
236:Early life
219:Buchenwald
115:Allegiance
900:Facsimile
470:Ahnenerbe
458:Waffen-SS
450:Nuremberg
423:Luftwaffe
419:Luftwaffe
391:Luftwaffe
387:Luftwaffe
336:Luftwaffe
309:doctorate
254:Stuttgart
152:1936–1945
1065:18153643
903:Archived
858:(1995).
823:(2000).
668:Archived
282:medicine
270:Konstanz
132:Service/
956:2184357
494:Polygal
52:Bavaria
1136:Medium
1063:
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866:
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558:Dachau
537:, and
531:murder
529:, the
502:pectin
439:Romani
286:Munich
266:Abitur
242:Munich
223:Dachau
213:, and
207:murder
134:branch
78:Dachau
48:Munich
621:Notes
602:]
574:]
305:Basel
1061:PMID
983:ISBN
952:PMID
864:ISBN
829:ISBN
798:ISBN
773:ISBN
743:ISBN
724:2015
693:ISBN
645:ISBN
610:ASIN
498:beet
221:and
157:Rank
63:Died
41:Born
1053:doi
1049:241
942:doi
938:322
909:at
898:In
284:in
268:in
252:in
160:SS-
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108:SS
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