Nazi Medical Experiments: Useful but Unethical

During World War II, Hitler rounded up people who were not part of the Aryan Race and sent them to concentration camps; in those camps, some of those people served as test subjects for medical experimentation. These experiments separate into three categories. The first type were “experiments aimed at facilitating the survival of Axis military personnel,” (Museum). Next, the “experimentation aimed at developing and testing pharmaceuticals and treatment methods for injuries and illnesses which German military and occupation personnel encountered in the field” (Museum). Finally, the “[experimentations] sought to advance the racial and ideological tenets of the Nazi worldview” (Museum). In the novel Night by Elie Wiesel, Dr. Mengele conducted at least two of the selections that Elie had to watch and go through, but it is different because in Night, Elie Wiesel was not aware of the experiments and only saw Dr. Mengele during the selections. Dr. Mengele and other SS doctors received the power to test various medical experiments on Jews, Gypsies, war prisoners, the unwanted, and others that Hitler sent to concentration camps. Some were done for science and others were just to satisfy the doctor's interests.
The first kinds of experiments were designed to make the air force safer and find ways to prevent problems that could occur while in battle. These experiments consisted of tests such as, high altitude/low pressure tests for the safety of parachuting, freezing tests to find a way to prevent hypothermia, and seawater tests. Patients were put into low pressure chambers to see how long they could last, held in snow or freezing ice water for hours, or forced to drink seawater and not only did most of them die, but they suffered through sev...

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...e were done just so doctors, like Josef Mengele, could answer their own questions. All of these show the cruelty that the world could and still can have just because they hate somebody or they are interested in finding something, but we learn about these past experiences so that they never happen again.

Works Cited

Bard, Mitchell G., ed. The Holocaust. San Diego: Greenhaven, 2001. Print. Turning Points in World History.
Campbell, John, ed. The Experience of World War II. New York: Oxford UP, 1989. Print.
Grabowski, John F. Josef Mengele. San Diego: Thomson Gale, 2004. Print. Heroes and Villains.
Klosterman, Chuck. "Can Data Be Evil?" New York Times Magazine 5 Jan. 2014: 14. Academic OneFile. Web. 7 May 2014.
Museum. "Nazi Medical Experiments." United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 10 June 2013. Web. 7 May 2014.