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The Concentration Camps During The Holocaust

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Eleven million people died during the Holocaust of these eleven million people 2.4 million died from medical experiments conducted by German forces. These experiments were conducted mainly for three reasons. The first of which was to help the Germans gain knowledge that would help them better understand things that would have been viewed as threats or weaknesses to their military (Holocaust Museum). For example the Germans knew little of hypothermia and the weather located on the eastern front, so freezing experiments were conducted at Auschwitz concentration camp where most of their medical experiments occurred (Remember ). The second reason the Germans did medical experiments was to further their knowledge on how to pharmaceutically …show more content…

Hypothermia/freezing experiments were done for the Nazi high command to help them to better understand the cold temperatures of the eastern front that killed thousands of German soldiers. The freezing experiments where oversaw by a Dr. Sigmund Rascher. Dr. Rascher reported directly to Hitler himself. In 1942 Dr. Rascher reported his findings in a journal titled "Medical Problems Arising from Sea and Winter". The freezing experiments had two sub goals or purposes which was to find out how long it would take someone to die in freezing water and the second was to examine the remains after the person died to gather information on how freezing temperatures affected the body. The main method used to do the experiments was an ice vating this was proved to be the most proficient way to conduct the experiment. Before subjects were submerged in the ice vat they were stripped naked and a thermometer was inserted into the rectom. From these experiments, it was learned that most men lost consciousness at 77 degrees Fahrenheit. “[For one experiment] Two Russian men were seen by a prisoner doctor in the cold vat. They were very strong men and had made a comment to the SS doctor performing the experiment. The prisoner doctor was shocked at how long the Russian men could take the cold without losing consciousness” (Remember). This could have been due to the fact that they were used to being exposed to cold temperatures because of the climate in

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