Similarly to other concentration camps, Majdanek saw its share of pseudo-medical experiments conducted on prisoners. The fact was uncovered by doctor Henryk Wieliczański during a scientific session held in Lublin in 1964. The resulting investigation was conducted by the Regional Prosecutor’s Office in Lublin between 1967 and 1973.

The court proceedings and testimonies of witnesses, including former prisoner-physicians, revealed that Majdanek had been the site of pharmacological experiments: trials of new medicines and vaccines against typhus fever, tuberculosis and malaria; surgical experiments: ostectomy, trepanations and skin grafts; as well as thermal experiments involving the impact of temperature and pressure on the human body. Court proceedings were eventually discontinued due to the inability to reach the main suspects. In reality, the actions of German doctors achieved little more than testing, at the expense of prisoners’ lives, facts that had long been verified and described. A particularly horrid practice involved experiments conducted on prisoners who had been previously deliberately infected for the purpose.

 

What I know about the experiments is that they were conducted by German doctors and doctor Hanusz, in various infirmaries and fields. Mostly they involved experiments with the blood of people suffering from typhus fever. The blood was injected in healthy people. In some cases they also did experiments with cerebrospinal fluid. They would collect the fluid from prisoners suffering from typhus fever and injected it intravenously or intramuscularly in others (…). I underwent a typhus fever experiment with intravenous injection.

Piotr Metera, MD
Objects found at the former camp grounds, PMM

Objects found at the former camp grounds, PMM

Objects found at the former camp grounds, PMM

Objects found at the former camp grounds, PMM

Objects found at the former camp grounds, PMM

Objects found at the former camp grounds, PMM


Next panel
10. Gammelblock

poprzedni panel
08. TREATMENT – “THERAPY: NONE”