Vivien Spitz

Review Written by Bernie Weisz Historian contact: BernWei1@aol.com July 10, 2011 Pembroke Pines, Florida U.S.A. Title of Review: Demented Doctors infected with the insanity of National Socialism Lilian Spitz's book hands down takes the cake in showing the depravity of Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany and the depths that even their medical profession descended into. Ms. Spitz gives a bone chilling account of human depravity and the ultimate justice she witnessed as a court reporter for the Nuremberg war crimes trial of Nazi Doctors. With trial transcripts and previously unreleased photographs included in this book that were actually used as evidence in the trial, an account of torture and murder by experiment in the name of science and distorted National Socialistic patriotism is told. Aside from explaining what it was like to live for eighteen months in bombed-out, dangerous, post-war Nuremburg without hot water and electricity while working on the trial, the reader is taken with Ms. Spitz into the courtroom to hear the demonic testimony and see the reactions of the defendants to the proceedings. Adolf Hitler's doctors used unwilling Concentration Camp victims and Russian prisoners of war (as well as political prisoners) as unwilling subjects in these experiments and tests.

These subjects were usually lied to and promised an easier life, better food, or release...of course, all lies. Spitz starts off reminding readers of the oath all doctors supposedly must take, i.e. the "Hippocratic Oath" which states: "I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art. I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work. Whatever house I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves". How much did the Nazi's abide by this? Ms. Spitz points out in her book that after Hitler became Chancellor, compulsory sterilization laws were enacted to sterilize people born with congenital mental defects, schizophrenia, manic-depressive psychosis, hereditary epilepsy and severe alcoholism. Nazi doctors, despite their "Hippocratic Oath" saw to this. Next, came euthanasia of "useless eaters", i.e. welfare recipients, the elderly and infirm, terminal cancer patients, and the like.

Once again, Nazi doctors saw to this "mercy killing". World War II broke out with Germany's invasion of Poland on Sept. 1st, 1939. Spitz writes: "In 1940, carbon monoxide was the agent of choice, and 70,000 mental patients in German hospitals were reported in meticulously kept records to have been killed, but cause of death was falsified. In 1941, with the invasion of Russia, "Einsatzgruppen" (unique units of soldiers) with the specific mission of murdering Jews, Gypsies, and mental patients, moved with the armies into conquered territories. In December, 1941, Heinrich Himmler and the doctors that carried out the "euthanasia" combed the concentration camps for those who were unable to work or were otherwise undesirable, resulting in a vast number of deaths by the poison gas "Zyklon B". In 1941, Jews were touted by Adolf Hitler as "beings of another species" thus dehumanizing them and giving the German nation permission to act on their most sordid impulses. What type of doctor would perform gruesome and illegal experiments on innocent human beings? Spitz suggests: "Some German doctors sought the glory of professional distinction among peers through contributing to the welfare of humanity only as an abstract art. To them it was not unlike the amputation of a gangrenous limb or excising a malignant growth.

The doctors obliterated all impulses of compassion and ruthlessly pursued those impulses that were necessary to promote the well being of the state, which they identified utterly. Add martial music, torchlight parades, and the skill of propagandists to manipulate emotions, commingling national pride and hatred for a fabricated internal enemy. All that, plus awareness of the egocentric nature of human beings, dispelled the need for esoteric theories to explain the behavior of a nation not yet recovered from the humiliating and impoverishing consequences of a lost war". To give a good idea of what Spitz graphically describes in some very difficult and painful reading, here were the charges read against the Nazi doctors at Nuremburg as quoted by Brigadier General Telford Taylor's courtroom reading. After reading this, the reader may want to reconsider if he or she can stomach this book! Telford asserted: "Between September 1939 and April, 1945 all of the defendants herein unlawfully committed war crimes involving medical experiments without the subject's consent, upon civilians and members of the armed forces of nations then at war with the German Reich, murders, brutalities, cruelties, tortures, atrocities, and other inhumane acts.

Such experiments included, but were not limited to the following: "High-Altitude Experiments". Carried out in a low pressure chamber in which the atmospheric conditions and pressures prevailing at high altitude (up to 68,000 feet) could be duplicated, many victims died as a result of these experiments and others suffered grave injury, torture and ill treatment. "Freezing Experiments" Victims were placed in a tank of ice water for up to 3 hours, or kept naked outdoors for hours at below freezing temperatures, during which numerous victims died. "Malaria Experiments" Over 1000 involuntary subjects were infected by mosquitoes, or by injections of extracts of the mucous glands of mosquitoes, who then contracted malaria, many of whom died, while others suffered severe pain and permanent disability. "Mustard Gas Experiments" Wounds were deliberately inflicted on victims and then infected with poisonous gas, some of whom died and others suffered intense pain and injury. "Sulfanilamide Experiments" Wounds were deliberately inflicted on experimental subjects and were infected with streptococcus, gas gangrene, and tetanus, and then wood shavings and ground glass were forces into the wounds, resulting in deaths, serious injury and intense agony.

Next, there was "Bone, Muscle, and Nerve Regeneration and Bone Transplantation Experiments" Sections of bones, muscles, and nerves were removed from the victims, resulting in intense agony, mutilation, permanent disability, and death. "Sea Water Experiments" Subjects were deprived of all food and given only chemically processed sea water, causing great pain, suffering, serious bodily injury and madness. "Epidemic Jaundice Experiments" Subjects were deliberately infected with epidemic jaundice resulting in pain, suffering, and death. "Sterilization Experiments" Thousands of victims were sterilized by x-ray, surgery, and drugs, causing great mental and physical anguish. "Typhus Experiments" Hundreds of deliberately infected persons experimented upon died-over 90%. "Experiments with Poison" Poisons were secretly administered to experimental subjects in their food, all of whom died or who were deliberately killed to permit autopsies. Poison bullets were shot into other victims, who suffered torture and death. "Incendiary Bomb Experiments" Burns were inflicted on subjects with phosphorous taken from the bombs, causing severe pain, suffering, and serious bodily injury.

One hundred and twelve Jews were selected, killed, and "defleshed" for completing a skeleton collection for the Reich University of Strasbourg in France under Nazi occupation. Tens of thousands of Polish nationals alleged to be infected with incurable tuberculoses were ruthlessly exterminated while others were isolated in death camps with inadequate medical facilities. Through the exercise of the "euthanasia" program of the German Reich, hundreds of thousands of human beings, including nationals of German-occupied countries, were murdered. This involved the systematic and secret execution of the aged, insane, incurably ill, deformed children, and other persons by gas, lethal injections and diverse other means in nursing homes, hospitals, and asylums. These people were termed "useless eaters" and a burden to the German war machine. Relatives of these victims were informed that they died from natural causes, such as heart failure. German doctors involved in the "euthanasia" program were also sent to Eastern occupied countries to assist in mass extermination of Jews".

Lillian Spitz goes into great detail of each experiment, the doctor(s) involved, their photos, their illogical demented justification of the necessity of these demonic experiments, their defense at Nuremburg, and the legal consequences (4 doctors and 3 assistants were sentenced to death and hung). In reading this book, I had a great deal of trouble remaining dispassionate emotionally and to keep my composure I made sure I read this nowhere close to bedtime. I must warn the reader there are some very ugly and obscene pictures of bizarre, non medical experiments, such as the "pool of detached legs". There is the deposition of former "Waffen SS" member Kurt Gersten who graphically described the entire killing process of Jewish men, women and children walking into the gas chamber, the looks on their faces, the screams of the dying coming out of the gas chamber, and the description of the bodies after the gassing that has me shaking even now as I type these words. Not for the faint hearted! This was the toughest reading I have ever come across in my life.

There is also a part where many years later Ms. Spitz is confronted with a "Holocaust Denier" who claimed that the aforementioned events never occurred. Ms. Spitz's response to this individual is inspiring, heart warming and very redemptive. This book ends with Ms. Spitz warning society with a prophetic quote from George Santana, which states: "Those who can not remember the past are condemned to repeat it. The past is prologue to the future". Among all the thousands of history books I have read in my life, this is one of the most important, vital stories I have ever come across, reminding mankind that whenever a doctor uses their medical services or professional skills against the patient's interests or deviates away from a position of individual patient advocacy in therapy or research, he or she starts down a slippery slope paralleling the Nazi doctors discussed in this horrifying story. Please read this book… (mehr)