From: utzoo!decvax!yale-com!leichter
Newsgroups: net.politics
Title: Re: Medical Research
Article-I.D.: yale-com.1381
Posted: Thu Apr 21 16:54:39 1983
Received: Sun May 15 01:06:57 1983
References: rocheste.1298

The Nazi "medical research" in the death camps was "scientific research" only
by a long stretch of the imagination.  Most of it was little more than an
excuse for torture - unless you want to consider things like the extensive
research on just how much poison gas is needed to ensure that everyone in
the "showers" dies as useful science (engineering?)

There is an unwritten agreement among most of the world's researchers not to
cite or in any way use the Nazi results; the feeling is that to do so would be
to justify atrocities.  Apparently, hardly anyone has felt a need for this
data that was strong enough to overcome the revulsion involved; the data can
be obtained in other ways if it is really needed.

The only specific example of Nazi "research" that I can remember reading about
involved throwing people into ice water and determining things like survival
times and best ways of re-warming them afterward.  (As an example of the level
of scientific research here, there were extensive "experiments" in which a
frozen man was put in bed with one or more women who were supposed to "warm"
him - with the experimenters watching, of course.)  As far as I know, German
medicine did no better than anyone elses at saving freezing victims.

							-- Jerry
						decvax!yale-comix!leichter
							leichter@yale