During the year August 1942 to August 1943, a number of young Polish women were forcibly taken to the Revier in groups of five to ten, anesthetized, and awakened with deep wounds on their legs. Some died shortly afterward; those who survived suffered serious aftereffects. It became known, almost immediately, that these “operations” had been performed by an internationally renowned surgeon, SS Professor Karl Gebhardt director of the Hohenlychen clinic near the camp, which was reserved for the luminaries of the Reich. This doctor’s victims were very young, almost children, and chosen from groups of high school and university students. Some who had survived the operations were executed, but there were about sixty still alive when we arrived in Octoober 1943.(Tillion, Germaine, Ravensbrück,1975,ch. 8)
The criminal experiments consisted in the deliberate cutting out and infection of bones and muscles of the legs with virulent bacteria, the cutting out of nerves, the introducing into the tissues of virulent substances and the causing of artificial bone fractures. The experiments were conducted in conditions of utter disregard for the basic principles of asepsis. After all operation, the victim was left to her own fate and was in most cases exposed to harmful factors hampering self-defense by the organism. Some victims died in consequence of the operation itself or of the resulting complications and several were shot, while the survivors suffered major and extensive injuries to their organs of movement.
The above text is a fragment from the Medical Statement issued in 1958 by Dr. Hanna Dworakowska a member of the Selection Board headed by Professor of Medicine A. Gruca. The Board was composed of Professors and Drs.: Askanaz, Batawia, Bialecki, Chojecki, Czyzewicz, Dworakowska, Grzywo-Dabrowski, Hausman, Kodeiszko, Kuligowski, Litwin, Łapinski, Malawski, Reicher and Rutkiewicz and other representatives of the medical world, as well as of delegates of the League of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social Welfare and the press and representatives of the American Hiroshima Peace Center, headed by Professor W. Hitzig.
Out of the 74 Polish victims called Króliki, Kanninchen, Lapins or Rabbits: 5 died immediately as a result of the experiments, 6 with still unhealed wounds were executed in the camp and the rest, 63 of them, miraculously survived thanks to help of other inmates of the camp. The survivors suffered permanent physical damage. Four of them: Jadwiga Dzido, Maria Broel-Plater, Władysława Karolewska and Maria Kuśmierczuk eloquently testified against Nazi doctors at the Doctors’ Trial in 1946.
The article “Regained faith in people“ (my latest revision) summarizes the issue of medical experiments conducted on 74 polish women in Ravensbrück concentration camp. It presents victims’ lives after the war. The canvas for the article was a social initiative, dubbed by the editors and readers of the weekly The Saturday Review as Ravensbrueck Lapins Project. The project came to life thanks to American citizens, who in the years 1958-1959, on their own initiative, organized and funded the medical treatment in the United States for thirty two Polish victims on whom German doctors conducted experiments in the concentration camp in the years 1942-1943. In particular, the victims struggle to get compensation from the German government after WWII, may interest readers. Originally, the article was written in polish and published in Glaukopis in 2007. The author is aware of some shortcomings of the article’s content, thus he would appreciate any comments and suggestions in the matter. The author’s e-mail address is: jarek.gajewski@utoronto.ca. Thank you.
Photos of the victims of Nazi German Doctors
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| Stanisława Czajkowska ( victim of the experiments) | Alfreda Prus (victim died on 13th October, 1942 as a results of the experiments ) |
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| Władysława Karolewska ( victim of the experiments) | Helena Hegier ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Alicja Jurkowska ( victim of the experiments) | Jadwiga Dzido ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Aniela Okoniewska ( victim of the experiments) | Anna Sienkiewicz ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Barbara Pietrzyk ( victim of the experiments) | Barbara Pytlewska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Bogumiła Bąbińska ( victim of the experiments) | Czesława Kostecka ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Genowefa Kluczek ( victim of the experiments) | Halina Piotrowska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Helena Piasecka ( victim of the experiments) | Irena Backiel ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Izabela Rek ( victim of the experiments) | Jadwiga Bielska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Jadwiga Gisges ( victim of the experiments) | Jadwiga Kamińska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Janina Iwańska ( victim of the experiments) | Janina Marciniak ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Janina Marczewska ( victim of the experiments) | Joanna Szydłowska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Krystyna Czyż ( victim of the experiments) | Krystyna Dąbska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Leokadia Kwiecińska ( victim of the experiments) | Maria Broel Plater ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Maria Cabaj ( victim of the experiments) | Maria Grabowska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Maria Karczmarz ( victim of the experiments) | Maria Kuśmierczuk ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Maria Pietrzyk ( victim of the experiments) | Pelagia Maćkowska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Stanislawa Michalik ( victim of the experiments) | Stanislawa Młodkowska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Stanisława Śledziejowska ( victim of the experiments) | Stefania Łotocka ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Stanisława Sieklucka ( victim of the experiments) | Wanda Kulczyk ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Wanda Wojtasik – Półtawska ( victim of the experiments) | Wacława Andrzejak ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Weronika Szuksztul ( victim of the experiments) | Władysława Marczewska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Wojciecha Buraczyńska ( victim of the experiments) | Zofia Baj ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Zofia Hoszowska ( victim of the experiments) | Zofia Kawińska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Zofia Kormańska ( victim of the experiments) | Zofia Modrowska ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Zofia Sokulska ( victim of the experiments) | Zofia Stefaniak ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Irena Krawczyk ( victim of the experiments) | Janina Mitura ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Stanisława Jabłońska ( victim of the experiments) | Zofia Kiecol ( victim of the experiments) |
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| Urszula Karwacka ( victim of the experiments) | Aniela Sobolewska ( victim of the experiments) |