Dachau Trials
Prof. Dr. Klaus Schilling
"A physician, Dr. Klaus
Sch. (sentenced to death by the Allied court), wanted to test
a remedy for malaria. Malaria, a tropical disease, did not prevail
in Dachau. He could have gone to the tropics to make his tests
there. But why go to such trouble? One could make everything
more convenient in the concentration camp." Dr. Johannes
Neuhäusler, What Was It Like in the Concentration Camp at
Dachau?
Dr. Klaus Schilling
on the witness stand, 7 December 1945
Dr. Klaus Schilling was one of the world's
foremost experts on tropical diseases when he was ordered by
Heinrich Himmler, the head of all the Nazi concentration camps,
to come out of retirement to work on a cure for malaria after
German soldiers began dying of the disease in North Africa. Before
his retirement, Dr. Schilling had worked at the prestigious Robert
Koch Institute in Berlin. He began specializing in tropical diseases
after he himself contracted malaria.
After the war, Dr. Schilling was arrested
by the American Army and charged with participating in a "common
plan" to violate the Laws and Usages of War because he conducted
experiments on Dachau prisoners, using various drugs in an effort
to find a cure for malaria. Most of his subjects were young Polish
priests whom Dr. Schilling infected by means of mosquitoes from
the marshes of Italy and the Crimea, according to author Peter
Padfield in his book entitled "Himmler." The priests
were chosen for the experiments because they were not required
to work, as were the ordinary prisoners at Dachau.
Johann Maria Lenz,
a Catholic priest, testifies at Dachau
One of the prosecution witnesses at the
trial of the German Major War Criminals at Nuremberg was Dr.
Franz Blaha, a Czech medical doctor who was a Communist political
prisoner at Dachau. An affidavit signed by Dr. Blaha was entered
into the main Nuremberg trial. It was marked Document Number
3249-PS, Exhibit USA-663. His comments in this affidavit about
Dr. Schilling are quoted below from the transcript of the Nuremberg
trial for January 11, 1946
"3. During my time at Dachau
I was familiar with many kinds of medical experiments carried
on there on human victims. These persons were never volunteers
but were forced to submit to such acts. Malaria experiments on
about 1,200 people were conducted by Dr. Klaus Schilling between
1941 and 1945. Schilling was personally ordered by Himmler to
conduct these experiments. The victims were either bitten by
mosquitoes or given injections of malaria sporozoites taken from
mosquitoes. Different kinds of treatment were applied including
quinine, pyrifer, neosalvarsan, antipyrin, pyramidon, and a drug
called 2516 Behring. I performed autopsies on the bodies of people
who died from these malaria experiments. Thirty to 40 died from
the malaria itself. Three hundred to four hundred died later
from diseases which were fatal because of the physical condition
resulting from the malaria attacks. In addition there were deaths
resulting from poisoning due to overdoses of neosalvarsan and
pyramidon. Dr. Schilling was present at my autopsies on the bodies
of his patients."
The 74-year-old Dr. Schilling was convicted
at Dachau and hanged. In his final statement to the court, Dr.
Schilling pleaded to have the results of his experiments returned
to him so they could be published. During his trial, he tried
to justify his crime by saying that his experiments were for
the good of mankind.
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Dachau TrialsProf. Dr. Klaus Schilling"A physician, Dr. Klaus Sch. (sentenced to death by the Allied court), wanted to test a remedy for malaria. Malaria, a tropical disease, did not prevail in Dachau. He could have gone to the tropics to make his tests there. But why go to such trouble? One could make everything more convenient in the concentration camp." Dr. Johannes Neuhäusler, What Was It Like in the Concentration Camp at Dachau? Dr. Klaus Schilling was one of the world's foremost experts on tropical diseases when he was ordered by Heinrich Himmler, the head of all the Nazi concentration camps, to come out of retirement to work on a cure for malaria after German soldiers began dying of the disease in North Africa. Before his retirement, Dr. Schilling had worked at the prestigious Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. He began specializing in tropical diseases after he himself contracted malaria. After the war, Dr. Schilling was arrested by the American Army and charged with participating in a "common plan" to violate the Laws and Usages of War because he conducted experiments on Dachau prisoners, using various drugs in an effort to find a cure for malaria. Most of his subjects were young Polish priests whom Dr. Schilling infected by means of mosquitoes from the marshes of Italy and the Crimea, according to author Peter Padfield in his book entitled "Himmler." The priests were chosen for the experiments because they were not required to work, as were the ordinary prisoners at Dachau. One of the prosecution witnesses at the trial of the German Major War Criminals at Nuremberg was Dr. Franz Blaha, a Czech medical doctor who was a Communist political prisoner at Dachau. An affidavit signed by Dr. Blaha was entered into the main Nuremberg trial. It was marked Document Number 3249-PS, Exhibit USA-663. His comments in this affidavit about Dr. Schilling are quoted below from the transcript of the Nuremberg trial for January 11, 1946 "3. During my time at Dachau I was familiar with many kinds of medical experiments carried on there on human victims. These persons were never volunteers but were forced to submit to such acts. Malaria experiments on about 1,200 people were conducted by Dr. Klaus Schilling between 1941 and 1945. Schilling was personally ordered by Himmler to conduct these experiments. The victims were either bitten by mosquitoes or given injections of malaria sporozoites taken from mosquitoes. Different kinds of treatment were applied including quinine, pyrifer, neosalvarsan, antipyrin, pyramidon, and a drug called 2516 Behring. I performed autopsies on the bodies of people who died from these malaria experiments. Thirty to 40 died from the malaria itself. Three hundred to four hundred died later from diseases which were fatal because of the physical condition resulting from the malaria attacks. In addition there were deaths resulting from poisoning due to overdoses of neosalvarsan and pyramidon. Dr. Schilling was present at my autopsies on the bodies of his patients." The 74-year-old Dr. Schilling was convicted at Dachau and hanged. In his final statement to the court, Dr. Schilling pleaded to have the results of his experiments returned to him so they could be published. During his trial, he tried to justify his crime by saying that his experiments were for the good of mankind. Back to Dachau TrialsHome |