Professor Dr. Carl Clauberg was born in Wuppertal in
1898 into a craftsmen family. He participated in World War I as infantryman,
later studied medicine and avanced to doctor-in-chief at the University
gynaecological clinic in Kiel. He entered the NSDAP in 1933 and became
a fanatical supporter of its ideology. In the same year, he was appointed
professor for gynaecology at Koenigsberg University.
In 1942, he asked Heinrich Himmler, who
had already been interested in Claubergs “research,” to
offer him the possibility to sterilize a multitude of people for his
experiments. Thus, Clauberg came to Auschwitz in December 1942 and part of Block No. 10 in the Main Camp was put at
his disposal.. Looking for a “cheap and efficient” method
to sterilize women, he injected acid liquids to their uterus without
anaesthetics.
Thousands of Jewish and Gypsy women were subjected to this treatment. They were sterilized by the
injections, producing horrible pain, inflamed ovaries, bursting spasms
in the stomach, and bleeding. The injections seriously damaged the ovaries
of the victims, which were then removed and sent to Berlin.
Clauberg's experiments killed some of his subjects,
and others were put to death so that autopsies could be performed.
In June 1943, Clauberg wrote to Himmler:
"The non-surgical method of sterilizing women
that I have invented is now almost perfected . . . As for the questions
that you have directed to me, sir, I can today answer them in the
way that I had anticipated: if the research that I am carrying out
continues to yield the sort of results that it has produced so far
(and there is no reason to suppose that this shall not be the case),
then I shall be able to report in the foreseeable future that one
experienced physician, with an appropriately equipped office and the
aid of ten auxiliary personnel, will be able to carry out in the course
of a single day the sterilization of hundreds, or even 1,000 women."
Clauberg escaped the approaching Red Army and went
to Ravensbruck concentration
camp, where he continued his experiments. It was estimated that he had
sterilized some 700 women. In 1948, he was put to trial in the Soviet
Union and sentenced to 25 years; seven years later, he was pardonned
and went back to the Federal Republic of Germany. Upon returning he
held a press conference and boasted of his scientific work at Auschwitz.
After survivor groups protested, Clauberg was arrested
in 1955 but died in August 1957, shortly before his trial should have
started.
