Hermann Becker-Freyseng

Hermann Becker-Freyseng during the Nuremberg Trials

Hermann Becker-Freyseng (born July 18, 1910 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein , † August 27, 1961 in Heidelberg ) was a German physician , medical officer and consultant for aeronautical medical questions in the medical services of the Air Force and convicted in the Nuremberg medical trial .

Life

Becker-Freyseng joined the NSDAP ( membership number 3.052.380) and the NSFK on May 1, 1933 . After receiving his medical license in January 1936, he worked as an assistant at the Berlin University Clinic and in 1939 moved to the Aviation Medical Research Institute of the Reich Ministry of Aviation in the same function .

Human experiments by the Luftwaffe in concentration camps

Since 1941, Becker-Freyseng has coordinated the entire aeronautical medical research of the Air Force, including the human experiments carried out in concentration camps . In October 1942, Becker-Freyseng took part in the “Distress at Sea” conference, which dealt with the rescue of pilots in distress at sea . The conference reported on the results of human experiments that had been carried out on prisoners in the Dachau concentration camp . Promoted to medical officer in 1943 , Becker-Freyseng took over the management of the department for test flights and practical questions at the Aviation Medical Institute in early 1944. At the same time he became a consultant for aviation medicine at the Air Force's medical inspector. Becker-Freyseng's main research areas were altitude sickness and oxygen positive pressure ventilation. In 1944 he completed his habilitation with a thesis on oxygen overpressure.

Since 1942, processes for making seawater drinkable have been developed on behalf of the Luftwaffe . The background to this were cases of members of the Air Force and the Navy in distress at sea. A conference on this subject was held in May 1944 in the Reich Aviation Ministry under the leadership of Becker-Freyseng. The conference participants decided to try two different methods through human experiments. Becker-Freyseng saw the best conditions for a series of experiments in a concentration camp . Oskar Schröder , Becker-Freyseng's superior and also a conference participant, applied to the Reich Minister of the Interior and Reichsführer SS Heinrich Himmler on June 7, 1944 for human experiments in the Dachau concentration camp . The seawater tests were carried out between July and September 1944; The head was the Austrian physician Wilhelm Beiglböck .

Nuremberg medical trial

After the end of the war, in the Nuremberg trial of the main war criminals, there were indications of the involvement of Air Force doctors in the human experiments in concentration camps. Hermann Göring , Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force , was also charged here . The Allied investigation went according to the medical historian Udo Benzenhöfer the possibility of the right on the tests involved and met "through enactment of the chain of responsibility to the higher-ranked and highest-ranking defendant" before. Becker-Freyseng was charged with seven other air force doctors in the Nuremberg medical trial.

Becker-Freyseng was found guilty by the Nuremberg court because he had taken part in the attempts to make seawater drinkable in the Dachau concentration camp and had suggested the attempts to his superior Oskar Schröder. The experiments were expected to result in damage to health up to and including the death of the test persons, which is why they were carried out on concentration camp prisoners. Becker-Freyseng was responsible for planning the experiments. In contrast to the indictment, the court saw that Becker-Freyseng was not responsible for the altitude tests carried out in 1941 in the Dachau concentration camp. At that time, Becker-Freyseng was with the Department of Aviation Medicine, which was responsible for the administrative supervision of the negative pressure chamber and was thus informed about the experiments. Other charges had already been dropped by the prosecution during the taking of evidence. On August 19, 1947, Becker-Freyseng was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The American High Commissioner John J. McCloy reduced Becker-Freyseng's sentence on January 31, 1951 to ten years. On November 20, 1952, he was released from custody in the Landsberg war crimes prison. Becker-Freyseng had already worked on the compilation “German Aviation Medicine in World War II” at the Heidelberg Aero Medical Center during his imprisonment. After his release he traveled to the USA at the invitation of the United States Air Force . In 1960 he fell ill with multiple sclerosis and died in 1961.

literature

• Alexander Mitscherlich, Fred Mielke: Medicine without humanity. Documents of the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-22003-3 .

Web links

• Nuremberg Trials Project Documents from the Nuremberg Doctors Trial on Hermann Becker-Freyseng (partly in English)
• Institute for Contemporary History Munich-Berlin: Witness literature online. ZS 685, Becker-Freyseng, Dr. Hermann (PDF; 2.32 MB). Becker-Freyseng's interrogation by Koch on November 12, 1946 regarding his work as head of the department for aeronautical medical issues, altitude and hypothermia experiments in Dachau; German research institute for aviation.

Individual evidence

1. ^ For the curriculum vitae see: Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2005, ISBN 3-596-16048-0 , p. 35; Klaus Dörner (ed.): The Nuremberg Medical Trial 1946/47. Verbal transcripts, prosecution and defense material, sources on the environment. Band. Saur, Munich, 1999, ISBN 3-598-32020-5 , pp. 77f.
2. ↑ Schröder's letter to Himmler in the facsimile ( memento of the original dated June 9, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Nuremberg Document NO-185). 
3. ↑ Udo Benzenhöfer: Nürnberger Ärzteprozess: The selection of the accused. Deutsches Ärzteblatt 1996; 93: A-2929-2931 (issue 45) (PDF, 258 kB).
4. ↑ Benzenhöfer, Ärzteprozess , page A-2930 Ibid. A scheme related to the trial on the position of the accused in the German health system.
5. ↑ Summary of the judgment by Angelika Ebbinghaus: Views on the Nuremberg Doctor Trial. In: Dörner, Ärzteprozess , (indexing volume), p. 66.
6. ↑ On the circumstances of the reduction in sentences see Thomas Alan Schwarz: “ The pardon of German war criminals. John J. McCloy and the Landsberg inmates. “, In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte . 38 (1990), p. 250 ff (PDF, 7.3 MB).
7. ↑ For the publication see the review by Ebbe Curtis Hoff in: Bulletin of the Medical Library Association, 39 (4), October 1951, pp. 378–379, PMC 195154 (free full text)
8. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Who was what before and after 1945 . Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Second updated edition, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 35.