Ludwig Werner Haase

Ludwig Werner Haase (born May 2, 1903 in Berlin ; † February 23, 1980 there ) was a German chemist .

Life

Professional activity until 1945

Ludwig Werner Haase was a professor and department head of the Reich Institute for Water, Soil and Air Hygiene in Berlin during the Nazi era . He invented a method for detoxifying drinking water.

On November 30, 1944, he carried out experiments with “poisoned water” in the Neuengamme concentration camp . 150 prisoners had to drink water that had been treated with "Lewisite" (American yellow cross ) and that Haase had treated for several days . The report states that damage did not occur, but long-term damage cannot be ruled out.

On February 8, 1945, Helmut Poppendick from the SS Race and Settlement Main Office announced that a further investigation by Haase using water contaminated with nitrogen mustard had been concluded with the same favorable result. However, it is not known what damage would occur in the human body if the warfare agent were to take effect internally. Haase asked for permission to conduct experiments with eight prisoners sentenced to death; damage or death is to be expected.

On February 17, 1945, Heinrich Himmler sent a message through Rudolf Brandt that he would not give permission for it.

After the war

After 1945 Haase worked as a science councilor in Berlin. In 1963, Haase declared in a court case: "As a chemist, I had nothing to do with the question of the extent to which water that was not completely detoxified could cause damage to the human body."

Ludwig Werner Haase also published works in his field on water hardness and the destruction of materials by water.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ernst Klee: Auschwitz, Nazi medicine and its victims. 3rd edition Frankfurt / M. 2004, ISBN 3-596-14906-1 , p. 179
2. ^ Ernst Klee: The dictionary of persons on the Third Reich. Frankfurt / M. 2005, ISBN 978-3596160488 , p. 214