Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • Free Essays • My Term Papers • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - European History Auschwitz Auschwitz The Methods of Execution and the Medical Experiments at Auschwitz My report will deal with the ways the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp were executed, and also the medical experiments that took place. Accurate statistics were not kept, but the estimation of deaths that took place at Auschwitz ranged from 1.5 million to 4 million. Jews were the largest number of people who were killed. Poles and Soviet prisoners were also killed. The principle sites of Auschwitz, were the executions took place, were in the courtyard, and also block 11. The methods of execution were hangings, shootings, starvation, and being gassed. The decision to shoot a prisoner could be made by the Gestapo, or by the SS. Suspects of resistance activities would be held in block 11 and the Gestapo would conduct an investigation. The investigations would always result in shootings that would take place in block 11, or in ditches near the camp. Prisoners were hanged during the evening roll call to make an example out of them. The last public hanging that took place in the men's camp was on December 30, 1944, and in the women's camp was on January 6, 1945. Often prisoners were selected to die by starvation. The prisoners would be held in a single cell in block 11. Food and water were withheld from them. Each day an SS officer would look through a peephole to see if the prisoners were still alive. About every other day the dead bodies would be removed. Auschwitz had gas chambers that were made to resemble showers. The unskilled people that arrived were told that they would be cleaned and to go to the showers. When they got in the doors they were immediately locked and the gas was turned on. In the gas chambers up to 1,500 people could be killed at one time, and it took from 10-20 minutes for the people to die. The Nazis used a cyanide gas, which was called Zyklon-B. This type of gas was manufactured by a pest-control company. Medical experiments were done on many of the prisoners of the concentration camp, but mostly on twins, and dwarfs. The main medical doctor that conducted these experiments was Joseph Mengel who was also known as the "Angle of death." The main types of medical experiments dealt with freezing/hypothermia, genetics, infectious diseases, interrogation, torture, genocide, high altitude, pharmacological, sterilization, surgery, and traumatic injuries. Freezing/hypothermia were conducted by the Nazi high command to simulate what the armies suffered on the Eastern Front. The experiments were divided into two parts. The first part was to determine how long that it takes to lower the body temperature so the person dies, and the second part was how to revive the frozen people that were near death. The main methods used to freeze the people were to put the people outside in freezing temperatures, or to put the person into an icy vat of water. Sometimes when they were forced outside they were strapped to stretchers naked. The icy vat method decreased the body temperature the fastest. The unfortunate victims of these experiments were usually young healthy Jews, or Russians. The resuscitation of the victims was just as painful as the freezing methods, if not more painful. People were placed under sun lamps that were so hot that they would burn the skin. Another method was internal irrigation. The frozen people would be forced to drink scolding hot water to irrigate their stomach, intestines, and bladder. All the victims of this experiment died from it. The hot bath method worked the best to revive the frozen victims. They were placed into a tub and the temperature of the water would gradually increase. If the water temperature increased too much the person could die from shock. Through my research on Auschwitz I think that the camp was more of a death camp than a concentration camp. The people were tortured and killed for no apparent reason. It is a crime that these unfortunate people had to live through such a traumatic experience. Bibliography: Bibliography "Auschwitz," Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. Internet http:remember.org/educate/medexp.html Swiebocka, Teresa. Auschwitz A History in Photographs. Bloomington and Indiananpolis: Indiana University Press, 1993, p. 20. Word Count: 712
Copyright © 1998-2008 College Term Papers, INC All Rights Reserved. DMCA Notifications and Requests