Medicine in Auschwitz

Transcript of the podcast

The Auschwitz camp complex had an extensive organizational structure which also included a separate department responsible for protecting the health of both: the SS garisson members and, at least in theory, the prisoners of the camp. I spoke about medicine in Auschwitz with Teresa Wontor-Cichy, a historian at the Research Center of the Auschwitz Memorial.

When we look at the structure of Auschwitz, we can see a very developed complexity because it was divided to different cells, different departments, responsible for different parts of activity. Was there a separate cell in the structure that was responsible for health care in the concentration camp?

For many people interested in Auschwitz history, the information that there were some institutions which were to deal with the health here in the camp was really surprising. However, when we look in the testimonies of the survivors, published right after the war or in some period of time after the liberation, we may found many information about their struggle with health, with the fact that they were in camp hospital. Then we may also read that they were calling these places as the waiting room for the gas chamber and were trying to avoid. The fact that there was the health service in the camp was coming from the very first structure of the camp, which was coppied on the structure of a first concentration camps. Dachau, muster lagger, so called the model camp established in Germany in nineteen thirty three, gave the design, gave the pattern. So there was the division, which was the commandant's office, there was the political department, department which was to deal with the supply administration, then also the camp leader office, another for SS soldiers and also the health service. However, in the very first idea, the health service was to deal with the medical situation of the first of all, SS soldiers and their families, as many of them were coming for the duty together with their relatives. Later on as the structure was changing, was being transformed into some forms which were suitable for the particular camp., some more duties were added for the previous idea.

When we look at Auschwitz in particular, how did the hospital look like? What was its structure, how it developed? Because the camp developed, so also the health care system had to follow this development.

The first Polish prisoners deported to the camp in June 1940, they were located in the buildings of the Tobacco and Monopoly, outside the structure, and one of the rooms was in fact the infirmary for all those who suffered from the very bad treatment, were exhausted because of the exercises they had to do and generally the conditions. Then gradually, as the camp started to be organized in Auschwitz camp, four buildings were separated as then hospitals. So block number twenty eight became the ambulatorium, so the place where the doctor was to expect the prisoners appearing to be considered to be admitted for the camp. Then in the basement there was the morgue and in the attic, a storages with the sanitary and hygienic wear and also the medical storage. Then block number twenty one was for surgery. Block number twenty was for the infectious diseases. And number nineteen was to be for the prisoners recovering so-called Schonungsblock block, so the recovery block. Then, as the camp was changing and in Autumn 1941 Soviet prisoners of war were brought for the camp, again one of the buildings was separated as the hospital, as the mortality rate among the prisoners was so high. Then in spring 1942, women were sent for Auschwitz. And again, 10 buildings were isolated. They became the female sector and one of the buildings was again dedicated as the infirmary. Birkenau within the time started to be built and some prisoners were moved there. So first men and for them two buildings were separated as hospital. And then in the middle part of the camp, it was even a separate sector with 18 wooden barracks, which were to be the mens hospital. In the female sector several barracks were isolated to be the hospital. Then smaller hospitals were organized, for example, in the camp for Sinti and Roma, so-called Zigeunerlager. Then in the sector, which was for Jewish people, brought here from the ghetto in Theresienstadt. Then also in the sub camps, the headquarters of them was located in Auschwitz I. So that was just the structure which was kept all the time of the camp existence.

Before we talk about who work in hospitals and the personnel and the patients, I think one phrase that you mentioned is very important, the waiting room to the gas chambers. And in many testimonies and when we talk about those different functions of the hospitals, we still need to remember that they were created within the concentration camp reality, within the function of the camp. And before we talk about some possibilities of medical function, I think we need to emphasize that in general, the hospitals where part of the murderous policy organized here by the SS so those waiting rooms for the gas chambers is a very important phrase to emphasize.

Absolutely. Using the names like the surgery block, recovery building sound in terms of medical treatment as a really good organized health service. But they were just buildings with minimal equipment, beds with straw mattresses, blanket hardly washed, hardly disinfected. And and the supply, medicines they were to use were basically, as the survivors are saying, that pain killers, paper bandages and that was all. So, as we learned from the testimonies, that was the place they could rest for a while and not really be given much of the medical help, in vast majority of the cases.

And of course, one of the medical procedures that was used by the SS in the hospitals was either selecting those people who didn't have any possibility of recovery to be murdered in different ways, poisonous injections. And later they were, in fact, sent to gas chambers.

Lethal injections or the selections - that were the two elements which actually stopped the prisoners for trying to be accepted for the hospital. The camp routine, was that in the morning or in the evening after the roll call, the prisoners could approach the doctor, which was in block number twenty eight. That was the German doctor, the SS doctor, and he decided about who is to be admitted for the hospital or not. And usually the number was really limited. The same number of prisoners who died in the previous day was admitted for the camp. So in fact, very few and as I mentioned before, the prisoners were saying that they being so exhausted, first of all, and really suffering from some wounds, some diseases they wanted to rest, to have a day or two of rest, but facing or hearing about the selections, about the injections, they started to avoid to be taken for the hospital. And to heal themselves they were using different methods. So those who knew some natural medicine were trying to use some herbs, some other methods for the wounds, for example. Later on, some medicines started to be smuggled for the camp by civil workers. They were just people from the town, from the surrounding villages who were employed by different firms, who were to do some work for the camp. And knowing that the medical situation of the prisoners is so bad, risking the life they were smuggling some medicines. Later on the resistance movement here in the area around the town started to be organized in a more structured way. And also medicines were one of the of the things which were regularly supplied for the prisoners. When after 1942, when the mass transportation of the Jewish people started to reach Auschwitz and all their belongings were taken for the storages, that Jewish people in vast majority were murdered in the gas chambers. So their belongings were to be shipped for Germany and before they were kept and also loads of medicines. So the prisoners who were sorting the personal effects again, secretly, risking their lives, were smuggling some of the medicines to the camp. But we need to remember that considering the the needs of the camp, it was like a drop in the ocean of all the really important cases which were in the camp.

Who worked in camp hospitals? Both when we talk about the SS administering them and prisoners who were also on one hand used by the SS to do multiple work in hospital, but also who tried to use this structure to simply help other inmates?

The German doctors who were sent for the hospital, they were having the full university qualification education for a doctor. So their job was to save life. And all their activities here were actually contradicting that Hippocratic oath, they were ending their their studies, the chief doctor, so-called Standortarzt, he was responsible for a garrison, so for the soldiers and also for the camp. In Auschwitz history there were six of the people having this position, one after the other, not at the same time. And the one who was here for the longest time was Edward Wirths. And just looking at their duties, we may say that, well, first of all, they were to they were responsible for doing the selection on the unloading platform, selection among the Jewish people brought here, because of the final solution of the Jewish question. Then they were to supervise the killing process of the Jews in the gas chambers. Then they were to assist during the executions. They were also responsible for the documentation which was prepared in the offices of the hospital. They were to sign the documentation that death certificates, for example, where the cause of death, was also included very often a fictitious form. And also some of them were here or specifically coming here to focus on medical experiments. There were also SS soldiers with some medical training, with some medical preparation. Their intention was not to help the prisoners, they were just controlling the situation of the camp. And in 1942, the situation in the hospital has changed. Because of the military and also economical situation of Germany when they were to use more of the slave labor for the production, for the huge war industry, and to reduce the mortality rate in the camps. And this is why also prisoners who are doctors who were having their education and qualification to be a physician, they were allowed to be employed in the camp hospital as a doctor. This changed the situation in the camp a lot.

Despite the conditions and the very limited access to resources, they actually could try at least to save some lives or to influence some of the decision making,by the SS administration.

Yes, of course. And also some of them, they were doctors with a lot of experience working in medical fields for many, many years. So using their knowledge, using the very basic camp equipment, this very basic medicines or like the surgeonss for broken limbs, they did whatever they could to help the prisoners. In some cases, it was successful, in some was not, because the diseases, the medical troubles they were having were usually combine of several. So to heal the prisoner was a really challenging for the doctors.

What was the medical and health situation in the camp? What were the most common diseases? Because of course, when we look at the camp, we may expect hunger to be a very important thing thatcauses malnutrition, that causes different medical problems but I believe that when we look at the the concentration camp as a whole, there will be many different medical problems caused by many elements of the camp’s operation.

First of all, the prisoners were suffering from broken limbs. They were also suffering from running sores. Then when the weather was changing again, colds, infections, pneumonia, frostbite. The catastrophal sanitary situation brought a different type of skin infection: scabis. They all suffered from boils, abscesses, sores caused by the vitamins deficiency and infections, then epidemics. Epidemics were so dangerous here in the camp. One most of the survivors are mentioning is the typhoid fever, which was spread here by the insects. It appears the most probably in 1941. And then was actually all the time in the camp with the different intention. Then the prisoners were also suffering from tuberculosis, malaria, spinal mygentinies, dysentery, disorder of digestive tract. And as you mentioned already, the starvation sickness because of the limited portions and also lack of vitamins. So the starvation sickness was usually accompanied by diarrhea, swelling of the legs, impaired vision and impaired hearing, memory loss, nervous breakdown and first of all, extreme exhaustion.

So, there are a number of diseases but when you mention epidemics and you mentioned contagious diseases, I believe this is something that also changes the situation because while with malnutrition and broken limbs and many diseases that resulted from this the SS did not get so much affected, but with contagious diseases, typhoid fever and many others, this was already also a threat to the SS guards that had contacts with the prisoners. So how did the SS dealt with the threat of epidemics?

Some of the survivors are saying that actually the fact that it was a really frightening situation, forced the SS to be more active in stopping the disease, especially the typhoid fever. For example, in 1941, when the disease appeared in Auschwitz I, first they announced the isolation of the camp. During the selection, over 700 prisoners were killed in the gas chamber in Birkenau. Then the rest were to go through the disinfection. And this is how the success of stopping the epidemic was announced. But it was only for some period of time when, again, this time in Birkenau, the disease started to spread again. That was in the Autumn of 1943. And the doctor who started to combat this disease was Josef Mengele. His idea was to start with the disinfection. And in one of the building, 600 prisoners were isolated and they were sent for the gas chamber. They were murdered in the gas chamber. The barrack was disinfected from the floor up to the ceiling, then next to the building outside, a huge bath was installed, which which was filled with the disinfection liquid. And the prisoners were to undress. Their clothes were taken for disinfection. And they have to go into this bath to soak with this liquid. And then, after, wait outside until the group of prisoners went through this disinfection in this liquid. And then they were let inside the building. They were distributed new clothes disinfected, which was supposed to be clean and safe for them.

But in fact, standing outside in the cold after being in this liquid, caused that they started to suffer from, different type of colds, pneumonia and so on. Then the all the skin troubles, which I mentioned, again, started to be irritated by this very strong chemical substances. So while they stopped typhus, but the mortality rate started to get higher because of the exhaustion. So one building went through this disinfection. Another one, another one. And this is how they say they stopped the epidemics. The same method was used in a few other places by the same doctor, Josef Mengele. That was in the part where the Jewish women from Hungary were kept and scarlet fever appeared in this sector. So the disinfection process looked very much the same. Then in the camp for Sinti and Roma. Then in one of the building where a number of Jewish children was kept, again, some of the children diseases appeared and the process was very much the same. And because the doctors were treated by the SS administration as serving in combat. So they were decorated with medals and Mengele was given the second class war cross with merit with swords for his ways of combating the diseases.

When we hear those stories, there's this huge juxtapositio when we look at the story of the hospital for the SS, this is a completely different picture.

It is especially that they did have their own hospitals here. Apart of the prisoner hospitals I mentioned was located in so many different places. There was here in Auschwitz, one separate building called SS Revier, properly equipped, properly organized with specialists, dentist, surgeon, and so on, so on. So they did have proper medical care. In Birkenau as the camp was developing, was under construction, so again, expecting to sent here more and more. Also, the SS guards, the German soldiers, a sector, huge sector, was built, opened with great visitors, with ceremony, where they were to receive proper treament, the soldiers and also their families, for example there was the maternity ward in this hospital, as they were here with their families.

One topic emerged in this conversation. And these are criminal medical experiments. Itdeserves a separate conversation, but we cannot not talk about this when we talk about the SS doctors who were in the camp.

The variety of people deported here, a variety in terms of age from babies born here in the camp to elderly people and also people deported here from different parts of occupied Europe, started to be considered by them, by German doctors and German universities, some institutions as a great opportunity, this is how they called this, to pursue better results of the experiments. They were already involved or they were planning to start, but they were not having material enough. So this is why some of the physicians are having really great university education. Also the titles they were applying for the possibility to conduct here, the experiments, it was to be accepted, first of all, by the main office of the concentration camp, by the chief doctor of the SS. So it has got them let's say, scientific approvement and also then the financial. So they were not volunteers, they were not some people with absolutely crazy ideas. They were to prove in a written form that whatever they want to achieve it is to be valuable for either medicine, for Germany as a country and the future plans. And it was sponsored, it was paid by the state. But I believe that will be a great topic for another conversation.