We can all agree that the things the Nazis did during World War II were horrible. The Holocaust was probably the crime for which they’re most infamous. But wretched and inhumane things happened in the concentration camps that most people don’t know about. Inmates were used as subjects in numerous experiments that were excruciatingly painful and usually resulted in death.
The German armies were ill-prepared for the cold they faced on the Eastern Front, and thousands of soldiers died because of it. As a result, Dr. Sigmund Rascher conducted experiments at Birkenau, Auschwitz, and Dachau to determine two things: the time it takes to lower body temperature and cause death and the method to revive those who have been frozen.
Naked inmates were either put in an icy vat of water or locked outside in subzero temperatures. Most victims died. Those who merely lost consciousness underwent painful resuscitation procedures.
For resuscitation, subjects were placed under scorching sunlamps that burned their skin, forced to copulate with women for body heat, irrigated internally with boiling water, or placed in warm baths (which proved to be the most effective method).
