Nazi SS doctor's collection of human remains uncovered
By LORI HINNANT
July 21, 2015, 9:09 am
Decades later, jars and test tubes found behind a glass cupboard in a locked room testified to history's horror.
It started with a letter, a brief reference to samples taken from the bodies of Holocaust victims used in Nazi medical research.
Decades later, the jars and test tubes found behind a glass cupboard in a locked room testified to history's horror.
* Britain's royals and the Nazis: complex echoes of history
* Black officer helps white supremacist suffering from heat at KKK rally
* 'Inglourious Basterds' star slams Facebook anti-migrant tide
* 'Bookkeeper of Auschwitz' appeals German verdict
Raphael Toledano, a researcher from Strasbourg who has spent more than a decade delving into the eastern French city's Nazi past, stumbled upon the 1952 letter from Camille Simonin, the director of the forensic science school at the University of Strasbourg, detailing the storage of tissue samples taken from some of the 86 Jews gassed for the experiments of August Hirt, a notorious Nazi anatomy researcher.
The autopsy samples were intended to be used to prosecute Hirt, who directed the construction of a gas chamber built specifically to provide victims for experiments carried out at the facility. At the time, Germans had replaced the French staff, which largely decamped elsewhere.
Germany awards Medals of Honour to Nazi-hunting couple
VIDEO:
Strasbourg was liberated by the Americans, Hirt ultimately committed suicide, and the remains ended up in the highly specialised forensic science museum at the university, which has since become one of France's most prestigious medical schools.
Simonin's letter was directed at a judge who planned to put Hirt on trial, asking if the samples could be of use. It's not known how or whether the judge responded, said Jean-Sebastien Raul, the institute's current director.
A plaque in memory of 86 Jews killed for Nazi medical experiments at the university of Strasbourg during World War II is pictured at the entrance of the anatomy school in Strasbourg, eastern France. Photo: AP
The samples were apparently forgotten until July 9, when Toledano and Raul cracked open the door. The storage container and jar and test tubes, holding a fragment of human skin and other body samples, were meticulously labeled just as the letter detailed, Toledano said.
"It was a shock to discover that these jars were still there, that we put in a museum display a part of these Jews who were murdered by the Nazis," Toledano said.
A plaque carrying names of 86 Jews, victims of Nazi professeur August Hirt, is unveiled on December 11, 2005 at the Israeli cemetery in Strasbourg-Cronenbourg. Photo AFP/Ilan Garzone
The Strasbourg mayor's office said Monday it hopes to return the remains to Strasbourg's Jewish community for eventual burial in the city, which sits on the border of France and Germany.
Hirt was tried in absentia in 1952 in France and sentenced to death for his experiments. At the time French authorities did not realise that he had committed suicide at the end of World War II and presumed that he was hiding in Germany.
Morning news break - July 21
7 NEWS
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
23072015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
No comments:
Post a Comment