After the initial operations had been performed, I returned to Ravensbrueck each afternoon to observe the progress of the persons who had been operated on. No serious illnesses resulted from these initial operations. I reported the progress of the patients to Professor Gebhardt each night.
When the five persons first operated on were cured, another series of five was begun. The surgical procedure and the post-operative procedure was the same as in the initial experiments, but the bacterial cultures were more virulent. The results from this series were substantially the same as in the first and no serious illnesses resulted.
Since no inflammation resulted from the bacterial cultures used in the first two series of operations, it was determined, as a result of correspondence with Dr. Mrugowsky, the Chief of the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS, and conversations with his assistant, to change the type of bacterial culture in the subsequent operations. Using the new culture, two more series of operations were performed, each involving five persons.
The difference between the third and fourth series was in the bacterial cultures used. The Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS prepared them from separate combinations of the three or four gangrene cultures which were available. In the third and fourth series, more pronounced infection and inflammation were discernible at the place of incision. Their characteristics were similar to a normal, local infection, with redness, swelling, and pain. The circumference of the infection was comparable in size to a chestnut. Upon the completion of the fourth series, the camp physician informed me that the camp commandant had instructed him that male patients would no longer be available for further experiments, but that it would be necessary to use female inmates.
Accordingly, five women were prepared for the operation, but I did not operate on them. I reported the change of situation to Professor Gebhardt and suggested that in view of these circumstances, it would be desirable to stop the experiments. He did not adopt this suggestion, however, and pointed out that it was necessary for me as an officer to carry out the duties which had been assigned to me.
The experiments, however, were interrupted for a period of 2 weeks, during which Professor Gebhardt told me he had discussed the matter in Berlin and had been instructed to carry on the experiments, using Polish female prisoners who had been sentenced to death. In addition, he instructed me to speed up the experiments since the Reich Physician, Dr. Grawitz, intended to go to Ravensbrueck soon to test the results of the experiments. Accordingly, I went to Ravensbrueck and operated on the female prisoners.
Since the infections which resulted from the first four series of experiments were not typical of gangrenous battlefield infections, we communicated with the Hygiene Institute of the Waffen SS to determine what steps could be taken more nearly to simulate infections caused by battle. As a result of this correspondence and a conference at Hohenlychen presided over by Professor Gebhardt, it was decided to add tiny fragments of wood shavings to the bacterial cultures, which would simulate the crust of dirt customarily found in battlefield wounds.
As a result of this conference, three series of operations were performed, each involving 10 persons, one using the bacterial culture and fragments of wood, the second using bacterial culture and fragments of glass, and the third using the culture plus glass and wood.
About two weeks after these new series were begun, Dr. Grawitz visited Ravensbrueck. Professor Gebhardt introduced him to me and explained to him the general nature of the work. Professor Gebhardt then left, and I explained to Dr. Grawitz the details of the operations and their results. Dr. Grawitz, before I could complete my report on the procedures used and the results obtained, brusquely interrupted me and observed that the conditions under which the experiments were performed did not sufficiently resemble conditions prevailing at the front. He asked me literally, “How many deaths have there been?” and when I reported that there had not been any, he stated that that confirmed his assumption that the experiments had not been carried out in accordance with his directions.
He said that the operations were mere flea bites and that since the purpose of the work was to determine the effectiveness of sulfanilamide on bullet wounds it would be necessary to inflict actual bullet wounds on the patients. He ordered that the next series of experiments to be undertaken should be in accordance with these directions. That same evening, I discussed these orders of Dr. Grawitz with Professor Gebhardt and we both agreed that it was impossible to carry them out, but that a procedure would be adopted which would more nearly simulate battlefield conditions without actually shooting the patients.