Hermann Becker-Freyseng

Becker-Freyseng graduated as a physician from the University of Berlin in 1935 although his first notable research involvement did not come along until three years later when he worked with Hans-Georg Clamman on experiments on the effects of pure oxygen.Maura Phillips Mackowski, Testing the Limits: Aviation Medicine and the Origins of Manned Space Flight, Texas A&M University Press, 2006, pp. 60–61

Becker-Freyseng was initially recruited by Hubertus Strughold to take part in the Nazi human experimentation programme that he oversaw. Becker-Freyseng's particular area of experimentation was low-pressure-chamber research, in which he worked alongside Ulrich Luft, Otto Gauer and Erich Opitz.Mackowski, Testing the Limits, p. 54 The Department for Aviation Medicine was established in 1936 with Becker-Freyseng initially just attached before he was promoted to co-ordinator.{{ill|Wolfgang Uwe Eckart|de}}, Man, Medicine, and the State: The Human Body as an Object of Government Sponsored Medical Research in the 20th Century, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2006, p. 110 Unlike some of his colleagues in military medical research, he was a member of the Nazi Party.Mackowski, Testing the Limits, p. 64 He also held the rank of captain in the Medical Service.Louis Leo Snyder, Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, Ware: Wordsworth, 1998, p. 69

The various experiments undertaken either by Becker-Freyseng or under his supervision during the course of his work resulted in a number of fatalities.Horst H. Freyhofer, The Nuremberg Medical Trial: The Holocaust and the Origin of the Nuremberg Medical Code, Peter Lang, 2004, p. 155 In particular, the high altitude experiments performed on inmates of Dachau concentration camp by Becker-Freyseng, Siegfried Ruff and Hans-Wolfgang Romberg claimed a number of lives.Freyhofer, The Nuremberg Medical Trial, p. 184 One of the most well-known was that detailed in a paper published by him and Konrad Schäfer entitled "Thirst and Thirst Quenching in Emergency Situations at Sea". For the experiments, the academics had personally asked Heinrich Himmler for 40 healthy camp inmates who were then forced to drink salt water or in some cases had it injected into their veins. Half the subjects were then given a drug called berkatit whilst all were subjected to an invasive liver biopsy without anaesthetic. All subjects died, including those given the berkatit, which proved toxic.Alexander Cockburn & Jeffrey St. Clair, Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Press, Verso, 1998, pp. 148–149

Indicted at the Doctors' Trial, he was found guilty of charges 2 and 3 (war crimes and crimes against humanity).Vivien Spitz, Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans, Sentient Publications, 2005, p. 265 He was sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. However, in 1946, Becker-Freyseng's name was amongst a list of twenty drawn up by Harry George Armstrong who were to be brought to the United States to assist in the development of American space medicine.Jonathan D. Moreno, Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans, Routledge, 2001, p. 91 Along with Kurt Blome, Siegfried Ruff and Konrad Schäfer, he was taken to the US and put to work on projects related to the space race.Thomas E. Beam & Linette R. Sparacino (eds.), Military Medical Ethics, Volume 2, DIANE Publishing, 2003, p. 436 Given responsibility for collecting and publishing the research undertaken by him and his colleagues, the resulting book, German Aviation Medicine: World War II, appeared just after Becker-Freyseng began his prison sentence.Cockburn & St. Clair, Whiteout, p. 149 In 1951, Becker-Freyseng's sentence was commuted to 10 years, and he was released from prison in 1952.

Becker-Freyseng was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1960 and died from the condition the following year.Ernst Klee: Das Personenlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Zweite aktualisierte Auflage, Frankfurt am Main 2005, p. 35

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Category:1910 births

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Category:People from Ludwigshafen

Category:People from the Palatinate (region)

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Category:German people convicted of crimes against humanity

Category:Neurological disease deaths in Germany

Category:Deaths from multiple sclerosis

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Category:Nazis convicted of war crimes

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