Irreversible changes in concentration camp survivors’ psychic structure due to Nazi pseudo-medical experiments

Psychiatry Clinic, Poznań Medical Academy;¹ Head: Prof. Dr R. Dreszer

The aim of the medical examination of camp survivors commissioned by the Polish Red Cross to Poznań Medical Academy in 1 962 was to determine concentration camp survivors disorders and their degree of work disability due to the pseudo-medical experiments carried out on them in Nazi German concentration camps. These medical examinations provided the survivors with legal grounds to claim compensation granted by the International Red Cross to victims of Nazi German crimes.

The basic medical examinations included psychiatric consultations, the results of which will be presented in this report. We examined 120 persons (109 men and 11 women), who had been confined in various concentration camps during World War II and who were victims of criminal pseudo-medical experiments.

Their age ranged from 24 to 80, with 92% over 40, and 53 aged between 50 and 60 at the time of the examination. Almost all of them were held in camps for over four years. Their age at the start of their imprisonment ranged from 4 to 45. Half of them were priests and religious, the rest were farmers, craftsmen, clerks and administrative staff, engineers, and health service workers. Only 10%, mostly women, did not have a profession. 70% had completed secondary or higher education.

Special emphasis should be put on the characterological traits of these survivors prior to their confinement. 75% were well-balanced, active, mobile, sthenic and resolute individuals, with a lot of mental resilience. Only some of them showed certain, usually not very clearly discernible psychopathic features, for the most part related to psychasthenia and seldom resembling a hysteroid or schizoid personality disorder.

All of them were subjected to criminal pseudo-medical experiments in concentration camps, 55% were deliberately infected with malaria, and 26% with bacteria causing purulent inflammation. The rest had other procedures such as experiments in freezing water; tests in a low-pressure chamber; having injections of various substances into the kidneys, spinal canal, eyeball, ear, or joints; having nerves, ligaments, or bones removed; artificial insemination, etc.² About 25% went through multiple experiments, sometimes carried out simultaneously. Apart from these experiments, they were all starving; many suffered from various kinds of disease, such typhus, typhoid fever, tuberculosis, heart kidney or liver disorders, as well as head injuries. 40% had a mental breakdown, usually during or after the experiment; in most cases it involved depression and in some cases apathy. Their physical inanition was accompanied by mental inertia, psychic submission and suicidal thoughts; they lost the will to survive. After liberation, all of them were extremely exhausted physically and mentally, with typical symptoms like drowsiness, inertia and memory impairment, and severe headaches. These symptoms of exhaustion often went hand in hand with persistent insomnia, psychomotor agitation, and a tendency to engage in excessive but ineffective activity, which lasted from several weeks to several years. When the disorders disappeared or weakened, most of these survivors resumed their previous activities. During our project, 30 of these victims were receiving disab ility benefits, and half of them were on retirement pensions.

We divided the pseudo-medical experiments we examined into five groups, taking into account the type, degree and specific features of their disorders.

The first group included 36 (31 men and 5 women) with profound asthenia, aged 32 to 78 at the time of our examination, including 22 over 50. Their age at the time of their imprisonment ranged from 14 to 54 (21 of them were over 30). During their confinement in concentration camps, they were infected with malaria (17 cases), some were given “treatment” to develop phlegmons; other pseudo-medical experiments carried out on them included being immersed in freezing water and “artificial” insemination with multiple miscarriages” etc. During or after the experiments, 14 of them developed apathetic-depressive conditions, and 15 suffered from various physical diseases and serious head injuries.

Over the past 10-12 years, their asthenia showed the following clinical symptoms: a predominant condition of physical and mental fatigue sporadically attended by a feeling of utter helplessness, loss of energy and excessive exhaustion, making it impossible for them to undertake regular work. Their interests narrowed noticeably; their subjective ability to remember and reproduce information was significantly lowered; and their ability to concentrate and focus their attention was weakened. All of them were diagnosed with a low level of self-control, irritability, lack of self-restraint, a high level of excitability, emotional lability and impatience. They also complained of insomnia, not feeling a need for sleep, and other sleep disorders such as a circadian rhythm, and frequent nightmares that they were still in the camp. The most common vegetative symptoms were headaches, sweating, loss of appetite, and decreased or loss of libido. As a rule, their mood was depressed, slightly discouraged; they reconciled themselves to a sense of failure and felt dissatisfied with their lives.

A Bloody Board. Artwork by Marian Kołodziej. Photo by Piotr Markowski. Click the image to enlarge.

Those with profound asthenia may be divided into three groups. The first group had only the symptoms we have already described. The second developed additional symptoms, dementia and premature aging; while the third had permanent personality changes of a psychasthenic, hysterical, hypochondriacal and hypersensitive nature as well as symptoms of asthenia. There were also permanent depressive changes, but as they were observed in most of the members of the examined group to a greater or lesser extent, we did not classify them in a separate subgroup. Our patients’ psychasthenic personality changes could be observed in their tendency to hesitate, entertain doubts and uncertainty, be overcautious, persistently return to their memories of the camp, and create defensive rituals and ceremonies. The hysteric changes consisted of a tendency to exaggerate, behave in a theatrical way, and develop certain automatic forms of behavior or hysterical symptoms. The hypochondriacal personality changes boiled down mainly to a permanent narrowing of interests to numerous unpleasant bodily sensations. Patients’ hypersensitive personality changes were manifested as a tendency to take a paranoid attitude to the people around them, behave in a contentious manner and pick quarrels.

It should be noted permanent personality changes were observed in survivors who had these psychopathic though not such distinct traits before their detention in concentration camps. Thus, we should rather be speaking of an exacerbation of certain traits rather than of the emergence of new personality traits.

These disorders took a course that was either marked by spells of improvement alternating with relapses throughout the entire postwar period, or with fluctuations only in the first years after liberation, and then with the setting in of disorders of the same intensity.

The following case is a good example of this group:

B. S., a priest aged 57. Prior to his confinement, he was well-balanced, amenable, cheerful, though not very sociable, a hard-working but fairly slow person with no patent neurotic disorders. He contracted malaria in the camp. Not much later, he fell ill with tuberculosis, and was in the prisoners’ hospital for nine months, constantly in danger of being sent to the death block. During that time as well as after leaving the hospital, he was constantly tense, and experienced anxiety all the time. After liberation, he was extremely exhausted, overly agitated, and talkative; he was restless and fidgety and suffered from persistent insomnia. This condition lasted until 1950. Later, there was a slight improvement but he still felt exhausted and was impetuous and irascible. He also suffered from headaches and slept badly. He was still constantly agitated and garrulous. In addition, he became indecisive and prone to hesitation, doubt and unnecessary deliberation. Sometimes he went through a spell of depression and discouragement for no apparent reason.

The second group comprised 38 people (34 men and 4 women) diagnosed with mild asthenia. Their age at the time of the examination ranged from 35 to 68, including 28 people over 50. Their age at the time of imprisonment ranged from 15 to 46, with 25 people over 30. During their concentration camp detention, 20 were infected with malaria, while the rest suffered from phlegmons (acute inflammation of the soft tissue), or were tested in a low-pressure chamber, exposed to freezing conditions, or underwent surgical operations and other experiments. In addition to these procedures, 11 of them fell ill with typhus, typhoid, tuberculosis, or developed liver and kidney diseases, while 16 experienced spells of depression and apathy, usually during the experiment.

After liberation, al were in a state of deep asthenia, physically and mentally exhausted, and suffering from drowsiness and memory impairment. These disorders persisted at a varying intensity for several months or up to two years, and in a few cases up to three or four years. Over the next 13–14 years, the same personality changes that characterized the previous group were observed in ten of these survivors, but these changes were much less intense and devoid of a permanent, depressive or dysthymic aspect.

Several of the survivors in this group who had been infected with malaria developed symptoms of mild asthenia which eventually led to periodic somnolence, inertia and general distress attended by shivering (but no fever); sometimes they were tormented by persistent camp memories. The rest of the group, 28 persons, had discrete asthenic symptoms attended by evident irritability, impatience, impulsiveness, lack of control or vegetative symptoms. Slight permanent personality changes of a psychasthenic nature were observed in a few cases.

Below is an example ate this group’s disorders.

?. B., a 61-year old priest. Before his detention in the camp, he was calm, well-balanced, outgoing and cheerful. During his confinement in Dachau, unidentified substances were injected into his wrist and thigh, which resulted in swelling, fever and spells of unconsciousness. During these experiments, he was depressed and tormented by suicidal thoughts. After his release, he felt extremely exhausted, had serious difficulties with remembering things and suffered from insomnia. In 1946, he developed a condition marked by irritability and emotional outbursts. His health condition has gradually improved since 1948: the disorders, including the prevailing irritability, have diminished significantly although they are still troublesome.

The third group with chronic neurotic disorders consisted of 8 people (6 men and 2 women), currently aged 24 to 54, including 2 over 50. Their age at the time of their imprisonment ranged from 4 to 32, with 2 people over 30. In the camp, they were subjected to experiments such as phlegmon infection, freezing, and gynecological, ophthalmic or other operations, which left them disabled (paralysis or loss of limbs, loss of sensory organs, permanent infertility or impotence). After liberation, all of them had asthenia, which later developed into neurasthenic or (in one case) hysterical neurosis.

Their neurasthenic s ose in close connection with conflicts resulting from their disability. The patient with hysterical neurosis had untypical psychogenic seizures that first appeared during the pseudo-medical experiments and later became persistent and reappeared after liberation. All the members of this group were treated in psychiatric hospitals and sanatoriums. Most of them are now pensioners.

Here is an example of the neurotic disorders in this group:

A. C., a woman of 46. Before her imprisonment, she was cheerful, active, enterprising and outgoing. In the camp, she underwent a number of experiments on her reproductive organs. One of the things done to her was having a substance inserted into her vagina, which resulted in severe abdominal pain. She has had no periods since that time. After her release from the camp, she suffered headaches, dizziness and abdominal pain. She became irritable, impatient and easily got tired. Around 1948, these disorders decreased significantly. But after she married, her mental condition deteriorated. Sexual intercourse disgusted her and she felt severe abdominal pain like the pain she felt during the experiments in the camp. Additionally, she felt that she was an incomplete and defective woman. This condition was accompanied by anxiety. For years she has been suffering from insomnia. She became unsociable, helpless and withdrawn.

The fourth group consisted of two cases of endogenous psychoses (cyclothymia and schizophrenia). As the symptoms of these psychoses were evident but fairly mild before these patients’ detention, we are not going to discuss them in detail.

We did not observe any mental disorders in the remaining 36, all male subjects. Their age ranged from 34 to 80, including 26 over 50. Their age at the time of their detention ranged from 17 to 58 (26 were over the age of 30). The pseudo-medical experiments they were exposed to were the same as those in the previous groups. Seven of the men in this group went through a state of apathy and depression in the camp, usually after the experiments on them. Moreover, 8 of them suffered from typhus, typhoid, heart, liver or kidney diseases, and had head injuries. Like all the others we examined, they were starved for a long time.

After liberation, 10 patients in this group had asthenia lasting from several months up to two years. Their symptoms of asthenia were like the ones in the previous groups, i.e. irritability, impatience, emotional lability, somnolence, excessive fatigue, inertia etc. Others in the examined population had similar symptoms, but they lasted for a much shorter time, just a few weeks. When these disorders subsided, all of them resumed work.

At the time of our examination, 14 people did not think they still had any post-camp effects. In the rest we observed some slight disorders probably related to their camp experiences. These conditions were mostly mono-symptomatic and involved problems with self-control, a subjective belief that they had lost their ability to experience altruistic feelings, nightmares, an obsessive tendency to mention matters concerning the camp in their conversations or sermons, recurrent memories of these things when they were cold or hungry (e.g. during a fast) or on waking up. There were no signs of premature aging in this group. Even though many of the survivors we examined were elderly, they were still fit physically and mentally. 29 were still working, the rest were on an old age pension.

Our data is too sparse to draw far-reaching conclusions about the pathogenesis of these disorders. Nevertheless, we would like to mention a few factors which we think determined the emergence and course of these disorders.

The concentration camp survivors we examined were exposed to strong, long-lasting stimuli which included being constantly in danger, contracting somatic diseases, st arving, and being forced to undergo pseudo-medical experiments. If these factors did not have the same effect on all of them, it was because of the differences in their personality, the extent to which they were prone (or alternatively immune or resilient) to somatic diseases, their mental attitude towards threatening situations, and the differences in their lifestyle after their release.

In the analysis the course of these survivors’ deep asthenic states, special attention should b given to the occurrence of psychopathic traits in some of them, the diseases and injuries they sustained as well as the number of pseudo-medical experiments performed on them in the concentration camps.

In turn, some of the decisive factors in the chronic neurotic disorders were the specific circumstances, such as the type of experiments and the disability they caused, unfavorable situations after liberation which prevented these survivors from claiming and obtaining compensation for their disability, and their young age during their confinement in the camps.

It should be noted that both ministers of religion and underground resistance combatants endured their detention and the pseudo-medical experiments better than other survivors, which shows the important contribution the ideological factor and social relations in the camp made to survivors’ ability to adjust to life in ordinary conditions following liberation.

***

Translated from original article: Dąbrowski, Stanisław, et al. “Trwałe zmiany psychiczne powstałe w wyniku pobytu w obozach koncentracyjnych i eksperymentów pseudolekarskich.” Przegląd Lekarski – Oświęcim, 1965.

1. Now Poznań University of Medical Sciences.
2. According to what we know today about Nazi German concentration camps, no experiments involving artificial insemination were carried out. Although a plan was made in Auschwitz to impregnate women who had been chemically sterilized, it was to be done by natural means. However, inmates believed that attempts to conduct artificial insemination were being practiced on them during the sterilizatio procedures with the use of chemicals (the contrast agents and formalin were thought to be insemination materials).

Note 1 by Teresa Bałuk-Ulewiczowa, Head Translator for the Medical Review Auschwitz project. Note 2 by Maria Ciesielska, Expert Consultant for the Medical Review Auschwitz project.

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