Joachim Mrugowsky

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Joachim Mrugowsky as a defendant in the Doctors' Trial.

Joachim Mrugowsky (15 August 1905 in Rathenow, Brandenburg – 2 June 1948 in Landsberg Prison, Landsberg am Lech) was a German bacteriologist who conducted experiments on humans at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was Associate Professor, Medical Doctorate, Chief of Hygiene Institute of the Waffen-SS, Senior Hygienist at the Reich, SS-Physician, SS and Waffen-SS Colonel. He was found guilty of war crimes following the war in the Doctors' Trial and executed in 1948.

Early life and education[]

Mrugowsky (also spelled Mrugowski[1]) was born to a family of Polish origin;[2] his father was a medical doctor.[3] In 1925, Mrugowsky began his studies of natural sciences and medicine at the University of Halle. He completed the studies in 1930-1931 with a medical doctorate and a doctorate of natural sciences. 1930-1931 he was the Hochschulgruppenführer (University group leader) of the National Socialist German Students' League branch at the University of Halle. After a two-year internship, he became an assistant at the Hygiene Institute of the University of Halle. Mrugowsky was made an associate professor in the area of hygiene at the University of Berlin in September 1944.

Career in the Third Reich[]

Since 1930, Mrugowsky had been involved in the Nazi ideology, first being the group leader of a local National Socialist German Students' Association then the NSDAP party member (No. 210,049). In 1931, he joined the SS, where he achieved the rank of Oberführer in both the General SS and the Waffen-SS. Mrugowsky coordinated human experimentation at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp near Berlin. This included testing of typhus vaccines, biological warfare agents, including poisoned bullets and lethal injections.[4]

Trial and conviction[]

He was implicated in the Nazi human experimentation program, with the exception of the aviation experiments, which were conducted on concentration camp prisoners. Mrugowsky was convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death in August 1947.[5] He was executed on 2 June 1948.

References[]

  1. ^ "Mrugowski, Joachim - Deutsche Biographie".
  2. ^ Florian Bruns, Medizinethik im Nationalsozialismus: Entwicklungen und Protagonisten in Berlin (1939–1945), p. 164, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2009, ISBN 978-3515092265
  3. ^ Professorenkatalog der Universität Halle/Saale
  4. ^ López-Muñoz, F.; García-García, P.; Alamo, C. (2009). "The pharmaceutical industry and the German National Socialist Regime: I.G. Farben and pharmacological research". Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 34 (1): 67–77. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2710.2008.00972.x. PMID 19125905. S2CID 6922723.
  5. ^ Mellanby, Kenneth (25 January 1947). "Medical Experiments on Human Beings in Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany". British Medical Journal. 1 (4490): 148–150. doi:10.1136/bmj.1.4490.148. ISSN 0007-1447. PMC 2052883. PMID 20244692.

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