Herta Oberheuser (1911 - 1978)

Born 15 May 1911 in Cologne, German Empire

Died 24 Jan 1978 at age 66 in Linz am Rhein, West Germany

Biography

Herta Oberheuser is born May 15, 1911 in Cologne, German Empire.

In 1937, Oberheuser obtains her medical degree in Bonn, specializing in dermatology. She joins the Nazi Party as an intern, and later serves as doctor for the League of German Girls. In 1940, Oberheuser is appointed to serve as an assistant to Karl Gebhardt, then Chief Surgeon of the Schutzstaffel and Heinrich Himmler's personal doctor.

Oberheuser and Gebhardt go to Ravensbrück in 1942 in order to conduct experiments on its prisoners, to find better methods of treating infection. They conduct gruesome medical experiments (treating purposely infected wounds with sulfanilamide, as well as bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and transplantation) on 86 women.

Oberheuser is the only female defendant in the Nuremberg "Doctors' trial", where she is convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

She was released in April 1952 for good behavior and became a family doctor in Stocksee, near Kiel, in West Germany. She lost her position in August 1958 after a Ravensbrück survivor recognized her, and the interior minister of Schleswig-Holstein, Helmut Lemke, revoked her medical license and shut down her practice. Oberheuser appealed to the Schleswig-Holstein administrative court, but her appeal was rejected in December 1960. She never practiced medicine again and was fined as punishment.

Oberheuser died January 24, 1978 in Linz am Rhein, West Germany.

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herta_Oberheuser