Ernst Holzlöhner (23 February 1899 in

Insterburg Chernyakhovsk (russian: Черняхо́вск) – known prior to 1946 by its German name of (Old Prussian: Instrāpils, lt, Įsrutis; pl, Wystruć) – is a town in the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia, where it is the administrative center of C ...

– 14 June 1945 in Mohrkirch) was a German physiologist and university lecturer involved in the Nazi experiments on humans.

Biography

Holzlöhner was the son of Martha Holzlöhner née Koch and her husband, the school administrator Albert Holzlöhner. From 1917 to 1919 he served in World War 1. He then studied medicine at the universities of Freiburg, Kiel, Greifswald, Graz and finally Würzburg, where he received his doctorate in 1923 with the dissertation Über einen Fall von präsystolischem Galopprhythmus mit gleichzeitigem 'Flint'schen Geräusch' bei einer Aorteninsuffizienz (On a case of presystolic gallop rhythm with simultaneous 'Flint'schen noise' in an aortic insufficiency).Holzlöhner was a private lecturer and senior physician with Wilhelm Trendelenburg at the Physiological Institute of the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

. In 1932 he became a non-official a.o. Professor appointed. In 1933 he joined the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

(Nazi party) and became lecturer at the University of Berlin. Later, Holzlöhner became a '' SS-Sturmbannführer''. In 1934, Holzlöhner received a full professorship for physiology at the

University of Kiel Kiel University, officially the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, (german: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, abbreviated CAU, known informally as Christiana Albertina) is a university in the city of Kiel, Germany. It was founded in ...

. During this time, he became a lecturer at the University of Kiel and deputy leader of the

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; da, Slesvig-Holsten; nds, Sleswig-Holsteen; frr, Slaswik-Holstiinj) is the northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Sc ...

lecturers' association. Together with his assistants Sigmund Rascher and Erich Finke, he carried out sub-cooling experiments on behalf of the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' in the Dachau concentration camp from August 1942, in which prisoners were deliberately chilled to simulate winter conditions, then reheated using different methods. At the conference on medical questions in distress and winter death on October 26 and 27, 1942, he discussed the results of the cold tests. In April 1945, Holzlöhner was appointed

Rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the University of Kiel. Holzwöhner was captured and interrogated by British soldiers after the end of the war. After the interrogation, he committed suicide in June 1945 to avoid execution.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holzlohner, Ernst 1899 births 1945 suicides Academic staff of the University of Kiel Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Nazi Party members Dachau concentration camp personnel Physicians in the Nazi Party Nazis who committed suicide in Germany 1945 deaths