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Claus Karl Schilling (5 July 1871 – 28 May 1946), also recorded as Klaus Schilling, was a German
tropical medicine Tropical medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that deals with health issues that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or are more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions. Physicians in this field diagnose and tr ...
specialist who participated in the
Nazi human experiments Nazi human experimentation was a series of human experimentation, medical experiments on prisoners by Nazi Germany in its Nazi concentration camps, concentration camps mainly between 1942 and 1945. There were 15,754 documented victims, of vari ...
at the
Dachau concentration camp Dachau (, ; , ; ) was one of the first concentration camps built by Nazi Germany and the longest-running one, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler's political opponents, which consisted of communists, s ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Though never a member of the
Nazi Party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party ( or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor ...
and a recognized researcher at the
Robert Koch Institute The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Federa ...
before the war, Schilling participated in unethical and inhumane experiments on captive human subjects under both
Fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...
and
Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...
. From 1942 to 1945, Schilling's research on
malaria Malaria is a Mosquito-borne disease, mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects vertebrates and ''Anopheles'' mosquitoes. Human malaria causes Signs and symptoms, symptoms that typically include fever, Fatigue (medical), fatigue, vomitin ...
and attempts at fighting it using synthetic drugs culminated in
human experimentation Human subject research is systematic, scientific investigation that can be either interventional (a "trial") or observational (no "test article") and involves human beings as research subjects, commonly known as test subjects. Human subject r ...
on over a thousand camp prisoners at Dachau, of whom hundreds died. Sentenced to death by hanging at the Dachau camp trial after the fall of
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
's Germany, he was executed for his crimes against the Dachau prisoners in 1946.


Biography

Born in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
on 5 July 1871, Schilling studied medicine in his native city, receiving a doctor's degree there in 1895. He was a professor of parasitology at the University of Berlin and a member of Malaria Commission of the League of Nations. Within a few years, Schilling was practicing in the German colonial possessions in Africa. Recognized for his contributions in the field of
tropical medicine Tropical medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that deals with health issues that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or are more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions. Physicians in this field diagnose and tr ...
, he was appointed the first-ever director of the tropical medicine division of the
Robert Koch Institute The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) is a German federal government agency and research institute responsible for disease control and prevention. It is located in Berlin and Wernigerode. As an upper federal agency, it is subordinate to the Federa ...
in 1905, where he would remain for the subsequent three decades.


Italian research

Upon retirement from the Robert Koch Institute in 1936, Schilling moved to
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
's
Fascist Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
, where he was given the opportunity to conduct
immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the antigen, immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ' ...
experiments on inmates of the psychiatric asylums of
Volterra Volterra (; Latin: ''Volaterrae'') is a walled mountaintop town in the Tuscany region of Italy. Its history dates from before the 8th century BC and it has substantial structures from the Etruscan, Roman, and Medieval periods. History ...
and San Niccolò di Siena.Hulverscheidt, Marion. "German Malariology Experiments with Humans, Supported by the DFG Until 1945". ''Man, Medicine, and the State: The Human Body as an Object of Government Sponsored Medical Research in the 20th Century'', Beiträge zur Geschichte der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft Volume 2. Ed. Wolfgang Uwe Eckhart. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2006. , , pp. 221–236. (The Italian authorities were concerned that troops faced malaria outbreaks in the course of the Italo-Ethiopian War.) As Schilling stressed the significance of the research for German interests, the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
government of Germany also supported him with a financial grant for his Italian experimentation.


Dachau experiments

Schilling returned to Germany after a meeting with Leonardo Conti, the Nazis' Health Chief, in 1941, and by early 1942 he was provided with a special malaria research station at Dachau's
concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...
by
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician and military leader who was the 4th of the (Protection Squadron; SS), a leading member of the Nazi Party, and one of the most powerful p ...
, the leader of the SS. Despite negative assessments from colleagues, Schilling would remain in charge of the malaria station for the duration of the war. Although Schilling stressed that the research could be done in a harmless manner, test subjects in Dachau were subject to sadistic treatment. They included confining their hands and arms in cages filled with malaria mosquitoes. Afterwards, they were treated with synthetic drugs, at doses ranging from high to lethal. Of the more than 1,000 prisoners used in the malaria experiments at Dachau during the war, between 300 and 400 died as a result; among survivors, a substantial number remained permanently injured. A number of
priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...
imprisoned by the
Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
were killed during the experiments. In the course of the
Dachau Trials The Dachau trials, also known as the Dachau Military Tribunal, handled the prosecution of almost every war criminal captured in the U.S. military zones in Allied-occupied Germany and in Allied-occupied Austria, and the prosecutions of military ...
following the liberation of the camp at the close of the war, Schilling was tried by a U.S. General Military Court, appointed at 2 November 1945, in the case of ''The United States versus Martin Gottfried Weiss, Wilhelm Rupert, et al''. The defendants, 40 doctors and staff, were charged and convicted of offenses of the violations of laws and usages of war in that they acted in pursuance of a common design, did encourage, aid, abet, and participate in the subjection of Allied nationals and prisoners of war to cruelties and mistreatments at Dachau Concentration Camp and its subcamps.Spitz, Vivien. ''Doctors from Hell: The Horrific Account of Nazi Experiments on Humans''. Boulder, Colorado: Sentient Publications, 2005. , , p. 104–112. According to the testimony of August H. Vieweg, the patients used in the malaria experiments were Poles, Russians, and Yugoslavs. At that time, there was no formal code of ethics in medical research to which the judges could hold the accused Nazi doctors accountable. The "scientific experiments" exposed during the trials led to the
Nuremberg Code The Nuremberg Code () is a set of research ethics, ethical research principles for human experimentation created by the court in ''Doctors' trial, U.S. v Brandt'', one of the Subsequent Nuremberg trials that were held after the World War II, Seco ...
, developed in 1949 as a ten-point code of human experimentation ethics. During his trial, Schilling made a plea in English. Breaking down in tears at the end, he pleaded with the court to let him finish his research, albeit in a less destructive manner:
"I have worked out this great labor. It would be really a terrible loss if I could not finish this work. I don't ask you as a court, I ask you personally to do what you can; to do what you can to help me that I may finish this report. I need only a table and a chair and a typewriter. It would be an enormous help for science, for my colleagues, and a good part to rehabilitate myself."
The tribunal sentenced Schilling to death by
hanging Hanging is killing a person by suspending them from the neck with a noose or ligature strangulation, ligature. Hanging has been a standard method of capital punishment since the Middle Ages, and has been the primary execution method in numerou ...
on 13 December 1945. After his conviction, Schilling asked his lawyer not to appeal on his behalf, saying he would rather die than stay in prison. However, many in the German medical community protested on his behalf, calling him an honest and humane scientist. Nevertheless, Schilling's sentence was confirmed, and his execution took place at
Landsberg Prison Landsberg Prison is a prison in the town of Landsberg am Lech in the southwest of the German state of Bavaria, about west-southwest of Munich and south of Augsburg. It is best known as the prison where Adolf Hitler was held in 1924, after the ...
in
Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech (river), Lech) is a Town#Germany, town in southwest Bavaria, Germany, about 65 kilometers west of Munich and 35 kilometers south of Augsburg. It is the capital of the district of Landsberg (district), Lands ...
on 28 May 1946. The execution was filmed by military personnel, who recorded Schilling's ascending the gallows and his hanging, along with a coffin marked "Dr Schilling, Claus." When asked if he wanted to make a final statement, Schilling said "I am not guilty. Please get it over with."


References


External links

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Schilling execution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schilling, Claus 1871 births 1946 deaths Dachau concentration camp personnel Dachau trials executions Executed German mass murderers Executed people from Bavaria German people in German East Africa Medical practitioners convicted of murdering their patients Nazi human subject research People from the Kingdom of Bavaria Physicians from Munich