Fertility Experiments in Auschwitz-Birkenau: The Perpetrators and Their Victims

“Fertility Experiments in Auschwitz-Birkenau: The Perpetrators and Their Victims” offers a historical examination of fertility experiments conducted by the Nazis. This dissertation tells the story of both the victims and perpetrators, often in their own words. Drawing on material that has only recently become available, this dissertation emphasizes the subjective dimension of fertility experiments by focusing on how the victims experienced the procedures and on how the perpetrators justified their crimes.Through in-depth analysis of testimonies made over the last 60 years — from witness statements at the Nuremberg Doctors Trial in 1947 to statements made for compensation programs such as the Claims Conference’s recently closed Fund for Victims of Medical Experiments and Other Injuries, as well interviews conducted specifically for this dissertation — “Fertility Experiments in Auschwitz-Birkenau” aims to portray the life of the victims and perpetrators of Nazi fertility experiments during and after Auschwitz.