Wilhelm Pfannenstiel
Encyclopedia
Wilhelm Hermann Pfannenstiel ( February 12, 1890 - November 1, 1982) was a physician and SS-Standartenführer (colonel, SS-No. 273083.) and a member of the Nazi party (NSDAP 2828629). He was born in the city of Breslau, Lower Silesia
, which passed to Poland
after the war and is now called Wrocław. His father was the fairly renowned gynecologist, Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel
(1862–1909) who married his mother, Elisabeth Behlendorff in 1889.
He was Professor of Hygiene at the University of Marburg in Marburg, Germany and headed the Marburg Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rassenhygiene (German Society for Race Hygiene). In 1935 he nominated Paul Uhlenhuth
for the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in chemotherapy
.
Pfannenstiel was with Kurt Gerstein
in Belzec concentration camp in August, 1942 during which he witnessed the botched gassing of Jews
from Lwów, an episode which Gerstein included in the subsequently named Gerstein Report
and which is partly corroborated in the report of Wehrmacht NCO Wilhelm Cornides
. Pfannenstiel's independent testimony of what he witnessed differed in some respects to Gerstein's but still added a degree of veracity in that they were both there that day and did witness the gassing.
From the deposition of Wilhelm Pfannenstiel before the Darmstadt
Court, June 6, 1950:
Pfannenstiel may have also been complicit in the commission of medical experiments SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer (captain) Sigmund Rascher
a doctor convicted of committing war crimes at Dachau wrote him about previous correspondence they had concerning using prisoners as human guinea pigs. The letter was introduced as evidence at the Doctor’s Trial at Nuremberg
.
After the war he was interned by the Americans until 1950. Between 1954 and 1959 he was in charge of the "Experimental Theraphy" division of the German pharmaceutical company Schaper & Brümmer GmbH & Co.
Lower Silesia
Lower Silesia ; is the northwestern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia; Upper Silesia is to the southeast.Throughout its history Lower Silesia has been under the control of the medieval Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy from 1526...
, which passed to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
after the war and is now called Wrocław. His father was the fairly renowned gynecologist, Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel
Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel
Hermann Johannes Pfannenstiel was a German gynecologist who was a native of Berlin.In 1885 he received his doctorate in Berlin and afterwards worked as a hospital assistant in Posen. Later he moved to Breslau, where in 1896 he became an associate professor...
(1862–1909) who married his mother, Elisabeth Behlendorff in 1889.
He was Professor of Hygiene at the University of Marburg in Marburg, Germany and headed the Marburg Deutsche Gesellschaft für Rassenhygiene (German Society for Race Hygiene). In 1935 he nominated Paul Uhlenhuth
Paul Uhlenhuth
Paul Theodor Uhlenhuth was a German bacteriologist and hygienist and an assistant professor at the Institute of Hygiene at the University of Greifswald...
for the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work in chemotherapy
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the treatment of cancer with an antineoplastic drug or with a combination of such drugs into a standardized treatment regimen....
.
Pfannenstiel was with Kurt Gerstein
Kurt Gerstein
Kurt Gerstein was a German SS officer and member of the Institute for Hygiene of the Waffen-SS. He witnessed mass murders in the Nazi extermination camps Belzec and Treblinka...
in Belzec concentration camp in August, 1942 during which he witnessed the botched gassing of Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
from Lwów, an episode which Gerstein included in the subsequently named Gerstein Report
Gerstein Report
The Gerstein Report was written by Kurt Gerstein, an Obersturmführer of the Waffen-SS in 1945 who rose to become the Head of Technical Disinfection Services of the SS. In that capacity he witnessed in August 1942 the gassing of some 3,000 Jews in the extermination camp of Belzec...
and which is partly corroborated in the report of Wehrmacht NCO Wilhelm Cornides
Wilhelm Cornides
Wilhelm Cornides was a Wehrmacht sergeant in World War II known as the author of the Cornides Report, a report concerning his first hand experience of the extermination of Jews at the Belzec concentration camp. He was the founder of Europa-Archiv , the first post-war publication in Occupied...
. Pfannenstiel's independent testimony of what he witnessed differed in some respects to Gerstein's but still added a degree of veracity in that they were both there that day and did witness the gassing.
From the deposition of Wilhelm Pfannenstiel before the Darmstadt
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
Court, June 6, 1950:
Pfannenstiel may have also been complicit in the commission of medical experiments SS-Hauptsturmfuehrer (captain) Sigmund Rascher
Sigmund Rascher
Sigmund Rascher was a German SS doctor.His deadly experiments on humans, planned and executed in the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau, were judged inhumane and criminal during the Nuremberg Trials.-Early life and career:Rascher was born the third child of Hanns-August Rascher , a...
a doctor convicted of committing war crimes at Dachau wrote him about previous correspondence they had concerning using prisoners as human guinea pigs. The letter was introduced as evidence at the Doctor’s Trial at Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
.
Highly esteemed Professor please I dare to ask if whether you are still interested that we carry out the experiments on human beings on the fostering of altitude resistance by administering vitamins. If so, I would devotedly request you to apply to the Reich Research Council and Chief of the business managing board Standartenführer SS Wolfram Sievers .... so that a mobile low pressure chamber may be obtained through the LuftwaffeLuftwaffeLuftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
for your and my joint experiments... .
After the war he was interned by the Americans until 1950. Between 1954 and 1959 he was in charge of the "Experimental Theraphy" division of the German pharmaceutical company Schaper & Brümmer GmbH & Co.