A prisoner is submerged in a tank filled with cold water. The goal of this type of experiments was to check how long German pilots would survive after parachuting into the North Sea. Different types of clothing were tested, as well as different methods for reviving the experimental subjects who survived. Source: The Pictorial History of the Holocaust, edited by Yitzhak Arad, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1990. The following letter is a copy of a letter written by SS-Untersturmfueher Rascher to Reichsfuerher-SS Himmler, 11 May 1942. Highly Esteemed Reich Leader, Enclosed I am forwarding a short summary on the principle experiments conducted to date... For the following experiments Jewish criminals who had committed race pollution were used. The question of formation of embolism was investigated in ten cases. Some of the experimental subjects died during a continued high-altitude experiment; for instance, after one-half hour at the height of 12 Km. After the skull had been opened under water and ample amount of air embolism was found in the brain vessels and, in part, free air in the brain ventricles. To find out whether the severe psychic and physical effects, as mentioned under number 3, are due to the formation of embolism, the following was done: After relative recuperation from such a parachute descending test had taken place, however, before regaining consciousness, some experimental subjects were kept under water until they died. When the skull and the cavities of the breast and of the abdomen had been opened under water, and enormous amount of air embolism was found in the vessels of the brain, the coronary vessels, and vessels of the liver and the intestines, etc. It was also proved by experiments that air embolism occurs in practically all vessels even while pure oxygen is being inhaled. One experimental subject was made to breathe pure oxygen for 2.5 hours before the experiment started. After 6 minutes at a height of 20 Km, he died and at dissection also showed ample air embolism, as was the case in all other experiments. Quick Jump: Mass Executions | Nazi Genocide | Medical Experiments | Death Camps | Holocaust Documents | Holocaust Photo Archive Index ParaScope Image Gallery Foyer