Treatment of Sick Prisoners Pen drawing by Ragnar Sørensen, date unknown. Ragnar Sørensen, a former prisoner from Norway, was imprisoned in Neuengamme in March/April 1945.
X-Ray Photograph of a TBC Experiment In 1944/45, SS physician Dr. Kurt Heißmeyer carried out experiments with tubercle bacilli at Neuengamme concentration camp, at first on up to 100 men and later on 20 Jewish children between the ages of five and twelve. For most of Heißmeyer s subjects, these experiments resulted in severe permanent damage to their health, and for many of them they proved fatal. On 11 October 1944, Heißmeyer used a probe to inject tubercle bacilli into the lungs of 21- year-old Soviet prisoner Ivan Churkin (see photograph). On 9 November 1944, he had Churkin hanged so he could dissect his body and analyse the results. (ANg)
Collage Made up of Five Photographs Photographs of five of the 20 Jewish children who were brought to Neuengamme from Auschwitz concentration camp in November 1944 to be used as subjects for Heißmeyer s medical experiments. On 20 April 1945, SS men hanged the children at the evacuated Bullenhuser Damm satellite camp in Hamburg. Günther Schwarberg, a journalist from Hamburg, carried out extensive research into the murders in the late 1970s, and managed to get in touch with many relatives of the murdered children. Jacqueline Morgenstern, born 26 May 1932. In September 1943 her family had left Paris for Marseille to escape being deported by the German occupying forces. In Marseille, the family was arrested by the French police, who handed them over to the Gestapo. Jacqueline Morgenstern s parents died in Auschwitz and Dachau concentration camps respectively. Undated photograph. Sergio de Simone, born 29 November 1937. His family had left Naples for Fiume (today Rijeka), fleeing the Allied air-raids. In spring 1944, they were arrested there and imprisoned in the infamous Risiera di San Sabba concentration camp in Trieste. From there, the entire family was deported to Auschwitz. Undated photograph.
Eduard and Alexander Hornemann, born 1 January 1933 and 31 May 1936. In August 1943, all Jewish employees of the Philips factory in Eindhoven in the Netherlands were arrested, among them the father of the two boys. His wife and two children were also deported to Vught concentration camp near s- Hertogenbosch. In June 1944, the family was deported to Auschwitz, where the boys mother died in September 1944. Their father died in January 1945 on a transport. The photograph was taken circa 1943. Rywka Herszberg, born 7 June 1938. In Summer 1943, she and her parents were deported to Auschwitz from Petrikau (Piotrków Trybunalski) in Poland. Only her mother survived. The photograph shows Rywka Herszberg in early 1945 after she had been subjected to Heißmeyer s TBC experiments. A plastoma can be seen in the place where the bacilli had been injected, and a postoperative scar can be seen under her armpit. Heißmeyer had the children s lymph nodes removed so he could dissect them.
Marek James, born in 1939 in Radom, Poland. Little is known about him. He was deported to Auschwitz on 1 August 1944, from where he and other children were taken to Neuengamme concentration camp in November 1944 to serve as subjects in Heißmeyer s TBC experiments. Photographs 1 to 3 come from private collections, photographs 4 and 5 were taken by Neuengamme camp photographer Josef Schmitt at Neuengamme in early 1945.
Prisoner in the Latrine Pencil drawing by Per Ulrich, probably from 1945. Reproduction. Per Ulrich added the following comments: Crippled with pain, the prisoners suffering from diarrhoea were so hungry that they continued to eat their rations of turnip soup and rye bread, even though these were actually harmful to the stomach. Translation. Per Ulrich, a former prisoner from Denmark, was imprisoned in Neuengamme in March/April 1945.
Prisoner Suffering from Diarrhoea Pencil Drawing by Per Ulrich, probably from 1945. Reproduction. Per Ulrich added the following comment: One of the scourges of the camp was diarrhoea. Prisoners who suffered from it were unable to control their bowel movements and did not have the strength to run to the toilet 20 to 30 times in 24 hours. After a while, their clothes would be completely drenched from their necks to their feet, and excrement, blood, pus, and mucus would be dripping out of their trouser legs. Translation.
Pair of Feet Pencil and Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich, probably from 1945. Reproduction. Per Ulrich added the following comments: The extremely long marches and the daily slave labour injured the feet, especially because of the bad footwear. Wounds that did not heal led to blood poisoning, inflammations and unusually large phlegmons which caused the feet and legs to rot. Translation.
Mealtime at the Convalescence Block Drawing by Hans Peter Sørensen, eighth drawing in his Neuengamme portfolio published in 1948. Print based on a pencil drawing. Hans Peter Sørensen added the following comments: This drawing shows what it meant if a camp inmate became sick. There were many capable doctors among the prisoners, but there was not enough medicine. Hans Peter Sørensen, a former prisoner from Denmark, was imprisoned in Neuengamme from October 1944. In the convalescence blocks, sick and weak prisoners were given reduced rations and were left to their own devices. Some recovered, others perished miserably.
Drawings of Weakened Prisoners by Per Ulrich Per Ulrich, a former prisoner from Denmark, was imprisoned in Neuengamme in March/April 1945. Pencil and Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich entitled De haabløse ( The Hopeless Ones ), circa 1945. Pencil and Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich entitled Muselmand, norsk sagfører, 180 cm høj, han vejede 47 kg. ( A Muselmann, a company manager from Norway. 180 cm tall, he weighed 47 kg. ), circa 1945.
Pencil and Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich entitled Muselmand, dødskamp ( A Muselmann, Agony ), circa 1945. Pencil and Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich entitled Muselmand med aabne syfilissaar ( A Muselmann with Open Syphilis Sores ), circa 1945.
Emaciated Prisoner with Syringe Indian ink drawing by V. Petrov, undated. Between early 1942 and summer 1943, SS doctors singled out prisoners who were no longer able to work and killed them with phenol or petrol injections. Sick and weakened prisoners who went to the sick-bay for the treatment they urgently needed found themselves in mortal danger. After the summer of 1943, prisoners were only occasionally killed with lethal injections. (ANg)
Muselmann with Number on his Chest Pencil drawing by Per Ulrich, circa 1945. Reproduction. Per Ulrich added the following comments: Upon their arrival in the camp, the prisoners were given a tin tag with their prisoner s number, which they had to wear around their necks on a cord. In the baths, many Muselmänner were made ready for the crematorium. Their tag was taken away and the bath attendant wrote their prisoner s number on their chests with a black pen. The prisoner now no longer had a number, he actually was a number. Per Ulrich, a former prisoner from Denmark, was imprisoned in Neuengamme in March/April 1945.
Drawings of Weakened Prisoners Prisoners who were completely emaciated, no longer able to work and visibly at death s door were referred to in the camp as Muselmänner. Several prisoners, especially Per Ulrich, made drawings depicting such people. Pencil drawing by Per Ulrich entitled Fra Krematoriet ( From the Crematorium ), circa 1945. Pencil and Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich entitled Muselmand ( A Muselmann ), circa 1945.
Pencil and Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich entitled En totalt udhungret fange (muselmand) paa vej ud til toilettet ( A Completely Starved Prisoner [a Muselmann] on his Way Out to the Toilet ), circa 1945. Per Ulrich added the following comments: It was forbidden to put on shoes during the night so as not to disturb the sleeping prisoners in the hut. Indian ink drawing by Per Ulrich entitled Knæ af muselmand ( Knee of a Muselmann ), circa 1945.
Pencil drawing by Félix Lazare Bertrand, 1944/45. The artist s notes on the back, added after his liberation, read: Sick-bay 4, view through the window of the toilets. A sick prisoner, who is literally just a bag of skin and bones, is being washed with water and a scrubber. He died the following night. The photographs the Americans took when they liberated us prove that I did not exaggerate. Félix Lazare Bertrand, a former prisoner from France, was imprisoned in the camp section for prominent prisoners at Neuengamme between July 1944 and April 1945. (MOL)