Helmuth Vetter (21 March 1910 in

Rastenberg :''The Polish town of Kętrzyn was formerly known as Rastenburg.'' Rastenberg is a town in the district of Sömmerda, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 22 km east of Sömmerda, and 23 km northeast of Weimar. History Within the Germ ...

– 2 February 1949) was an '' SS-

Hauptsturmführer __NOTOC__ (, ; short: ''Hstuf'') was a Nazi Party paramilitary rank that was used in several Nazi organizations such as the SS, NSKK and the NSFK. The rank of ''Hauptsturmführer'' was a mid-level commander and had equivalent seniority to a ...

'' and a

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

war criminal. Vetter was a doctor at the

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

extermination camp, appointed chief doctor by ''

Reichsführer-SS (, ) was a special title and rank that existed between the years of 1925 and 1945 for the commander of the (SS). ''Reichsführer-SS'' was a title from 1925 to 1933, and from 1934 to 1945 it was the highest rank of the SS. The longest-servi ...

Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...

. He joined other doctors (such as Hans König,

Heinz Thilo Heinz Thilo (8 October 1911 in Elberfeld 13 May 1945 in Hohenelbe) was a German SS officer and a physician in the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. Thilo joined the Nazi party The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German W ...

, and

Fritz Klein Fritz Klein (24 November 1888 – 13 December 1945) was an Austrian Nazi doctor and war criminal, hanged for his role in atrocities at Auschwitz concentration camp and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during the Holocaust. Early life and educ ...

) in the task of choosing employable

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

s to operate the industrial machines and sending others to the

gas chamber A gas chamber is an apparatus for killing humans or other animals with gas, consisting of a sealed chamber into which a poisonous or asphyxiant gas is introduced. Poisonous agents used include hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide. Histor ...

s. He also carried medical experiments on prisoners, involving phenol injections As paid retainer of

IG Farben Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG (), commonly known as IG Farben (German for 'IG Dyestuffs'), was a German chemical and pharmaceutical conglomerate (company), conglomerate. Formed in 1925 from a merger of six chemical companies—BASF, ...

, Vetter would also deliberately infect prisoners in Auschwitz, Dachau and Gusen to carry out medical experiments. After the war, Vetter was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death. He was hanged in the prison of

Landsberg am Lech Landsberg am Lech (Landsberg at the Lech) is a 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 am Lech. Overview Landsberg is situated o ...

References

External links

"Medical Experiments at KZ Guzen", Jewish Virtual Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vetter, Helmut 1910 births 1949 deaths Holocaust perpetrators in Austria Holocaust perpetrators in Poland People from Sömmerda (district) People from Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Nazi Party members Physicians in the Nazi Party SS-Hauptsturmführer Auschwitz concentration camp medical personnel Mauthausen concentration camp personnel Dachau trials executions Executed people from Thuringia Executed mass murderers