Siegfried Ruff (19 February 1907 – 22 April 1989) was a German physician who served as director of the Aviation Medicine Department at the German Experimental Institute for Aviation. Following

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Ruff was hired by the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

to work at a United States military hospital in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

conducting experiments on human exposure to high altitudes. He was later indicted on various war crimes allegedly committed during his time as a researcher at the Institute for Aviation. Specifically, it was alleged he had overseen experiments that had resulted in the deaths of 80

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

inmates. While Ruff acknowledged human experimentation had occurred, he stated it had occurred according to the law and denied it had resulted in any deaths. Ruff was acquitted of all charges against him during the Doctors' Trial. Nevertheless, in 1961 the International Academy of Aviation and Space Medicine chose to relocate its annual conference from

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

over objections at Ruff's participation. Ruff enjoyed a distinguished medical career in postwar Germany.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruff, Siegfried 1907 births 1989 deaths 20th-century German physicians Aviation medicine People acquitted by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals