Joachim Mrugowsky (15 August 1905 – 2 June 1948) was a German bacteriologist who conducted experiments on humans at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. He was Associate Professor, Medical Doctorate, Chief of Hygiene Institute of the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

, Senior Hygienist at the Reich, SS-Physician, SS and

Colonel. He was found guilty of war crimes following the war in the

Doctors' Trial The Doctors' Trial (officially ''United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.'') was the first of 12 trials for war crimes of high-ranking German officials and industrialists that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone ...

and executed in 1948.

Early life and education

Mrugowsky) was born to a family of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

origin; his father was a medical doctor. In 1925, Mrugowsky began his studies of natural sciences and medicine at the

University of Halle Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (german: Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg), also referred to as MLU, is a public, research-oriented university in the cities of Halle and Wittenberg and the largest and oldest university in ...

. He completed the studies in 1930-1931 with a medical doctorate and a doctorate of natural sciences. 1930-1931 he was the ''Hochschulgruppenführer'' (University group leader) of the

National Socialist German Students' League The National Socialist German Students' Union (German: ''Nationalsozialistischer Deutscher Studentenbund'', abbreviated NSDStB) was founded in 1926 as a division of the Nazi Party with the mission of integrating University-level education and aca ...

branch at the University of Halle. After a two-year internship, he became an assistant at the Hygiene Institute of the University of Halle. Mrugowsky was made an associate professor in the area of hygiene at the

University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...

in September 1944.

Career in Nazi Germany

Since 1930, Mrugowsky had been involved in the Nazi ideology, first being the group leader of a local National Socialist German Students' Association then the

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported t ...

party member (No. 210,049). In 1931, he joined the SS, where he achieved the rank of ''

Oberführer __NOTOC__ ''Oberführer'' (short: ''Oberf'', , ) was an early paramilitary rank of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) dating back to 1921. An ''Oberführer'' was typically a NSDAP member in charge of a group of paramilitary units in a particular geographic ...

'' in both the General SS and the Waffen-SS. Mrugowsky coordinated human experimentation at the

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoner ...

near

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. This included testing of typhus vaccines, biological warfare agents, including poisoned bullets and lethal injections.

Trial and conviction

He was implicated in the

Nazi human experimentation Nazi human experimentation was a series of medical experiments on large numbers of prisoners, including children, by Nazi Germany in its concentration camps in the early to mid 1940s, during World War II and the Holocaust. Chief target po ...

program, with the exception of the aviation experiments, which were conducted on concentration camp prisoners. Mrugowsky was convicted of various charges in the

Doctors' trial The Doctors' Trial (officially ''United States of America v. Karl Brandt, et al.'') was the first of 12 trials for war crimes of high-ranking German officials and industrialists that the United States authorities held in their occupation zone ...

and sentenced to death in August 1947. He was executed on 2 June 1948.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mrugowsky, Joachim 1905 births 1948 deaths Holocaust perpetrators in Germany People from Rathenow German people convicted of crimes against humanity German people of Polish descent People from the Province of Brandenburg Nazi Party politicians Executions by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Physicians in the Nazi Party Executed people from Brandenburg Nazi human subject research SS-Oberführer Waffen-SS personnel Academic staff of the Humboldt University of Berlin Sachsenhausen concentration camp personnel Executed mass murderers