Hermann Stieve's clinical‐anatomical research on executed women during the “Third Reich”

Abstract

Hermann Stieve (1886–1952) was Director of the Berlin Institute of Anatomy from 1935 to 1952. His research on the female reproductive system is controversial, as some of his scientific insights derived from histological investigations on the genital organs of executed women. These investigations were made possible by the sharp increase in executions during the “Third Reich.” Stieve's research was methodologically accurate and contributed significantly to contemporary scientific debates. Nevertheless, his use of the organs of execution victims, some of them resistance fighters, benefited from the Nazi justice system. He thus indirectly supported this system of injustice. The allegation, however, that Stieve “ordered” the death of prison inmates according to their menstrual cycle, appears to be incorrect. An appraisal of Stieve's research should avoid traditional black‐and‐white classifications of research during Nazi times. In our opinion, Stieve was neither a murderer nor a fervent Nazi. Nevertheless, his research results were flawed by their ethical and political context. Stieve will remain a somber footnote in the biographies of many execution victims. Clin. Anat. 22:163–171, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

The Clara cell: a "Third Reich eponym"?

“…Using the bodies of executed prisoners for research purposes was neither illegal at the time (as long as the relatives did not request the body) nor a practice limited to the Nazi regime [51,52]. However, the growing terrorist aspect of jurisdiction was specific to the Third Reich.…”

Würde und Selbstbestimmung über den Tod hinaus

“…die Steigerung der Erlöse durch neu aufgedeckte Nebendiagnosen, sprechen für eine vermehrte Zahl von Obduktionen [9,27,47,55] (Hildebrandt 2008). Umso mehr gilt dies in historischer Sicht für Hingerichtete in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, die zu Opfern einer Unrechts-Justiz wurden (Winkelmann and Schagen 2009). Die Vorbedingung "natürlicher Tod" würde die Verwendung Hingerichteter in der Anatomie kategorisch ausschließen.…”

“…Trotzdem könnte auch hier der Eindruck entstehen, die Anatomie profitiere von vermeidbaren Todesursachen. Zum Thema Körperspende und Suizid gibt es nur eine ältere Untersuchung aus der US-amerikanischen Anatomie: Die Autoren untersuchten anhand vergangener Körperspenden, ob in der Population der Körperspender mehr Selbstmörder zu finden seien als in der übrigen Bevölkerung (Flanagan and Murphy 1973 (Winkelmann and Schagen 2009).…”

The women on stieve's list: Victims of national socialism whose bodies were used for anatomical research

“…His work on this topic focused on males before 1933, because women were not executed during the Weimar Republic years. Later, he used the increasing number of executed women during the Third Reich for further exploration of his theories (detailed report on this in Winkelmann and Schagen, 2009). While the politically conservative Stieve was probably not a convinced National Socialist, he used the professional opportunities offered to him by the NS regime without compunction and was rather convinced of the ethical righteousness of his work (Oleschinski, 1992;Noack, 2007;Schagen, 2007;Hildebrandt, 2009c).…”

“…While the politically conservative Stieve was probably not a convinced National Socialist, he used the professional opportunities offered to him by the NS regime without compunction and was rather convinced of the ethical righteousness of his work (Oleschinski, 1992;Noack, 2007;Schagen, 2007;Hildebrandt, 2009c). After the war, he was questioned among others by the Soviet occupying forces and the university administration about his activities during the Third Reich but was not prosecuted and was ultimately exonerated (Schagen, 2007;Winkelmann and Schagen, 2009). In 1992, Brigitte Oleschinski was the first to report on a list of names of NS victims that Stieve had prepared for the Soviet military authorities (Oleschinski, 1992).…”