I am always surprised why there is so little known about Danish war crimes in the context of the Holocaust. Is it that perhaps most of the Danish Jews survived? Are we, therefore, given the Danes a pass?
Something I said many times before when it comes to the Holocaust is that none of the occupied countries is without blame; even the unoccupied countries carry their share of the blame.
Carl Værnet was a Danish physician who conducted unethical medical experiments on concentration camp prisoners during World War II. Værnet’s primary focus was on developing a “cure” for homosexuality, which he believed to be a medical condition. His experiments were conducted under the auspices of the Nazi regime, which sought to eliminate behaviours they deemed deviant. Værnet was a Copenhagen doctor who, realising the opportunities offered by the homophobic policies of the Third Reich, joined the Nazi party and enlisted in the SS to pursue his research to “cure” gay men.
Værnet conducted his experiments at Buchenwald Concentration Camp. He injected synthetic hormones into the groins of prisoners in an attempt to alter their sexual orientation. These procedures were invasive and painful, and the prisoners were not willing participants.
In the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, SS doctors carried out pseudo-medical experiments on prisoners. They cooperated with the Wehrmacht, IG Farben AG and the Robert Koch Institute, among others. The SS set up a permanent experimental station in Block 46.
In the autumn and winter of 1944, the Danish doctor Dr. Carl Værnet, who worked in an SS laboratory in Prague, carried out experiments on homosexual prisoners in Buchenwald. His inhumane goal was to “cure homosexuality” in homosexual men using a hormone gland. He used around 12 prisoners for his experiments. Værnet received support from the SS camp doctors Dr. Gerhard Schiedlausky and Dr. Erwin Ding-Schuler.
Despite Værnet’s claims to the contrary, his hormone glands have no “therapeutic” effect. However, they did harm his test subjects. At least one prisoner did not survive the Danish doctor’s human experiments.
Heinrich Himmler was very interested in Dr. Værnet’s research and supported him. The experiments were to be carried out in Prague by a front company, the “Deutsche Heilmittel” GmbH. Dr. Værnet also received Himmler’s approval for experiments on prisoners in the Buchenwald concentration camp.
“I ask that you treat Dr. Værnet with the utmost generosity. I would like a 3-4 page report every month, as I am very interested in these things. At a later date, I would also like to ask Værnet to come and see me.” This was an order from Himmler, issued on December 3, 1943, to the Reich Doctor SS, Dr. Grawitz, who was the head of the German Red Cross between 1937 and 1945.
Vaernet addressed his final report to Heinrich Himmler on 10 February 1945, describing his hormone research and alleged results without even mentioning his experiments in Buchenwald. This omission suggests that his research was probably deemed—even by him—a failure or at least not sufficiently credible to merit a mention.
When Denmark was liberated on 5 May 1945, Vaernet was arrested and detained at Alsgade Skole POW camp in Copenhagen, where he remained from June to November 1945. This camp was Denmark‘s main holding centre for war criminals and Nazi collaborators.
Dr Carl Vaernet’s barbaric medical experiments on gay concentration camp prisoners were hidden from history for over 50 years. Unlike some other Nazi doctors, he was never put on trial at Nuremberg. Instead, with British military collusion, he escaped to Argentina, where he lived openly and continued his research into methods for the eradication of homosexuality. He died on November 25, 1965, aged 72, in Buenos Aires.
Sources
https://search.worldcat.org/title/69172484
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