Research Project on Schering AG and Nazi Medical Crimes

The Hans and Berthold Finkelstein Foundation is funding a research project on the history of Schering AG during the Nazi era. The project is also supported by a grant from the Schering Foundation.

The project is led by Prof. Dr. Volker Hess, director of the Institute for the History of Medicine and Medical Ethics at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Dr. Annette Hinz-Wessels, who has a proven track record of numerous publications on the history of Nazi medicine and its victims, is responsible for the scholarly research and preparation of the publication.

Although literature on the corporate history of Schering AG exists, the question of the company’s involvement in human experimentation during the Nazi era has so far been addressed only marginally. This research project aims to close this research gap and make a scholarly contribution to historical reappraisal.

The investigation focuses on three sets of cases in which a preliminary study has already identified links between Schering AG and human experimentation. These include the sterilization experiments conducted by gynecologist Carl Clauberg at the Auschwitz concentration camp, the sulfonamide experiments conducted by physician Josef Vonkennel at the Buchenwald concentration camp, and the hormone experiments conducted by Danish SS physician Carl Værnet on prisoners at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The goal of the project is to reconstruct the respective experiments, classify them within the research and operational fields of Schering AG, and examine the scientific and economic networks in which they originated. The aim is to clarify whether and to what extent the company was involved and what knowledge it possessed. The investigation is designed to be open-ended, as preliminary studies suggest that, based on the existing documentation, it may not be possible to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Schering AG intentionally participated in criminal human experiments.

Extensive source materials will be analyzed for this research. These include, among others, documents from the former Schering AG corporate archive, holdings of the Federal Archives, the Arolsen Archives, and the Max Planck Society Archives, as well as documents from state, university, and memorial site archives in Germany and Poland.

The project’s findings will be published in an academic journal and placed within the broader context of Nazi medical crimes. In addition, a public presentation is planned for Berlin in the summer of 2027.