Ernst-Günther+Schenck

by Sam Fabro

Ernst Gunther Schneck is most recognized for his participation in the SS as a doctor. His life's work would be most notable for experimentations in medicine and memoirs he wrote that have contributed to a lot of research done concerning World War II.

Schneck was born on October 3rd, 1904 in Marburg, Hesse. He was a trained doctor and colonel before he joined teams with the most villainous force this earth has possibly ever seen. When he met the infamous Adolf Hitler, which struck by chance, he jumped at the opportunity to join his forces. Some will say he only added to the evil that was the SS. In all truths he did have his beneficial values to the patients he encountered during the world. He, did manage to help many weak and wounded soldiers without the surgical training many would find necessary. But there were some incidents where he was sinister too in his own sort of ways.



Schneck was sent to work at Dachau concentration camp, working with 200,000 types of plants. He held a labratory of sorts dedicated to creating different vitamin supplements and herbal developments. This experimentation with supplements was used to supply the Waffen SS. One of his inventions was the protein sausage. This was to be sent out to the troops at frontline. Schneck claims in his memoirs that he had every intention of supplying help to his army but like every innovator, he needed to test his products on someone. His victims became of course prisoners from Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camps. After these accounts, Schneck would be time and time again criticized for his cruelty. From these experimentations, his "patients" would suffer from hunger edema, a sickness in which fluid builds beneath the skin to cause major swelling. Without the proper treatment, which these prisoners would not receive would result in death. Technically speaking, the doctor had killed many of his "guinea pigs". Although this had not been his intention, he treated humans as disposable creatures for this herbal craft he was brewing.

Shneck expanded his involvement in the SS from herbal magic. This turn led him to field work, a different sort of experience than what he was previously given in the Nazi camp. He wished to go to the Eastern Front and earn what was called an "Iron Cross Apprenticeship" He found himself accomplishing this award in ways that he had not previously expected. His commander had been killed and the doctor was put to real work. He took over, taking command of a gun battery that had before been the job of his officer. This proved Scheck as an important figure. He was awarded with the Iron Cross of Second Class, a true honour for this man.

The doctor also proved himself to be worthy of his medical title when the war had come to hit the Germans hard. It was nearing the end the war and Berlin was in turmoil. Even Hitler had begun to feel the blows of the Russian forces. Schneck participated as much as he could in improving the health of wounded men. It was April, 1945 and the doctor, although a metal background, was not a surgeon. Deep in the heart the Reich Chancellery he did the best he could with what knowledge he had. He successfully assisted about 100 surgeries alongside Hitler's personal doctor, Werner Hasse. He and the other doctors worked hard with little supplies and brutally injured people. They saved many lives from the destruction that had built up from a tragic war.

The doctor was never convicted in the Nuremberg trials. Instead he went to his home in West Germany in 1953 after he was released from the Russian's hold. Perhaps Schneck should have been judged for the harm he had done with his experimentations. The help he gave to suffering men during the end of World War II was brave and he is to be respected for these great achievements, but can this erase his past faults? He explains his own opinions in his memoirs.

Resources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst-Günther_Schenck http://accounts.greyfalcon.us/schenk.html