Should Unethically Obtained Nazi Data be used for Current Research? During World War II, Nazi doctors committed atrocious crimes in the name of research against their Jewish prisoners. This research done in such a way that never can or should be done again, plays an important role in science. We must allow researchers to use Nazi data to add light to their research, however only if it is the only source for the data they need to improve their research or findings. To understand the full breadth of the Nazis' research practices you must examine some of the Nazi research history leading up to the Nuremberg trials of 1946. These trials, which eventually led to laws regulating human subject research and convictions against sixteen of the twenty doctors charged with war crimes, crimes against, humanity and conspiracy. When explaining the brutality of the research Baruch C. Cohen in "Jewish Law Articles" says the "acts of torture were characterized by several shocking features: (1) persons were forced to become subjects in very dangerous studies against their will. (2) Nearly all subjects endured incredible suffering, mutilation, and indescribable pain. (3) The experiments often were deliberately designed to terminate in a fatal outcome for their victims." Hitler's doctors performed numerous experiments on the Jewish subjects with military intelligence goals in mind, they slept at night claiming the subjects were condemned to death anyway. Some of these experiments were: 1. Freezing experiments, prisoners were immersed into tanks of ice water for hours at a time, often shivering to death. The researcher's goal here was to determine how long Germany pilot could survive if they were shot down over the ocean.2. High altitude experiments, researchers here wanted to determine the effects of high altitude on pilots. They placed the Jewish prisoners in altitude decompression chambers, examining how much pressure the human body can take. ...
