Kurt Blome

Kurt Blome
Blome as defendant in the Doctors' Trial, Nuremberg
Deputy Reich Health Leader
In office
20 April 1939 – 1945
LeaderLeonardo Conti
Preceded byHans Deuschl [de]
Succeeded byOffice abolished
Personal details
Born(1894-01-31)31 January 1894
Bielefeld, German Empire
Died10 October 1969(1969-10-10) (aged 75)
Dortmund, West Germany
Political partyNazi Party
Scientific career
FieldsVirologist
InstitutionsRiems Island, German Reich
Criminality
Criminal statusAcquitted
Criminal chargeWar crimes
Crimes against humanity
TrialDoctors' Trial

Kurt Blome (31 January 1894 – 10 October 1969) was a high-ranking Nazi scientist before and during World War II. He was the Deputy Reich Health Leader (Reichsgesundheitsführer) and Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research in the Reich Research Council. In his autobiography Arzt im Kampf (A Physician's Struggle), he equated medical and military power in their battle for life and death.

Blome was tried at the Doctors' Trial in 1947 on charges of practicing euthanasia and conducting experiments on humans. He only admitted that he had been ordered in 1943 to experiment with plague vaccines on concentration camp prisoners. In reality, starting in 1943 he "assumed responsibility for all research into biological warfare sponsored by the Wehrmacht" and the SS.[1] Although he was acquitted of war crimes charges at the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial, this was mainly due to the intervention of the United States as his earlier admissions were well known. It was generally accepted that he had indeed participated in chemical and biological warfare experiments on concentration camp inmates.[2]

  1. ^ Paul Maddrell, 'Operation “Matchbox” and the Scientific Containment of the USSR', in Peter Jackson & Jennifer Siegel (eds.)Intelligence and Statecraft: The Use and Limits of Intelligence in International Society. Praeger Publishers, 2005, p. 191.
  2. ^ Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair, Whiteout: The CIA, Drugs and the Nazis. Verso, 1998, p. 148.