Weleda launches inquiry into Nazi camp skin test claims

Weleda, the pure cosmetics firm, has launched a research into its hyperlinks to a Nazi focus camp following claims an anti-freeze cream it produced was examined on prisoners.A report by historian Anne Sudrow alleges that the Swiss firm ordered uncooked supplies from a backyard within the Dachau camp. It additionally made a cream to guard in opposition to hypothermia which an SS physician allegedly utilized in human experiments. Weleda stated a separate report in 2023 discovered no proof Dr Sigmund Rascher examined the cream on prisoners stored in freezing situations for hours.The agency stated it condemned the Nazi regime’s “atrocities” and acknowledged the brand new findings “could not have been totally explored in earlier analysis”.Dachau, close to Munich, was the primary focus camp arrange by the Nazis in 1933. It’s considered 200,000 folks have been imprisoned there and greater than 40,000 died there earlier than its liberation in 1945. A few of these deaths have been attributed to medical experiments.In her guide, commissioned by the Dachau Focus Camp Memorial Website, Ms Sudrow outlines the connection between Weleda and the SS – the Nazi Get together’s elite power based by Adolf Hitler.The claims embody Weleda being linked to experiments on as much as 300 focus camp prisoners between August 1942 and Could 1943, in accordance with German information journal Der Spiegel.Weleda’s cream was supposed for use for treating hypothermia in German troopers and Dr Rascher needed to know whether or not the product might delay the medical situation in freezing temperatures.Throughout his exams as much as 90 prisoners died once they had been compelled into ice baths, Der Spiegel reported.The 104-year-old firm, which is understood for its Pores and skin Meals vary of skincare merchandise, stated it was dedicated to “transparently researching our historical past”.It expects the outcomes of its new investigation, performed by German physique Society for Company Historical past (GuG), to be revealed in early 2027.Tina Müller, chief govt of Weleda, stated: “We condemn the atrocities of Nationwide Socialism within the strongest potential phrases. “Fascism, anti-Semitism, racism, or right-wing extremist ideology don’t have any place with us. ‘By no means once more’ expresses our stance. That is why we’re dedicated to an entire reappraisal of our historical past.”The corporate stated it had given historians “full entry to the corporate archives” to hold out its 2023 research into the corporate’s historical past. The identical was additionally supplied to Ms Sudrow for her work, together with entry to “administrative board minutes from the Nazi period”, Weleda added.Weleda admitted the GuG’s earlier report, which was commissioned by the skincare model and revealed final 12 months, was “not but designed to look at all detailed points”.The doc outlined that Weleda requested crops from the Dachau camp backyard – the place prisoners labored – however had been by no means delivered. It additionally said Dr Rascher ordered 20kg of Weleda’s anti-freeze cream as a part of his “chilly experiments” however there was no proof the corporate was knowledgeable it was used on focus camp prisoners for these functions. The corporate was based in 1921 by the Austrian educational and thinker Rudolf Steiner who established the anthroposophy doctrine, which – in accordance with the Encyclopedia Britannica – is “philosophy primarily based on the premise that the human mind has the flexibility to contact religious worlds”.He additionally spearheaded the Steiner colleges system and upon his dying in 1925, left an unlimited physique of labor masking every little thing from homeopathy and biodynamic farming, to different drugs and the aim of life.