On november twenty third one thousand nine hundred forty four the allied forces arrived in Strasbourg France the liberation of the city spelled the end glorious and to one of the nazi regime says show case projects the right hewn of our city strasbourg. Which cost to close the german high here in of a city strasburg was to be the breeding ground for the new european elite the german a fall european elite. In the midst of the Second World War the men leading germanys scholarly and scientific efforts joined forces here their mission was to spread germanic thinking to the west but it was a criminal enterprise and professors from the medical faculty conducted experiments on human beings ostensibly for research. On the o. B. E. They claimed they had to obey orders but thats not true that was the doctors themselves who asked for backing for their experiments to provide families experienced. The man in charge of the medical faculty was its dean professor johana stein johana stein was my grandfather. Sunday november twenty third one nine hundred forty one a year and a half after the german invasion and the fall of france the Rice University was inaugurated in strasbourg. Amid pomp and pageantry a detachment of the German Armed Forces marched into the Main University building. They carried with them regimental banners from the imperial era and from the nazi regime. From the old you shouldnt be shot. They were followed by parades with students from the imperial era wearing traditional fraternity uniforms and bearing flags together with military units it was a major event Something Like eight hundred people were invited into. The ceremony was also attended by many berlin functionaries as well as. Now and s. S. Officer and appointed mayor all but. Right. Now. Im not going to try to. See to that the front where seventy one faculty deans and professors theyve been brought to to provide the german face to the newly established Rice University on french soil. Like the right itself the university was intended to last a thousand years the regime planned that it would eventually eclipse even in paris with germany still in the midst of war the University President was in a combative mood. When i would. Start. And. Give one of. The reply. Going back right. After i had to get up. Here who was to head the Anatomical Institute of the medical faculty was also in attendance at the Opening Ceremony he first met vote. Was rush manager of the Ancestral Research agency cofounded by. Head of the notorious s. S. The organization was tasked with providing scientific proof to support the nazis racial doctrine. Sievers had heard about Hertz Research and the two wasted no time agreeing on what would become their murderous collaboration is clearly zero they were extremely interested in talking to each other this was not just an amicable meeting at the Opening Ceremony it was about Research Projects and making introductions very practical common interests you do please do contact. Just three months later on feb ninth one thousand nine hundred two here to present a vote. Of the Ancestral Research agency with a concrete proposal for research. We have extensive skull collections for practically all races and peoples the number of skulls available from jews however is so small that studies cannot deliver dependable conclusion to the war in the east now gives us the opportunity to remedy this deficit. From the outset the an atomic or institute in strasbourg was a center for in fumin experiments planned and perpetrated within a university setting. Sitting in the front row at that Opening Ceremony was johann is shine my grandfather. As dean of the medical faculty for responsibility for everything that happened there. What was his response to hear its plans. Even on family photos he always posed in uniform later after the war our family would say that he was only a fellow traveler to the regime far too absent minded and cerebral to be involved in anything political his daughter is my mother and she suspected that this couldnt be the whole story. What does. It biden and we two youngest children i suspect were the nazi children. Because back then families were expected to have five children not just three. Im guilty i adored my father he was so wild and full of ideas that i had even if there was never a dull moment with him. On to hudson and i enjoyed that as he helped us get nothing. Better than. What i thought. In nazi propaganda it was german land since time immemorial. For centuries the region next to the rhine river had been fought over by germany and france between eight hundred seventy one and one nine hundred forty five the territory changed hands four times between the two countries for the nazi regime and many germans frost book was a place of myth a lost paradise. The fall of france in one nine hundred forty installed germany with renewed nationalist fervor pride and satisfaction on june twentieth strasbourg was occupied by german troops. Hitler visited the city in person and visited the cathedral for many germans a symbol of german culture and german history. The National Socialists laid claim to. The citys Central Square was renamed karl plots after a pro german leader of the Autonomy Movement germanys academic elite were eager to follow on the heels of the military triumph. Doesnt it get the germans had returned and strasbourg was a lucrative proposition well just financially but in terms of it being a desirable destination for many german professors. Prior to his assignments a strong hunnish dion lived in heidelberg where he enjoyed a Successful University career following the nazis. Seizure of power in one thousand thirty three the university was brought into line with the regime all jewish professors were dismissed with my grandfathers active involvement. As an example of an academic you furthered his career under the nazis it was only after nine hundred thirty three that he was granted a full professorship at heidelberg university. North of the University Chancellor and vice rector he assumed a very active role in the schools policy making. On may first nine hundred thirty three my grandfather joined the s. S. Opening the doors for his career advancement. In an official Party Assessment my grandfather was described as extremely capable and talented and as a man who ranked among the leading National Socialist professors. In the summer of one nine hundred forty he began making regular visits to school here he met future University President carr schmidt and. Who would later become dean of the philosophical faculty together they made all professorial appointments in accordance with nazi racial concepts. Scholarship was to say the german people draw its inspiration from socalled germanic culture so the university was not a place of pure Scientific Research or subject to the ideological principles of blood and soil. The three men lived in the best hotel in town situated on the renamed coral. This was also where they interviewed potential candidates they often occupied a table at home until late into the night. Legal scholar and. Was among those invited to strasbourg for a preliminary interview at the restaurant he described the evening in his memoirs. The meal was of assumptions less beyond anything we knew the white house station wine a super burgundy and elegant champagne and in between the brutal armagnac. And stored up who was a preeminent legal expert serving the third reich his most significant work was a synthesis of nazi constitutional law which sought to provide a legal underpinning for the regime. The book was typical of who in that it was an overwhelming compilation of material and it was a perfectionist in many respects and try to take everything into consideration including regulations that for example address the exclusion of jews and some of the top of. The decree also determines who is to be regarded as a citizen of german or related blood. Jews are precluded from being right citizens. Enjoyed an outstanding Academic Reputation and became the advisor for the appointments to the new faculty of law. And there were a range of players in this game some of whom knew nothing about each other while others competed with their rivals. The one area where there was commonality was that the faculty was supposed to fulfill three main criteria. In the professors had to be the type of men you would assimilate to what was expected of them. With one strong in their field and politically reliable. And that was maintained with very few exceptions because of. The positions were eventually filled and the university opened its doors in the fall of one thousand nine hundred forty one the course catalog reflected nazi ideology germanic saugus racial eugenics and military medicine. The only professor to always hold his lectures in uniform was head of the largest faculty half of the University Students were studying medicine field doctors were in huge demand because of the war could only go on some bridges of you know small if youre look at the universitys budgets this accounted for almost half of the total us the film stock for medical division was probably the most important one bomb you difficulty you. Would probably want to preserve. The faculty was in doubt with state of the Art Technology and electron microscope was ordered for Biomedical Research purposes one of only two in the whole of germany here to the aim was to demonstrate german superiority over france twenty eight professors worked at the faculty. To see presented to the for these two the professors were own luminaries in their fields they were also all actively involved in the nazi party or in the as s. Or as a you could measure is not the case that other german universities at this time to book. The head of the and atomico institute outpost here also became a member of the s. S. In one thousand nine hundred thirty three he was a leading scientist prior to his work in shaw spork he had already conducted experiments on animals with battlefield mustard gas. The racial Heritage Agency backed what they called functional military research here it was soon granted official permission from berlin to carry out tests on human subjects. Not swallow shuttled off fifty five kilometers southwest of spork in the voters mountains was the only concentration camp run by the nazis on french territory. New composite class on that i learned specific location of not violent was chosen because an s. S. Engineer had found a block of granite here if it would be a few dont they figured it would be a good idea to mine the area to provide material for buildings and monuments of the third reich in particular for hitlers nuremberg complex cost which i knew ham bear. Camp inmates had to perform forced labor in grueling conditions most were Political Prisoners communists and socalled enemies of the right from both germany and occupied countries the remaining prisoners were mainly homosexuals and sinti and roma. Ghost here it was a regular visitor this is where he would find the people he would exploit for his experiments with mustard gas on nov twelfth one thousand nine hundred two he conducted his first experiments. In a plane comes only took about fifteen prisoners then administered them drops of mustard gas under their arms after giving them an antidote he then observed the reaction as the days and weeks progressed in those three months of testing there were three fatalities three germans for the same time he continued working on his jewish anatomical collection of also the. Wanted jewish prisoners for what he called his skeleton collection but there were none at the nazi wyler camp. So on november second one nine hundred forty two the Ancestral Research agency in berlin sent a request to the auschwitz extermination camp asking for inmates they were to be brought to knotts wyler wrote the agencys manager. Had my grandfather ever been to a concentration camp was he aware of what here was planning. In june one thousand nine hundred forty one the family moved to shell. The loss of seven in the north east of strasbourg. As alice was if it was it was a lovely old house with a large hallway and the chair and drew where my father always has officers kept when he was there was found just in this for us i remember that very clearly. By my father would put us two little ones on the grand piano one on the right one on the left want to and tell us made up fairy tales while playing the piano and. Everything lovely about my childhood was because of my father. Dishy thats why i simply couldnt fathom that hed been one of those nazis yes it was there were things i read about him that i thought impossible which made me. Germans in occupied strasbourg had a comfortable life the professors moved into large vacated buildings in the leafy University Quarter dance would often also lived in a sumptuous villa with his family. But not the kind you could on to be people didnt care who might have lived there before hand that house or apartment was now van. Strasbourg was now the stage for regular military processions on the citys major streets and squares the german occupiers were eager to demonstrate that it was now there was. A local residents were divided not everyone was opposed to the germans the issue was one that split entire families. Many residents signed up voluntarily to join the s. S. And the German Armed ForcesSchool Lessons were now taught entirely in german. At the Rice University the proportion of local students rose to almost forty percent like their german counterparts they had to provide a certificate of arion heritage for many the occupation had become an unremarkable part of their daily lives. In china through the turning point came in the autumn of one nine hundred forty two with a conscription of young alsatian man to the armed forces the van with nothing if they were then drafted progressively by age group. Beginning with recruitment local people began to distance themselves from the Rice University a life of. A group of Young Students from the all sus region decided to actively challenge compulsory conscription. They formed a Resistance Group called the entourage nest does sas their leader was literature student our force adam. Bellow a handsome man. His Sister Simone is now eighty nine years old together with mia. Whose husband also fought in the resistance she looks at old photos she remembers how her brother alfonse was warned of the gestapos plans to arrest him. Citizen a missile goal i was at home do best so thats all very new to men arrived. They were young. And they asked if my brother was home equipped to do it they said tell him he has to get out of here because otherwise hell be arrested if hes good at target they pushed. The Resistance Group organized hiking trips in the voter mountains in reality they were smuggling young men who wanted to escape the draft across the main ridge and into central france. Anyone who wanted to join the catholic oriented Resistance Group had to swear an oath before the french flag in the crucifix that they would follow the networks rules. At night the groups members distributed leaflets calling on the alsatian population to engage in open resistance. No decent alsatian will turn up at the conscription board every one of us must refuse to sign up. The governor of the region to Hobart Wagner was outraged which in turn spurred the group to carry out for their operations eventually they were betrayed by one of their own members and from then on they worked under terrible. Risk. In september one thousand nine hundred forty two a young scientist moved to schloss book from berlin karl free to each one fights since he was not a member of the nazi party the thirty year old theoretical physicist had faced a lengthy wait before being appointed professor. I think of all three of it was five seconds first professorship and a promotion previously been working at the Kaiser WilhelmResearch Institute because he was an important member of the youre a me im association the German Association for research on Nuclear Energy and the atomic bomb personally registered a patent for the production of a plutonium bomb a state. Sectors Research Team successfully applied for a neutron celebrator. It was housed in a specially built facility on the medical faculties ground. The neutron accelerator was to be used by both physicists and the Biomedical Researchers but the project was beset by problems from the outset especially with the electricity supply. Rooted in Research Results from the strasburg neutron accelerator basically amount to nothing because the device did not arrive until late in the war to light during the time in which the device was operational they were able to produce a small amount of radioactive phosphorus but it was only operational for a couple of hundred hours basically not at all as you can see more in. Many of the cutting edge devices at the Rice Universi