Remains of Holocaust experiment victims found at French forensic institute

Nazi anatomy professor August Hirt wanted a Jewish skeleton collection.

In 1942, he set in motion a scientific study at the Anatomical Institute of Reich University in Strasbourg to try to prove Jews were an inferior race. Anthropologists went to Auschwitz to select Jews for “medical experiments,” which included detailed measurements and documentation of skin, hair and eye color, according to research. Ultimately, 86 were sent to the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp and gassed. Their bodies went to Hirt’s lab.

It’s a historical horror French doctor and historian Raphael Toledano has been researching for years, working to find evidence of Hirt’s torment. Tissue samples taken from Hirt’s victims were thought to be stored in a private museum in Strasbourg, forgotten in the forensic science collection at the university. Toledano wanted to find them. But it wasn’t until now that he was able to.