Karl Max Gebhardt Paintings

Karl Gebhardt was not an artist but a German medical doctor and a major general in the SS. Born on November 23, 1897, in Haag in Oberbayern, Germany, he became notorious for his unethical medical experiments conducted during World War II.

Gebhardt studied medicine and joined the German military service during World War I, which influenced his later career. After the war, he continued his medical training and became a successful orthopedic surgeon. His career took a dark turn when he became a member of the Nazi Party and the SS, where he rose to the rank of Gruppenführer (Major General).

As the personal physician to Heinrich Himmler and one of the leading figures in the SS, Gebhardt held significant power within the Nazi medical community. He was the chief surgeon at the Hohenlychen Sanatorium, which he transformed into a hospital for the Waffen-SS and the elite of the Nazi Party. During World War II, he oversaw medical care for the SS and was responsible for the selection of doctors for the concentration camps.

Gebhardt's legacy is marred by his involvement in the horrific medical experiments performed on prisoners at the Ravensbrück concentration camp, where he was the leading physician. He conducted experiments on bone, muscle, and nerve regeneration and bone transplantation, often without anesthesia, which resulted in immense suffering and many deaths. Gebhardt aimed to prove the effectiveness of sulfonamide drugs for the treatment of battlefield injuries, but his experiments were both brutal and largely scientifically invalid.

After the war, Karl Gebhardt was tried during the Doctors' Trial at the Nuremberg Trials, which was part of the larger series of trials for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and was sentenced to death. Karl Gebhardt was executed by hanging on June 2, 1948, in Landsberg Prison in Bavaria.

Gebhardt's actions during the war left a dark stain on the medical profession, and he is remembered as one of the many individuals who perverted science for the purposes of the Nazi regime's inhumane and genocidal policies.