Injustice at the predecessor organisations of the German Aerospace Center (1933–1945)

Volume 3: Persecution, human experimentation, forced labour

Persecution, human experimentation and forced labour, Volume 3
Injustice at the predecessors of the German Aerospace Center (1933–1945). Authors: Christian Rohrer, Ina Deppe, Robert Kieselbach, Christian Schwartz. Available (in German) from 12 June 2026.

The predecessor organisations of DLR were involved in carrying out acts of forced labour and cruel human experiments. The research carried out by the Institute of Aviation Medicine within the German Aviation Research Institute (Deutsche Versuchsanstalt für Luftfahrt; DVL) was closely intertwined with military aviation requirements. It was at this facility that self-experiments and experiments on volunteer test subjects took place, for instance on the effects of high altitudes. Moreover, individual aviation physicians were engaged in altitude and hypothermia experiments using prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp. The study also outlines how the predecessors of DLR treated Jewish employees and those persecuted for political reasons. The use of forced labour is also discussed, and the magnitude, origins and areas of deployment of foreign workers in the facilities of DLR's predecessor organisations is reconstructed. Camp structures, living and working conditions, as well as forms of control, repression and exploitation are also analysed. The combination of institutional analysis paired with biographical case studies highlights both structural conditions and individual scope for action and responsibility.

Monograph details

  

Title

Persecution, human experimentation, forced labour

Injustice in the predecessors of the German Aerospace Center (1933–1945), Volume 3

Author

Christian Rohrer, Ina Deppe, Robert Kieselbach, Christian Schwartz

Publication date

12 June 2026

Publisher

Cuvillier Verlag GmbH

Language

German

Number of pages

825

ISBN

978-3-68952-503-3

E-Book

A link will be provided by the end of 2026.

 

Buy the book online

Jessika Wichner, Head of the DLR Central Archive, oversees the historical reappraisal project alongside Jens Wucherpfennig and Daniel Beckmann from DLR Communications.

Contact

Andreas Schütz

Head of Corporate Communications, Spokesperson
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Corporate Communications
Linder Höhe, 51147 Cologne
Tel: +49 2203 601-2474