Weleda launches inquiry into Nazi camp skin test claims

WELEDA, a natural cosmetic company, started a study on its connections to a Nazi concentration camp after the allegations that an anti-filling cream it produced was tested in prisoners.

A report of historian Anne Sudrow claims that the Swiss company has ordered raw materials from a garden in the Dachau camp. He also made a cream to protect against hypothermia allegedly used in human experiments.

WELEDA said that a separate report in 2023 could not find any evidence.

The company said that the Nazi regime condemned the “savagery” and that the new findings may not be fully investigated in previous research “.

Dachau, near Munich, was the first concentration camp in 1933 by the Nazis.

There are about 200,000 people imprisoned there and more than 40,000 people died before his liberation in 1945. Some of these deaths were attributed to medical experiments.

In his book assigned by the Dachau Concentration Camp Monument Site, Sudrow summarizes the relationship between the elite power of the Nazi Party by Adolf Hitler.

According to the German News Magazine Der Spiegel, allegations include WELEDA’s associated with experiments in the concentration camp prisoner between August 1942 and May 1943.

It was intended to use WELEDA’s cream to treat hypothermia in German soldiers, and Dr Rascher wanted to know if the product could delay the medical situation at freezing temperatures.

Der Spiegel died of 90 prisoners when they were forced to be in ice baths during their tests.

The 104 -year -old company, known for its skin care products skin food range, said that “to investigate our history in a transparent way”.

The results of the new investigation carried out by the German Corporate History Association (GUG) are expected to be published in the beginning of 2027.

In a statement, Tina Müller, CEO of WELEDA, said: “We condemn the persecution of national socialism with the most powerful terms.

“Fascism, anti-Semitism, racism, or pro-excessive ideology has no place with us. ‘Never again’ does not express our stance.

“So we are determined to completely re -evaluate our history.”

The company said that it gave historians the 2023 work on the date of the company.

The same was given to Ms. Sudrow, including access to the administrative board minutes from the Nazi period.