Latest news with #HolocaustMemorialMuseum
Buzz Feed
3 days ago
- Politics
- Buzz Feed
Trump's Smithsonian Order Sparks Backlash
It's true — as a part of his "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" executive order, the White House will be reviewing exhibits in Smithsonian museums to fit Donald Trump's interpretation of American history. In an open letter to the Smithsonian, the White House wrote that officials will conduct a "comprehensive internal review of selected Smithsonian museums and exhibitions. This initiative aims to ensure alignment with the President's directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and restore confidence in our shared cultural institutions." Online, people have compared the Trump administration's actions to those of nazis in the 1930s, when Adolf Hitler organized the removal of about 20,000 works of art from museums and private collections in an effort to align "German politics, society, and culture with Nazi goals," according to the Holocaust Memorial Museum. This comparison is not the only way the Trump administration's museum audit has appeared controversial online. There's a wide range of dissenting opinions. Here's what people are saying: What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments.
DW
4 days ago
- Health
- DW
What does birth control pill have to do with Auschwitz? – DW – 08/14/2025
When the birth control pill was introduced in 1960, women had a new kind of freedom. But the foundations were laid by a Nazi gynecologist who brutally sterilized female prisoners in Auschwitz. Renee Duering still remembers how painful it felt when an Auschwitz prisoner tattooed the camp number on her arm. "Be glad you're getting a number, otherwise you'd end up straight in the oven," the man told her. The Nazis gave her a choice: "Either you go to the Birkenau extermination camp, or become a subject for medical research. That won't kill you.' Duering, who was born in 1921 in Cologne, chose the latter, becoming a human guinea pig in the hands of Nazi gynecologist, Carl Clauberg. She was one of hundreds of Jewish women who were subjected to sterilization experiments, and in 1992 told her story to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She died in 2018. Clauberg studied medicine at Kiel University and received his doctorate in 1925. He specialized in gynecology and worked with chemists from the Schering-Kahlbaum pharmaceutical company to develop hormonal compounds. His method of helping infertile women get pregnant established him as an authority on hormone research. On May 1, 1933, Carl Clauberg joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) and the SA ("Sturmabteilung," a paramilitary combat organization of the NSDAP). Like many doctors in Germany at that time, he hoped that Nazi leadership would help him advance his research. Under the regime, every German woman was expected to have as many kids as possible — preferably blond and blue-eyed. But Clauberg also conducted research on how to sterilize women. This supported the inhumane, racist stance of the Nazis, whose objective was the extermination of Jews, Sinti and Roma people, and other marginalized groups such as gay and Black people and the disabled. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In 1942, Clauberg sent a request to Heinrich Himmler, the chief architect of the Holocaust and the second most powerful Nazi after Adolf Hitler. Clauberg said he needed facilities to implement his "new method of the non-surgical sterilization of inferior women. By the spring of 1943, the doctor was not given his own institute but was allocated a block in Auschwitz. There he set up his very own experimental laboratory in Block 10. The first Jewish women from the neighboring Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp were transferred there. Clauberg himself admitted that the female prisoners were faceless; he was only interested in their lower abdomens. Years later, Renee Duering recalled the torture she had endured at his hands. "We were taken one by one into a room and laid on a black glass table, which was an X-ray table. While the liquid was being injected into our bodies, the X-ray machine was running so that the doctor could see what was happening … the injection burned so horribly." Neither Renee nor the other women knew at the time what was being done to them. Previously, Clauberg had only ever conducted these experiments on animals. His instruments were not sterile and Clauberg would use them multiple times. There was also no anesthesia — only the injection. Depending on the state of the fallopian tubes, the doctor might inject a toxic substance into the abdomen of his subjects, which glued the walls of the fallopian tubes together and burned them closed in the process. If this didn't work, the procedure was repeated. "I had to lie there for three days in terrible pain," Duering recalled. Common side effects from Clauberg's experiments included pus-filled peritonitis — swelling of the belly — blood poisoning, labor-like pains, and terrible burning sensations. The women tried to hold back their screams, because they knew that if they were heard they would be sent to the Birkenau gas chambers. How is it possible for a doctor to ignore ethical concerns and treat people like animals? "Medical and human considerations come to play a secondary role once someone has concluded that they were no longer human beings, but subhumans," historian Andrea Löw from the Center for Holocaust Studies in Munich told the Löw said that in the case of Clauberg, "boundless ambition' also contributed. "He saw his chance to take advantage of the system to advance his career and achieve fame and glory. He subordinated everything else to that." Himmler asked Clauberg how long it would take to sterilize 1,000 women. The doctor replied that a suitably trained physician working alone with 10 assistants should be able to sterilize a few hundred, if not 1,000 Jews in a single day. But he never had the opportunity to conduct industrial-scale sterilizations. On January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz. Clauberg had already fled to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp, where he continued his experiments. Once the Soviets closed in on Ravensbrück in April, he fled again. Two months later, he was found, arrested, and sentenced to 25 years in a penal camp in Moscow. But in 1955, he was released early. According to the files of the Kiel Public Prosecutor's Office, he felt that he was given a "royal welcome in his home town." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Clauberg returned to work at the Kiel University Hospital. Because the medical profession was still far from being denazified, a colleague who had worked in Auschwitz was more than welcome. But in November 1955, the Central Council of Jews filed a complaint against Clauberg, with over 100 witnesses willing to testify against him. He claimed that he was the victim of slander and felt that he had been wrongfully accused. According to the investigation files, Clauberg claimed that he had wanted to save the women in the block from certain death in the gas chambers. But Carl Clauberg, who sterilized somewhere between 500 and 700 women, hadn't yet been brought to trial when he died on August 9, 1957. Many of the doctor's victims continued living with the trauma and infertility. Renée Duering, however, miraculously gave birth to a daughter, despite Clauberg's horrific interventions. On August 18, 1960, the first hormonal contraceptive drug known as Enovid was launched in the United States. Research conducted by Clauberg contributed significantly to its development. The Schering company, which had financed Clauberg's experiments, was absorbed into the Bayer pharmaceutical group — which still markets the contraceptive pill today. "This revolutionary method of family planning became a key factor in emancipation and a turning point for society," the company proclaimed on its website. But the women in Block 10 did not have the freedom to decide on motherhood.
DW
5 days ago
- Health
- DW
What's the birth control pill have to do with Auschwitz? – DW – 08/14/2025
When the birth control pill was introduced in 1960, women had a new kind of freedom. But the foundations were laid by a Nazi gynecologist who brutally sterilized female prisoners in Auschwitz. Renee Duering still remembers how painful it felt when an Auschwitz prisoner tattooed the camp number on her arm. "Be glad you're getting a number, otherwise you'd end up straight in the oven," the man told her. The Nazis gave her a choice: "Either you go to the Birkenau extermination camp, or become a subject for medical research. That won't kill you.' Duering, who was born in 1921 in Cologne, chose the latter, becoming a human guinea pig in the hands of Nazi gynecologist, Carl Clauberg. She was one of hundreds of Jewish women who were subjected to sterilization experiments, and in 1992 told her story to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. She died in 2018. Clauberg studied medicine at Kiel University and received his doctorate in 1925. He specialized in gynecology and worked with chemists from the Schering-Kahlbaum pharmaceutical company to develop hormonal compounds. His method of helping infertile women get pregnant established him as an authority on hormone research. On May 1, 1933, Carl Clauberg joined the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) and the SA ("Sturmabteilung," a paramilitary combat organization of the NSDAP). Like many doctors in Germany at that time, he hoped that Nazi leadership would help him advance his research. Under the regime, every German woman was expected to have as many kids as possible — preferably blond and blue-eyed. But Clauberg also conducted research on how to sterilize women. This supported the inhumane, racist stance of the Nazis, whose objective was the extermination of Jews, Sinti and Roma people, and other marginalized groups such as gay and Black people and the disabled. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video In 1942, Clauberg sent a request to Heinrich Himmler, the chief architect of the Holocaust and the second most powerful Nazi after Adolf Hitler. Clauberg said he needed facilities to implement his "new method of the non-surgical sterilization of inferior women. By the spring of 1943, the doctor was not given his own institute but was allocated a block in Auschwitz. There he set up his very own experimental laboratory in Block 10. The first Jewish women from the neighboring Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp were transferred there. Clauberg himself admitted that the female prisoners were faceless; he was only interested in their lower abdomens. Years later, Renee Duering recalled the torture she had endured at his hands. "We were taken one by one into a room and laid on a black glass table, which was an X-ray table. While the liquid was being injected into our bodies, the X-ray machine was running so that the doctor could see what was happening … the injection burned so horribly." Neither Renee nor the other women knew at the time what was being done to them. Previously, Clauberg had only ever conducted these experiments on animals. His instruments were not sterile and Clauberg would use them multiple times. There was also no anesthesia — only the injection. Depending on the state of the fallopian tubes, the doctor might inject a toxic substance into the abdomen of his subjects, which glued the walls of the fallopian tubes together and burned them closed in the process. If this didn't work, the procedure was repeated. "I had to lie there for three days in terrible pain," Duering recalled. Common side effects from Clauberg's experiments included pus-filled peritonitis — swelling of the belly — blood poisoning, labor-like pains, and terrible burning sensations. The women tried to hold back their screams, because they knew that if they were heard they would be sent to the Birkenau gas chambers. How is it possible for a doctor to ignore ethical concerns and treat people like animals? "Medical and human considerations come to play a secondary role once someone has concluded that they were no longer human beings, but subhumans," historian Andrea Löw from the Center for Holocaust Studies in Munich told the Löw said that in the case of Clauberg, "boundless ambition' also contributed. "He saw his chance to take advantage of the system to advance his career and achieve fame and glory. He subordinated everything else to that." Himmler asked Clauberg how long it would take to sterilize 1,000 women. The doctor replied that a suitably trained physician working alone with 10 assistants should be able to sterilize a few hundred, if not 1,000 Jews in a single day. But he never had the opportunity to conduct industrial-scale sterilizations. On January 27, 1945, the Red Army liberated Auschwitz. Clauberg had already fled to the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp, where he continued his experiments. Once the Soviets closed in on Ravensbrück in April, he fled again. Two months later, he was found, arrested, and sentenced to 25 years in a penal camp in Moscow. But in 1955, he was released early. According to the files of the Kiel Public Prosecutor's Office, he felt that he was given a "royal welcome in his home town." To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Clauberg returned to work at the Kiel University Hospital. Because the medical profession was still far from being denazified, a colleague who had worked in Auschwitz was more than welcome. But in November 1955, the Central Council of Jews filed a complaint against Clauberg, with over 100 witnesses willing to testify against him. He claimed that he was the victim of slander and felt that he had been wrongfully accused. According to the investigation files, Clauberg claimed that he had wanted to save the women in the block from certain death in the gas chambers. But Carl Clauberg, who sterilized somewhere between 500 and 700 women, hadn't yet been brought to trial when he died on August 9, 1957. Many of the doctor's victims continued living with the trauma and infertility. Renée Duering, however, miraculously gave birth to a daughter, despite Clauberg's horrific interventions. On August 18, 1960, the first hormonal contraceptive drug known as Enovid was launched in the United States. Research conducted by Clauberg contributed significantly to its development. The Schering company, which had financed Clauberg's experiments, was absorbed into the Bayer pharmaceutical group — which still markets the contraceptive pill today. "This revolutionary method of family planning became a key factor in emancipation and a turning point for society," the company proclaimed on its website. But the women in Block 10 did not have the freedom to decide on motherhood.
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ugandan opposition denounces brutal crackdown ahead of 2026 elections
With less than a year until Uganda's presidential election, the political climate is increasingly tense. The main opposition party NUP has condemned the brutal crackdown on activists, saying 2,000 kidnappings have taken place since the last elections in 2021. But the government accuses the opposition of staging the abductions for political gain. Uganda is set to hold a general election in January, with President Yoweri Museveni looking to extend his 40-year rule. The last election in 2021 was marred by widespread reports of irregularities and severe violence from the security forces, which Museveni blamed on "indiscipline" and "laziness". The US-based Holocaust Memorial Museum recently warned of possible "mass atrocities" around the 2026 election. Last Friday, Bobi Wine, leader of the opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) said the army had raided his party's headquarters in the capital Kampala. The opposition was planning to use the HQ to launch a campaign to urge Ugandans to vote against the government in the general election and demonstrate to protect their democratic rights. Wine said his bodgyguard Edward Sebuufu (also referred to as Mutwe) had been "violently abducted" by armed men wearing uniforms associated with the Special Forces Command, an elite unit of Uganda's army. The NUP's secretary-general David Lewis Rubongoya told RFI that the police at first denied any responsibility for Sebuufu's abduction. However, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, Uganda's military chief and the son of the President confirmed later on Friday that Sebuufu was indeed in his custody. Read more on RFI EnglishRead also:Uganda plans law to bring back military trials for civiliansKenya investigates alleged kidnapping of Ugandan opposition leader BesigyeUganda's Museveni sworn in for 6th time amidst opposition 'sham' claims
The Independent
07-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump picks reality show star whose son was charged over Jan 6 riot for Holocaust Museum council
President Donald Trump has appointed a Real Housewives of New Jersey star to serve on the board of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Sigalit Flicker, 57, was appointed by Trump on Monday along with four other new members to replace President Joe Biden's picks who were axed last month, marking the first time a sitting president has eliminated board appointees ahead of their term's completion. Doug Emhoff, former Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, was one of the booted council members. Trump made eight other appointments last week. Flicker, an Israeli-American matchmaker, podcaster and television personality, previously starred in the seventh and eighth seasons of the Bravo TV show and also appeared in the VH1 series Why Am I Still Single?! In an Instagram post, she wrote of the appointment: 'Thank you for the privilege & honor to represent and never forget.' Flicker and the new appointees are supporters of the president and will serve five-year terms. Her stepson, Tyler Campanella, was arrested in April 2024 and charged with five misdemeanors for his alleged role in the January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol attack. FBI referenced one of Flicker's Instagram posts in an indictment against her stepson in which she wrote: 'I love patriots so much. Stay safe Tyler. We love you.' She added #StopTheSteal at the end of the post. The photo was of Campanella inside the Capitol. The Independent has contacted Flicker for comment. Campanella was charged with trespassing, disorderly conduct and demonstrating in a restricted building. Trump administration officials dismissed his case shortly after the president's term began and he pardoned January 6 supporters who had been convicted for their role in the attack. Trump's other appointees include Frederick Marcus, Alex Witkoff, Rabbi Pinchos Lipshutz, Ariel Simon Abergel, Sidney Ferris Rosenberg, Barbara Feingold, Betty Pantirer Schwartz, Robert David Garson, Sigalit Flicker, Lee Marc Lipton, Nate Segal and Jackie Schutz Zeckman. Rosenberg, known as Sid Rosenberg, is the host of the Sid & Friends In The Morning, a WABC show. In a statement posted to Instagram last week, he said: 'To have the greatest president in the history of our country appoint me to such an important post is beyond affords me the opportunity to keep fighting for the Jewish people.'
