Walter Schreiber facts for kids

Walter Paul Emil Schreiber (born March 21, 1893 – died September 5, 1970) was a doctor who served in the German Army during World War I. He later became a brigadier-general in the German Army Medical Service during World War II. After the war, he was an important witness against Hermann Göring at the Nuremberg Trials.

Early Life and Education

Walter Schreiber was born in Berlin, Germany. His father, Paul Schreiber, was a postal inspector. Walter went to school in Berlin and then studied medicine at several universities, including Berlin, Tübingen, and Greifswald.

Military Service and Medical Work

In 1914, Schreiber joined the military as a volunteer. He served with the 42nd Infantry Regiment in France during World War I. He was injured in a battle called the First Battle of the Marne. After he recovered, he continued his medical studies. He worked as a temporary doctor on the Western Front until the war ended in 1918. He received awards for his bravery and humanitarian work from Germany, Finland, and Switzerland. In 1920, he earned his medical degree and began studying diseases in Africa.

After World War I, the United States wanted to learn about using biological agents in future wars. Walter Schreiber was a professor of Bacteriology and Hygiene at the University of Berlin. He was an expert in how diseases spread. He was invited to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the U.S. for a scientific exchange. There, he shared his studies on sleeping sickness in Africa. He also discussed ways to prevent biological warfare with U.S. military doctors and researchers.

As a member of the German Army's medical branch, Schreiber was responsible for stopping the spread of infectious diseases. He also worked on developing vaccines. In 1942, he wrote a memo against developing biological weapons. He later said at the Nuremberg Trials that it was a serious concern for doctors. He worried that a plague epidemic would spread beyond the battlefronts and affect everyone.

Schreiber often told his leaders about his concerns regarding experiments at facilities controlled by the SS. In October 1942, he heard about human experiments at Dachau concentration camp. In May 1943, he spoke out against human experimentation in general. He was especially against using biological agents like plague and typhus in experiments. He testified at Nuremberg that he warned against using bacteria as weapons because they were "unreliable and dangerous." However, he was told that the decision had already been made by the leader, who had given full power to Hermann Göring.

In September 1943, Schreiber became the commander of the Training Division C of the Military Medical Academy. In this role, he stopped Kurt Blome, a research head, from doing plague research. However, this decision was later overturned by Himmler. In 1944, Schreiber learned about gas gangrene experiments. He became increasingly aware of Göring's dislike for him. In April 1945, his duties were reduced, and he only remained a medical officer for Berlin.

Post-War and Nuremberg Trials

On April 30, 1945, while treating wounded people in Berlin, Schreiber was captured by the Red Army. He was taken to the Soviet Union as a prisoner of war. He was held in a POW camp and later in Lubyanka Prison.

On August 26, 1946, the Soviets allowed Schreiber to be a witness at the Nuremberg Trials. He gave evidence against Göring and Kurt Blome, who was in charge of German biological weapons development. Schreiber himself was not charged with war crimes at Nuremberg. However, a Polish court later found him guilty in his absence of "conducting gruesome medical experiments" at Auschwitz.

In the fall of 1948, Schreiber escaped from Soviet captivity. He immediately surrendered to the Americans. He held a press conference on November 2, explaining his experience. He said he had been very sick in Lubyanka Prison. His true identity was discovered when a German ambassador, Norbert von Baumbach, became ill and only wanted Schreiber as his doctor. Schreiber then received medical care and was moved to safe houses in the Soviet Zone of Germany. He provided medical care to former Nazi generals.

The Soviets offered him a position as Chief Medical Officer in the new East German Police Force. He refused. He was then offered a professorship at the University of Leipzig. He asked for the University of Berlin instead, hoping to find his family. Soviet authorities told him his family was in the Soviet Union. This convinced him to move there with other German scientists.

Meanwhile, his daughter, who was in the American Occupation Zone, learned that more German scientists were being sent to the Soviet Union. She suspected her father was among them. She boarded several trains, walking through the cars until she found him. Schreiber saw his chance and escaped from his handler. On October 17, he took a train to Berlin and presented himself to the Allied Control Authority in West Berlin. Schreiber then worked for the Counter Intelligence Corps. From 1949, he was a doctor at Camp King, a secret POW interrogation center in Germany.

Moving to the United States

In 1951, Schreiber was brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip. This was a program that brought German scientists to the U.S. He arrived in New York on September 17, 1951, with his wife, son, and mother-in-law.

In October 1951, New York Times reported that he was working at the Air Force School of Medicine in Texas. A woman named Janina Iwańska, who was in a hospital, was shown Schreiber's photo. She was asked if he was the scientist who experimented on her at Ravensbrück concentration camp. She said no, but that he was present there. Her doctor contacted Boston Globe and started a petition to investigate Schreiber.

Another article, published in February 1952, included Schreiber's claim that he had never been to Ravensbrück or any other concentration camp. He also stated he never conducted or supervised human experiments. The Air Force Surgeon General said he doubted the accusations because Schreiber was a witness, not a defendant, at Nuremberg. If there was evidence against him, he would have been charged then. Schreiber did not renew his contract with the U.S. Air Force.

He left Texas and moved to California, where one of his daughters lived. The Joint Intelligence Objectives Agency then helped him and his family get visas to move to Argentina. Another one of his daughters lived there and had recently had his first grandchild. On May 22, 1952, they flew to New Orleans and then to Buenos Aires.

Life in Argentina

In Argentina, Walter Schreiber worked as a general doctor in the community of San Carlos de Bariloche. He died suddenly of a heart attack on September 5, 1970, in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.