Erich Hippke

Prof. Dr.med.
Erich Hippke
Born (1888-03-07)7 March 1888
Prökuls, German Empire
Died 10 June 1969(1969-06-10) (aged 81)
Bonn, West Germany
Allegiance  German Empire (to 1918)
 Weimar Republic (to 1933)
 Nazi Germany
Service/branch Luftwaffe
Years of service 1907–1944
Rank Generaloberstabsarzt
Commands held Chief Medical Officer of Luftwaffe
Battles/wars

World War I

World War II
Awards German Cross in Silver
Iron Cross 1st Class

Prof. Dr.med. Erich Hippke (7 March 1888 in Prökuls – 10 June 1969 in Bonn) was a German Air Force General Surgeon with the rank of Generaloberstabsarzt.[1] He is most noted as Chief Medical Officer of Luftwaffe and subsequent Inspector of the Medical Matters of Luftwaffe during the World War II.

Early military career

Erich Hippke was born on March 7, 1888 in the town Prökuls, East Prussia. Young Erich intended to be a military doctor, thus he enrolled the elite Academy for military surgeons, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Akademie in Berlin. Also he had to join the German Army on April 1, 1907 and was officialy assigned to the 4th Guard Infantry Regiment (4. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß) stationed in Berlin-Moabit.

During his senior years on the Academy, Hippke was commissioned Unterarzt (Officer candidate) on March 1, 1912 and assigned to Grenadier-Regiment 9. Hippke finally graduated on June 19, 1913 and served with his regiment in its garrisons in Stargard, Bromberg or Demmin. He was also promoted to the rank of Assistenzarzt (equal to Leutnant) on August 18, 1913.

With his new promotion, Hippke was transferred to the 54th Infantry Regiment "von der Goltz" (Infanterie-Regiment von der Goltz (7. Pommersches) Nr.54) stationed in Kolberg as Troop medic.

With the outbreak of the War, his regiment was sent to the Eastern front as a part of 36th Reserve Division under the command of Generalleutnant Kurt Kruge. Hippke subsequently participated in the Battle of Gumbinnen and Battle of Tannenberg. In september 1915, he was transferred to the Division Staff and appointed Adjutant to the Division Surgeon. In this capacity, Hippke was promoted to the rank of Oberarzt (Oberleutnant) on October 13, 1915 and saw combat in Galicia.

In October 1916, Hippke was transferred to the Heeresgruppe Below under the command of General Otto von Below, and served on the Macedonian Front. Hippke spent almost year with this unit, before he was appointed Adjutant of the Army Surgeon within 11th Army under General Kuno von Steuben command.

In July 1917, Hippke was sent to the Palestine front, where he was assigned to the Staff of Heeresgruppe F under the command of General Erich von Falkenhayn. He was tasked again with the capacity of Adjutant of the Army Surgeon.

For his service during the War, Hippke was decorated with the both classes of Iron Cross, Prussian Red Cross Medal 3rd Class and Ottoman War Medal.

World War II

In the time of the Nazi Germany, from 1937 to December 1943, Hippke was the Chief Medical Officer of Luftwaffe. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research. Hippke was the true source of the ideas for the so-called "freezing experiments" on behalf of the Luftwaffe, conducted at Dachau concentration camp by Sigmund Rascher.[2]

He was succeeded by Oskar Schröder on May 15, 1944.[3]

Life after War

He was arrested only in December 1946. By that time he was a general practitioner working in Hamburg, Germany. He avoided the Doctors' Trial and left Nuremberg without charge.[4] He was never charged with a crime but American investigators of the Nazi medical atrocities later concluded that he was actually the source of the idea for those deadly experiments on humans.[5][6]

Awards and decorations

See also

References

  1. ↑ Heller, Kevin (2011). Oxford University Press, ed. The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law. ISBN 978-0199554317.
  2. ↑ Moreno, Jonathan D. (2000). Undue Risk: Secret State Experiments on Humans. Routledge. pp. 7–17. ISBN 978-0415928359.
  3. ↑ Mackowski, Maura Phillips (2005). Texas A&M University Press, ed. Testing the Limits: Aviation Medicine and the Origins of Manned Space Flight pg.95. ISBN 1585444391.
  4. ↑ Klee, Ernst (2008). The people lexicon to the Third Reich: Who was what before and after 1945. Koblenz: Ed. Kramer. ISBN 9783981148343.
  5. ↑ Heller, Kevin (2011). Oxford University Press, ed. The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law. ISBN 978-0199554317.
  6. ↑ Hippkes letter to Wolff of 6 March 1943. In at Nuremberg Trials Project. (Nürnberger Document NO-262).
Military offices
Preceded by
Newly created		 Chief Medical Officer of Luftwaffe
1 April 1935 – 31 January 1939 		Succeeded by
GenOstArzt Oskar Schröder
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