Rudolf Spanner

Rudolf Spanner (born 17 April 1895 in Metternich bei Koblenz; died 31 August 1960) was Director of the Danzig Anatomical Institute during World War II and Nazi party member (party membership ID 2733605). During the Second World War Spanner used human corpses in the creation of anatomical models for the institute, which after a soap-like byproduct from the model-creation process was presented in the Nuremberg trials as soap made from victims of the Holocaust, has led to numerous accusations against Spanner of crimes against humanity.

A memorial tablet in Gdańsk, Poland, chronicling Rudolph Spanner's alleged experiments.

Production of human soap

Polish historian Joachim Neander states that rumors which allege the production of soap from the bodies of Jews murdered in Nazi concentration camps, long-since thoroughly debunked, are still widely believed, and exploited by holocaust deniers. He however goes on to say that even scholars who reject the aforementioned claims that the Germans made soap from human fat and mass-produced it are sometimes still convinced that the Germans attempted "experimental" soap production on a smaller scale at Danzig Institute, with bodies sourced from the Stutthof concentration camp, headed by Spanner, and that this claim is still repeated as if a firm fact in several remembrance contexts.[1] He, and the other Polish historians such as Monika Tomkiewicz and Piotr Semków, have thoroughly investigated the claims around and have all concluded the Holocaust-related soap-making claims surrounding it to also be myths, particularly cemented into Polish consciousness by Zofia Nałkowska's 1946 book Medaliony,[2] which was mandatory reading in Poland until 1990, was widely distributed in the Eastern Bloc, and is still popular today.[3] They all alleged that such secondary sources have played a far larger role of spreading information about the claim than scholarly research.

According to both Neander, and Tomkiewicz and Semków, "soap" made from human cadavers was indeed created at the Danzig institute,[4] but that this was not related to the alleged Holocaust-related crimes of "harvesting" Jews or Poles for soap-making purposes. The notion that the Danzig Anatomical Institute, and Dr. Spanners work therein, is related to the Holocaust originally stems from the findings of bodies and bone maceration processes in the creation of anatomical models in a small brick building on the premise of the anatomical institute. This, and the soapy grease created for injection into the models flexible joints,[3] was used by the Soviets and the newly established Polish Chief Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation as proof of human soap production in Nazi concentration camps. The latter claims had been presented as fact and had become a stock phrase in Soviet propaganda, but of which no evidence could be found in the liberated camps. The "human soap" from the bone maceration found in Danzig was conflated with the separate rumors regarding the Nazi concentration camps and were presented together during the Nuremberg trials.[1][3]

After multiple positive tests for human fat-tissue in the soap-sample from the trial by institutes such as the Institute of National Remembrance and Gdańsk University of Technology,[5][6][7] who also accused Spanner of lying regarding his denial of sourcing bodies from the Stutthof concentration camp, and the presence of kaolin in the samples, the abrasive qualities of which indicated its possible use as a cleaning soap[3][8] reinforced the connection, Tomkiewicz and Semków's research concluded that the soapy grease presented at the trials (claimed to be "unfinished soap"[1]) was a by-product stemming from Spanner's uncontroversial work in bone maceration. Spanner, a well-respected physician who was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1939, would also not have been "experimenting" with soap production (which was widely understood and not something which needed experimentation) instead of teaching his students. Regarding the aforementioned presence of kaolin, the abrasiveness of which has also been criticized as being unsuitable for flexible model-joints,[9] it was noted by Tomkiewicz and Semków that Spanner had previously done research on kaolin injections into cadavers, meaning that the kaolin found in the soap could have come from the cadaver itself, rather than as later additive.[3] They write that when Zofia Nałkowska, Vice-Chairperson of the Chief Commission, was already writing her short story "Professor Spanner" (which would be published in Medaliony), Spanner was again working as a medical doctor, under his own name, in Schleswig-Holstein in September 1945, unaware that he was being linked to any possible crimes. He was arrested in May 1947, but was released three days later. Later he was arrested again, but he was once again released after explaining how he had conducted the maceration and injection process. He was officially exonerated in 1948 and resumed his academic career, but was later dismissed by British occupation authorities.[3][8] Spanner would "repeat my statement given at the police and add: At the Danzig Anatomic Institute soap was manufactured to a limited extent from human fat. This soap was only used for the manufacturing of joint preparations".[1]

Neander concludes that no research or experiments on soap-making were conducted in Danzig, that corpses which were delivered to be boiled and turned into anatomical models were all the corpses of Germans who had not been killed in order to "harvest" their bodies, and that the only soap created was a by-product of this. Neander concludes that towards the end of the war, "human fatty soap" from the maceration had been used for laboratory cleaning purposes and that Spanner, as head of the institute, bore responsibility for this, but such handling of dead bodies amounted to a misdemeanor, as opposed to any criminal behavior, let alone a crime against humanity or involvement in any genocidal activities, something which is today officially acknowledged in Poland.[1]

Notes

1. Neander, Joachim (2006). "The Danzig Soap Case: Facts and Legends around "Professor Spanner" and the Danzig Anatomic Institute 1944-1945" (PDF). German Studies Review. 29 (1): 63–86.
2. "Zakończono śledztwo w głośnej "sprawie profesora Spannera"". Dziennik Bałtycki. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
3. Tomkiewicz, Monika; Semków, Piotr (2013). Soap from human fat: the case of Professor Spanner. Gdynia Wydawnictwo Róża Wiatrów. ISBN 9788362012022.
4. M. Tomkiewicz, P. Semków: Profesor Rudolf Maria Spanner – naukowiec czy eksperymentator? Medycyna na usługach systemu eksterminacji ludności w Trzeciej Rzeszy i na terenach okupowanej Polski. Edited by G. Łukomski, G. Kucharski. Poznań–Gniezno 2011, page 131 . Należy odnotować, że prowadzone w latach 2002–2006 przez Oddziałową Komisję Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Gdańsku śledztwo potwierdziło, że w Instytucie Anatomicznym produkowano w czasie wojny mydło z tłuszczu ludzkiego, wprawdzie nie na skalę przemysłową, jednak do celów użytkowych:,translated:One should note that the investigation carried out in the years 2002–2006 by the District Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation in Gdańsk (Oddziałowa Komisja Ścigania Zbrodni przeciwko Narodowi Polskiemu w Gdańsku) proved that during the war soap from human fat was manufactured at the Anatomical Institute. It was not produced on an industrial scale, but still for utilitarian purposes:
5. Gdańsk: Ofiary zbrodniczych eksperymentów w zapomnianej mogile Dziennik Baltycki 21.04.2011
6. Polska Press Sp. z o.o. (2006-10-07). "Zakończono śledztwo w głośnej "sprawie profesora Spannera"". Wiadomosci24.pl. Retrieved 2016-01-14.
7. "Human Fat Was Used to Produce Soap in Gdansk during the War" Archived 2011-05-21 at the Wayback Machine, Auschwitz–Birkenau Memorial and Museum website, 13 October 2006. Accessed July 12, 2011.
8. "Zakończono śledztwo w głośnej "sprawie profesora Spannera"". Dziennik Bałtycki. Archived from the original on 2007-09-30.
9. Soap from Human Fat: The Case of Professor Spanner John A. Drobnicki CUNY York College