23. The Evil Doctor In Charge of the Nazis’ Biological Warfare
German doctor Kurt Blome (1894 – 1969) was a high-ranking scientist during the Nazi era. He became a Deputy Reich Health Leader, and a Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research in the Reich Research Council. His expertise was virology, and his titles masked his actual nefarious work during World War II. Blome was in charge of all biological warfare sponsored by the SS and the Wehrmacht. Despite conducting deadly experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp and elsewhere, American officials intervened in his prosecution for wartime atrocities to get him off the hook. They then hired him for secret work on behalf of the US.
Blome’s title of Plenipotentiary for Cancer Research was deceptive: he was not interested in curing cancer, but in causing it via viruses, and in the military use of carcinogenic substances. He also headed an institute that sought to develop biological warfare agents. His institute advocated attacking the US with human and animal epidemic pathogens, as well as plant pests. Blome’s biological warfare organization conducted lethal experiments on 1700 inmates at Mauthausen concentration camp. His organization also collaborated with Japan’s infamous Unit 731, which, as seen below, was carrying out even worse biological warfare experiments on the other side of the world.