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Oskar SchroderWar criminal, professor, doctor of medicine
Date of Birth: 06.02.1891
Country:  Germany |
Biography of Oscar Schroeder
Oscar Schroeder was a military criminal, professor, and doctor of medicine. He held the rank of Lieutenant General in the Medical Service (Generaloberstabsarzt) in 1944. During 1944-1945, he served as the Chief of the Medical Service for the German Air Force. Schroeder began his military career as an infantry military doctor during World War I. Prior to 1931, he served as a medical worker in various military units of the Weimar Republic.
On January 1, 1931, Schroeder was appointed as a consultant-referee for military hospitals and therapy at the Army Medical Inspectorate with the rank of Major in the Medical Service (Oberstabsarzt). From 1935 onwards, he became the Chief of Staff for General Hippke in the Medical Department of the Reich Aviation Ministry. In February 1940, he was appointed as a military doctor of the Air Fleet II with the rank of General Staff Doctor (Generalstabsarzt).
On January 1, 1944, Schroeder replaced Hippke as the Head of the Medical Service for the German Air Force and was concurrently promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Medical Service (Generaloberstabsarzt), the highest rank available in the medical department. From this point onwards, all medical workers of the German Air Force were directly or indirectly subordinate to him. He led the Medical Service for the German Air Force until May 8, 1945.
During the Nuremberg Trials, Schroeder was accused by the American military tribunal of authorizing and conducting medical experiments on prisoners of concentration camps and prisoners of war. The charges included his involvement in experiments conducted by the Air Force on the effects of extremely low temperatures, extremely low and high pressures, the development of vaccines for epidemic jaundice, typhus, and other diseases, as well as gas experiments.
On August 20, 1947, Schroeder was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, based on a plea for clemency made by the Commission on Pardons, American High Commissioner for Germany, John J. McCloy, reduced Schroeder's sentence to 15 years. He was released early from the American prison in Landsberg in 1954. Oscar Schroeder passed away in Munich on January 26, 1959.
