Personal Experiences at Buchenwald

(Walter Mason)

 

       After the original shock and disbelief at the horrors that greeted us as we entered the camp, the unit members were hard at work to try to alleviate the pain , disease states, and discomfort of those inmates who had survived these atrocities.  As a    member of the Pharmacy section we had no specific duties since nobody was prescribing medication at this time as the efforts in giving IV’s of  saline, blood plasma, etc. were of first priority along with moving the sick to

more humane and sanitary environment .

     The camp had its own hospital where they had inmate doctors in charge at the time of the liberation of the camp. Major Long decided that it would be good idea to try to show these doctors an example of some of the advances that had been made in medicine since they had been shut off from the rest of the world for some time.  In this instance, he wanted to tell them about penicillin and its use since it had been one of the latest drugs introduced to treat a number of types of infection.  It really was one of the miracle drugs to become widely used during World War II, and has been credited to saving many lives and reducing the number of amputations that would otherwise been necessary as a result of infected wounds. Our unit had yet to use any penicillin .  The drug was not readily available at all echelons of treatment, and was considered to be relatively expensive at that time.

     Major Long did receive permission to obtain and use a small amount of penicillin for a demonstration to show the benefits of this drug, its mode of preparation,and administration.  The amount was small, just enough to treat one or perhaps two patients.  I was requested to accompany Major Long to demonstrate its preparation storage, and stability.  This was new to me too, so I had to study the manufacturers

directions for a while before participating in this demonstration.

     The selection process, however, was the most traumatic portion of this experience.  The purpose was to select a patient for whom this drug would be ndicated, and one whose prognosis for successful outcome was positive.  We were  given a tour of the appropriate ward and viewed these patients , almost all of whom were emaciated, and one wonders how they had survived to this point in time. Many of these patients had open sores which were covered with what appeared to me to be toilet tissue, but actually it was a type of bandage that was in common use there.  Through interpreters, several patients were examined, then rejected for treatment because their condition had progressed to a point that they were  too far gone to benefit from the treatment. I am sure most patients were not fully aware of what was going on as each patient seemed to have that vacant stare in their eyes which made it impossible to read in their eyes any emotional reaction.

Finally an appropriate candidate was selected, and we proceeded with the demonstration.

     The  type of penicillin available at that time had a very short period of stability, so it had to be mixed just prior to the injection, and the course of injections completed in the next days . The form of penicillin we had consisted of soluble tablets of measured dosage which were to be mixed with sterile water for injection or sterile nomal-saline to make the appropriate concentration, i.e. 100,000 Units/cc  etc.  

 

 

 

 

 

It was necessary to remove the rubber stopper from the vial of diluent, add the soluble tablet, and replace the stopper so the medication could be withdrawn by syringe and subsequently injected into the patient.  I prepared this solution in as aseptic manner as possible, and the rest of the demonstration was concluded. We left the area before it would have been possible to determine the outcome of this demonstration, but I have to believe he was able to live to

tell about it.  Since the war was nearing its end at that time, and more medical personnel moved in to take our place, I am sure that more patients were able receive the benefits of medical advances.

      War is often the stimulus to rapid  advancement of many scientific discoveries and we were privileged to see some of the beneficial results of one of those medical discoveries.