Auschwitz was the epicenter of Nazi cruelty—a place where over a million men, women, and children were sent to die. But among the most helpless victims were pregnant women, whose treatment reveals the absolute depths of Nazi inhumanity. Far from being spared because of their condition, they were singled out, experimented on, tortured, and often murdered in cold blood. Here are the most stomach-churning horrors inflicted on pregnant women inside Auschwitz.
Pregnancy Meant Certain Death
Upon arrival at Auschwitz, women were stripped, inspected, and selected—either for forced labor or immediate extermination. Pregnant women were almost always marked for death. To the Nazis, a woman carrying a child was "useless"—unable to work and representing the very future of the Jewish people, which they were determined to eliminate.
If a woman was visibly pregnant, she was often sent straight to the gas chambers. Those who tried to hide their pregnancies lived in constant terror of discovery. Many miscarried due to malnutrition, exhaustion, or fear.
Babies Were Murdered at Birth
On the rare occasion a woman carried a baby to term, the outcome was heartbreaking. Infants were seen as nothing more than “waste” by camp authorities. Newborns were routinely drowned in buckets, suffocated, or thrown against brick walls by SS guards. In some cases, mothers were forced to watch their babies die before they themselves were killed.
Witnesses described piles of tiny corpses and women screaming in grief as their children were ripped from their arms. There was no mercy—not even for the newborns who had never drawn a breath.
Unspeakable Medical Experiments
Perhaps the most horrifying fate awaited pregnant women chosen by Dr. Josef Mengele, the infamous "Angel of Death." Mengele was obsessed with genetics, reproduction, and twins. Pregnant women were perfect test subjects for his twisted medical experiments.
He performed vivisections—cutting women open without anesthesia to study the fetus. In some cases, he deliberately infected pregnant women with diseases or injected unknown substances to see the effects on the unborn child. Others were forced into abortions, not to save them, but to harvest fetal tissue for research. Many died in agony on his operating table.
Forced Abortions Without Anesthesia
If a woman was discovered to be pregnant, the Nazis sometimes ordered forced abortions—usually performed by unqualified prisoners or sadistic camp doctors. No anesthesia, no sterilization, no care. Women were cut open on filthy tables, often screaming as their child was ripped from their womb. Many died from the bleeding, infection, or shock.
Others were forced to abort in even more primitive ways—beaten, starved, or forced to labor until their bodies gave out. It was not medicine. It was cruelty disguised as procedure.