'The Scars of Ravensbruck': Medical Experiments and British War Crimes Policy, 1945-1950

Although the fiftieth anniversary of the Nazi Doctors' Trialin 1946 and 1947 sparked significant debate about medical researchethics and the origins of the Nuremberg Code, historians haveso far paid little, if any, attention to Allied war crimes policyon the investigation of German medical atrocities, of whichthe Ravensbrück trials formed part. British war crimespolicy, in particular, was concerned with medical war crimescommitted by German scientists at the Ravensbrück concentrationcamp. Much of the evidence against some key defendants at theDoctors' Trial was compiled by British experts and made availableto the US prosecution. Although the British investigated thisgroup, some of the defendants were later extradited and triedwith the Nuremberg doctors. To date, little has been writtenabout the broader political and legal context of the first Ravensbrücktrial, its origin, and overall place in the context of Allieddenazification policy. The article investigates the genesisof the Ravensbrück trial and the extensive investigationsand discussions that preceded its opening. It looks at how membersof the German public perceived the Ravensbrück trial, andcontextualizes the British response to criticism levelled againstit at the dawn of the Cold War. It aims, in part, to reconstructthe wider historical context of postwar British policy on medicalwar crimes, and suggests that British war crimes investigationsconducted in preparation for the Ravensbrück trials formedone of the most substantial bodies of legal testimony and scientificexpertise on human rights violations in experimental human researchbefore the establishment of the Nazi Doctors' Trial. The articlealso acknowledges Britain's contribution to the war crimes programme,and emphasises that the memory of the first Ravensbrücktrial has largely been overshadowed by the publicity surroundingthe Nuremberg trials.     

Early medieval origins of iron mining and settlement in central Sweden: multiproxy analysis of sediment and peat records from the Norberg mining district

The historical Norberg mining district in central Sweden with its shallow, easily accessible iron ores figures prominently in the earliest documents from the 14th century concerning mining or metallurgy. This 1000-km² district is considered to be one of the first areas in Sweden exploited for iron ores and, in fact, Europe’s oldest known blast furnace, Lapphyttan, is located in the Norberg district about 10 km from the mines in the village of Norberg (Norbergsby). Earlier archaeological excavations suggest the furnace was in operation as early as the 11th or 12th century (870 and 930 ¹⁴C yr BP), and a number of other sites in the district have been dated to the 13th–15th centuries. Here, we have analyzed two lake sediment records (Kalven and Noren) from the village of Norberg and a peat record from Lapphyttan. The Lapphyttan peat record was radiocarbon dated, whereas the sediment from Kalven is annually laminated, which provides a fairly precise chronology. Our pollen data indicate that land use in the area began gradually as forest grazing by at least c. AD 1050, with indications of more widespread forest disturbance and cultivation from c. 1180 at Lapphyttan and 1250 at Kalven. Based on ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb isotope ratios in Kalven’s varved sediment record, there is an indication of mining or metallurgy in the area c. 960, but likely not in immediate connection to our sites. Evidence of mining and metallurgy increases gradually from c. 1180 when there is a decline in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb ratios and an increase in charcoal particles at Lapphyttan, followed by increasing inputs of lithogenic elements in Noren’s sediment record indicating soil disturbance, which we attribute to the onset of mining the iron ore bodies surrounding Noren. From AD 1295 onwards evidence of mining and metallurgy are ubiquitous, and activities accelerate especially during the late 15th century; the maximum influence of Bergslagen ore lead (i.e., the minimum in ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁷Pb isotope ratios) in both Kalven and Noren occurs c. 1490–1500, when also varve properties change in Kalven and in Noren sharp increases occur in the concentrations of a range of other ore-related metals (e.g., arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, mercury and zinc). From the 15th century onwards mining and metallurgy are the dominant feature of the sediment records.