More than 150 surgical instruments belonging to the Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz have been found in a nearby house in Oswiecim. The gynaecological instruments were found in a house that was located inside a strictly closed zone surrounding Auschwitz during the war.

The surgical instruments had probably been used by Carl Clauberg, a gynaecologist and member of the Nazi SS who experimented with methods for the mass sterilisation of women. This method of mass sterilisation was done under the guise of a gynaecological examination, and consisted of the introduction of a chemical into the female’s reproductive organs. These procedures were carried out in a brutal fashion and often caused complications in the form of peritonitis and haemorrhage, which lead to high fever and general sepsis. Hundreds died due to the procedures performed whilst they were being held prisoner, others were killed in order to carry out autopsies.

Upon fleeing Auschwitz and escaping the Red Army in January 1945, Clauberg moved to the notorious Ravensbrueck women’s concentration camp near Berlin, where he continued his experiments. He was taken prisoner by the Russians later that year and was sentenced to twenty-five years imprisonment. Seven years later he was pardoned and returned to Germany, but after survivor groups protested he was rearrested in 1955. He died in 1957, shortly before his trial would have started.