According to Nazi ideology, Untermenschen—subhumans, as they were called, a designation that included Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, Poles, Slavs, Russian prisoners of war, the handicapped, the mentally ill, and others—were no different from white mice or lab rabbits whose bodies could thereby be experimented on to advance the Reich’s medical goals. “The sub-human is a biological creature, crafted by nature,” according to Heinrich Himmler, “which has hands, legs, eyes, and mouth, even the semblance of a brain.
