The number of medical journals that publish Dr. Stieve’s research increases as his supply of bodies increases. He becomes a recognized authority on plötzlich Tod—sudden death—and how the extreme stress brought on by imprisonment and execution affects the female reproductive tract. In his laboratory he has a large collection of human uteri preserved in jars, some in various stages of pregnancy. In 1943, Dr. Stieve receives the decapitated body of a woman who recently gave birth at a delivery ward inside Barnimstrasse prison. She is Hilde Coppi, number 53, age 34.
Absolutely vile
