After the First World War, Germany was prohibited from developing or using biological weapons. Although Hitler supported this ban, Nazi scientists secretly conducted research into insects that could be used as biological weapons.
Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, set up an entomological institute in the German concentration camp Dachau during World War II. Dachau was the first concentration camp of the paramilitary Schutzstaffel and has been in use since 1933. The institute was part of the Institut für wehrwissenschaftliche Zweckforschung (freely translated:institute for applied defensive sciences).
Infected insects
In the laboratory of the entomological institute, tests were carried out with various types of insects from 1942 onwards. Researchers mainly focused on combating deadly diseases spread by pests such as fleas. High mortality from contamination was a common problem in concentration camps and among prisoners of war. A shortage of manpower was imminent and the guards feared infection. Soldiers also suffered many casualties due to infected vermin. Soldiers were covered in lice, which carried the deadly disease typhoid. All in all, enough reasons for Himmler to have this investigated.
But beyond that, it seems that the Nazis were looking for insects that, infected and well, would live long enough to fly into enemy territory. The insects released there could transmit infectious diseases en masse to Allied soldiers. Secret studies showed that infected malaria mosquitoes were the most suitable for use as a biological weapon.
Eduard May, head of the institute in Dachau and expert in the field of pesticides, came to this conclusion. Klaus Reinhardt, a scientist at the University of Tübingen, found this information in secret reports from May from 1944. The Nazis were very organized and kept lists and records about everything and anything. The same goes for the secret experiments in the laboratory. May reported on his research into starving mosquitoes, stating that they could go without blood long enough to allow transport from the breeding chambers to the dropping zone. In the same report, as in several letters, he talks about mosquitoes as biological weapons.
Controversial theory
Reinhardt can only argue with his research that May knew that malaria mosquitoes could be used as biological weapons. However, his research does not reveal whether May was commissioned — by Himmler or anyone else — to find out which insect would be suitable for biological warfare. And whether the Nazis actually did something with the knowledge.
The notion that Nazis researched biological weapons is controversial among scientists at all. However, Reinhardt's research, with Eduard May's previously unpublished reports, seems to indicate that previous suspicions were not entirely out of the blue.