Wilhelm Beiglböck

During a meeting in Wiesbaden in 1964, a DGIM official declared that "Wilhelm Beiglböck was a true student of Eppinger. Rich in fruitful thoughts. His brilliant rise at the Vienna Clinic was abruptly and undeservedly interrupted by the misfortune of his detachment to carry out the so-called seawater experiments. It must be said again at this point that the review of these experiments by a commission of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für innere Medizin, chaired by Mr. Oehme, absolved him of any guilt. Beiglböck deserves our full recognition and veneration as a human being, physician, and researcher."

In 1963, Beiglböck was found dead in a stairwell. Stille Hilfe, a relief organization for the SS, was his official heir. The circumstances of Beiglböck's death remain unclear. It is rumored that he was murdered, as he had received threatening letters prior to his death.

In 1956, Beiglböck was elected to the DGIM committee, where he served until 1962. In 1959, the public prosecutor in Bückeburg opened a new investigation against Beiglböck, but dropped the case in 1960. In 1962, the Austrian Medical Association invited to Beiglböck to give a medical lecture in Vienna. This was met with opposition from the Social Democratic Party of Austria and the local Jewish community. The administrative committee of the city of Buxtehude, supported Beiglböck, and said he was not guilty of the crimes for which he had been convicted. However, his invitation was rescinded.

After the war, Beiglböck was arrested by the British, who then transferred him to U.S. custody. He was a defendant in the Nuremberg Doctor's Trial. Beiglböck was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Beiglböck's sentence was commuted to 10 years in January 1951, and he was released from prison that December.

In early 1947, the Vienna prosecution initiated proceedings against Beiglböck because of war crimes, mistreatment, and violating human rights. The Vienna proceedings were finished in October 1947.

From 1933 he was a member of the Nazi Party and from 1934 of SA, promoted to the rank of Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel). In 1939 he made his habilitation and in 1940 he became top doctor under Hans Eppinger. From May 1941 Beiglböck worked as Stabsarzt (medical officer) of the Luftwaffe. In 1944, he became an extrabudgetary professor at the Vienna University. During the war he performed medical tests involving seawater on inmates at Dachau concentration camp.

Wilhelm Franz Josef Beiglböck (10 October 1905 – 22 November 1963) was an internist and held the title of Consulting Physician to the German Luftwaffe (Airforce) during World War II.