WELEDA will re-investigate its Nazi past.

Weleda is the anthroposophic firm, founded in 1921 by Ita Wegman, the lover of Rudolf Steiner, that produces anthroposophic and homeopathic remedies as well as cosmetic products. It has been reported that the company is to re-examine its Nazi-era history amid revelations that it benefited from gruesome human experiments in a Nazi concentration camp during the Holocaust.

The German historian Anne Sudrow exposed the Weleda experiments in a new book under the auspices of the Dachau memorial. In response to the revelations, the company, now headquartered in Arlesheim, Switzerland, said it will re-examine its Nazi-era history. An in-house study, published last year, failed to uncover Weleda’s role in human experiments.

As reports of the revelations emerged, the company denounced Nazism in a corporate statement. “At Weleda, we condemn the atrocities of National Socialism in the strongest possible terms,” it said. “Fascism, anti-Semitism, racism, or right-wing extremist ideology have no place in our company. Weleda is a place of humanity. ‘Never again’ expresses our stance.”

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I have not yet read Anne Sudrow’s book (it’s not yet available as a hard copy), but I fear that the above cited article is not entirely correct. I think it erroneously conflates two seperate experiements by Sigmund Rascher: the hypothermia experiments and the ones on the Weleda frostbite cream. The latter seemed to have been much smaller and did not cause a high number of fatalities. Importantly, the research was unethical, fraaudulent and lousy!

The other allegation, namely that anthroposophic or biodymamic agricultural research took place in the Dachau “herb garden”, an annexe of the concentration camp where inmates were cruelly exploited for slave labor, is to the best of my knowledge correct. This work was carried out, I think, under the supervision of ex-Weleda employees. The main aim was to grow plenty of medicinal plants and render the Third Reich independent from foreign supplies.

But don’t take my word for it; perhaps I am mistaken – I will report back once I have read the book.