| Width Style: | person |
| Erich Hippke | |
| Birth Date: | 7 March 1888 |
| Birth Place: | Prökuls, German Empire |
| Death Place: | Bonn, West Germany |
| Allegiance: | (to 1918) (to 1933) |
| Serviceyears: | 1907–1944 |
| Rank: | Generaloberstabsarzt |
| Commands: | Chief Medical Officer of Luftwaffe |
| Battles: | World War I |
Erich Hippke (7 March 1888 – 10 June 1969) was a German Air Force General Surgeon with the rank of Generaloberstabsarzt.[1] He is most noted as Chief Medical Officer of the Luftwaffe and subsequent Inspector of the Medical Matters for the Luftwaffe during World War II.
Erich Hippke was born on March 7, 1888, in the town of Prökuls, East Prussia. Erich enrolled into the Kaiser-Wilhelms-Akademie für das militärärztliche Bildungswesen (Kaiser Wilhelms Academy for military medical education; de), an elite academy for military surgeons in Berlin. Hippke joined the German Army on April 1, 1907, and was officially assigned to the 4th Guard Infantry Regiment (4. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß, de) stationed in Berlin-Moabit.
On March 1, 1912, during his senior years in the academy, Hippke was commissioned Unterarzt (officer candidate) on and assigned to Grenadier-Regiment 9. Hippke graduated on June 19, 1913, and served with his regiment in its garrisons to Stargard, Bromberg, and Demmin. He was also promoted to the rank of Assistenzarzt (equal to Leutnant) on August 18, 1913.
With his new promotion, Hippke transferred to the 54th Infantry Regiment "von der Goltz" (Infanterie-Regiment von der Goltz (7. Pommersches) Nr.54) stationed in Kolberg as a troop medic.
Due to the start of World War I, Hippke's regiment was sent to the Eastern front as a part of the 36th Reserve Division under the command of Generalleutnant Kurt Kruge (de). Hippke subsequently participated in the Battle of Gumbinnen and the Battle of Tannenberg. In September 1915, he was transferred to the Division Staff and appointed Adjutant to the Division Surgeon. In this capacity, Hippke was promoted to the rank of Oberarzt (Oberleutnant) on October 13, 1915, and saw combat in Galicia.
In October 1916, Hippke was transferred to the Heeresgruppe Below under the command of General Otto von Below, serving on the Macedonian front. Hippke spent almost a year with this unit before he was appointed Adjutant of the Army Surgeon within the 11th Army under the command of General Kuno von Steuben.
In July 1917, Hippke was sent to the Palestine front, where he was assigned to the staff of Heeresgruppe F under the command of General Erich von Falkenhayn. He was tasked again with the capacity of Adjutant of the Army Surgeon.
For his service during the War, Hippke was decorated with both classes of Iron Cross, the Prussian Red Cross Medal 3rd Class, and the Ottoman War Medal.
In the time of Nazi Germany, from 1937 to December 1943, Hippke was the Chief Medical Officer of the Luftwaffe. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research. Hippke was the true source of the ideas for the so-called "freezing experiments" conducted on behalf of the Luftwaffe, at Dachau concentration camp by Sigmund Rascher.[2]
He was succeeded by Oskar Schröder on May 15, 1944.[3]
Hippke was arrested in December 1946. By this time, he was a general practitioner working in Hamburg. He avoided the Doctors' Trial and left Nuremberg without charge.[4] He was never charged with a crime, but American investigators of Nazi medical atrocities later concluded that he was actually the source of the idea for the deadly "freezing experiments" on humans.[5] [6]