New York, NY, September 19, 1995...As a result of a protest by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), an Air Force base library will no longer be named for a Nazi scientist who became a recognized pioneer in American space medicine. Based on a letter from ADL and a review of Nazi-era documents, the Secretary of the Air Force decided to remove Dr. Hubertus Strughold's name from the Aeromedical Library at Brooks Air Force Base near San Antonio, Texas.

General Ronald R. Fogleman, Chief of Staff of the Department of the Air Force, wrote ADL National Chairman David H. Strassler that a review of the doctor's available wartime records supports allegations "Dr. Strughold was aware of and in some way aided" cold water experiments and other acts of torture. Saying "the evidence of Dr. Strughold's wartime activities is sufficient to cause concern about retaining his name in an honored place on the library," the General said he was taking the steps necessary to remove it. He explained the original decision to name the library for Dr. Strughold had been based on his post-war record. "Dr. Strughold's accomplishments while an employee of the United States Air Force, and his contributions to aerospace medicine were extraordinary," the General wrote.

ADL had sent a letter to the Air Force maintaining that "Dr. Strughold headed the Third Reich's Institute of Aviation Medicine during the war, which subjected concentration camp inmates to abuse and torture, thinly disguised as 'experiments.'" The League also submitted documentation of Dr. Strughold's participation in a conference discussing the "experiments."

"Paying tribute to Dr. Strughold was an obscene mockery of the pain and death suffered by his victims," said Strassler. "ADL is pleased the Air Force reviewed this matter, and determined it was inappropriate to honor someone who committed atrocities."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.