During the year of 1942, victims at the Dachau concentration camp were subjected to experiments that were designed to test the absolute limits of human endurance. The tests were supposed to benefit the German Air Force, by investigating the effects of atmospheric conditions at extreme altitudes. A special low-pressure chamber was built, in which high altitude conditions could be simulated. Victims were placed inside the chamber, and Nazi doctors would gradually increase the simulated altitude within. The conditions inside the chamber were similar to those experienced by a pilot falling from 68 thousand feet, and the experiment was highly dangerous for the subjects. Almost every victim of the high altitude chamber died as a result of injuries related to extreme atmospheric exposure.
