Cleansing the Fatherland

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This volume emphasizes that, particularly in Germany, the lessons of the Third Reich remain unlearned. The Nuremberg Doctors' Trials of 1946-47 exposed horrific crimes by physicians and healthcare workers, including grotesque medical experiments and mass murder. However, the authors argue that more common were the doctors who profited from these killings without facing consequences, often shielded by postwar medical organizations. They explore the involvement of German physicians in notorious operations like the "T 4" euthanasia program and reveal numerous lesser-known killings ordered by doctors in the name of public health. Victims included maladjusted adolescents, the handicapped, and even German civilians suffering from mental breakdowns after air raids. The book includes original documents, previously unpublished in English, providing chilling insights into Nazi medicine. These include minutes from a 1940 meeting instructing mayors on the secret burial of murdered mental patients, a pre-Nazi questionnaire regarding the euthanasia of disabled children, and the diary of Dr. Hermann Voss, who expressed concern over an excess of Polish cadavers. As discussions of mass death and euthanasia resurface in contemporary society, the relevance of the lessons from this dark chapter in history is increasingly urgent, delivering a stark message that cannot be ignored.