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Neurosciences in the Third Reich: from Ivory Tower to Death Camps

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2019

Michael I. Shevell
Michael I. Shevell*
Affiliation:
Divison of Pediatric Neurology, Montreal Children's Hospital, and the Departments of Neurology/Neurosurgery and Pediatrics, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
*
Reprint requests to: Dr. Michael Shevell, Room A-514, Montreal Children's Hospital, 2300 Tupper Street, Montreal, Quebec H3H 1P3
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Abstract:

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It is commonly thought that the horrific medical abuses occurring during the era of the Third Reich were limited to fringe physicians acting in extreme locales such as the concentration camps. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that there was a widespread perversion of medical practice and science that extended to mainstream academic physicians. Scientific thought, specifically the theories of racial hygiene, and the political conditions of a totalitarian dictatorship, acted symbiotically to devalue the intrinsic worth to society of those individuals with mental and physical disabilities. This devaluation served to foster the medical abuses which occurred. Neurosciences in the Third Reich serves as a backdrop to highlight what was the slippery slope of medical practice during that era. Points on this slippery slope included the “dejudification” of medicine, unethical experimentation in university clinics, systematic attempts to sterilize and euthanasize targeted populations, the academic use of specimens obtained through such programs and the experimental atrocities within the camps.

Résumé:

Résumé:

On croit en général que les abus médicaux horribles commis sous le troisième Reich ont été commis par des médecins marginaux agissant dans des lieux exceptionnels tels les camps de concentration. Cependant, il est de plus en plus évident qu'il y a eu une perversion répandue de la pratique médicale et de la science qui s'étendait aux médecins du milieu académique. La pensée scientifique, spécifiquement les théories de l'hygiène racial, et les conditions politiques d'une dictature totalitaire ont agi en symbiose pour dévaluer pour la société la valeur intrinsèque des individus ayant une incapacité physique ou mentale. Cette dévaluation a servi à encourager les abus médicaux qui ont été perpétrés. Les neurosciences sous le troisième Reich seront utilisées comme toile de fond pour illustrer la pente glissante de la pratique médicale à cette époque. La "déjuification" de la médecine, l'expérimentation non éthique dans les cliniques universitaires, les tentatives systématiques de stérilisation et d'euthanasie de populations ciblées, l'utilisation en milieu académique de spécimens obtenus par ces programmes et les atrocités expérimentales dans les camps des points de repère sur cette pente glissante.

Type
Historical Neurology and Neurosurgery
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , May 1999 , pp. 132 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © The Canadian Journal of Neurological 1999

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