Cleansing the Fatherland: Nazi Medicine and Racial Hygiene

The infamous Nuremberg Doctors' Trials of 1946-47 revealed horrifying crimes—ranging from grotesque medical experiments on humans to mass murder—committed by physicians and other health care workers in Nazi Germany. But far more common, argue the authors of this volume, were the doctors who profited professionally and financially from the killings but were never called to task—and, indeed, were actively shielded by colleagues in postwar German medical organizations. The authors examine the role of German physicians in such infamous operations as the "T 4" euthanasia program. They also reveal details of countless lesser known killings—all ordered by doctors and all in the name of public health. The book also includes original documents—never before published in English—that give unique and chilling insight into the everyday workings of Nazi medicine.