Medicine against society. Lessons from the Third Reich
J. A. Barondess
The engagement of German biomedicine in the design and execution of Nazi
programs of "racial cleansing" was extensive and was organized by
physicians and other professional leaders. In its active involvement and
acquiescence, the German medical profession, one of the most sophisticated
and respected medical enterprises in the world, dishonored itself and
raised profound and persisting questions about the nature, strength, and
relevance of the medical ethos and the relationship between medicine and
the policies and programs of the state. Efforts to examine the history of
German medicine under National Socialism are increasing in scale and number
and involve German scholars to an important and expanding extent. Today,
many bioethical issues, based on an increasingly sophisticated science and
technology, confront medicine. A major lesson from the Nazi era is the
fundamental ethical basis of medicine and the importance of an informed,
concerned, and engaged profession.
