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| Dr Robert Jay Lifton |
THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical
Killing and
the
Psychology
of Genocide © |
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45 |
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Contents |
Index |
Home
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Forward |
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| Chapter
2 |
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“Euthanasia”: Direct
Medical Killing |
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The state organism … [is] a whole with its own laws and rights,
much like one self-contained human organism … which, in the interest of
the welfare of the whole, also - as we doctors know - abandons and rejects
parts or particles that have become worthless or dangerous. |
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— ALFRED HOCHE |
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Either one is a doctor or one is not |
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— A former Nazi doctor |
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| For a doctor, there is a large step from ligating spermatic
cords or ovarian tubes, or even removing uteri, to killing or designating for
death one’s own patients. Medical Gleichschaltung made that step
possible The Nazis could combine active participation by a broad spectrum of
German physicians, especially psychiatrists, with a secret plan emanating from
the highest Party authority. The characteristic mixture of terror and idealism
could now concretize the principle of “life unworthy of life” and
authorize the killing of both children and adults |
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| The
Background |
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| There was considerable advocacy elsewhere of “mercy
killing,” including its recommendation in the United States by the same
Foster Kennedy who was honored at the Heidelberg jubilee.¹ And anyone
trained in American medicine has personal experience of doctors, nurses, and
med- […ical] |
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THE NAZI DOCTORS:
Medical Killing and the
Psychology of
Genocide
Robert J. Lifton
ISBN 0-465-09094
©
1986 |
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Page 45 |
Forward |
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