The following is a list of notablephysicians inNazi Germany. This list is primarily split up into those who performedeuthanasia through theAktion T4 campaign, to those who primarily performed experiments onHolocaust victims. While a majority consists of members of theNazi Party, others who could not become members contributed in notable ways. After the war, theGerman Medical Association blamedNazi atrocities on a small group of 350 criminal doctors.[1][2][3] During theDoctors' trial, the defense argued that there was no international law to distinguish between legal and illegal human experimentation,[4] which led to the creation of theNuremberg Code (1947). Some doctors attempted to change names to escape capture and trial, such asWerner Heyde[5] andRobert Ley,[6] Other doctors, such asWalter Schreiber, were covertly moved to the United States during "Operation Paperclip" in 1951.
When the Nazi government came to power, they purged Germany of its 6,000 to 7,000Jewish doctors.[7] Non-Jewish physicians were early recruits to theNazi Party, due both to social and economic circumstances and to widespreadeugenic andSocial Darwinist ideas in early-20th-century medicine.[8] By 1942, more than half of all Germanphysicians had become Nazi Party members.[9][10][11] In comparison, only about 10% of the general population became Nazi Party members by 1945.[12] In addition, over 7% of German doctors became members of theNazi SS, compared to less than 1% of the general population.[13] While most of these doctors werephysicians, some helddoctorates (PhDs) inbiology,anthropology, or related fields. Doctors who were working for the state, and not for their patients, using aMendelian type of logic chart, saw extermination of their patients as the correct solution to the problem of mental illness and thegenetically defective.[14][15][16][17] "The participation in the ‘betrayal ofHippocrates’ had a broad basis within the German medical profession. Without the doctors' active help, the Holocaust could not have happened," wrote E Ernst in the International Journal of Epidemiology.[18] Killing and experimentation[19] became medical procedures as they were performed by licensed doctors. A doctor was present at all the mass killings for legal reasons.[20]
| Doctor | Birth | Death | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hans Asperger | February 18, 1906 | October 21, 1980 | Gutachter (Children)[21] |
| Erich Bauer | March 26, 1900 | February 4, 1980 | T4-personnel |
| Ernst Baumhard [de] | March 3, 1911 | June 24, 1943 | T4-Gutachter[22] |
| August Becker | August 17, 1900 | December 31, 1967 | T4-Chemist |
| Oskar Begusch [de] | January 21, 1897 | January 11, 1944 | T4-Gutachter[23][page needed] |
| Friedrich Berner [de] | November 12, 1904 | March 2, 1945 | T4-Gassing doctor[24] |
| Hans Bertha [de] | April 14, 1901 | January 3, 1964 | T4-Gutachter[25] |
| Kurt Borm [de] | August 25, 1909 | 2001 | T4-Gassing doctor[26] |
| Viktor Brack | November 9, 1904 | June 2, 1948 | T4-Organizer[27] |
| Heinrich Bunke [de] | July 24, 1914 | September 16, 2001 | T4-Gassing doctor |
| Werner Catel | June 27, 1894 | April 30, 1981 | T4-Gutachter (Children) |
| Fritz Cropp [de] | October 25, 1887 | April 6, 1984 | T4-Organizer |
| Max de Crinis | May 29, 1889 | May 2, 1945 | T4-Gutachter |
| Irmfried Eberl | September 8, 1910 | February 16, 1948 | T4-Director |
| Klaus Endruweit [de] | December 6, 1913 | September 3, 1994 | T4-personnel |
| Valentin Faltlhauser [de] | November 28, 1876 | January 8, 1961 | T4-Gutachter |
| Emil Gelny [de] | March 28, 1890 | March 28, 1961 | T4-Gassing doctor[28][29] |
| Hans Bodo Gorgaß [de] | June 19, 1909 | October 10, 1993 | T4-Gassing doctor |
| Ernst-Robert Grawitz | June 8, 1899 | April 24, 1945 | T4-personnel |
| Heinrich Gross | November 14, 1915 | December 15, 2005 | T4-personnel |
| Ernst Hefter [de] | January 11, 1906 | April 11, 1947 | T4-Gutachter |
| Hans Heinze | October 18, 1895 | February 4, 1983 | T4-Gutachter (Children) |
| Günther Hennecke [de] | August 11, 1912 | November 21, 1943 | T4-personnel |
| Werner Heyde (Fritz Sawade) | April 25, 1902 | February 13, 1964 | T4-Obergutachter |
| Ernst Illing | April 6, 1904 | November 30, 1946 | T4-Child euthanasia |
| Erwin Jekelius [de] | June 5, 1905 | May 8, 1952 | T4-Gutachter |
| Alfons Klein [de] | June 8, 1909 | March 14, 1946 | T4-Director |
| Herbert Linden [de] | September 14, 1899 | April 27, 1945 | T4-Obergutachter |
| Rudolf Lonauer [de] | January 9, 1907 | May 5, 1945 | T4-Gutachter |
| Friedrich Mauz | May 1, 1900 | July 7, 1979 | T4-Gutachter |
| Friedrich Mennecke [de] | October 6, 1904 | January 28, 1947 | T4-Gutachter |
| Paul (Hermann) Nitsche | November 25, 1876 | March 25, 1948 | T4-Obergutachter |
| Friedrich Panse | December 31, 1899 | December 6, 1973 | T4-Gutachter |
| Hermann Pfannmüller [de] | June 8, 1886 | April 10, 1961 | T4-Gutachter |
| Kurt Pohlisch [de] | March 28, 1893 | February 6, 1955 | T4-Gutachter |
| Georg Renno [de] | January 13, 1907 | October 4, 1997 | T4-Gutachter |
| Carl-Heinz Rodenberg | November 19, 1904 | 1995 | T4-Gutachter |
| Curt Schmalenbach [de] | February 24, 1910 | June 15, 1944 | T4-Gutachter |
| Carl Schneider | December 19, 1891 | December 11, 1946 | T4-Gutachter |
| Aquilin Ullrich [de] | March 14, 1914 | May 30, 2001 | T4-personnel |
| Werner Villinger | October 9, 1887 | August 8, 1961 | T4-Gutachter |
| Adolf Wahlmann [de] | December 10, 1876 | November 1, 1956 | T4-Chief doctor |
| Erich Wasicky | May 27, 1911 | May 28, 1947 | T4-Gassing doctor |
| Ernst Wentzler [de] | September 3, 1891 | August 9, 1973 | T4-Gutachter (Children) |
| Albert Widmann | June 8, 1912 | December 24, 1986 | T4-personnel (Children) |
| Gerhard Wischer [de] | February 1, 1903 | November 4, 1950 | T4-Gutachter |
| Waldemar Wolter [de] | May 19, 1908 | May 28, 1947 | Euthanasia |
| Ewald Wortmann [de] | April 17, 1911 | September 15, 1985 | Euthanasia |
| Doctor | Birth | Death | Type(s) | Sentence[a] | Reference(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karl Babor | August 23, 1918 | January 18, 1964 | Injections | None (suicide) | |
| Heinz Baumkötter | February 7, 1912 | April 21, 2001 | Unknown | 25 years | |
| Hermann Becker-Freyseng | July 18, 1910 | August 27, 1961 | High-altitude experiments | 20 years | [30] |
| Wilhelm Beiglböck | October 10, 1905 | November 22, 1963 | Sea water experiments | 15 years | [31] |
| Otto Bickenbach | March 11, 1901 | November 26, 1971 | Poison gas experiments | Life | [32] |
| Kurt Blome | January 31, 1894 | October 10, 1969 | Multiple | Acquitted[b] | |
| Karl Brandt | January 8, 1904 | June 2, 1948 | Injections | Executed | |
| Carl Clauberg | September 28, 1898 | August 9, 1957 | Sterilization experiments | 25 years | |
| Leonardo Conti | August 24, 1900 | October 6, 1945 | Unknown | None (suicide) | [34] |
| Hans Delmotte | December 15, 1917 | January 31, 1945 | Injections | None (suicide) | |
| Erwin (Oskar) Ding-Schuler | September 19, 1912 | August 11, 1945 | Injections | None (suicide) | |
| Hans Eisele | March 13, 1913 | May 3, 1967 | Surgical experiments | Death | |
| Friedrich Entress | December 8, 1914 | May 28, 1947 | Injections | Executed | [35] |
| Hans Eppinger | January 5, 1879 | September 25, 1946 | Sea water experiments | None (suicide) | |
| Fritz Fischer | October 5, 1912 | 2003[c] | Surgical experiments | Life | |
| Karl (Franz) Gebhardt | November 23, 1897 | June 2, 1948 | Injections & surgical ex. | Executed | |
| Karl (August) Genzken | June 8, 1885 | October 10, 1957 | Injections | Life | |
| Kurt Gutzeit [de] | June 2, 1893 | October 28, 1957 | None directly[d] | None | |
| Eugen Haagen [fr] | June 17, 1898 | August 3, 1972 | Injections | 20 years | |
| Julius Hallervorden | October 21, 1882 | May 29, 1965 | Post-mortem brain research | None | |
| Siegfried Handloser | March 25, 1885 | July 3, 1954 | None directly[e] | None | |
| Aribert (Ferdinand) Heim | June 28, 1914 | August 10, 1992 | Injections | Escaped | |
| Kurt Heissmeyer | |||||
| Fritz Hintermayer [de] | October 28, 1911 | May 29, 1946 | Injections | Executed | |
| Erich Hippke | March 7, 1888 | June 10, 1969 | None directly[f] | None | |
| Ernst Holzlöhner | February 23, 1899 | June 14, 1945 | Freezing experiments | None (suicide) | |
| Waldemar Hoven | February 10, 1903 | June 2, 1948 | Injections | Executed | |
| Emil Kaschub | April 3, 1919 | May 4, 1977 | Injections | None[g] | [28][29] |
| Hans Wilhelm König | May 13, 1912 | 1991[c] | Injections | Escaped | |
| Eduard Krebsbach | August 8, 1894 | May 28, 1947 | Injections | Executed | |
| Johann (Paul) Kremer | December 26, 1883 | January 8, 1965 | Starvation experiments | Death | |
| Josef Mengele | March 16, 1911 | February 7, 1979 | Multiple | Escaped | |
| Joachim Mrugowsky | August 15, 1905 | June 2, 1948 | Injections | Executed | |
| Heinrich Mückter | June 14, 1912 | May 22, 1987 | Unknown | Escaped | |
| Herta Oberheuser | May 15, 1911 | January 24, 1978 | Sulfonamide experiments | 20 years | |
| Helmut Poppendick | January 6, 1902 | January 11, 1994 | None directly[h] | 10 years | |
| Sigmund Rascher | February 12, 1909 | April 26, 1945 | Multiple | None[i] | |
| Hans (Conrad Julius) Reiter | February 26, 1881 | November 25, 1969 | None directly[j] | Minimal | |
| Heinrich Rindfleisch [de] | March 3, 1916 | January 14, 1969 | Unknown | None | |
| Hans-Wolfgang Romberg [de] | May 15, 1911 | September 6, 1981 | High-altitude experiments | Acquitted | |
| Gerhard Rose | November 30, 1896 | January 13, 1992 | Injections | Life | |
| Rolf Rosenthal [de] | January 22, 1911 | May 3, 1947 | Injections & surgical ex. | Executed | |
| Paul Rostock | January 18, 1892 | June 17, 1956 | None directly[k] | Acquitted | |
| Helmut Rühl [de] | January 14, 1918 | Unknown | Poison gas experiments | Death(IA) | |
| Siegfried Ruff | February 19, 1907 | April 22, 1989 | High-altitude experiments | Acquitted | |
| Konrad Schäfer | January 7, 1911 | 1951[c] | Unknown | Acquitted | |
| Gerhard Schiedlausky [de] | January 14, 1906 | May 3, 1947 | Injections & surgical ex. | Executed | |
| Klaus Schilling | July 5, 1871 | May 28, 1946 | Malaria experiments | Executed | |
| Oskar Schröder [de] | February 6, 1891 | January 26, 1959 | Sea water experiments | Life | |
| Horst Schumann | May 1, 1906 | May 5, 1983 | X-ray sterilization ex. | None | |
| Heinrich Schütz [de] | April 12, 1906 | November 12, 1986 | Biochemical experiments | 10 years | |
| Walter Sonntag | May 13, 1907 | September 17, 1948 | Injections | Executed | |
| Percival Treite [de] | September 10, 1911 | April 8, 1947 | Unknown | None (suicide) | |
| Alfred Trzebinski | August 29, 1902 | October 8, 1946 | Injections | Executed | |
| Carl (Peter) Værnet | April 28, 1893 | November 25, 1965 | Injections | Escaped | |
| Helmuth Vetter | March 21, 1910 | February 2, 1949 | Injections | Executed | |
| Bruno (Nikolaus Maria) Weber | May 21, 1915 | September 23, 1956 | Injections | None | |
| Georg August Weltz [de] | March 16, 1889 | August 22, 1963 | High-altitude experiments | Acquitted | |
| Wilhelm Witteler [de] | April 20, 1909 | May 13, 1993 | None directly[l] | Death | |
| Eduard Wirths | September 4, 1909 | September 20, 1945 | None directly[m] | None (suicide) |
| Doctor | Birth | Death | Short summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kurt Albrecht | December 31, 1894 | May 7, 1945 | Albrecht was a professor at theUniversity of Berlin, andKarl-Ferdinands-Universität in Prague. |
| Eugen Fischer | July 5, 1874 | July 9, 1967 | Fischer developed the physiological specifications, such as skull dimensions, which were used to determine racial origins, and he also developed the so-calledFischer–Saller scale forhair colour. He and the members of his team experimented onGypsies andAfrican-Germans, drawing theirblood and measuring theirskulls (seeCraniometry) to attempt to scientifically validate his theories. |
| Wilhelm Frick | March 12, 1877 | October 16, 1946 | He achieved a doctorate of law and began working for the police in 1903. Later became a politician of theNazi Party, joining September 1, 1925. He was a contributing creator and writer of theNuremberg Laws. He was tried and executed after the war.[36] |
| Rudolf Hippius | June 9, 1905 | October 23, 1945 | Hippius is best known for his work in "racial psychology" carried out under the auspices of the Nazi regime, and specifically his study of the "suitability" of people of mixed German and Slavonic descent. |
| Alfred Ploetz | August 22, 1860 | March 20, 1940 | Ploetz was a eugenicist known for coining the termracial hygiene (Rassenhygiene), a form of eugenics, and for promoting the concept in Germany. |
| Robert Ritter | May 14, 1901 | April 15, 1951 | Ritter was appointed head of the Racial Hygiene and Demographic Biology Research Unit of Nazi Germany's Criminal Police. He was the "architect of the experiments, theRoma andSinti were subjected to." His pseudo-scientific "research" in classifying these populations of Germany aided the Nazi government in their systematic persecution toward a goal of "racial purity". |
| Ernst Rüdin | April 19, 1874 | October 22, 1952 | While Rüdin has been credited as a pioneer of psychiatric inheritance studies, he also argued for, designed, justified, and funded the mass sterilization and clinical killing of adults and children.[37] |
| Wilhelm Stuckart | 16 November 1902 | 15 November 1953 | He achieved a doctorate of law in 1930. He worked as a lawyer for theNazi Party and helped to create and write theNuremberg Laws. |
| Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer | July 16, 1896 | August 8, 1969 | Verschuer was aNazi-affiliatedeugenicist with an interest inracial hygiene. He was an advocate ofcompulsory sterilization programs in the first half of the 20th century.[38][39] |
| Doctor | Birth | Death | Short summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Hellinger[40] | July 17, 1904 | August 13, 1988 | Hellinger was a member of the Nazi party, who primarily dealt withremoving dental gold from those killed atRavensbrück. During his trial, he claimed that he believed the deceased had been legally executed. On February 3, 1947, he was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison, which was later reduced to time served on May 20, 1954. He re-established his dental practice afterwards until his death. |
| Wilhelm Jobst | October 27, 1912 | May 28, 1947 | Jobst was a physician accused of giving injections to terminally ill prisoners in his capacity as camp doctor inEbensee from 1944 to 1945. He was sentenced to death by hanging on May 13, 1946, and was executed in the following year. |
| Bruno Kitt[41] | August 9, 1906 | October 8, 1946 | Bruno Kitt was a camp doctor atAuschwitz andNeuengamme after being drafted into theWaffen-SS in March 1942. He was found guilty of participating in the murder and mistreatment of prisoners at the Neuengamme concentration camp and was sentenced to death by hanging on May 3, 1946. |
| Fritz Klein | November 24, 1888 | December 13, 1945 | From December 15, 1943, to January 1945, Klein worked atAuschwitz,Birkenau,Neuengamme, and finallyBergen-Belsen as a camp doctor. During his trial,Anita Lasker testified that Klein took part in selections for the gas chamber.[42] Klein was found guilty and was executed by hanging on December 13, 1945.[43] |
| Franz Lucas | September 15, 1911 | December 7, 1994 | Franz Lucas worked atTheresienstadt,Mauthausen,Stutthof, andRavensbrück from mid-December 1943 to late summer 1944. After fleeing west from theBattle of Berlin he was later arrested, andstood trial in Frankfurt. Lucas was found guilty of selecting at least one thousand people in at least four separate selections, and was sentenced on August 20, 1965, to a total of three years and three months imprisonment. After his release, Lucas worked in his private practice until his death on December 7, 1994. |
| Hans Münch | May 14, 1911 | January 27, 2001 | Hans was also known asThe Good Man of Auschwitz, and worked there as anSS physician from 1943 to 1945 inGerman occupied Poland. He was acquitted ofwar crimes at a 1947 trial inKraków. While Münch made several public remarks later in his life that appeared to supportNazi ideology, it was determined by courts that he was suffering fromAlzheimer's. He died in 2001 at the age of 90. |
| Ernst (Heinrich) Schmidt | March 27, 1912 | November 28, 2000 | Throughout the war, Schmidt was a camp physician atBuchenwald,Majdanek,Gross-Rosen,Dachau,Boelke Kaserne subcamp, andBergen-Belsen. After the war, Schmidt testified as a witness in theBelsen Trial on October 25, 1945. Although Schmidt himself was tried in 1947 and 1975 for complicity inwar crimes, he was twice acquitted. He later lived inUetze and died in 2000 inCelle. |
| Heinz Thilo | October 8, 1911 | May 13, 1945 | Thilo initially worked as agynaecologist for theLebensborn organization. He was later assigned to the Auschwitz concentration camp in July 1942, where he was one of the physicians commonly performing the "selections" for gassing.[44][45] Thilo also participated in the liquidation of theTheresienstadt family camp on July 10–11, 1944, and was transferred toGross-Rosen where he later served as camp physician until February 1945.[44] After being arrested post-war, Thilo committed suicide in prison.[46] |
| Adolf Winkelmann | March 26, 1887 | February 1, 1947 | Winkelmann worked as a medical officer inCzęstochowa until December 1, 1944, having reached a peak rank ofHauptsturmführer. After brief assignments at theGroß-Rosen andSachsenhausen concentration camps, he was later transferred to theRavensbrück concentration camp at the end of February 1945. After the war, Winkelmann was charged with war crimes but died of a heart attack on February 1, 1947, during trial proceedings. |
| Doctor | Birth | Death | Known for[n] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Otto Ambros | May 19, 1901 | July 23, 1990 | Chemist and slave labor |
| Hans Ehlich | July 1, 1901 | March 30, 1991 | RSHA physician |
| Willi Enke [de][47] | March 6, 1895 | December 24, 1974 | Pneumoencephalography |
| Carl (Karl) Krauch | April 7, 1887 | February 3, 1968 | Chemist and slave labor |
| Theodor (Gilbert) Morell | July 22, 1886 | May 26, 1948 | Adolf Hitler's physician |
| Walter (Paul Emil) Schreiber | March 21, 1893 | September 5, 1970 | Physician and witness |
| Erich Traub | June 27, 1906 | May 18, 1985 | Lab chief - bioweapons |
| Gerhard Wagner | August 18, 1888 | March 25, 1939 | Compulsory sterilization |
| Friedrich Wegener | April 7, 1907 | July 9, 1990 | Autopsies on Jewish concentration camp inmates |
While the following people were never members of theNazi Party, their names are included here as they are known to have contributed or are mentioned in a notable way.
| Doctor | Birth | Death | Short summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hans Asperger | February 18, 1906 | October 21, 1980 | Asperger's allegedNazi involvement has been hotly debated as his knowledge and involvement remains unknown. |
| Alfred Erich Hoche | August 1, 1865 | May 16, 1943 | While never a party member, Hoche is known for his writings abouteugenics andeuthanasia. |
| Yusuf (Bey Murad) Ibrahim | May 27, 1877 | February 3, 1953 | Ibrahim was associated withAction T4 to an unknown extent. He could not become a member of theNazi Party due to his half Arabic background |
| Adolf Pokorny | July 25, 1895 | Unknown | Pokorny's entry into the NSDAP in 1939 failed because of Lilly Pokorná's (his ex-wife) Jewish origins. |
| Gustav Wilhelm Schübbe | March 31, 1910 | April 12, 1976 | While Schübbe was a witness during theNuremberg trials, he also admitted to killing thousands of people. He was never a party member himself, and charges against him were later dropped. |
| Hubertus Strughold | June 15, 1898 | September 25, 1986 | While Strughold never joined the Nazi Party, his association permanently tarnished his legacy. |
| Marianne Türk [de] | May 31, 1914 | January 11, 2003 | Türk was involved with Child euthanasia. During her interrogation at the Vienna People's Court on October 16, 1945, the doctor stated that she was neither interested in politics nor belonged to a political organization. She was given a 10-year sentence for being dependent on her superior. |
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