Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer | |
|---|---|
 Otmar von Verschuer (rear) supervises the measurement of two men's heads as part of ananthropometric study ofheredity. | |
| Born | (1896-07-16)16 July 1896 |
| Died | 8 August 1969(1969-08-08) (aged 73) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Human biology,human genetics |
| Institutions | Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics,University of Münster |
OtmarFreiherr von Verschuer (Dutch:[veɐˈʃyə]; 16 July 1896 – 8 August 1969) was a German-Dutch humanbiologist andgeneticist, who was the Professor of Human Genetics at theUniversity of Münster until he retired in 1965. A member of theDutch nobleVerschuer family, his title Freiherr is often translated asbaron.
He was regarded as a pioneer in thetwin methodology of genetics research and in the study of theinheritance of diseases and anomalies.[1] ANazi-affiliatedeugenicist with an interest inracial hygiene, he was an advocate ofcompulsory sterilization programs in the first half of the 20th century.[2][3] Among his many students wasJosef Mengele, awar criminal who directed medical experiments atAuschwitz.[4]
He successfully redefined himself as a geneticist in the postwar era. During the 1950s and 1960s, he was known for research on the effects ofnuclear radiation on humans and for his warnings against the possibility of creating "scientifically improved" human beings offered by genetic science.
Verschuer was the director of the Institute for Genetic Biology and Racial Hygiene from 1935 to 1942 and director of theKaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics (KWI-A) from 1942 to 1948. From 1951 to 1965, he was Professor of Human Genetics at theUniversity of Münster, where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine. At Münster, he established one of the largest centers of genetics research inWest Germany, and remained one of the world's most prominent genetics researchers until his death. He became Professor Emeritus in 1965; he received numerous memberships in learned societies. In 1952 he was elected President of theGerman Anthropological Association. His sonHelmut von Verschuer was a high-ranking official of theEuropean Commission.
Otmar vonVerschuer was born into anoble family. From birth he held the title ofFreiherr (baron), a title that had been granted to several family branches by theHoly Roman Emperor, theDutch king, and theelector of Hesse. He was mainly of Dutch, German, Estonian/Baltic German, and Swedish descent, and had distant Scottish ancestry. His father Hans von Verschuer was a businessman who owned a mining company, while his mother Charlotte née von Arnold was originally fromEstonia; her family was ennobled in Russia in the mid-19th century and was partially resident in Sweden. He was a descendant of theHouse of Stuart through his 6th great grandmother Brita Stuart, a Swedish noblewoman of Scottish royal descent.[5]
Otmar von Verschuer was the father ofHelmut Freiherr von Verschuer (also known as Helmut van Verschuer), a high-ranking official of theEuropean Commission, and the grandfather of the Belgian-German actor,Leopold Freiherr von Verschuer (born 1961 in Brussels).[6]
Verschuer served in theFirst World War and had been promoted tofirst lieutenant by 1918. From 1919, he studied medicine at theUniversity of Marburg. He earned a doctorate in medicine at theUniversity of Munich in 1923 and ahabilitation at theUniversity of Tübingen in 1927. In 1927, he became head of department for human genetics at theKaiser Wilhelm Institute of Anthropology, Human Heredity, and Eugenics. He left that post in 1935 to join the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene inFrankfurt.[7]
In 1935, Verschuer became a member of the congregation of the anti-Nazi pastor Otto Fricke, a leading member of theConfessing Church. He also maintained a close friendship with his relative,Adam von Trott zu Solz, a leading resistance figure. He joined theNazi Party in 1940, although he was not actively involved with politics. He admired Adolf Hitler, especially Hitler's views on racial hygiene and biological heredity.[8]
In the late stages of the Second World War, Verschuer directly or indirectly started to use research material obtained in theAuschwitz concentration camp, mainly through his former studentJosef Mengele, who served there as a camp physician.[9][10]
Verschuer was never tried for crimes against humanity despite many indications that not only was he fully cognisant of Mengele's work at Auschwitz, but even encouraged and collaborated with Mengele. In a report to the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG) from 1944, Verschuer talked about Mengele's assistance in supplying the KWI-A with some "scientific materials" from Auschwitz:
My assistant, Dr. Mengele (M.D., Ph.D.) has joined me in this branch of research. He is presently employed as Hauptsturmführer and camp physician in the concentration camp at Auschwitz. Anthropological investigations on the most diverse racial groups of this concentration camp are being carried out with permission of the SS Reichsführer [Himmler]; the blood samples are being sent to my laboratory for analysis.
Verschuer wrote in the report that the war conditions had made it difficult for the KWI-A to procure "twin materials" for study, and that Mengele's unique position at Auschwitz offered a special opportunity in this respect. In the summer of 1944, Mengele and his Jewish slave assistant Dr.Miklós Nyiszli sent other "scientific materials" to the KWI-A, including the bodies of murderedRoma, internal organs of dead children, skeletons of two murdered Jews, and blood samples of twins infected by Mengele with typhus.
He was accepted during the war as a member of theAmerican Eugenics Society, a position he kept until his death.
As the war was drawing to a close in 1945, Verschuer moved the files of the KWI-A into the Western part of Germany, hoping for a more favorable response from the advancing Allied armies than from the advancing Soviet Army. In late 1945 or early 1946, he petitioned the mayor of Frankfurt to allow him to reestablish the KWI-A. However, the commission in charge of rebuilding the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft decreed that "Verschuer should be considered not as a collaborator, but one of the most dangerous Nazi activists of the Third Reich." The KWI-A was not reestablished.
In 1951, Verschuer was awarded the prestigious professorship of human genetics at theUniversity of Münster, where he established one of the largest centers ofgenetics research inWest Germany. Like many "racial hygienists" of the Nazi period, and many Americaneugenicists, Verschuer was successful in redefining himself as a genetics researcher after the war, and avoided the taint of his work with Nazi eugenics. Many of his wartime students were similarly appointed to top positions in universities ofErlangen, Frankfurt,Düsseldorf, andMünster.
In hisdenazification hearing, Verschuer was deemed to be a Nazi fellow traveler (Mitläufer, a relatively mild categorization meaning someone who was neither a supporter or member of the regime nor an active opponent), and fined 600 ℛ︁ℳ︁. He was never prosecuted for his research activities during the war.Leo Alexander who investigated the case concluded that no solid evidence could be found, and considered it likely that Verschuer had destroyed any possibly incriminating material.
During the 1950s and 1960s, Verschuer led major research projects on the effects ofnuclear radiation on humans. Deeply religious, he also concerned himself with questions ofChristian ethics, and argued that eugenics must be based on human dignity and love for mankind; according to historian Sheila F. Weiss he "turned his back on" Nazi beliefs. In the 1960s he warned against human geneticists trying to create "scientifically improved" human beings.[11] But he was among the founders ofThe Mankind Quarterly, a journal promoting scientific racism.
Verschuer died in a car accident in 1969.
Regarding personal names:Freiherr is a former title (translated as'Baron'). In Germany since 1919, it forms part of family names. The feminine forms areFreifrau andFreiin.
