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Psychiatry's role in the holocaust.
1Center for the Study of Psychiatry, Bethesda, MD, USA, and George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
The International Journal of Risk & Safety in Medicine
|March 21, 2013
Summary
Psychiatry in Nazi Germany led to the extermination of 100,000 mental patients through euthanasia and sterilization. This involvement, including training and technology, was crucial for the Holocaust, as noted at the Nuremberg trials.
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- History of Psychiatry
- Holocaust Studies
Background:
- Pre-Nazi Germany saw proposals for mental patient extermination.
- Organized psychiatry in Nazi Germany implemented eugenical sterilization and euthanasia.
Purpose of the Study:
- To summarize psychiatric participation in Holocaust events.
- To analyze psychiatric principles that enabled the Nazi extermination program.
Main Methods:
- Historical analysis of psychiatric involvement in Nazi Germany.
- Examination of psychiatric euthanasia centers and their role.
Main Results:
- Up to 100,000 German mental patients were killed via psychiatric euthanasia.
- Psychiatric facilities provided training, personnel, and technology for extermination camps.
- Nuremberg trial observers linked psychiatry to the Holocaust's occurrence.
Conclusions:
- Psychiatry played a foundational role in the Nazi extermination program.
- Underlying psychiatric principles facilitated and encouraged the Holocaust.
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