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Dissecting the History of Anatomy in the Third Reich—1989–2010: a Personal Account

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Dissecting the History of Anatomy in the Third Reich—1989–2010: a Personal Account This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Annals of Anatomy 194 (2012) 228–236 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Annals of Anatomy journa l homepage: www.elsevier.de/aanat Dissecting the history of anatomy in the Third Reich—1989–2010: A personal account a,b,∗ William E. Seidelman a Department of Family and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada b Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel a r t i c l e i n f o s u m m a r y Article history: This paper is a personal narrative of involvement with the revelations of the use of anatomical and Received 6 July 2011 pathological specimens of victims of Nazi terror. The narrative documents responses to the question of Received in revised form the retention and use of anatomical and pathological specimens from victims of Nazi terror by leading 30 November 2011 academic and scientific institutions and organizations in Germany and Austria including the government Accepted 30 November 2011 of the Federal Republic of (West) Germany, the University of Tübingen, the University of Vienna, the Max Planck Society and the Anatomische Gesellschaft. It begins with the public revelations of 1989 and concludes with the September 2010 Symposium on the History of Anatomy during the Third Reich at the Keywords: History University of Würzburg. The narrative documents a 22-year transition in attitude and responses to the Third-Reich investigation and documentation of the history of anatomy and pathology during the Third Reich. The Euthanasia chronicle includes the 1989 proposed “Call for an International Commemoration” by the author, together Pernkopf with the bioethicist Professor Arthur Caplan, on the occasion of the planned burial of the misbegotten Anatomy specimens and the responses to that proposal. Universities © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Kaiser-Wilhelm/Max Planck Society 1. Revelations: 1989 the Institute of Anatomy including the specifics of the preparation made from that person’s remains (Universität Tübingen, 1990). In 1989 it was revealed that academic and scientific institutions The idea and the reality of the Tübingen inquiry was met with in the Federal Republic of (West) Germany had in their collections hesitation and resistance within the university and the staff of human specimens from the Hitler period which had been derived the anatomical institute (Arnold, 1989). Undergraduate medical from victims of Nazi terror. The specific organizations involved students at Tübingen played an important part in bringing the were the Institute of Anatomy of the University of Tübingen and investigation to fruition. A vital role was played by the late Pro- the Max Planck Society Institute of Brain Research in Frankfurt fessor Jürgen Peiffer in his capacity as guide and advocate for the (Dickman, 1989; Walsh, 1989). students. Professor Peiffer was an eminent neuropathologist and In response to these revelations the Senate of the University one time director of neuropathology at the University of Tübingen. of Tübingen authorized an investigative commission chaired by a Peiffer had studied with Professor Julius Hallervorden and subse- noted legal scholar and included as members an historian, members quently documented the role played by Hallervorden and other of the faculty, a member of the Jewish community and a student neuropathologists in exploiting the killing of psychiatric and handi- representative. The official report of the Tübingen commission doc- capped patients during the Hitler period (Peiffer, 1991, 1999, 2006). umented the fact that cadavers of hundreds of persons executed by The specimens at the Max Planck Society Institute for Brain the Gestapo in Stuttgart were delivered to the Institute of Anatomy. Research were part of what was probably the world’s largest The majority of the subjects were Polish and Russian prisoners and foremost neuropathological collection. They consisted of brain enslaved in communities in the region and executed by Gestapo tissue derived from victims of the Nazi ‘euthanasia’ killing opera- guillotine for various purported “crimes”. The identity of each of the tions including ‘euthanasia’ of children in special institutions and subjects and the cause of death was documented in the records of the Aktion T-4 ‘euthanasia’ killing of adult patients in psychiatric hospitals. Specimens were sent from institutions and individuals throughout the country possibly including the brains of victims of low pressure research conducted at Dachau on behalf of the SS and ∗ the Luftwaffe (Schmuhl, 2009). Brains of child ‘euthanasia’ victims Correspondence address: 7 Yaacov Cohen, Apt. 20, Beer-Sheva 84374, Israel. were also collected by the Kaiser-Wilhelm Institute of Psychiatry Tel.: +972 77 329 4754; fax: +972 77 329 4754. E-mail address: [email protected] in Munich (Peiffer, 2000). 0940-9602/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aanat.2011.11.013 Author's personal copy W.E. Seidelman / Annals of Anatomy 194 (2012) 228–236 229 According to Schmuhl, based on a hypothesis of Peiffer, most of bequests from the expatriate American Jewish philanthropist, the brain specimens came from informal networks comprising T-4 James Loeb (Macrakis, 1989; Chernow, 1993). The KWIP during the doctors involved in the actual killings, and physicians from institu- Hitler period was led by Professor Ernst Rüdin, a leading architect tions in the KWIBR network who had authorized autopsies in the and proponent of the Nazi eugenics policies and programs. Peiffer killing institutions (Schmuhl, 2009). has determined that 192 brain specimens from child victims were sent to the Munich psychiatric institute from Eglfing-Haar (144), 2. ‘Euthanasia’ killing and the collection of brain specimens Kaufbeuren (23), and Ansbach (22) (Peiffer, 2000). The best known of the various ‘euthanasia’ programs is the 3. Postwar evidence T-4 ‘euthanasia’ action which was a highly organized national program of medicalized killing of adult psychiatric patients. The The critical revelations on neuropathology and the role of administrative headquarters were situated in a large residence the KWIBR, Prof. Hallervorden in particular, were made by the in Berlin at #4 Tiergartenstrasse. Thus the code-name Aktion T- Austrian-born, Boston neurologist, Dr. Leo Alexander, in his capac- 4. Under T-4, six killing centers were established for different ity as a consultant to the Secretary of War of the United States. As regions encompassing Germany and Austria. T-4 killing centers part of his investigations into criminal activities of German physi- were characterized by a gas-chamber disguised as a shower room cians, Alexander paid a surprise visit to Julius Hallervorden. The and a cremation oven (usually but not always on site). Gas meeting took place on June 14 and 15, 1945 in Hallervorden’s tem- chambers were constructed within hospital killing centers (e.g. porary quarters in Dillenburg in Western Germany. It followed an Hadamar) or as a separate structure on the grounds of the des- earlier trip to the Hadamar T-4 killing site which was nearby. The ignated killing institution (e.g. Grafeneck). A transportation arm details of the Alexander-Hallervorden encounter are contained in was instituted by the T-4 administration with a fleet of special a report by Alexander (Alexander, 1945). buses for the delivery of patients from psychiatric institutes to In his report Alexander noted that as a consequence of the bomb- a regional killing facility (Friedlander, 1995). Brains of the vic- ing of Berlin and the impending collapse of the Nazi state, most of tims were collected on site at the T-4 killing centers and sent to the KWIBR was dispersed from Berlin-Buch to three sites: a neuropathology laboratory, usually the KWIBR. The major T-4 killing and collecting location was in Brandenburg. The large psy- 1. Munich: The Section of Anatomy and General Pathology headed chiatric hospital known as Brandenburg-Görden included a ‘special by Prof. Spatz was relocated to the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt section’ for children as well as a neuropathological laboratory. für Psychiatry (KWIP). Adult patients from Brandenburg-Görden were murdered in the 2. Dillenburg: The Section for Special Pathology headed by Prof. gas chamber on the grounds of the Brandenburg prison located Hallervorden was transferred to the Schloss Hotel in Dillenburg in the city of Brandenburg. Children from the “special” facility of in western Germany. the Brandenburg-Görden institution were killed in the hospital 3. Göttingen: The Section for Neurophysiology and Electroen- by means of starvation and poisoning with medication or in the cophalography headed by Dr. A.E. Kornmueller was moved to T-4 gas chamber in Brandenburg (Peiffer, 1999, 2000; Schmuhl, a new Institute
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