Nurses and Midwives in Nazi Germany This book is about the ethics of nursing and midwifery, and how these were abrogated during the Nazi era. Nurses and midwives actively killed their patients, many of whom were disabled children and infants and patients with mental (and other) illnesses or intellectual disabilities. The book gives the facts as well as theoretical perspectives as a lens through which these crimes can be viewed. It also provides a way to teach this history to nursing and midwifery students, and, for the first time, explains the role of one of the world's most historically prominent midwifery leaders in the Nazi crimes. Susan Benedict is Professor of Nursing, Director of Global Health, and Co­ Director of the Campus-Wide Ethics Program at the University of Texas Health Science Center School of Nursing in Houston. Linda Shields is Professor of Nursing-Tropical Health at James Cook Uni­ versity, Townsville, Queensland, and Honorary Professor, School of Medi­ cine, The University of Queensland. Routledge Studies in Modern European History 1 Facing Fascism 9 The Russian Revolution of 1905 The Conservative Party and the Centenary Perspectives European dictators 1935-1940 Edited by Anthony Heywood and Nick Crowson Jonathan D. Smele 2 French Foreign and Defence 10 Weimar Cities Policy, 1918-1940 The Challenge of Urban The Decline and Fall of a Great Modernity in Germany Power John Bingham Edited by Robert Boyce 11 The Nazi Party and the German 3 Britain and the Problem of Foreign Office International Disarmament Hans-AdolfJaco bsen and Arthur 1919-1934 L. Smith, Jr. Carolyn Kitching 12 The Politics of Culture in 4 British Foreign Policy 1874-1914 Liberal Italy The Role of India From Unification to Fascism Sneh Mahajan Axel Korner 5 Racial Theories in Fascist Italy 13 German Colonialism, Visual Aaron Gilette Culture and Modern Memory Edited by Volker M Langbehn 6 Stormtroopers and Crisis in the Nazi Movement 14 German Colonialism and Activism, Ideology and National Identity Dissolution Edited by Michael Perraudin and Thomas D. Grant Jiirgen Zimmerer 7 Tr ials of Irish History 15 Landscapes of the Western Genesis and Evolution of a Front Reappraisal 1938-2000 Materiality during the Great War Evi Gkotzaridis Ross J. Wilson 8 From Slave Trade to Empire 16 West Germans and the Nazi European Colonisation of Black Legacy Africa l780s-1880s Caroline Sharples Edited by Olivier Petre­ Grenouilleau 17 Alan S. Milward and a Century of European Change Edited by Fernando Guirao, Frances M B. Lynch, and Sigfrido M Ramirez Perez 18 War, Agriculture, and Food Rural Europe from the 1930s to the 1950s Edited by Paul Brassley, Yves Segers and Leen Van Molle 19 Totalitarian Dictatorship New Histories Edited by Daniela Baratieri, Mark Edele and Giuseppe Finaldi 20 Nurses and Midwives in Nazi Germany The "Euthanasia Programs" Edited by Susan Benedict and Linda Shields Nurses and Midwives in Nazi Germany The "Euthanasia Programs" Edited by Susan Benedict and Linda Shields i� ��o�!!:n�5��UP NEW YORK LONDON First published 2014 by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 and by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2014 Taylor & Francis The right of Susan Benedict and Linda Shields to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Some portions of Chapter 6 written by Susan Benedict appear with the permission of its copyright owner, Center for Medicine after the Holocaust. © 20 I I Center for Medicine after the Holocaust. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Libraryof Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Nurses and midwives in Nazi Germany: the "euthanasia programs" ! edited by Susan Benedict and Linda Shields. pages cm - (Routledge studies in modem European history) Includes bibliographical references and index. I. Midwifery-Moral and ethical aspects-Germany-History-20th century. 2. Nursing-Moral and ethical aspects-Germany-History- 20th century. 3. Euthanasia-Germany-History-20th century. 4. Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) 5. National socialism and medicine. 6. Germany-Politics and govemment-I 933-1 945. 7. World War, 1939-1945-Atrocities. r. Benedict, Susan, 1943- II. Shields, Linda, 1950- RG516.N87 2014 179.7---dc23 2013031340 ISBN 13: 978-0-415-89665-8 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-1-315-83261-6 (ebk) Typeset in Sabon by IBT Global. � SourC ng SUSTAINABLE Certified i FORESTRY www.siiprogram.org Printed and bound in the United States of America INITIATIVE SFI.01234 by IBT Global. SFllabel applies to the text stock This book is dedicated to Traute Lafrenz Page, MD. Since 1997, Dr. Page has accompanied me to many archives in Europe and Israel to obtain docu­ ments for this book. She has translated literally thousands of pages from German to English, carefully writing each translation by hand. Without her, this book would not exist. But perhaps even more importantly, Dr. Page has helped me understand this period of time in German history. As a young medical student at the University of Munich in 1941, she was a member of the anti-Nazi resistance group known as the White Rose. Dr. Page never mentioned this to me for the firstfew years that I knew her. It was only quite by accident that I found this out and asked her about the group. Always modest about her own activities, she still inspires. I admire her intellect, her joy in life, her courage, and her sense of what is right. I admire her as a role model for successful aging. At ninety-three, she still travels to Europe, gives presentations, and meets with people who come from around the world to learn from her. Traute is my most admired person, and I thank her for all of her help throughout the years. Susan Benedict We dedicate this book to Hilde Steppe, whose work first brought to light the crimes and circumstances of nurses and midwives under the Nazis. At the time she wrote, in Germany, it must have taken a high degree of cour­ age to do so. Sadly, Hilde Steppe died in 1999. Importantly, we dedicate this book to those victims-infants, children, and people with mental illnesses, disabilities, and physical illnesses who died by the actions of nurses and midwives during the Nazi era. By invok­ ing their memory, we hope this book will help prevent such actions from occurring again. Linda Shields and Susan Benedict Contents List of Figures Xl List of Tables Xlil Acknowledgments xv 1 Setting the Scene 1 LINDA SHIELDS AND THOMAS FOTH 2 Fertile Ground for Murder 13 SUSAN BENEDICT 3 Nursing during National Socialism 27 THOMAS FOTH, JOCHEN KUHLA, AND SUSAN BENEDICT 4 Psychiatric Nursing during the Era of National Socialism 48 SUSAN BENEDICT, MARY LAGERWEY, AND LINDA SHIELDS 5 The Medicalization of Murder: The "Euthanasia" Programs 71 SUSAN BENEDICT 6 Meseritz-Obrawalde: A Site for "Wild Euthanasia" 105 SUSAN BENEDICT 7 Klagenfurt: "She Killed As Part of Her Daily Duties" 140 SUSAN BENEDICT 8 German Midwifery in the "Third Reich" 164 WIEBKE LISNER AND ANJA K. PETERS x Contents 9 From History to Memory: Using the "Euthanasia" Programs to Teach Nursing Ethics 198 ELLEN BEN-SEFER AND DGANIT SHARON 10 Changing Perspectives: From "Euthanasia Killings" to the "Killing of Sick Persons" 218 THOMAS FOTH 11 Conclusion 243 LINDA SHIELD S AND SUSAN BENEDICT Glossary 249 Contributors 253 Index 259 Figures 4.1 Regulations for acceptance, training, and examination of nursing staff for the mental institutions in the area of Nassau. 53 4.2 Questionnaire to assess training of nursing staffin all psychiatric hospitals. 57 4. 3 Curriculum of nursing course, Eichberg, 1939. 59 5.1 Meldebogen I. 88 Tables 5.1 Nurses and Caregivers Who Worked in Aktion Reinhard Camps: Male Nurses and Caregivers from T4 9 101 9.1 Survey of Israeli Undergraduate Student Responses to the Class (77 students) 208 9.2 Survey of Australian Undergraduate Student Responses to the Class (168 students) 208 Acknowledgments This work is ongoing, and has been supported over several years by fund­ ing bodies, and by people who have given their expertise, time, help, and emotional commitment very generously. We list them here. In the US: Dr. Traute Lafrenz Page, MD, and Ms. Anette Hebebrand-Verner for trans­ lations from German to English. Dr. Arthur Caplan, PhD, for his mentorship during this project. Dr. Sheldon Rubenfeld, MD, for his support and enthusiasm. Dr. Michael Grodin, MD, for his support and assistance with document procurement. Ms. Dixie Paulson for help with editing. Funding for some of these studies was obtained from the following: 1. US Holocaust Memorial Museum Merck Fellowship in Medical Eth­ ics and the Holocaust (Benedict) 2. US National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine (lROILM06653-01Al, Benedict) 3. The Greenwall Foundation (Benedict) 4. US National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research (lKOINR008505-01A2, Benedict) 5. Robert Bosch Stiftung (Foth) 6. AMS Nursing History Research Unit (Foth) In the United Kingdom: XVI Acknowledgments Professor Paul Weindling, Wellcome Trust Research Professor in the His­ tory of Medicine, Oxford Brookes University, is an eminent Holocaust scholar. Professor Weindling helped us get this book off the ground, and provided much ongoing support.