List of Nazi doctors


The following is a list of notable physicians in Nazi Germany. This list is primarily split up into those who performed euthanasia through the Aktion T4 campaign, to those who primarily performed experiments on Holocaust victims. While a majority consists of members of the Nazi Party, others who could not become members contributed in notable ways. After the war, the German Medical Association blamed Nazi atrocities on a small group of 350 criminal doctors. During the Doctors' trial, the defense argued that there was no international law to distinguish between legal and illegal human experimentation, which led to the creation of the Nuremberg Code. Some doctors attempted to change names to escape capture and trial, such as Werner Heyde and Robert Ley, Other doctors, such as Walter Schreiber, were covertly moved to the United States during "Operation Paperclip" in 1951.
  • Note: ''Some of those listed here were acquitted of the more serious charges, but were still found guilty for other crimes.''

    Background

When the Nazi government came to power, they purged Germany of its 6,000 to 7,000 Jewish doctors. Non-Jewish physicians were early recruits to the Nazi Party, due both to social and economic circumstances and to widespread eugenic and Social Darwinist ideas in early-20th-century medicine. By 1942, more than half of all German physicians had become Nazi Party members. In comparison, only about 10% of the general population became Nazi Party members by 1945. In addition, over 7% of German doctors became members of the Nazi SS, compared to less than 1% of the general population. While most of these doctors were physicians, some held doctorates in biology, anthropology, or related fields. Doctors who were working for the state, and not for their patients, using a Mendelian type of logic chart, saw extermination of their patients as the correct solution to the problem of mental illness and the genetically defective. "The participation in the ‘betrayal of Hippocrates’ 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. Killing and experimentation became medical procedures as they were performed by licensed doctors. A doctor was present at all the mass killings for legal reasons.

Euthanasia

DoctorBirthDeathPosition
Hans AspergerGutachter
Erich BauerT4-personnel
T4-Gutachter
August BeckerT4-Chemist
T4-Gutachter
T4-Gassing doctor
T4-Gutachter
T4-Gassing doctor
Viktor BrackT4-Organizer
T4-Gassing doctor
Werner CatelT4-Gutachter
T4-Organizer
Max de CrinisT4-Gutachter
Irmfried EberlT4-Director
T4-personnel
T4-Gutachter
T4-Gassing doctor
T4-Gassing doctor
Ernst-Robert GrawitzT4-personnel
Heinrich GrossT4-personnel
T4-Gutachter
Hans HeinzeT4-Gutachter
T4-personnel
Werner Heyde T4-Obergutachter
Ernst IllingT4-Child euthanasia
T4-Gutachter
T4-Director
T4-Obergutachter
T4-Gutachter
Friedrich MauzT4-Gutachter
T4-Gutachter
Paul NitscheT4-Obergutachter
Friedrich PanseT4-Gutachter
T4-Gutachter
T4-Gutachter
T4-Gutachter
Carl-Heinz RodenbergT4-Gutachter
T4-Gutachter
Carl SchneiderT4-Gutachter
T4-personnel
Werner VillingerT4-Gutachter
T4-Chief doctor
Erich WasickyT4-Gassing doctor
T4-Gutachter
Albert WidmannT4-personnel
T4-Gutachter
Euthanasia
Euthanasia

Human experimentation

DoctorBirthDeathTypeSentenceReference
Karl BaborInjectionsNone
Heinz Baumkötter25 years
Hermann Becker-FreysengHigh-altitude experiments20 years
Wilhelm BeiglböckSea water experiments15 years
Otto BickenbachPoison gas experimentsLife
Kurt BlomeMultipleAcquitted
Karl BrandtInjectionsExecuted
Carl ClaubergSterilization experiments25 years
Leonardo ContiNone
Hans DelmotteInjectionsNone
Erwin Ding-SchulerInjectionsNone
Hans EiseleSurgical experimentsDeath
Friedrich EntressInjectionsExecuted
Hans EppingerSea water experimentsNone
Fritz FischerSurgical experimentsLife
Karl GebhardtInjections & surgical ex.Executed
Karl GenzkenInjectionsLife
None directly-
Injections20 years
Julius HallervordenPost-mortem brain research-
Siegfried HandloserNone directly-
Aribert HeimInjectionsEscaped-
Kurt Heissmeyer-----
InjectionsExecuted
Erich HippkeNone directly-
Ernst HolzlöhnerFreezing experimentsNone
Waldemar HovenInjectionsExecuted
Emil KaschubInjectionsNone
Hans Wilhelm KönigInjectionsEscaped
Eduard KrebsbachInjectionsExecuted
Johann KremerStarvation experimentsDeath
Josef MengeleMultipleEscaped
Joachim MrugowskyInjectionsExecuted
Heinrich MückterEscaped
Herta OberheuserSulfonamide experiments20 years
Helmut PoppendickNone directly10 years
Sigmund RascherMultipleNone
Hans ReiterNone directlyMinimal
-
High-altitude experimentsAcquitted
Gerhard RoseInjectionsLife
Injections & surgical ex.Executed
Paul RostockNone directlyAcquitted
Poison gas experimentsDeath
Siegfried RuffHigh-altitude experimentsAcquitted
Konrad SchäferAcquitted
Injections & surgical ex.Executed
Klaus SchillingMalaria experimentsExecuted
Sea water experimentsLife
Horst SchumannX-ray sterilization ex.-
Biochemical experiments10 years
Walter SonntagInjectionsExecuted
None
Alfred TrzebinskiInjectionsExecuted
Carl VærnetInjectionsEscaped
Helmuth VetterInjectionsExecuted
Bruno WeberInjections-
High-altitude experimentsAcquitted
None directlyDeath
Eduard WirthsNone directlyNone