List of Nazi doctors

The following is a list of notable medical doctors 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 (1947). 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 (PhDs) 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

Human experimentation

Others

Academics

Camp doctors

Miscellaneous

Non Nazis

While the following people were never members of the Nazi Party, their names are included here as they are known to have contributed or are mentioned in a notable way.