Science in Nazi Germany: between cheerful science and the birth of tragedy

A new book reviews the working methods of German scientists in various fields of the natural sciences, during the Nazi period and the nature of their voluntary cooperation.

From the site AZGAD.COM

"Look guys, if you're going to kill these people, at least take their brains out, so we can use this material for research." This excerpt from the testimony of Prof. Julius Hallerforden from the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Psychiatry and Brain Research near Munich, is included in the book "Deadly Science" written by the German scientist Beno Miller-Hill. The book, the Hebrew version of which was published by "Magnes" publishing house, translated by Daniel Nadav, deals with the methods of operation of German scientists in various fields of the natural sciences, during the Nazi period.

Prof. Hallerforden received his brains (which previously belonged to the mentally ill, Gypsies and Slavs who were killed by the Nazis in "euthanasia"). "They asked how many brains I could test," Prof. Hallerforden told the book's author, Miller-Hill. "I told them: the more brains I get, the better. I gave them preservation materials, jars, boxes, as well as instructions on how to remove and preserve the brains. And they did bring them to me in a transport truck, like they transport furniture."

Miller-Hill's book is full of evidence of this kind. They are documented in an exemplary order. Let it be clear who said what, when, where, to whom and more. without any blurring. In Germany they did not like this thoroughness. No one likes to be presented with the contradictions between what he said "then" and what he says today. Miller-Hill has a reputation for being a tireless, meticulous, no-nonsense whiner who airs the dirty laundry. Quite a few scientists refused to meet with him at all. Others spoke and then repented and sent him threatening letters signed by lawyers. Others died during the time that passed from the time he began his research until it first saw the light of day. Very few spoke up, expressed remorse and agreed to have their words published.

Miller-Hill does not focus on well-known figures there such as Heidegger or Max Planck, or Konrad Lorenz (although they are mentioned in the book). It documents the "routine" scientists, the backbone of German science, some of which continued to function for many years after the collapse of the German Reich and the end of World War II. One routine event for example: a scientist submits an application for a research grant in the field of genetics. The scientist is Prof. Ottmar von Warschauer, director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology. The research should focus on examining eye color. The application forms, in the required number of copies, are submitted to Prof. Ferdinand Sauerbuch, chief examiner for opinions in the medical field on behalf of the "German Science Community". The heart of the establishment and the German scientific consensus in those days. The answer is positive. The money is allocated. Part of the budget is intended, as usual in grants of this type, to finance the salary of an assistant professor. But, nowhere in this complex bureaucratic process, documented in the book, was the fact that the assistant in question is Dr. Josef Mengele, who works at the place called Auschwitz, and that he removes the eyes needed for research from the bodies of those murdered there, not even a single word mentioned.

The part of the scientists in establishing the Nazi regime was previously described in the book "Hitler's Professors", written by Max Weinreich, which was published in the first year after the end of the war. Friedrich Diernmott was required for the subject in his play "The Physicists" (1962). Additional studies that focused on the subject were published on various occasions (among others, on the 600th anniversary of the founding of the University of Heidelberg, which was celebrated in 1986. The University of Hamburg published in 1991 three volumes dedicated to "daily university life in the Third Reich." "Miller's book- Hill differs from all of these in that it is not a literary work, nor is it a group study. It is the work of one man, for which its author paid a rather high price. No scientific journal in Germany referred to it. No historian of science, in Germany, included it in any bibliographic list. The first review of it was printed in the English scientific journal "Nature." "In Germany," says the author, "all the professors already knew everything about this matter, and did not want to hear more about it."

The book describes - from a personal and unmediated point of view - the process of a row of dominoes collapsing, the kind of process where you can tell how they start, but you never know how they will end. Scientists tell about themselves, and their friends. Thus, for example, on August 26, 1935, the half-Jewish psychiatrist Dr. A. spoke at a scientific conference in Berlin. Kalman. This was the last time he was allowed to speak in front of German scientists. And on this occasion he said: "It is desirable to apply the prevention of natural reproduction also to the abnormal relatives of the schizophrenics, and above all, to define each of them as eugenically undesirable, already at the beginning of their fertile period (eugenics is the science of racial improvement). Dr. Kalman did not imagine that similar principles could come and be applied to him and his family members. He wanted to be "one of the guys". But this desire brought him, in the end, to a concentration camp.

The right to research and sort "less valuable" of various kinds, was a "pure property" that no German scientist was willing to give up. This is how it was finally decided to divide the "cake", when the anthropologists were tasked with sorting out the non-German worthless (Jews, Gypsies, Negroes, Slavs), while the psychiatrists "won" the German worthless (schizophrenics, bipolar disorder patients, idiots and psychopaths). The movement towards the "final solution" to the problem of all the less valuable, of the various types, proceeded slowly, step by step, and was not the property of individuals, but rather a broad stream of unanimity based on "scientific" findings.

Miller-Hill shows detailed statistics of the differentiation of population segments and euthanasia, while presenting economic calculations that show that the extermination institutions not only did not cost the German Reich money, but even made a profit, as a result of "advanced" management methods. But on the other hand, the systematic extermination eliminated the "clients", and the psychiatrists and anthropologists became redundant. These fields of study no longer attracted students. Professors became uniformed military advisers, and the others began to advocate healing methods instead of extermination. A kind of "second chance". If the patients - who were brutally treated with electric shocks - did not return to the beneficiary in time, they were indeed transferred to the euthanasia department. And in the meantime, use them as cheap labor.

The engineering and economic calculations of the construction of the crematoria, including the efforts on behalf of these or other engineers and contractors, are also described in the book, with characteristic dryness. On this and that day, a certain professor sent a letter to a certain commander, saying so and so. No grading, no interpretations. Net documentation. Also personal letters. For example, a letter sent by Dr. Friedrich Menke, who worked at the Eichberg extermination facility, to his wife: "My dear wife, a large delegation of ours (the euthanasia men) is now operating in the battle zones in the east, under the command of Mr. Braak. It has doctors, office auxiliaries and therapists from the Hadamar and Sonnenstein extermination institutions. In total, a commando of 20-30 people. It's completely confidential"…

How thin the line between the individual and the public was in those days, we can perhaps learn from the story of Prof. LP Klaus, who had a half-Jewish mistress, Mrs. A. Landa. When this fact became clear, the professor was invited to a partisan trial, where he said in his defense: "I was interested in Judaism like a doctor in a disease. Against the virus, I put an opposing virus, and only those who observe them closely can stand for the character of the Jews in their entirety. I cannot really live with Jews. Ghetto life I cannot share. I ask the party to allow me to continue employing Mrs. Landa. If I get rid of her, I'll need someone else in her place. It is not only my device, but also my favorite object." Prof. Klaus was expelled from the party, and Mrs. Landa was sent to a concentration camp.

Miller-Hill documents a world where, despite such broad consensus, everyone was everyone's enemy. Colleagues informed on colleagues, assistants on professors and professors on maintenance workers. The general feeling was that, despite his efforts to serve the government, anyone could lose the government's favor at any moment. Life on the edge of the razor. In some cases, the scientists avoided compromises accepted by the "political kosher inspectors". For example, Prof. Wolfgang Hubble was involved in giving racial opinions about various people who appeared before him. In one case, he refused to improve the opinion in exchange for a large bribe offered to him by the subject. A few hours later, Martin Bormann, director of the Nazi Party Bureau and Hitler's personal secretary, called him and scolded him: "Do you know who you sent to the street? You are one of our most prominent industrialists." Hubble replied that moderation and understanding are qualities of policy, but not of science.

The resulting picture, of a herd of disaffected people who wanted to please their rulers at all costs, and by the way they were even more extreme than the rulers, is further sharpened by reading a quote that Bormann wrote down from Hitler's mouth, shortly before his death: "The Jewish race is, first of all, a spiritual community . Precisely this hallmark must serve as an unfortunate proof of the supremacy of the spirit over the flesh."

"Auschwitz was the great temple of the Nazi scientists," says Miller-Hill. And they applied it to what they called ruthless scientific objectivity. They would sterilize Beethoven due to his deafness. They would send Hellerlin and Nietzsche to the gas chambers, due to schizophrenia and paralysis."

To the question of whether National Socialism can come back and take over Germany, he answers with the following quote: "How long will this extermination last?", Mengele's assistant asked the doctor with two doctorates. "My friend," replied Mangala, "it will last forever, forever."

Regarding the feeling of "the other Germany" he says that it stems from the feeling of shock and paralysis that gripped German scientists in the face of the fall of the "thousand-year Reich". But now, when the veterans are leaving the scientific system, German tolerance is coming to an end.

On the same topic on the science website:

• A researcher from the University of Haifa: Many of the Nazi doctors believed that they were doing the right thing
• Elie Wiesel: Scientists must not cooperate with dangerous regimes