Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: Nazi Euthanasia Program

  • Wilhelm Werner’s life unworthy of life: A voice from the Nazi Euthanasia Program

    Erika SilvestriBerlin, Germany The medical-scientific sector was among the first to adhere to National Socialism: in 1933, nine doctors sat in Parliament in the ranks of the party.1 After a century of scientific dynamism and in opposition to religious dogma, the eugenic ideal had spread throughout Europe and the United States, taking on the appearance…

  • The journey into the blue

    Annette TuffsHeidelberg, Germany “And when I came back – I did not return. You are never the same person you were, when you left.” Thus wrote Alfred Döblin (1878–1957) in 1946, in the newspaper Badische Zeitung in Freiburg,1 a few months after ending his forced absence of twelve years in France and California. The German…