Tag: Nazi
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Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld and the Berlin Institute for Sexual Science, 1919–1933
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “Per scientiam ad justitiam” (Justice through science)– Motto engraved over the entrance to the Institute for Sexual Sciences Paragraph 175 (§175) of the German Penal Code, adopted in 1871, criminalized male homosexual activity, making it punishable by imprisonment and loss of civil rights. In addition, the enormous social stigma attached to being…
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A tale of two physicians and Albert Göring
Avi OhryTel Aviv, Israel Hermann Epenstein Ritter von Mauternburg (1850–1934) was a physician and merchant who played a significant role in the lives of anti-Nazi activist Albert Göring and his family. He was their family doctor, a close friend, and godfather to Albert and his older brother, Hermann. The brothers spent many holidays with him…
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Dictator on the couch: The only known psychological treatment of Adolf Hitler
Robert M. KaplanAustralia It is perhaps not widely known that Adolf Hitler, one of the most fanatical and murderous personalities in history, underwent psychological treatment early in his political career. It happened in November 1924. He was at the time a right-wing activist and rabble-rouser arrested after mounting a coup against the Bavarian government, the…
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Fascist Italy: The Battle for Births
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “It’s up to you to create a generation of soldiers and pioneers for the defense of the empire.”– Benito Mussolini, to the women of Italy1 “Women are a charming pastime…but they should never be taken seriously, for they themselves are rarely serious.”– Benito Mussolini2 Nazi Germany, Francoist Spain, and fascist Italy needed…
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Movie review: Pressure Point—Treating the hateful patient
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden “You sing ‘My country ’tis of thee’ while they walk all over you.”—The patient, Pressure Point Pressure Point (1962) is a “doctor movie” that is “all but unknown to the general public.”1 This is unfortunate, since it contains important messages as well as some splendid acting. The story is told as a…
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A drawing created during World War I
Tilman SauerbruchBonn, Germany A photograph of a drawing by Max Beckmann (1884-1950) of the surgeon Ferdinand Sauerbruch (1875-1951) has been hanging in my room since my student days (Fig. 1). At the top right there is a note: “To Prof. Sauerbruch in memory of the May 1915 M. Beckmann.” Beckmann was thirty-one years old at…
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Creating a race of orphans: Lebensborn, the “spring of life”
Howard FischerUppsala, Sweden Nazi Germany was a racial state. People of “pure” Aryan or Nordic heritage were believed to have superior physical, intellectual, and moral qualities. People from other ethnic or racial groups were undesirable, and a potential source of “pollution” in an Aryan nation. One of the Reich’s main functions was to eliminate racial…
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Risking it all to save strangers—Remembering Gisella Perl
Jacquline MusgravePeoria, Arizona, United States Her hands were cracked and covered in mud and dirt as she delivered the baby, broke its little neck, closed its eyes, and buried it in a hole outside. No one would know about this baby, or the others who would meet the same fate. She did it to save…