There have been many books about the doctors of the Third Reich and their atrocities. Most of these books neglect the contribution of women in the medical profession. In this book, they are the focus of attention.

The first section of the book explains the background of the Third Reich in general and medicine during this period in particular. It addresses the situation of female doctors and why there were relatively few of them.

It goes on to detail the forms of transgression that occurred under Nazi rule-involuntary sterilization, euthanasia, and mass murder of Jews and other groups considered undesirable.

The second part of the book is a collection of 38 alphabetically arranged biographies of individual female doctors who participated in these activities. It reports on the actions they took and what happened to them after the war.

The final chapter draws some conclusions, which can be briefly summarized as follows: 1) the female doctors' role remains under-researched, 2) generally speaking, female doctors were also guilty, but their transgressions generally less gruesome than those of their male colleagues, 3) many of the deeds of female doctors are nevertheless shocking.

About the Author

Edzard Ernst was born in Wiesbaden in 1948. He went to school in Germany and the USA and studied psychology and medicine at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. In 1977 he was licensed as a doctor in Munich, where he also completed his doctoral thesis. He was a professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) at the Hannover Medical School and a full professor of PMR at the University of Vienna. In 1993 he went to the University of Exeter to establish the world's first chair in complementary medicine. Since 2012 he has been Emeritus Professor and now lives in Cambridge, UK, as well as in Brittany, France. Professor Ernst is/was the founder and editor-in-chief of three medical journals. He was/is a columnist for numerous publications (BMJ, GP, MMW, PJ, The Guardian, The Independent, Die Welt, L'Express, The Spectator, Audience, Skeptic Magazine, etc.). His work has been awarded 17 scientific prizes (most recently the John Maddox Prize in 2015 and the Ockham Award in 2017) andhe has received visiting professorships in Canada and the USA. Besides alternative medicine, his field of research is medicine under National Socialism, e.g.:* Dr Reiter: the "Third" and "Fourth" Reich - PubMed (nih.gov)* Killing in the name of healing: the active role of the German medical profession during the Third Reich -PubMed (nih.gov)* 50 years ago: the Nuremberg Doctors' Tribunal. Part 1: The descent towards medicalised murder - PubMed(nih.gov)* 50 years ago: the Nuremberg doctors' tribunal. Part 2: Medical resistance during the Third Reich - PubMed(nih.gov) * 50 years ago: the Nuremberg Doctors' Tribunal. Part 3: The failure of coming to terms with the past -PubMed (nih.gov)* 50 years ago: the Nuremberg Doctors' Tribunal. Part 4: Nazi medicine's relevance today - PubMed(nih.gov)* A leading medical school seriously damaged: Vienna 1938 - PubMed (nih.gov)Ernst has published >1000 Medline-listed papers (current H-index=143), >50 books translated into over a dozen languages, >100 book chapters, and a blog (edzardernst.com). He has given more than 700 invited talks worldwide and supervised more than 50 PhD theses and dissertations. He was/is also an expert witness in numerous legal disputes.

Book Information
ISBN 9783031739279
Author Edzard Ernst
Format Paperback
Page Count 218
Imprint Springer International Publishing AG
Publisher Springer International Publishing AG