What You Do Matters
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany carried out a campaign to 'cleanse' German society of individuals viewed as biological threats to the nation’s health. Enlisting the help of physicians and medically trained geneticists, psychiatrists, and anthropologists, the Nazis developed racial health policies that began with the mass sterilization of 'genetically diseased' persons. USHMM website
The Overview for the Teacher and Student
In every aspect of life, there are certain laws and legal responsibilities that are formulated to
protect society. There are laws regulating payment of taxes and what individuals may or may
not say about others. There are rules that govern when we vote, and what to do in the event of
a tornado. As stated in a PCS health sciences text book, “Another good example is the need for
people to follow traffic laws when operating a motor vehicle. There are many professions which
have certain responsibilities and must follow legal regulations. The health care industry is just
one such profession. Health care workers must be knowledgeable in following legal rules and
procedures for their protection, for the protection of their employers, and for the safety and
well-being of the patients” (Simmers). The bottom line is that health care workers have a
tremendous responsibility-both legally and ethically- to treat their patients as human beings.
During the Nazi era in Germany, just the opposite happened.
Of all of society’s institutions charged with protecting the well- being of its citizens, the
failure of the German public health care providers to do so during World War II was nothing
short of catastrophic. According to Susan Bachrach, “From 1933 to 1945, Germany’s National
Socialist government, under Adolf Hitler, attempted to rid Germany and German-controlled
territory of people who did not fit its vision of a healthy and ethnically homogeneous
community" (USHMM). The racially-driven Nazis promoted a type of nationalism which not only
expanded German territory but claimed racial superiority with an Aryan master race. In the
name of “applied biology,” the Nazi regime eventually murdered six million Jews, sometimes
under the guise of racial hygiene programs designed to cleanse German society of individuals
believed to be biological threats to the “health” of the nation, such as foreign-blooded Gypsies,
persons diagnosed as “hereditarily ill,” homosexuals, and in eastern European countries, people
deemed to be “ethnically inferior” to Germans.
This addendum to NC High School Health Sciences curricula of legal and ethical
responsibilities explores how the doctors, nurses, scientists, psychiatrists, and anthropologists
of the Nazi regime debased their duties as health care providers and as human beings, from
euthanasia to the Final Solution, and it challenges teachers and students to remember what happened.
It also challenges people to take seriously the responsibilities of their chosen profession.
In every aspect of life, there are certain laws and legal responsibilities that are formulated to
protect society. There are laws regulating payment of taxes and what individuals may or may
not say about others. There are rules that govern when we vote, and what to do in the event of
a tornado. As stated in a PCS health sciences text book, “Another good example is the need for
people to follow traffic laws when operating a motor vehicle. There are many professions which
have certain responsibilities and must follow legal regulations. The health care industry is just
one such profession. Health care workers must be knowledgeable in following legal rules and
procedures for their protection, for the protection of their employers, and for the safety and
well-being of the patients” (Simmers). The bottom line is that health care workers have a
tremendous responsibility-both legally and ethically- to treat their patients as human beings.
During the Nazi era in Germany, just the opposite happened.
Of all of society’s institutions charged with protecting the well- being of its citizens, the
failure of the German public health care providers to do so during World War II was nothing
short of catastrophic. According to Susan Bachrach, “From 1933 to 1945, Germany’s National
Socialist government, under Adolf Hitler, attempted to rid Germany and German-controlled
territory of people who did not fit its vision of a healthy and ethnically homogeneous
community" (USHMM). The racially-driven Nazis promoted a type of nationalism which not only
expanded German territory but claimed racial superiority with an Aryan master race. In the
name of “applied biology,” the Nazi regime eventually murdered six million Jews, sometimes
under the guise of racial hygiene programs designed to cleanse German society of individuals
believed to be biological threats to the “health” of the nation, such as foreign-blooded Gypsies,
persons diagnosed as “hereditarily ill,” homosexuals, and in eastern European countries, people
deemed to be “ethnically inferior” to Germans.
This addendum to NC High School Health Sciences curricula of legal and ethical
responsibilities explores how the doctors, nurses, scientists, psychiatrists, and anthropologists
of the Nazi regime debased their duties as health care providers and as human beings, from
euthanasia to the Final Solution, and it challenges teachers and students to remember what happened.
It also challenges people to take seriously the responsibilities of their chosen profession.