Deadly Medicine: The Role of Physicians in Nazi Racial Eugenics

Physicians and scientists played an integral role in implementing the racial eugenics program in Nazi Germany, which culminated in the murder of six million European Jews. How can a better understanding of physician involvement in what ultimately led to the Holocaust help us frame issues being debated in medicine today? Susan Bachrach, curator of special exhibitions at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and Richard Hirschhaut, executive director of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center in Skokie, Illinois, discuss the ideas behind the traveling exhibit, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race. How did the idea of eugenics originate, and eventually turn into the racial eugenic ideas of the Nazis? How do we define science and pseudo-science, in the context of the roots of the Holocaust? Hosted by Dr. Michael Greenberg.