Table Of ContentNurses and Midwives in Nazi Germany
This book is about the ethics of nursing and midwifery, and how these were
abrogated during the Nazi era. Nurses and midwives actively killed their
patients, many of whom were disabled children and infants and patients with
mental (and other) illnesses or intellectual disabilities. The book gives the
facts as well as theoretical perspectives as a lens through which these crimes
can be viewed. It also provides a way to teach this history to nursing and
midwifery students, and, for the first time, explains the role of one of the
world’s most historically prominent midwifery leaders in the Nazi crimes.
Susan Benedict is Professor of Nursing, Director of Global Health, and Co-
Director of the Campus-Wide Ethics Program at the University of Texas
Health Science Center School of Nursing in Houston.
Linda Shields is Professor of Nursing—Tropical Health at James Cook Uni-
versity, Townsville, Queensland, and Honorary Professor, School of Medi-
cine, The University of Queensland.
Routledge Studies in Modern European History
1 Facing Fascism 9 The Russian Revolution of 1905
The Conservative Party and the Centenary Perspectives
European dictators 1935–1940 Edited by Anthony Heywood and
Nick Crowson Jonathan D. Smele
2 French Foreign and Defence 10 Weimar Cities
Policy, 1918–1940 The Challenge of Urban
The Decline and Fall of a Great Modernity in Germany
Power John Bingham
Edited by Robert Boyce
11 The Nazi Party and the German
3 Britain and the Problem of Foreign Office
International Disarmament Hans-Adolf Jacobsen and Arthur
1919–1934 L. Smith, Jr.
Carolyn Kitching
12 The Politics of Culture in
4 British Foreign Policy 1874–1914 Liberal Italy
The Role of India From Unification to Fascism
Sneh Mahajan Axel Körner
5 Racial Theories in Fascist Italy 13 German Colonialism, Visual
Aaron Gilette Culture and Modern Memory
Edited by Volker M. Langbehn
6 Stormtroopers and Crisis in the
Nazi Movement 14 German Colonialism and
Activism, Ideology and National Identity
Dissolution Edited by Michael Perraudin and
Thomas D. Grant Jürgen Zimmerer
7 Trials of Irish History 15 Landscapes of the Western
Genesis and Evolution of a Front
Reappraisal 1938–2000 Materiality during the Great War
Evi Gkotzaridis Ross J. Wilson
8 From Slave Trade to Empire 16 West Germans and the Nazi
European Colonisation of Black Legacy
Africa 1780s–1880s Caroline Sharples
Edited by Olivier Pétré-
Grenouilleau
17 Alan S. Milward and a Century
of European Change
Edited by Fernando Guirao,
Frances M. B. Lynch, and Sigfrido
M. Ramírez Pérez
18 War, Agriculture, and Food
Rural Europe from the 1930s to
the 1950s
Edited by Paul Brassley, Yves
Segers and Leen Van Molle
19 Totalitarian Dictatorship
New Histories
Edited by Daniela Baratieri, Mark
Edele and Giuseppe Finaldi
20 Nurses and Midwives in Nazi
Germany
The “Euthanasia Programs”
Edited by Susan Benedict and
Linda Shields
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Nurses and Midwives
in Nazi Germany
The “Euthanasia Programs”
Edited by
Susan Benedict and Linda Shields
S Routledge
c
§
n Taylor & Francis Group
NNEEWW YYOORRKK LLOONNDDOONN
First published 2014
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
and by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
The right of Susan Benedict and Linda Shields to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Some portions of Chapter 6 written by Susan Benedict appear with
the permission of its copyright owner, Center for Medicine after the
Holocaust. © 2011 Center for Medicine after the Holocaust.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Nurses and midwives in Nazi Germany : the “euthanasia programs” /
edited by Susan Benedict and Linda Shields.
pages cm — (Routledge studies in modern European history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Midwifery—Moral and ethical aspects—Germany—History—20th
century. 2. Nursing—Moral and ethical aspects—Germany—History—
20th century. 3. Euthanasia—Germany—History—20th century.
4. Holocaust, Jewish (1939–1945) 5. National socialism and
medicine. 6. Germany—Politics and government—1933–1945.
7. World War, 1939–1945—Atrocities. I. Benedict, Susan, 1943–
II. Shields, Linda, 1950–
RG516.N87 2014
179.7—dc23
2013031340
ISBN13: 978-0-415-89665-8 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-1-315-83261-6 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by IBT Global.
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FORESTRY SUST ASUINSATBALINE ABLE Printed and bound in the United States of America
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SFI label applies to the text stock
This book is dedicated to Traute Lafrenz Page, MD. Since 1997, Dr. Page
has accompanied me to many archives in Europe and Israel to obtain docu-
ments for this book. She has translated literally thousands of pages from
German to English, carefully writing each translation by hand. Without
her, this book would not exist.
But perhaps even more importantly, Dr. Page has helped me understand
this period of time in German history. As a young medical student at the
University of Munich in 1941, she was a member of the anti-Nazi resistance
group known as the White Rose. Dr. Page never mentioned this to me for
the first few years that I knew her. It was only quite by accident that I found
this out and asked her about the group.
Always modest about her own activities, she still inspires. I admire her
intellect, her joy in life, her courage, and her sense of what is right. I admire
her as a role model for successful aging. At ninety-three, she still travels to
Europe, gives presentations, and meets with people who come from around
the world to learn from her.
Traute is my most admired person, and I thank her for all of her help
throughout the years.
Susan Benedict
We dedicate this book to Hilde Steppe, whose work first brought to light
the crimes and circumstances of nurses and midwives under the Nazis. At
the time she wrote, in Germany, it must have taken a high degree of cour-
age to do so. Sadly, Hilde Steppe died in 1999.
Importantly, we dedicate this book to those victims—infants, children,
and people with mental illnesses, disabilities, and physical illnesses who
died by the actions of nurses and midwives during the Nazi era. By invok-
ing their memory, we hope this book will help prevent such actions from
occurring again.
Linda Shields and Susan Benedict
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Contents
List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
Acknowledgments xv
1 Setting the Scene 1
LINDA SHIELDS AND THOMAS FOTH
2 Fertile Ground for Murder 13
SUSAN BENEDICT
3 Nursing during National Socialism 27
THOMAS FOTH, JOCHEN KUHLA, AND SUSAN BENEDICT
4 Psychiatric Nursing during the Era of National Socialism 48
SUSAN BENEDICT, MARY LAGERWEY, AND LINDA SHIELDS
5 The Medicalization of Murder: The “Euthanasia” Programs 71
SUSAN BENEDICT
6 Meseritz-Obrawalde: A Site for “Wild Euthanasia” 105
SUSAN BENEDICT
7 Klagenfurt: “She Killed As Part of Her Daily Duties” 140
SUSAN BENEDICT
8 German Midwifery in the “Third Reich” 164
WIEBKE LISNER AND ANJA K. PETERS
