The Ones That Got Away: The Role of Eugenicists in the Sustainment of Medical Atrocities in Nazi Germany

Abstract

Holocaust atrocities have been well-documented, and many prominent leaders of the Nazi Party were subsequently held accountable at the Nuremberg Trials. Nevertheless, many culpable individuals escaped scrutiny, including eugenicists whose well-accepted racial hygiene theories legitimized horrific Nazi medical experimentation and other transgressions of the Third Reich. These figures include German scientist Eugen Fischer and his American counterpart Charles Davenport, who closely collaborated in the early twentieth century, leading up to the Nazis' acquisition of power. Their communication facilitated the distortion of scientific principles, resulting in widespread complicity in scientific racism. Fischer and Davenport utilized their expertise to promote catastrophic eugenics.