Deadly Medicine In The Holocaust

The Holocaust and Skewed Minds
The Holocaust and the events that occurred in Nazi Germany are very popular topics of discussion. Today’s society views the actions that occurred during this time to be inhumane and horrific events that should never be repeated or replicated. Therefore, certain aspects of the events are often “played-up,” or exaggerated, while others are ignored resulting in skewed and sometimes naive people. However, the acts of “deadly medicine” that occurred during the Holocaust did cause many questions to rise. Questions such as “can science go too far?” and “what is right and wrong in the world of medicine?” entered the minds of many and would forever change the concept of medical ethics.
“Deadly medicine” in the Holocaust was Nazi Germany’s act of taking those viewed as being imperfect by the Nazi society and experimenting on them. To most people, this seems like a horror story. Because of the media’s portrayal and the motifs of horrific doctors and innocent victims that are often presented when referring to the Holocaust, few people consider the ideology of the historical actors that engaged in the “deadly medicine.” The actors had reasons and feelings behind the things that they participated in. As Everby implies, it is important for people to look at all the facts and form their own opinions, rather than just listening to things that are clearly presented, exaggerated, or focused upon. Before Hitler’s takeover of Germany began, many physicians had ideas on ways to improve the quality (and quantity) of life. Once Germany succumbed to Hitler and the Nazi era began, the scientific fire was fueled. His creation of Nazi Germany gave the physicians test subjects to experiment on. Even though they were testing on humans, most physicians truly believed that they were doing good things to improve the quality of society. According to Harriet Johnson, “the actions of the physicians and scientists are often justified because they believed that they were relieving individual suffering while contributing to the "greater good.”” Often for the doctors, their reason for participating in “deadly medicine” was simply to expand their knowledge and conduct experiments on their …show more content…
The actors involved in the administration of “deadly medicine” believed that their actions were for the overall good of societal health and supported the Nazi’s central goal for humanity, however, the survivors had a much different story to tell and were able to testify against the perpetrators in the Nuremberg trials, also known as the Doctor Trials. The US Holocaust Memorial Museum has an exhibit on two of the testimonies, one from Father Miechalowski and the other from Vladislava Karolewska, provided. In their testimonies, the victims expressed the pain and suffering that they endured during the “cutting edge research” of the doctors who performed the tests. These stories brought forward and continue to bring forward strong emotions and feelings against the acts of “deadly medicine” and eugenics from audiences. Because so many people were against the forced experimentation and medical terrors that occurred in Nazi Germany, the Nuremberg Code was created in order to counter the actions of the doctors from this historical tragedy. As the code states, “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential,” thus setting the precedent for human research from that point