Citation

Ley A. Medizinhist. J. 2006; 41(1): 99-108.

Vernacular Title

Medizin im Konzentrationslager: Gezielte Vernachlassigung, medizinische

Affiliation

Kuratorin der Ausstellung Medizin und Verbrechen, Gedenkstätte und Museum Sachsenhausen, Oranienburg. ley@gedenkstaette-sachsenhausen.de

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Franz Steiner Verlag)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

16700302

Abstract

In November 2004, the exhibition "Medicine and Crime" was opened at the Memorial Site of Sachsenhausen near Berlin. The exhibition is located in barracks R I and R II, which have persisted in their original form. These barracks were part of the camp infirmary, which was extended repeatedly up to the end of the war. Its medical facilities included laboratories, operating theatres and wards. The infirmary was the place where "racial research" and numerous medical experiments were carried out on inmates. SS doctors performed compulsory sterilisations and castrations. Several thousand inmates were murdered in systematically planned programmes to dispose of the sick, such as "Operation 14f 13". As shown in the exhibition, the infirmary was also meant for providing minimal medical care for inmates to prevent the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. In 1942, after setbacks in the war, attention was paid to restoring sick inmates' ability to work. Overcrowding, inhuman treatment and poor supply of medicines led to largely disastrous conditions in the infirmary. It is a special aspect of this exhibition that the events in the infirmary are told from the perspective of the inmates, i. e. the victims, not the perpetrators.

Language: de