2008 Woodie Awards
Professor: Nazi crimes included medical experiments
By: Michelle Oyola
Issue date: 3/9/06 Section: News
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Many of the crimes committed by the Nazis during the Holocaust also can be found in the history of the United States. Sterilization, human experimentation and race strengthening was practiced in the United States, and hate groups that believe in race purification are still in this country today.
Linda Woolf, Webster University professor, gave a presentation entitled "Nazi Medicine: The Killing Healing Paradox" March 1, in the University Center Sunnen Lounge. She discussed the scientific mind-set of the Nazis and also the medical experimentations they performed. She also tied the evils of the Holocaust to the United States and the modern world.
The Nazis believed in the concept of racial hygiene, or purification of the race, Woolf said. This idea applied to the entire culture. Woolf said the Holocaust, therefore, was a medical procedure to make the culture bigger and stronger.
"The patient was the body of the state," Woolf said. The Nazis, therefore, were trying to remove the tumor from that body, she said.
Hitler came to power in 1933 and created laws of sterilization. People with mental disorders and handicaps were sterilized. Judaism, Woolf said, was considered a mental disorder. Woolf showed a propaganda poster from that time of a blonde, healthy family with many children. She showed another of a strong, German man being weighed down by other "inferior" races.
In the United States, some people with mental disorders and illnesses were also sterilized. In addition, the Miss America pageant and beautiful baby contests began during the time period of the Nazis in an effort to strengthen the race, Woolf said.
Before being sent to concentration camps or death camps, Jews were sent to the ghettos. The Nazis believed the ghettos were a method of quarantining "the infection that (was) spreading across Europe," Woolf said.
The Nazis would put all of the people through a "selection" process when they arrived at the camps. They would point people in one direction or the other. Sometimes, one direction meant work, and the other meant immediate death. These selections were performed by doctors, and the Nazis used the word "selection" because of their belief that they were fulfilling the role of natural selection. Nazis believed they were weeding out the weak.
Linda Woolf, Webster University professor, gave a presentation entitled "Nazi Medicine: The Killing Healing Paradox" March 1, in the University Center Sunnen Lounge. She discussed the scientific mind-set of the Nazis and also the medical experimentations they performed. She also tied the evils of the Holocaust to the United States and the modern world.
The Nazis believed in the concept of racial hygiene, or purification of the race, Woolf said. This idea applied to the entire culture. Woolf said the Holocaust, therefore, was a medical procedure to make the culture bigger and stronger.
"The patient was the body of the state," Woolf said. The Nazis, therefore, were trying to remove the tumor from that body, she said.
Hitler came to power in 1933 and created laws of sterilization. People with mental disorders and handicaps were sterilized. Judaism, Woolf said, was considered a mental disorder. Woolf showed a propaganda poster from that time of a blonde, healthy family with many children. She showed another of a strong, German man being weighed down by other "inferior" races.
In the United States, some people with mental disorders and illnesses were also sterilized. In addition, the Miss America pageant and beautiful baby contests began during the time period of the Nazis in an effort to strengthen the race, Woolf said.
Before being sent to concentration camps or death camps, Jews were sent to the ghettos. The Nazis believed the ghettos were a method of quarantining "the infection that (was) spreading across Europe," Woolf said.
The Nazis would put all of the people through a "selection" process when they arrived at the camps. They would point people in one direction or the other. Sometimes, one direction meant work, and the other meant immediate death. These selections were performed by doctors, and the Nazis used the word "selection" because of their belief that they were fulfilling the role of natural selection. Nazis believed they were weeding out the weak.