Jewish Doctors: A Place in Holocaust History

Abstract

Since the end of the Holocaust the inexplicable actions of SS doctors and the interest in Nazi medicine in general have become a recognized part of Holocaust history. Although research has been conducted on the work of Jewish doctors in ghettoes, a facet of the Holocaust that until recently has been ignored is the history of the life and work of European Jewish doctors leading up to the Holocaust from the beginning of the twentieth century and the role they played and sacrifices made during the Holocaust in the concentration, labor and sub-labor camps. Jewish doctors were the antithesis of Nazi doctors and deserve to be recognized for their service to humanity in a time and under conditions of extreme adversity. The SS doctors turned from healers to killers based on an ideology of scientific racism. The reasons for the decisions and actions of the Jewish doctors during the Holocaust were far more complicated and were multi-faceted. They were influenced by their history, socialization, culture, religion, education and years of rejection and discrimination. This chapter is a brief history of the time leading up to and including the life and work of Jewish doctors during the Holocaust.