Current status of identification of victims of the National Socialist regime whose bodies were used for anatomical purposes

Abstract

Research on the history of anatomy in the Third Reich has often focused on anatomists who collaborated with the National Socialist (NS) regime. Only recently has attention shifted to investigations of the victims, of which there are two groups: anatomists whose careers were disrupted by NS policies, and victims of the NS regime whose bodies were used for anatomical purposes. No systematic approach has yet been undertaken toward the identification of all the different groups of victims and the individuals' fates. This overview of currently available data on NS victims whose bodies were used for anatomical purposes reveals that an estimated total number of all bodies delivered to departments of anatomy lies at more than 40,000, and the so far documented number of executed persons among them at a minimum of 3,749. The traditional sources of body procurement and their significant changes in character during the NS period can be traced. Postwar attempts on finding the fate and identity of bodies of NS victims in anatomy can be divided into three phases. Most investigations focused on the removal of remaining "material" from NS victims from the anatomical collections, while identification and remembrance of individual victims was not a priority. So far, about 500 NS victims' names and biographies have been at least partially identified. Existing memorials rarely name individuals. New approaches to the identification of victims and the potential of a databank for these victims' biographies as an appropriate manner of remembrance are examined in this study.

Anatomy in Nazi Germany: The Use of Victims’ Bodies in Academia and Present-Day Legacies

“…Most of the names are known, but biographies still have to be reconstructed for a full memorialization of these victims. The final number of the executed victims will be much higher, as much information is still missing (Hildebrandt, 2013b).…”

Medical Ethics in the 70 Years after the Nuremberg Code, 1947 to the Present

“…• To understand how this was possible, it is necessary to look at legal body procurement in anatomy prior to the National Socialist regime, and at the changes that occurred thereafter [428]. Since the 18th century in Germany, Austria, and many other countries, the traditional legal sources for anatomical body acquisition were so-called "unclaimed" bodies, that is: bodies of persons who died in public institutions and whose families did not claim them for burial.…”

“…Furthermore, while in the first years post-war several hundred bodies of victims were returned to their families at their relatives' behest, others were left in the anatomical departments for many more years to come, to be used in teaching and research. Apart from whole bodies and body parts, tissue samples from victims remained in many collections [428]. "To use or not to use": a new Pernkopf debate…”

Human Medical Experimentation with Extreme Prejudice: Lessons from the Doctors' Trial at Nuremberg

“…In addition, the efficacy of sulphonamides in treating wound infections was In these and other medical experiments, the actions of researchers appeared to be unencumbered by ethical considerations, and subjects were routinely executed at the end of the trials so that tissue specimens could be examined 2,. 3 Many Nazi victims had their bodies used (without consent) by anatomy departments throughout Austria and Germany 15. …”