German Scientists To Begin Identifying Nazi Victims’ Brain Specimens 

German scientists to begin identifying Nazi victims’ brain specimens 

German scientists are to begin identifying thousands of brain specimens belonging to people killed by the Nazis because they had a disability or were ill.

The three-year research project into the specimens in the Max Planck institutes’ possession, which will begin in June, aims to build a database listing the names of all “euthanasia” victims. “It will include basic biographical data on the victims, their institutional treatment, and the criteria used to select the victims,” the Munich-based, non-profit Max Planck Society said in a statement.

“The manner of their death will also be documented along with data on the removal of the brain … and the research carried out on [it].”

Adolf Hitler’s so-called “euthanasia” programme, in which doctors and scientists actively participated, sought to exterminate the sick, physically and mentally disabled people, those with learning disabilities and those considered social “misfits”.

Between January 1940 and August 1941, doctors systematically gassed more than 70,000 people at six sites in German-controlled territory, until public outrage forced them to end the overt killing. But tens of thousands more died across Europe before the Nazis were defeated in 1945, through starvation, neglect or deliberate overdoses administered by caregivers. Many also underwent bizarre medical experiments and forced sterilisations because of their supposed genetic inferiority.

Hitler’s programme sought to exterminate physically and mentally disabled people and those considered ‘misfits’. Photograph: Popperfoto/Getty Images