The University of North Carolina Press

240 pp., 9.25 x 12.5, 270 illus., notes, index

Cloth

ISBN  978-0-8078-2916-5

Published: August 2004

Deadly Medicine

Creating the Master Race

Edited By Dieter Kuntz and Susan Bachrach

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From 1933 to 1945, Hitler's Nazi regime attempted to realize its vision of a biologically healthy and ethnically homogeneous population through "racial hygiene" programs designed to cleanse German society of those perceived to threaten its biological health. Deadly Medicine examines the critical role German physicians, scientists, public health officials, and academic experts played in supporting and implementing the Nazis' program of racial eugenics, which culminated in the Holocaust.

Illustrated with many never-before-published photographs, images from rare Nazi publications, and historical artifacts, Deadly Medicine presents essays by internationally recognized authorities that provide the wider contextual framework for a compelling visual and documentary exploration of the origins of the Holocaust. This publication is an accompaniment to the exhibition at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum running from April 22, 2004, through October 16, 2005.

About the Author

Dieter Kuntz is museum historian and Susan Bachrach is exhibition curator at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

Reviews

"[The exhibition curators] have taken considerable trouble to research new and in some cases hitherto unknown material. . . . Everybody teaching courses on the history of National Socialism or the history of the bio-sciences in the first half of the twentieth century will find the material in this catalogue extremely useful."
--German Historical Institute Bulletin

"Unlike many catalogs that accompany museum exhibits, this work not only supplements the exhibit but also easily stands alone as a work of literature that reminds readers that some of those responsible for the Shoah wore not brown Nazi uniforms but the clean white coats. . . . Highly recommended."
--Choice

"Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race . . . is distinguished from earlier works on this difficult topic by its content and format. . . . Most vivid and most important are the photos of the victims and documentary material from their lives (e.g., artwork, personal letters, and artifacts) that render the horrors they suffered very real and very tangible. It is this lavish illustration, beautifully (if one is permitted to use such an adjective in such a context) reproduced, that distinguishes this particular work. . . . Amply illustrates the truths that should replace our myths regarding medicine in the Third Reich."
--New England Journal of Medicine

"An excellent starting place for anyone who wants to understand a key factor that contributed to the Holocaust."
--PublishersWeekly.com