Some DGIM members were actively involved in medical crimes. Most notably Roma were subjected to lethal phosgene experiments or their body and soul were injured by seawater drinking experiments. What is more, individual internists were authorized to carry out forced sterilizations by X-rays.

Those affected by the medical crimes have hardly been remembered individually. These entries on medical injustice are intended to change this and make plain the cruelty of the atrocities and what consequences they had for those affected. Many people died during the experiments, others encountered little support or understanding later, despite the violence they had experienced. 

The source situation is difficult. Existing information is based on archival studies, reports of contemporary witnesses, the evaluation of literature and interviews with family members. If you, as a user of this website, can provide further information to expand our our knowledge or point to new sources, please get in touch.

The category "Medical Injustice" largely relies on the research of Professor Dr. Paul Weindling, Mag. Dr. Herwig Czech, Associate Professor Dr. Ralf Forsbach and Professor Dr. Hans-Georg Hofer. Editorial assistance: cand. med., Hendrik Sören Hennig. 

Individual DGIM members opposed National Socialism. These include exposed representatives of the helper resistance, who stood up for the persecuted under the threat to their own lives, and physicians, who outwardly appeared to conform, but in individual cases stood up for the persecuted to save their lives. Still others advocated openly or through official channels against regulations championed by the National Socialists that harmed patients.

The records on resistance commemorate individual courageous advocacy against National Socialist injustice as well as support for those persecuted.

The information is based on archival studies, reports of contemporary witnesses, the evaluation of literature and interviews with family members, with the source situation varying accordingly. Individual biographies are well documented and can be richly illustrated, while only rudimentary knowledge is available on the fate of other internists.

If you, as a user of this website, can provide further information to expand our knowledge or point to new sources, please get in touch.

The category "Resistance" largely relies on the the research of Associate Professor Dr. Ralf Forsbach and Professor Dr. Hans-Georg Hofer. Editorial assistance: cand. med. Hendrik Sören Hennig.

People who were discriminated against and persecuted in the Nazi state but did not emigrate are remembered by the entries on suppression.

Within and around the DGIM, people were suppressed because they were considered inferior by the National Socialists or were in opposition to the regime. They were privately and professionally disadvantaged, they were deprived of goals that they could have achieved in a democratic constitutional state. Some of these people were driven to suicide or murdered.

The information is based on archival studies, reports by contemporary witnesses, the evaluation of literature and interviews with family members. The sources vary. Individual biographies are well documented and can be richly illustrated. Only rudimentary knowledge is available on the fate of other internists.

If you as a user of this website can enrich our knowledge or point to new sources, please let us know.

The category "Suppression" is based in a special way on the research of Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ralf Forsbach, Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Hofer and the physician Vina Zielonka. Editorial assistance: cand. med. Hendrik Sören Hennig.

More than 230 DGIM members emigrated during the Nazi era. Most of them were of "non-Aryan" descent according to the National Socialist definition. They and their relatives were discriminated against in Germany and were increasingly threatened life and limb.

Many Jewish physicians found refuge abroad, often in Great Britain, in the USA, in South and Central America, in Turkey, in New Zealand and in Australia.

Some internists were quickly integrated into the social life and medicine of their host countries, opening thriving practices or teaching at universities. Others found inadequate new job opportunities, became impoverished, and suffered both physically and in their soul.

The entries on emigration remind us of the criminal injustice done to each and every emigrant by the National Socialist state and of the respective further fate of their lives.

The information is based on archival studies, reports of contemporary witnesses, the evaluation of literature and interviews with family members and the sources vary accordingly. Individual biographies are well documented and can be richly illustrated, while only rudimentary knowledge is available on the fate of other internists.

If you, as a user of this website, can enrich our knowledge or point to new sources, please get in touch.

The category "Emigration" is based in a special way on the research of cand. med. Tobias Brügge, Priv.-Doz. Dr. Ralf Forsbach, Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Hofer and the physician Vina Zielonka. Editorial assistance: cand. med. Hendrik Sören Hennig.

All those active in the committees of the DGIM during National Socialism bore responsibility. In a few cases, one can recognize an oppositional attitude; in the case of the vast majority, the commitment in a specialised society developed into action characterized by adaptation to the expectations of the National Socialists. The distance to injustice and crime diminished, while the closeness to the perpetrators increased.

If one looks, for example, at the chairmen of the DGIM during the Nazi period, one encounters different facets of perpetration: Jewish colleagues were actively discriminated against, forced out of their offices in the DGIM, and removed from their positions in health care and at the universities. There was active participation in the spread of National Socialist ideology, including its implementation in the medical field. There are examples of participation in forced sterilizations and forced human experiments in concentration camps. Other members of the DGIM did not recognize the dimension of Nazi crimes after 1945 and tried to exonerate perpetrators without showing empathy for those affected by injustice.

The individual participation of DGIM members in Nazi injustice is recalled by the entries on perpetration.

The information is based on archival studies, reports of contemporary witnesses, the evaluation of literature and interviews with family members, with a thus varying source situation. Individual biographies are well documented and can be richly illustrated. In other cases, only rudimentary knowledge is available.

If you, as a user of this website, can enrich our knowledge or point to new sources, please get in touch.

The category "Perpetration" is largely based on the research of Associate Professo Dr. Ralf Forsbach and Professor Dr. Hans-Georg Hofer. Editorial assistance: cand. med. Hendrik Sören Hennig.