Caduceus and swastika: the biomedical vision of Nazi Germany

This study will use Josef Mengele's life prior to Auchwitz as a vehicle to present and examine the historical events which affected the Nazi doctors' transformation from healers to killers. Evidence will be based on published sources, as well as an interview conducted with Dr. Robert Jay Lifton. Dr. Lifton is a noted psychiatrist in New York City who has published several articles on Mengele and Medicalized Killing. He is presently researching a book on Nazi Physicians. In the section entitled The Road to Auschwitz, evidence will be presented chronologically detailing the historical events such as the sterilization and euthanisia programs that influenced the Nazi doctors. In addition, evidence will show the pervasive nature of the Biomedical Vision including anti-Semitism and the dream of a genetically superior Aryan race.The section entitled The Inferno will discuss the development of the Nazi concentration camps including the implementation of successively more efficient means of mass murder. Evidence will be presented detailing the role of the SS physicians in camp operations, including selections for the gas chambers and human experiments. In the Mechanisms of Killing section, the concept of The Biomedical Vision will be expanded. In addition, the actual psychological mechanisms such as psychic numbing and doubling will be discussed. These mechanisms were employed by the Nazi doctors in an attempt to deal with their transformation from healing to killing.