http://www.psychiatrytalk.com/2009/12/nazi-extermination-of-mental-illness/ by Dr. Michael Blumenfield Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:05:34 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.psychiatrytalk.com/2009/12/nazi-extermination-of-mental-illness/comment-page-1/#comment-197 Abraham L. Halpern Tue, 09 Feb 2010 10:47:46 +0000 http://www.psychiatrytalk.com/?p=486#comment-197 We must never forget that most of the Nazis and other "researchers" doing their barbaric experiments were doctors. [And the German Psychoanalytic Society didn't help much when the organization expelled Jewish members.) I know there are some good Germans, Austrians and Poles (I've met some at meetings), but even after all these years, I still cannot visit their countries. I was born in Poland. You can imagine how many of my close relatives were murdered. It's now more than 70 years ago that my mother received regular reports of the killing of her brothers and sisters and their children. The memory of her suffering still haunts me. (By the way, the enormous number of recently diagnosed PTSD patients suggests to me that not a few of the Nazi murderers developed schizophrenia themselves.) (If I can find one, I'll send you a reprint of Rosner F, Bennett A.J., Cassell E, Farnsworth P, Halpern AL, et al: The ethics of using scientific data obtained by immoral means. NY State J of Med, 91:2 (1991), 54-59.) Thank you for this important essay. It should be reprinted in the lay literature regularly. We must never forget that most of the Nazis and other “researchers” doing their barbaric experiments were doctors. [And the German Psychoanalytic Society didn’t help much when the organization expelled Jewish members.) I know there are some good Germans, Austrians and Poles (I’ve met some at meetings), but even after all these years, I still cannot visit their countries. I was born in Poland. You can imagine how many of my close relatives were murdered. It’s now more than 70 years ago that my mother received regular reports of the killing of her brothers and sisters and their children. The memory of her suffering still haunts me.
(By the way, the enormous number of recently diagnosed PTSD patients suggests to me that not a few of the Nazi murderers developed schizophrenia themselves.)
(If I can find one, I’ll send you a reprint of Rosner F, Bennett A.J., Cassell E, Farnsworth P, Halpern AL, et al: The ethics of using scientific data obtained by immoral means. NY State J of Med, 91:2 (1991), 54-59.)
Thank you for this important essay. It should be reprinted in the lay literature regularly.

]]>